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Summoner's First Sig and Avatar Design.

Discussion in 'Audio and Visual' started by EtherealSummoner, Oct 9, 2010.

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  1. Oct 9, 2010 #1
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    I am so freaking nervous ever since I had used Gimp to try to become a designer for signatures and Avatars. -____- Sadly, the picture made itself smaller when I try to save it to my profile BUT IT LOOK BETTER WHEN IT WAS LARGER!! Um... yea! This is my first attempt with Garnet. I don't mind anyone's honest criticisms. I am still trying to work out all of the controls in Gimp. To me, I don't think I didn't do too well but I think it was because of the text and I think I have it too bright. I tried to make two Garnets but I didn't know how and I was panicking so I try to find an alternate.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Oct 9, 2010 #2
    LDC1121

    LDC1121 New Member

    I think it's good for a first timer :) yes there's alot to be improved on like the cleaness of the lines and I feel the font color of the words is a bit too bright and fades into the background a bit, but all in all not too bad, with more practice you'll definitely get better and don't be nervous, people here aren't that harsh of critics....I hope lol :D
     
  3. Oct 9, 2010 #3
    Ventus

    Ventus Kickass Keyblader!

    to be honest, the renders don't look good at all and the text is terrible. I try to avoid text as much as possible. Nice try with the border though. My advice is to put less on it but play around with the effects so you can grasp the art of graphic design.
     
  4. Oct 9, 2010 #4
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    Ok. I will try to practice doing that. ??? Should I have the coloring a little bit darker? I try to use bright colors only because to me, Garnet looks like she can be sleeping so I try to bring out some of the grace out of her.
     
  5. Oct 9, 2010 #5
    Plasmos

    Plasmos Plasmos

    everything is horrible, you need photoshop. I can't say much, because I'm not a gimp user. But you need to practice more.
     
  6. Oct 9, 2010 #6
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    I know that I need more practice. -__- Sadly, I don't have any money to even sign up for photoshop.
     
  7. Oct 9, 2010 #7
    Ventus

    Ventus Kickass Keyblader!

    hey my first one was pretty bad too. look at this!

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Oct 9, 2010 #8
    GrandShadow

    GrandShadow I accept your challange.

    lol, that looks like my first attempt Sora.

    the text in the upper left is too bright to go next to white, or to be next to that blue.
    the render looks like you made everythingelse and then just slapped it one there for the hell of it.
    the blue background is kinda annoying with whatever the hell you did to it.
    the white border is a nice attempt but it needs a lot of work.
    the blue text in the bottom left is easily the best thing simply because it doesn't add to the confusion and just sits there quietly.
     
  9. Oct 9, 2010 #9
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    Wow. I didn't know that the two of you went through the first try of making a sig.

    Anyways, I didn't just through just anything on there. I actually think about what I wanted to do. That text at the bottom left is actually a dark purple. I guess I should have did the same with the title. The borderline that I created was the only thing that was able to let me think about dreams. The blue part I was hesitating because I try to have everything to flow smoothly so I was thinking water (What a bad mistake.). I wasn't even sure if I should make the rendering lighter or darker.

    DX At least I am trying.
     
  10. Oct 9, 2010 #10
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    [​IMG]

    Some comments:

    1) The quality of the Dagger render is terrible. It's not integrated into the background well at all, and it looks like the cut was sloppy, though it's hard to tell because of the background.

    2) The background is blinding. And boring. There's no flow at all, it's just one solid effect. But it's a busy effect- it makes my head hurt looking at it. And the white border does nothing to help- it just adds to the confusion. I'd advise either leaving off a border completely, or using a simple 1 pixel single color border.

    3) Too much text. And in a very large font for the size of the piece. Generally, you don't want your text to be the focus of the signature.

    4) Your color choice is just off, in my opinion. The blues and bits of black in the background do not correspond well with the Dagger render, nor does the blue/purple you've chosen for the text. If you want to go with a blue scheme with this render, you'll need to tinker with Dagger's coloring, too- in Photoshop, you could use a cooler photo filter, or gradient map, or selective coloring layer, etc. I do not know how these translate to GIMP, but I would think there'd be a way to duplicate the effect, at least partly. That's where practice and tutorials come in.

    I wouldn't even try. It hardly ever looks right when people use more than one render. Stick with one and get that looking its best.

    Why don't you just save it to photobucket or imageshack, so that it doesn't keep doing that?

    I think your work is typical of the average newbie signature maker. Just keep at it, and learn from your mistakes.
     
  11. Oct 9, 2010 #11
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    ??? What do you mean by black? I don't recall adding that color in there. The borderline that I have created was ice and the blue was the waves/water. I am so sorry for making your head spin. I thought that blue and white would be a good color choice to work in a combination with one another.

    I guess I have to lay off of the texts for a little bit until I get my color together. I am working on a Ultimecia signature already and I am determine to make this one better so this thread will still be used for the next sig.

    Also, may someone define me what is a "Dagger" rendering?
     
  12. Oct 9, 2010 #12
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    ^ I refer to that character as Dagger. It's her nickname and what she's called for most of the game. v_v Surely if you've played FF IX, you'd know that. :confused:

    Well, there's like this weird area that looks like it has some black in it, at least on my computer. But really, blue, electric blue, black, whatever colors are in there, it doesn't look good. At all.
     
  13. Oct 10, 2010 #13
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    Sorry. I only go by her real name, Garnet, only so her undercover name eludes me. I don't even own the game yet. XD

    -_- Oh no. I see what you mean. How in the world did that happen? Anyways, to summarize up what all of you just said:

    1. Cleanliness in lines.
    2. Don't use too much Texts.
    3. Need some flow.
    4. Use some photo filters.
    5. The integration of the character needs to be better.

    Is that all?
     
  14. Oct 10, 2010 #14
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    I suppose, but keep in mind that my comments were made with this signature in mind. You don't need to go slapping on photo filters all the time. But since, as you said, you were going for a water/ice/wave theme (not really sure why, but eh), editing Dagger's color scheme slightly (in whatever way you can find to do it) to go with that would have made her fit in a little better.

    Also keep in mind that this is just my opinion. And I don't claim to be great at this, either.

    Try planetrenders.net if you're having trouble finding good quality renders. Some are a little sloppier than others, but they're all pretty much better than any renders I'd cut, so when I need one, I tend to look there first. You have to make an account, but it's free.

    As far as this one goes, I'd start with just getting rid of that solid background. Get your effects down so that the background is more interesting, then worry more about if it flows with the render.
     
  15. Oct 10, 2010 #15
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    Here is my second signature with Ultimecia. I think I did a lot more better than the one that I did with Garnet; For some reason, I kept on feeling that I am missing something and that I have not did the coloring correctly. I still don't think that I am not better than average though but I did manipulate the tattoos on her legs. It made me proud but I can't help but think that I probably have distorted her face while creating her background to make it as if she is from space or is from beyond the universe. I am still nervous.


    [​IMG]
     
  16. Oct 10, 2010 #16
    Goldfish

    Goldfish Cats in the Cradle

    It is better than your first but I still think you can do a lot better.
    Try using a much better quality image. Your Ultemecia looks like an in game screen shot and overall the whole sig kind of looks like a game screen shot with that background. It probably doesn't matter too much, but when making a sig, try to give it an appropriate size. Lengthwise looks cool but it's height is too great. That could be my personal opinion or it could be an actual fact. Just try different things out.
    Try overlaying the render multiple times alternating with black and white each time, it's a little something I do with my sigs (helps make it stick out a bit better). Then perhaps do the same with the background and then add different effect/s (lines, lights etc) between the background and render (not too much, it gets distracting).

    I can probably give you a quick easy tutorial as I'm a gimp user myself, but that won't be a while, I need to buy a mouse again.
     
  17. Oct 10, 2010 #17
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    -_- Oh darn. I knew I forgot something. I remember making my Garnet try to have a better quality but I went and forgot to do the same with Ultimecia (Unless there are no such things; I would have made several mistakes).

    I played with the lights a whole lot and that was a killer. As for my initials, I think I have made it blend in with the background way too much. I put my initials on there so people won't try to claim it and say that they made it. I was thinking about adding a moon but that would go way beyond what I can do. I just have a problem with the lines. Really can't master it.

    When you say an appropriate size, would Toph's sig made by Demaian would be the right one?
     
  18. Oct 10, 2010 #18
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    ^ Or Libertine's sig, or the one worn by Ventus. The site rules only allow 500 x 200 or less, so you wouldn't even be able to use that Ultimecia sig here.

    [​IMG]
    More comments:

    1) That image is extremely low quality, worse by far than the Dagger one you used on the last sig. It's extremely blurry and still doesn't mesh well with the background. Finding a high quality image to use should be one of the first things you do.

    2) The background has essentially the same problems as your last sig. The lens flare doesn't really do it for me, either. Maybe try thinking about it less like painting a picture and adding in objects (like water, or the moon) and then placing a render on top of all that.

    3) Text is hard to read and adds nothing to the signature.
     
  19. Oct 10, 2010 #19
    Plasmos

    Plasmos Plasmos

    Not only that the sig is too blurry, too big, and there is no depth or special effects added. Sharpen your photo's but don't over sharp them.
     
  20. Oct 10, 2010 #20
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    I can't even figure out how to even to have my picture to mesh. I try but it still looked the same (Unless I missed something.). I can make the size small which what I am capable of doing.

    Is it the color that is making everything blurry or is it just the hue or pressure that made things real hard to see? I think I will scale my designs so that I can have a better view as to what spaces I am missing.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2010
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