Phronemophobia's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kiss of faith]

What is the name of this? It's a trope, right? One closes his eyes and goes in for a kiss only to open them to reveal the other person swapped out their lips for those of someone or something far less desirable. Not miss the kiss, but connects with the wrong target. That has a name, doesn't it?

Sure, sure... it's a great image. Surprisingly, Shiver looks beautiful when she's wearing normal clothes. Maybe she ought to clothe herself properly more often. After revisiting this multiple times, I finally figured out what the circle and arrow were at the bottom of the drawing. I feel a little dumb wasting so much time realizing they are phones. On full display, it's one of Cami's strongest aspects - excellent facial expressions. Lastly, I like the background but where is this at? Did someone just stop her in the middle of the street and demand a kiss? Is there something significant about this particular spot?

Ultimately, none of that matters until I learn what that trope name is. My mind either obsesses on something stupid until I have my answer or it completely forgets to focus on something else equally trivial.

Great work but now my head hurts.

ICam2k responds:

Fake-out kiss? Facade kiss? I do see this happen several times in other shows, but I've yet to see anyone name that trope. (there was even like a short trend where people would sketch out tropes that they've seen with their opinions differing for each)
This is factual truth and I'll forever stand by it.
Love how my occasional artistic shortcuts can often lead to funny theories. Compliments are nice, but these are often the highlights for me. Messing with people is fun.
In the middle of the road of Splatsville. I always felt that place tends to get lively with players and jellyfishes (also known as mute NPCs) during in-game, so I thought it was better fit for this scene.
Hey c'mon. You can always take breaks, no need to push yourself in analyzing. Taking the short routes often saves mental energy. heh

[In a bit of a hissle]

The original background looks something from a 90's platformer and considering you went the classic look of Vector, I'd say that's perfect. Considering a snake that large, I'm surprised there are a couple of badniks spectating as I'd imagine they'd be crushed by that serpent, as well. It doesn't look to be chummy with anyone else in that image. If I had even the tiniest gripe about this, it's that one can read "Sonic the Hedgehog" right under "Happy New Year" when Vector is very much the central figure of the artwork. He deserves to have his name on display rather than Sonic.

"you should totally watch the anime it's a personal classic of mine"

I did watch Shaman King when it aired during the Saturday morning FoxBox cartoon block but it left no meaningful impact upon my second-rate memory, and I believe there was a continuation or reboot a few years ago but, again, since I didn't get much out of it the first time, I had no desire to follow that. Now, convince them to swap out Yoh for Vector and I'll definitely check it out.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy an interesting year in 2025 (the good kind). I'll gladly settle for an "uninteresting" one this time, if possible.

ICam2k responds:

Truly bold of you to say the "90's platformer" comment on the background. And yet, I feel honored. Truly. I can't find myself trying to counter with a joke with all the sweetness I'm hearing. How do you keep doing this?
Definitely keeping that in mind for the inevitable next New Year's Eve.

Guess it's a habit of mine since I tend to like some pieces of media than some might or woulnd't get the appeal (pretty much like anyone else, but they also vary a lot as far as I have seen). Still, I love the Shaman King. The art style (especially the manga which I still do own the first volume of) the characters and the way they bounce off each other (especially on Yoh's generally passive nature which can lead to such moments that are either funny or genuinely inspiring depending on the mood/context) and story arcs just stand out to me. Despite being a "Shonen" series, I always loved the character interactions the most, including the slice of life moments. Then again, I tend to find joy in admiring the less action packed stories in shonen anime compared to the actual slice of life shows. Although I do like the concept of the shaman fights. The way they attempted to incorporate a shaman's role and make it look like the coolest ever, with things like Oversoul being a better way to bond the shaman with their partner spirit by merging them into any kind of object like weapons to make them into powerful "solid entities" and their "furyoku" levels are a lot more crucial both in and outside tournaments since these act like magic AND stamina meshed in together, so they have to make their attacks count. It feels so unique to me. There might be other series that did this better, but Shaman King still feels like it's the one that came up with it. I also variety of the shaman roles that these characters have, causing each of their story to differ from one another.
(I may like Ryu because of his character and he's pretty underrated, but Faust XIII and Chocolove have always been favourites)
Idk, I still have fond memories of when I watched it the first time on Jetix before it got pulled out in a tragic silence. And even moreso when my brother asked me to marathon the series online (the 2002 one).
Don't worry! you don't have to watch it.
I suppose my personal tastes got the better of me to drop all of that. Still, just a suggestion.
(although I would agree that the series would get better with Vector starring in lol)

Thanks! Same to you too even it might also get "uninteresting" based on your words. ദ്ദി

[Love strings]

Ah, getting me ready for that day-long downer of loneliness with not only a Valentine's theme but also of one depicting Big Man taking all the pain upon himself in the process. Maybe I can preemptively cheer myself by surprising him with a gift? *looks up Big Man's address* Cami, I don't think he's real. I might have to prepare for a potential two-day downer... a double downer. This art has given me a lot to worry about in the near future.

ICam2k responds:

What are you saying?
He resides over there.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267113971163?_skw=splatoon+big+man&itmmeta=01JH0YCZD54N3HPAFG6JXEF5J3&hash=item3e313bbddb:g:5s0AAOSwUTBlRHM2&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HeiGDgIPEom89sRrPuXPknBkd0yutHSIY4fpxSafJT0YHI00Xya39H%2FZDm46Tl1Ft9l4Pj8DjEb2t9YseB5tF0a0iz3%2BDGIXyaXqpj94YzbZ5BOoYhS6ABWyLw6IswKRn7%2BEjSV9mS3pHS8X3kkzDvjo2gFhsxtgmeOiCGSQb3ZVECVGWBYkThkDfwyOvGlzm45RUyKz7lzE7uYEmIVFG%2BObNnjqfOPcm29r3VEbDbp56NHmoFkiswJajA4U8ubPwGJouoN6X0iYuC7RhiMDmlbz%2BoU%2FV1Tv76AIAfST%2BbSpqzYpDlR0g5ukTmzeXTfuQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM3Paznohl

(man I hate how links can extend like this, but it's an eBay purchase)

[First concert drawing]

I decided to glance at the concert and, as I figured, Big Man is so obnoxiously stiff. I guess they really didn't want to bother with giving him any sort of proper interaction. Instead, he was just waving around and slowly turning in place like someone's grandmother at a family get-together. They could've had him dive into the floor and pop out from one end then the other, yeah? It wasn't as bad with the other two (other four) but they spent much of their time staying in these invisible "lanes" that it only looks like they are together. I get the feeling that if we saw a top-down version of this, we'd notice these thin, almost invisible barriers separating all of them to prevent collisions with one another.

Your piece reminds me of a place in WoW's Un'Goro Crater what with all the colorful crystals lighting up a cave near a neutral campsite. I remember screenshotting that cave (this was well over a decade ago) and using it as a background image on my PC. If I had any sort of personal connection to the Splatoon series, I probably would have taken this art and done the same with it... *shifting eyes* with your permission, of course (probably).

ICam2k responds:

After enough time has passed (which is nearly a year, golly) and recounting how that concert went, I definitely think that I... agree. I still like the concert (mostly for the music and few funny choreographs like Pearl's Naruto run) but yeah, there are definitely some rough spots here and there. BigMan especially moves like those low budget animatronics. People weren't kidding when they said that he oozes the "mascot feel" as much as I like him as a character.
On one hand though, I kind of get why they did this. They had to be careful of not stepping too far off the "lanes" as you mentioned in order to not break the immersion for the audience too much, which were even more evident in other previous concerts like the one in 2016 with the Squid Sisters. I like to think the Grandfest slightly improved on that since they're basically transfered in the game and possibly have some tweaks to make them somewhat dynamic, but I'm gonna have to rewatch them again to really be certain about that.

I'm admittedly not all that big on MMORPGs (except my brother who played Metin2 everyday in his teenage years) but I do recall being captivated by their worlds and their atmospheres, which I feel where for such games like this They were the games before "open-world" would become popular with most people later on.
Of course! You can always do that. I even made some pieces at the desktop resolution too albeit few. (mostly on 1920*1080 of course since that's the resolution I'm using, but I assume nearly everyone is set on that size)

[The smallest are the strongest]

I know of Chaotix and I believe Charmy is suppose to be the easiest character to use in that game, right? Reminding me of that line in the song "I literally carry the team when I carry the team!" with this display of lugging Vector around like a gatorskin suitcase. More importantly, we got not one but... *counts on fingers* uh, TWO! Vectors in this piece. One can only hope to one day see a third (possibly final?) form of Vector who will likely also get tossed around by something a fraction of his size and Cami will be there to properly visualize it for her future millions of fans to appreciate.

Of the two, I do prefer the older style with Charmy but the size difference in the modern version of Vector does lend itself better to the joke.

ICam2k responds:

Both in OG Knuckles Chaotix and in Sonic Heroes respectively. Charmy is an absolute powerhouse and no one seems to be joking about that. Not even me barely. Bees are barbaric, they don't mess around.
Is it? Or was it ever a third form of Vector? There's technically one for Boom, but he looks too similar to the current incarnation besides wearing a jacket, a tattoo and... lacking his headphones. And he's from Boom. Yeah, there's no third Vector. I'm sorry everyone.
I do like older interpretation of Charmy as well. Simple design, but an effective one. I tend to scoff whenever I have to draw his needlesly detailed goggles in the modern version, but it's all not too bad at least. (not bad as Espio's)

[In a jiffy]

I'm a little conflicted. This is some of the best Pearl art I've ever seen, but it's also sad to look at. Why is the best character in Splatoon sad? Isn't that a crime? Are you becoming a criminal? Should I call the squid police? You can't escape the long tentacle of the law, Cami. Pearl deserves to always look confident and mighty and you broke the law to make her appear vulnerable.

ICam2k responds:

THE best on NG? No waaay. There's got to be some besides mine. It's also pretty grungy too.
WHA-?! HOLD ON, THAT HAS BEEN LONG AGO. BESIDES I JUST WANTED A LITTLE CHANGE OF PACE, I DIDN'T MEAN TO CHANGE CHARACTERS FOR A SCENARIO THAT REQUIRES THEM TO BE SO LIKE THAT *runs away*
LEAVE ME ALOOOOOOON...!

[Globe Cut]

So Deep Cut don't really stop being "villains" after the third game? They just go from being proper enemies to... I don't know, the Splatoon equivalent of Jesse and James (and Meowth) from Team Rocket? I feel bad for Big Man. He's clearly the least comfortable in that globe.

I find your chatter about their various official outfits pretty interesting because I figured the music was the focal point of the series outside of its gameplay, but I suppose the fashion of named character is far more important than merely offering a variety of basic designs a player might pick out (similar to clothing in Animal Crossing).

I just don't see the appeal in dA. NG has always been much easier for me to navigate and I'll gladly wait a few (or more) days for your work to also be uploaded here, instead of making an account there.

ICam2k responds:

Villain sounds a little too casual in my opinion. Antagonist is somewhat close to Deep Cut and even Jessie, James and Meowth. They're too much of goofballs to exactly count as such. (minus Team Rocket on some exceptions where they did take it a bit too far with some of their gadgets on certain episodes... and maybe that time in Alterna where DC used eels/rode a shark/threw a variety of bombs to attack a 14-year old squid kid over some treasure even though they have spawners, but they moved on from thaaaat)
Music is also an art form just as much as how drawings and fashion are essential to the medium since they also count as creative works, which according to most people, that seems to be the core appeal apparently. I've been told by a friend of mine that the people who made Splatoon are also the same ones who worked on Animal Crossing, so you're wrong about that. heh
Naw, did I say you need to be on dA? Its layout is still buggy and its generally unappealing even with some customizations (which there are barely any). I just try to stick around since I know there are still a few who are over there, plus the resolution previews are still better whenever I post a pixel art on rare occasions even when categories have been removed (compared to other "art" social media where the smaller art always gets crunched down to a worser quality if you don't increase it to an appropriate size, although NG doesn't have that problem, thank goodness).
Besides, there's no problem with people just being on one place if it's a comfort spot for them. As a matter of fact, I like being on NG mostly because I like having conversations better rather than getting famous. Sure, I got phenomenons here and there on other places, but I value talking.

[As told by the young]

So many shapes and sizes like something out a Dr. Seuss book or maybe it's Splatoon's version of a Hyakki Yagyō. Either way, I've never see anything like them in passing, so good on you for bringing some love to these bizarre side characters.

ICam2k responds:

Admittedly didn't know about Hyakki Yagyō until I instantly figured out what you meant be that the moment I searched it. And I already knew about some of the Yōkai too. How embarrasing.
Speaking of which, that's probably the main reason why I love Splatoon and I kind of feel it borrows some inspirations from the latter in way (although quite slightly and it may be just an another case of me overlooking over things). The overall design of these creatures are just so captivating. You see the everyday human looking inkling and all of a sudden you find a man with a fishhead seconds after and you won't sit still until you find out more about the world they inhabit in. Then again, they are inspired by the marine life, which yes, also extends to the deep sea.

[John Wayne Greyscale Watercolor]

It's The Duke! ...and you made him just as colorful as he was in the films!

[I know what you are]

I know nothing of Pokemon after Sun and Moon, so I know nothing of the one wearing a mask, but I have seen that green child from the Puyo Tetris games. Forgot her name... *looks at tags* "Ogerpon". Yeah, that's probably it. Haven't learned much about Ogerpon yet, either, now that I think about it. Story mode is too focused on the one always holding an apple... Arle. They do share a lovably smol/green resemblance but I am unaware of how else they might relate to one another. Maybe that's it. Perhaps fashion is the only bond necessary for these two to become great friends. That or they could participate in a Puyo battle. Wait, why does that onion have a spiked club?

ICam2k responds:

Wait, I thought the one holding the apple was called Gogotte. Well, guess I got to replay the games again.
He just does. His layers make people's eyes water after all.