The Avatar/Signature Rating Thread

[Enkidu]

I see you guys have finally moved onto using smudge effects and incorporating high quality focal points into your work!

However I think that you guys should try to incorporate using layers when doing stuff like that, don't smudge the original render, but create 3 or 4 copies. After you've done this smudge the COPIED layers and simply change the opacity and layer filter settings to get a desired effects, starting with the top layer and working your way down back to the original render, which should remain at 100% opacity whereas the other layers should be at 60% and under. This lets you add amazing depth to your work, but you don't lose the original stock image ( However you must remember that this is of course assuming you change the opacity on all of the layers, which is a must otherwise you will only see the top layer anyway. )

Also, its good to note that smudge effects used on a render to add whatever it is you want the piece to express should be separate from what the background to your signature is. If you want to use a smudge background, use layers underneath the render you want to be the focal point of the sig. Even if the render is going to be smudged into the background and then reused as the focal point, do not try and do both with the same layer, you lose depth and clarity on your render which takes away from the piece unless incorporated properly. Here are some examples ( NOT MINE, taken from Planet Renders forums. )

Examples :

This Samus one was done on Gimp

And this one, I feel, really exemplifies smudging over the render itself like stated above.

Don't be afraid to experiment with the techniques you guys are using, incorporate what you used when you started and what you use now. Simply learning new styles and shedding your past failures is no way to get better. Even the basic, "noob-ish" stuff you used to when you started is important with stuff like this. Think, you did those things for a reason, now that you know better you can go back and alter those same strategies and add to them, using what you know now to get an even better effect.

I guarantee you will get some great pieces of art this way.

Anyway good luck and I hope the best for everybody trying to improve.

Edit* Ah also, I'm already assuming you guys are doing this but, Remember that when you want to make the image really pop you should create a new layer, go to "apply image," which will condense everything you've been working on into that new layer, without touching the layers themselves ( literally a carbon copy of everything you've been doing, but in a high quality 100% opacity form ) and use Color balance/sharpen/ add text on that as it lets you mess around with the "final product" but leaves the layers you've been working so hard on intact and unmodified in case you do not like where your taking the piece near the end.

[InuYouki]

@ illithian: No, you just like to argue

@ Naru: I love your stuff and I am glad to see you getting better, even if this last one did come out like "sherbet" lol To me, it just seems like the two pokes are fighting for the same space. Also, I like the smudging, but the fangs on ariados bug me. I Feel like I should be able to see them clearly. I love the background to bits and pieces. Not sure how to rate this one. I love it, but at the same time it feels unfinished.

Naru, I would love for you to crit my work on my thread some time as I wont be using the "rating thread" anymore.

@ Enkidu: All really good advice. I also use many layers and use the "apply image" technique. I have found it VERY useful in all my digital works. Even more so when I have to "resize" and image since having all the colors and such on one layer keeps distortion to a minimum. *ie no colors out side the lines* I also often bust out my old works to see how I use to do things. I love improving on old techniques. Not only is it fun, but it helps you to find your own style.

[Ziz]

*sigh* Naru-chu, that version had a border as well. It was set to Soft Light I believe (as I said in my tut), but it still was a border. And it did show up.

Anyway, the new sig isn't bad, but its too blurred. The mix of colors look okay but certainly not enough. And theres isn't enough texture; it looks like a mix of color. If you did any liquify effect, it doesn't even show anymore. Also the renders look overly bright. Not nearly as good as your first one. =| 6/10

Yeppers. I agree 100% on the rating you gave the signature. I spent little effort on it and couldn't smooth out the main renders enough. I hate it so much.

EDIT *

Rate please -

I worked a lot on this signature. I even experimented with renders and restored their quality. Then te-I mean bill told me to search Sasori renders on photobucket. I wish I would have known it was that simple . Anyway, I like the outcome of this one

[Okami]

@ Naru-Chu + Illithian: Might I ask what font you guys are using in your sig?

Naru, that's one impressive Sasori sig. You've definately been improving!

[Ziz]

@ Naru-Chu + Illithian: Might I ask what font you guys are using in your sig?

Naru, that's one impressive Sasori sig. You've definately been improving!

Scriptina for the descriptive word, i.e. "Eternal". Tahoma at 11pt for the name/tag.

[Dragonite.Luv]

@ Okami: exactly my thoughts!!! (For all of what you were saying)

@ Naru-Chu & Illithian: are you doing anything to the word itself? Like, maybe filtering for example? It seems awfully glowy..... Well, awful is most definately not the right word for it lol. More like pretty

[Ziz]

@ Okami: exactly my thoughts!!! (For all of what you were saying)

@ Naru-Chu & Illithian: are you doing anything to the word itself? Like, maybe filtering for example? It seems awfully glowy..... Well, awful is most definately not the right word for it lol. More like pretty

Just a Gaussian Blur Filter.

[Dragonite.Luv]

Oh okay, thanks!! I'm actually trying to make a sig..... But compared to you guys, it'll wilt lol!!

Anyways, could somebody please PM me Illithian's sig tutorial? I'd really like to see it. Thanks!

[Toffeuy]

@Dragonite.Luv I sent you the PM

Guys rate this signature I made recently:

[Ziz]

@Dragonite.Luv I sent you the PM

Guys rate this signature I made recently:

Pretty good Not sure what ratio I should give it though

Okay, so I fixed an odd liquify effect on my Sasori Signature. You can see it on the right of Sasori (Or the left of Sasori...if you're in his point of view). So I fixed it, and here's the before and after:

Before -

After -

So tell me what you think of the final product

[Dragonite.Luv]

@Dragonite.Luv I sent you the PM

oh, i didnt get it..... :frown:

[Relyte]

@Naru, wow, that one's a lot better! I like the way it looks like he's emerging from mist, and you've kept him looking quite nice. Also, the white on his body makes for a great focal point, I like that it wasn't used elsewhere in the sig (though that doesn't always necessarily have to be, for example in your current sig, the yellow hair draws you in nicely and the yellow stuff around doesn't take away the focal point). I feel like you've really conveyed his lonely/evil disposition with the background. All in all, 9/10

@Toffeuy: Looks good! I like the background, it looks quite original and it suits the sig nicely. The beams of purple and blue light also fit in with Dialga and Palkia who seem to nestle into this sig comfortably. Wow, until just now I didn't notice that Palkia's got blue light and Dialga's got purple light, the opposites of their own colours. Nicely done! The only criticism I've got is that the glow around the text is a little too pronounced and it doesn't quite fit in with the purple and it doesn't quite fit in with the blue. Overall, I'd say an 8.5/10.

@Inu, good to see someone read my crit other than the illustrator

[Dragonite.Luv]

kay guys, this is my third sig I've ever made.... I made it in GIMP, so it may not be as good quality as a photoshop sig, but oh well. hopefully im getting Photoshop soon...... (the latest version, because I already have a different version of photoshop.... its really old)

i made this sig with Illithian's sig tutorial on YouTube, but i didn't completely follow it step by step. for example, i added the other dragonair on the right, which took me a looooooooooooooooooooooong time....... anyways. back to the point.

here's the sig, which is in my sig folder on Project Pokemon, because for some reason when i uploaded it to Photobucket, it took the quality waaayyyy down.

please criticize, rate, and make any suggestions that would help me for future sigs.

(oh yeah, sorry..... its kinda big)

[Toffeuy]

Not to be mean or anything but that sig doesn't look too nice. I'll rate it a 6/10. I know you purposely chose pictures of Dragonair that looked like that, but those certainly weren't the best pictures. The pictures seems a little babish... what I mean is like it's quality is those of the Baby Book Covers. The Illustrators of child books seem to like it a bit blurry and look like pencil-drawn. Maybe it's just me that doesn't like those kind of drawings, someone might like it so they might give it a higher rating, after all a rating is out of opinion not fact. The Dragonair on the left's outline is well done with smoky-ish effects but the one on the right's outline doesn't appeal much effort. Seeing that you only used blue, I think you might have a few difficulties with blending colours (not knowing which colours blend nicely with others). Blending and using different colours do make artworks look a lot better. And lastly i'll just like to say that in the background there are noticable white mini dots which doesn't look as... smooth... don't know how you say it but all I can think of to describe it is not as smooth...

[OminousWhismur]

Yours is pretty good. It has an artistic feel to it. And I sorta like the Togepi evolution line.

9/10

[Gallade]

My newest attempt with photoshop. Have tried a lot of effects etc. I know poliwhirl is not fully sharp. It first was a bigger image but when I make it smaller I never succeed to keep it sharp. Any advice for this? Please rate as if poliwhirl is sharp.

G.

[Ziz]

My newest attempt with photoshop. Have tried a lot of effects etc. I know poliwhirl is not fully sharp. It first was a bigger image but when I make it smaller I never succeed to keep it sharp. Any advice for this? Please rate as if poliwhirl is sharp.

G.

Wow. That's pretty good! Poliwhirl...er...isn't in the best quality, but the background is nice and shares some colors with Poli. 8.2/10

Rate my signature please?

[Gallade]

Wow. That's pretty good! Poliwhirl...er...isn't in the best quality, but the background is nice and shares some colors with Poli. 8.2/10

Rate my signature please?

Thanks! I was also very happy with the background result. Now I need to learn how to place a high quality image in it.

About your sig: In one word: impressive! The picture is blended in very good and I really like the background. It makes me think about an old photo with all these effects. Really, well done! 9/10

G.

[Relyte]

@Dragonite.Luv: Looks good! I like how the appearance is more like traditional art (pencils and paper, that sorta thing) than digital art, it gives it a quaint appearance. I think that you could try to blend the left edge of the right dragonite better. You made the right side of said dragonite's background look good, it blends from white to blue nicely but the other side is a harsh edge between the blue and the white and that is distracting to a viewer in my opinion. All in all, 8/10. Good job!

@Gallade: Looks good, but there's something that bugs me about it. I'm not really sure what it is. I think it might be because it doesn't really flow that well. It looks, I guess, like it was a cool background (maybe overdone?) with cool effects and a pokemon. Still, rating on appearance, I'd say around 8/10. I do like the background and the effects! And, yeah, the Poiwhirl isn't that great...

@Naru-Chu: I like it, but there are too many focal points in it, and they're all in a line. The eye's drawn to the big white space, then to his face, and then to the other side. This would be good, except it's all in the same line as his face. It looks kinda messy, but I do like it. I'd give it an 8.5/10

Wow, you guys are really improving! Keep it up!

[Illithian]

Gallade, the quality goes down as you resize it. You need to learn how to resize it properly.

[Toffeuy]

Rate this sig:

My current signature got a rating of 9/10 by two people, if this sig gets a mark higher than 9/10, i'll set this to my sig instead of the one i'm using right now.

[InuYouki]

Oh I loves it to pieces Toffeuy. I'll give it a 10/10 :3

[Ziz]

Rate this sig:

My current signature got a rating of 9/10 by two people, if this sig gets a mark higher than 9/10, i'll set this to my sig instead of the one i'm using right now.

Whoa that's really good! A little...Illithian method like...but its awesome! 10/10

[Gallade]

Thats really your best sig until now! Nice work! Only one point of critic: Togetic's face is too blurry in my opinion.

[COBHC]

Rate this sig:

My current signature got a rating of 9/10 by two people, if this sig gets a mark higher than 9/10, i'll set this to my sig instead of the one i'm using right now.

10/10

rate my eon pokemon sign