First post here, critisism appreciated!

Hey guys, my first post here - nice website btw, used a lot of the tuts!

Anyways, I started using photoshop 3 odd weeks ago, mainly for making sigs, and these are all the ones I've come up with so far. I know they arent great, but like I said, I've been using PS for all of 3 weeks. They are in order of creation (oldest first, newest last).

Critisism is appreciated, but if you do find something wrong with it, tell me how I can improve it so I can learn:D

Most of these were made for friends, so theyre not really my style.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/1861/sigbh3kn4.jpg
First ever sig, took me 20 odd minutes.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/133...atteneddf1.jpg
Second one, took half hour, made 3 versions, but this one looks best imo.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6...kcheeseop4.gif

Took 40 minutes, sillhouettes were hard to do. Animation added later. I personally don't like moving BG, but was requested.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5604/sigox5.jpg
Spend an hour making this one, but did text too quikly, should add some effects, but havnt had time.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8705/sigts9.gif
First animated sig, know render/bg is crap, but point was to make rain.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/433...ycrysigms2.jpg
Made this one after watching vid tut, was a quik one, and text is shocking, but I like colours.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8...quishiecx4.gif
Request for a mate, not my style at all, but thats what he wanted.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2...ckysoc5ds1.gif
Another request, took me about an hour and a half, so my longest.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/986/magsitglbi6.gif
Request, took me a while cause I screwed up background and had to redo it

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1599/amakiq3.gif
Another request, like render and bg, but too much text.

Thats all of em up to date. Thanks for any replies.

Korrupt

Shink down your sigs to a more reasonable size. (i prefer something around 350x100)
Work on blending a lot and text.

Quote:

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Shink down your sigs to a more reasonable size. (i prefer something around 350x100)
Work on blending a lot and text.
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yeh I normally use 450x150, but on some of the requests, I had to make em bigger. As for text, yeh, I havnt downloaded any fonts. As for blending, what do you believe I can improve on?

Thx for your reply btw!

Korrupt

Yeah, the main issue with these is that they are too big, so they look very empty.

Agreed, they are a bit large, making them look empty. Try adding more to them if they are going to be that size. Aslo, the renders are pretty big too but maybe that's just because of the sig sizes.Try throwing in some scan lines. Isee you did on the green one but they are a bit vibrant and strong. LOwer the opacity and erase so they don't stand out as much.

Any more critisism plz!?

Sure thing ;) I won't comment on each signature individually, but I will give you general suggestions for what you need to do to improve.

First off, you need to think more about color. Look at the last one, for example. Theres a desaturated dark green and a vibrant violet (almost hot pink even) right next to each other. Those colors really clash and don't go well together. Take a look at this color wheel:

http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/study...iange_wheel.gif

That's a good place to start when thinking about color. Pick colors that are next to each other (like violet and red) on the color wheel, or colors opposite each other (like blue and orange). Clearly you can't just pick any blue and any orange, then put them together. Hue does matter.

Next I'd say you need to lighten up on the effects. From the looks of it you're taking effects you find cool and just throwing them on there just because. For example, look at the second to last. You have animated glowing text (with some very nasty bevel/emboss type effect), scanlines, various patterns in random areas, and an outer glow around that guy. Use effects when they'll improve the overall quality of your piece, don't use them just to use them. Because of the content (sniper guy looking through scope), at most I would have put some subtle scanlines in key areas. However, I'm not a big fan of doing things like that. Basically, if you can avoid putting something like that in, do so. Only add an effect if it is tasteful and really adds something.

Lastly, don't restrict yourself to signatures. I started digital art a little over 5 years ago and I started off doing "large pieces." I never did signatures. I've probably made as many signatures as you in all that time. Believe me, you'll get much better and you'll appreciate it a lot more later on if you do regular pieces rather than signatures. Obviously this is just a suggestion, but believe me, I've seen a thing or two since I've started :)

Quote:

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Sure thing ;) I won't comment on each signature individually, but I will give you general suggestions for what you need to do to improve.

First off, you need to think more about color. Look at the last one, for example. Theres a desaturated dark green and a vibrant violet (almost hot pink even) right next to each other. Those colors really clash and don't go well together. Take a look at this color wheel:

http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/study...iange_wheel.gif

That's a good place to start when thinking about color. Pick colors that are next to each other (like violet and red) on the color wheel, or colors opposite each other (like blue and orange). Clearly you can't just pick any blue and any orange, then put them together. Hue does matter.

Next I'd say you need to lighten up on the effects. From the looks of it you're taking effects you find cool and just throwing them on there just because. For example, look at the second to last. You have animated glowing text (with some very nasty bevel/emboss type effect), scanlines, various patterns in random areas, and an outer glow around that guy. Use effects when they'll improve the overall quality of your piece, don't use them just to use them. Because of the content (sniper guy looking through scope), at most I would have put some subtle scanlines in key areas. However, I'm not a big fan of doing things like that. Basically, if you can avoid putting something like that in, do so. Only add an effect if it is tasteful and really adds something.

Lastly, don't restrict yourself to signatures. I started digital art a little over 5 years ago and I started off doing "large pieces." I never did signatures. I've probably made as many signatures as you in all that time. Believe me, you'll get much better and you'll appreciate it a lot more later on if you do regular pieces rather than signatures. Obviously this is just a suggestion, but believe me, I've seen a thing or two since I've started :)
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Thanks Jack, thats what I call helpfull critisism:) Youre a legend:D

First of all, welcome :D

Work on incorporating the text and stocks into the rest of the sig and add some blending. It should all flow freely together. Try taking some of the effects off as well.

Also, work on composition. As they have said, there's a lot of negative space. The placement of stocks and text matters a lot as well. Most of your stocks have good placement, but the text can be moved around to make it more exciting.

Not a bad start though. Keep it up. :)

Thanks for your reply! I'm sorry, I know I am a complete newb, but what is meant by "negative space"?

Korrupt

In this community, it usually means 'black bits'.

My definition of 'negative space';
Black areas on the sig that make up for the colored parts and/or stock to make it less chaotic.

So guys, I took your advice. Except for making it smaller, which is merely a matter of cutting it down...

Anyways, made 3 versions of this one.

c&c appreciated

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/776/greenbr7.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3...nandredkz5.jpg

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/8974/redyl9.jpg

They look more artistic. But you still need to clean up the area around the render and make the render stand out more eg give depth to your bg.
Try to not make everything half-visible so that one layer's above the other. Instead, make one series of layers for your bg, one series of layers for your render and one series of layers for your text and dont let any of those series get under or above the others. Like, the bg should be under all of them.. and the render and the text above the bg, but at the same level eg dont brush over your layer, or, if you do it, try to be very subtle for your render is what you wanna have standing out. Hope that helped.

Thanks for your reply, but that was the effect I was going for lol

I am interested in finding out how to bring more depth to my background.

If you could tell me, I'd appreciate it:D

Korrupt

You should use a few layers of brushing and put a few of them in overlay blending mode.. That's the easiest way I can think of to add depth. eg. add contrast. Use a contrast/brigthness balance layer and use like 15 contrast 10 brightness.

Using brightness and contrast can add depth, as well as learning how to use RGB levels. Layer styles like overlay and hard light can add some serious contrast, while using subtle layer styles like soft light add a nice touch.

Thank you. Not everything has to follow a set formulae though, I mean that is the definition of art isnt it? Something different yet appealing. So really, my question is, how do you like this last sig I have done? Does it appeal to you?

Indeed, making something diferent is art, but you have to make it with artistic methods: i mean, you cant make something that's only different after you've only practiced it 3 times when picasso has practiced it 100000000 times and then say just because you've done something different you're an artist, like picasso is. If you know what I mean.
It is as a matter of fact a good think to try and be different, but in order to bring to a graphics community something "new", you will first have to master the "normal" methods. eg.
First you gotta know how to add depth, and after you've made many many pieces that give a good sense of depth, then you can try and make a piece that doesnt have depth yet is appealing.

I gotta disagree with you mate, and I am not saying I am an artist, but just because I'm new to the game doesnt mean that anything I make isnt concidered art. What youre saying sounds to me like you think that if I were a more experienced "artist" this piece would have been better, but because I am not experienced, it isnt good? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your criticism, and I try my best to use that critisism, but just because I havnt added depth to the background (which was intentional) doesnt mean that its a bad piece...

Thanks,

Korrupt

Lol, tbh, I wouldn't classify ANY sig as art.

But if your going to classify some sigs as art, you have to classify the rest. Otherwise, where do you draw the line? Art by definition is "the product/s of human creativity" - Just because somebody is less talented, does it mean that their work is less a product of creativity?

You got me wrong korrupt I wasn't trying to say that just because you aren't experienced it doesn't matter what you do it still isn't art. The problem is as Spluff stated it, you cant draw a line and specify where art stops.
And of course, just because a piece doesn't have depth doesn't mean it's bad, but it's bad for you if your piece doesnt have depth because you don't know how to add depth, and the point of my critique is to help you improve, not your piece.
In other words, my point is, even if your piece was 100% appealing I still wouldn't believe you are a good sig maker if you told me you don't know any of the ways that exist to add depth to a graphics piece. It would be like you're telling me you can shoot a 3 pointer all the way from outside the court therefore you're a perfect shooter yet you miss all 2 pointers.

Yer, thanks mate, I actually knew how to add depth, I just didnt know thats what it was called lol:) Thanks for your help though man:)