[TAGS] My firsts.

[Kouganei]

I don't know if this should be posted here but I just wanted to get some CnC's about my first works. I used both PS and GIMP. The names are different because my friends requested them from me, and I couldn't be bothered to change it or save the pdf

[Amergin's Cola]

That third PS tag is actually quite sexy. It has a nice style to it, whether or not it was intentional may be the issue. Only things wrong with it are the text (hard to read against the grey parts) and the render (not blended in well).

Your problem in pretty much all of these tags is that you don't blend the renders (focals) in, so they look separate from the backgrounds. The only one you blend in is your first PS one with those black marks (the first GIMP one too kinda... the scanlines blend it in a bit).

So three quick bits of advice:
1) Don't duplicate the render and use it as a background, or even just a sort of shaded effect. IF you want to use your render in the background, you need to distort/smudge the hell out of it, otherwise it doesn't look right and draws attention. In the case of your Death the Kid tag, that face in the background distracts me from the focal.
2) You need to use more layers for your backgrounds without making it messy. It looks like all of these tags are < 10 layers, 15 max.
3) Go read some tuts for tips on blending and creating good backgrounds. You're really new, so the best way for you to learn is to get the bare basics down from tuts. When you read/do some tutorials, then do a few more sigs and show us the best you made of those.

[-Shahzal]

Amergins says it all.

[Sasky]

lol I spy a Kertizel.

[Kouganei]

He was a friend of mine from the DA days so I made one for him.

[Sasky]

Anyway for real advice just keep on doing what you're doing while finding more ways to make your stuff more appealing. Look at what good sigmakers do and learn what makes a signature look good and try to apply it to your own works.

http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/a...mu/gulcasa.jpg

http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/a...0004056761.jpg

These are examples of yours of what not to do. You can't see the stock which is bad.

http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/a...u/keritzel.jpg

http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/a...0004056761.jpg

These are examples of what you should keep working on. Try to get your works up to better standards while keeping in mind what looked good.

[nicotaku]

how do i make those "semi-opaque-diagonal-dotted-lines-of-manliness-that-pierces-the-heavens-thingy"? (3rd photoshop sig)

[hotSnow]

^you sound so exaggerated.

I think its scan lines.

[Amergin's Cola]

Yup, just scanlines set to a lower opacity. You can find tuts easy enough with a google search.

[nicotaku]

ive always wondered what that thing is called i think if used in a right way this "scan lines" make imba stuff

[eLiTe-LeMueL]

Scanlines, I think is helpful in other sigs. I don't use it much so most of my sigs have no scanlines.

If you don't know how to make scanlines.
Here's a tutorial:
Vertical Scanlines:Scanlines Photoshop Tutorial | Moe's Photoshop Tutorials
Diagonal Scanlines:Scanline Tutorial by ~Espador on deviantART

[Francis]

Basically you create a new canvas 3x3, with transparent background, and then you dot diagonally three pixels using the pencil tool.

Then save it as pattern, and voila. Scanlines in less than 2 minutes.

[nicotaku]

teehee sweet i hope it does good on my next work

[Amergin's Cola]

Be sure not b careful with scanlines. Putting it over your sig and focal makes the sig lose depth, putting it over the background but not the focal kills any integration between the focal and background.

Scanlines are best used as accents, in my opinion.