Photoshop is the industry standard for image editing. Most powerful tool out there.
Agreed on that one.
Photoshop is the industry standard for image editing. Most powerful tool out there.
Maybe that's why. I've never used Elements. I started out with CS2, and am now using CS4.
Easiest way I find to blend renders, is duplicate it twice. Put 1 on top, and 1 on bottom of the original render. Do a gaussian blur (about 4.0 is nice) on both top/bottom duplicates. Then set the top duplicate to Overlay, and then adjust the Brightness/contrast on the original render. It also gives it some nice depth if done right. I'll also duplicate my original render about 5 times, and use a smudge brush, and smudge it all around the background, and then set those duplicates to different blending modes (overlay, hard light, etc), on top of a radial gradient that has a color from the render, fading to black for the edges. Gives me a nice skeleton to work with, and then I go from there.Find ways to blend your renders better. Feather is an easy way, but can sometimes look tacky. Using emboss on a render can often look good, especially if you make it very subtle (both renders in my sig have a slight emboss). Make renders bigger and go off the canvas to fill the image more.
Heh, thanks . Couldn't really decide on a font to use, but I wanted something different from my username on there; and I wanted a italicized look with thin lettering...and that was the best font I had that I liked anyway.(great example is carnage's sig... i probably would have changed the spec text, but it doesn't look terrible, but i absolutely love how the whole image flows together and the "carnage" text works beautifully with it, and the border is hot).
So I didn't read through the pages of comments, but I'm assuming you actually want critique and can handle it, so here goes.
1. Everyone has a different style and different taste, so you can disagree with me (and any other critique) all you want. After all... it is your product, and it represents you.
2. I do not by any means consider myself a photoshop expert... but I feel that I have a firm grasp of the basics in graphic design.
The "Stalker" one is completely different than the rest, so these first comments do not apply to it:
Text can make or break an image. The text on those sigs is simply abysmal, but the red and black one is at least bearable. Bezel and Emboss is used way too often on text... it gives it a cheap and childish look that makes it all about flare. While flare might be what you're going for, bezel and emboss and drop shadow are simply overused. Spend more time finding a good font (dafont.com is a great site) and less time making it bulge. Strokes, gradients, and glows are your friend. Never use the default yellowish color on glows - it looks tacky to anyone who knows photoshop. Make sure your strokes aren't too big.
Don't get too creative with "custom backgrounds" until you've learned the basics. Your 1st and 4th sigs are good examples of this. Even though the 2nd sig has a more basic background that you didn't make, it makes a much cleaner and professional image. My own sig is a pretty good example of this. Although I believe the background of mine is constructed better than yours, I think it is a bit sloppy and could definitely be improved. I encourage you to play around with random designs on a [large] separate canvas, and throw part of it into the background once you've made something that looks amazing.
Find ways to blend your renders better. Feather is an easy way, but can sometimes look tacky. Using emboss on a render can often look good, especially if you make it very subtle (both renders in my sig have a slight emboss). Make renders bigger and go off the canvas to fill the image more.
Borders are all personal preference and may take some experimenting to find what you like. My taste in borders change all the time, but right now I really like the "sunken" feel that I have in my current sig (two black boxes, inner one has an inner shadow).
I really like the Stalker sig... everything just works well together. It's clean and simple, yet not boring. I feel like the renders could pop a bit more... try adjusting them using Curves to get more vibrant images.
Sorry if I was a bit harsh... I'm not the best with photoshop, but I can diagnose problems. Once you get the basics, creativity can carry an image (great example is carnage's sig... i probably would have changed the spec text, but it doesn't look terrible, but i absolutely love how the whole image flows together and the "carnage" text works beautifully with it, and the border is hot).
Thanks mate, i want the critique...i don't pretend to know what I'm doing. I have not learned how to use some stuff yet, so thats why most of my sigs use similar things. Not harsh at all mate. I thanks you for the pointers. What did you think specifically about the stalker and crysis ones though, i think they are pretty good....
For the record, i am using bevel and drop shadow a lot because with out it, the fonts look like crap, i guess i should have just downloaded new fonts....
Only thing I can say it try to make it pop a bit more... make the colors more vibrant or get creative.
how do i make it pop a bit more? also, the game is not about vibrant colours, thats why i made it grey. So vibrant colours would make it look very strange if you have played the game. The crysis one is, the one with the nano suit's, 2nd one in the OP.