1st Avatar nd 1st Sig

Ok just got CS4 and ive starting looking around for tuts and i found a few please tell me what you think

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...inprogress.jpg

nd

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...bafinished.jpg

what you think ?

not bad at all for a first try,
the top one does look like the render wasnt renderd all that well, with the white lines surrounding it.
and the render actually goes over your border on the sides, where as it goes under at the top/bottom parts, so that looks a bit odd.

The bottom one looks alot better, its alot more smooth and clean.

all in all defintly not bad for a first try, just read some more tuts and keep it up :)

The alba one is allrite. Don't use scanlines though. Looks like you followed a tut or two from here for that sig. Not a bad job if it's one of your first. I tried something very similar before.

Thx several people now have said that about the top one nd the bottom one i had many problems with but it seem to come reasonably ok

thx for your critiscm much appreciated. insy

My advice is to not necessarily follow tuts exactly, but to pull ideas from them to create your own style. Right now, worry about blending your render and making your tags look alright. Later on, when you get better at appeal, start learning more about flow, lighting, focals, etc.

Furbz does have a very good point there,
you dont need to follow any tut exactly, each sig is unique
and what works in the tut doesnt neccisarilly have to work for you.
Getting down the basics first is the most important thing.

Ok my msn is b_h4rt@hotmail.co.uk if you would like to add me and help me from time to time id love that :D

also whats scanlines?
what basics should i master first?
and how do i use a say 3px white brush with a pentool to give me nyc smooth curves and lines instead of drawing free hand and being jagged

and i will try to take parts from tuts and master from now on and try to make my sigs my own

p.s i struggle with stuff like lighting and focus light and stuff :D

On the left of your alba sig I see black diagonal lines. Those look like scanlines to me.

yes i created a pattenr with a 3px by 3 px canvas with 1 black diagonal line going through then i created a rectangle box and filled it with this pattern then duplicatd images and move parts around