I'm gonna post one of my drawings, and you are going to critique it. Why? Because maybe you could use the practice. Maybe you wanna prove that you can be a judge for the AMW. Or maybe you like to write mean things to people, hidden by constructive criticism. It doesn't matter why, just post a dang critique.

The drawing I'm choosing isn't new, and I may have posted it before. I chose it because there is a lot of bad, there is some good, but mainly because it contains many different design choices for you to dissect. So without further ado:

I'm not expecting much from this. I'll be surprised if I get one critique. I will be grateful to anyone who tries, and I might give you something in return.

I thought this was going to be a thread by Cen.

Anyway, shadows. The shadows are your problem. Compared to the rest of the image they seem too sketchy.

I thought this was going to be a thread by Cen.

I have given up on getting critiques, attention, comments... Support... You know, all stuff.

Hmm.
The shapes are undefined and without weight. Whether the lack of weight is due to the shadows being undefined as well, lacking in depth and proper position, or if it is because the general shapes lack texture, I can't make out. Think it might be all of it, honestly. Some defining, heavy shadows where things connect to show the shape and that it actually does connect might be in order.
The image also does seem to be set slightly askew,  which does not do well for it and keeping the shapes and proportions consistent.
All of that said, the colours are well chosen, both for the metal(?) even if the texture seems odd all things considered, and for the background that is actually quite impressive and does well for the work, both set in contrast to the foreground and in a general choice of colours and texture. They lend a helping hand for the reading of the picture, I believe.
Nice use of the ink as well.
Not so good use of the light blueish white at the top near the ink, it looks like silver, but can hardly be made out besides a weird haze in the picture where it is.

Thanks for participating guys. I've got presents for your efforts.

For sapphics, a man pondering about strawberries:

For daleks, a grub boy trying to scare an otter:

And for Cen, an awesome beard man:

Not so good use of the light blueish white at the top near the ink, it looks like silver, but can hardly be made out besides a weird haze in the picture where it is.

Any ideas? I could probably make it pop more with paint.

For daleks, a grub boy trying to scare an otter:

I think it would be better if I was trying to scare a Ferret.

I was going to talk about the beard man, but decided that was a bad idea. :P

Ok, let's see what we've got here...

The thing that primarily and firstly strikes me are the eyes/holes/whateverthoseare. They look very unnatural considering they're just circles filled with black. In real life, we don't have natural circles filled with black. Look in the mirror - even your eyes aren't filled with black. There will always be some sort of reflection from the inside, whether it be from some sort of material or whatever. Easy fix so long as you didn't use anything permanent. Erase the black and put different shades in where appropriate. I don't know what this is supposed to be exactly so I couldn't really tell you where.

The position of the thing is off. Stand back and you'll get what I mean. It looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I mean, sure, it isn't meant to be perfectly positioned in the middle and straight up and down, but surely whatever this structure is it doesn't lean that far to the right. Unfortunately, this isn't something that can be fixed easily without changing the whole thing up.

Yes, the shadows do look sketchy and unnatural. I'm not going to dwell on how to fix them though, because I assume you know how (or at least I hope you know how :P). Looking at some of the unpopular aspects of your shadow use, they aren't very dynamic, but I can see a shadow pattern like this used anywhere in the real world, which is a huge plus. If the shadows weren't so dang sketchy, I'd know how much brightness/darkness contrast is there, but because the shadows are sketchy I can't tell exactly. From the looks of it, I see a healthy amount of contrast though. The only area that might need a tune-up may be the space directly under the chin/nose on the head area. That could probably use some darkening. A softer pencil will do you wonders.

The, uh, hair/volcano thing is... odd. I don't know what it is. It just seems out of place. *Moves on because he can't think of anything else to say*

It looks like you tried to pose a basic, centered format, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but you didn't do it fantastically or anything. The shape isn't symmetrically accurate enough to pull a good centered look. The spikes on either side of the head don't correspond to the other side in terms of size, which is pretty distracting to say the least.

The bottom part is busy, and I don't have anything to say that isn't extremely specific. I guess the thing that stands out the most is the fact that the shadows make the details on the right side blur together in a blob fashion. Same deal on the left side - the lack of shadow (which is probably intentional and good) causes the detail to look washed out.

The background is strange. I... don't have anything to add there. I think you know what's right and what's off. Well, that and my fingers are just dog-tired from typing this post.

Sal gets a spook trying to wear a mask. Alas, the spook has no ears.

I'm really surprised yall don't know anything about The Shadow of the Colossus. Here is a nice picture. I wish I had this when I was working on my drawing.

The black volcano is the essence of a god pouring out of the blue seal. When you stab it enough times, it fully releases that portion of the god. Unfortunately, the colossus is fully dependent on that god essence to live. When it dies, the eyes go black.

The position of the thing is off. Stand back and you'll get what I mean. It looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I disagree with this, it's not perfectly positioned because you are supposed to be seeing it at an angle/perspective.

I don't have much of an art background, so when I see I don't really see anything "wrong" except for two things. Some of the head's right collar and ear fade into the background/itself, I see that it's part of the shading, that it should be lighter, but I suppose just a slightly heavier line in those areas so it's visible. Well, I don't know if that would be proper fix. And some of the teeth on the right part of the collar (our left) and the stand(?) on it's right (our left) seem to be a little of in angle to the rest of the collar and stand/neck(?).

I say though, Great job! To me, there doesn't seem to really be anything that's "wrong" without inspecting the piece for a while and even then it's minor details. (but then again my art background is small, so I could be completely wrong lol).

Reton gets a squirrelboy holding a tiny dancing man trophy.

MOER COLOR!, do this either darken the background a bit with violets and purples, maybe a touch of blue (Bluuuuuuue sparkles O.o) use some more yellows and whites in the lighter areas of the colossus thingy. Use some dark yellows/browns, maybe some red browns in the creases, define the edges a bit more here and there.

Main problem has been mentioned it the lack of contrast and definition of the form, I suggest increasing the purple to yellow ratio because they are great at contrasting each other (O.O get a color wheel! and use it :P)