Havn't posted in AGES!! Some new work...

[o SH3PH3RD o]

Hi all! I haven't been here in a very long time... but this is where I first started photoshopping. I got the inspiration to start by Rodger and some other guys. Anyways, I think i've come a long way since then. here's some of my favorite and more recent work:















<---LOLOLOL

[Sioux]

Its really tough grading these kind of forum signature types.

I say tough since these days there are so many people out there using the same tutorials or graphic styles and then that spreads and at the end of the day its all supposed to be called original graphic design.

But, besides that issue I will say what I like about these pieces.

1.) The colored Unreal Tournament one is working for the most part, it looks more like a comic book panel than a stand alone piece of graphic work. It does present a level of drama though with the extreme movement of the background and the almost atmospheric haze that surrounds his form. I like the idea on the placement of the text.

2.) The God of War one, good ol' Kratos himself, I really don't know what to say here. It feels like you had a plan, kind of, whether it reached the place you wanted it to be, I don't know. I'm liking the effect on the right and the atmosphere stuff around the stock itself. The placement of the stock is nice too, two points are being met on the thirds grid which is good.

However, the wild graphic shapes on the left are just making things unbalanced as its like a shifting tonal range of red with some random shapes floating about.

As for the text, like the type, like the placement but again, its almost supporting the scattered left.

3.) A dead center placement works generally only with a good amont og graphical changes to make the eye travel across the piece of art work.

This piece is almost accomplishing that with the monochormatical styles going on with the military colors of cool and dark greys sirlwing about and almost becoming green as Snake's armor. Ths shapes in the background aren't comfortable to me though.

I like the text placement but the line feels wrong for some reason to me, but that seems to be more personal choice at this junction.

4.) The complimentary scheme going on with the almost red hue and the green is working on one level. The real problem here to me is the small size of the tag itself and with the amount of space the green fire...jelly stuff is dominating. And I really don't know what's going on with that either, I don't have enough information to registar what's going on beyond some black guy in armor.

5.) The Sauron one is being lost in the scattered background of what looks to be metal...leaves? Whatever they are they are making the shoulders and the sides of Sauron's helm kind of difficult to register completley.

I'm thinking with some diverse shade differences in those leaves or whatever they are would make the stock pop forward and bring a sense of depth to the piece.

6.) I'm kind of liking this one with Rikku in the middle doing her battle stance. It feels artsy and the shapes look to be working for the most part. Something feels off however to my eye about it, can't figure through it at the moment.

7.) This one is looking to work but the message attempting to be sent is losing itself as Tidus's head is gone except for a grinning jaw, it looks more awkward to me than emotional.

I do like the dark fade in though, or the fade to black going on with the murky water framing things, it sets the stage but its lacking maybe a touch more graphical work and Tidus's head.

[Roger]

I agree with Sioux on the new wave of signature art - it seems like everyone is adopting the technology abstract around a cut out figure technique. My current style isn't too far from it, but all the same, it's no where near as generic as the situation is getting.

However, that's a broad critisism at growing trends, not at you as an artist. Thanks for listing me as part of your inspiration too, it's nice to know I'm serving what essentially people like Kiggs and Dr. Flux did for me to start out.

Right, the signatures.

First Signatures.

In both instances, the figure is very well cut out. No pixellation or poor edges, so well done on that - cutting out is often the hardest part of any signature. The background is well done, as is the text integration. I personally prefer the colour one, on the basis that black and white signatures really need a very strong focal point as well as a high contrast to really both grab attention and look stylish. My main critisism here is that the background seems to be two layers and obviously so - the outwards reaching lines, as well as the clustered brushing around him. Work on blending more to get a continuous background which works with each piece. At the end of this critisism, I'll show you one of my older attempts of that style and point out something which helped me get better blending.

God Of War Signatures.

I like the way the background on the right merges with the figure used, although I think the blurring on his right shoulder and the edge that follows is a bit too overdone - the idea is spot on though, even if the execution is slightly off. The circles seem to work with the background, and the diagonal brushing from the bottom left corner seems to work with everything too, adding some texture nicely to that otherwise slightly empty section of background. The text is clean too, but slightly too small and a tad blurred. If that was the effect you were going for, kudos to you, but personally, I would have rather seen the quote shortened to "The Gods have abandoned me" as to compensate for the size.

Again, prefer the colour one, see above reasons for why.

Metal Gear Solid Signatures.

Now, this signature is crisp. It's well balanced between background and figure and the cut isn't too obvious, although there is some slight black outline around there. However, instead of a critisism, this is a plus point - it brings emphasis, and distinguishes between background and Snake. Works for me.

The background is a little bland, although the texture really helps. The line at the bottom cuts the signature nicely, seperating it off as to make the signature more broken down and structured. The text is simple and clean, although I feel that font crops up in alot of your work - I'd put some variety in your font choice and look on the old font sites for some fresh ones.

Again, the colour background works better, because of the colour choices. They compliment Snake without seeming too obvious, so congrats.

Green Signature.

I'm not a fan here. The red doesn't seem to work with the green abstract stuff well enough to bring the signature together. On seperate levels, the work on the figure and the work on the abstract elements are very good, but in the same signature, the effect isn't my cup of tea. The text sits well though on the border. My suggestion would be to maybe falsely colour the figure - turn down the saturation slightly, bring up the contrast a notch and make the hue a nice greeny yellow.

Sauron Signature.

The idea is really nice. I love the way the leaves integrate with Sauron, as to imagine he's constructed from these objects. Although it's nice though, the yellow gold background doesn't do it justice. I'd have opted for something darker and more metallic, as to allow the integration thing to really work for the rest of the signature. The text - maybe take off the anti-aliasing, if it's on? That seems to be where some of the slight blur is coming from.

Rikku Signature.

It feels like it's ready to work, but for some reason, the slight blue tinge to Rikku steals the warmness the signature should be giving off. It's cutesy, simple and works nicely, although the font choice for Rikku isn't my cup of tea again. The fade effect is simple yet effective, and the choice of brushing for the background is simple, but works with the personality of Rikku. Again, a quick alteration of the hue would sort out most of the issues here.

Tidus and Yuna Signature.

Like Sioux mentioned, the cutting of Tidus' head really culls any atmosphere or emotion the signature is trying to emit. The idea is spot on - one of the most well known scenes of FF history, simple lighting which works, the slight techno icy edge on the signature compliments it perfectly too. If you lowered the render about 20 pixels or so, or maybe made the signature slightly taller, you'd have a very nice piece of work there.
___________

Okay, that was all a little critical, but the improvement is superb. You've come a long way in a short space of time, so congrats.

+ Border work is spot on in all situations.
+ Cutting is beautifully smooth.
+ Backgrounds are varied and interesting.
+ Texture work is nice.
+ Contrast and brightness levels are done within an inch of perfection.
- Colours in some situations need some work.
- Backgrounds need some work on blending.
- Fonts might need some more work, but the positioning is good.
- Greyscale signatures are lacking depth - just alter the contrast and brightness levels to rectify.
- Disagreement with the style of most of them - it's a good place to start, but now think about more original work on vectors, paths, unique touches etc. The abilities there, it's just the daring experimenting aspect you need to go back and do over.
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The blending issue.

This is one of my older signatures which went on a style very similar to what your signatures consist of.



For me, the easiest way to blend the background was to replicate some parts, lower the opacity and move it a few pixels in a set direction. It gives the sense of depth, adding a slight blur and yet a 3D edge to it. As well as that, work on types of overlay - Colour Dodge, Screen and Multiply are personal choices for this area of signature design.

Hope that all helps.

[o SH3PH3RD o]

Thanks so much for the replies, guys. I appreciate it.

[Dr. Flux]

Don't grayscale stuff when it's complex like #1.



Suggestion for that one would be to change the hue of the background to suit the colour of the character. Haven't you heard that old rhyme? 'Red and green should never be seen'. I think this signature would look much nicer with a darker tone of either red or black. With that said, I think it could be the best signature of all the ones you've posted for critique in this thread.