Lol I agree, that little analogy was kind of weird, but yea, why use a render if its not going to be the main part of the signature?
I really like the first one though, although you didn't cut it out right, it almost looks like the light source is behind him, you could of built on that by perhaps burning the outsides of the signature. Or you could add a black and white gradient map and set it to 'Multiply' and play with the opacity.
Second one looks a bit plain and scruffy, and without trying to sound rude, but a little bit boring.
