@ZenonRetna Okay, just to clarify: I would not describe it 'like that'.
I liked 'Commission by: artistexhale' ( https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/zenonretna/commission-by-artistexhale ) because it's an original idea and you did do some shadows and highlighting. The token-background works for the image. And we can all agree that 'hands are hard'.
It's just that it's in a different league than pieces where I would gasp and say "Nothing about this can be improved. This is perfect exactly the way it is and hence deserves the highest rating physically possible." For added context: I have a playlists of my 'all time Top 100' Art Portal submissions on NG. I rated some of those works 3.5. Regardless, I have hundreds and hundreds of artworks that I _really_ like and have put into my favorites. I just don't like 'all of them' "the best".
On kind of the opposite end of that: One of my favorite artist left Newgrounds over the weekend. I don't know why they left, but it made me very sad to see them go. If you take nothing else away from our conversation 'long term', please remember this: Regardless of what the numbers say, some people really like your art and would be sad if you stopped doing art, even if they don't rate, or write you reviews, or PM you to tell you how much they like it...
Yatsufusa
It's hard to tell what happened 'exactly'. Part of this is that different users' votes are weighted differently. Most casual users on NG have a total voting power of 4-point-something. Newer accounts who don't rate very often will often be around 2-point-something. And if your name is Cyberdevil* you have a voting power that would make GOD jealous... ;)
If a lot of your fans hang around on low levels and don't use the site much, that could already explain why a single person had such an impact. On the other hand, and please don't take this the wrong way, I have seen a lot of art, and from the few samples of your work I have seen I would say that your work is "about average". As @junipersona already alluded to, not everyone will just rate something either 0 or 5 and those numbers might come out like that in a lot of different ways.
That being said, I think having people who are not 'into' your work look at it regardless is a benchmark of success. One that you should celebrate - maybe by doing art. ;)
You 'could' use this as an 'opportunity' to draw up something in the 'Draw how your haters see you.' thread** and maybe leave some words for your peer. Or at least look into how other artists handle the topic.
Enjoy the rest of your day either way.
* https://cyberdevil.newgrounds.com/
** https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1537481
ZenonRetna
Thanks, I needed to hear that. I always thought I made good characters, just not the best way to draw them. It’s just some people don’t see it that way. All they see is just coloring book crap. Maybe I should make a piece on how haters see me sometime.