RawringKevin's Sig Thread

[RawringKevin]

My first signature staring my favorite dota hero. Leave a comment on how i did :P.

http://i38.tinypic.com/1z3ngbs.jpg

[RawringKevin]

Heres my seconds sig :P. I just learned some new things. Tell me how i did.

http://i37.tinypic.com/168isli.jpg

[RawringKevin]

I had a need to make another one. So... Yay! Enjoy the way of the ninja. Didnt come out the way i wanted cause of the horrible guide i was reading. Too complicated.

http://i33.tinypic.com/33eh0jt.jpg

[Soulutions]

hmm 1st and 3rd one horrible imo xD
you just put a layr on a background and put some effects on it and the 3rd one looks like you just put an effect all over you signature xD

One thing you should remember is that you used your effects well, when you cant see that you used them anymore when you are looking at the signature because it fits into the picture really well thus making it a part of the picture ^^

[RawringKevin]

They were messy. The 3rd one i kinda messed up but it turned out okay with the transparent look. The first one i made was with no knowledge or any guides. Just me messing around with the tools. The second one was me following a guide. The third one was me going all out lol. Ty for telling me how i did. Ill keep in mind to make my effects blend in well with my render. I need help with effects. I just know how to overlay after liquifying it.

[RawringKevin]

I got a new one :D. Death.

http://i35.tinypic.com/35he87t.jpg

I just made a big one and darken'd it then i put the orignal one to fit the canvas. I think its kinda bad isnt it?

[Cheeseburger]

My noobish signature making self advises you never generate your own background (modifying one is OK). Given that almost all of yours seem to have some flat pattern or grayscale image or some weird looking smash and wash of colors... it doesn't look like a background is supposed to.

Also. Hard to read text = not fun.

But go ahead, ignore me. The best I can do is shown below (well actually I can do better)...

[RawringKevin]

My backgrounds are colors of the original render so it'll blend in. This is an example on the second picture. The first picture was just my first ever and was kinda just bad. The third i tried to follow a guide but it got too confusing and i got messed up. I tried to repeat the second one right now with a different render. Here.

http://i36.tinypic.com/116qh6s.jpg

The hand writings not hard to read... to me it isnt :P. This is probably my last sig ill make on this thread and maybe have a whole colection and then share it in one thread.

[RawringKevin]

Not the last one :D Edit

http://i38.tinypic.com/99ngnk.jpg

[Secron]

Second and last one are the best, although in the last please make the text readable. As said earlier, unreadable or hard to read text ruins a sig.

Otherwise good effort. I'm no expert, but I've played with photoshop a little and made a few sigs/banners in the past. Might give it another shot now, with HoN!

[Minaxter]

Okay well i only just started using photoshop within the last couple of weeks but i have a couple of things to say.

the first sig is obviously your first try, nobody does well on the first try. The second one isnt too bad actually, just try and make your render blend more into the background. one thing you can do is filter->blur-gaussian(sp?) blur. then go to edit - fade gaussian blur and change the mode to soft light or overlay or something.

Good work on the abstract background in the second one.

the third one is probably going to be pretty hard to explain without the use of paint or photoshop(im at work) but basically the big swish thing that goes from the foreground, to the left and then behind his head... you need to get the eraser tool and erase the part that goes behind his head. i think that would go along way to making it look better.you should probably also tone it down a bit because currently the big swishy abstract thing is the first part that catches the eye, when it should really be your render that instantly draws the eyes attraction.

The death one isnt really that bad the thing that ruins it most is the text. Text is probably my worst area (and im not good in any) but basically the problem with this text is that although it really suits the death theme, its quite hard to read. The C's look like G's and at first I didn't notice that there were even T's in there. Some of the simple fonts that come stock with photoshop are the best ones. Another thing you should do is make say 2 copies of the text, rasterize one layer and then go blur - Motion blur and then make it go in a direction that really goes with the flow of your sig.

Your text placement overall isnt too bad. but you should try and make it so the text is less of an instant eye grab by lowering the opacity a bit. Experiment with it and see if you like it better. Another way you can play text is by putting it near the render following the curves of it for instance along the top of an arm or some such.

Did you cut the render out of the ninja? those white spots around the outline really detract from a sig (im horrible at cutting out renders too so steal other peoples! =P) take time with your render and zoom right in, get rid of any of the white parts you can with a very small 3-5 pixel eraser. If you still come out with a few white lines try using the blur tool a bit. Just remember to do more than one layer of your render. usually when i start a sig i make 4-5 copies of the render and hide a few, this way you can do things like smudging the bottom layer etc and build your way up to making the render seem like part of the whole instead of something separate from the background thats just been slapped on.

By no means am i great at this, im just a beginner too but hopefully my advise can help you. your doing really well for your first few sigs so dont get disheartened keep it up!

i can link you a few good guides and tutorials when i get home from work but for now all i can suggest is go to www.stealthart.net (http://www.stealthart.net) and check out some of the tutorials there.

=] good luck.

~Minaxter

Edit:turns out i had more than a few things to say. sorry for wall of text.

[RawringKevin]

Ty, i was waiting for a responce like that. I've been trying to find a font that fits but i cant yet. Soon, I'll have one, this one is a recent halo one i've done and i say its the best so far. The ones before the master cheif one were pretty bad to me, just looked a bit cool. Yea im, no good at getting them white spots out and i try to get as much out without cutting the pic. Close enough! Give me your thoughts on this one :D.

http://i37.tinypic.com/ogxw2f.jpg

I do use stealthart. This one and the master cheif one are from using the Basic Full Sig Stick TuT on there.

[Minaxter]

I think putting the font in green was a bad idea, try use the goldy/yellow colour of the elites armor, or the bluey colour from his sword/key. currently the green on the text blends too much into the background and is hard to see. try change the font to the gold and change the opacity so it is readable but doesnt stick out like a sore thumb. other than that it looks pretty good =] also try putting a border on it, not sure if you did but to get a border create a new layer, press CTRL+A to select all go select-modify-border choose 1-5 px (i usually go with 3 px) and then go to edit->fill and fill it with either black OR get your foreground color as black, your background colour as the yellowy green you have as the background and then go filter->render->clouds and this will hopefully work well with your grungy type background.

[Apostate]

My noobish signature making self advises you never generate your own background (modifying one is OK). Given that almost all of yours seem to have some flat pattern or grayscale image or some weird looking smash and wash of colors... it doesn't look like a background is supposed to.

That isn't really true, only when you don't know what you are doing ;) I make my own backgrounds all the time. Heck, most of my photoshop work is from scratch.


They are decent, good starts. They lack a lot of color variation, contrast, and some other artistic elements that you need to make a great signature. But you can worry about that once you can use photoshop well. I advise finding some good tutorials NEVER making your render semi-transparent like that.

[Trig]

Minaxter LOVE the sig, anybody have any opinions on mine? : )

[Dr_Knickers]

Simple text on a piece of concept art

[Trig]

Heh I added blue flames via a complex method, and yours is just a photo with a blue tint and some very unimpressive writing lol

[RawringKevin]

Ty, i made a new one following a whole new concept. I think it looks cool.
http://i36.tinypic.com/5ff1at.jpg

[RawringKevin]

Okay i got better at doing the brushing and heres my dragon master piece. Its the final version of what i've been doing for like 2 hours making. Please comment on how i did on this one.

http://i33.tinypic.com/1jky2g.jpg

Omg!, just noticed i spelled my name wrong T~T!

The revised version that took 5 minutes :D. Im comparing.

http://i37.tinypic.com/wmfcxg.jpg

[Minaxter]

Looks alot better man you have improved dramatically. Text still needs work though. I cant help you with that really cos im terribad at it, just have a look for some text tutorials. Glad you changed away from that one font you were using in all your sigs, its actually quite hard to read. the dragon sigs font is much cleaner. only thing id say is put a light source in to the dragon one up the top right of the sig. look up lighting tutorials for that cos its too hard to explain at work with no photoshop

[Desirable]

RawringKevin (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=406846) : A simple blending trick is to utilize different colours from your render/picture for your background. A simple two-tone background is good enough for starters.

Also, text-wise. ALWAYS start simple. I recommend Arial fonts in different sizes as it is very versatile.

[RawringKevin]

RawringKevin (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=406846) : A simple blending trick is to utilize different colours from your render/picture for your background. A simple two-tone background is good enough for starters.

Also, text-wise. ALWAYS start simple. I recommend Arial fonts in different sizes as it is very versatile.


Ty for the help. Heres a sig i did based on your example and on youtube tut. I think its the best one besides the dragon that i've done so far. The font i used was "Defused".

http://i37.tinypic.com/5pnc01.jpg

[RawringKevin]

Heres the same thing but with a different array of colors and c4d.

http://i35.tinypic.com/15fn6n9.jpg

[RawringKevin]

Wolverine really caught my eye here. Using better C4D effect designs and some erasing i created one angry animal. You cant really see his claws but i think this wolverine has the claws from childhood and never got injected with that silver liquid cause its not really sharp and smooth. The only part i think i messed up in was his flesh near his arm. But ya i thought i looked good clear then in the orange coloring.

http://i34.tinypic.com/wqu0r6.jpg

[Desirable]

Ty for the help. Heres a sig i did based on your example and on youtube tut. I think its the best one besides the dragon that i've done so far. The font i used was "Defused".

http://i37.tinypic.com/5pnc01.jpg

Yep, you're on your way.
As you can see, merely using colours from your render allows you to tie the background and the render nicely together.

A simple way of blending your text in is to place it behind certain layers as well, as you did.

Looks much better eh? : >


Now experiment with different backgrounds now you've graduated from Motion Blur. :p

[RawringKevin]

I dont know how use different backgrounds nicely

[Desirable]

I dont know how use different backgrounds nicely
By different I mean check out other ways to create backgrounds for your renders. (:

[Sadhe]

There are a lot of basics you disregard and mistakes you make. It will need more than following a guide and spending hours to make something good with photoshop.

Not readable: http://i37.tinypic.com/ogxw2f.jpg
Terrible placement of text: http://i35.tinypic.com/15fn6n9.jpg
Text sticks out like a sore thumb: http://i36.tinypic.com/5ff1at.jpg
Background and text not harmonizing: http://i33.tinypic.com/1jky2g.jpg
Holy filter, Batman!: http://i36.tinypic.com/116qh6s.jpg

Look around, browse some professionals home page, notice common things.

Most of your signatures are just some picture with thousand filters and a horrible font. A step up would be using a simple color theme, simpler backgrounds, a font that fits well into the picture and is well-placed, clearly defined borders and no filters.

Try to get a clear idea of what you want to do and then do it in less than 15 minutes. I often had drafts of my designs weeks before I sat down and made them.

A good example of design, which simply blew me away, is www.bing.com (http://www.bing.com/)

This may sound odd (comparing web design to some signature), but design is design.

One might notice, I'm a minimalist. Less is more.

[RawringKevin]

There are a lot of basics you disregard and mistakes you make. It will need more than following a guide and spending hours to make something good with photoshop.

Not readable: http://i37.tinypic.com/ogxw2f.jpg
Terrible placement of text: http://i35.tinypic.com/15fn6n9.jpg
Text sticks out like a sore thumb: http://i36.tinypic.com/5ff1at.jpg
Background and text not harmonizing: http://i33.tinypic.com/1jky2g.jpg
Holy filter, Batman!: http://i36.tinypic.com/116qh6s.jpg

Look around, browse some professionals home page, notice common things.

Most of your signatures are just some picture with thousand filters and a horrible font. A step up would be using a simple color theme, simpler backgrounds, a font that fits well into the picture and is well-placed, clearly defined borders and no filters. And btw those pics you selected were the pics on my 1st and 2nd day. I know that my text placement sucks :P. I

Try to get a clear idea of what you want to do and then do it in less than 15 minutes. I often had drafts of my designs weeks before I sat down and made them.

A good example of design, which simply blew me away, is www.bing.com (http://www.bing.com/)

This may sound odd (comparing web design to some signature), but design is design.

One might notice, I'm a minimalist. Less is more.

I dont really care about text atm. Just want to design the pic.

[Sadhe]

I dont really care about text atm. Just want to design the pic.

That sounds like a kid being pissed because you tell him to play by the rules. I know it's futile to say, but no offense.

Can you screw the rules? Do you have that much money?

I told you more information than "l2text", it's about the general picture and text is part of it, unless there is none.

If an artist draws the most beautiful oil painting and then writes his signature over half the picture, with crayons, brown ones, on a landscape of a field, then he has ruined the picture.

[Slayn]

That sounds like a kid being pissed because you tell him to play by the rules. I know it's futile to say, but no offense.

Can you screw the rules? Do you have that much money?

I told you more information than "l2text", it's about the general picture and text is part of it, unless there is none.

If an artist draws the most beautiful oil painting and then writes his signature over half the picture, with crayons, brown ones, on a landscape of a field, then he has ruined the picture.

word

[RawringKevin]

I didnt have the intent to sound pissed.

[`Cherry`]

You keep getting better with every new sigs, keep going

[RawringKevin]

Ty. Treehorse in case you didnt get the pm its here anytime you need it.

http://i38.tinypic.com/2mfdspj.jpg

[Sadhe]

I didnt have the intent to sound pissed.

Don't worry about it, there was just the slight similarity. It's really more of a "Let me have my fun." Just keep learning.

[SmokeShow]

call me retarded but I cannot for the life of me make out just what the blob on the right is supposed to be...

[RawringKevin]

If your talking about Treehorses, i can read Treehourse perfectly.

[RawringKevin]

Zombie Hulk.....HULK SMASH This one has no outter border to cover it but i like it.

http://i35.tinypic.com/1628roj.jpg

[RawringKevin]

I tried to rush him under 5-10 minutes. Came out kinda bad

http://i33.tinypic.com/x4emp3.jpg

[RawringKevin]

To Treehorse:

http://i37.tinypic.com/2qbrocg.jpg

[ProbIem]

nice sigs hehe

[thryll]

hey could you possibly make me a sig? maybe something with a grim reaper/death if so i would be SO happy.

[RawringKevin]

i have time. I have to make treehorses first

[Mousie1]

imo its easier to start off by using something like G.I.M.P wich has alot of simple effects and brushes you can use to get used to the idea of it
Also get the hang of layering and blending

I use Gimp and photoshop 6 for imaging and photoshop elements for the text

[thryll]

okey sweet ill use it as the basis for stats later thanks alot.

[RawringKevin]

You could just download PSCS4. It took me three days to make sigs like the one in my sig just by watching videos and reading tuts.

[TreeHorse]

I can't seem to re-do my sig to include the image :( I will have to wait I suppose.

[Mousie1]

Tuts are awsome
Look some up and try to match what they do
it really helps in learning new things

[RawringKevin]

Wow my bad guys. Ive been playing CSS and forgot all about HoN. Whos requesting on if your requesting?

[S3RK]

Hey RawringKevin, could you possibly make me a sig? :D
Any game related character/cars/guns, anything :)

Just thought I'd give ya a lil' project.

Thanks,

Kind Regards

[RawringKevin]

Anything specific? Like call of duty, spider man, etc/

[S3RK]

Yeah, go call of duty :D

Kind Regards

[Mousie1]

Mostly they look great
I do have 1 thing that i think you could improve tho
I see alot of your sigs are orientated to the right side , Usually trying to keep the image ( focus) centered is a much better idea :D

[Medio]

Okay i got better at doing the brushing and heres my dragon master piece. Its the final version of what i've been doing for like 2 hours making. Please comment on how i did on this one.

http://i33.tinypic.com/1jky2g.jpg

Omg!, just noticed i spelled my name wrong T~T!

The revised version that took 5 minutes :D. Im comparing.

http://i37.tinypic.com/wmfcxg.jpg

Where can I find the brush you used for the background, I like the metal look.

I'm lacking brushes.

[Mousie1]

so am i so send me some too :P