benevolence is to the eye

[Alternative]

benevolence is to the eye.

(I wasn't told to make this gallery whatsoever)
Please try to keep in mind that I'm not as seasoned as other members here with their graphics.

There will be displayed from newest to oldest as well.


Tags:

Avatars:

Icons/Themes:

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[Guy]

For starters, this is a nice start to a gallery.

Something I notice in your tags right off the back is they lack color. I would suggest trying to bring them out more through selective coloring and a bit of saturation. This will make your tags focus stand out more and have a better appeal to those who see it. My other remark to your tags is that you should try to use the space more wisely. You have a lot of room, but much of the space is left empty.

When it comes to your icons, my favorites are this and this. The positioning of the image and the coloring all seem to be well done. Some may say the coloring should "pop" more, but I like them. Like your tags, the rest of icons need some more color to them. Something to make it stand out more when compared to their original pieces.

My compliments to your positioning though in your icons. You have an eye for that. :)

I'd also look for stocks that give you better quality. Not a lot of these look like they come from the best quality, or even .PNG, but that's something I would look more for. Your outcome in both tags and icons would come out a lot better in quality I'm sure.

That's my critique on your work anyway. I'll check back again if I have more to say, or if you put up newer entries. Keep up the practice though. From here you can only get better.

 

[moments.]

Alright, because I've got a ball tonight and don't have time to do super big rant, I'll do a smaller one, then come back for big one later.

One point I'd like to make, I think you are under-doing all the tags, like not enough effects. I know some artists will tell you that sometimes less is more, but when you are a beginner and still learning how to use the program to it's fullest and what effects look good and not, it can be beneficial to do a few experiments.

Of the tags you've posted, the Peach one is the best, mainly because it has a bit of eye candy in those smudgy/cloud effects. The others are very plain and don't have a lot to grab attention and make them pop.

You seem to have the basics of lighting and colour down, I think the next step, and possibly the most important is adding some appeal and some eye candy. Experiment with effects, whether C4Ds, textures, smudging, bokeh whatever, and just see what looks good. When experimenting, nothing is wrong, you can only discover what works, or what doesn't. 100% beneficial.

Also look at flow when doing effects next time, look if there is obvious movement in the stock (like Peach one flow would be like [/] from bottom left to top right diagonal) and really accentuate that.

That's about it, I'll do actual rates a bit later when I've got more time.

Also on what Hiiro said in regards to colour for the tags, try to make them a bit less monotone. So for the peach tag, you could've used more darker pinks and yellows.

 

[Alternative]

From taking advice, I know now that I need to learn more techniques in Photoshop and use more saturation, and also fill up the space a bit more. With this in mind, I tried creating a new tag.

 

[Alternative]

Small update here, this time with a few icons, avatars and some older work.

 

[Alternative]

Made a couple of new avatars using real stocks. Tried out some more effects like Saturation and colouring.

 

[moments.]

One little thing, don't be afraid to sharpen icons. Not so much this latest update because the stocks are high quality and don't really need it (although if it were me, I'd add a tiny bit of sharpening to Katy Perry) but the ones in the previous update could nearly all use a sharpen.

I'm not an icon guru and I never really got into it properly, but try adding more contrast or bolder colours either by more saturation or by really focusing on the colour schemes to make them pop. The colours on Lady Gaga/Katy Perry latest ones look good, but are kinda washed out and dull. I would've made the green and purple more saturated in Katy Perry and bring out Gaga's lips.

Going back to washed out colours, it looks like you are brushing low opacity light colours over the focals which is making them washed out. Try to avoid this, or if so, compensate by upping the contrast a fraction.

Icons are about finding the delicate balance between everything, something I can't do properly myself, and most of it comes down to personal preference. So feel free to ignore any of those comments. xP

 

[Alternative]

From being told that I can revive old threads like this now for updates, I think I will do that. :)
I've been experimenting with different icon tutorials which I found by someone on deviantArt and I really like their style, so I've been snagging a few of them and using them to churn out some new results.

(yes, a lot of the are Sasuke :P)

 

[Alternative]

No one's commenting. I'm guessing because this place is dead or something. :/ Anyway, new icons from me. Feel free to use them with username credit. Rate + Critique etc.