Everybody loves my work....

[jpaguia]

but i'm not here for that, i want someone to crush my ego. give me some feedback/critiques....rip it apart if you have to, i'm not here to get any kudos

www.justinpaguia.com

oh and hi, been lerking for awhile but decided to join

[aiksing]

Sorry, but i love your work too...

[lkroll]

Well, I might hurt you feelings since I can only say that I really like your work. lol

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[pixeltek]

I don't think you can get a true critique without the ability to see high res versions of your work.

At low res, however, your work is awesome!

[aiksing]

Erm, maybe I can jus give some humble suggestions

For the starwars piece, i would say that the sky and the planet background could be improved? The way the planet fades and merges with the sky makes it look a bit fake.

Still.. cool works.. (sorry, i cant help it)

[julius]

Good, cause quite personally, i think your work is shit. You'll never make it in this industry and you might as well go back to selling popcorn at the movie theater.

and what's with that first girl in portfolio2? What are you some kind of corpse retoucher? Cause she looks like a dead body.

Dude, do us all a favor and just give up!

[jpaguia]

Thanks for the replies so far. I have gotten remarks from the girl in port 2, so maybe I should take it out completely and for the star wars, I wasn't to sure to fade it more from the bottom up or top down, or to darken it. It is tricky since I could only get lo-res for a large hi-res file.

[Dork Knight]

I first came across your work at the beginning of April on Guest Blog Wednesday, I have to say you caused me a few headaches trying to work out the Fog section on your S.W.A.T. piece.

You have some fantastic pieces of work, not all to my liking but they do look great - Please keep up the good work, although it makes the things that I do look like a two year olds attempt

[zganie]

Nice work,But the first portfolio is far better than the second,to me anyway
Alot of the color just doesnt seem right in the second portfolio
there is other problems also some seem bad cut and pastes
Probably going over them and fixing/or not maybe a good idea
the problem giving a critique is we do not know what you were/are trying to achieve with these images
Just my opinion
zganie

[jpaguia]

well, the first port is mostly the complex compositing/illustrations while port 2 is all for print...some are catalog, some pharmaceutical, and some commercial advertising. i tried to give a range of diverse pieces, not all heavily retouched comps. which ones did you think were bad cut and pastes zganie?

thanx

[River Studio]

Hi, great images. One question, why the front page with the 'click here to enter'? If I go to a website I obviously want to see it so why the doorbell? No criticism intended, just wondered if it was necessary?

I hate to bug you but.....you are extremely talented and I like what you do. How about posting a few hi-res images so people can appreciate just how good your finished images are?

All the very best.

[jpaguia]

Originally Posted by River Studio

Hi, great images. One question, why the front page with the 'click here to enter'? If I go to a website I obviously want to see it so why the doorbell? No criticism intended, just wondered if it was necessary?

I hate to bug you but.....you are extremely talented and I like what you do. How about posting a few hi-res images so people can appreciate just how good your finished images are?

All the very best.

the front page is more of a branding tool so people can identify with my name/logo

when i get home tonight i can upload a hi-res image for all to look at

if theres a general consensus of a particular image, id be happy to upload

[W.Smith]

That alone is enough to make me actively avoid it.

[River Studio]

Originally Posted by jpaguia

the front page is more of a branding tool so people can identify with my name/logo

when i get home tonight i can upload a hi-res image for all to look at

if theres a general consensus of a particular image, id be happy to upload

Yes I see your point but I have a website (www.river-studio.com) and never saw the need for an 'enter' page. Try using your logo as an active part of the style sheet and dump the entry page. Your work is good enough that it doesn't need it.

Just my 2 cents/pennies worth.

All the best,

Dave.

[andyong]

everybody and me...great work!

[jpaguia]

haha thanks for all the feedback, positive and negative.

i will consider taking out the intro page once i put up more work.

im currently working on a series of jesus' pics so once these are complete, ill update the site with new and replaced images.

i know the sun should be shifted more towards the right bc of the shadows cast, but thats how the photog wants it.

[cli]

portfolio2... football player... photo from paul aresu: the number on the shoulder doesn't change

master work, ask Doug, to take a live lesson with you

[toan thai]

in portfolio1-->C-3PO: since you changed the landscape in the "after" photo to give an illusion of vast distant, the diagonal line should be a lot narrower or barely seen at the horizon. no? the shadow of the hovercraft would be that soft...not at that distant. it should be darker. look at C-3PO's shadow. also, why did you shorten the shadow of jet engine?

[jpaguia]

Originally Posted by toan thai

in portfolio1-->C-3PO: since you changed the landscape in the "after" photo to give an illusion of vast distant, the diagonal line should be a lot narrower or barely seen at the horizon. no? the shadow of the hovercraft would be that soft...not at that distant. it should be darker. look at C-3PO's shadow. also, why did you shorten the shadow of jet engine?

good observation and really looking into it...for the horizon, you do bring up a good point to fade out the lines, theres nothing really to make more narrow from what i can tell. as for the shadow of the side engine, it was my interpretation of what the shadow would look like had it been hovering a foot or 2 off the ground....i knew it was diff then the original but thought it still looked realistic enough to pass.

i also checked your work, great skin retouching

[garibaldi]

Hey, I may have a giant cock, but I dont walk in and announce that, and then slap it on the table and say, look at it, poke it and tug it and find whats wrong with it. Its kind of in bad taste. But if I were so inclined to do such a thing, Im sure the topic of size would come up, since they always say size matters. And that, my friend is exactly what your website is missing.

[jpaguia]

Originally Posted by garibaldi

Hey, I may have a giant cock, but I dont walk in and announce that, and then slap it on the table and say, look at it, poke it and tug it and find whats wrong with it. Its kind of in bad taste. But if I were so inclined to do such a thing, Im sure the topic of size would come up, since they always say size matters. And that, my friend is exactly what your website is missing.

so critiquing artwork is like critiquing penises from ur analogy? so i guess i dont have enough work up, is that what you're saying?!

[julius]

Originally Posted by jpaguia

so critiquing artwork is like critiquing penises from ur analogy? so i guess i dont have enough work up, is that what you're saying?!

What he's saying is that your website is average penis size. sorry buddy.. they have surgery for these types of things you know

[spydercam]

Absolutely awesome. Very nice works, looks like you put your imagination to work in every one of them. Keep it up.

[garibaldi]

i meant that your images are really small lol

[jpaguia]

haha wow..how did i not get it? it might've been that it was 4 in the morning or that i just came home from going out.....

but i do appreciate the comments and feedback, maybe ill have an option to click on the image to enlarge in another window.

[spydercam]

That would be a good option to have, hope to see it soon.

[SeeSpotClone]

Hey J, were you involved in the Vitamain Water campaign for Glauceau? Some of those sports images you crafted look very similar to that style. I was a retoucher and production designer for Ammirati, their ad agency here in New York

Good work btw, the hyper-real/photo illustration stuff jumps off the page and I can tell you were really enjoying what you were doing and it shows really solid craft. You obviously have carved out a solid niche for yourself in the world of professional retouching.

The only real crit I can offer you is of the girl holding the flower, the head looks a little too small and the hair, where it falls at the shoulder looks quite fake. Accepting the fact that I am sure the final look and feel of the piece (meaning the shadows and the flat background) were obviously part of the whatever campaign this was for, when you replaced the shadows on the chest I feel like the skin in that area became too plastic. That being said, I appreciate someone who knows his way around the channel mixer for hue replacement.

[Veralisa]

I do a bit of origami and was very impressed with your treatment of the dragon (?) in Port#2. Seems like self imposed torture to me. lol.

Great work, lots of success to you.

[jpaguia]

thanks seespot. the image of the girl with the flower was for asics and her head was cropped anyway, but i can see what you're saying with the hair over her skin. as for vitamin water, i havent worked there but would love to in the future, actually, anywhere with creative campaigns ahah.

and as for the origami dragon veralisa, i had to do 3 more animals, and making paths for each fold was ridiculous!!!! but im glad thats over.

[pboong]

Nice stuff you got there. It is really very good and I am amazed about your work.