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Graphics Help
Topic Started: Mar 15 2014, 02:11 PM (1,463 Views)
Posted Image Marc
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Hey,

So I decided to try to make a signature. This took me 2 hours and I'm not very proud of it.

My "art"

#2 Tepig

#3 Pancham

#4 Brushes, Backgrounds, New Styles (Mostly Failed attempts)

#5 New Style 2

I was hoping one of the more experienced people could give me some pointers. I'm using Gimp, but I do have Photoshop, unfortunately, I do find photoshop a LOT harder to manipulate than gimp. If anyone could help me out a bit, I'd be very glad :D

This IS my first try at a sig. Hopefully you'll give me some positive feedback and don't overblow yourself with how much I suck xD

Thanks a lot!
Marc

Edit: I've decided to make this a kind of Portfolio where I can view my progress over time and revisit old stuff. So I'll constantly be posting new sigs and stuff I've made. If I turn out really good, it can be a kind of encouragement to newer people. If I turn our really bad, it can also encourage new people, as they know that someone (like me) are always below them!

Therefore, I will post all the variations I make here. I hope you can still give me constructive feedback on how I can improve on them!

Oh and if anyone wants to challenge me to make a sig of something, feel free to do so. I will post my failed results ;P[/spoiler]
Edited by Marc, Mar 23 2014, 09:48 AM.
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Posted ImageUnsharped
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Unsharped (Elysian)
It looks nice to me i could send this image over to another forum to ask for tips ? There is 1 experienced guy.
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Posted Image Marc
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@Unsharped Sure! (Link: http://www.ezimba.com/work/140316C/ezimba15503630062400.png)

Thanks a lot, hopefully he can help me out
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Posted Image Master Snowy
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%The Bliss Lender%
Wow, Marc. I don't think that your first try at making a signature is any bad at all. In fact, it's quite impressive for a beginner 'cause I could never do something as nearly as good as that on my first try. Great work budd! :D

And I don't think you'll need our criticism or anything. I think you'll progress and learn on your own just fine, because that's the good I find in your work, great job man! :D (But sure, we WILL help you whenever needs be.)
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Posted Imageptd2fan
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Head squirtle and just the prettiest person ever.
It is amazing mark good job pal :)
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Posted ImageVictinizer
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Marc
Mar 15 2014, 02:11 PM
Hey,

So I decided to try to make a signature. This took me 2 hours and I'm not very proud of it.

My "art"


I was hoping one of the more experienced people could give me some pointers. I'm using Gimp, but I do have Photoshop, unfortunately, I do find photoshop a LOT harder to manipulate than gimp. If anyone could help me out a bit, I'd be very glad :D

This IS my first try at a sig. Hopefully you'll give me some positive feedback and don't overblow yourself with how much I suck xD

Thanks a lot!
Marc
I'm not very proud of it.

I'm not very proud of it.

I'm not very proud of it.

I'm not very proud of it.

It's LITERALLY better than anything I've ever done, IDK why you got a problem with it. Great work, great first sig. Mine wasn't great, idk HOW you got that result using GIMP tho, I could never get it...

Oh right, tip: It's always fun to mess around with lots of different stuff. Try freestyling it and see if you can find any other types of signatures you can make!
Edited by Victinizer, Mar 15 2014, 03:18 PM.
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Posted Image Marc
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@Master Snowy - Thanks a lot! It is technically my first try, but I've had some fun making animated PNG strips with paint.net before, so I do know how to use clouds and stuff. But gimp is really new to me and some of it was really hard :/ I had to draw an idea, then write an instruction on how I attempt to do it, then put everything into words to actually carry out. If I had to do this again, it'd probably be quicker, but still won't look too good. Ah well, back to the drawing board

@Ptd2fan - Thanks a lot for the appreciation!

@Master Victini - You are really good at making sigs, a lot more experienced than I am at least! I just played around (like you suggested) with the capacity, borders, colours, etc. The background behind Heatran gave me a pretty hard time (this is the LAST time I'm using airbrush to create something from scratch o.O) I definitely enjoyed trying everything out, and count on me trying other styles!
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Posted ImageLevel-X
Stone Badge
Damn bro, not bad at all. Seriously I think you should take more credit for your skills. I mean if that's your first signature you've ever done you can only expect to get better as you learn a lot more. 10/10
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Posted ImagePoledoo
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9999C
Definitely really good for your first signature. What forum theme do you use? I ask because the white border seems like an attempt to make a transparent background, which would look so on a white background forum theme but not for others. If I'm completely wrong in thinking it was meant to me a transparent background then my mistake, still good nonetheless ^_^
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Posted Image Marc
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I use Pandora: Reincarnation. It looks pretty good there, and I kinda drew it because of the dark background. Does anyone know how to smoothen borders? Like round of edges? It would be a lot more effective (imo) that way under the current background Ihave
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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ptd2fan
Mar 16 2014, 02:33 AM
Mark I use reincarnation to man:)
And what does this have to do with the fact that he's asking for comments for his art?

This is a very impressive first art piece, but I do have one suggestion: the scan lines (diagonal lines) should be toned down a bit.
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Posted Image Marc
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@Starf Thanks. I'm working on another sig, so that will be helpful.
Does anyone have any tips regarding borders? I can't seem to make a nice border :/
Okay, so I've gone down and drawn something else up.
Posted Image

This is the 2nd sig I've done. I think it's an improvement from the first, but I'd appreciate any kind of feedback, especially tips on how to deal with the border (Making an effective border)

Thanks a lot in advance!
Edited by Marc, Mar 16 2014, 05:10 AM.
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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The scan lines can still be toned down a bit more. Also, I would recommend getting rid of the shadow background, and maybe just go for soft corners (rounded). You don't have to have a border.
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Posted Image Marc
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Starf, I'm not sure how to find "paths" on Gimp. I think I know how to round and fade the edges, but I don't know how to access that function.
Edit: I think I figured it out. Tried something without the scanlines: Posted Image
Edited by Marc, Mar 16 2014, 05:34 AM.
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Posted Imagealeony
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Monster Hunter
first of all that looks great. My first pieces of artwork are numemon and they make me sick and want to throw up. A few pointers? Get a style you like and use that for a while and perfect it then when you got it down move along. I find Gimp much easier to use its just I haven't used it in a while so yeah. Mess around with the filters and try to find cool combinations. Download some vector brushes and try out vector art if you want. Get some other brushes (smudge, grudge, etc.) because they help a lot and look cool. Just search brushes on google and it should like you to DeviantArt where you can download some for free. After a while try messing with basic animations. Download some rendered C4D and mess around with them they look nice if used right. Look at some tutorials online as they teach you new styles of doing sigs and they can teach you about specific tools in Gimp and how to use them better remember however that not all sigs work with all types of renders.

Vector Art:
Posted Image
The actual vector brushes are the things on the left, the line is simply line wrapping and it isn't used too well here, but it can look great though it is a bit hard. The weird things in the backgrounds are c4d.

Obvious Brushes:
Posted Image
This was a text I did the blue stuff on the buttom come from a smudge brushpack I had. They look well here, but can be used differently. Also look at the way the text is in that picture. First off the positioning makes it look all the better and how it is very subtly hidden. Next look at the fact that it is white with a little black around the text. Most people don't do this and this leads to text that is hard to read.

Less Obvious Brushes:
Posted Image
The brushes and a little less obvious and don't stick out also I used one c4d here. Also I prefer that these images with a border as it adds a little nice touch to it.

Pop-out Sigs:
Posted Image
Pretty simple just get the render and copy paste the render multiple times on a new layer for the background then go crazy with filters for the background.

Animation:
Posted Image
Very very basic animation, but it adds a nice touch this is for when you can't decide on an ending that looks nice so you simply go do an animation on it. Nothing complicated needed, also don't use too many different colours as then the quality goes down.

Thats all the styles I could think of atm. I'll add some later if I think of any.
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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I think that definitely looks much better.
In general, I think Scan Lines aren't very eye-pleasing, unless done really, really carefully (what's really really carefully? Hell if I know)
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Posted Imagealeony
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Monster Hunter
Instead of scan lines try to take a stock photo and simply put it over the background and put it to overlay and chance the opacity of the layer to an amount that fits. I recently started using one of my own photos and used it likes this. I prefer something simply ofc. For example:
I used this as a stock picture (taken in my trip to mexico :P )
Posted Image

and the result turns out like this. I like it as it adds a bit of depth to the photo, something that I think the scan lines do, but they do it a bit more artificially.
Posted Image

Btw if you do by any chance want to use my stock photo go for it doesn't matter to me.
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Posted Image Marc
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Thanks a lot! I just used scan lines because I liked the look of Unsharped's sig. I'll definitely use that stock picture of yours!

Wondering if by any chance you could teach me how you did that double line border for the Charizard Y.

I tried downloading some brushes, most don't look very good :/ Any "set" you recommend in particular?
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Posted Imagealeony
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Monster Hunter
I really don't remember what brushes I used because now I use photoshop at school so I don't have any brushes. Also I have to double check how to do it for gimp, but for photoshop simply select the picture, ctrl-shift-n (makes a new blank layer) then simply go into edit and go on stroke. Choose black and set size at 20, then repeat except set it to white and size at 15 then again with black and 10 size then one last time with white and size 5. Then simply change the layer the border is on too overlay. You can easily do this in gimp except I don't remember the option for stroke.
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Posted Image Marc
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@Aleony - Do you mean the size of the brush while using vectors? I've downloaded some, but none of them look good :/

Edit: XD I totally didn't understand, but I get it now. You were teaching me how to do the border thing. It can be accessed through gimp by Edit, Stroke Selection if anyone wants to know

Posted Image
This was designed for a dark background.

Here's to "non-fade" version with Aleony's Stock (Thanks a lot!):
Posted Image

Is this something to be proud of?
I've tried to take into account all of your opinions. Tell me if I've missed something out :P
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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That looks really good! I think your growing along well c:
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Posted Image Marc
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Starf, thanks a lot! I liked it myself too!

I'm wondering if someone can teach me a couple of tricks regarding the background. At the moment, I only know how to make one type of background - The current one I'm using. (A combination of airbrush, sharpening, contrast, etc)

Aleony, you suggested something about going crazy with filters. I've tried out most of the filters, but I seriously dunno how you merge them all to look so good. Any hint on what filter you're using?

If anyone else has any tips on different ways of making a background, I'd appreciate hints, tips, or tricks!

Also hoping someone can tell me how to make use of lighting, brushes, vectors, etc.
Thanks a lot!
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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I usually just do a gradiant background. It's simple and pretty, but if you're looking for something more complex, this is out of my hands.
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Posted Image Marc
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Don't say I didn't try...
Failed Gradient Sig


I think a simple gradient background would have been more effective with that sig instead of all the vectors and stuff. But unfortunately, I started this an hour ago, so I never got to see your comment, Starf. Definitely worth considering, though!
Edited by Marc, Mar 16 2014, 11:33 AM.
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Posted ImageThe Starf is a Lie
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You may to be a bit careful sometimes with foreground images. The blue lines ended up messing up the Cloyster.
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