Feedback please :)

This was part of my final project during my first Graphic Design course last fall. I always liked how it turned out but I'd like to get opinions from others. Good or Bad critiques are welcome, as long as they provide something that will help me improve. Thanks!  monarch.jpg   84.68KB   33 downloads

That's awesome !!,wish I could see the coloured version.

Thanks! I thought about going back in to color it but I just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe someday

Here is the other part of the same project

 monarch-2.jpg   46.11KB   16 downloads

Hi Stearnso!
I really like the direction you are going in with this design and I hope you don't mind me expanding on your design but it was easier for me to make a quick picture than to explain. This is intended to show how, given the same idea, I might do the same thing differently( not necessarily better:) ):
 butterfly-01.png   49.61KB   20 downloads

To summarize:

1) I really like how you have simplified the pattern on the top half of the wings but my suggestion is to carry that style all the way through the design - particularly on the bottom half of the wings.
2) for me there is too much black negative space at the tips of the wings.
3) I have made strokes and spacing more uniform - in my opinion this reduces the overall complexity of the image and it also makes the design more versatile - which is why i have shown the smaller version of the butterfly. I don't know if you were given an intended use for the design but more often than not it is a good idea to consider how the design might perform at different sizes.
4) Pay close attention to anchor points, particularly where you join shapes. There are a few places where I can see slight kinks in your curves and small sharp bits - it's nice to smooth these out.

I also added a bit of color simply to please Routh!

finally - notice how on the smaller butterfly I somehow lost a "blob" from the lower half the right wing - When giving critique it's probably best not to do that Obviously I did it on purpose just to show that the wings look ok both with and without the blob!

I hope this helps

Edited by GJR, 23 June 2014 - 04:16 PM.