Beketov

Oslo 4-1

Yukon Saskatoon Ottawa

I like the overall gold theme you are working with here. Pretty sure it was just to match the jerseys but it does give an overall feel of all-star which is cool. Lighting and focus could be a little better, maybe darken / blur out Burns a bit so that Scott stands out more as a focus. Stock works is pretty good. Text is alright style wise but kinda blends in a bit too much, almost hard to tell it was even there at first.

Ah, blurring, so you do know the way into my heart after all. Effects might be a tad strong as the contrast is a little tough on the eyes but it's not too bad. Text is the main focus but it should be in this piece and works well. The grungy texture on the left seems a tad oversharp which I'm not big on but overall this is well done.

Manips are tricky when it comes to depth, I think you did a pretty decent job with making that work. Might have been better to keep the focus on the left side though since the glove is pulling my eye more than any of the renders. Text is simple but effective enough, maybe a tad too sharp. The stock work is good but I'd like to see either it or the jersey's re-colours so that the colours match as they are kinda weird right now.

Well that is certainly...something haha. Is this designed to look like an 80's game because it kinda does. I don't mean that as a negative, it's kinda cool. Not sure what's up with Chewbacca but alright haha. Text is cool, very retro. Effects on the renders might be a tad strong but I guess that's what you were going for.

There's not a ton going on here but I can tell that you were putting forth an effort with it for sure which is good to see. Crosby is kinda small compared to the other two renders which feels a little odd. Maybe blend them in and use them as BG elements instead of being so in focus. With that said effects on all three renders are pretty good. Text is simple but nice, would be good to see it a tad larger perhaps. Lighting is okay but not perfect. Overall a pretty clean look which is kinda refreshing to see.

Come on guys, 13 questions isn't much to work with. Ask me anything. VHL stuff, life stuff, gaming stuff, don't really care. I'll pretty much answer anything. Want to record this on Saturday but may end up with only enough time to do an All-Star GFX so it could be later.

Pretty terrible game for me but turned it up when it counted. Good win.

With Krever at the helm of the team even Scotty wasn't going to save them. Frankly I saved him an unfortunate fate.

That logo is all kinds of sexy

Yup, I'll take another SO

Jakab Holik - Goaltender

Fun fact: the All-Star game was only ever held at the end of the season because in S1 we forgot to do it during the middle so we decided to make it like the Pro-Bowl. It was never supposed to be this way, it just sorta stuck. Nice to see the festivities finally falling where they logically should.

4

Hoping to get a few more people with questions so will probably hold off on recording this until next week.

Finally, one of these <10 Shots games where I actually get a shutout.

If it was a goalie I'd be jizzing all over it for myself but sadly, it is not

I feel as if I've seen your name before, probably the VFL, but I'm sure there have been others.

I'm honestly ashamed that I didn't get a shutout here...

INFORMATION: Player name: Jakab Holik Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic Position: Goaltender Height: 6'6" Weight: 220lbs Team: Saskatoon Wild BACKGROUND: The season 48 entry draft is already shaping up to be one of the better drafts in the past several seasons of the VHL. Top tier players are starting to emerge and GM's are weighing their options on who they want to take in the coveted first round selections. Of those top-tier players, two are goaltenders. Jakab Holik, and his rival, Dmitri Dadonov. Holik spent a small portion of season 46 with the Oslo Storm after being picked up off waivers and immediately made an impact with the team, pushing them into a playoff spot late in the season. Unfortunately they were beaten by a much stronger Bern team in 6 games but Jakab had proven himself enough that when the S47 VHLM draft came around he was taken third overall by the Saskatoon Wild. With the Wild Jakab has been having a challenging season. Training has been going well for him, as he sits third overall in gym time amongst prospects, but his performance on the ice was hindered by small nagging injuries that kept the youngster in constant pain for the start of the season. Now that he's pain free, however, Jakab's stats are steadily improving and he's looking forward to once again leading a team into the playoffs. PROS: --- Agency --- It may sound odd but in the VHL an agent can make or break a young player. GM's like players that they know will be consistent and the Beketov Agency that represents Holik is one of the most well-known around the league. So far in his short career Holik has proven exactly why people have come to expect good things from Beketov players as he has put in the work to improve his draft stock as much as possible. --- Speed --- Agility and speed are often overlooked by young goaltenders, Holik aims to break that trend by being exceptionally fast, especially given his large frame. He covers a solid portion of the net on his own but the parts he doesn't cover he makes sure to get in front of quickly if needed. His reflexes are top tier for young goaltender's which makes for tough plays by opponents. There may be a hole one minute but Holik will quickly close it if the shot isn't taken. --- Creativity --- Comparisons between Holik and his fellow countryman Dominic Hasek have already begun popping up and not only for their country of origin and last names. Holik is a creative goaltender, just as Hasek was, who is capable of shutting the door in ways that most players won't think of. If that means throwing his stick across the crease and diving back to make a play than he will do so in order to keep the puck out of the net. CONS: --- Health --- When he's healthy, it's hard to make an argument that there is any other young goaltender you would want in net. However, as discussed above, Holik's health is already giving him issues. He isn't staying out of the gym or off the ice but nagging leg and back issues could come up once again and stop Jakab from performing at peak performance. If he wants to have a long VHL career Holik will need to get his injuries under control and, more important, behind him. --- Penalty Shots --- For reasons he cannot explain, Holik is very poor against penalty shots; be it during the game or in a shootout. He's certainly capable of stopping the shots but not at a percentage that gives his team an advantage if the game goes that far. Jakab plans to work heavily with his goaltending coach to fix this problem but with the other training that needs to be done at the VHLM level it may need to wait until he hits the VHL and that could be very detrimental; especially against more talented scorers. --- Attitude --- It's an un-deniable fact that goaltender's receive a lot of flak. Fans and media outlets will turn on them after only a few bad games. Unfortunately for Jakab, his tendency is also to turn on himself. Holik is his own harshest critic and even when fans and teammates don't get down on him for having a rough game, he will get down on himself. This attitude can, and has, caused worse games to happen after as he gets into his own head too much and causes mistakes. Jakab needs to learn that he can't stop everything and sometimes plays will simply not go his way.

Contrast is going kinda crazy on this piece, it's blown out in some areas, washed out in others, over-done in yet more. Slap some exposure layers on there to get everything to mesh well together. The stock work is okay and kinda gives a cool effect to his jersey but take it off the face, it makes him kinda look like he's under the sea/ Colours are a little crazy but overall don't look too bad. Text needs some work. Font is okay but not the best, placement should be a bit more left and effects make it look slapped on. Avoid the layer fx menu when doing text unless you're really sure of what you want. Gradient overlay, stroke and drop shadow may seem appealing but they make your text a little distracting. To give text some depth try clipping masks instead and if you want a stroke that's more subtle try duplicating your text layer, making the bottom version off-white and moving it over / down 1-2 pixels. That adds a bit of depth without just separating it from everything.

Who needs depth when your effects pop this much? That's a compliment BTW, the depth is non existent but it really makes all the stock work just pop off the canvas which works really well. I'd like to see a few other shades of red maybe if you want to work all in one colour as this feels a little mono-chrome but it's not that bad. Text is pretty bold which works but makes the render sorta fall to the BG which I'm not too big on. Maybe get the lighting a bit stronger on the render and go for a B&W face to make him pop. It also feels a TAD large so maybe some cropping. overall, very well done; I'm mostly just being picky.

Definitely not a fan of the render effects. Not sure exactly what happened but it looks like he got stuck midway trying to transform into a cartoon. Strong effects need to either go all the way and be worked with or be ignored; this feels like it falls in the middle. The stock work is okay for a mania but is creating some weird contrasts. The right side is washed out while the left is over-contrasted. "Nikki" text is okay but maybe hard a slight shadow or change the stroke around to make it a little more visible. The last name text doesn't really do it for me, seems slapped on with some simple fx not really blended at all. Keep working at it; I'm seeing improvement in your techniques, you just need to get them nailed down.

I don't mind the colouring on the render, I don't think it's that strong, but the effects in general give it a weird feel. It almost looks LQ, not sure if that's effects or render but it's putting me off a bit. BG is pretty cool and the lighting is simple but well done. I love the text for the last name, it has a lot of pop to it that works well here. However, the first name text is boring and plain, really distracting actually. I would either change the font / effects up on it or remove it completely.