Wunderbare Gallerie (REVAMPED)!

A really nice start to the gallery you got going on here. I can really only talk about the signatures, but yeah the only thing I'd really advise on regards the blending, some of your pieces have some sharp edges that make things stand out. Working on the blending really solidifies your depth and just overall cohesion.

You seem to be able to execute a variety of styles and effects though, which is always good and just helps with expanding your horizons as you've said you intend to do. I really like your typography as well, there's really a lot of potential there and that's a skill that's really good to have in graphic design as I whole imo.

KIU! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure!

First off, your CSS is damn awesome. I can't imagine where you got the design from! ;) I know coding isn't something that necessarily needs critiquing, but it definitely lends to making your gallery more attractive. I was instantly hooked! and flattered (ilu2)

Second, I agree with Flushed in saying that your typography is strong. Nine times out of ten, I advise people to be very wary of it, since it can be so demanding to place properly and execute well; but you've pulled yours off nicely in regards to how selective its placement and integration into the piece is. It takes a trained eye, and I appreciate that. I also like how diverse your portfolio is here with different style of graphic art. It's clear you have a seasoned hand in multiple schools of design, and you've showcased that well.

I particularly like your first and last pieces here, "The Moon also Rises" and "One Wing Crisis" respectively. I don't know why, but the colors and the form really works for me with those, and I personally think they're among your strongest. The subject and background flow well together, and really gives those pieces depth that but makes them stand apart from the rest.

Needless to say, I'm excited to see what goes into this gallery next! If it were at all possible that I wasn't a fan of your work before, there's no way I wouldn't be now. You've got the tools you need, the knowledge of the rules, the desire to bend them, and the talent to make it happen. Keep it up!

Also thank you for the mention, you didn't have to! <33

Flushed said:

A really nice start to the gallery you got going on here. I can really only talk about the signatures, but yeah the only thing I'd really advise on regards the blending, some of your pieces have some sharp edges that make things stand out. Working on the blending really solidifies your depth and just overall cohesion.

You seem to be able to execute a variety of styles and effects though, which is always good and just helps with expanding your horizons as you've said you intend to do. I really like your typography as well, there's really a lot of potential there and that's a skill that's really good to have in graphic design as I whole imo.

KIU! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure!

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That's for the advice, I'll make sure I look into utilising some blurring in the next piece I do, to try and make it flow together better :)

Thanks for the comments on my typography, I'll try and use it a bit more in future pieces then :)

And please do, your tags are a lot better than mine, so any advice you ever feel I should hear is always appreciated!

Fairy said:

First off, your CSS is damn awesome. I can't imagine where you got the design from! ;) I know coding isn't something that necessarily needs critiquing, but it definitely lends to making your gallery more attractive. I was instantly hooked! and flattered (ilu2)

Second, I agree with Flushed in saying that your typography is strong. Nine times out of ten, I advise people to be very wary of it, since it can be so demanding to place properly and execute well; but you've pulled yours off nicely in regards to how selective its placement and integration into the piece is. It takes a trained eye, and I appreciate that. I also like how diverse your portfolio is here with different style of graphic art. It's clear you have a seasoned hand in multiple schools of design, and you've showcased that well.

I particularly like your first and last pieces here, "The Moon also Rises" and "One Wing Crisis" respectively. I don't know why, but the colors and the form really works for me with those, and I personally think they're among your strongest. The subject and background flow well together, and really gives those pieces depth that but makes them stand apart from the rest.

Needless to say, I'm excited to see what goes into this gallery next! If it were at all possible that I wasn't a fan of your work before, there's no way I wouldn't be now. You've got the tools you need, the knowledge of the rules, the desire to bend them, and the talent to make it happen. Keep it up!

Also thank you for the mention, you didn't have to! <33

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Yeah I did :P I can't just steal your design and not credit you ^^

I will have to look into making larger versions of those two tags then, to really try and bring out the style, and maybe settle on one.

I shall have some new stuff up later hopefully, so keep an eye out for when I update this :)

(Shush double post, but wanna update!)



Got another Homestuck piece, this time featuring Vriska! The text seems to have gone to shit, but I'll fix that when it's not so damned late. Anyhoo, I'm not really looking for input on the text as much as I am effects and such, so eat away!

SHAMELESS DOUBLE POST TO BUMP ATTENTION

Lmao, ignore that shouty nonsense. That was past me, and past me is an asshole. But not as much as future me. If there's anyone I can't stand more than past me, it's future me. Between them they're a pair of utter douchebags.

Anywho, time to present another piece. I kinda need criticism on these please! I just know there's something I can do better!

Ninja Aiden said:

SHAMELESS DOUBLE POST TO BUMP ATTENTION

Lmao, ignore that shouty nonsense. That was past me, and past me is an asshole. But not as much as future me. If there's anyone I can't stand more than past me, it's future me. Between them they're a pair of utter douchebags.

Anywho, time to present another piece. I kinda need criticism on these please! I just know there's something I can do better!

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okay i love your work. i think you are really good at making tags. that's something i just am not good at no matter how many times i try. i just can never get the c4d's and the focal point right. anyways, this signature is pretty good. i like the bright light source in the corner. the problem with it is that it makes the vector image kind of blurry. i wish it was sharpened more. also, maybe instead of putting the image in the middle, you could put it off to the side and then add some simple text? anyways, lovely job on the new sig!

xxkaylabby said:

okay i love your work. i think you are really good at making tags. that's something i just am not good at no matter how many times i try. i just can never get the c4d's and the focal point right. anyways, this signature is pretty good. i like the bright light source in the corner. the problem with it is that it makes the vector image kind of blurry. i wish it was sharpened more. also, maybe instead of putting the image in the middle, you could put it off to the side and then add some simple text? anyways, lovely job on the new sig!

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Yeah. I did want to offset the focal, but sadly the image wasn't big enough for me to do that with this canvas size. If I had a larger image, I would have gladly.

Where does it look to blurry for you? Most of it is attempted blending or depth creation, so if you could show me, would be appeciated. I was thinking about text, but I couldn't see or think of anything to fit. So I left it. I didn't want to ruin it.

It has been a long, LONG time since I've done one of these so please forgive me if I go wrong somewhere. I've just been rusty as hell with my lack of presence in the art boards haha

Anyway, I'll start off with what I personally think is your best work. Or the one that looks the most aesthetically pleasing to my eye. This one here looks really good. One that I'd personally use, even. Colors are good, the lighting is mostly good what with the presence of only one light source near his face (as things should be) and effects, minimum as they are, play nicely with the stock/render. Also, the background works in tandem with your stock and it looks natural for the most part. It just blends in nicely. One minor issue I see is the overexposure of the area near his face. It is to be expected thanks to the light source being right there but I'd still have preferred to keep the whites a little less bright. Also, the "grain" effect that you've added add to the image. I don't know, just compliments it nicely. Looks good. :D

I'd advise you to stay away from indulging in typography that's situtated close the the borders of the tag. Needlessly detracts from the focal point and looks very awkwardly placed in most works. Holds true for "A Special Kind of Hate", "The Moon also rises" as well as "Majestic Maze". Typography, specifically, is a very difficult aspect to deal with imo. You gotta find the place it looks the best, doesn't detract from the focal and make sure that the font and the size you've chosen along with the placement actually compliments your stock. Which, unfortunately, I do not see in any of your works. Also, try to stay away from colors that compromise on visibility. A Special Kind of Hate's "Special kind of" is a little hard to see thanks to the black. As far as placement goes, I'd probably have placed it closer to her breast and just above her arm. Wouldn't have taken my eyes away from the focal point here which I'm assuming is her hand with the ball levitating on it? The Moon Also Rises is better in the regard that that it doesn't take detract focus as much as the other works I've mentioned but it still looks very awkwardly placed there at the very bottom. Majestic Maze's size is too big and just overwhelms the stock. Not to forget, there's the issue with "e" from Mage being almost visible due to both the text and the background being white in color (albeit with minor change in hue). One Wing Crisis, well, it was very difficult for me to actually comprehend that the word in the middle actually referred to "crisis" lol. Obstructing parts of text with stocks or effects is something that's not exactly uncommon practice in gfx but to go too overboard with it and mask so much of the text that it becomes nigh unreadable...that's something of a problem, imo. There's a difference between parts of it being masked and a majority of it being covered. So yeah. :p

Just to be brief, text is a very dangerous beast. If it takes me one hour to work on a tag it sometimes takes me 1 extra whole hour just to figure out text placement, font choice and the font size along with the colors. So yeah, typography is a difficult beast to bring down. But keep going at it and hopefully you'll see encouraging returns soon. :3

Another aspect I'd concentrate on is, well, backgrounds. This and this piece here - I'll take these two as examples. The former looks good for the most part. While I could go on and on about effects, what stands out to me when I look at it is that the render/stock doesn't seem to mesh well with the background at all. Stock is full of warm colors while the background is a very cool color. You were probably going for a contrast between the colors but I don't really see the background working well here. The effects themselves are to blame to a degree as well. There's a lack of foreground effects in general. Try to have some effects on the stock as well and then try blending them in with the background ones. Also, don't go overboard with blurring out of the effects in the background. Apply it in moderation and where you see fit. This last bit I'm talking about in general and not just about this one piece since I see a tendency of blurring almost the entirety of the background in almost every single one of your works. "Thoughts" has issues with the render not blending in with the background as well.

Apart from that, "Thoughts" also seems to be your weakest work so far. There are two focal points in the image, the focal points themselves aren't very clear and the attempt at blending them with the background using the smudge tool and a little bit of blurring doesn't seem to have worked out in its favor. Also, little to no effects make it very dull. The cross lines in the corners don't add to the work at all. They're just...there.

My hands ache from typing, haha. But yeah, I'll sum up my thoughts on the rest of the works in brief now:

Shining Fairy: Lighting is all over the place. Try not to smudge/blur too much of the stock everywhere to blend it more effectively. It just ceases to look aesthetically pleasing.

Majestic Mage: Text too big. Overwhelms stock. Also takes up too much space that probably should've gone to effects. Of which I see only brushes being used and not much else. Appears very flat as well.

Your Move: Two light sources here. Which is mostly a no-no in most cases here. Kinda messes up the lighting, y'know? The effect at the mid section, apart from proving as an extra light source and messing up the lighting, also causes the picture to be a tad bit overexposed over there. Which doesn't help its case imo. Try not to go with effects that are very bright and mess with the lighting of the whole piece. Also, keep exposure in check.

I'll comment on the other pieces some other time tho I guess. It has been a long post as it is lol. I wonder if you will even read all this crap? Probably not XD;

But yeah, I can definitely see you improving at a rapid pace once you fix some of your issues with blending, typography and effect-work in general a bit. Keep it up! :D Also, sorry if I sounded a bit too harsh in a few places - wasn't my intention if that's how it sounded! ;____;

Edit: Some clarification is in order, I think. :p
Going through the other responses on the thread made me realize something...it seems like I bashed your efforts on typography too much. But don't worry! Typography is just one of those things I'm highly selective about. What makes me happy is the fact that you've already grasped the concept of going with different fonts for different works. Experimentation, in other words. That is something most people lack usually. I myself stuck to just one kind of font style for god knows how long so that's definitely one strong aspect of your work and something that definitely deserves kudos, imo. So yeah, don't get discouraged or anything. BD
Also, apologies again if this sounded harsh or anything. :c

derozio said:

-snip-

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Alright wow. I can't guarantee I'll be able to take all that in at once, but I will make sure I try and improve one bit at a time. But seriously, don't feel bad about any of that, that's exactly what I want! I want someone to rip apart my stuff! If no one does, I'll never get better, so at the very least thank you for making the effort to point out my faults to me!

I will get something new out very soon, and I will make sure I keep this advice open to refer to. Perhaps I will avoid typography a bit, but it mostly got positive results. So yeah, as always, I'm still on the fence about it haha. I normally try to go for something a bit more dramatic in stuff like tags, but for the larger sigs I'm perhaps just going to leave it be for now.

Also, I'm probably going to switch to more 3D/irl stocks to try out. Maybe it'll be a bit better. Who knows? Anyway, for everyone visiting, if you feel you have stuff to say, look at Derozio's post haha who only came here because of the mention yeah Jk :P

Ninja Aiden said:

Alright wow. I can't guarantee I'll be able to take all that in at once, but I will make sure I try and improve one bit at a time. But seriously, don't feel bad about any of that, that's exactly what I want! I want someone to rip apart my stuff! If no one does, I'll never get better, so at the very least thank you for making the effort to point out my faults to me!

I will get something new out very soon, and I will make sure I keep this advice open to refer to. Perhaps I will avoid typography a bit, but it mostly got positive results. So yeah, as always, I'm still on the fence about it haha. I normally try to go for something a bit more dramatic in stuff like tags, but for the larger sigs I'm perhaps just going to leave it be for now.

Also, I'm probably going to switch to more 3D/irl stocks to try out. Maybe it'll be a bit better. Who knows? Anyway, for everyone visiting, if you feel you have stuff to say, look at Derozio's post haha who only came here because of the mention yeah Jk :P

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Can I request a sig? If I can, I would like to use the picture below. VM me if you can!
http://hdwallpapersfit.com/legend-of-zelda-hd-wallpapers.html

AshShadow said:

Can I request a sig? If I can, I would like to use the picture below. VM me if you can!
http://hdwallpapersfit.com/legend-of-zelda-hd-wallpapers.html

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I guess, since I need something to really get me into graphics again, I can. But I'm not actually taking requests, just so everyone knows.

Ninja Aiden said:

I guess, since I need something to really get me into graphics again, I can. But I'm not actually taking requests, just so everyone knows.

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Ok, only if you want to. No rush, take your time.

Ok so, it's been a while since I updated anything here, but here's a little tag I am using for my new signature. What do you think?

Woooaaah... How did I let this rot so much? :O

Double post here to get back on my feet with a couple of things here.

1) I am reopening the shop for requests for Tags and Icons. I will post and add some examples of icons later, kay?

2) I have a couple of new works to display, I think (lmfao)

So only two new pieces (I know, I'm bad shush) but here they are:



GO NUTS WITH REQUESTS GUYS. I'm taking as many as I can, and I'm open to most requests! You may have to allow me a little bit of freedom to disregard some desires, as they may not be possible, but I will tell you if that is the case for sure :3

JohnnyMustang said:

Hey!

I'm gonna leave my thougts over the wandering light tag: It's really smooth. I don't know if you're doing this on purpose but it seems that you don't leave for criticism :P In all your latest tags you've been focusing your effects around a really small focal; they all look great, don't get me wrong, but the main effect is always really small compared to the size of your tags. I do the exact opposite of that and I generally ended messing the focal because of that, and I understand why you would wanna keep your focal points small. What I'm saying is that I would like to see more of your work with a little more chaotic and bigger effects :)

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Consider the challenge accepted. I shall see what my next piece comes out like ^^

Hello! I really like your work, I can see the vastness in style and in varied techniques

Tag or icon: Tag with one icon, please!
Render/Stock: http://www.renders-graphics.com/image/upload/normal/Sans_titre-1-52.png
Colours (if any): Whatever you think is best
Text (if any): Noble Rose
Other: Could the icon be 150x150?

What you want: Could I have a set of icons, please?
Render/Stock: 1 2 3
Colours (if any): blue and white and grey
Text (if any): none!
Other: Thanks much in advance!

Twisted Cuteness said:

Hello! I really like your work, I can see the vastness in style and in varied techniques

Tag or icon: Tag with one icon, please!
Render/Stock: http://www.renders-graphics.com/image/upload/normal/Sans_titre-1-52.png
Colours (if any): Whatever you think is best
Text (if any): Noble Rose
Other: Could the icon be 150x150?

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Noire said:

What you want: Could I have a set of icons, please?
Render/Stock: 1 2 3
Colours (if any): blue and white and grey
Text (if any): none!
Other: Thanks much in advance!

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Both are accepted and will be worked upon as soon as I get home tonight :)

Also updating the request form a little now, as I have remembered something I wanna add.

Hey, good to see you´re still doing art stuffs!

What you want: Icon and Tag, please.
Render/Stock: http://www.renders-graphics.com/image/upload/normal/Sailor_Chibi_Moon_full_1184881_copie.png
Colours (if any): Soft colors
Text (if any): None.
Other: Nothing I can think of. Thanks for your time
Favourite Piece: Majestic Mage. I like the colors as well as the way it looks a tad like paper.