C&C my first signature please!

[Vyre]

So, i'm really terrible at photoshop, i've only tried to make textures, which failed pretty badly. But anyway, i wanted to start getting better at photoshop, so i looked at some of the tuts here, and tried to implement something different parts from some of them into a signature, so here is my outcome:



I tried to add some depth with blurring everything around his head, and sharpening the head and sword(?) and color dodging abit, to make it like a light source comes down from the top left.
The text i already know is terrible, i had no idea what to put there, if anyone have any great fonts they would like to share <3's to you!
The background also looks really boring, any tips to make it more exciting?

Please be as harsh as you want to, so i can improve, and tell me what i could do better

[Narudan]

I like your attitude towards improving and criticism
And thats one of the most advanced first signature I've ever seen.
Have some Tutorials I made:
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And check out our Signature Compendium.

The easiest way for an interesting background is to use a stock. The most common way is smudging.
A more difficult way is using c4d's.

[Vyre]

I'm living at a college, and for security reasons, they blocked Rapidshare.com and Megaupload

Any chance i can get the tuts from a site like fileserve or, if you can send them over MSN or anything like that

And thanks!

[Tobii]

I'm living at a college, and for security reasons, they blocked Rapidshare.com and Megaupload

Any chance i can get the tuts from a site like fileserve or, if you can send them over MSN or anything like that

And thanks!

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[Narudan]

Try Unlimited free file storage and free file hosting

[Vyre]

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Tak tobii

Thanks again Narudan, going to look it over once it's done downloading!

[Reflection]

I have to agree with Narudan, it's probably the best first signature I've seen. Great job. I'm glad you didn't make any of the most common beginner mistakes, i.e use every possible default blending option, overuse brushes and throw in a bleeding cowboys text. What you should consider however is how the colors used affect the render itself. Realistically, the strong green background would have been reflected partially on the character you used and thus you would see hints of green as well. That seems to be the biggest issue with the signature overall; your render seems to be "pasted" onto the canvas as opposed to physically being there.

Have you used any gradient maps adjustment layers? That is one way to go around blending - instead of adjusting tones and colors of the render you can alter the entire image and you'll have a better balance between render and background.

The text is actually quite nice because it's simplistic - it's subtle. Narudan has a tutorial for text which I believe is in that package if I'm not mistaken and you should have a look at that if you want to extend your borders

and as Narudan said, the most common and easiest way to make a background interesting is to use the original render at full scale and then smudging that. Not only will you have a decent background but you'll also have a good base to blend the real render in later on.

I have to agree as well, you seem to want criticism and therefore I really felt willing and glad to criticize your work. Great work and keep it up, always interesting with new people in here!

[Narudan]

Btw Reflection, if you want to add my tutorials to your Compendium go ahead. Looking for the matching signatures and uploading the images to an host just seems like too much work for a thread people don't appreciate enough.

[Remus]

Would have been better to ask that in PM Narudan, and lack of discussion doesn't mean the guests don't enjoy the compendium.
Occasionally I browse it yet leave no note because I just cba.

[Vyre]

Thanks a lot for the critizism reflection! ^^

I actually completely shot that out of my head, by doing a gradient effect on the entire signature, i remember it mentioned somewhere, that it was great for exactly that, but i kind of forgot to put it in, because i couldn't really find a color which worked the way i wanted to, so i decided to see if it would be mentioned! :P

I will remember what you said for future sig's, and yes, i really want critizism, because i think that's the best way of learning, once you know the simple basics like i think i do now, so thanks a bunch, i'll try to make another sig, incorporating what's being mentioned here, and from the tuts Narudan gave me!

Would still love more critizism, or other tips, if anyone got some!