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Kadius wrote:
I feel like I don't say this enough but I am genuinely proud.
I decided to give photoshop a go for the FIRST TIME EVER (well, first time not just ****ing around and actually trying to make something) and I am SUPER prous of the result. Now I understand it isn't perfect but for a first-timer I am really impressed! Tell me what you think :)
I decided to give photoshop a go for the FIRST TIME EVER (well, first time not just ****ing around and actually trying to make something) and I am SUPER prous of the result. Now I understand it isn't perfect but for a first-timer I am really impressed! Tell me what you think :)
So for a first time, this was a strong first project. You've a lot of good things going on here in regards to positioning and overall compesition. The choice in typeface was also not bad at all. The positioning of the subject was also very well placed and I'm happy to see that you didn't center her in it, which is a common problem I see in most beginners.
Going on, I feel as though the positioning of the name wasn't too spectacular. Their's nothing wrong with wanting to be front and center, but if you're front and center, you want to have a reason for being their, design wise. I honestly feel like "Kadius" is sort of bland, design wise. Simple is good, I'll be the first to tell you that, but with this composition, it just doesn't work. I believe that the reason for this is that the shine on LeBlanc's staff is what's going to be drawing the attention of the viewers as opposed to the name. Because of this, what was meant to be the "front and center important part of this structure" is now moved down to the position of water boy. My suggestion would to be to possibly tweak the coloring of the font to a lighter value to try to draw the viewers eye towards it. Possibly, you might want to play with some smaller background textures to put behind it to try to draw the viewer into the focus and increase contrast.
Lastly, I feel as though the color scheme just ain't cutting it. Mind you, this last suggestion is just personal viewpoints made by me and it'll differ from person to person. I just feel the colors are waaaay too saturated for me. The brights around the wand are fine, but I feel as though the overlay you used to tint the entire canvas that tuscan-red color is hurting the focus of this entire signature as a whole. If you looked at the original (as was linked by Janitsu), there was much more value and saturation contrast between the brights and the negative space. I feel as though you should employee this more to help ensure that the picture as a whole isn't overwhelming.
I hope this helps. If you got any questions or concerns, please feel free to post back.
Quoted:
Thanks a lot for the compliments, and for the critique, of course. Regarding the empty spot on the signature, did you mean:
Because if not, I don't think I got it. I will make sure to change the blue spot though, I didn't even notice it. When I changed the colour scheme I didn't do it with a gradient or anything, but mostly with a brush (not sure why) so I missed a couple of spots without thinking it was a big deal, as I wasn't going for a full coverage anyway. That, or maybe the blue spot came from the Lens Flare.
I've got a couple of other sigs I could use some feedback on, but you're busy so I'll come back when you're not, if that happens. Thanks again!
Because if not, I don't think I got it. I will make sure to change the blue spot though, I didn't even notice it. When I changed the colour scheme I didn't do it with a gradient or anything, but mostly with a brush (not sure why) so I missed a couple of spots without thinking it was a big deal, as I wasn't going for a full coverage anyway. That, or maybe the blue spot came from the Lens Flare.
I've got a couple of other sigs I could use some feedback on, but you're busy so I'll come back when you're not, if that happens. Thanks again!
No problem!
As for the negative space, the place you pointed out is just that position. As stated in my critique, it was more of a nit pick than anything, but that area can use a little design love. Honestly, if you were to add text to that signature, that would be the perfect frame to put it in.
And hah, honestly, working in color changes with brushes is how I'd personally do it to so you can have a bit more control of color intensity to specific areas. You just have to be mindful about those missed spots though.
If you've more projects you'd like critique on, send them my way!
RottedApples wrote:
I want the critiques Kappa
Don't do this.
It was funny the first time with Janitsu in the intro, but I would honestly like for this thread to stay solely around the intent of bettering designers by whatever means necessary. Normally, I'd be all for trolling and joking around, but this thread is not the place for that (My kingdom of Off Topic is).
Any future posts like this will be requested to be deleted by an admin. Please try to keep this thread on topic.
Quoted:
Well there's this but I quite dislike it, and I don't know how to improve on it really.
In design, when you're met with an immovable object for a specific project, throw it off the side of your desk and rearrange the pieces.
In my honest opinion, all this piece needs is rearrangement. The current arrangement that you had did the following from what I see:
1. Throws off the flow of the piece. Caitlyn's gesture directs viewers to the left side of the signature, and yet the font is on the right side. Design wise, the viewers eyes will mostly miss the text at first glance, which makes the message have less of an impact on viewers.
2. Negative, boring space on the right side that's just filler.
3. Value clash with the font and blue of Caitlyn's hair and barrel of her gun. (It's very slight)
To fix this, all you would need to do is simply reposition Caityln and the font. I would start by moving Caitlyn all the way to the right and having the font rest up in the top left corner. The laser shooting from her gun will create a nice line going down the bottom of the signature to aptly fill the negative space that the right side of her can't do (from the original position). Additionally, the red from caitlyn will immediately grab the attention of those viewing the signature, starting from the top right and working their way down. The red laser coming from her gun will carry the attention over to the left side where they can read the quote you've chosen for this signature.
Additionally, you might want to try resizing the font a bit with this new composition. You will find that your font will have much more elbow room to work with.
*** If you would want for the font to remain on the right side of Caitlyn, you should make the font dynamic as well! You can do this by skewing the font and angling it so that it runs along the same plain as Caitlyn's gun. This will not only make the font flow with the character, but it makes it much more dynamic and interesting. It adds OOMPH to your text. It wouldn't be my course of action with this composition, but it might be a fun thing for you to look into and heck, you might ultimately like it better than my previous proposal with the font. Below is an example of this put in motion.
Tell me how that works out for you.
Toshabi ResponseThe editing software I use is called paint.net. It has no fancy name like Photoshop. Despite it being a free software I found on the internet, it has quite an extensive list of tools at your disposal. I'm simply scratching the surface of what this thing can do.
Regarding the contrast, I can see where you're getting at. Once I started working on the render, I realized that the colors of the render and the background were very close, almost too close. I'll see what I can do about it, it'll be a way for me to find more tools of this software!
A thanks to Janitsu for this signature!
I'm very familiar with Paint.net. That and GIMP are what I started out with when I jumped into the world of art 4 years ago. GIMP is another piece of software that isn't all that bad that you might want to take a look into. I feel like GIMP would offer more tools to better suit your needs as opposed to Paint.net.
I'm more well versed with photoshop, illustrator, indesign, Manga Studio and SAI, which are my preferred poisons for drawing/designing.
Creative Cloud might be something you'd want to look into. With Creative Cloud recently being made available, any college student can get a hold of EVERY adobe product for the price of $20/month. That's not a bad deal at all, considering people are willing to spend $15/mo on Netflix.
With CC, you can eventually make money off of it (like i do hohohoho) and it comes with updates as they're made, unlike how stagnant older versions of Photoshop get. If you have the money and funds you'd be willing to part with, I'd give it a shot.
I'm more well versed with photoshop, illustrator, indesign, Manga Studio and SAI, which are my preferred poisons for drawing/designing.
Creative Cloud might be something you'd want to look into. With Creative Cloud recently being made available, any college student can get a hold of EVERY adobe product for the price of $20/month. That's not a bad deal at all, considering people are willing to spend $15/mo on Netflix.
With CC, you can eventually make money off of it (like i do hohohoho) and it comes with updates as they're made, unlike how stagnant older versions of Photoshop get. If you have the money and funds you'd be willing to part with, I'd give it a shot.
There's a lot more contrast now and it really pops now. My only advice I'd have for that piece is to lighten up the text a bit more, for it fades with the background a bit too much. Overall, it's really come a long way from the original and I'm happy to see you employing some of the new techniques we've discussed so far!
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So, it certainly took me some time to figure out what this editing software of mine was capable of. Much to my surprise, it has a resize tool! This allowed me to keep from my fear of decapitation or cutting off the blade!
Unfortunately, the resizing did make it a bit too small, so, I feel I may need to make some adjustments for the new size. Overall, however, it is LEAGUES better then my previous one.
What do you think?
I got a question: What editing software are you currently using?
Anyways, it certainly looks much better than your first attempt with it. The background, overall, has made the signature much more interesting to look at. I love how you went with red as the theme overall to match the subject's outfit.
Now while the design is good, some things you should be mindful of in your future designs is contrast. Why I asked earlier about your editing software is that, whenever you can, you should desaturate your picture to see how the subjects in your image contrast to your background overall. If I were to take your image right now and desaturate it to monotone greys...
As you can see here, you want to be careful about having consistent values throughout the project you're working on. This can be a problem for readability (Which I was having when I was looking at it in its initial red value). It's one of the main things you have to look out for when you're dealing with darker colors. Not to say "LETS LIGHT THIS **** UP :D", but you can use higher, bright values to your advantage when dealing with darker settings to really sell some points of the signature (Where you use high value to control the focus of your subject and the darker values as more of a shell to hold it all in). Below are some examples of this.
Contrast is a powerful subject to keep in mind in the world of design.
I'll be able to make a bit more suggestions once I know the editing software that you're using.