M'kay, I was going to use this for my SOTW 8 entry, but didn't turn out so well. Just wanted some pointers to see what exactly went wrong with it. Feel free to bash. It's the second sig I have ever made. So yeah, I know it'll suck.
colors... its a little too dark.. i dont know exact terms. but maybe that'll give you a good idea. overall its a good sig, better than i could ever do.
There's two things I don't like about it. First, the render is kinda 1980's film fuzzy, not sure how to describe it, but whatever effect you're using, I don't think it fits with the background. Which brings me to the second point, the background has the same effect through all of it, everything is kind of falling down, maybe try mixing up the direction. But don't take my word for it, I have a terrible sense of art. Those are just a couple things that weren't to my liking.
The background was actually more of a whim choice. I got four different stock images and blended them together into the effect that you see there. Left is Spring, top is Summer, bottom is Fall, right is Winter. I'll see if I can grab more differing images to mix things up. As for the 1980's effect, I think I'll switch it just so it's on the Tori (gate thing on the right). It might add a nice look to it, but I think it'll just be out of place.
It reminds me of the grudge :S But i deffinately like it more than your first version Yeah honestly it scares teh **** out of me...
I personally really like it .. I think the colours look difficult to make but look great .. But i would change the font to white with black outline like in my sigs .. What program do you use anyway?
A combination of Photoshop and GIMP. Photoshop deals with most of the heavy work, while I touch it up with GIMP.
I think the colours are a little too vibrant to mix well, but toning the whole image down with a kind of gloomy filter could help. I think the main colour problem is the Tori, it stands out way too much. The text also doesn't quite fit, and maybe could be placed better, it looks too stuck on over the bottom edge of the Tori. I like the rest of it quite alot though, your style is really nice, and its far from a lost cause. I think the effects you used on the later one actually work really well, even if they could maybe do with a bit more variation in direction like Raw King07 said, nothing drastic though.
the size is its down fall try keeping to 300-400 x 100-150 pixels thats a good way to keep in all the effects and stop the sig from having large blank spaces
The bower.. i forget the correct japanese name, but it looks like it is just floating there. i suggest give it a sense of something under it.. maybe a darker "path" kind of thing curving out of the picture. as for the girl, she stands out a little too much. use whatever you used to create that pattern over the rest, but lower the opacity so that it doesnt cover her up too much, just enough to blend her a little more with the signature. And is that you?
I like that. The original looks too overcontrasted. Maybe put some clipping masks of splatter brushes/different shapes (squares or circles preferably) near the girl to have her fit in some more and attract attention to her. Also, apply the image and blur it some then erase all but the girl, then apply image again and sharpen...maybe lower the opacity and erase the background. Make sure she doesn't look oversharpened or pixely.
In my opinion the shinto gate thingy just kind of stands out to much, and it is a little to bright in the middle. This draws the eye away from the whole picture and only to the girl and the gate separately. IMO