Hey Nat, I like how your banner style is simple and clean, which is good. It's also great that you feature drawings by other artists. They look quite nice overall, and your backgrounds are also pleasant to look at (especially when you use an animation, like in
this one)! I've noticed that you seem to prefer making the render stick out rather than blend in, though. Like, you'll put a glow around the subject. This draws attention to it, which is what you'd generally want to do, but it would be a good idea to try out blending the render and the background together as well. That would make
this piece look a lot more natural, for example. And contrary to popular belief, blending isn't just achieved by smudging; blending can be achieved by coloring the entire piece the same way, so you don't need a fancy program like PS or GIMP to do it ;-]
Ultimately, I'm suggesting this to you because making sure the final product looks cohesive is important. As they are now, they look like you simply took a render and then put it on a background, even though I'm sure you put more work into it than that.
Ah, also, another thing I've noticed is that your graphics normally look pretty barren. I have no idea if you're even that fond of adding effects, but giving it a whirl would be a good idea! Who knows, you could even come up with something you really like. Adding resources such as C4Ds, fractals, and textures can provide a lot of personality to your graphics, and you really only need layer styles to use them well. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure PSP has them... but then again, I haven't used PSP for anything in a long time so you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, C+C aside, I'm sure you'll get better with time, because it's pretty obvious that you've got some creative ideas. The rainbow border on this
Splatoon tag, for instance, is genius. I'm also seeing frequent usage of extra effects such as drop shadow, stroke, and etc. So you definitely have the capability to improve! Miharu has already mentioned before that you should consider getting GIMP, so I'm not going to say much about switching programs, but if you do ever get a newer laptop and have the desire to make better graphics and/or obtain access to more features I wholeheartedly recommend taking the plunge and going for GIMP. It's relentless towards beginners, I know, but you will thank yourself in the future haha. Adapting to it doesn't take THAT long, especially since there are so many courses and tutorials that can aid you. GIMP does have those dramatic effects you mentioned, after all. (Though I think you CAN get them with PSP if you download/install a plug-in. Maybe google "paint shop pro plugins" or something like that? A few helpful results may pop up.)
Oh, and before I forget- I love your ref sheets. I don't make them myself so I can't offer anything constructive (sorry!), especially about your problems with the latest one, but I'm eager to see more :-]
Keep up the work!
