Deleted
- Thread starter Acruoxil
- Start date
First off, I want to say that you've got a pretty sweet variety of stuff here, Aerate. It's always good to branch out and try multiple dimensions, to get a feel for each. But which would you say you're most comfortable with? I ask this because I think it'd be best if you focused on one type of graphic first, and then after achieveing good balance with that, you can start tackling other things. That way, you'll have a better sense of space, which is especially important in the transition from smaller graphics to the large-scale monsters. Also, along the way you'll further improve your eye for effects and color.
In fact, right now that's what you're lacking in, and your wallpapers are the biggest examples of this. I understand that's because they were probably some of your first works, but space and composition are two super important things to keep in mind when working on a large canvas, and your wallpapers feature bad distribution. When you used multiple images, they were applied messily, and there seems to be no purpose behind it as well (i.e. my eye isn't drawn to any particular thing). On the other hand, if your wallpapers aren't messy, they're simplistic. I like what you did with the glow on the second one, but it leaves a lot to be desired. I feel like an added glossy/matte look to the symbol would have finished off the piece, and that would make the work look a lot more appealing/professional as a whole. It's just very flat as it is now. As for the last wallpaper, the images you used have visible artifacts, and the dude in the lower right corner is distorted. To prevent that from happening, hold down Shift while resizing images. This keeps the proportions, and will help immensely when downsizing images. Make sure to use it all the time, if you don't already :-]
So even though most of the problems your wallpapers have are fixed in your signatures, I felt like giving you some critique on those/pick them apart a bit, because wallpapers are hard to handle, especially if you start with smaller pieces first.
Actually, now that I'm on that topic, it's great that we can see visible improvement from your top tag to the last. Generally, you're on the right track, and the signatures you've done showcase this fact. There are some offenders, however.
[This Zinnia tag] is intense, but that wasn't achieved in the best way. It seems as if you burned the tag too much, and you made certain parts of it very oversaturated as a result. Her face is most notably saturated. Whenever this happens, layer masks are your best friend. HMU if you need an explanation for those ;-]
(I don't want to spell everything out for you, because I personally think that's way too condescending in the case that you do know what these features are already.)
[CORNER TEXT] should not be done. I suppose there are a few cases where it could be acceptable, but this is... far out. Really far out. It should have been placed close to the main focus, which is the dude in the middle, but instead it's distracting. The font choice is also pretty bad. Fixed width fonts are awesome, but definitely not a good fit for this piece. A bolder, heavy-weight font would have fit the choice of render better. Layer styles would make it even more appealing as well. A Gradient Overlay, or possibly a clipping mask, would give it an extra pop. Again, feel free to hmu if you need further explanation for anything.
[The styling of the text is great], but unfortunately I can't say the same for the placement. You have to get both, or it doesn't count (sadly). This is why it's often said that text can make or break a tag. I would have put it close to the model's head, in the space to the left. It's pretty small, but with text warping and different colors, you would've been able to pull it off.
[It appears like It appears as if you suffered from a classic case of "idk what effects I'm going to do" when making this tag]. I know because this gets me all the time, actually. Effects are what makes a graphic interesting, so it's important to be able to tell which type of effect would look best with an image. For that one, I would've gone with light effects. Splatter should normally be reserved for anything that falls in the "fun", chaotic, or gory categories... Or when you want to add a clipping mask. That isn't the case here though, haha.
You know what, I might as well give a quick run-down of the most popular effects (barring light and splatter, as I've already mentioned those)
C4D- Can work with anything. Use this if you get lazy, or as a last result. Regardless, C4Ds rarely let you down.
Vector Shapes- Goes along with fun tags, stuff that's bright, or anything that is pretty vibrant in general
Texture-based- Tags done in this stype are the opposite of C4D-heavy works. They look flat and often lack depth, but they're often the most interesting. An example of someone who does signatures in this style is Megatastic ;-]
Smudge- Yeah, it's a beast. You'll have to take it head-on sooner or later though, because smudge is like C4D in that it can work with almost anything. A plus is that it's easy to create flow with it as well, and make interesting backgrounds
This seems like a pretty tiny list, but it's more than enough for most people. There's a ton of resources to be used, and many ways to make each graphic look different, even within the same style/category.
Let me know if you need any specific information, or if you want to see examples of each. I'll be happy to accomodate ;-]
(I don't want to spell everything out for you, because I personally think that's way too condescending in the case that you do know what these features are already.)
[CORNER TEXT] should not be done. I suppose there are a few cases where it could be acceptable, but this is... far out. Really far out. It should have been placed close to the main focus, which is the dude in the middle, but instead it's distracting. The font choice is also pretty bad. Fixed width fonts are awesome, but definitely not a good fit for this piece. A bolder, heavy-weight font would have fit the choice of render better. Layer styles would make it even more appealing as well. A Gradient Overlay, or possibly a clipping mask, would give it an extra pop. Again, feel free to hmu if you need further explanation for anything.
[The styling of the text is great], but unfortunately I can't say the same for the placement. You have to get both, or it doesn't count (sadly). This is why it's often said that text can make or break a tag. I would have put it close to the model's head, in the space to the left. It's pretty small, but with text warping and different colors, you would've been able to pull it off.
[It appears like It appears as if you suffered from a classic case of "idk what effects I'm going to do" when making this tag]. I know because this gets me all the time, actually. Effects are what makes a graphic interesting, so it's important to be able to tell which type of effect would look best with an image. For that one, I would've gone with light effects. Splatter should normally be reserved for anything that falls in the "fun", chaotic, or gory categories... Or when you want to add a clipping mask. That isn't the case here though, haha.
You know what, I might as well give a quick run-down of the most popular effects (barring light and splatter, as I've already mentioned those)
C4D- Can work with anything. Use this if you get lazy, or as a last result. Regardless, C4Ds rarely let you down.
Vector Shapes- Goes along with fun tags, stuff that's bright, or anything that is pretty vibrant in general
Texture-based- Tags done in this stype are the opposite of C4D-heavy works. They look flat and often lack depth, but they're often the most interesting. An example of someone who does signatures in this style is Megatastic ;-]
Smudge- Yeah, it's a beast. You'll have to take it head-on sooner or later though, because smudge is like C4D in that it can work with almost anything. A plus is that it's easy to create flow with it as well, and make interesting backgrounds
This seems like a pretty tiny list, but it's more than enough for most people. There's a ton of resources to be used, and many ways to make each graphic look different, even within the same style/category.
Let me know if you need any specific information, or if you want to see examples of each. I'll be happy to accomodate ;-]
But yeah, bad aspects aside, there are quite a few things I liked. Flow is one of of them, and I applaud the flow of these three tags in particular - [x, x, x]. (But, concerning the last one, just remember to get rid of all the excess white pixels on the render).
Also, your tags can have good depth when it counts. This is a great example: [x]. I'd say that's your best work, actually. It's cohesive, the color scheme is awesome, and the effects are perfect. That's the level of work I'd like to see from you in the future. So good luck with getting into the swing of things again! Once you post new stuff, I'll be back.
Ah derezzed thanks a lot for your opinion, I'll get to responding it in a bit.
Meanwhile I'm currently streamning while I work on this one piece right here.
Meanwhile I'm currently streamning while I work on this one piece right here.
Just finished making this. till not done yet, but I'm unsure where to go ahead from here.
C&C would be appreciated c:
it looks great c: it just looks like it could use more layers on top of it and the background doesnt look like its blending in with the render very well, so i suggest adding to that as well. i myself seem to have trouble at this point in gfx a majority of the time, but something i would do is plot a dot or two between the render and the background (preferably blue or red), go to layer mode and switch it to screen or whatever looks best to you. i honestly cant remember which option specifically to pick, but just play around with the different options until you find the right one. doing this will blend the render and bg together a bit. another thing i would do is download some decorative brushes - ill drop some links to a few as a reference
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Brush-Set-1-Tiny-text-x-s-21442333
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Lyrical-Text-58928102
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Icon-Textures-027-131360955
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Text-texture-111765474
Last edited:
Very nice! The only thing Id say is that you lightened it a bit TOO much, at least in my opinion. It was way too dark before, and now its a bit too bright. But I really like the simplicity of it, as well as the font you used! Great job!
lightened the background to make it blend in with the stock more, removed the silhouette in the bottom right corner, moved the text to the right and made it bigger since the left side seemed kinda empty.
