My second entry for the sig contest down in HC. Speak your mind! Also, how 'bout the new avatar? <-----------------------------
Hmm. You clearly have skill in working with your chosen program, but you're missing the basics of signature making, like lighting, flow, good dynamics, blending, etc. Oh and depth. Absolutely flat, man.
I'm not entirely sure what to be looking at because the cube is a large focal as is. I don't understand the concept, maybe it's just abstract but usually you should stick with a general theme. Good luck in the contest
I'm really surprised, but this one won. I thought the other Monitor one was better. But nevertheless, I did. Thanks for the comment, Erico, it is sorta abstract in a way. Rightside, not being rude, but you said nothing to help me, you didn't cite the specific reasons for your critique, more importantly because I don't see any flaws in lighting, flow, or blending. And since you yourself don't have a sig, how can I take your advice seriously?
Just saying, but I think RST is better than I am at photoshop, he was here far before me... He may not have worded it right, but what he was saying is still at least somewhat correct; Lighting: Look at where the light hits the paths on the cube as opposed to how it affects the background; the two do not do the same things. Flow: There is no real movement in the piece, it feels stationary because the background is, and though the lines move away from the focal, they do not truly create movement in the process because they seem flat and static. Depth: The signature IS absolutely flat. There is almost no depth to the image, nothing that seems further away or closer up. Dynamics: Again, this is somewhat into no motion, not much happening. You look at it and it sits there. There is no elements that truly look dynamic. Just saying, you still do have room to improve, and RST does know what he is talking about.
Pardon me, I had never seen him here before, ever, so I took his critique with a grain of salt. I did this in less than an hour, not much thought went into it besides the broken glass effect. I added no depth, that's a given. I think flow doesn not have to be present in every signature in the way you mean it, Orlando, since it is a cube that looks like it broke the glass. I added no significant light source except at the very top, which goes with the lighting on the cube itself. From the entirety of the sig, the lighting is placed right where the cube is, so I don't understand what you mean with the lighting on both being different. They are completely different textures, obviously they will be different. Thanks for the comment, just need some clarification. I know I have much to improve, I've been at this for much, much less than any of you, it's not like I think I'm better, but I had never heard or seen RST and he didn't say much in the way of advice or specific critique.
For the lighting, the light comes from above to hit the cube, and behind the cube to hit the background. There is no evident source of the light, and no obvious consistent direction to it, as it is completely omni directional (coming from behind the cube apparently) for the background, and unidirectional for the cube itself (coming from the upper righthand side, in a position which comes more out of the screen [its hard to portray the z-axis on a 2D image...]) If the light had been coming from behind as the background suggests, the lighting on the cube would be darker, and the shadows cast differently. If the light had been coming from where the cube suggests, there would be slight direction to the light, and the cube would cast a shadow that extends from it. In terms of flow, if the cube is smashing through the glass, it should show the movement of it doing so, rather than its current state of sitting there seemingly embedded in the glass Tiny things...tiny things.... EDIT oh and you should have seen his name, he made the tutorials database thread....
Yeah, he had no pic before, I didn't recognize him. He actually has a comment on my profile page, lol. But I haven't seen his work. I'll search his posts around sometime. And thanks for the advice... I made some light noob mistakes here, I guess. Ah well, won me some custom HC awards, though. PS you should join HC and join the Sig creators group, there's contests and tons of active members on it. Most are learning the ropes but at least it's an active group.
As for the sig, RST and Halo have everything that has needed to be said. The avatar, meh, it's an overdone Adobe Suite knock-off. It's done well enough, it's just super unoriginal.
Well I've never seen it in either HC or here. It has 0 originality, but I actually haven't seen one being used where I'm active, didn't think it was overused. Thanks, tho.