[Showcase] Acquiescence

[Cid]

Acquiescence
「 Cid's Graphics Gallery 」

Welcome to my first-ever thread here at Art & Design!

ABOUT:
- First off, hey there! Thanks for taking the time to look at my art thread. I'm really inexperienced at making tags and icons, so don't expect masterpieces, okay? Whenever I feel like it, I just churn out some decent-looking ones. At least I think they look decent. But yeah, that's where you come in! I'd like to know what you think about them, and perhaps help me improve, too. Maybe give me constructive criticism and great points to improve on, if you can. Do that, and I will forever be thankful.
- I don't really have all of the icons or tags I've made, because most of them were left in our old computer that went out of business ages ago. So yeah, that means this will only be a glimpse of what I've created, and from fleeting intervals, too. Please hover your cursor over the icon/tag to check its estimated date of creation. Oh by the way, if it isn't obvious, I like Kingdom Hearts, so most of the stuff here are from that franchise. In hindsight, I suppose making this thread would motivate me to continue making stuff, so I guess it's good that I finally got these out here. Keep checking back for more stuff that I do, which will hopefully show signs of improvement.
- Before I forget, please do not steal. Just don't. If you really want to use an icon or a tag of mine (I highly doubt it), please ask for my permission first. And give credit where credit is due.​

ICONS

​

TAGS

​

「★☆★☆★」

 

[derozio]

It is pretty darn late right now and I shouldn't really be online but I just wanna post this before I go - I'm really glad you decided to post a gallery. <3; I really like your works. And I can see you going a long way with some suggestions and a little bit of practice. Your second tag is so freaking good when compared to my second tag ever that it isn't even funny. XD;

But yeah, I'll make a proper post tomorrow. Really looking forward to you posting more of your stuff here. <3

 

[Isaac.]

I like them! With a little more you can be perfect XD

 

[Fairy]

I'm not all that good at critiquing graphics (I actually don't know anything about critiquing graphics, this is my first post outside of my own thread :x), but it's easy to see that you're very good at it! Great eye for color. I'm surprised you consider yourself inexperienced.

I'm totally loving the Mewtwo tag. Definitely gives justice to the character.

I'd like to see more from you! :3

 

[Cid]

It is pretty darn late right now and I shouldn't really be online but I just wanna post this before I go - I'm really glad you decided to post a gallery. <3; I really like your works. And I can see you going a long way with some suggestions and a little bit of practice. Your second tag is so freaking good when compared to my second tag ever that it isn't even funny. XD;

But yeah, I'll make a proper post tomorrow. Really looking forward to you posting more of your stuff here. <3

I stayed up until dawn just to make it, so I'm happy that it's something you're glad about! :D And whoa! Thank you! I am honored. Seriously, it means a lot to me that you like some of the stuff I posted here. <3 I still have a long road ahead, but if you think that I can improve like that, then I will do my best. Loads of practice will probably do me good like you said. And seriously, it being my second tag really doesn't mean anything, since I've only like seven or so tags for the entirety of my PC lifespan. You could even count them with your fingers; that's how scarce they are. XD Nevertheless, I'm really flattered if you think that my second attempt at a proper tag looks good. <3

I hope I'll be able to update this as often as I can. It'll be hard, but I'll try.

I like them! With a little more you can be perfect XD

Thank you! I know I need more than that and I'll never reach perfection but I'm really happy you like these!

I'm not all that good at critiquing graphics (I actually don't know anything about critiquing graphics, this is my first post outside of my own thread :x), but it's easy to see that you're very good at it! Great eye for color. I'm surprised you consider yourself inexperienced.

I'm totally loving the Mewtwo tag. Definitely gives justice to the character.

I'd like to see more from you! :3

Oh geez, thank you so much. And worry not. I'm in the same position. Don't know how to critique other people's work properly, although I wish I did. Oh and since you mentioned it, working with colors is definitely one of my favorite things to do with icons/tags, but my skill level in that aspect is nowhere near as good as I'd like it to be. I consider myself inexperienced because I don't even do this as a hobby; it's just so rare for me to do it. Plus I just pale in comparison to everyone else. ;;

I'm happy you liked that tag! I was aiming for that since Mewtwo's way too cool to be in a shabby tag. But yeah I think the whole concept of outer space/flashy psychic stuff came through somewhat. Though now that I look at it, I feel like some of the positioning could have been better.

This makes me feel really warm inside. I hope I don't disappoint.

 

[enohp]

I really like kingdom hearts as well, so I have some bias when I say that I really like your gallery. Hopefully you are planning some original works in the KH style. That would be really cool.

 

[Sheep]

Cid, these are awesome! :3 I love the effects and depth of your icons, though the signatures are just as amazing. Your typography is pretty great too and you're really good at getting all the right colors down - everything looks super! As Alexial said, the Mewtwo tag is wonderful and really does his character a lot of justice. <3

My only qualm is that I feel like the Axel tag is all over the place with the effects and colors; it's a bit of a strain for my eyes, though that could be personal preference. @_@;

 

[Cid]

I really like kingdom hearts as well, so I have some bias when I say that I really like your gallery. Hopefully you are planning some original works in the KH style. That would be really cool.

You're a Kingdom Hearts fan, too? You should have put that in your intro thread, haha. You earn brownie points for that! :D
But thank you! I don't really know how to adapt into the KH style (I don't even know what that is, although Nomura's art is sort of distinct, huh) nor make original works (if you mean by sketches or drawings), so yeah. :( However, I still look at the games for inspiration sometimes. And I try to be as creative as possible with my icons and tags (that's really the limit of my artistic capabilities as of right now) even though I'm just using stocks and C4D renders off the internet. I will consider your advice though, so thanks!

Cid, these are awesome! :3 I love the effects and depth of your icons, though the signatures are just as amazing. Your typography is pretty great too and you're really good at getting all the right colors down - everything looks super! As Alexial said, the Mewtwo tag is wonderful and really does his character a lot of justice. <3

My only qualm is that I feel like the Axel tag is all over the place with the effects and colors; it's a bit of a strain for my eyes, though that could be personal preference. @_@;

Ahh Cirno thank you so much! :"> I really liked how the last four icons turned out especially, so I'm glad you liked them (even though I couldn't put text because it just didn't look right back then). I suck at typography most of the time but if you say so, aha. Thank you! :DD

That was what I was thinking when I looked back at my Axel tag. D; I was sort of inspired by another very colorful tag here at PC back in 2008, so all I was thinking when I made that was to make it as colorful as possible (and try out stuff that I also saw in other people's tags, like vectors, stock shadows, loads of layers, and those '<' symbols, because all I can do without much skill or experience to back my tag up was to imitate), but it turned out to be one huge mess of colors in the end. ;; Still, I reckon that looking back at my past mistakes would help me improve, too.

 

[derozio]

Well, first off, I'd like to say the first three icons are very well done. I really like the colors in them. Especially the first and the third one. Mickey's is..well, a little underwhelming compared to the other two, imo. Mainly due to positioning and maybe due to unavailability of interesting shades of colors like the ones in the other two. Anyway, yeah, good job on those.

https://i.imgur.com/Ib7AZ.png
^ has some problems, though. You probably went for a gradient map for this one. But I think you went a little overboard. The image has some really dark areas due to the excessive amounts of contrast which kinda ruins it, imo. I also feel that the face has been over-sharpened. The colors could do with some more work as well - it looks really dull right now. This one's done well, btw (although monotone). Other two are brought down by lack of focus. Second one's MUCH better than the last one - pretty much because for some time I couldn't even tell wtf was going on in the last one. :p But yeah, there's no focal in the second one and colors aren't as interesting as they could be. Saturation might help a bit but the problem largely exists in placement in this picture. I would've gone for their faces or their bodies individually. But trying to fit so many different characters in a small space like those in icons lead to overcrowding and lack of clearly defined focal. So yeah, best to steer clear of multiple entities in an icon, imo. :D The last one could've turned out much better if you hadn't gone for over-sharpening and over-saturation of colors. I think you've used a gradient map here as well. Try to limit their use a bit. Your icons should not end up looking overly-contrasted or saturated due to the gradient maps. I generally use them to even out the colors. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, when you use 'selective colors', sometimes saturating a specific color might lead to an imbalance in the colors. Think of an tag which mainly comprises of red, blue and yellow. Now if you saturate the red and leave blue as well as yellow as they are, the red will begin to contrast with the blue n yellow part of the tag too much leading to sloppy colors (using this for the lack of a better term :p). Gradient maps help balance colors to a certain degree and that's what I use them for. Oh, and do mess with the opacity as well as blending mode (I don't really know what this is called so I just use the term blending mode. :p It has all sorts of modes like "Lighten", "Soft Light", "Overlay", "Difference" etc.) of adjustment layers all the time. The results might surprise you! :D

As for the tags, I'll probably comment only on the last one for now. Let me start by saying this: THAT TAG IS FREAKIN AWESOME. It has some really good flow, the text is pretty darn good, effects really work in favour of the render and render itself is nicely placed. I just wished you had messed with the colors a bit more or had experimented a little more with some other effects. A little red wouldn't have hurt. Needn't even go for some different c4d - just a red variation of the one used here could've done the trick. Also, just a tip - the parts which need to be sharp are the focal and the foreground effects. Background effects are generally supposed to be blurry. If you try and apply this tip in your stuff, you'll probably be seeing tags with better depth. :]

Hope this is satisfactory for now! Will probably post my thoughts on axel and m2 tag later.

 

[Cid]

Well, first off, I'd like to say the first three icons are very well done. I really like the colors in them. Especially the first and the third one. Mickey's is..well, a little underwhelming compared to the other two, imo. Mainly due to positioning and maybe due to unavailability of interesting shades of colors like the ones in the other two. Anyway, yeah, good job on those.

https://i.imgur.com/Ib7AZ.png
^ has some problems, though. You probably went for a gradient map for this one. But I think you went a little overboard. The image has some really dark areas due to the excessive amounts of contrast which kinda ruins it, imo. I also feel that the face has been over-sharpened. The colors could do with some more work as well - it looks really dull right now. This one's done well, btw (although monotone). Other two are brought down by lack of focus. Second one's MUCH better than the last one - pretty much because for some time I couldn't even tell wtf was going on in the last one. :p But yeah, there's no focal in the second one and colors aren't as interesting as they could be. Saturation might help a bit but the problem largely exists in placement in this picture. I would've gone for their faces or their bodies individually. But trying to fit so many different characters in a small space like those in icons lead to overcrowding and lack of clearly defined focal. So yeah, best to steer clear of multiple entities in an icon, imo. :D The last one could've turned out much better if you hadn't gone for over-sharpening and over-saturation of colors. I think you've used a gradient map here as well. Try to limit their use a bit. Your icons should not end up looking overly-contrasted or saturated due to the gradient maps. I generally use them to even out the colors. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, when you use 'selective colors', sometimes saturating a specific color might lead to an imbalance in the colors. Think of an tag which mainly comprises of red, blue and yellow. Now if you saturate the red and leave blue as well as yellow as they are, the red will begin to contrast with the blue n yellow part of the tag too much leading to sloppy colors (using this for the lack of a better term :p). Gradient maps help balance colors to a certain degree and that's what I use them for. Oh, and do mess with the opacity as well as blending mode (I don't really know what this is called so I just use the term blending mode. :p It has all sorts of modes like "Lighten", "Soft Light", "Overlay", "Difference" etc.) of adjustment layers all the time. The results might surprise you! :D

As for the tags, I'll probably comment only on the last one for now. Let me start by saying this: THAT TAG IS FREAKIN AWESOME. It has some really good flow, the text is pretty darn good, effects really work in favour of the render and render itself is nicely placed. I just wished you had messed with the colors a bit more or had experimented a little more with some other effects. A little red wouldn't have hurt. Needn't even go for some different c4d - just a red variation of the one used here could've done the trick. Also, just a tip - the parts which need to be sharp are the focal and the foreground effects. Background effects are generally supposed to be blurry. If you try and apply this tip in your stuff, you'll probably be seeing tags with better depth. :]

Hope this is satisfactory for now! Will probably post my thoughts on axel and m2 tag later.

Derozio! I can't thank you enough for taking your time to write this wall of text. I'll seriously try to implement some of the suggestions you've put in here. :D

You like the first three icons? That is surprising for me, because that was when I just went with simple approaches in making them. I think I know why now; like you say, I went overboard with the tinkering and manipulation for the other icons. D: Of those four, I'm glad you liked the third one, though! I'm proud of how it turned out because it sort of conveys the atmosphere of a calm, seaside sunset. I also realized that I turn the scales for the contrasts, sharpening and saturation a bit too much; and I will try to use them in better ways like you pointed out next time I make them. I'm also going to try to limit the characters for the icons too, haha, because like you say, each one has to have a focal and it's hard to define it with more than one character in the image. ^^;

Ahh, thank you! <3 I think the good points that you mentioned about that Resonance sig were stuff that I kept at the back of my mind when I was making it, so I am relieved and overwhelmingly happy that that showed in the finished product. :DD I think I missed a lot of chances to experiment with that, too! I'm really afraid to do that when I make tags though, just because I make them so sparingly that I have to be reminded with the basics every single time. Which is why I just stick to what I'm comfortable with. u_u But now that you say this and that I have a gallery to update, I think I'll start to experiment a bit more just to see how I fare with these techniques. :D And yeah I got the blurs mixed up, no wonder it looked weird (the back was even more detailed than the stuff in front, I mean that's not how it works irl, haha; unless your eyes are focused on the bg instead of the foreground). XD;

Again, thank you for the comments everyone! <33

UPDATE!

First tag since creating this gallery, so for me, it's like a return to the process of making them. I mean it's been a while since my last tag, so yeah. |D I kind of went with a simplistic approach, although sadly it still took me a long time to make it, much like the rest of my tags. u_u No icons yet, but I will try to make some soon. Let me know what you think. :)

 

[derozio]

Yeah, icons are supposed to be simple and easy on the eyes. Too much effects or activity just does more harm than good. ;] And glad to see you taking note of my criticism. I'm really excited to see your next stuff now! :D

As for experimenting - just go for it! I'm sure you'll do much better if you rid yourself of any kind of unnecessary restriction. ;D

Onto the new tag - It is really easy on the eyes so that's a plus. Positioning of the render is pretty good as well and you have some good lighting in it. You also took care of depth to a certain degree by blurring where you thought was relevant. My two main complaints with this tag, though, lie in the text and the effects. The text, I feel, lie far away from the focal which kinda distracts the viewer's eye. It should be placed a little closer to him. And I don't really like the font used, either. I think you could experiment a bit with fonts. Dafont has some really good ones, y'know. Just get 'em and start experimenting! ;D The tag falls a bit short on the effects' side. I mean, it looks appealing as it is but there's not much going on in there besides lanturn and that pretty background. Some more background as well as foreground effects would really help the tag, imo. I can see you tried to smudge by looking at the background and I really appreciate the effort. I was never good at smudging so I'm glad to see a fellow graphic artist give it a go! :DDD

Just a little bit of tweaking can do this tag wonders, y'know. But yeah, really good attempt. Especially since it is your first tag in a while. Keep it up! :]

 

[Cid]

Yeah, icons are supposed to be simple and easy on the eyes. Too much effects or activity just does more harm than good. ;] And glad to see you taking note of my criticism. I'm really excited to see your next stuff now! :D

As for experimenting - just go for it! I'm sure you'll do much better if you rid yourself of any kind of unnecessary restriction. ;D

Onto the new tag - It is really easy on the eyes so that's a plus. Positioning of the render is pretty good as well and you have some good lighting in it. You also took care of depth to a certain degree by blurring where you thought was relevant. My two main complaints with this tag, though, lie in the text and the effects. The text, I feel, lie far away from the focal which kinda distracts the viewer's eye. It should be placed a little closer to him. And I don't really like the font used, either. I think you could experiment a bit with fonts. Dafont has some really good ones, y'know. Just get 'em and start experimenting! ;D The tag falls a bit short on the effects' side. I mean, it looks appealing as it is but there's not much going on in there besides lanturn and that pretty background. Some more background as well as foreground effects would really help the tag, imo. I can see you tried to smudge by looking at the background and I really appreciate the effort. I was never good at smudging so I'm glad to see a fellow graphic artist give it a go! :DDD

Just a little bit of tweaking can do this tag wonders, y'know. But yeah, really good attempt. Especially since it is your first tag in a while. Keep it up! :]

I think I can see what you mean now. I'm still having a hard time cropping an image up at the right position for icons though, as well as whether to tilt it a bit or not. And as always, my attempts at adding text just suck. :(

Okay then! I shall try to experiment as much as I can with my next few tags. :D

Again I really need to work on the text that I happen to add. Sometimes I don't even know if I should place text at all, and it really takes a toll on my time whenever I get to that part of making tags. I'm happy I did well in the other areas, but yeah I also think I should have done more to make it flashier. :( It's really cool that you noticed the smudging I did, haha. I feel that my smudging was really ugly-looking and obviously experimental though, so I don't know how I'll improve in that aspect. XD;

But yeah, I'm really grateful for all these pointers that you keep handing me out; I really can't thank you enough! Oh and obligatory post: congratulations yet again for the promotion, dude. ;D

Update!

All credit for the art I used goes to various artists at pixiv. Thank you, and you guys make me wish I spoke Japanese just so that I can actually ask for permission in using these pieces!

Anyway, as you can see, I just dumped a couple of new icons I made. So sadly, no new tags for now. I was fiddling around with adding text for the first icon, so I placed two versions there so you guys can compare. Also tried to revise my most recent tag by placing the text a little closer to Lanturn (I feel it's still too far though, but for some reason I don't like how empty the right side looks when I move it closer). However, I can't find any good text that fits! Even with Dafont. I suck at typography, lol.

Give feedback please! I will love you forever. <3

 

[Fairy]

Wow, I haven't posted in your thread for some time now and you've already added so much!

I love the whole Lanturn theme you've got going on. And not just from an aesthetic standpoint! Lanturn can really be the perfect vessel for practicing your skills in lighting, shadow, placement.. etc. So not only are your new icons fantastic simply for being what they are-- but they really seem like perfect little pieces that will allow you to improve! I wish I knew all the technical words for editing/constructing a tag, cause the I would say, "I love that *insert technical phrase* effect you've used to enhance the water on your Lanturn tag" but until I learn all of the appropriate vernacular, I will say that your eye for creating the aforementioned effect is fantastic. I love the way the lighting in the water looks, to be precise.

EDIT: Learning the correct terms and applying them will be easy now that Derozio has posted a new Graphic Resource and Tutorial sticky! Thank you! xDDD

So let me try again! Cid, the flow of the water on your Lanturn tag is excellent. It adds depth and character to your focal point while still being stylized and non-realistic, therefore not subtracting from the Lanturn itself. It's very tasteful. :D

Now, and this is just my uneducated opinion, I find this one to be a tiny bit hard to read at this size. It's a little difficult to see any of the Chinchou because my eye is drawn to other places. It's a busy icon, imo. I'd love to see a bigger image to see how it translates! :]

Thank you for a lovely update, can't wait to see more!

 

[Cid]

Wow, I haven't posted in your thread for some time now and you've already added so much!

I love the whole Lanturn theme you've got going on. And not just from an aesthetic standpoint! Lanturn can really be the perfect vessel for practicing your skills in lighting, shadow, placement.. etc. So not only are your new icons fantastic simply for being what they are-- but they really seem like perfect little pieces that will allow you to improve! I wish I knew all the technical words for editing/constructing a tag, cause the I would say, "I love that *insert technical phrase* effect you've used to enhance the water on your Lanturn tag" but until I learn all of the appropriate vernacular, I will say that your eye for creating the aforementioned effect is fantastic. I love the way the lighting in the water looks, to be precise.

EDIT: Learning the correct terms and applying them will be easy now that Derozio has posted a new Graphic Resource and Tutorial sticky! Thank you! xDDD

So let me try again! Cid, the flow of the water on your Lanturn tag is excellent. It adds depth and character to your focal point while still being stylized and non-realistic, therefore not subtracting from the Lanturn itself. It's very tasteful. :D

Now, and this is just my uneducated opinion, I find this one to be a tiny bit hard to read at this size. It's a little difficult to see any of the Chinchou because my eye is drawn to other places. It's a busy icon, imo. I'd love to see a bigger image to see how it translates! :]

Thank you for a lovely update, can't wait to see more!

Ahh there hasn't been too much added. :p But I'm pleased that you came back to see my work again! <3

Thank you! And I have to agree, making renders around something with lights on it makes it a lot more challenging, but that's really what I like about it. They aren't fantastic like you say, but thank you for liking the icons, Alexial. ^^; I also only got familiar with the vernacular and the techniques with that specific sticky, haha, so I can relate.

But yes, I'm glad that flow was achieved in a way, because I was worried that with the lack of flashy stuff flowing with Lanturn it would be too static and slapped on. ;; Also the depth because I feel I haven't blurred enough a couple of edges, or that I screwed up in which stuff to blur and at what intensity, but I'm happy to hear that I seem to have pulled that off somewhat. <3

I know the Chinchou looked really small. D; That icon originally had the source picture twice the current size, and I really liked how it looked, but I realized that the .jpeg file type of the source stock screwed its quality. So I was forced to resize it and it became small, blurry and messy as a result with no obvious focal. :( Ah well, I will try to get images of higher quality next time. :p

No, the pleasure was all mine. Thank you so much for visiting! I will update as frequently as I can. <3

 

[Kotone]

i have to say you've really improved by posting your new tag with the laturn. i like the focus of the light and the way the text works. the picture is very blended in nicely. in your other tags i would work on trying to blend some of the c4ds and textures and add different lighting affects.
the icons look awesome, but the kingdom hearts ones are a little dark for me. (i always like brightness, that might just be me)
can't wait to see more (:

 

[Cid]

Oh man. It's been a month since I updated this. I have no intention to close this just yet, but I'm still trying to hit the sweet spot between academics, responsibilities, and hobbies. I hope I can edit in at least a few pieces in a little while! Just bear with my busy schedule and wait for them a little, okay?
i'm sorry, dero

Thanks for commenting, Kayla. <3 I will work on the C4Ds and try to experiment more with the lighting and textures like you say. And I understand that the KH ones might have looked dim in the style I've created them. Especially when you compare those with my other icons. I'll try to make more, I promise.