Another request from HC. I had trouble trying to integrate the effects into the image, since the stock was already laden with effects to give it a gritty sepia tone. I did the best could, it turned out well, but the distortion I added with a grunge texture was weird. I experimented with other images and textures, but they looked terrible. Anyhow, here it is:
You did a great job. The spartan doesn't really blend well though, so I would probably add a gradient map thats set to overlay/soft light/a similar effect, and like 20% opacity. As well as that, you could duplicate the layer with the spartan, put it underneath the main one and smudge it so it blends better. The last thing I noticed was the spartan seems sharpened just a tiny bit too much. Other than that you did a great job, nice sig. EDIT: OH NOES! I forgot to mention the parts I liked You used the grunge brushes well, a lot of people can overuse and go nuts with grunge brushes but you did a nice job. You also did it a good job with the lines at making them bring attention to the spartan. Nice work
It'd be nice to see the stock. I like how the lines kinda swirl around and encompass him. The streaming light lines (as I see it) add decent flow. But the background looks apart from the spartan. I'm not entirely sure what you should do there. The border doesn't fit imo. It should be darker and thinner, similar to the lines in the hexagonal pattern. I like the text, the spartan seems a bit dark, it's hard to make out the assault rifle.
Okay, here's the stock: Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details I probably won't fix this one, since it's for someone else when I replace it he'll have to replace it as well and it'll be a bit messy, so these requests will be left as-is, unless something really f-ed up is wrong with it. What I will do though, is post it here before giving them away so it can be improved. Thanks for the CnC!
Like Erico said, the border doesn't gel well with the overall image. It needs to be a bit more organic, or possibly a little darker like the colour of the honeycomb pattern. Apart from that it looks good, you did well to re-colour the Spartan after it was heavily dulled out by the sepia tone.