Dimidian;; I think you're better off looking for some image blending tutorials yourself, since I find it really difficult to explain things. And I don't know GIMPs functions, so... :| There should be some on the internet, though.
Xenocrates;; I am absolutely jealous of your text skills. Truly amazing ~<3 I don't think I should be rating the first two, since they do look a bit too bright/dark on my screen's resolution... But I think I'll rate the Devil May Cry one, based on effects and such. And I'll just rate the final two versions of the Ichigo banner.
Nero (that's his name, I think) - I was totally thinking of using that image, but I guess I didn't end up doing so... Anyway, very nice pen tooling. I'm glad that my tutorial helped ^^ The pen tooling adds that extra 'oooh' effect to the banner. It simply emphasises the whole glowing arm thing he has. The smudging is really nice, with the hints of blue to match the arm, and everything. It looks really great. And, er, I can't say much more, I guess.
Ichigo - I slightly prefer the one without the texture (it looks 'cleaner' than the other one), although both look really amazing. The smudging is excellent, and the text is awesome <3 The banner has great depth, as well, and I really like those circle things in the background. The scan lines stand out just enough so that it helps out with the flow of the banner. Oh, and I like the choice of border. My one little complaint, though, is that Ichigo's face looks a bit too blurred. Oh (make that two complaints now), and under his arm, it looks like there is a black splodge. Although it isn't that obvious, unless you stare at the banner for a couple of minutes O_o
Flareblade (gosh, I'm much too nice to skip on rating banners);; Your banners aren't too bad, for a beginner. Just a question: what program do you use? Anyway, I'll get to rating then. Oh, and I'm going to focus on rating the banners, if you don't mind.
Nephenne - The edges of the image are reeeeeaaaaally rough. I mean, I can see white all around the person. The background is simplistic, but the colours match the image. The text colours match as well, which is nice, but the font and the positioning of the text are somewhat strange.
Soren - This one is better, in my opinion. The colours and the background is okay, but those bright green brush things take the eyes away from the image. Text positioning on this one is better, and the choice of font is okay, but now the colour of the text is too dark, compared to the rest of the banner.
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I have a new banner to be rated. I was bored, and I played around with a stock image I found. It's sort of a work-in-progress (since I need to fill up that gap to the right of the banner), but whatever...:
Comments and ratings will be appreciated ^^ Oh, and suggestions on how to fill up the space would be nice, too.