Graphics School

[abnegation]

I'd love an assignment, it gives me an easy segue back into doing graphics.

Refer to the end of this post for the assignment :]

Wait a minute, I already posted about what sort of assignment you could give, it'd be a waste of time to say it again. :P

Anyway, I've been on a bit of a graphics block as of late, which totally sucks I know, so I went anc checked out some tutorials that I could follow. I found one which I didn't mind, and made a signature based upon it. I just want to know what you guys think of it. The tutorial really went over fractals, so that was the focus. :)

Well if you were mainly worried about fractals here, I guess you made a good start in being able to use them. However there are a number of things you need to work on here. The focal point is a bit smothered. It is far too behind all your effects and even your colourations. I think that the focal is too small, if possible try not to resize your stock so small, or choose stocks which are bigger, There is far too much lighting on his face also, which kind of ruins the focal. The composition of the tag as a whole, is fantastic. But the use of the focal is just not as good, you should work on that. Also to note, the black blotches make the tag a little flatter, so try and not make them take up some of the tag or put effects over it. The pink glow on the top, is a bit too heavy and noticeable, the use of the circle brush is far too visible and you'd need to filter that out a bit. Other than that it seems pretty good, just watch out that you don't put bright text near a bright area, such as his face, as it makes it a little less clear.

Anyway, good job dude, just work on the things I mentioned and it would vastly improve the tag.

What name you go by: Twilight, Blade, TB

Link to your gallery on PC: n/a

Why you would like to join the graphics school: I don't want my progress so far to go to waste. I also have basic knowledge of my main gfx program. There's little reason to not try and improve my work. ^^

Describe your experience with graphics: I've played with Photoshop CS2 for about 5 years. I've upgraded to Photoshop CS5 and I'm just starting to explore its new features. I do lack motivation to create banners. I often make banners like, once a month on average. I've skimmed through tons of tutorials.

What you feel is your best piece and why:

It's a more recent work and I think I've performed well in the flow+color department.

What you think you need to improve on: I need to continue learning about properly applying textures, c4ds, adjustment layers, smudging, etc. I really need help on text, flow, depth, lighting, and especially color. I'd also like to learn how to use real-life stocks instead of resorting to Pokemon/other anime and games. Finally, I'd like to cut back on having too much going on in a piece.

Well, first of all, welcome to the school. If you want to improve using C4D's and the likes, the first thing I would advise is to not reduce opacity on the C4D's, as you did in the tag above. However, using IRL stocks for the first time is actually quite a scary thing. But in the world of graphics, it's the way forward. So I would recommend you try making a tag with an IRL stock, and using C4D's without reducing the opacity and we can work from there. Don't be afraid to use a few of them either. If you need any help regarding the tag or stock you use, just post here or hit me up on MSN or something.

Well, I think this is exactly what I need :P

What name you go by: Aiden/Firestar, whatever you're more comfortable calling me
Why you would like to join the graphics school: Because I want to be able to create something people will look at and think "Wow" but right now, I can't do that. I would like to be able to create graphics that people will admire, and this seems a great way to get further!
Describe your experience with graphics: I have created a fair few banners, mainly for myself, and created the emblems for the 'Post Theme-athlon' for PC's gt8.
What you feel is your best piece and why:

I thought it turned out very well for my first ever stock image. It turned out the best, and was completely different from my other graphics.
What you think you need to improve on: Everything xD Well, I want to be able to create really deep pieces, like those that use a lot of c4ds. I also want to be able to successfully use light textures, and make good pieces using stocks. Everything along those lines is what I'd like to get better in.

This is a brilliant idea by the way, thanks guys! ;)

Well, first thing I recommend, is pretty much what I told TB to do. You should start making a tag with C4D's, and use an IRL stock. It might not work out well at first, but when you're learning about depth, anime stocks are a really hard place to start. Reason being is that they are flat, and you need to use 3D images more so if you wish to work with depth. In saying that, once you get a but more confident with depth you can start making tags with anime renders and stocks again. I just feel that they tend to be very hard to use for a beginner and you should work with IRL stocks. As they already come with a background normally and you don't need to worry so much about filling space.

And of course, welcome to the graphics school Aiden!

I was thinking of applying for this but... I've changed my mind. I might apply if there's spots open but right now I'd like to enjoy summer :) It looks really awesome :P

There are always spaces available, you don't need to hesitate if you wish to join.

Assignment #1

In this assignment, you guys will be using an IRL stock that I am going to provide, however you will have the choice, it will have to be from a pack. I want you to practice using C4D's and textures. If you lack some C4D's, you can download my pack here, and for textures you can get moments' pack here.

Here is your stock pack guys, best of luck!
My link was broke so I added moments'. Hopefully that's okay.

 

[Azure Wish]

1. What name you go by: Azure Wish
2. Link to your gallery on PC: Dont have one here, but I have one on SPPF here
3. Why you would like to join the graphics school: To improve on flow, and c4d usage. I would also like to use more irl stocks.
4. Describe your experience with graphics: Ummm, I actually just started in March of this year ^_^;. I use GIMP cause Im too lazy to torrent Photoshop
5. What you feel is your best piece and why: I think that this is my best piece so far,
6. What you think you need to improve on: Like I said before, I have trouble using flow. Basically, I would like to improve all around :)

Also, the link to the stock pack gives me a 404 error. You might want to fix that ;)

 

[NerdSparks]

Interested in joining...

What name you go by: Sparks
Link to your gallery on PC: Here
Why you would like to join the graphics school: To learn and get better
Describe your experience with graphics: Started leisurely and now I'm really interested at getting as good as I can.
What you feel is your best piece and why: This is one of my favorites to look at and this
What you think you need to improve on: Effects and Colors

I'll elaborate on anything that you ask me to, should you ask me to.

 

[Oryx]

I'm getting a 404 error for that stock pack when I click on it. :(

 

[NovaStar]

I might as well join.. I can always use the help.

1. What name you go by: NovaStar, just Nova is fine
2. Link to your gallery on PC: None at this moment
3. Why you would like to join the graphics school: I'd like to work on my lighting as well as trying to pick up new and different styles.
4. Describe your experience with graphics: I've been making banners/sigs for 3-4 years now, 2 of them being a hiatus of anything of the sort. (Currently using GIMP)
5. What you feel is your best piece and why: I seem to like these two. which I made while I was at Serebii (hence the FireFox).
   
   Spoiler:

   

   
   Being because I tend to go for the simpler vector style banners and I love the color combinations. But I do notice the border error on the Captain America one.
6. What you think you need to improve on: Lighting, flexibility in styles, possibly C4Ds.

 

[Pera]

What name you go by: Pera, and/or PNY
Link to your gallery on PC: N/A, but I have Imageshack
Why you would like to join the graphics school: So I can learn! I love learning things! :)
Describe your experience with graphics: well, I started graphics about 3 years ago, and slowly got better over the years
What you feel is your best piece and why: Uhhh I can't decide between these two

Spoiler:

my best realistic looking picture

Spoiler:

TEN TEN!!! XD No serously, I like the effect I gave in the background

What you think you need to improve on: flow and depth mainly, and using 4cd renders would be awesome too! :D

 

[abnegation]

There, links are fixed, I was in a rush. And I shall get to the new members asap.

 

[NovaStar]

Finished with my assignment. Pretty fun!

Well out of all the stocks this one I'm my opinion, had a lot of potential. Added a C4D, and made some attempts at lighting. I would have put a yellow-blue gradient behind her but the stock wasn't rendered so I just left it as is.

 

[moments.]

First of all welcome to all the new members!

Finished with my assignment. Pretty fun!

Well out of all the stocks this one I'm my opinion, had a lot of potential. Added a C4D, and made some attempts at lighting. I would have put a yellow-blue gradient behind her but the stock wasn't rendered so I just left it as is.

Great outcome! Firstly, one of the points of using these stocks as opposed to renders when making tags is that it prevents just making a background and slapping the focal on top. Often, the actual background left on the stock looks more professional, more polished and just looks nicer. It also makes you work effects that fit the stock, but you've done a good job!

Firstly, good to see attempts at lighting in there! The only problem is that it is a little too obvious that you've used soft brushing, and it also is making the tag feel a little washed out, particularly where you've brushed over the girl. I won't get too much into this cause I've got a tutorial coming soon, but basically, if you are using soft brushing, you want it to be like a gradient, it should be really hard to see where the lighting ends which I guess is like real life lighting. So if you turn down the opacity a fair bit, it may be less obvious, but often that's better. If you feel it isn't lighting enough that low, you can duplicate the layer, make the top one Screen so you get the nice diffusion, and then make the bottom Colour Dodge or Linear Dodge for some power in the centre of the light. Of course you will need to lower the opacity for both a bit more if you do this, but it works fairly well!

As for the C4D, the main one feels a bit obtrusive. Like it just kind of cuts her in half. :P
I would've moved it down a fair bit if it were my tag, but also, I would've had the flow going the other way. I just feel as though it would fit better (so going from her back diagonally up to the top left) and wouldn't intrude on the focal as much.

The colours are actually quite good! At first I would've said it was a bit washed out, but that actually kind of works and is actually fairly successful in a lot of tags of this sort of style. One thing though, don't abuse it. It doesn't always work, and often bringing out the blacks more using contrast adjustments or selective colouring can be a more effective move. Otherwise, the blue from the C4D works well, the yellow from the lighting works, but as I mentioned you should lower the opacity, it won't be as yellow, but it could be worked in through different effects or colour adjustments or what not.

But yeah, very nice tag, great use of a real life stock. That lighting tutorial should come out in a few days with an assignment, I feel you'd benefit a lot from it, so give that a look when it comes out. And keep making tags with real life stocks now! Don't think that you've done the assignment, now you can slink back into animated renders with gradient backgrounds. :P Keep working at real life stocks. They are sort of where you progress to, but also it forces you to keep on your toes and try new things cause there is more variation in real life stocks than animations. Don't leave animated stocks entirely, just stick to IRL for a while, and then go back and try using similar techniques on a animated stock piece.

But yeah, great work! Anyone else who does the assignment will get mega rant constructive criticism from me, so go do it! :D teachers can bribe the students, not the other way round

 

[Azure Wish]

Oh, well I guess I finished :). It was a good exercise

I tried to add some flow, but I dont think it worked out well.

 

[moments.]

Oh, well I guess I finished :). It was a good exercise

I tried to add some flow, but I dont think it worked out well.

This is a great outcome too!
First some little things that irk me, on the right side, you've got a vertical, solid stripe of like dark brown which I know is from the original stock, but it would look better if you like clone stamped it out, or just crop the tag so the canvas is a bit shorter and hides that. It just looks a bit messy and distracting, nothing major!

Ok, regarding the C4Ds you've added to create flow, you've got the right idea, but perhaps it didn't work as well as you might've liked is because you didn't commit to adding flow. One C4D is only a start, when I make a tag using C4Ds, I've probably got like 5 or 6 layers of C4Ds minimum, and it looks like you have one or two creating flow. If you add more time into the tag and keep playing around with C4Ds and getting it to look good, even with a few C4Ds overlapping each other, then you will get a much stronger sense of flow, and also it will look better.

I think an important lesson to learn from this, and this goes to everybody, not just you, is that tags should be quite complex if they are going to be of a high standard. Even if you say to yourself, you are going to make a really simple tag and it is going to look minimalistic, you can still have heaps of layers. In each of my tags, I've got like a minimum of 10 layers, only of effects. Then I probably have a another 10 or more of colour adjustments, maybe 3 or 4 lighting layers, and some sharpen / blur / tweaks. Try not to rush your tags, the longer you spend on it, it is only going to get better until you reach the end of your skills or ideas.

Back to the tag, you've done an amazing job of enhancing the lighting and really making the focal pop off the background despite it being one image. This is a good example of isolating parts of a stock and not being restricted by having one image to create a background AND a focal. Your colouring is also quite good! I see a good use of textures to add colour as well as texture. One thing I might critique about the colours is the overwhelming warm scheme. It definitely works in this tag, but I feel that her skin has paid a bit of a price and looking a little bit yellow. You could use a selective colouring to bring out the whites, or use a deep blue photo filter or anything else you can think of that will work. :)

Keep working on the real life stocks, you have a knack for it if this is one of your earlier tries with them! Keep using lighting like that, and keep up the textures! One thing I'd recommend is just spend more time on each piece and that will improve everything, and help get rid of little things like better cropping of a stock or small colour adjustments.

Good work!

 

[Pera]

I found a stock to try, and I found a nice 4cd and tock online, and I got this!

 

[moments.]

I found a stock to try, and I found a nice 4cd and tock online, and I got this!

Well the first thing that I get from this tag is a lot of low quality I'm afraid... The stock you've chosen is ridiculously low quality, and even the C4Ds and effects you've chosen look blurry and a bit pixelated. I can't tell because the image address isn't showing my your file extension, but if you have saved this as anything other than .GIF or .PNG, then the first thing you need to know is ALWAYS save to those formats! They are the only two that will maintain maximum quality when uploaded. You could have the best quality resources available, and then upload it as a .JPG and ruin the whole piece...
If you did save the tag as png or gif, then you just need to be really wary of what you use. If you find a really nice stock and it has great motion and a brilliant focal point, but it is low quality, you should still never use it, unless you can somehow work your way around it and fix it up, but that is getting fairly advanced stuff.

Another thing that is making this tag look lower quality than it might be is the fact that you removed the stock from it's background using the eraser tool. Now, you can actually get some passable results using the eraser to remove a background, HOWEVER, you MUST use a hard brush, and I can't recommend this, only if you are really lazy and have a small area to do. If you erase using the soft brush like you have, and then don't try and cover it up by blending the focal into the background by placing effects over the top of parts of the focal and using colour adjustments, then you aren't going to find very much success...

I'm not going to finish giving you comments on the tag because the quality really kills it for me. These are sort of basic things that are an absolute must to follow when making any art that you intend to upload. Read all that carefully and just remember it for the next time you make some art. If you want to redo the assignment with the above in consideration, which I would advise, I will gladly give you a proper rate and constructive criticism, but I don't think it will reflect what you have actually done to the tag, because nearly all my comments will be affected by the quality issues.

Sorry if that sounded harsh, I really didn't intend it to be so, there's just not really a way around it, particularly something that is so vital, I can't really tip toe around it. Hope that's ok, feel free to PM/VM me if you want any clarifications!

 

[Pera]

No, I completely understand in what you say, and (although it does hurt) that is the reason I joined the graphics school.

But I'll make one point that I have been doing all along: I always save as png.

I think I hit a problem with myself, it's the fact of what is high quality? I keep getting told (this was on a previous forum) that I constantly use LQ pics.
So if you can help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[moments.]

Well I think if you can understand the points I was making and are obviously good with taking constructive criticism, (and I'll admit, I was probably a bit too blunt so sorry for that), then you will improve a lot, in a fairly short amount of time. So stick in there, I'll try be a little less blunt (I was really tired just wanted to get some feedback in today).

OK. So, high quality vs low quality. Basically there aren't really any specific way to tell, it is sort of a gradient between good and bad quality stocks, however there are some things to look for.

This is a fairly plain explanation of the two extremes of quality:

Basically when looking for stocks to use, you want to avoid ones that are blurry at all or have any sign of like grain (are the dark colours grainy, like have little speckles in them), like in the first one. You want to get ones that are perhaps large, if you try to make an image bigger in Photoshop / GIMP it will lose quality, however going smaller is generally fine. And lastly, try and avoid using Google Search for images. Yeah there is heaps on there, but so much of it is rubbish. If you really want to use Google to get some more variety, change the filter settings so you only get large images, generally if they are bigger, they haven't been resized heaps, or the original uploader had a higher resolution which would have better quality.

There aren't really rules, it's just your judgement on what looks low quality, but yeah, it you suspect it might be low quality, or you think there might be a better image out there, you are probably better off leaving it. Remember, even if the image itself is an amazing one, if it is low quality, it is pretty much unusable...

Here are two examples of places that are nearly guaranteed safe places to get high quality images from. The first is good for real life stocks, and the second are all renders, but both offer variety and a pretty vast collection.

Fringe Stock Garage
Planet Renders

If anyone wants more, send me a message and I can dig out some more for you. I will probably upload some more packs of stocks for you guys, maybe a massive pack so you can choose from only high quality stuff and not worry about low quality ruining things. It really is something that is necessary and must be done right.

Hope that helped!

 

[Pera]

Thankyou very much for your promt reply, that seriously helped and thanks a lot! :)
I had a look at the stock pack again and found another one, I think it's better, but at some glances it looks lq but on others it isn't, sooo ummmm yeah :/

EDIT: oohhhh I forgot about blending! I'll repost picture soon!
EDIT EDIT: redid it, blends a little now :)

 

[Hybrid Trainer]

What name you go by:
Hybrid, David, James names don't really bother me that much.
Link to your gallery on PC:
Here, but tbh the stuff in there isn't most of the stuff i wanted help with x]
Why you would like to join the graphics school:
I want to improve my skills using vectors because most of the tutorials out there suck.
Describe your experience with graphics:
Erm, well i've been playing around with raster graphics for a few years now and since i started my graphics course last year i started using vectors a lot more and have now favoured them to raster graphics.
What you feel is your best piece and why:
I guess i can tie between this and this.
But i was still never happy enough to work on them more after i'd finished the initial piece (like backgrounds and stuff)
What you think you need to improve on:
Shading, defiantly shading. And certain body parts like lips. Can't do lips to save my life D:
Also i guess backgrounds too seeing as i've never gotten far enough to actually give it a shot "/

 

[-Sonic~Boom-]

I would absolutely love to join. If you'd have me. :D

What name you go by:
I'd like to go by my name, Brad. c:

Link to your gallery on PC:
I don't have a gallery - however, I do have an old shop which I updated to show recent stuff: check it here.

Why you would like to join the graphics school:
I'd really love to improve myself overall, with the help from really talented people - graphic design is my passion, I'm currently taking a course in college with it. I've definitely improved over the years but I just want to keep getting better.
Though I love graphics and I'm constantly trying to find ways to improve, it seems no matter how many tutorials I try I just can't do things like I see many other are capable of. I'd like to learn everything I can and become a better graphic artist because of it.

Describe your experience with graphics:
I originally got into graphics at about 12/13 because of here - PokeCommunity! Since then its become an ongoing passion of mine. I use Photoshop constantly and love creating box arts, logos, tags, wallpapers, - you name it. Being creative is something I love to be a graphics is just that.

What you feel is your best piece and why:
This or this. The first one I like as it's very dynamic and action like and flows with the theme of the tag - the second one I like since I feel it fits the theme of the character and the location and also flows nicely.

What you think you need to improve on:
Overall, on everything - I want to know the secrets, the fundamentals an what I should do to make my graphic productions the best they can be.

 

[moments.]

Thankyou very much for your promt reply, that seriously helped and thanks a lot! :)
I had a look at the stock pack again and found another one, I think it's better, but at some glances it looks lq but on others it isn't, sooo ummmm yeah :/

EDIT: oohhhh I forgot about blending! I'll repost picture soon!
EDIT EDIT: redid it, blends a little now :)

I've had a look at that stock in the pack, and it is definitely a high quality one, but somewhere along the line, it lost a lost of quality. Your effects and background still look low quality to me. I doubt there is something wrong with your method, because you didn't even even resize the stock, but I'm thinking uploading images to the PokeCommunity albums isn't liking them for some reason... Try uploading it to a different host like if you have a Photobucket or just to Tinypic which you don't need an account for.
Sorry if this is sort of splitting hairs, but we need to get this sorted out and then I can give you better comments anyways! So yeah, reupload it somewhere else and just edit your post.

What name you go by:
Hybrid, David, James names don't really bother me that much.
Link to your gallery on PC:
Here, but tbh the stuff in there isn't most of the stuff i wanted help with x]
Why you would like to join the graphics school:
I want to improve my skills using vectors because most of the tutorials out there suck.
Describe your experience with graphics:
Erm, well i've been playing around with raster graphics for a few years now and since i started my graphics course last year i started using vectors a lot more and have now favoured them to raster graphics.
What you feel is your best piece and why:
I guess i can tie between this and this.
But i was still never happy enough to work on them more after i'd finished the initial piece (like backgrounds and stuff)
What you think you need to improve on:
Shading, defiantly shading. And certain body parts like lips. Can't do lips to save my life D:
Also i guess backgrounds too seeing as i've never gotten far enough to actually give it a shot "/

Welcome! I'm not a vector artist myself, but I have seen a lot during my time, and I can tell you that you have the basics down very comfortably, that first vector of the guy is great! The only thing they need improving on is shading, you said it yourself, but basically you need to add more. The face you've got split into two halves in terms of the shading. You might be able to get away only using two colours for a face, but you definitely need more details. It is details which make a vector look amazing.

If you look on DeviantArt, and search for vector tutorials, you will find something decent. There's heaps of good quality stuff in there, and if you already looked, look again? :P

I would absolutely love to join. If you'd have me. :D

What name you go by:
I'd like to go by my name, Brad. c:

Link to your gallery on PC:
I don't have a gallery - however, I do have an old shop which I updated to show recent stuff: check it here.

Why you would like to join the graphics school:
I'd really love to improve myself overall, with the help from really talented people - graphic design is my passion, I'm currently taking a course in college with it. I've definitely improved over the years but I just want to keep getting better.
Though I love graphics and I'm constantly trying to find ways to improve, it seems no matter how many tutorials I try I just can't do things like I see many other are capable of. I'd like to learn everything I can and become a better graphic artist because of it.

Describe your experience with graphics:
I originally got into graphics at about 12/13 because of here - PokeCommunity! Since then its become an ongoing passion of mine. I use Photoshop constantly and love creating box arts, logos, tags, wallpapers, - you name it. Being creative is something I love to be a graphics is just that.

What you feel is your best piece and why:
This or this. The first one I like as it's very dynamic and action like and flows with the theme of the tag - the second one I like since I feel it fits the theme of the character and the location and also flows nicely.

What you think you need to improve on:
Overall, on everything - I want to know the secrets, the fundamentals an what I should do to make my graphic productions the best they can be.

Well welcome to the school, on the last page of the thread, Abnegation posted some links to packs of resources as well as an assignment for you to complete. If you go back and do that one and post your result here, I will give you some in depth comments and constructive criticism!

That goes for any other new members here, go and do Abnegation's assignment! Here's a link to it!

 

[Alternative]

So I took a go at the assignment, and I think it turned out quite well if i say so myself. :D I'm just worried I may have gone over the top with sharpening or using the wrong C4Ds.