2011-12-28, 08:14 | Link #541 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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@ Godlike1889 You know me, I have no problem with working with sexy/risqué material, as long as it is quality (or at least interesting) material and is ( or can be made) AnimeSuki Safe.And BTW the signature you are talking about isn't of my own work, it's a gift from Patchy.
@ The Chaos. do you really expect someone like yourself to be forgoten because he isn't as active here as before ? There's many in such situation, like escimo, KiNA, Moonie and many more... It's time for the last weekly update of the year, a little late as I didn't have much time thoses last few day... A new sets of signatures and avatar, starting a new serie: (This time, the text wasn't what ''started'' the serie, I had to search for a text than would fit with what I had had in mind.) And some freebies, still modifiable: 2012 should be a active year. It's way too soon to say if the output will be good, but I shouldn't turn inactive/zombie because of a lack of idea...
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2011-12-28, 16:37 | Link #543 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Romania
Age: 31
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I'll just critique the works on your last post, won't scroll thru all of these 28 pages.
Your current set : Uhmm... I'm sorry but that signature is... horrible. The render itself (or the whole stock?) seems to be brightly and vividly coloured, hence those flowers and the girl's kimono and fan. You basically ruined it by giving it that dead gray over it. Why? And the text... Wouldn't it have been easier if you put that text under the sig? Like, type it on the forum's signature box. I'm sorry, but it is horrible. The freebies : 1st : Can't you see that on that render there is a purple/blue lighting on the right? Focus, focus on the lighting and the colour especially. Dominant colours on the render are pink, purple and blue and you put yellow, orange and red in the background? Seriously? No focal point whatsoever. 2nd (on the right) : Very simple. It seems like you've just put a random bg, a slightly tilted render and a dull light source. Nothing to say here. Same thing for the other two, they are just dull, nothing special about them. Also I see that your thread was opened in 2009 and the sigs you posted now are very recent (today) and I see very, VERY little progress. Sorry for my strong critique, but grab some tutorials and get stuff done. Best of luck!
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2011-12-28, 17:39 | Link #544 |
Senior Member
Graphic Designer
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I tend to agree with Fishmeister here, to a degree he's very much right, but I will not say the same things, cause that wouldn't be constructive criticism; even tho if you do post one of your sigs on gfxschool, they will eat you alive :3. At least some of us are honest.
The huge problem you have is that you're not blending the render with your background, but prefer to add an upsetting glow to the edges or just blur it a tad. I suggest you pick up the smudge brush, and some tutorials on blending. Your other big problem is your chromatic overall, the colors don't simply match, once you're done with the siggie, you can pull out a curve adjustment, color balance or if you don't really know how, just pick up an action and try to even the mix. Otherwise, it just gives a bad impression on the eye. Your BG also would need some depth, there you can use the blur tool, and leave the focal intact. Also, you could add some shadows with burn tool. How about some C4Ds? Or some other elements, like combining more than two pictures, light effects textures, clipping mask maybe? You seem to know how to do the last one, but not when and where unfortunately. Try to diversify, I know you have your own style, but I too have noticed nothing has improved in the past two - three years. Photoshop has a bit more than 5 options you know... I'm not saying that just to give the impression that I feel superior, but since everybody never says a word of actual advice to you, I don't see how you can get better. I hope this won't be taken in an offensive tone. I'm simply trying to help. Cheers.
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2011-12-28, 23:59 | Link #545 |
Quietly Lurking
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Beneath the prodigious sky...
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Fishmeister, you need to learn how to give C&C. While the technical portion of your critique is fine, using words like "horrible" and "ruined" is completely uncalled for. It's not that your critique was strong, but your tone throughout the entire thing was belittling. You may have been trying to help, but pointing out all the negatives and none of the positives, is counter-productive because they may either feel their self-esteem breaking under criticism, or they may feel that all criticism is negative. This can destroy the intent of constructive criticism. The only way to approach this is by being truly constructive, kind and helpful, and realizing that not all people are going to appreciate what you might have to say. Another thing is that you don't offer anything solutions to anything you pointed out. How about giving some advice on not making the tags "boring"? Or offering links to helpful tutorials that you've used?
And yes, I realize that you were trying to help, and anyone on a gfx forum would appreciate what you had to say (besides the demeaning stuff), but AS is not a gfx site, and neither is the FC subforum. The site and subforum are anime and manga-oriented. So it's best if, in the future, you figure out who your audience is before deciding on the severity of the criticism. Lastly, there is no "right" way to judge art. Art is completely subjective; what you may find unattractive, others may find breathtaking. So please don't try to state your opinions as fact. Not every tag can be judged using the same old system--some of the best works I've seen have broken a lot of the composition rules you're talking about because those taggers dared to experiment and think outside the box (in case you were wondering, I frequent gfx sites too). If you wish to continue to discuss this, feel free to PM me.
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2011-12-29, 01:15 | Link #546 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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@Fishmeister, First thank for the feedback, I do value honesty higher than manner.
Second, I perfectly know than I need to improve, especialy innthat kind of signature. That the point of this serie, to get better with practice and (hopefully) some C&C. Third, I know than I might sound like a child than don't what to hear reason but,the quote are there to stay. At the exeption of this serie, the biggest intent behind the serie is the association of the text with the graphic material. To put the quote outside the signature wouldn't work. Beside, it isn't as we can put as much text outside a signature as we want on this forum. @ Mittwoch, thank for the feedback. To be honest, I might be unnable to even try some of your suggestion as I am not using the full PhotoShop, only PhotoShop Element, I have no idea how to do curve adjustment or color balance and the few attempt to use C4d didn't let me much good memory of them. @ Rennir contrary to you I do not frequent gfx sites, the only place I go is here. I learned by watching what other were doing, pratcicing and the occasinnal C&C ( I don't even know thoses composition rules you are refering at.
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2011-12-29, 03:14 | Link #547 | |
is not amused
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Naval Base
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Post intended to cool off the discussion a bit. Well, I haven't really read the whole thing but...
Quote:
And why thank you for the xmas present, as a matter of fact, yes I do have a thing for Meganekos.
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2011-12-29, 22:06 | Link #549 | |
Senior Member
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Normandy SR-2
Age: 29
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Quote:
In regards to the discussion above, I do think that you can try branching out some more, ganbaru. I like your style and how I can instantly recognize your work, but experimentation really can't hurt. Of course those won't all be masterpieces, in fact, they can fail very hard (like a lot of my more experimental works ), but you learn from those! And you can't not improve if you keep trying. It takes a while to get the hang of new techniques, so I have my phases like smudge, C4D fractal, etc. where I focus on a specific area. I understand that it can be frustrating when your results with, say, the C4Ds you mentioned, were not satisfactory, but it's important to get over that feeling and keep trying. I also understand that you're not working with a higher version of Photoshop but seeing from what you've already managed with your program, I'm pretty sure you can do more! And yes, tutorials are very helpful! Try searching Deviantart (i.e. "smudge signature tutorial" "c4d signature tutorial") or asking Renir for some, maybe that awesome basics one he showed me And Fishmeister, I have to second Rennir. It's great that you're trying to help but you really need to think about simple manners - you don't even know ganbaru. Your wording and attitude come off as rude. There're ways to give good C&C politely and nicely, especially considering this is not even a gfx forum.
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Last edited by Haladflire65; 2011-12-31 at 02:25. |
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2012-01-02, 23:13 | Link #551 |
Kaiba
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: David Tennant's bedroom in the TARDIS
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Just to contribute to the general branch out/etc suggestions:
here are some good tutorials I've used, even when I had Elements. http://www.pixcelgallery.com/d/19290...+Sigmaking.jpg http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=2936801 http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/2048/1tut.jpg http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6...eendtutdo2.jpg http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/841/tut2x.png/ http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9...etutorialb.png There's another one in particular that I used a lot, but I can't find it >_< will give it to you if I find it. Also, some things that can be substituted: Instead of: Color Balance: brush some colors in certain areas or use photo filters/ gradient maps with different blend settings to change color tone, balance, and such. Selective color: use gradient maps and photo filters, also experimenting with blend settings. Clipping mask: lowering opacity, on solid-color things especially. lets some of the bg show through. Make sure the colors go together though! brush settings: different brushes, at different angles (rotated) and opacities. Glow: not much here, but soft brushes on different blending settings work, with erasing some to conform it to the render. shadows and highlights: burn and doge tools. hope this is helpful.
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2012-01-09, 07:49 | Link #555 | ||
Dark Energy
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: United States
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Quote:
Quote:
I hope this was helpful.
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2012-01-10, 17:22 | Link #556 |
Koomi-kun~
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In the distortion of space and time..
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You always seem to surprise me ganbaru. You have a very imaginative mind unlike me . Your signatures, your avatars are all amazing. I love it how your signatures and avatar mainly have a "bond" with each other connecting. To me, your signatures are like a poem. The poems are just created in my head. Your signatures are a work of art. Sorry for saying this NOW; I just joined this thread and am subscribing!
I hope you make even better signatures!
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