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

[Alternative]

I'm gunna post here now.

Roserade, that picture looks great, as a riverside and stuff. For cell phone quality, it looks great, but using a proper camera, I would of said change the apeture so it would appear darker, more like a marsh land or something. Other than that, good job.

Spoiler:

Something I whipped up quickly, and probably the first piece of art work I've done on photoshop. I've done random stuff on there before, but this I sat down and worked on it for a while.

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Something I whipped up quickly, and probably the first piece of art work I've done on photoshop. I've done random stuff on there before, but this I sat down and worked on it for a while.

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure I like this one, to be honest. The stock is fairly LQ, the text is a little pixelated, and the purple doesn't seem to fit with the stock. You get full marks for design and concept, though. 6/10.

(And a basic, gag version of the same banner with a joke I couldn't resist making.)

 

[Ascaris]

I'm not really sure what there is to critique since there's really nothing you've added to this image other than stick a picture on to a background with italicised text. I'd give you points if you rendered the image yourself, but it's not rendered that well eithe. And as for the tag itself, it's pretty dull. I'm not sure being a beginner myself whether it's my place to tell you what to improve upon because virtually any kind of addition would make it look better than it is. I suppose you could start by giving the enlightening with background by brushing or with textures instead of that bland purple and then moving on to blend the render in. And remove the text. That's pretty much what I dislike most about your tag.


I've picked up photoshop after more than a year and started messing around with it; was never good at making stuff before. I tried to make a tag out of a stock image and basically ended up abusing the filters.

original image

 

[Misheard Whisper]

I'm not really sure what there is to critique since there's really nothing you've added to this image other than stick a picture on to a background with italicised text. I'd give you points if you rendered the image yourself, but it's not rendered that well eithe. And as for the tag itself, it's pretty dull. I'm not sure being a beginner myself whether it's my place to tell you what to improve upon because virtually any kind of addition would make it look better than it is. I suppose you could start by giving the enlightening with background by brushing or with textures instead of that bland purple and then moving on to blend the render in. And remove the text. That's pretty much what I dislike most about your tag.

This here is one of my pet peeves in Graphics, and one of the exact reasons I don't post here nearly as often as I'd like to. People automatically assume that a tag needs to have tons of flashy effects, curly ribbons and fuzzy-wuzzies to look good. Sure, that appeals to some people, and I've seen some great tags done like that, but there is no rule up there in G&P that states tags have to be complicated and obscured to be 'good'.

I personally like simplistic tags, as it's easy to see what's going on, and they're generally easy on the eyes. Swirls and contours do not automatically make a good banner.

I'm not picking on you personally here; your review was helpful, in a way - after all, any feedback is better than no feedback at all, and I am well aware that that was not my best tag, just the most recent one in my photobucket account at the time, as per what I usually do in this thread. What's not helpful, however, is narrow-mindedness, and you're not the only one around here with that problem. That's pretty much what I dislike most about your review.

I've picked up photoshop after more than a year and started messing around with it; was never good at making stuff before. I tried to make a tag out of a stock image and basically ended up abusing the filters.

original image

Hmm, I can see what you've done here, and it's nice. I've seen that show advertised around, and the fiery background seems to work with it from what I've seen. The focus doesn't really stand out as much as it could, though.

My turn, then?

 

[Aizuke]

Ascaris does have a point. To be honest, simplistic tags, true there is no rule stating tags have to be complicated, but really. What are we really suppose to be rating? There's not much you can say to a tag that has only little done to it. The rating thread is suppose to help others to improve on the work and what they've done to their tags, whether their experiments with their brush technique or usage of textures and C4D's has worked for them.

As much as people do like simplistic banners, you can't criticise a picture with just text added. If you added a bit more, maybe. But what can I say really? This isn't a place for saying "hey it looks good, I like that a lot. 10/10" That's what this thread is for.

Though if you want me to say something, the text looks a bit off and I don't like the style. And a bit of lighting and shade would give it more depth. But like I said, there isn't much to say or critic on your tag.

 

[Jesus oƒ Suburbia]

My turn, then?

I'm going to try my hand at this..
For starters the first thing I notice is how empty the tag is, trying filling it up with more effects, fill the background with different brush strokes with same colour orientation and smudge it up really good, add a couple of C4D's, remember to match the flow, and you're good to go; oh and next time try using a better quality image.

I've stopped making graphics but..
Who knows I might start learning again.
Here, do this.

Spoiler:

Oh and this is pretty old by the way, never got criticized..

 

[Alternative]

Christian's Inferno: I actually like the tag. The background looks realistic and gives Deadpool that more of a comic-booky feeling to it. The light on the hand looks a bit too bright if you ask me, since it's a dark setting, and the text doesn't really looks like it blends in with the entire thing, like it stands out too much. Overall, great job. 8/10

Spoiler:

My newest tag, which actually turned out good, since the last one I used CMYK settings instead of RGB.

 

[Ascaris]

For one thing, I feel it's too damn bright. And the text looks slightly awkward: maybe it could have been made a little less noticeable. But apart from that, I don't really see anything else to critique. I'm not going to say it's bland because, although I feel you could've added a lot more, for what it is, it looks really good.


Here's another something I churned out. It came out better than I'd hoped for but on reflection it's not really that good:

 

[Yrie]

@Ascaris:

Okay, to be honest, I'm not a huge fan (or maybe it's the render, not a bad one necessarily, but we all have different preferences) but it's not like...OMG DIE TAG DIE!-kind of bad either. I think I can see what you were going for, but imo it could've been better executed. First of all, I think you could have gone for a smaller size, width-wise, because there's really just a lot of repetitiveness going on here. Another thing is the text. I'm not altogether fond of the text, since the horizontal, sitting-on-the-border thing is rather awkward here, especially with the effect you're trying to create. Placed in a different way, somewhere else, with a different slant, most likely, maybe a more noticeable color (though not bright or bold enough to actually detract from the focal), and it may be effective. In addition, while it appears that you blurred the focal to create an illusion of depth, the background effects are all still completely sharp and in focus, so try blurring the furthermost parts as well. Overall though, its not quite as bad as I may have made it sound (pfft, I really am being hypocritical in my rate though, I think *sweatdrop*) And it could really be a good tag if some techniques were utilized more effectively =]

Submitting this for a re-rate. Yeah, same old, same old

 

[Aizuke]

Yrie: The thing that stands out the most for me, is the quality and the position of the render. I really like it. In my opinion, I think this is a great example of a simplistic banner. Not much has been added to it, but in all, it still looks good. Although, I think you could work on the depth of the banner, add some shading on the sides and a light source on the top. I love the wing though, that's also another bit that stands out for me.

---

My SoTW entry. :B

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Yrie: The thing that stands out the most for me, is the quality and the position of the render. I really like it. In my opinion, I think this is a great example of a simplistic banner. Not much has been added to it, but in all, it still looks good. Although, I think you could work on the depth of the banner, add some shading on the sides and a light source on the top. I love the wing though, that's also another bit that stands out for me.

---

My SoTW entry. :B

Firstly, I love your effects. They are so many and varied I can but wonder at how you did it. The colours are great, too - red and black with hints of blue and white does the job well. My main jam with this tag is that the stock doesn't seem - to me at least - to fit with the text. I mean, she doesn't look all that energetic. But for pure explosive visual appeal, it's hard to beat.

Hmm, I actually put some kind of effort into this one. And I used effects, sort of. I dunno, do vector foliage brushes count as effects? Most likely not, but I put more stuff into this than the last one I posted here. (Also, am well aware text needs work - my biggest weak point. Tips? XD)

Spoiler:

EDITXORZ: I fixed the text somewhat. It's still bad, but it's not quite so hideous any more.

 

[Renyui!]

misheard whisper: It's nice, but i'd trash the border. I also don't particuarly like text and the floral brush in the top left corner. but the colours and textures of the overall piece blend terrifically, i must say. A very visually pleasing piece of art.

'right-o, here's my 'triumphant' return to graphics. The stock wasn't the greatest quality, but, uh, he's a quality zelda villain, so chyeah.

 

[Aizuke]

Misheard Whisper; The yellow textures at the background, seem kinda bad quality. But it looks nice, if you were going for a simplistic banner. The text is a bit awkward though.

Renyui!; I love the effects on it. And it has great depth. The monotone-ness kinda irks me a bit. It makes it seem to bland really. I'd love to see a colour version of it.

----

 

[Loxius]

Misheard Whisper; The yellow textures at the background, seem kinda bad quality. But it looks nice, if you were going for a simplistic banner. The text is a bit awkward though.

Renyui!; I love the effects on it. And it has great depth. The monotone-ness kinda irks me a bit. It makes it seem to bland really. I'd love to see a colour version of it.

----

Wowow I can see I have a really long way to go. The effects are great I wonder how you even do stuff like that. Everything just flows so well and the colours go perfectly with your stock. I'm new to this so sorry if I'm gushing too much over this. xD 10/10

This was my first attempt ever at making a graphic lol. I was just following a simple guide with stuff and just playing around. I kinda ran out of ideas on how to really complete it. Seems like it's missing something to me. So tips and criticism would be greatly appreciated. :D It was really fun and I think I'll make more whenever have some spare time. -cough- and hopefully get better.

 

[Unforgettable]

Loxius:
For a first attempt, it is pretty decent. However, it is a bit plain. C4D's make things awesome, blending, shading, depth, the stuff like that. A tag is just like a piece of fine art, it needs it all.

Not really a fan of it, and I did it really fast. But thought I'd get it rated anyways. Shouldn't have sharpened the render, and really, it's horrible but yeahhhh.

 

[Zirkle38]

Unforgettable: I really like it. The squiggely... stuff going on is pretty (: And I like the glowing girl part, too. I disagree about the sharpening, but whatevah. I don't really like how the... squiggely stuff covers her nose, but that's probably just me. I'm no good at ratings, obviously d:

I made this in, oh, about five minutes d: I really like Quagsire, but the Sandshrew sucks,
Oh, and don't mind the name thing, I know it's terrible (:

 

[Angela]

So that one looks so warm and cute.. =3
I love the renders you used, did you draw those? :D
Anyway there isn't much going on in the banner, I mean it needs flow, depth and the colours don't even match, and the text feels a bit out of place, especially the text at the top. So I can see your pretty new at this so I'm gonna so good job, I've seen worse.. :D



So can someone comment on this one..

 

[Zirkle38]

So that one looks so warm and cute.. =3
I love the renders you used, did you draw those? :D
Anyway there isn't much going on in the banner, I mean it needs flow, depth and the colours don't even match, and the text feels a bit out of place, especially the text at the top. So I can see your pretty new at this so I'm gonna so good job, I've seen worse.. :D

Yeah, I drew them. I used PaintTool Sai, it's not as advanced as PhotoShop or the other banner programs. It wasn't until after I posted the banner that I realized everyone had pretty banners posted. It majorly sucks in comparison, and by iteself ^^;
I think Imma try to make a less newb looking banner, just so I feel like less of a loser (:
Thanks for the criticism!

 

[moments.]

Angela:
Your tag is getting much better in all the elements of a tag, and your smudging is certainly improving. The first irk that I think is there is the focal is hidden and sort of unclear. The focal is blurred and has some like 'cloud' over it which I'm assuming is the lighting. It needs some serious sharpening up.
Also, I told you to smudge in the direction of flow, not feeling it at all here. Where you do have directional smudge (bottom right), it goes in two directions \ / like that. The rest of the smudging like at the top and stuff is just smudged with no flow and looks like it was just pasted on top. The lighting you've done is completely wrong lemme just say. Fire is heat which creates light, and you've got a massive white light beam coming from the right of the focal, and none coming from the blazing fire like half a metre away from her left. Just general stuff, but again, directional smudging. You will feel like God... Check out ComicTragedy's tutorial in the tutorial thread on smudging, it is damn good and focuses on directional smudging!

My turn to get something rated. Next poster MUST tell me something they don't like and why. And if you really don't like anything, justify why you like something about it. I'm sick of half-arsed rates...

 

[Zirkle38]

I'm not going to post a banner (yet), but I'd like to say something about moments. banner. This is not an official review, and I've read the rules, and it seems this is allowed? My apologies if I'm mistaken.

The only thing that bothers me is the word. The font doesn't seem to fit the picture. I'm not sure how I would go about changing it; I can't decide if the font is too bold or not. I'm pretty sure it's too bold for me. I just... don't like it. But the rest of the picture is beautiful (: I like the light from the fire, it looks very nice,

Okay, so it's definitely not as good as most of you are used to looking at, but it's a bit better than my previous, albeit I like that one more. I'm not crazy about the words, though. I just knew I wanted it to say something, I just couldn't decide what.

And, because I liked my other one so much I decided to incorporate it into this banner:

I know I need more on this one, I just can't decide what? Some suggestions would be helpful (:

I know neither of these is terrific, and you're probably tired of me, but I'm obviously not great at this, so I need heaps and heaps of criticism (: