Phronemophobia's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Yin and the Yang]

So, what you're showing here is that you took the moon and you took the sun and you took everything that seemed like fun... radda radda and such. I kind of wish Nintendo had done more of a yin-yang symbol with these two. They are the opposites and it's a simple yet effective visual. The disc as it is still has a great look overall but it is kind of sterile, too. Your take has more dynamic posing and they are even acknowledging one another. Nintendo just slapped their basic images onto it and shipped it out. A shame.

"Please let me know if this goes against the rules. I'm trying to figure out how to show this the best way possible." - Not sure how it would be. You are crediting your reference material for a piece of art you made yourself. As long as the art is your own, you should be fine.

"I am a huge sucker for orange-blue color combos" - I think the sequel to Super Monkey Ball has that combo, as well. GCN discs just look great in general. I'm a fan of the Namco Museum Collection and Sonic Mega Collection cover art with the bright yellow contrasting the red of one and the blue of the other, but my favorite is still Super Mario Sunshine.

Of the variations you've provided, I greatly prefer the third of the seven. I thought I would love the yellow with red more, but I didn't realize how much I would dislike seeing a red Twila. An odd revelation for me. Heh.

ShellySunshine responds:

I agree, but I wished Nintendo would do more with these characters in general. It pains me to say that they have so much potential to be fleshed out and even more interesting, but Nintendo just... doesn't take this opportunity. Instead, they just keep using cheap recolored Toads or make already playable characters as hosts. I do miss the times where Nintendo had no care in the world and made interesting characters. Now? They just keep reusing characters that aren't as interesting, but it seems like they're slowly going back to such.

Nintendo has a habit of reusing artwork or poses with an upgraded look, heh. Even if static, it's still better than what we got. :/

I'm still learning the ropes of Newgrounds, so I would rather play it safe. ^^;

I checked out the Super Monkey Ball disc and the people who designed that disc gets how appealing color combos can be, if done right. I loved Mega Collection - it introduced me to the classic Sonic games! Mario Sunshine has a great disc design, but I think Japanese ver. does it better slightly. It's a nifty idea that they make the "white" holographic, but the black border is... strange.

I think red Twila is interesting, but blue/green Brighton doesn't look as great haha.

PS: Thank you for featuring my artwork on Takeover Tuesday! I appreciate it!!!

[toggle evolved]

*waves back at long snek dragon Toggle*

Welcome back from inactivity! Glad school was cancelled. You sound like you needed a break from your break. 2025 is going to be the year of the snake, so I guess making Toggle long and snake-y is a nice transition from 2024's year of the dragon. He still has a chill look to him as if you could offer him a drink or snack and he'd gladly take it whether he wanted one or not because he didn't want to make you feel awkward for offering. I like him. Seems cool to me.

My school winter breaks were pretty dull back in the olde days. No internet meant I eagerly waited for gifts at Christmas, which typically included a video game or two, and then I'd spend the rest of the break playing those games. Because my mom was the black sheep of her family, my brother and I were treated poorly by all but my grandmother, so I feel ya on that. Not sure about the "delusional" part. I don't know you well enough to make any sort of judgment, but I do wish you well for this new year since I definitely don't see it being anything but miserable for myself at the moment.

ToggleDragon responds:

i can't be sure about the "delusional" part either because if i was or wasn't delusional, i wouldn't ever know for sure unless someone told me. i am under the belief that i could be and will never know because it seems that everyone around me is vaguely supporting my belief. my new year's resolutions are mainly about trying to figure out if i am a "morally bad person" or if i am being delusional, so hopefully that changes soon and i will never have to talk about that again.

[Self-portrait #6]

The important question here is do you actually own a pair of those earrings? You mentioned before about not typically wearing jewelry, so I thought I should ask.

Shame you didn't care for the previous picture. I liked it since it felt relatable to my equally-tired expression but the cartoony look here is more akin to how your OCs look, so I guess this would be your in-universe self to interact with them, yeah? Teodora, the god of their world.

TrandafirTeodora responds:

Thank you for your review!
No, I don't own such earrings. This illustration is more akin to my idealized self, one who is more confident and doesn't have as many flaws as I do. It's purely wish-fulfillment and a way to control some aspects of my life that I don't like. As realistic as the previous picture was, I liked this one better for the reasons mentioned before.

[MC Ballyhoo and Big Top]

My first takeaway from this was not great. I originally thought maybe your style was just not a good fit for their appearances, but I looked up the official art and you are dead-on with these depictions. They are perfectly recreated meaning they were already this hideous and you did your best to help, but I guess I simply find them too visually off-putting.

Also, I did read all of what you typed because I just love having the background information behind one's decision to draw something and I mostly agree about the big lips. I've seen a few characters with them whom I don't hate, like Takeo Gōda, Suguru Kinniku, Suketoudara, and Usopp, but I'm not adding this guy to that short list. The design choice is appropriate for the personality, at least. I rather not comment further on heterochromia though.

Your family used to have game nights? I'm definitely a little jealous of that even if it didn't happen with Mario Party 8. I barely got my brother to join me a few times for some co-op, but he and I had very different tastes in gaming and dad only bothered with about half a dozen single-player titles over the years. Outside of a single friend, I really couldn't get people to join me for much of anything. There are a few exceptions, but I've always indulged in whimsical fantasy or most anything colorful and light-hearted while everyone else I grew up with was obsessed with realistic graphics and mature content.

I, too, have a habit of rambling, and I won't blame you for not reading all of this. Hopefully, you will have a spectacularly wonderful new year, whether you see this message or not wishing it upon you. Thank you, Shelly.

ShellySunshine responds:

Yeah these guys are the type where their designs aren't superb, but their personalities stick out. It was... rather difficult to get these two to work. I forgot to mention that Ballyhoo's color palette is a bit all over the place.

So I looked up your character list in your second paragraph. I have noticed that the characters you mention are usually light skinned, but their lips aren't in a very contrasting color. MC Ballyhoo's, on the other hand, is. He looks dark-skinned, but his lips are as bright as they can be. This perhaps could be overlook or something unintentional from the designers (could very well be a last-minute rushed palette since Mario Party 8 was rushed as a whole and it clearly shows), but I can probably say I can see why you wouldn't put him on the list. It can look like it came from a... certain stereotype. I feel like Chuck Quizmo does the whole lips thing better.

I don't judge people who like/love MC Ballyhoo spite of all of this. As I said, I do like him a little, even if he's my least favorite and even if I prefer Big Top by a landslide.

It's also cool that you know about the Puyo Puyo series! (I learned Puyo Puyo from Mean Bean Machine.)

Technically, yes. My little siblings always wanted to play with me. Hardly ever got my parents to play games though. I feel you though, my brother moved on to said graphics heavy games, and the others pretty much stopped playing. I don't really play videogames all that much anymore, but I still prefer stylized, fantasy games.

No no, it's perfectly fine. I do read comments people leave in my art or my replies! Thank you! It seems like long descriptions are kind of a thing of the past, for most people nowadays. I would say we grew up in a generation where this used to be the norm. Either way, hopefully your 2025 goes well for you too. :)

[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...!