The Graphics Rating Thread [READ THE FIRST POST. D:<]

[Zebra Thunderhead]

Adding a light source is easy enough. You just have to look at the shadows in the stock and pinpoint where the light source would be. In your particular case, you have to look at all the people in your image. After looking at all of them, you can see that the light source is coming from the top right since all the shadows are going in a / (more or less) direction. I could make a guide on pinpointing a light source but it really varies for each individual case.

 

[Nytkoi]

Request from SPPf. Please rate.

 

[Rockéttes]

This banner has no flow at all. The C4Ds are scattered everywhere, which makes it confusing to look at. Try using the C4Ds to your advantage by making them flow with the tag.

The text is barely legible (especially the "Fairy" bit) and is an extremely unappealing color. If I were you, I'd change the color, up the opacity to 100%, remove all of the yucky layer styles and change the font. Try to reposition it, too. (so basically, redo the text completely ;p)

Another aspect you might want to incorporate into your signatures is depth. Here is an excellent depth tutorial by CME. It covers a lot, so read over it carefully. Depth can also be useful for creating, or at the very least defining the focal point of your banner.

Again, look at that tutorials a linked to and a few others. I think you'll benefit greatly from them.

 

[Zebra Thunderhead]

@Nytkoi - This basically just looks like a satu'd image with some renders slapped on. This tag, to say the least, has a lot going on. It's lacking all the basic aspects of graphics: light, flow, and depth.

As Rockets posted, there's the depth tutorial (I didn't make it, my friend did) that helps a lot. It at least gives you the basics of depth that would work perfectly with a tag like this. Cause right now I'm just looking at a flat image with too much going on. It's about as dimensional as paper. Depth ftw!

Carnivale Freakshow shouldn't be used in every tag as it really doesn't work for every tag as you're trying to make it. Green for the text is also blah, you definitely want to try a different color. Blue or something. Anything else would look better (except for yellow). Text is extremely difficult to master it would probably be better if you practiced first without text. I've found Arial is a pretty good font to use for nearly all tags and you can mess with the settings in characteristics. Arial ftw.

Flow is apparently a lot harder to grasp than I think. I'll have to make a tutorial on this too. Each image out there has it's own flow. The flow of this image is going / so you should compliment that which you did fairly well for a while until you got to the top right. Easy enough.

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I didn't get one rate. You guys are sad. ):

 

[Rockéttes]

I didn't get one rate. You guys are sad. ):

I totally meant to rate this last night, but then we had a huge seven hour power outage. I thought for sure someone else would've rated it, but... nope! Anyway...

I don't like this one as much as the other things I've seen from you. It kind of seems half finished, if you know what I mean; as in there's still a little more you could be adding to it. (just don't ask me what @_@;)

I like the little specks on the left hand side. Those are pretty nifty. Same with that strip with different shades of green to the right of the render. Those two things and the red circles are what make this tag, in my opinion. I hate that purple circle, though. It just seems... so out of place. I don't know how to describe it. Same with the yellow whatever-the-hell-it-is. (LOL are those flowers?!)

There's not much I can offer you that you don't already know in the way of advice, though. I might try to tidy it up a bit, as it seems a little messy in my opinion, but that's up to you I guess.

 

[Nytkoi]

Fairly, these two comments hit me hard. I thought this was the best tag I ever made. xDDD I'll have to look to that 'flow' tutorial. It seems I have a lot to learn on that subject. Well, here is a newer version. I tried out depths, changed the font, and made it a diff. color.

@ CME: It's really good! I like all the colors and everything, but I think some of the yellow at the bottom should be taken off. And I'm not font of drop shadow on renders. :/ 8.5/10

 

[Rockéttes]

A slight improvement, but I still don't really see any flow at all. As CME said, the flow goes something like / that. Pay attention to the angle at which the guys neck is leaning towards, the angle the girl is sitting, and the angle the beam she's sitting on is positioned. Try to manipulate all those wonderful little C4Ds your so fond of to also go in the direction. It can be tricky to get a hang og, but it's a valuable skill to posses.

The text is a little better, also. Actually, I'm kinda diggin' this white strike you've place behind it. ;D But still, I don't think it was the right decision for this banner. I'd either use no text at all, or use a simple sans-serif text such as Tahoma or Trebuchet MS. That's just me, though. ;p

EDIT:

Don't think I ever posted this tag in this thread. :/ Whatever, rate-away.

 

[Loki]

Woah, I thought I'd seen this somewhere. xD Erica's theme, no? Anyway, to be honest, I don't really like this tag. The effects- of course, are amazing. Well. All the effects except for the color adjustments. I really don't think the cyan really goes well with Shiki here, and then there's the fact that the colors are really randomized- they don't fit as well as they usually do in your tags. :< And then there's the render job. :| I mean, I'm thinking you weren't the one who rendered it, but still, you could've... I dunno, cleaned it up. If it was an effect, then I don't think that effect really flew. I think this tag would be really cool though, if you had a stock that actually fit the outer effects a little better. Shiki looks kind of misplaced. :| And you preach a lot about depth, but I can't really feel any in this tag, which isn't a problem to me since depth has never really been a huge defining factor for me in whether a tag is good or not, but it feels pretty flat, IMO.

Woah. Y'know, I love Fairy Tail, and Gray is amazing, but I think we have a few things to work on here Nytkoi. ;D First of all, this isn't always true, but it's generally better not to have things covering up your main focal point and detracting from it. In this case, your focal point looks like it's Gray, and the think detracting from it is your effect c4d. You attempt at depth was a good try, but not quite there. Do you see how Lucy is all blurred, but the ceiling behind her and Plue are nice and sharp? Yeah that's a bit... contradicting. What you want is to think "What is farthest away, and what is closest?" The things that are farthest away are the blurriest- that would be your ceiling. Then the beam and Lucy, which would be a little less blurry than the ceiling. I think Mirajane in the corner would be around the same blurriness as Lucy. So just be sure to play with the settings of your blur tool, or do what I do and apply the image, gaussian blur it, and then erase whatever you don't want to be blurry.

Now, after that, we need to talk c4d's. There's a time and place for c4d's, but this wasn't it. See how your Fairy Tail stock is really cartoony? The c4d is out of place, and it feels awkward. Not only that, but the placement is weird too, because as Rockets and CME have been telling you, the flow is off. When Rockets says to pay attention to the angles of your stock picture, he wants you to look at which direction Lucy and Gray are, which is like he said: / But after looking at that angle, you need to shape your effects so that it follows that direction. See how some of the green slashes are horizontal? - not /? You need to turn your c4d so that it goes diagonal.

I feel kind of bad for picking away at a banner that was supposed to be a gift for me, but... Dx; Here we go anyway~

Hmmm, the monotone works moderately well here, but um... the smudge or whatever doesn't. I think it would've been really nice if you could've added some color to it with light textures or something to that effect, because as it is, it's pretty boring. D: The text is okay, but it's not incredible. Maybe some more effects? The depth in this tag kind of confuses me too, since it looks like that cloudy stuff in front of his face is at the same point away from my eyes, but it's really blurry compared to his face and neck and stuff...? I dunno, mostly I think you should add some more before I say more though. THere's really not much in this tag to talk about. :/

 

[moments.]

Well I guess I will take this chance to post my latest tag although I cannot rate everybody elses graphics just yet as I am about to head out. I will be back for a super rate though.

Be harsh please. ;)

 

[Loki]

You want me to be harsh? D:

Well I dunno how well I can fulfill that request, but first thing I thought when I saw your tag was, "What is that?" Not like, "Ew, it's so ugly" but more like, "... What is that thing on the right? DDD:"

So yeah, it took me way too long to figure out what it was, and I'm still kind of deciding what's what in your focal. I think it's mostly the monotone colors that's making it hard to distinguish. x_x The text is alright, but I don't really like the placement- and the flow... those translucent lines kind of make me feel like you tried to force the flow in the wrong direction. xD; He's kind of going \, not /. The blurring on his arm kind of confuses me as well... weird depth. And other than that, all the other effects are kind of subtle, and they don't really stand out a lot. So I dunno. I think you need some pop to this tag. :<

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It's been a long time since I've gotten something rated. xD;

 

[Nytkoi]

@ Allelujah: I'm not as fond of this banner as your other ones. That kind of font dosen't agree with me. :/ I mean, it looks great, just not my style. I think the render could be very slightly darker, but that's just me. I think that becuase the c4d (it's a c4d right?) Is pretty dark. So you should, unless you don't want the render to blend in; you want it to stand out. I sort of like blended banners. So I'll give this a 7.5/10.

I blurred the background a lot just like you said I should. What do you think? Better? (Sorry if I keep posting this too much :x)

 

[Zebra Thunderhead]

@Rockets - Definitely would be awful in color but the 2 light sources? >: His nose is obnoxiously bright and the light makes it look really big. Overall it's pretty bland and flat. There's some slight depth but not enough. The effects are lackluster and the smudging is not complimenting the stock. Some bright colors (CMYK!!!) would help make the tag pop and give it a little more life. I don't normally promote clipping masks but I think some would look good here. Long text generally doesn't work in tags and this isn't an exception. :\ It'd be better off without it. Overall it's not bad but it definitely has room for improvement.

@noxious - I can't even tell you where the stock's head is. Too much sharpening and effects up there. The monochromeness of the tag isn't appealing and it's impossible to tell what anything is. The effects crawling up his shoulder to his head (I guess) look nice but they're really the only effects you have. The right is empty and the left is horribly boring. Motion blurred stuff? When has that ever worked, really. You've got the flow all wrong. Although the stock seems to be moving in a / direction, he's actually going \. You can tell by his right (our left) arm. So you're pretty much forcing the flow. As far as the depth aspect goes, it's pretty non existent. I don't get what you're trying to do by blurring his arm but if that's how you're trying to get depth... it's not working. The text sucks so just get rid of it.

@Lush Loki - Definitely not one of your best but I like it all the same. Though I don't like all the blue. ): You oughta know better! The depth is pretty much there but it could use a few additional effects in front of the stock. That weird little block line thing on the upper left is really throwing me and the flow of this off. It's all nice and stuff and then that thing is LOLNOFLOWNOMORES! ): Now that I look at it more, the depth can really use a boost by a small, 30px or so, light yellow light source near his face. I think that would give you the depth you need. Definitely scrap the text. Instead of having text, you can put 3 small little color blocks in the bottom right to give it some extra flare.

@Nytkoi - Aye, you're not getting it, are ya? The effects are too much and they're taking away from the stock. You can't just go around slapping renders on wherever you want because it never looks good unless you know how to do it correctly, which few do. All those renders are drawing my eye away from the focal (which you blurred nicely). And that dang render in the top right is messing up your flow. So get rid of all those renders and use some simple ones and fix your flow.

 

[Nytkoi]

Well, here it is without the c4d render:

Mind giving me some tips on finding good renders? :P I'm horrible at finding them.

 

[Loki]

Nytkoi: Well I have the effect c4d you used Nytkoi, and I dunno, in my personal opinion, it looks awesome, but it's pretty hard to use and get it right.

But in this case, I don't think it's so much the fact that you picked the wrong c4d, more like the fact that you picked a c4d at all. D: It just doesn't really go with the style of your banner. When you pick a render, the first thing you should think of is, "Would this go better with a vector style, or a smooth c4d style?" And Fairy Tail doesn't really strike me as a smooth c4d style. <_< And then there's the problem of your text being kind of cartoony-solid, while your effects are c4d style. It's gotta mesh together.

The blur is much better, although you accidentally blurred Gray's hair too, and that'll- again, mess up your depth. xD; (And Plue is still pretty sharp.) Just avoid blurring parts of your focal while leaving the rest sharp- vary the size of your blur brush, y'know?

And then let's see... You've definitely blurred a little too much, but that can't be helped since you've already blurred it all and I'm pretty sure you don't have your history anymore. The text is better than it was last time, but I'm not sure about the decal. Maybe a brush would serve better? There are good text decal brushes at deviantart.

And finally, it looks 110% better without the c4d. I think that it's great that you keep on improving the same banner, but since you've already blurred this one so much, maybe you want to try a new one, to fiddle with c4d's, light, and depth? That way you have a fresh canvas. ;D

~~
My banner:

Hmm, I agree with you guys on the fact that the text sucks. xD; I may get rid of it. CME, by blocks of color, do you means solid square brushes? o_O Or do you mean like, a 50px colored soft brush on... I dunno, lighten? I'll add the light source soon as I get home~ And shhhh, I already put up the one that actually has more than three colors. [/shot!] I dunno, before I knew it, there was only black, white and blue, but I'll see what I can add. |D And yeah, the block is apart of a stock. Wtf is it doing there? [/shot!]

And Nytkoi, there are no c4d's in that banner I posted. ;D As a result, I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you talking about the smoky line things on his right, past the vector lines that are outlining him? xD;


edit:

Fixed, for better or worse?

 

[SwampertTrainer]

Well, they're similar of course. The old one has a bit more of an earthy, spy sort of look to it, whereas the new one has more of an essence of... kinda galaxy-planet-appearance. I like the effects of the previous one, especially the text. I can't say I like either of them that much. Neither really appeals to me. I suppose they're too highly contrasted and give me the feeling of looking through 3D glasses.
Your background is a bit sharper than the focal, so my attention is drawn to the right first, rather than the left where it should be. Just a little blur and sharpen in the right spots =)
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Rating please

 

[/Circa]

SwampertTrainer - The border sought of ruins it a bit. You did nice with everything else, but sonics face is too covered up (if that is sonic ;s) And it looks like theres just some random L on his head.

I was gonna submit this for SOTW but I was a bit late o.O.
My first sig in forever.

 

[Zebra Thunderhead]

@Lush Loki - In comparison, the second one looks a lot better. The addition of the small light source immediately helps focus on the stock. The weird discs on the right draw my attention away though. Looks a lot better without the blocks in the top left. As soon as you get rid of those funny little disc things you'll have a nice tag. I can't think of anything to enhance the depth a bit more but that's because my brain is so fried. XD Otherwise though, looks pretty nice.

@Swampert - Scrap the border. Borders suck. The stock gets lost in all those effects and it's turned into FHS. The flow is obviously borked because of those vector brushes in the background. The flow is clearly going / (well, from what I can tell from what's there for the stock) and the brushes just throwi t out the window. The stock placement is in bad position to try and fix it so if you ever do try and fix it, move the stock to the left. There's some weird little L shape on his forehead that looks like dead pixels on a screen. Smudge that out. Depth is obviously lacking. I posted a tutorial several times around here. Read it. Also, try some other colors. Stop making monochrome tags, they really don't look good.

@Punk Rocker - The renders give the stock's shirt a weird coloring that I'm not too fond of. The tag would definitely look better without the text and well, a different stock. Something more dynamic. The white background makes me feel weird, I think it'd be better set to a black background. Maybe if you moved the stock up so more of his shoulders were visible and on a black background... I think you could keep that stock then. Also, if you were to keep the white background, the colors near his head look strange and out of place. For this kind of tag, I'd suggest keeping things in a \/ form of flow and keep stuff towards the bottom. I think this kind of thing would be better off using vectors, though. Since it's a simple background with kind of dull colors in the stock, I think some vector shapes and/or brushes in bright colors (cmyk!) would make this pop and turn it into something nice.

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A collab between myself and my friend Dave. The white brush needs work, I know. It's not done. Need suggestions.

 

[Rockéttes]

@ CME: Lol, it still looks like he's blowing a bubble, though. xD;

Anyway, this is going to be really interesting when it's finished. I can't really judge it as I would a finished piece, as things are obviously subject to change. I will rate what you've got, though.

First of all, the grid lines need to go. As it is now, they're only subtracting from the overall appeal of the image. They really screw up the flow, too. You've got those skid marks going in a diagonal direction, his arms which are also going diagonal, but at the exact opposite angle, his snowboard which matches his arms, and then the grid lines which are just horizontal. It makes the image look unbalanced, in a way.

I really like that floral brush, though. Good call on the gradient, too.

The only other thing I think you two could improve on would be that bubble. I'm not really digging this new bubble thing you've been working with lately. It's just not... I don't know, you? It's not even that it's different and I'm not used to it; it just doesn't look good at all.

Anyway, everything else is fine. As I said before, I'm interested to see how this is going to turn out. Post it again when you guys are finished.

I have tired GIMP once and the layout (in comparison to Photoshop) sucks. I never used it again.
Would it help if I maybe rotated the brushes in the background so that so horizontal lines in the background are going the same way as everything else?

Just get rid of them. Vector brushed rarely ever look good in a "smudge tag".

 

[Loki]

SwampertTrainer:

Just get rid of them. Vector brushed rarely ever look good in a "smudge tag".

I'd have to agree with this. The thing with using vector brushes in a smudge tag, is that they're totally different styles, and if you don't pick your brush wisely and don't add the right effects, the 3D effect of the smudging and the 2D effects of the flat brushes just don't mesh.

From the other banners of yours I've seen on other forums, you tend to like to cover up and over-effect your focals. My suggestion to you is to maybe try not to cover up your focal with effects so much, and maybe try moving your effects around the focal, rather than on top.



Last Edit:

+ Blur & Sharpen, even though I really couldn't give a butt about depth. xD;
+ Darkness on the blue lights in the corner. It's really empty if I get rid of them, and it's just kind of a weird empty spot. x_x;

Thanks for everyone's input. :>

 

[Rockéttes]

I think you should sharpen the outer edges a little more, and try to figure out a way to better seperate the render from the, er... whatever that thing in the background is. It almost looks like a chain link? Or is that actually part of the render?

Also, the text could maybe be a little more visible. It looks like you used a gradient to make it fade out to the right, but it's a little too transparent. Even if that's the effect you were going for, I don't think it really worked out too well.

I really like that star effect you put on this tag. The little white speckles really add to the effect.

And that's about all I can really say for this banner. Not your greatest, but not your worst, either.