Hey. You have some pretty interesting stuff. I actually critiqued one of your pieces so now I'm going to try and see if i can be of some help here.

It has already been mentioned in the first critique that the whole black and white monochrome, symmetric, good evil concept has been done thousands of times over so but im sure you were already aware so i'm not going to get into that.

I do like your style of design. The male looking counterpart on the left appears to be more sharper and intimidating. the style to me also resembles something out of 'the nightmare before christmas' while the female counterpart appears to have some kind lukewarm fairy anime vibe.

One thing about the male though is that i feel the hair could be made a bit better. there is something about the look that is subtle but awkward. I think it's the fact that the way the hair falls is a bit unnatural. it has an odd shape. like the shape of his head must be very unusual.

as for the female side i really have no complaints. i noticed the jaggedness on the back part of her dress which i really like for a reason i can't explain.

the biggest area in this i think needs improvement is the overall way you got this onto this site. I think you ought to re-scan it and then try cropping the parts that arent in the composition. maybe consider the fact that the way the colors cut off in the picture, the background of the scan takes a bit of the impact out of the monochrome design. But i dont think it is a big deal because it makes it less intimidating and less 'in your face'.

Some more input on the editing of this-i highly recommend using microsoft picture manager or any program that can darken or lighten, saturate or unsaturate, or increase or decrease contrast before submitting any artwork to this site (if you dont already). And just play around whenever you get the chance. with those three extremely simple features, you can change the identity and feel of all your compositions for better of for worse. I remember the contrast adjustment being my best friend when submitting pencil drawings here.

In this case i think you ought to use the increase of contrast so your black becomes a true black and your whites won't be impure.

Now i wan to take a brief moment to talk about the future. I think that although this is such an extremely common theme and style, that gives it more opportunity for you to experiment different transformations and media. If you are trying to get into another medium like watercolor, ink, or pastel painting, etc. then use something simple like this as your reference. It will make it so much easier and you may come across a version of this design that looks just as good or even better and original.

That is all i have for this one. it's a comforting picture to me somehow. I hope all your upcoming work is coming along well.

I should start by saying this is my first critique. That being said, I have always been a sucker for the bold impact that black and white pieces have. The piece's approximate symmetry using negative color is effective in holding the piece together as one, but contrasting to differentiate the duality presented by both sides.

The content is something that I believe can be understood by most people. Duality of human nature is a common thread between all of us. You have captured the very essence of human nature in the depiction. I also believe it was a good choice to make the female figure white and the male black. Testosterone is generally associated with violence and procreation where as the female hormones are more closely associated with love and nurturing. This way, not only does it represent the internal struggle that many humans face, but it also represents the conflict that can occur from misunderstanding and different perspectives held by the opposite sexes. The fact that they are reaching their hands out to one another expresses a need to find compromise in both and end conflict. In other words, I dig it.

I cannot deny that I have seen very similar concepts done before including a piece of my own tucked away in a portfolio. However, while the concept of using black and white to portray good and evil is not new, I believe the style in which the figures are done gives it a unique flare all your own. And, of course, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Use of black and white has always been an extremely useful way of depicting contrast between morality and a lack thereof. Light and dark, good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, black and white can be very powerful for these common contrasting elements found in society.

The technique used to add detail to the figures is very nice as well. Not only is there very delicate line detail done in black on the 'good' side, but you have also managed to successful add the same effect on the 'evil' side by using negative white space to show the figure detail. This can sometimes be hard to do, but when executed effectively, I think it gives the work of art a very nice touch.

To me, this piece reminds me of the days where I was big into Japanese comics. This piece looks as though it could have been ripped from a page of a very popular manga. That is to say, I think it's wonderful and you are doing a great job to hone your own niche in the manga style genre. Keep up the great work!