Well, the time has come. My V3 Halo Wars picture. I took most of my advice. Things like using a smaller image, brighter, and blurring out the Halo Wars title. Well, first i'll show the stock picture then the final result. Stock: My Version 3.0:
Ya, as I said before, give up on this sig, please give up on it. But ya the colors are so overdramtic, you can't even see the picture that well and its way over sharpened. One thing I noticed is never try improving something that is perfect. Really the only thing I would do with that sig is add lighting, smudge a little bit, and give it a border. Thats it. I wouln't mess with the color or the quality of the picture
This is an issue that most GFXers face. You have not crossed the threshold that makes your stock image into a new image. You have just resized it and changed the saturation and lighting. Its still the image you started with. In order to be a true artist and not just a modifier, you must make your own image.
I'd recommend not resizing it to fit the sig. Resizing it in %ages would be a better idea, and you coudl always fill the blank space with some brush strokes. However, I'd say check some tutorials on the internet, because they are really helpful.