Oh.. what? This old shit? Yeah yeah, yours is better...

Well the fake is boring. To be honest. That's not to say it's bad...

You did a decent job resizing Baraka's ending picture for this fatality. I don't like how his tarkatan blade looks like a sword, though' shold it look liek a bone? It's just way too metallic.

Shao Kahn's back hand could be fixed so that it looks like the pole is actually in his hand. The front hand looks fine. The trident looks bad ass.

Raiden's wounds look weird because of the angle the trident "spear hooks" are exiting his body. I don't know how to explain it. Raiden's head on Baraka's blade looks great. Nice touch with his hat being on the floor, but where the hell are all the blood splatters on the ground?

The shadows should be shortened a bit, but other than that they're fine.

The arena is great, I like that you took the time to cut out the grass and matched it with a duller green. The water looks nice, good reflections. One thing that should have been darkened are the mountains in the backdrop. Nice touch putting that ugly statue from the soul chamber. I would have never thought of that.

Coming from you, I am not impressed. But it is a good fake.

The fatality kinda takes away from the arena.

Is it possible you could show the fake without the characters?

Done.

Oh wow. Just looking at the arena alone makes a difference. Looks great.

...Aaaand a word from the village Grammar Nazi...:

*OUTWORLD

I'll come back with an actual critique later on tonight.

lol good catch. I totally read over that.

Wow, the arena is beautiful.

As for the fatality, bs said it all.

Are you mocking me?

I just wanted to see the arena better.

No... I am agreeing with you 100%. There is no sarcasm in my statements. The sprites actually do take away from the arena

Well id say my forte is backgrounds... lol

I made the BG without knowing what fatality id use it fore so I had to do something tarkatan related ... but just having baraka was boring so I decided to give kahn a giant weapon

Taken with a grain of salt...

Alright, I suppose that it's time that I gave this thing a proper critique.

I am in awe of how you're able to combine props from different MK titles without causing them to stand out against one another. This is an awesome take on a classic background that actually looks to be a believable MKII arena. The only obvious issue that I have with the background itself is the fact that the mountains on the horizon are just a hair too bright in comparison to the rest of he environment. A slightly less noticeable but no less significant issue that I have is that the castle in the water is a bit undersized given its proximity to the foreground. Perspective is something that you may want to spend a little time honing, though absorbing the criticism of experienced artists is probably the best and one of the easiest ways to go about that.

The fluidity between Baraka's torso/bust from his MKII ending and sprite pieces that you used is quite impressive. Though, the disparity in the level of detail in his upper half and his lower half (below the waist) reduces the overall quality of the sprite as a whole. It would have been sensible to go through the trouble of editing, for instance, his loincloth. I take pride in noticing minute details and errors, so try check and recheck your work to see if anything, no matter how small, could require additional retouching. Otherwise, yours truly will be there to criticize you for it later.

Raiden's corpse, realistically speaking, wouldn't be reacting to being impaled after having his head severed. He'd have gone limp well before being hoisted off the ground. Additionally, there would be quite a bit of blood leaking from his stump of a neck, which is a pretty significant omission on your part given MK's propensity for excessive blood and gore. Raiden's severed head looks a bit odd, as it's difficult to make out the details of his face. I know where his mouth is, but it seems as if either his eyes or nose has gone missing. It also appears as though the top of his head isn't there. He has gray hair, so you should have taken heed to that fact and given him such. Not only would it have been easier to make out the top of his head, but it would have earned you a bonus point for recognizing and then inserting that detail.

The trident that Shao Kahn is holding looks awesome. However, his left hand is conspicuously out of place. It wouldn't have taken much more than a cut-and-paste approach to move that arm up a few pixels. The puncture wounds in Raiden's torso look nice. Though, the topmost wound should have been a bit darker to add a bit of depth since it's in a slightly curved area.

Final verdict: 5/10. Take particular note of the missing details that I mentioned, because I'm going to continue judging your pieces based on what's not there and won't refrain from deducting major points as a consequence. It may seem harsh, but I'm expecting you to progress at a more rapid pace given how long you've been at this. Keep your head up, because a 5/10 just means that you're no longer exceeding expectations and are producing no more and no less than average work. That is all.

Ah yes, but why would his hair show on the top of his head if he wears a black hood? I got you a bonus point saiZero. You owe me.



And you can't quite make-out his facial features because of the angle the head is leaning from the original sprite she used. So imagine his head leaned back as opposed to looking at you straight-on, and in much agonizing pain.

I'm aware that he wears a hood. It's merely a personal preference that she had his hair spilling out of it. I deducted a point for the poor sprite selection, which led to the fact that it looks like the top portion of his head is missing. If she would have referenced a sprite of any one of the MKII ninja's dizzy poses, the hood in addition to the position of the head would have been a bit more appealing. Moreover, it's not my fault that she chose a sprite with such terrible facial detail. She could have easily gone with any number of sprites that actually made the details of the face more discernible. Hence, she's at fault for not using wiser sprite selection.

Edit: Notice that she did make an effort to recreate his hood. It looks absolutely ridiculous. The upper right side of his head has this abnormal lump. The effort is there, but the execution is lacking.

Although I appreciate ur honest critique, I cannot agree with ur last claim.



There was an effort made. Not good enough for u? Sure. I guess.

drawing his white hair would have made no sense unless his hood magivally fell off his head and his hair bun came apart, causing his long, gay, white hair to be seen.

*sigh* I never said that you didn't make the effort with the head sprite. I said, and I quote, "Notice that she did make an effort to recreate his hood. It looks absolutely ridiculous. The upper right side of his head has this abnormal lump. The effort is there, but the execution is lacking."

I should also make clear the fact that I did not penalize you for the absence of Raiden's hair. I repeat: I penalized you for poor sprite selection, specifically in terms of Raiden's severed head and the muddled details therein.

Although it is something that I would've added, I'm not saying that his hair should be flowing freely like his hood "magically fell off his head"; maybe a few strands became loose here and there. Or, hell, let's just say that his hood, assuming that it's not duct taped in place, did slip off his head during the battle. Who gives a damn? I mean, as long as I didn't penalize you based on a matter of personal preference, it shouldn't even be an issue. Don't blow something out of proportion when you clearly overlooked the statement that would have prevented your needless rejoinder. That is all.

Why don't you stop nitpicking about every goddamn little thing and get off your ass and contribute some actual art to the community. I swear you just like arguing for the sake of arguing to satisfy some sort of twisted self gratification. Your claim is rebuked by the artist herself and here you are still preaching how right you are. Don't worry, the community will keep going with or without your long winded "critiques" that almost always have to include some form of disillusioned self praise.

Why don't you half-assedly recycle a few more of the quotes that I and a handful of others have used to describe your monotonous personality?

First of all, I wasn't arguing and I wasn't preaching. I was simply restating a couple things that saiZero clearly overlooked, which led to her unnecessary response.

Secondly, there was no "disillusioned self-praise" contained within my critique, which was riddled with advice. When I'm beckoned to provide an assessment of an image, particularly by an artist who looks up to me and values my opinion, I'm going to suggest things that I, as an experienced artist, would do to provide a bit of swagger to a piece. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to know how to go about that, since you've never had anyone look to you for advice or solicit your opinion.

Come on, buddy. Your unjustified egotism is obviously beginning to cloud your thinking. Stop harassing users for the sake of trying to find some semblance of relevance in the community. Brainstorm a bit, come up with a more relevant reply, and then maybe someone will start to look at you as something other than an argumentative, narrow-minded bigot. Keep trying, hater. That is all.

I didn't even notice the extra black hood you drew saiZero... but even so, you technically shouldn't see that much hood since you chose a sprite where the head is leaning BACK, and the forehead shouldn't even be that visible. The effort is appreciated, but it makes no sense with the face you chose for the fake. This is why, although you want to surprise/impress us, you should send it to at least ONE OF US so we can point out things that don't go right together. I will admit, though, I didn't notice what Veno pointed out until he did.

EDIT: Might I add, that you should not bite the hand that feeds you? Instead of trying to defend yourself, despite how good of an argument you think you can hold up, just soak in the knowledge and experience like a spunge.



So instead of setting a good example and contirubting positively to this thread by critiquing the fake... you decided to attack Veno (again)?
Nice

Guys please...