This is my first time entering an SVS contest. Hope I did this right.

Best of luck everyone. Looking forward to reviewing everyone's entry.

Hi - just joined SVS and this is my first time posting here. Thank you for your time.

For the artwork, I'm going for a simple New Yorker style b/w cartoon style. I don't want to overwork it, but it's SO HARD not to. What are your thoughts? All thoughts welcomed.

Thanks again.
Andrew
www.andrewbartoncreative.com

It's very cute! I really want to see what comes out of the house. A few quick thoughts..

• The composition feels a little off to me. I love the look of the mushrooms in the background but they are fighting too hard for my attention. In other words, they might be too big. I want the home to be the centerpiece (and perhaps literally centered).

• The two square windows feel like they are floating on the teapot. Perhaps they could be more structured/aligned with the door.

• On that note, some elements of the drawing have good dimension / 3D (road, table/chairs, door, mushroom shapes) and others are very flat or 2D (teapot handle, teapot spout, mushroom dots). And again the square windows, though they have dimensional shutters, don't feel placed quite right on the teapot.

Overall it's very adorable and I want to print it out and color it in!

Good luck,
Andrew

@Sara-Nilsson Cute story.

The first thing I noticed was the anatomy. It looks odd at places. Agree with comments from @Michael-Angelo-Go

Good luck!

Two quick things jump out of this charming little scene.

• Where is the light coming from? I see indicators of it coming from multiple sources. I recommend picking one.
• The flat blue in the back of the painting pulls my eyes away from the foreground. It's too bright or something.

I like the new placement of the windows.

Good luck.

Love the colors and the theme. Western + Magic feels like uncharted territory to me. It has a very loose feel to me - like a painting. I can't tell if that is a deliberate style choice or if it is unfinished. I think that means it still needs work so that the viewer (me) can know for certain which it is. Specifically, the drop shadows seem too strong and/or misplaced/inconsistent with the lighting of the rest of the piece. Also the cactus in the foreground could use more details and appears to be translucent. Lastly, the balance of the characters feels a little off. The right side is very heavy.

All that said, I really enjoy looking at it. It has life and charm. Love the flying cow.

amazing work

@joosterwijk You win.

@Sara-Nilsson Cute story.

@AnneWertheim Both good but I love the first one especially!

Love the colors and the theme. Western + Magic feels like uncharted territory to me. It has a very loose feel to me - like a painting. I can't tell if that is a deliberate style choice or if it is unfinished. I think that means it still needs work so that the viewer (me) can know for certain which it is. Specifically, the drop shadows seem too strong and/or misplaced/inconsistent with the lighting of the rest of the piece. Also the cactus in the foreground could use more details and appears to be translucent. Lastly, the balance of the characters feels a little off. The right side is very heavy.

All that said, I really enjoy looking at it. It has life and charm. Love the flying cow.

@ruth Love it. Especially the pegs and his face.

This is my first time entering an SVS contest. Hope I did this right.

Best of luck everyone. Looking forward to reviewing everyone's entry.

Two quick things jump out of this charming little scene.

• Where is the light coming from? I see indicators of it coming from multiple sources. I recommend picking one.
• The flat blue in the back of the painting pulls my eyes away from the foreground. It's too bright or something.

I like the new placement of the windows.

Good luck.

Hey Rob - enjoyed flipping through that. Your story was easy to follow, interesting and had plenty of tension to keep me glued.

As far as story goes, I don't quite understand what genre this is. Zombie? If so, how can Burton talk? And how did they become zombies?

Or is it a standard Western? If so, how can the dead men pull him down?

Other questions - Why did Reynolds do it? Why did he tie gold to his chest? Why is he running away from Burton (who seems physically unthreatening)? How/when did the horse turned around on the narrow path? And why did Reynolds get off his horse?

My favorite part was Page 2. That's when the tension really got good. Thanks for sharing.

@robgale Haha - yes it was tricky to figure out what should be modern and what shouldn't. Perhaps I could make the whiteboard look more prehistoric-looking (like the briefcase). Thank you for your thoughts and time.