++ Say Cheese! ++

5 minutes left till Chemistry starts + writing this critique? Challenge accepted!! xD

First off: thanks for this wonderful, wonderful birthday gift. I didn't really expect anyone would draw Viola any time soon, as I only submitted her rough concept to tumblr, but of course I'm happy to see her in full color on a finished piece after such little time ;v;

As usually I had problems with that "Rate this deviation"-sections, as it does not cover the aspects I want to comment on that much. And I'm still confused what they mean with "Impact", probably that "Whoah" effect o.ô; deviantArt... please :/

Anyways, to get started with the real critique now let me explain my "Vision" and "Technique" rating :3 I gave both 4.5 stars as I believe that you improved on your coloring style a lot during the past months and weeks. I believe you are close to what might be called "mastering a (coloring) style", I couldn't spot any major faws in terms of shading and coloring. The shading on Viola's hair for example looks a little edgy, but it doesn't disturb the general appearance of the picture and can only be seen when going into full view mode o: The only thing that slightly bothers me is the highlight on the hair, as it could be a little more shiny and colorful for my taste. I really liked how this came out on your Valentine's picture when looking on Runa's hair, if I remember correctly it was a lot more shiny back then ♥ Shiny stuff ♥w♥ Yeah...
On a last note: The gradient in the background looks nice and probably a detailled background would've taken too much time, but I'd love to see trees in the background (maybe from a photo stock). I believe it would look awesome oAo Yet the gradient is very nice, as said before, and I love the effect you gave it with the photo frame. This way the center of the picture, Ashe's and Viola's face, are highlighted in a pretty way x3

Coming to Originality... Well, it's neither bad, nor is it over spectacular. It's a decent picture, featuring a theme I like a lot ovo; I remember drawing that postcard with with a similar theme, considering that it was a photoish looking postcard. I rated it with 3 stars, as this theme is frequently used ovo;

I think the same applies to Impact, as I might be the person thinking "Whoah" due to "personal issues", because I did not expect Viola to be drawn XD Other than that many people will recognize the photo-theme, yet they might be not so surprised by seeing Viola <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/a/a…" width="19" height="19" alt="" title="Sweating a little..."/> If you know what I mean D:

To end this critique... let's drift away from that weird rating system by filling in a more personal comment.
For me there is nothing wrong about Ashe's hands at all, it's more likely the opposite: I believe they are really well drawn. You also managed to make decent finger nails, something I will probably not accomplish any time soon XD So my characters will be doomed to live with gloves, except for Ashe - gloves look strange on her D: < And you also did a nice job on Ashe's hair, no worries ovo More over you did a good job on both characters in terms of displaying their personality. You captured Ashe's happy, yet sometimes probably annoying character very well, for Viola I'm not so sure myself right now if she will be a shy character in the end, or showing her feeling clearly... I must make up my mind about that, but it's probably more shy than extroverted by now... Thus I believe her facial expression fits aswell :3

That's it, I cant come up with anything else right now :'D Thus... Thank you so much for such a cute picture again ;A; It really cheered me up and made my day, also seeing it finished after such a short time >w< It really makes me want to draw both Ashe and Viola (as well as Xeno) any time soon, after digging out my motivation again ;w;.

_{Excuse all grammar and spell errors I made... my prof is pretty much distracting me with the ballons he brought to lecture today D: And also this netbook is not so easy going in terms of typing... But I didn't want to wait till our internet might be fixed to comment on this piece... As it might take forever |D Who knows...}