Signatures are great and all... but...
One sentence summary: Less signatures, more other stuff.
Here's the full version:
Hey guys,
so I came on this site years ago... i think 2009? (Yeah... I just checked) Way back then things were a little different. We pretty much all knew each other and everyone commented on everyone else's stuff... and all our work was significantly worse than what we post now... But since then everything has gone to signatures. It's like the only thing I ever see on here, and it's not like this forum wasn't ever signature focused, even way back when (i feel old), but now there's no variety.
Is it too clichéd to urge everyone to try something other than signatures, something other than manipulations and photoshop effects? Maybe post more about favorite artists and stuff. Honestly, I'm not on here often enough to request this of other people, but I think it would be great if this forum expanded a little. I always say I'll try to be on much more often, but this time i really will try to post more stuff.
Signatures are great for getting a strong understanding of Photoshop and Adobe in general. I can honestly say i gained the majority of my understanding of photoshop by dicking around and making (horrible) signatures (god they were so bad...). That started in maybe 8th grade. Since then i've moved on to so much more, but when I go on here i see so many people who are just sticking to what they know. Maybe y'all don't really have aspirations to become a graphic designer or something along those lines, and challenging yourself may be useless, but why not? Try something new! Something bigger, something less constrained! Start with an 8.5"x11" page instead of a 250PX x 500PX canvas. The new things you create may look worse than what you're used to creating, but everything has to start somewhere.
Try it! Just one!