SOTM 2009 - February (Dancing) - Entry Thread

[Miko Miko]

not sure if this is my final entry yet..

[Ehko]

Originally Posted by Urei

Argh, a Ranka sig. You know, even though it's her I'll give you words of praise. Nice idea doing Nyna Nyan Dance For one thing, it looks a bit empty though I understand it's a work in progress

Im not a fan of ranka at all actually :| Yeah it's WIP, but once I do more to it I will prolly make it my final entry. Finding resources for this theme is actually quite painful ._.

i searched:
google
gelbooru
minitokyo
planetrenders
animerenders

I came across the stock for Frailty's entry at minitokyo and I think that was the only clean resource I ever saw in all my search. Even when looking for traditional couples dancing it was hard to find anything I liked. Then at gelbooru someone posted the nyan nyan animation in swf format and I figured that was my best bet.

[Evil Rick]

First draft



C & C would be apreciated

[escimo]

I have a bit of catching up to do, since I've been slacking of for quite some while, so here goes.

Originally Posted by Marina

Seems a bit blurred. I guess you wanted it to have a soft feel to it but maybe a bit too much as it is.

Originally Posted by Ehko

I quite like it. Very energetic.

Originally Posted by Frailty

I quite like it. Lose the text or make it clearer though. Border might help a bit as well. And as for fitting the theme. Dancing was the first thing that came to my mind looking at that so I'd say it's all good in that department.

Originally Posted by Katocchi

This one has the best border. Though it's very busy overall. I'd take it a bit easier with the brushes.

Originally Posted by Ehko

Quite like it. Though I prefer your first submission.
(wonders whether entering Sheryl sig would secure KiNA's vote or make him through a tantrum for stealing his waifu)

Originally Posted by Miko Miko

Composition doesn't really work. Bottom is cut very awkwardly. It'd be much better if it showed more of the the character in the lower part.

Originally Posted by Evil Rick

I like it quite a bit. Though the white text is a bit in your face. Tone it down a little and it would work better. Now a bit of an unnecessary eye catcher. Inner border is also a bit on a bright side. And one more minor moan. The brush line going between the ribbons of the girls dress looks somehow silly as it's in the exact same angle. Looks like it cut it in half.

___

I have no idea what so ever what to make myself. If I'll go with the idea I have it will probably end up being ambitious but rubbish.

[Urei]

Originally Posted by Ehko

Im not a fan of ranka at all actually :| Yeah it's WIP, but once I do more to it I will prolly make it my final entry. Finding resources for this theme is actually quite painful ._.

I understand. I have trouble finding something decent as well.

[KiNA]

@ escimo .. Vote more likely .. But, my criteria in voting a piece never changed .. The work must be in theme -> beautifully done in my eyes -> static/ animated -> biased point for render used.

Thats why last month I didnt vote, because most peoples fails the 1st criteria IMHO and the leftovers signatures was already obvious distants away from the others .. There's no need for me to strengthen the gap.

Dannboruu have dancing tag.

[Evil Rick]

Thanks for the coments escimo

New drafts

Version1.



Version 2.


C & C as always will be thankfull :*

[KiNA]

TBH .. I see 2 lovers about to hug each other more then a pair dancing.. but that just me

Tentative WIP ..


Apart from the timing that definitely need tweaking.. anything else? Text bumped the filesize too much... so its out of the question.

[Larthak]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Tentative WIP ..


Apart from the timing that definitely need tweaking.. anything else? Text bumped the filesize too much... so its out of the question.

Hehe, Jackson. I knew you're gonna make something like that.

Ha! Even though the theme is really hard this time, I have (finally) found a picture fully suited for this month's contest! Behold!

Spoiler for ultimate:

And I thought space theme was hard. How greatly was I mistaken. Not a single imageboard helps...even things I didn't watch but had dancing included failed. What to do...

Hmm, or should I seriously use the picture above?

[KiNA]

I actually wanted to use this as animated BG .. but died at 500Kb filesize

http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/3258b...6cf80cd49c.jpg

x_x

[Evil Rick]

Originally Posted by KiNA

TBH .. I see 2 lovers about to hug each other more then a pair dancing.. but that just me

Oh no, they're dancing, I found the pic on Danbooru under the tag "Dancing"

Spoiler for Original Pic:

Tentative WIP ..


Apart from the timing that definitely need tweaking.. anything else? Text bumped the filesize too much... so its out of the question.

I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson but the sig is cool

[White Manju Bun]

ergh....



Ok kinda happy with the bg (I ventured into using brushes) but I need a way to blend the render better, its just a screen shot that I took the bg out off. Ive been using blur but I still think it looks bad

Ideas?

[Vibeke]

Ok, maybe it's time for me to return to sig making xD After all, my exams are over...

[Ehko]

Originally Posted by KiNA

TBH .. I see 2 lovers about to hug each other more then a pair dancing.. but that just me

Tentative WIP ..


Apart from the timing that definitely need tweaking.. anything else? Text bumped the filesize too much... so its out of the question.

its the Jackson *man edition*

How bad would a border be on it? I assume it would be similar to text just less complicated so maybe less filesize. A border just looks like it might be good since its a nice minimal design.

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

ergh....



Ok kinda happy with the bg (I ventured into using brushes) but I need a way to blend the render better, its just a screen shot that I took the bg out off. Ive been using blur but I still think it looks bad

Ideas?

*cough* (posted thumbnail)

Well blending them into a light color sig shouldn't be too hard (white or light color soft brushes) unless you want distinctive lineart, then you want a quality render cut. (which I'm available for if anyone ever needs something rendered).

Also good for blending is using flow (an art concept) and gradient maps (probably called something else in GIMP, but simply its using a gradient (or solid works) color map mixed with layer settings to help blend and match all the layers beneath it)

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Ehko

*cough* (posted thumbnail)

Well blending them into a light color sig shouldn't be too hard (white or light color soft brushes) unless you want distinctive lineart, then you want a quality render cut. (which I'm available for if anyone ever needs something rendered).

Also good for blending is using flow (an art concept) and gradient maps (probably called something else in GIMP, but simply its using a gradient (or solid works) color map mixed with layer settings to help blend and match all the layers beneath it)

Yeah its a thumbnail

Soft brushes, ok I can try that The bg is actually a gradient which I layered brushes over it, Ive never used flow though (Im assuming Adobe has it) I might need to look into that. Thanks for the advice.

[Ehko]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

Yeah its a thumbnail

Soft brushes, ok I can try that The bg is actually a gradient which I layered brushes over it, Ive never used flow though (Im assuming Adobe has it) I might need to look into that. Thanks for the advice.

Flow is a concept. It simply means how well everything attaches from one side of the signature to the other.

For instance (not graphically) a fish swims better when it follows the flow of the river. It's not part of the river, but it blends into the flow of the river. (How's that for metaphorically speaking XD).

If I was were to try to make a light and maybe peaceful sig, I would want alot of smooth flow, but If I was trying to make a more energetic sig I should try to still have flow but break it up a bit to express exageration...

For instance, the direction the two top most layered light brushes you used are going from bottom left to top right. If you were to lightly brush around the render, you could make strokes in the same direction to show a sort of gliding feeling.

EDIT: here is an example of why and how I used a gradient map on my current sig

Spoiler for about 100 kb:

Im pretty certain Gimp has this sort of thing too, just maybe named differently.

[Arceon]

It's amazingly hard to find a good render for this theme, way harder than I expected.



Not completely happy with this one. . .C&C? Also, the text IS still a WIP. Just threw it in for the hell of it.

[KiNA]

Originally Posted by Evil Rick

Oh no, they're dancing, I found the pic on Danbooru under the tag "Dancing"

Spoiler for Original Pic:

Yes, its obvious on the original picture see.. but when you transfer it to signature, its kinda lost its dancing effect at first glance.. I dont know if you ever played FF8, but there's one scene very similar to this pose... Which probably influences me, because I love that scene

@ Ehko, there's a white border on it (1px tho)

[Evil Rick]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

ergh....



Ok kinda happy with the bg (I ventured into using brushes) but I need a way to blend the render better, its just a screen shot that I took the bg out off. Ive been using blur but I still think it looks bad

Ideas?

It's kinda... simple, maybe with some light effects, trying to focus the dancers (Try filter, render, lighting effects) Or some brushes to adornate it

Originally Posted by Arceon

It's amazingly hard to find a good render for this theme, way harder than I expected.



Not completely happy with this one. . .C&C? Also, the text IS still a WIP. Just threw it in for the hell of it.

Hmmm... I don't see tha dance at all, although the efects and border are cool, the render doesn't look like a dancing one.

Try to shrink a bit more the render, to focus it a bit more

Originally Posted by KiNA

Yes, its obvious on the original picture see.. but when you transfer it to signature, its kinda lost its dancing effect at first glance.. I dont know if you ever played FF8, but there's one scene very similar to this pose... Which probably influences me, because I love that scene

I think I understeand your point, maybe I should try to reduce the render, to focus more the "dancing" idea. Thanks for the coments

[Ehko]

Lol this is turning out to be an interesting sotm theme XD

Originally Posted by Arceon

It's amazingly hard to find a good render for this theme, way harder than I expected.



Not completely happy with this one. . .C&C? Also, the text IS still a WIP. Just threw it in for the hell of it.

It blends nicely and gives a good warm feeling
but unfortunately you cropped out any part of the render that emphasizes "dancing". Makes nicely for a peaceful sleep or something as it is though

Text looks like it could work, just don't make the outer stroke so hard >< it's the only part of the text I see that isn't blending.

Originally Posted by KiNA

@ Ehko, there's a white border on it (1px tho)

I couldn't see it on the light post backgrounds, why not make it an inner border so it's more visible? Also, thicker, contrasting borders are eye catching if you wanna try that


edit: erm, which sig do you think I should work on, guize? D:

The DDR one or the Ranka one?
The ddr one won't continue as "anime" but it has potential for an energetic feeling. Ranka is also wip but it'll look somewhat generic amongst the rest of the entries im betting ._. I'm too tired to think atm and honestly idk which of the two I should pick to continue for now.
... meh ill just sleep instead for now -_-