Starman plus Lead equals....

This picture caught my attention for its good lighting. So I scrolled down and hoped critique was enabled... it was, so here it goes:

We have an interesting interpretation of Nintendo's Mario here. I really like this picture, and I think it's perfect in many criteria.

You are playing with the symbols known from the games and show them in an unexpected context. What makes this work stunning is that you definitely managed to take one of the most funny and comical games and build a gloomy scene with it. That's not only a great idea, it also requires a lot of skills. Skills that you successfully prove here.

Let's talk about the picture itself. I love the composition. It's an "American shot" of the body, you see from the top to the hip. That fits well to the concept because Mario is carrying a gun like some Western hero, and the American shot is known from Western movies mostly. The character is not positioned in the center, it's moved to the side so the gun gets more attention and looks heavier. The picture also looks more interesting this way.

I mentioned the lighting already, which creates this dark atmosphere. The light is red, which actually works well with the blue background, because those are the colors of the original character. That's what I meant when I mentioned interpreting the game elements. The red reminds me of blood in this picture, and I'm sure that was your intention too. The dim lighting makes parts of the character vanish in the darkness ("low-key"), and especially the firearm is not seen before second sight. That leads to a shocking moment when you realize Mario is not that kind of good hero that we know at all. The brown coat and gloves are new elements you added and the brown tones fade well into the red-blue-transition overall. I'm impressed how you achieved a completely different appearance and mood of Mario by just adding a weapon, a coat and gloves. The rain emphasizes the whole atmosphere and you made the clothes appear wet in fact. That star Mario is holding is the only bright spot in the picture and of course attention is drawn there due to this. I don't know what you intended by this, my association is a handgrenade. The lensflare around the star has a nice effect, but the bigger lensflare lower-left from it disturbs... would be better if you left that one out.

But of course the different equipment is not all that gives us the shivers. You planned the body language too. Mario doesn't show his eyes - whether due to the rain or because he's bad, it looks great and has style.

At first, I wanted to give you only 3 stars for the Originality because you used the existing Mario character. But as this is the Fan Art category, I must give you 4 stars. The way you presented Mario here is full of originality anyway!!

Great work, I hope you are satisfied with this critique, and I'm going to take a look at your gallery <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)"/> Peace