Ok, so my first sig was a badly cutout pasted onto a flag with writing splatted on top. Here goes my second sig. Even though it dosent look like it, ive actually put alot of effort into this. Tell me whats good and not-so good.
Seems like 3 layers here. Background is the yellow effect. 1st Layer is the Spartan cutout. 2nd Being the text. In my opinion I would add a layer inbetween the Spartan and Background, basically the same thing as the background, but with a light blue color instead. And as for the text, I would look up some tuts on how to make cool blending words in sigs. Other than that, it looks good for a cut n' copy.
Hey man looks better than the first but could still use a bit more work. The first thing I recommend is getting a solid color scheme. In this signature your color scheme is kind of all over the place and nothing really matches. So for example, you might wanna change the text to a yellow so that it would match the design you have going on in the bottom left. The second thing I would work on is probably the blending. If you notice, it almost seems like the things don't belong in the picture. This can be solved with a smudge tool and simply brushing over your render with it. It makes the sig look like one instead of three things pasted on a black canvas. Another thing that may also help, (pleeease don't think I'm being harsh because I am truly just trying to help!) is if you brought the effects into the render a little bit more. That is a very common trend with new signature makers is that they are afraid to bring their effects anywhere near the focal. Believe it or not, it usually makes the signature look much better. The final thing I would recommend is working on lighting. There is no real solid light source and no place the light is being shined on. Lighting truly comes with practice, as all of the above techniques do. Just keep up the hard work, and one day you will truly master the art like so many others have. If you have any questions or need help with anything, feel free to PM me or VM me. I don't bite and I'd be glad to help.