Haven't been here for a while. Let's see if I can still rate;;
@ .Kai: Sora Banner -
This is probably my favorite banner from you. I absolutely adore the colors. The way it goes from color on the right side to black and white on the left side is pretty nifty, too. But Kai... what's going on with that border? It seems like there's more white space on the right side than the left. Is that would you were trying to do? Even so, it looks a little odd.
The placement of the render is good. I really feel that Sora is depressed for some reason. Those vector/tech-ish brushes are nice, but you should move them up a little bit, just by a few pixels. Now, for the text. The actual message is nice. It fits the scene nicely, but white text is definitely too hard to read. Maybe you could make it all black, or turn the white text grey.
Anyway, nice job. let's give it an 8.2/10?
May Banner -
This isn't horrible, but I think you could have done a better job. For starters, those lines in the corner can die. They steal my eyes focus too much. The render is low quality, too. You could sharpen/fade-sharpen it, then fool around with brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. The background is just plain wrong. I'm sorry, but it seems so... motion blurry! I know you smudged it, but it looks like all you did was fill the background with the render, and apply a motion blur. Here's a little technique I use when I can't figure out what to do for the background:
First, set a gradient using a light and dark color from the render. This way, you at least have a colored background. Next, find your main focal point. Get two more light and dark colors from your render and apply a radial gradient on a new layer, starting from your focal point. Set this layer to overlay or something, and mess around with the opacity. After that, duplicate your render, resize it (or use the original render if it's bigger) and add a motion blur. Set this to luminosity, and find the right opacity. Repeat the last step twice, but instead of adding a motion blur, smudge the render. Now it's just a matter of adding a couple more smudge layers set of overlay, linear light, vivid light, etc, anf playing the the opacity. Then you can add whatever you want.
Anyway, back to your banner xD
The text is good. I like it, but the red words blend in with your background too much. Try a lighter color.
I think that's about it for this banner. My last point would be to remove that line thing on the left side. It doesn't go well with this banner.
Sorry, but I'm rating this a 4/10. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.
@ Renyui: I don't see what Gummy meant when he said it's "too dark". There's nothing wrong with the brightness. Though it does seem a bit plain. Maybe adding some grunge brushes in the background would help. Now, for the render. It doesn't seem to fit in. I can clearly see where the light source is on the render, but on the banner, it just isn't there. A lens flare over a black background set on screen might help.
The scattering at the bottom of Shadow is pretty cool. You should really make it more noticeable, though.
Anyway, on to the text. It's a little to blended in. I know exactly what it says, but you can't see the S, and a little bit of the H. You could either brighten up the text, or move it over to the right a little bit.
But that's about it for this banner. I like this one. 8.3/10.
@ Gummy: Ooh! That's really, really nice. I love the lightning effect and the splatter. The border is really good. Not too thin, not too thick. xD I don't really have anything to say about this banner. The text is a little... awkward. It's pixely and hard to read in some places, and the font seems a bit strange. This is easily one of your bests, Gummy. Just redo the text, and it's good to go!
8.9/10.
Lawlz, the ratings got really small at the end. Sorry, Gummy!