fishyforlife

Detailed or Simple review: detailed
Message/Purpose of Graphic: This was made after Lu Han left exo..
Your concerns, if any: the placing of the photos and the coloring altho please focus on all :)

FIRST GLANCE/IMPRESSION
 
Firstly, thank you for your patience. Secondly, Happy New Year! Thirdly, this is quite the lively graphic. The colors are very vibrant and really brings the graphic to life. Especially with the involvement of nature and sunshine, I am very much reminded of that aspect along with the cycle of rebirth, the outdoors, nature, freedom and so on and so forth. I can see there is great organization in such a very complicated layout. I'm amazed how you fill it up so well without leaving so many blank spaces/gaps to balance out the the entire outlook, including the textures, which looks very minimal.

The thing that seems to concern me the most is the typography and brightness/contrast. The Luhan wedged in between the mirror duplicate behind the clocks, is darker than the rest of his images. Now this makes me wonder if you forgot to adjust the brightness/hue on his photo due to multiple images of him or you intentionally did it to balance out the light/contrast of the entire graphic. Since his other after images all have the same amount of brightness, I would recommend you do the same for him. Though, if this have some sort of symbolic meaning with time, such as being sadden over the decrease in time (since he left), that may be fine. However, you would probably need to change the stock images to reflect that and I'm assuming at this point, the decrease in brightness over his image was partially intentional. In addition, it looks like darkness is flooding on the right side of the graphic, though I assume are his inner feelings since you have a mirror right next to that image. Also the one in the mirror has a blank face, which then leads me to think this is how he is projecting himself on the outside because it's brighter.

MOOD AND THEMES
 
At a glance, it looks like a happy theme because the title of the graphic shows 'The main secret is Happiness' and one of the images is of him smiling. However, with the message 'this was made after Luhan left...' I can assume you're trying to portray the part where he is happy to retrieve his freedom. The connection with nature is stunning and really brings out the feeling of freedom that he finally achieved. With that, I'm wondering why there is only one image of him smiling and the rest are not. This is purely a guess, but is it some sort of regret and doubt you're trying to illustrate? Like, even though he had obtained what he longed for, he is still questioning himself 'is he truly happy with his choice?' sort of thing. The darker image of himself really depicts that sort of expression, but there isn't enough related images to show that uneasiness/longing in search of that 'happiness.' So I think some of the stock should be changed to portray that.

  
COLOR HARMONY
 
I already commented earlier how vibrant the colors are and it really is despite the minimal color palettes shown on the character, which I think is a good idea because the color in the background brings out the character and makes it stand out even more. Just like putting black and white next to an assorted color palette, it makes the difference really obvious.

I like how you've kept most of the color within the same color palette, but I've noticed that the character in the front is a bit different from the two in the back. He looks a bit more saturated and I think if there was a little more hue on him, he would look less like a statue. Concerning the theme of the graphic is mostly life, if he looks like he has a bit more color on him, he would blend more with the colorfulness. I'm not sure if it's to gain absolute attention towards him, but the middle is already focused on the audience, larger in size and even in the front. So I don't really see a reason to make him any less colorful than the rest of his images.

STOCK USES

Now that I've looked at it from a different perspective, I can see that you've tried to implement the sadness he feels through the shadows burned onto the stock images. It leaves a really nice contrast overall, but I feel like the 'happy' and lively stock photos overpower everything. It really takes a moment for me to realize the he even feels sad at all since there are live plants, fields, mountains and even animals all over. His sadness is very subtle and it's not noticed at all. Now I'm curious if you wanted to 'happy' vibe to overpower the sad side of this graphic since people have a tendency to cover up their bad moments with a smile. It's not a bad thing, but I feel you could have used other images to portray that. Considering most of the stock usage in this graphic are overused concepts, however, with the organization, you've been able to make it a bit more unique than most designed layouts. If you would like to adjust this out of the realm of an overused concept, why not integrate a storm blooming into the right side where he feels sad? A few reasons why I would recommend that sort of stock images is because you've already filled this graphic with many photos of mother nature and sunshine. It's even a lively graphic, so why not add more events that would bring it to life? Unless you're going for the 'fading into the dark' sort of concept since I see the landscape is turning dark and disappearing. If this was more of fantasy theme, I'd say it would work greatly; however, the usage of real animals, mountains and fields tells me it's more of a realistic part of nature and things in reality do not simply disappear out of nowhere. There will always be a cause and effect, such as an earthquake, a storm, or a tsunami...etc. as a reasonable source of disaster. So I'd suggest adding a storm to replace the fading dark and clocks to reduce the cluttered images and give this more of a realistic vibe. Or, if you prefer to keep it there, change the theme so it may look like it's a pop-up from a fantasy book- which by this, add some gradients. Too many solid colors will looked like it's real.

The clocks are the most redundant concepts used here on AFF and hardly related to the message. If it weren't for the fact that one of luhan looks relatively darker/sad and you have mentioned it's inspired/made after his departure from exo, I wouldn't have been able to make any connection with it. And this is purely my opinion, but I think it's unnecessary and as I had recommended above, to remove and replace it with a different set of stock images. If you choose to keep it there, I'd say move it so it is hiding behind the luhan (in front)'s back because it's covering the luhan next to the mirror too much. Also to move the darker image away from the one in the mirror and re-size it so it is smaller because it is relatively almost as large as the one in the mirror and I'm not sure if there's relevance in making the size in par with his reflection. It's quite cluttered in that area in comparison to the opposite side, which only has one image of himself. One of the darker clocks have a reflection on it as well- reason why I suggest hiding that- and I find it distracting because there isn't an obvious source of light to shine on it along with the second clock below it that has no reflection whatsoever.

Also, I've come to realize the transparent box you're kept around the character and separated from the background is tilted. I'm going to guess it's to align with the typography and some of the stock images, but again, I find this out of place in comparison to the organization of your layout. And again, it could be intentional to balance out the weight from the left and right side, considering there is less stock images used on the left compared to the right. I applaud you for taking that into consideration of the overall placement and probably to illustrate that his world is starting to flip over. It would probably work if you've intended for this to be a fantasy theme, but realistically, I think you should use the typography to balance it out.

Another overused concept, the roses have very little depth and looks two dimensional. I can see some of the areas are burned to be darker than other parts laid out on the graphic and that contributes to the contrast and vibrancy. However, it makes the light too artificial. If you can, maybe add some sources of light into the graphic, which may even bring out the concept of happiness. In addition, it looks like the roses are connected with the stairs and I'm guessing this is probably the fantasy area of the graphic. It's really not obvious how the stairs turn into roses and vice-versa. I think you should widen that grab to have it purposely flowing out. Though, if that's not what you're going for then you can ignore this part.

Lastly, there are torn textures on the bottom edge of the graphic. It looks amazing for a three dimensional outlook, and would probably fit with the background if you added more shadow around it. The one of the left seems really cut off and has a very saturated color. Now I'm really unsure if it's intentional since the majority of your graphic is filled with color whilst that edge has absolutely nothing vibrant about it. It makes me think if this is another concept of torn pages of a book, and thus, what is inside his mind/heart, I suppose. It's not terrible in a sense, but if it had that much relevance, I think it should be reflected on the other side as well (color or not) or make it bigger so it can be noticed.

  
TYPOGRAPHY

On the main phase "The Main Secret is Happiness" I believe needs to have a different typeface. Since I still cannot wrap my mind around how predetermined he is to be happy, I think a sharp and thin typeface should be used. Though, the cursive you've chosen is fine too, which is both legible and readable. In addition, the main focus is the background and not really much on the type, and that makes the size reasonable, but I believe if you moved it a bit higher, it would not overlap too much with the roses below it.  

On the other hand, I am terribly concern on the quote "find where joy resides..." because of it's format is align to the right side. "Joy resides..." sticks out too much and confuses the reader on where to read first. I understand "find where" should come first and if you're reading this assumingly in the english language, the words that begins on the left side is what your eyes catches and read first. So my suggestion is to move "find where" so it is align to the left. On the right side, there is a typo because you've put "shall" twice on each line. Unless that's how the quote is suppose to say, then I have no objections with it. 
 

SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES
 
It looks like you have a good understanding of blending and editing photos together. The outlook in itself really shows that. I just find it a little distracting that there are a few white lines above the character's head in front and if that can be cleaned up a bit more. It really stands out against the roses- or it could be the roses in general. I've come to notice there is a lot of white lines and I'm assuming it's been sharpened quite a lot. Maybe find another image to replace some of them or play with the source of sunlight, as I have suggested earlier.

The character that is half smiling on the left is a tiny bit more blurred than the others. If you can sharpen his image a bit more, I think it would be great. Also there is something on his hand that looks like korean words. It's not that noticeable because of the brightness, but it's right next to the title/main phase and I can't keep myself from looking at it. If you can remove that, it would be nice.

 
OVERALL 
 
This is one hell of a graphic. I don't know how many times my brain short-circuited to define all the answers, but it was definitely one ride determined to wreck my life. It's a stunning graphic, no doubt. But I think could have been better if you went with a different approach on the concepts to portray the message more accurately.

I hope this review was helpful. :)