Got inspired by stars today. New siggie, I'm very proud with the results. I only found difficulties with finding the right way to make the shadow work, which in the end didn't turn out so bad. No text: Text: Stocks Spoiler
This looks very eye pleasing. Okay, I'm going to be annoyingly nitpicky.. take it with a grain of salt. I tried to number them from most important to least: 1. The blue ball looks peculiarly separate from his hand. The trouble I have is that it looks like a simple copy and paste with other smaller effects. Maybe you could have added more effects around the ball and/or around his hand to make it look more realistic. 2. The shadow looks too blurry considering how close the fiery ball is to the hand. A better way to make a shadow, imo, would be to duplicate the blue ball image, overlay it with black, put it into perspective, possibly warp it here or there, then blur it a bit. That would've made it look a little more realistic I think. 3. I view the ball as a light source and I wouldn't have included the shadow, but that's open to interpretation. 4. The color scheming is almost too intense, but that's also open to interpretation. Overall, great use of simplicity, depth, text, colors.. just some smaller things to keep in mind. Edit: Also, how did you remove the ball image? just curious
I have to disagree you with that one. A great piece is one that's created with the least amount of steps. Adding more effects is "cool," but that doesn't justify the actual point of design. What he attempted to do there was delivered the way he wanted; adding more unnecessary elements creates distraction from the main focus of what he's selling. @XTerm- You are getting better and better, keep it up. It's a great manipulation you have there. The more you think creatively on how you can make use of tools you have, the more refined/polished you will be with your knowledge of design, and software(s) you use. The depth is great, and the shadow under the ball is a great addition and hints the viewer on what you were trying to accomplish. However, like ERICO mentioned, it's a big too blurry for that level of depth. The font choice and text-placement is great; I normally discourage using multiple colors in text, but it works great here. Actually, I prefer the text version over the non-text, because the text placement brings a sort-of balance to the piece. Again, like ERICO mentioned, the color-correction seems too much, just lighten up a little. Try putting a gradient map with faded pink (almost white) and faded yellow (almost white) on lighten to about 9% opacity or fill. Overall, great job, keep at it.
@ER1CO I tried to have as much simplicity as possible, while conveying a clear image, and as such I never intended it to have effects that ruined the whole concept. The blurriness is present in the shadow because a fireball, or in this case, a mini-sun, would project a semi-opaque shadow due to the light it gives off as well as the corona, which would make the edges undefined. Hence the blurring. The color scheme is present for better blending of the image, as well as to make the hand/sun look better. The stand-alone images looked way too bland, not to mention fake considering the light sources in both. And I removed the sun's BG using a soft eraser at 100% around it, then reducing the opacity gradually for deleting the part of the corona I didn't want to keep. @Miraj Thanks for the encouraging words, I will have to try to reduce the gradients and see what works. If I decide they look better I will make a v2, and post it. Thanks to both for stating your opinions and comments. Always good to hear from fellow artists
I can understand this, and as Miraj said, too much would be distracting. I'm just saying small swirls or just very subtle effects, nothing huge. However, I can see how it would be distracting and I think it's a matter of taste Hmm, seems like you put a lot of thought into this. Still, I'm not convinced, a shadow at that range would still be pretty sharp, I think. Not a circular blob xP I can agree, blending is a huge factor, but too much makes it too noticeable. I know I've had my fair share of obtrusive sigs, but I've learned that small details can help define an image. Combining subtle gradients could work wonders. Interesting, that seems to have worked pretty well. As always, good luck.
I like the overall look of the sig, but if I had to mention one thing, it would be something Erico hit on earlier. Being a source of light, the ball wouldn't cast a shadow, or at least not one that dense. Personally, if I were to have made that sig, there would have been a soft glow on the hand instead, and the rest of the background would have been darkened to give better contrast, but that's just me. But it wasn't me who made the sig, so I can only give my interpretation of how I'd have approached it. Regardless of what I mentioned above, you have yourself a fine image there, my friend.
The depth of field looks great, just a couple spots are too sharp like on the topmost part on the thumb and right finger on the bottom. The shadow should be a little darker, its too green. Make it either darker, or make it lighter like a glow rather then a shadow.
My gripe is that the ball should be emitting a bright blue glow over the hand. Other than that, it looks good.
My only point too, except I prefer the one without text. If you do have the text I'd put it in the top left hand corner. Personal preference. (Y) however.
Thanks for all the input guys! It's time to make a new one, just need the inspiration it took to create this one. @Teddy, I think the text would either create a split focal or not be noticed at all if it was where you stated. @Cryppy I thought the shadow would have a greenish tinge since it is a shadow of a source of light. A darker shade of blue looked too artificial, so I gave it an aqua-colored overlay at less than 10%. Thought it looked alright, might have to ask a specialist in chromatography lol... @BWC I only had it sharpened once, dunno why those fingers are pixelated like that. :/