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The Graphics Rating Thread - Read Post #1

6
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Dec 28, 2013
Heres something I made today. Im still pretty new at graphics and I would like some feedback. Its in my sig.
 

Winneon

[b][color=#fb0120]しょう[/color][color=#fc6d24]が[/col
525
Posts
12
Years
sigpic283566_1.gif


It has a pretty background and fits with the Samurott render, but there is no detail besides the background. I would suggest adding some detail to the Samurott like a glow or something abstract. (Just my opinion.)

Here is my latest work. I think I only used 1 filter this time on my tag.
harmony.png


:)
 

moments.

quixotic
3,407
Posts
15
Years
sigpic283566_1.gif

As you're new to posting in graphics and photography, just a heads up that I may come off as harsh or blunt or rude, whatever you want to call it, I have no intentions of that, just like to give you guys honest comments on where you can improve! So hope this is ok!

First of all, the tag as a whole feels rather incomplete, however there is a lot to like in what you do have here, but it does need some more added. First off, while I'd argue it is a fraction too obvious, the black brushing you've got around the edges is actually a really nice touch. I've been harping on to everyone to add more lighting, it is refreshing to see someone naturally add some! But yeah, definitely could go with a little bit of reducing the opacity, or just make it more of a gradient, so it more gradually fades to dark. Another thing you could consider given you've added shadows, is to add a proper light source. Using a soft brush on linear dodge, or using the dodge tool if you're familiar will help make the focal pop a little bit more!

Onto the background, the blue watery, smudge stuff is a good base, but I'm not feeling that C4D or whatever those black floating things are. Not sure how they really work with the Pokemon... But a rather beginner approach to graphics is to make a background, and then paste render on the top and leave it. That's kind of what you have, and it's what Jalorda touched on, that you don't have any effects, or any way of blending the focal and the background. If you are familiar with C4Ds, or smudge, or whatever else you like, you need to put some over the render. Not smothering it, just over the tail, and around the bottom edge of the tag, and then you could extend them out either side of the tag over the background. Without this, it really is a little boring and nothing special, but with just a bit, it will improve a lot!

Some more general things, I would've positioned the Pokemon a little bit higher, and a tiny bit to the left. Just because the body feels like it is being cut off, and is sort of an awkward positioning for it. But yeah, a great start, I just feel it needs a little more polish to finish it off!

harmony.png

It's not about how many filters you use! It's which ones you use, and how you use them... I use like 3/4 on all my pieces, but they are the ones that aren't obviously filters. Sharpen / blur / reduce noise all help with the quality of the piece, but things like displace, ripple and stuff are just too obvious, unoriginal and frankly look pretty bad...

Not feeling this one at all, and a lot of it is down to elements of your technique which bring this down. First of all, I don't know if you were rendering the violin, or if you were trying to create some sort of look by soft erasing all the edges, but this is a big no-no. If you wanted to render, you really need a harder edge, so you can use the magic wand / hard eraser if you've never done it before, but try and experiment and learn to use the pen tool or polygonal lasso. Look up some tutorials if you need them, but it will look so much better, and you definitely need those skills if you want to go any further with graphics. This is a similar story with the stave and the notes on the left, I can't tell if you've rendered it poorly, or if you've added glow, but that's another thing to watch for. If you create effects, and it ends up looking like something bad, even if unintentional, you might not notice because you know what it is, but to other people who don't know what you've done, it can really bring it down. Try and make the effects obvious and really clean execution. Another tip, just stay away from outer glow. It's one of those things that isn't made for tags, it just feels cheap and amateurish...

Um some little things all without real big comments. Placement of the violin is not strong at all, should be brought up quite a bit, and definitely closer to the middle. It just gets lost down there and doesn't draw the eyes at all (soft erasing is also responsible for this).
Text is way too obnoxious, it is just taking all the focus, especially cause it literally has pole position over the actual focal... Get rid of that outer glow / stroke as well, the black, it gives it a rough edge and feels cheap. If it doesn't stand out, use black text.
Colour scheme is really lacking any variety and is monotonous. Then again, unless you go really crazy creative, the violin doesn't give you much to work with...
Lastly, effects just feel random. Like, you kind of got a concept, but it's too vague. Basically it is just "things to do with music" and that tells. There's no flow, the effects don't complement the focal, they are kind of their own thing. Again, violin is a damn hard focal to choose...

Sorry that end bit got a little blunter, I needed to point them all out but would take ages to write them in my normal style.
Basically a recurring thing I can tie to your work, and things that can be improved is that you are making your job really quite difficult. Choosing inanimate objects as focal points, putting emphasis on number of filters used, makes me think you are too caught up in your technique to actually end up with really nice, polished results, which in itself contradicts the point on focussing on technique. I'd like you to go back to characters as focal points, do some more Pokemon ones, or some anime, or real life or something. Getting to do abstract / inanimate / space stuff is a lot more difficult, and I don't think you're quite up to it yet. Need a little bit more experience. I don't mean that in a rude way, they are damn hard to do. I avoid them myself because either I won't be able to do something really nice, or because I will have to spend so much time on one piece to get it decent that it isn't worth it...

Whoever is next, rate JalordaSerpent7's tag. This is not a free pass.
 

Winneon

[b][color=#fb0120]しょう[/color][color=#fc6d24]が[/col
525
Posts
12
Years
I think I fixed a few of those things in this tag. Rate plz!
colormusictag.png
 
10,673
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Dec 30, 2023
I like how you've made your effects but they don't really serve as enough of a focal point alone. These are only effects, it would be nice to see them work around a stock image or texture in which you create flow too. However, the star brush is quite low quality in relation to the rest of the tag. You've created some nice flow, but again it needs to work around something. The colours are also a little all over the place, there's a few too many. You should work on depth too, adding more in the background and such, because overall the tag is quite empty. Try to incorporate your effects with a stock or render, otherwise they tend to fall short and not fill out a tag enough. I find it hard to add a whole lot more about it though, it just needs a further approach. If anyone else has some comments they may throw them in.

As I say, nice effects, but they don't really work as a stand alone tag.
 

Skip Class

previously zappyspiker, but rainbow keeps trying t
4,717
Posts
15
Years
So this is like the first tag I've made since... February, I think?. Also is the second stock tag I've ever made (Too used to renders.) Also don't use vector brushes that often but need a really good detail critique on this tag I just made:

gazelle_tag_by_zappyspiker-d49hwnm.png


Especially text + it's positioning since I've always had problems with them xD

Original stock:
Spoiler:
 

derozio

[b][color=red][font=helvetica][i]door-kun best boi
5,521
Posts
14
Years
gazelle_tag_by_zappyspiker-d49hwnm.png


Well, there are quite a lot of problems with this tag. I'll cover it one by one:

1) The Flow: Well, as far as I can see, you've used a lot of those slanting line brushes in this tag to create flow in the north east direction. But the stock's flow is pretty much the opposite. Doesn't really look all that good. The stock is moving on the left side while your effects are going towards the right. Try to work on implementing effects in a tag which compliments the flow of the stock. The result is bound to turn out much better that way. Oh, and try to stay away from using brushes like you've used them in this one. And talking about the brushes used here - the one on the bottom right corner is absolutely unnecessary, as I see it. Doesn't add anything to the tag.

2) Colors: Hmm, too blue. The whole thing turned out a little too blue. Try not to shift the balance towards a single color in any of your tags too much. Monotone isn't really a good thing. Oh, and if you've got a stock which contains a little too much of a single color only, try to add effects into the tag which are of a different color. For example, you can use some reds or yellows in a tag where there's too much blue in order to break the monotone. For this one, I think you could've gone for some red textures or c4ds.

3) Text: Just a general tip on text: Try not to force text in every tag. If you can't add it, don't do it. But yeah, if it is really necessary, try to add it in a place situated close to the focal. So that it doesn't take the attention away from the focal. Oh, and the text in this one is pretty unclear. You could've gone for some other color which might've made the text look better. I mean, the lines below the text are dark blue and the text is too! It is pretty difficult for the eyes to understand what's written over there.

4) Effects: Hmm, I can see you've used some sort of fractal or texture in this tag but it isn't too prominent. If you do decide to add effects into a tag, it'd be better if you make them visible, at least. I mean, the fractals on the left side of the tag and some over his body are barely visible. But they are there. Their presence, even though it can go unnoticed, distracts the eye. Either you add them to make them look prominent, or you just don't use them. Reducing the opacity like you've done in this one just doesn't help a tag. Tip: Stay away from using brushes in tags. C4ds and textures work MUCH better. ;P

Another small tip: Try using the burn/dodge tools in your tags. They really help in lighting. :)

Hope I wasn't too harsh. I tend to write stuff bluntly and people see me as a rude guy. Sorry if I appeared that way! :(

BYOB1.png


^ Rate this, pl0x.
 
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10,673
Posts
14
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  • Age 30
  • Seen Dec 30, 2023
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab183/ASC303/BYOB1.png

To begin with, the tag is a little monotone, you need to go with more contrast if you're going with just one colour. My advice would be to brush in some shades of blue which are not present and then blend them to work with the tag overall. I'm also not a big fan of the blues chosen, they tend to not suit the render very well, they're really cold which doesn't suit the skin colour of your render, not to mention he is already wearing pretty cool clothes meaning that the tag is just too much of a one trick pony in terms of colour, as I say, it needs that sort of contrast which isn't eternally present.

The focal point serves the biggest issue however. Something which I've been recommending you to do is not to smother it and lower quality. While you do usually worry about the quality of the focal point more often, you still tend to smother it with odd lighting or textures. His face is very blurry, and the lighting is a little all over the place on it. The face is far too illuminated and the hair is not nearly enough, take a close look at it yourself and you'll see that there's some odd lighting on the face more over. The most sharpened point of the tag actually lies in the hand area. Which means that the focal point shifts to there, reason being is that it is the most evident point of the tag that draws the eye in most. What you're lacking here, is sharpness on your face, which should be the focal point on the render/stock. This is what you need to focus on, working on the face, ensuring it can be seen with clarity and that you have enough focus on it.

Next is the text, I'm not a huge fan of it, you have a lot of the fundamentals right when it comes to text, which is nice placement and a decent choice of font. But it could be better overall, the text is over sharpened leading to these rough edges around it, especially on the last "B". This happened when you went image > apply image to sharpen the hand area. It could be a little bigger and a little better quality, and possibly work with the colour a bit. White seems a tad generic here, not that it doesn't work, but you could possibly be more inventive. And if you can, think about getting it closer to his face if you want it to support the focal point more (if you follow earlier advice).

Next point of critique is your overall composition and consistency. The depth is decent, could be a bit better if you added some more colours, so I would advise working on adding some more depth through colours and possibly duplicating those dark areas with the Clone Tool. The tag is a tiny bit too wide, when you use negative space there needs to be a nice little transition between busy to smooth, but it's still a little too busy close to the end. Reason being is that you need the eye to stay near the focal point. You lighting is a little heavy, so tone it down a small bit. The effects are quite good, but try to tidy up that noise a small bit so that they're not smothered by loose effects, you need your effects to be pretty clean, blended, with flow, but clean. Flow is decent here, but I think you could do with a few more effects going in the direction of the render/stock, going from bottom right to top right (that's the direction of the flow).

Overall it's not a bad tag, you have a good deal of fundamentals. Just tighten up some of those points I mentioned, I mean, I've been harsh, but it should help you. Didn't point out too many good points, because it's just a decent tag overall, but every little bit that I like could be made more clear, on point and better. Good work though, just try tighten up those fundamental screws and aesthetics.
 

Winneon

[b][color=#fb0120]しょう[/color][color=#fc6d24]が[/col
525
Posts
12
Years
Here's my latest tag to be rated.
expelliarmus.png


Original Image: (Warning: Large Image)
Spoiler:
 

TwilightBlade

All dreams are but another reality.
7,236
Posts
16
Years
@JalordaSerpent7: Overall the tag is a huge enhancement from the stock. I definitely like the text being slanted like that. I'm not feeling the text size. Text should rarely really be the focal, so make sure that the text is not more prominent than the blast/bolt. Also, I think your tag is becoming somewhat monochromatic. Do experiment with analogous colors, such as green-blues or green-yellows (or if you want to get nifty, green's complement is red). You can put some c4d effects coming from the bolt (set to linear dodge ya). In addition, you can put effects (preferably light color so they contrast with dark background) around Voldemort too, especiallyyy to the far left side. That side is pretty unloved there. Your tag could benefit from reducing the height a little bit. A widescreen look would intensify the bolt, which appears to be the focal since Lordy is too small. Hope any of this helps. Just try some tips in your next pieces too. ^^

Hmm, just rate my signature please.
 
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Pharetra

zzzz
451
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen Nov 23, 2021
Hmm, just rate my signature please.
I like it, the colours are well-chosen and the placement of Shadow is good.
I think the background is a little bit empty, but simplicity is a nice thing too.

I'd like this design to be rated:
Spoiler:
 

TwilightBlade

All dreams are but another reality.
7,236
Posts
16
Years
Hmm this is a little dead.. :(

@P-Sign: I really like the overall design of the icons and Pokeball. The menu on the left side is nicely put together as well. The blue bar under the circular icons should have edges cut in a / / direction to follow the flow of the drop shadows. I'd erase parts of the soft white brush covering the circular icons (the second and third icons). The font for the "MP3 Player" is kind of weird, so I'd pick something else. Your font effects in your sig are really nice so I'd welcome them in the music player piece...

I have this new one to be rated:
meganfoxbr.png
 
10,673
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Dec 30, 2023
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh85/ShiningAngelX/Grafix/meganfoxbr.png

The composition is pretty amazing. I really like how you've blended the effects. The only thing that really bothers me about this one is the general colour. The face is too bright, and your skin tones are too red. The whole tag is a little too washed out looking due to these blues. Which is something you did on your Sonic tag. So try to avoid those things. This could also possibly do with the addition of a few more C4D's. So bring down the heaviness of the lighting and the blues and show off the composition and add some C4D's to fill out the depth a little more and you've got a quality tag.
 

Brane

-
372
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen May 10, 2016

I haven't been here a very long time, and I haven't done any real graphics for an ever longer time so excuse me if I'm a little off here :<

Composition wise this is just about perfect, everything seems to fit exactly where it should be and the flow is maintained nicely. However I am ultimately picky and the things I automatically pick up on are that the obstructions near her left arm are covering a tad too little and seem to be spacing away from the figure. In my opinion I would just bring them a little to the right, or bring the right side a tad to the left to make everything seem more together. The soft lighting also seems to stretch away from the figure a bit and should be closer to the tip of the forehead in my opinion to strengthen that main focal point. If you were to adjust these small compositions then I would also recommend bringing that vignette on the left a bit more to the right as well. In terms of colour, everything seems to match and flow accordingly and there aren't any colours that instantly draw attention away from the figure so that was extremely well done. The depth of field in this image is also superbly done but I think by fixing those points above it would seem that tiny bit more perfect if that is even possible. Cudos though and I am jelly :)

I would really appreciate a review on this sig because I'm looking to get into a design/visual communication course in uni and really want to fine tune my skills because I have been absent from graphics for so long :( (Plus I need to send in a few of my pieces)

wanderertag-1.png


(Whichever one is better :P)
 
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10,673
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Dec 30, 2023
Well just a heads up, you won't be doing this kind of stuff in design/vis communication really. Not the design side of it anyway. Which tends to be more geared at advertising more than anything. Generally those kind of courses aren't as keen on doing graphic art. If you want to get into this area I would recommend going through an art college. However, I'll give you a rate on this one.

First of all, your focal point isn't really visible enough. You've blended it a bit too much with the background, by making it semi opaque. The render also looks quite choppy around the edges. Possibly because it's over sharpened or maybe because it was a bad render, either way it's quite distracting.

Everything is kind of blurry and not strong enough, which really cripples this tag, also there's no real attempt at creating flow. You should try and add your effects but make them obvious, you don't need to bring the opacity down of everything to make things blend. You should try and do this without blurring things so heavily.

The colours aren't the best either, they're quite murky and displeasing. You need to think about what kind of palette you're using upon making a tag, here your colours clash quite a bit.

There's way too much text. There's not meant to be so much, and it distracts from the focal. It's not very visible either, I can't read it very well. You should always put it close to the focal point, but not far away, and due to the amount of words it goes out quite far and away from the focal.

Overall the tag is quite messy, bright, and low quality. You can read over my comments to see why. Just avoid blurring all your effects so much and try keep things pretty high quality.
 

Brane

-
372
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen May 10, 2016
Ok I've taken into account what you've said, and I've also looked around other graphics threads for some inspiration and am proud of this piece, even if it isn't that great in the eyes of others ^^. I think it's a significant improvement.

optimusprime.png

Sharpened surroundings.
optimusprimeblur.png

Blurred surroundings.
 
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10,673
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Dec 30, 2023
I actually can't tell the difference between the two, but anyway. I actually like the colours in this. But the big issue is that your focal takes up too much of the tag. You should have made it a little smaller since then it would leave more room for your effects. However, even though you made the focal quite big, it's still hard to make out. Your effects and textures in this are too heavy and I struggle to make out what's going on. It's too bright around in is head, which makes it hard to see. The effects in the background look quite low quality. The biggest thing here is the lack of quality and clarity. It's extremely messy, and the clipping masks are a little unwarranted. But again, I like the colours, reduce the size of the focal and try not to blur your effects so much as this just looks quite low in quality.
 
18
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jul 4, 2014
Here's the whole piece of what my avatar and signature are made of. I just finished it and would love if someone could crit it. :]

2cde8vr.png



And it's was about six days ago, but I'd pick the first one of the two, brane.
 
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-Jared-

Certified Responsible Adult
1,818
Posts
15
Years
Hmmm...I have never really given critiques here before, so please bear with me.

I do think it looks pretty good, and the Pick filtered look add to the creepy factor, if that was what you were going for, lol. You chose a good font, in my opinion, for the text, as it fits the general tone. But I also think that the splatters near the top seem kind of uniform, and a little more randomness might make that look a little better. Overall, I think it looks pretty good.

Here is something I just finished, and I know it probably could use some work, so I figured, hey, let;s get some help so I can improve. ^__^

CUBBIEFINKGaze.png
 

Winneon

[b][color=#fb0120]しょう[/color][color=#fc6d24]が[/col
525
Posts
12
Years
Hmmm...I have never really given critiques here before, so please bear with me.

I do think it looks pretty good, and the Pick filtered look add to the creepy factor, if that was what you were going for, lol. You chose a good font, in my opinion, for the text, as it fits the general tone. But I also think that the splatters near the top seem kind of uniform, and a little more randomness might make that look a little better. Overall, I think it looks pretty good.

Here is something I just finished, and I know it probably could use some work, so I figured, hey, let;s get some help so I can improve. ^__^

CUBBIEFINKGaze.png

First, great tag! The tog and bottom black borders fit with the tag!
Now, you could put something in that blank green space to the left of the tag like a C4D that's blended in correctly and a few effects to go with the C4D, pretty much anything that will make the black area more interesting.:) The rest looks pretty good to me! Great job!:D

Here are 3 of latest works to be rated.:)
lightspeed.png

shatter.png

collide.png
 
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