First Attempt in About 2 Years

[tMoon]

I used to do a lot of graphics, tags, thread layouts, and so forth. I was never amazing, but it was something I enjoyed and for whatever reason I stopped my senior year in high school (closer to 3 than 2 years, but anyway).

So anyway:

Is a very basic sig and I'm not entirely satisfied with the lighting, text placement, or really the overall flow, but baby steps.

C&C is greatly appreciated. I'm getting somewhat of a feel as I fiddle around with filters and all, but it would be great if anyone could direct me to tutorials they found useful.

Also, does anyone have any brushes & fonts they suggest?


Update 7/20:

Did some small edits, moved the text, blurred the background a bit, sharpened the render, further darkened portions of the render, and made a few lighting changes.

 

[Anet390]

I like it. I like the Red, Orange, and Yellow contrast..

Much much better than what I can do. I can just copy paste and that's about it. lol

 

[tMoon]

I like it. I like the Red, Orange, and Yellow contrast..

Thanks!

Much much better than what I can do. I can just copy paste and that's about it. lol

Ha, you got to start somewhere, I bet you could pickup making signatures real quick.

 

The text should just be omitted or reduced to just 1 word until you learn placement. The background is pretty basic, one thing I would have liked was if the line between the red and yellow background curved round as if it followed some of the contours of the cape. The lighting seems to be very confused too. Some dark brushing, while a very basic way to establish shadow, would do wonders when you're starting off. Also looking to make use of the burn tool and the similar ones (can't remember the names of the bastards) to adjust and emphasize the lighting on the render. One site I dabbled with was sigtutorials.com for tutorials, it doesn't seem to really get updated at all anymore but it's still a great place to start. Keep posting bud, I need to get back into dabbling with tags too.

 

[tMoon]

Updated the thread with a slightly different version of the tag.

The text should just be omitted or reduced to just 1 word until you learn placement. The background is pretty basic, one thing I would have liked was if the line between the red and yellow background curved round as if it followed some of the contours of the cape. The lighting seems to be very confused too. Some dark brushing, while a very basic way to establish shadow, would do wonders when you're starting off. Also looking to make use of the burn tool and the similar ones (can't remember the names of the bastards) to adjust and emphasize the lighting on the render. One site I dabbled with was sigtutorials.com for tutorials, it doesn't seem to really get updated at all anymore but it's still a great place to start. Keep posting bud, I need to get back into dabbling with tags too.

Yeah, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the text so I kinda just threw my username on their just because.

Definitely a basic background and my next few tags will most-likely be of a similar manner. I'm still learning (and remembering) how to use even the most basic tools (clouds, with brushing, and some overlay action) that can be utilized in a background. I'm thinking of trying out smudging on my next tag, or maybe go the route of clipping masks.

As for the lighting & the darks, I should of included the tag prior to said changes. There has already been substantial darkening on both the render and the tag as a whole. As for lighting, I'm not sure where to place the light source tbh.

I checked out sigtutorials, and it's great, thanks. Also you should totally create some tags, do something for next months SOTM (if not something sooner).

 

Updated the thread with a slightly different version of the tag.



Yeah, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the text so I kinda just threw my username on their just because.

Definitely a basic background and my next few tags will most-likely be of a similar manner. I'm still learning (and remembering) how to use even the most basic tools (clouds, with brushing, and some overlay action) that can be utilized in a background. I'm thinking of trying out smudging on my next tag, or maybe go the route of clipping masks.

As for the lighting & the darks, I should of included the tag prior to said changes. There has already been substantial darkening on both the render and the tag as a whole. As for lighting, I'm not sure where to place the light source tbh.

I checked out sigtutorials, and it's great, thanks. Also you should totally create some tags, do something for next months SOTM (if not something sooner).

Yeah I'll definitely participate in the next SOTM (doubt I'll win but hey, it'll be fun). My next project is going to be a third UI but if I get around to it I'll try do one as a refresher before hand.

In v2 the render itself looks better but one thing is that there's been darkness introduced into the render itself, why not the background too? Still not a fan of the text placement - now it's placed on quite a bright bit but the text is white itself which gives it legibility problems. Not a fan of it being in italics either, from personal experience just plain, sans serif text seems to be the easiest to pull off.)

What type of brushes & fonts are you looking for? There's a few things in here http://www.sythe.org/graphics-resources-discussion/1488004-gfx-resource-website-list-updated.html but if you're looking for something in particular I may be able to help.

 

[Godpoker]

From reading above - if you don't know what to do with the text, then don't put it on.I'd recommend centralising it in the bottom right "triangle" of space. Make it quite large and go with a thin, tall font. (Such as Bebas or Helvetica Condensed)

I do also find that there's not a lot of things happening in the background and for such a fluid render it seems quite stationary. Try sticking a few renders in and playing with some blending options. Don't be scared to cover part of the render up, too.

Also, Google some tutorials on smudging - they'd help a bunch.

5/10

 

[tMoon]

Yeah I'll definitely participate in the next SOTM (doubt I'll win but hey, it'll be fun). My next project is going to be a third UI but if I get around to it I'll try do one as a refresher before hand.

In v2 the render itself looks better but one thing is that there's been darkness introduced into the render itself, why not the background too? Still not a fan of the text placement - now it's placed on quite a bright bit but the text is white itself which gives it legibility problems. Not a fan of it being in italics either, from personal experience just plain, sans serif text seems to be the easiest to pull off.)

What type of brushes & fonts are you looking for? There's a few things in here but if you're looking for something in particular I may be able to help.

Sounds good

Not all-too-sure what to do with the text tbh and I was going through my external and found all my old brushes/fonts. Nothing in particular, but just brushes to help with the creation of tags.

From reading above - if you don't know what to do with the text, then don't put it on.I'd recommend centralising it in the bottom right "triangle" of space. Make it quite large and go with a thin, tall font. (Such as Bebas or Helvetica Condensed)

I do also find that there's not a lot of things happening in the background and for such a fluid render it seems quite stationary. Try sticking a few renders in and playing with some blending options. Don't be scared to cover part of the render up, too.

Also, Google some tutorials on smudging - they'd help a bunch.

5/10

I'll be sure to give your suggestions a try. I'll mess with the render itself (whether this involves covering portions up) to see how further blending it goes. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try them on future tags

Actually just made a smudge tag, totally feel free to CnC: http://www.sythe.org/graphics-gallery/1864912-smudge-tag.html

Thanks for all the tips!

 

Text is very out of place and I'd have liked to have seen the render be more "included" in the background (if the background were to gain more depth, looks a bit flat as it is). The two latter problems could likely be solved with a bit of C4D play.

Diggin the smudge tag a lot more, I'll post feedback on that thread too.