Signature Request... Advice handouts...

[ophidian]

Please don't, no need for extra fuzz.

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[Revan]

This is my first signature for myself =D Critique?

The black background was tricky. After some experimenting, this is how i did it.

First I found this image -



I then contrasted it black, and cut out various parts and lines so it was in pieces.
I this set this as layer 1 and copied a second layer and reversed it

To get this -



I this cut out this out of the Hitman poster and greyed it.

To get this - (poster)


After some developed layering and positioning, I finally got this -




The end. 1 hour. =D (plz don't use it for other sigs without asking me - thanks)

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[Revan]

It is not your expected size (because it is too big for in my opinion), but I think this is my proposal:

I don't know about you Calego, but I am doing the sig, the size of the forum space - it's way too big otherwise, the resolution will suck. (My signature size).

Here is my attempt.. err -attempt-



Here is a bigger size. (HERE) As big as i could get it -

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[Calego]

Meh, I had some fun atleast:)

The Good:

• The border. The border is defnitily a strong point. It would appear that you've either generated it for each and every one of your sigs of this sort or you have an image with the border already there that you keep using over and over... (right?) But either way it looks AWESOME
  
• The action is all moving toward the Center
  
• There's atleast somewhat of a color scheme. Like I said before Its hard especially with what is probably one of the more ugly ships in the game but it is doable.
  
• The Photo treatment on the FireFly is good, it makes it look more shiny (you did do something to the firefly right?) and somewhat less ugly.
  

The Not-So-Good:

• Empty space. You did make it exactly the size I wanted which is good but its still empty is some places.
  
• The Background isn't exactly what I had in mind when I said Space. Its closer but it seems to me that you just went and googled nebula and that pic came up, maybe you did a little with the color but apart from that you just stuck it on the background.
  
• The Text doesn't flow very well with the rest of the sig. Its... well, Wrong... I'm not entirely sure what it is... The font doesn't really fit in too well. Maybe its the drop shadow or bevel on the name or the fuzzy effect on the subtext too.
  
• The guy has been cut out a bit choppily in some places mainly the hand by the glasses. And his head seems to just cut off after the border rather than under the border.
  

Overall Rating (1-10):
4 - Not too bad but not too good either.
I think I might start stopping these ratings, I prefer to give advice rather than numbers....

Suggestions:

• Try as much as you can to Blend everything into one masterpiece. The main Idea behind a signature (or so i've been "taught") is that every element is supposed to act together to form a single graphic. Blending is the main word. Everything, the text, the colors, the border even needs to work together.
  
• Try experimenting with layer blending styles... Mainly on text, you don't want to add too much shinyness to text but you don't want it to fade from existance.
  
• Try finding some good space stock and generating your own space backgrounds for sigs. If you already do this then great! But I'd suggest using stock on DeviantArt.com.
  
• Try to use multiple pieces to generate a background-foreground effect that can easily blend it all together. Like you have the background and then you put another nebula on the top of the renders set to either lighten or Linear Dodge (depending on what looks best) this impacts the renders and helps with the color scheme stuff. I'll probably put up a tutorial later.
  
• Try to avoid having to generate engine trails, my favorite trick is just having the back end of the ship off the edge to the sig... Makes it looks a little less like you're trying to make up for something that isn't there.
  

Rand if you're still paying attention to this thread maybe you can help out with text issues... that's not my specialty...

The black background was tricky. After some experimenting, this is how i did it.

First I found this image -



I then contrasted it black, and cut out various parts and lines so it was in pieces.
I this set this as layer 1 and copied a second layer and reversed it

To get this -



I this cut out this out of the Hitman poster and greyed it.

To get this - (poster)


After some developed layering and positioning, I finally got this -


The end. 1 hour. =D (plz don't use it for other sigs without asking me - thanks)

BRILLIANT! I though you may have used some fancy brush pack but this works just as well. Very good for an abstract background.

I don't know about you Calego, but I am doing the sig, the size of the forum space - it's way too big otherwise, the resolution will suck. (My signature size)

Yes I know its too big for so little. I want to see what ideas people come up with to eat up the extra space. Like try making the background more detailed or having fancy border effects... I shouldn't say anything else. Just do your best.


EDIT:
ALright I'll critique that one later today Revan.

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[Cyberanson]

I just wanted to say thanks dude for your effort. Nice that you spend your time with giving such detailed advice.:)

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[Calego]

I just wanted to say thanks dude for your effort. Nice that you spend your time with giving such detailed advice.:)

Thanks, I just want to make sure you walk away with something more than what you came with... With any luck you'll find something helpful in all my comments.

Started uploading stuff for free use here. Go on and check it out.

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[ophidian]

Text advice? Hmm... sure, why not. Some text and image advices;

Some basic guides that I follow when working on design jobs, I guess these will show you why they work if you try in Photoshop (sorry, I only work with 'shop, dunno much about other graphical programs);

- First rule, never think normal. A text doesn't have to be a text or has to be linear all the time. Resize, chop, multiply, expand, shrink... experiment. The first thing you look is rarely the best thing you can see.

- Texts are your friend in means of resolution. They are vectoral, you can play with the size to create texture for your backgrounds, even create vectoral shapes or figures from cut and paste.

- Texts are meant to be textures or labels. Decide on if you need the typographic element as a texture or a label. If texture, you shall use the text as a "NOT SO IN FRONT" element without taking attention but creating a difference. Like the Matrix effect. If it is a label, it means it has to be the most attractive thing that immediately rings a bell. Then, blending options is your friend.

- Blending Options: NEVER EVER use "Global Lighting" feature that comes as a preset with blending sub sections (drop shadow, inner shadow etc). Always, unless you are working on merging, 90 degree drop shadow with 0-1 distance and a bit spread works better than 120 degree light because one creates a structural deepness, other creates a reflection. Reflection when you don't expect to be reflected, creates complexity. Unwanted complexity.

- Inner shadow is your friend when you re blending several different layers. Pick the main "image" builder of your composition and think from a light perspective from that. Like, pick a sun of a space picture and apply the light effects according to that sun. REMEMBER, drop shadow only works for certain light approaches. Most of the time, with singular light source, INNER SHADOW applies the true, realistic shadow drops of an object. Texts are no different.

- Go, be a member of www.sxc.hu for stock photos. Stock photos are your friend. Better image -> better application of composition.

- Try to be creative. A lamp can be a space ship. A pen can be a rocket. Photomanipulation and de-arrangement requires you to be creative. So does the typography. You can build a tower from letters. You can texture a spaceship from numbers. Don't limit yourself, let the program limit you.

- Best way to understand how texts should work, take a look at company logos and shop signs (proper ones, the ones that immediately take your attention are probably hitting something right).


Also, feel free to ask.


Oh, one other thing;

In photoshop, shortcuts are your best friend. Knowing ctrl+u, v, w, z kinda things help a lot.

PS: Geometric shapes are also your friend.

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[Serpentis]

Had some time, so I fixed some things.

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Abadan and the Arcadia | Sergei, The lost | Feedback Thread

[Calego]

Here is my attempt.. err -attempt-

Alrighty...

The Good:

• The use of the funky shapes. That is cool, very cool. Especially behind the sillhouette of the Firefly, that whole logo thing is cool.
  
• You experimented a bit with the border, could use a bit of work but it is different from your previous ones.
  
• You have a theme, dark...
  
• The line under the name-text. That has a good effect on it, it doesn't stand out too much and it down't receed too much.
  

The Not-So-Good:

• The phototreatment on the firefly does a bit too much. I presume you took the layer and duplicated it and set it to multiply? If so try lowering the opacity on such layers, most often in only takes a little bit (like 25-35) to give the effect you want. But this is too dark...
  
• The Background isn't exactly what I had in mind when I said Space. Hmmmm.... I think I'll make a tutorial on space backgrounds.
  
• To me the text is a little plain. It looks like arial bolded.
  
• The guy is a bit too dark as well.
  

Suggestions:

• You've gotten the concept of blending down, no need to repeat myself on that again.
  
• Try experimenting with layer blending styles... Mainly on text, you don't want to add too much shinyness to text but you don't want it to fade from existence. Also on the border, you can do all sorts of cool stuff with blending effects on the border.
  
• Try finding some good space stock and then generate your own space backgrounds for sigs. If you already do this then great! But I'd suggest using stock on DeviantArt.com. I'll probably post a tutorial later/soonish about how I make mine.
  
• Try to use multiple pieces to generate a background-foreground effect that can easily blend it all together. Like you have the background and then you put another nebula on the top of the renders set to either lighten or Linear Dodge (depending on what looks best) this impacts the renders and helps with the color scheme stuff. I'll probably put up a tutorial later.
  
• The main attractions of the Signature are the Text and the Renders. The text you can mess around with all you want, color, border, etc... The renders, not so much. Its best to leave them close to what they were when you plastered them on, maybe a bit of increased contrast, resizing is ok but otherwise leave it be. You may have to generate some lighting effects but don't over do it. The background should be made to fit the renders rather than the other way around. If you go for making the background a somewhat independent part of the sig then this isn't much of a worry (as in, you aren't worried about making the ship seem like its flying around in the background) but otherwise in order to preserve the flow you should have it similar. I've found that blue is a good all around color. it matches well with the metallic colors on most ships and looks cool on its own.
  

Overall good job but its a bit too dark for what I was thinking about.

Thanks for the tips Rand, I hadn't thought about using text like that before... I'll have to experiment a bit.

@Serpentis:
It looks cooler, but the circles don't fit with the rest of it. Text is better, now its just a matter of what font. You fixed up the guy and now he looks like he's behind the border. my only suggestion is to experiment with "vector" artwork in sigs. d/l a bunch of vector brushes and mess around... Good improvements.

Bear in mind that unless something adds to the sig's theme/unity it shouldn't be there. If you have a single circle in the middle of a signature with no other vectory artwork around ti just won't fit in, have more vector stuff around the edges, one of the most common ways of using vector brushes in sigs is behind the main render, it can look really cool when done right.

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[Exsiled_one]

ooooh oooh grade me grade me!

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