The Graphics Rating Thread [READ THE FIRST POST. D:<]

[THIRTY-SIX]

Loki: I made the rules… for that sotw… xD;
Grey bg doesn't suit the bright text.

CT: Looks sweet, but I can see white bits from the original bg? Dark space on the left is distracting though.

T… HYPE … E.
May enter sotw depending in there aren't may other entries. :<
Huzzah for InDesign and its terrible image rendering.

 

[SwampertTrainer]

Um... is that.. newsletter..thing meant to be rated?

 

[Michael Allison Is Not I]

Yeah but it confused the flingflabble out of me so I decided not to respon- oops.

 

[SwampertTrainer]

So what's supposed to be rated about it?

 

[Zebra Thunderhead]

T… HYPE … E.
May enter sotw depending in there aren't may other entries. :<
Huzzah for InDesign and its terrible image rendering.

It's his SOTW entry. >_> Read much?

@Capitano - Text is good (how often do I say that?). I like it a lot. But the main thing that bothers me is how stiff the orange smudging is. It has a definite beginning and end which makes it look less flowy. Ya got two light sources, as well. The true one is to the right of his head, which you got right. The one you don't is on his left side. Rid it! Also, up the contrast on your stock, he looks too washed out for the nice colors you have going on.

@Fails - It looks like a legit article. But I don't like the "T" at the first sentence of the whole article, more specifically that iffy box around it. I don't know what you can do to change that either, as text and me are DO NOT WANT.

 

[Comic Tragedy]

Loki: I made the rules… for that sotw… xD;
Grey bg doesn't suit the bright text.

CT: Looks sweet, but I can see white bits from the original bg? Dark space on the left is distracting though.

T… HYPE … E.
May enter sotw depending in there aren't may other entries. :<
Huzzah for InDesign and its terrible image rendering.

Ok I am rating what I can of this, because no one else will. Ok first off I will say that the overall structure of this (magazine?) page. Everything you did in it really makes it look professional. The only thing of course is the quality of the title on the full size, but then again I bet you already knew that.

I am sorry I don't have much insight on magazine page rating >.<

 

[SwampertTrainer]

I can't say I like the background. It doesn't distract from the focal at all, but at the same time it's a bit TOO simple...
The flame affects are good, but the text is not. Maybe cutout-looking tags don't appeal to me much, but that's my opinion. Nice lighting.

 

[Hazuki]

SwampartTrainer: I swear I am going to kill this style eventually. Let's see... where do I start..... Border is done, even though, I kind of think you could do a 2px white border and then a 1px black border to make it stand out since it's all dark and stuff. D: I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to focus on, the leaves or the creature thing. Well whatever it is, USE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS. MY GOODNESS, FOR ALL OF YOU SO CALLED "WONDERFUL" GRAPHIC ARTISTS, LEARN HOW TO USE THE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS GEEZ. I'll repeat again.

Spoiler:

USE THE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS PEOPLE. YOU CALL YOURSELF A GRAPHIC ARTIST AND YOU DON'T EVEN USE IT. GEEZ.

Life isn't just C4Ds, textures, and brushes. There are things in life where we need to rely on other things like Adjustment layers and lighting. If you don't know where that is it's at the top, go to Layers > Adjustment layers> do your jazz in one of the layers there.

I think the brushes isn't necessary, well, actually, no it's not bad. But maybe you can make it white instead of black? Because it's just looks way too dark. The text color is nice, the font is nice, so that's a really good thing in the banner. Yeah you're getting better, just remember. USE THE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS THEY ARE THE SOUL OF YOUR LIFE IN GRAPHIC MAKING. :D

You guys can rate my banner if you want, but I wouldn't count on it. =/

 

[THIRTY-SIX]

Ok I am rating what I can of this, because no one else will. Ok first off I will say that the overall structure of this (magazine?) page. Everything you did in it really makes it look professional. The only thing of course is the quality of the title on the full size, but then again I bet you already knew that.

I am sorry I don't have much insight on magazine page rating >.<

Thanks for trying. ^^'
And yea… if the images aren't 300 dpi InDesign doesn't rener the images onscreen properly, when it prints it good though.

@Fails - It looks like a legit article. But I don't like the "T" at the first sentence of the whole article, more specifically that iffy box around it. I don't know what you can do to change that either, as text and me are DO NOT WANT.

Cheers for your input. I was actually copying/ imitating a legit games magazine called EDGE… look at me sig. xD
It has a similar layout to the hype section.
__________________

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[Gabri]

WOOOHOOO Got a free rate :D
Nah, I'm not THAT lazy XD

@SwampertTrainer: First, that tag is laaaarge, and it's a bit ugly like that. Then, it's a little bit too dark. You have a radial gradient as a light source, but the way it is implemented is bad. It should have less orange/yellow/golden/whatever and more white, to become a better light source. A 60-100 px white soft brush would help a bit too. The text opacity should be a little bit (ONLY A LITTLE BIT) lowered, it would be better-looking. Same with those light things behind it. Some adjustment layers would help too. And like Hazuki said, a 2-3 px white border, then a 1 px black border would be good.
The background is nice, but its colour scheme takes out the creature's focus.

Pffft, my brain is tired of thinking and I'm lazy to tell more, so here goes a tag of mine...

Wow, my first one that actually has scanlines.[/fact]

 

[SwampertTrainer]

What is with all you people and anime? Life does not revolve completely around anime (or at least the rest of the world :P). Oh, well that's just my opinion, hehe.

@Katalyst:
Anyway, nice colors scheme, even though red and purple are not my personal favs. The lighting here is really nice, I can tell precisely where it's coming from. Kudos.
One thing you may want to get rid of (IMO) are the <scanlines?> The faint diagonal lines that run across the image. They're distracting and give the image a certain graininess that doesn't fit the image. They also clash with the flare lines near the top of the image. The rest looks excellent, nice choice of render.

This is probably not my highest shining moment, especially with text, but I kinda liked the simplicity of it...

 

[Comic Tragedy]

SwampertTrainer@: Too simple. Not enough depth, and too bright. Try and use new effects it really looks low grade compared to other gfx artists here. No offense, just keep practacing trying new styles.

Rates please!

 

[Gabri]

@SwampertTrainer: Hmmm... Yeah, it's a tad too simple. You could lower the brightness a little bit too. Hm, can't say much more.

@El Capitano: Like the colour scheme and love the effects. But I think it could use some text or... Pffft, whatever, cuz there's some space at the right side that could use things like that. But it's pretty good.

'Kay, here goes:

Not one of my best, but... meh.

EDIT: And yes, SwampertTrainer, those diagonal lines are the scanlines.

 

[Michael Allison Is Not I]

WTF. Scanlines. Bad. NO SCANLINES. This is bad. It r disgusting scan lines.

Aside from that, it's kind of nice, actually. I don't like the text, or the colors, so fix those. The colors can stay as is if necessary, but fix the text. New font, different style, and at least, if you're doing vertical, adjust the settings so the characters aren't so spaced. I like the random crop thing though. It's pro. :D rofl

i do it too.. when im lazy.

import non-lazyness

good old python

 

[Hazuki]

Katalyst: OMG LELOUCH!!!!!!!!!!! <3333 lol anyways, this is better than the your last banner imo. I think it will improve a little bit better if you used a texture of some sort, like maybe some kind of grainy texture to add some style to it. Finally, a banner where I can tell you actually used adjustment layers, I love you already (well not really but you know what I mean xD) good job! I like it, even though you could use more layers like maybe do the Hue/Saturation more. I think the lighting brush is not necessary, well okay it is, but maybe you could lower it even more, maybe to Soft Light or so. Scanlines make it nice, mhm, they do. I think it would be better if you lowered the ocpacity more though, but other than that, I like the flair of the scanlines. The side part of Lelouch could be a different color, because I kind of think that would be interesting than just seeing two Lelouches with the same color. O-o; Text is nice, I like it, but I hate to say this, but I think it would be better in a different font. xD;;

Overall nice job. ;D

Michael Allison is Not I: WTF. Plain background. Bad. NO PLAIN BACKGROUND. This is bad. It r disgusting plain background. =/

Obviously, I think you could improve a lot, I don't know if you just started or anything like that, but the only thing I could probably say is just get more brushes to make your backgrounds look like they are a signature from you. It''s way too bright, I don't know why you would make it too bright, lower it or don't put it there. The text is interesting and that's all I can say about that. The stroke is okay I guess, but to me, it just looks really unnecessary. Really all I can say is just keep practicing.

 

[Loki]

Michael: In all honesty, I personally think the plain background is fine- in fact, I like it. It's a nice change of pace from the usual, and I mean, every banner you see we preach about stuffing it full of crap, but the simplicity here works; because of the color you chose. I do agree with Hazuki about the fact that it doesn't look awesome, but I pretty much don't agree on anything else. :B

The brightness is alright, since it adds the pop that the background is missing, but what bothers me the most is the stroke. xD; It just hinders everything, and it's not smooth at all, which makes it look terrible. The text is awesome; placement is great, and actually fits, blends well thanks to the super bright lights, but is it just me, or is your render... incredibly...... low quality? D: Or is that a filter?


Oh, now that I look again... the stroke on the "in disguise".... Way too thick. :| I personally don't usually like stroke in general, but I really think that the stroke is way out of place in this particular tag. I think you should tweak the brightness/contrast on your render itself- not an adjustment layer, but like, directly y'know? I think that'll really help it in terms of making the brightness fit more, as well. Without the stroke, I'd probably like it; but by "like it" I'd be putting it on a different level than I normally put your works. :< (Probably somewhere around "like it" for like, SwampertTrainer, y'know? The simplicity was executed well, but it's kind of boring. ;<)


El Capitano: I just wanted to say that when I saw this tag, my jaw dropped off it's hinges. I love it. Amazing depth, amazing effects, and I could stare at it all day. <3333


Hazuki: Ummm, not sure if you wanted me to rate your banner; but the stripes in the back are a texture, right? <_< I personally hate tags that use textures as a base background without making it majorly different from how it was before. (Gives that copy-paste feel to the max.) But if you pentooled it yourself or something, then I'll rate it next time I post. :3 Oh but first, your render has a weird pixelly look to it, like it's low-quality. :| I dunno if that was intentional or not, but it looks really gross around her legs; It looks okay everywhere else, (except for the fact that your text is soft, and your render is incredibly sharp, which is funky) but I think erasing the edges of her legs would really help.

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SO many things went wrong with this tag. For one, it started out green, and turned out blue. (Wut.) For two, it was supposed to be a smudge tag. As you can see, you can barely see any of my smudge work. And for three, the contrast is incredibly overpowering. I'll be fixing his shoulder with some more smudging later, and I'll probably fix the brightness while I'm at it so.... yeah. :/

 

[Conman]

Woah you listed a lot of stuff you messed up on. Most are thing I would have never noticed though XD Anyway, yea it's contrast is defiantly too strong. Even though you say you messed up in this area, I personally like the colors. The only color related thing I don't like is Haseo's actual face because it doesn't really fit with any of the other colors. I'd tint his face and hair a bit with green or blue. As for lighting, it's in a nice position and looks good on Haseo. Thing is the source is way to bright to create the light produced on Haseo's armor. So either make a little duller or brighten Haseo's armor more. I'd go with the first though. The effects on his shoulder also look odd, but you said you were gonna go fix that anyway.
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COLOR

B/W

While I was in Atlanta I did two tags. The first was the "Stunning" one, this is the second. I got the idea while helping my cousin make a tag using the same stock. Sadly GIMP crashed when we were almost finished his, and we didn't save often. Owell, I still have mine XD
​

 

[Michael Allison Is Not I]

Katalyst: OMG LELOUCH!!!!!!!!!!! <3333 lol anyways, this is better than the your last banner imo. I think it will improve a little bit better if you used a texture of some sort, like maybe some kind of grainy texture to add some style to it. Finally, a banner where I can tell you actually used adjustment layers, I love you already (well not really but you know what I mean xD) good job! I like it, even though you could use more layers like maybe do the Hue/Saturation more. I think the lighting brush is not necessary, well okay it is, but maybe you could lower it even more, maybe to Soft Light or so. Scanlines make it nice, mhm, they do. I think it would be better if you lowered the ocpacity more though, but other than that, I like the flair of the scanlines. The side part of Lelouch could be a different color, because I kind of think that would be interesting than just seeing two Lelouches with the same color. O-o; Text is nice, I like it, but I hate to say this, but I think it would be better in a different font. xD;;

Overall nice job. ;D

Michael Allison is Not I: WTF. Plain background. Bad. NO PLAIN BACKGROUND. This is bad. It r disgusting plain background. =/

Obviously, I think you could improve a lot, I don't know if you just started or anything like that, but the only thing I could probably say is just get more brushes to make your backgrounds look like they are a signature from you. It''s way too bright, I don't know why you would make it too bright, lower it or don't put it there. The text is interesting and that's all I can say about that. The stroke is okay I guess, but to me, it just looks really unnecessary. Really all I can say is just keep practicing.

Been practicing for the last 5 years, so yeah... Not doing brushes. Been there, done that, moving onto a new, funner style. Hehe. But yeah, it was kind of plain. But like Loki said, I intended it that way. I agree, the render is too dark. I should have fixed that. Oh, and on the topic of the stroke; I'm not adjusting my use of overly big strokes. I personally think they r prettyful. LolOl XD. CME yelled at me about that already and I basically said the same thing.

Oh, and the render is meant to seem kind of blotchy. I was bored, so I was like, let's do random crap. Autovectored it and made it looks all weird and put weird text on it. >_< Obviously this wasn't the most serious of my recent sigs lol! :) thanks for the advice veryonez. D:

@ Capitano; I'll tell you in MSN, but basically, I don't like it. :S

@ Loki: it's all low quality, and over contrasted... :S and rly dark. i like the concept, and placement of it all, but it needs better coloring, lighting, and uh... file format probably. lol XD

 

[Motsuko Live]

Good thing I don't have to rate, 'cause I really don't feel like it. But I'll just say that Conman's first version of that signature (the colored one) looks a lot better than the black and white copy.

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Here. No text. Kind of went back to my old style... I think. /confused O.o

 

[Loki]

^ Actually, you were supposed to rate Conman's, because Michael's post was a reply post. :|

I forgot to change the rules, but actually:

You must always rate at least one banner. If the person above you hasn't posted a banner to be rated, and it is not a reply post, then you may choose, but otherwise, the one above rule still applies.

Does anybody have a better way of wording that, before I put it on the first post? D:


Uuurgh Motsuko my dear ex-co-worker. D: I honestly don't really like this tag at all. The brushes in the back are so childish compared to your render. (I dunno, ample bust =/= childish for me.) The colors are pretty, but they're not executed well; I think you should've incorporated some more of that tannish white color on the left. And the border is kind of wonky. The arced dotted brush is definitely not something I'm fond of either. It's in the right general direction, but it's at a bad angle, and actually impedes flow. Lighting is good though. I just don't like the overall look. (And I hate the style the render is drawn in, so that doesn't really help much. D: Hopefully someone else with less bias towards the render itself will rate your tag.)

@ Loki: it's all low quality, and over contrasted... :S and rly dark. i like the concept, and placement of it all, but it needs better coloring, lighting, and uh... file format probably. lol XD

What's making it low-quality probably isn't the file format. (I've never had any issues with .png, honestly. Unless you can suggest a better format?) It's probably the contrast. <_<;;

Edit: Changed the yellow smudge to blue.