Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > General > Artist's Forum > Graphic Design Forum > Critique this sig in progress.

[Owen Macwere]

what with the white thing that appeared all of a sudden??!!
nah, you are so good at backgrounds, I like your ideas for them.
and about the other sigs they are so good, I like the avator it is awesome, but one of the pink sig corners is so sticky work with it more. the blue sig is good, but needs a border I'd sugesst a black 1 pxl border it works well.
well, if this is your first work then it is so good, you wont believe how stupid my first were 0_o.
and about blending it is not hard, just tell me do you use photoshop if so I can tell you how to blend ^_~. and well if you use borders your work would be alot easier, try to find some borders buddy.

[ShunNakamura]

That white thing is because I was in a hurry this morning and when I saved it to a give to upload I forget to double check to make sure transparancy was on. No big deal I got the original with all the layers still on my hd. I don't dump those.




And the dratted edges are rough again(on a white background anyways). How do I fix that, or do I need to use a png rather then gif or somesuch?

As for what I use I tend to use Corel Paint Shop Pro X for the backgrounds, and I kinda switch between Fireworks and Adobe PhotoShop CS2. As long as I save it with something that has layers that all of them can read I am fine.

Anyways just fixing the transparancy is all I am likely to do tonight/this weekend. Major DogShow I get to work. And today(5am-7:30PM, roughly) out in the sun just about polished me off.

[Genji]

The edges are a little ridged, check that you don't have the magic wand (if you're using that) on a setting too high or low. It would be pretty good if you fixed that.

[ShunNakamura]

Does this look any better?



I did a bit more with trying to get the border in, plus I changed the text(thanks to voodoochild for the font :P).

I think the edges still need work, and I will try to play with it some more.

Also I made the images a bit more visible, dunno if that makes it better or worse.

And I am still loking for something to dump in the middle.

As a note I saved it as a .png this time, because the dratted .gif's just keep messing with me... the edges on the .gif are horrible, and the colors don't look as good. Don't know what I am doing wrong with it, but heh, .png will do for now.

EDIT- As a note, can I hardcode links into images(such as the T4C text) and have it perhaps recolor that text(or even just add a different color border) as well? I am wondering because many boards don't allow html code in thier sigs.

[Owen Macwere]

the whole sig had definitly became better. the text is so cool yes I took voodoochild advice and downlouded it too^^.
well the border is too crazy if you make it lighter it would look alot better. and well PNg don't save transperancy that's why the white line came back.
as for how to make the edge smoother, you can merge the whole lyers to one that makes them smother. layer>merge visible(or visible merege) don't remember.
as for the middle I don't think you need to put anything there, it is good as it is or the sig would be so messy.
I wish that helpped... work harder ^_~

[ShunNakamura]

Border too strong. Gotcha :P

Merge layers before saving as a .gif. Will give that a try, .png's are too big for many forums so I can't use it in the final anyways.

If I ever find a T4C sprite I will give it a go in the middle just to see how it looks. If it makes it messy(which I have had some fear that it would) then it won't stay, but I may as well try should I get an image I want.

[Owen Macwere]

glad my advices are worthy. I am really happy I could be of anyhelp ^^.

and a suggestion why don't you look around at some people's work here there are queit a good sig makers you can learn alot, I did that. I can give you names well, Zeldy, Rye, Genji, Voodoochild, Spiffing Cheese and ~sapphirstar~. they are all so cool.

[ShunNakamura]

.gif

.png


The gif still has some edge issues. But it does look lots better then it did previousally as a gif.

However, the PNG is still smoother.

I also decided to see how it would look if I made the images non-transparent and stronger.

In addition I played with the text somemore.


And I have indeed been looking through everyone elses sigs, It was actually other people's sigs that gave me the love I have for transparancies. However, I figured a hands on attempt at a more potent sig would teach far more then just watching(I only learn so much by looking at finished products afterall :P).

And it isn't like this is the only forum I have been posting on. I have asked for critique in many places.

Which reminds me, a couple comments I got I figure I may as well repeat here to see if you guys aggree with them. Bear in mind the comments are meant for the last version of the sig.


Old one that the following comments were ment for.


A) My background, while neat looking, is background that makes blending images into it far more difficult then would be wise.

B) My colors are a bit a too bright, is another comment. My issue is that when I try to darken it anymore I just don't care for it's look.

C) The neverwinter text while neat is too thin, and I should find a heavier one.

D) The text colors need to stand off from the background more.

E) The images for how this sig plays shouldn't be transparent.

The other comments were mostly along the lines of what you told me before, that the images a too small, and I should have picked one to focus on.