Composition tutorial: Spoiler ^ Open and read that first.. Well, the rule of thirds is mostly applied to photography, but it does work well for tags and other pieces. The text thing is not completely accurate, but it does work. The thing about text is that you mostly have to play it by ear. Or sight. Or whatever... But there are several ways to make text work. Although, 90% of the time, text just botches a piece, it's really a pain in the ass. Another thing to keep in mind with a tag is the flow of it. You don't want **** just exploding everywhere. You want it to be easy on the eyes. That said, complexity doesn't have to be lost. You just have to make it work together. Ahh, lemme find an example...Oh ****, I found a nice explanation I did for a friend on a tag a while back. Here's the tag/finished product: For using 2D renders, there is a certain depth to it eh? Also, notice how the anime render fits into the piece, despite having nothing to do with the circles. I blended the render into the piece, which is commonly done with smudging, but I used overlapping circles to do so.. I used the whole rule of thirds thing, which helped the composition of the piece, and another important thing to keep in mind is the lighting. It can further the depth of a peice, bringing light on the focal and shadow on the background. But make sure the lighting coincides with the focal's original lighting. (As in, if the render or whatever is obviously lit from above, don't make light come from the bottom right.. ) Oh and here's the part involving flow and all. It's really not a great example of flow because it's made with circles.. But it works. I'll post up some other tags with good flow too... Ah, here's one.. The flow follows the smudging from top right to bottom left.. It doesn't just explode everywhere, it keeps a direction. I mean, it's not straight lines from top right to bottom left, but it keeps that general direction.. Well, I hoped some of this crap helped.. If not, or if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer to the best of my ability..
WAT. But seriously, nice job on explaining everything. As you said, the rule of thirds doesn't work too well with sigs. I've personally found that putting the text close to the focal is the safest way to go. It always seems to distract whenever I put it farther away from the focal. I like your method of blending in the circles sig, but I have trouble following the flow you described. I liked the diagrams, they were helpful.
Haha, I don't know what typo you're WAT'ing about hahaha. And I definitely think the rule of thirds helps the composition of even a tag. Then again, it could just be my taste, art is opinionated and everyone's a critic. As for the flow part, are you having trouble with the concept or the specific signature? Because I agree, the "color domination" one doesn't have the best defined flow haha. Text is always a pain in the ass. Sometimes putting it even next to the focal, draws away from the focal to the text. The rule of thirds make the text neat in my opinon, but its still not top notch haha. I tend to just stick with no text for the most part. It's easier and I think that that way, it takes less away from the art. I mean people obviously know your username, it's going to be right next to your post. And if you want to title it, throw it in there under it, typed haha. Oh and one more thing about rule of thirds text. It'll work best with a bigger focal, if you're using a little tiny render or something (which are generally pretty awful anyways), then that rule of thirds text would definitely not work.. But yeah.. Gladja liked it haha
I know what you mean with the rule of thirds, and I follow it to a degree, but I find I tend just to eye something until I like its placement rather than follow a strict guideline. I think it is good to follow if you dont know what you are doing, but if you do you probably should be able to tell, at least generally where you want the focal to be. I honestly have a lot of trouble with text, it takes me a very long time to get anything passable, as I just don't really think with text in mind, and by the time I go to add it, the sig already seems complete...
So I say just leave it! Haha, if it looks complete, then theres no rule or law saying you must have your name on it hahah, heck, that even seems kinda conceited ;D Exactly. It's best to use it as a guide. I mean, you don't have to make the dead center of the your focal's face cross between the two guides, but it just gives you an idea of where to put it. Always do what looks best, because isn't that what art is? What looks best to you, and makes you truly satisfied with the piece haha. .... Edit. As I say that ^, I go up and notice the focal on color domination is perfectly lined up with the guides. Hahaha. But I promise, that's just what looked best to me then, I guess haha Edit. Check this. I know this is on a different site, but these are like some pro's haha.. Here's there better explanation of Rule of Thirds http://www.sigtutorials.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17207 http://www.sigtutorials.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4111&st=0#entry28674