[Meian]

Ok So I started learning ow to use Photoshop.
I'm still getting the hang of it, and so far I've made these:











EDIT : additions:













Please, Constructive Criticism.

[Paprika]

Mmm.

I'd say that you should look at tutorials.

There's a lot I could say about this stuff. Like, a lot. It'd take me maybe an hour or half an hour to write it all.

Want the "See Tutorials" response or my critique? Keep in mind that I'm harsh, but the thing I love the most in the world is to see talent bloom from something that I've seen.

[Meian]

You could lighten (and maybe shorten) up the harsh response in a message?
Cause I would like to see it also.

EDIT: Ironically I did use a few tutorial, so if you could recommend a few.

[Paprika]

. I exaggerated how much I had to say lolthis took me 45 minutes to write. At least 45. Maybe an hour, I don't know. I lost track of Time.

Well.

http://www.delta-vis...?showtopic=9243
Woah. I like that one.

http://www.delta-vis...p?showtopic=566
And that. Those are the only ones I really liked.

NOW. For your stuff. Spoilered since it'll make you feel worse D:

Spoiler

But I'm not here to make you angry or cry

I see you're trying to play around with colours and effects which is always fun to do, but I must say that as a general rule, most designs and tags do not need many super cool effects to make them look nice. The subtle stuff almost always looks nicer, and the style that does work opposite of what I just said is so WTF that I don't understand a single bit how people like it...

But people still consider it pro level technical skill. Don't worry about that though, you weren't even close to that D: I don't know how to explain it. But of course, I assume that people have a sense of aesthetic and I'm going to say that you are in no way blind/like things that everyone else considers ugly. You know what looks good and bad.

But first, brush up on colour theory so you can coordinate your tags a little better. In the Rin tag, you have a very VERY strong contrasting line slightly offset from center (which is good, too much symmetry makes people bored). And the colours on both sides don't complement each other well.

Some people have a knack for colour schemes and understand how colours work and compliment each other properly faster than others, but everyone can learn if they care. And another thing to note:

Colours represent moods that you want to enforce in your tag. Some people don't really look heavily into graphics, but they are pieces of art much like any traditional source you make use and love as well. And through the use of every element and principal of design, a message is transmitted. With discordant colours and strange unusually clashing shapes, you give a very confused feel to the tag.

Hue is one portion of colour. You also have Value and Saturation to round out everything... Too dark and you make the image seem less intense, feel heavy and less exciting. Too dull and you make everything seem the same, boring and uninteresting. Too bright makes the eyes strain from looking at the image. Being too colourful makes the image visually complex and it also overwhelms the brain trying to process all the information it is receiving. There is a fine line between what is the best and what is overkill/not enough... As a general rule though, I find it good when you have a wide range of values and saturations and a complimentary spread of hues in the image.

---

That's colours done... Now onto composition.

Something that I've tried to persuade the GFXers of this forum into doing is trying to incorporate depth into their tags. I have problems doing this, because it's not easy for me and plus it would involve doing things outside of my comfort zone as a GFXer (simply I have no clue how to actually do it), but straying away from making images that look and feel flat adds a whole new dimension (ahahah so funny) to your image. It adds action and a new direction to place objects/direct flow... And in every single amazing tag I have seen, depth has turned it from being pretty good to outright mindblowing.

Let's straighten out text first. Text is pretty universally understood to contain a message, so it stands to make sense that the message should be clear and understandable. Now in certain tags and styles, people prefer to obscure the text for artistic effect (because they want to). I personally think that's dumb.. But I'm not almighty and a professional designer so you can ignore me if you wish. Still, text looks best when it is clear and has a strong contrast with the background it is set against. I'm also a hypocrite because there are exceptions, but I'll call that a creative difference for now.

Learn colour theory! Please.

And lastly, placement/composition. For a really good explanation, look at the second tutorial I linked. It's actually pretty detailed and expansive. Everything I could say is there... In fact.

http://www.delta-vis...p?showtopic=566

There, now you have to do it.

I suggest that for now, you don't add text into your tags. Text is a very iffy things, as most tags don't even need text to make them look good, and improperly placed text can completely ruin an image. Better take the safe side and learn all the basics before adding wise quotes from everything you love. Note: If it needs text to look good, it's purely typography or you should start over again.

Okay. Focal points are important. Very important. In fact, without a focal point, your tag will be boring and I guarantee that 100%. If you can disprove me, or find someone that can disprove me, I will be amazed and be your slave forever... Because that would be plain incredible. The focal point of your tag should almost always be something on your render and not your background. Note: Seperate background from foreground or you have a really uninteresting and flat image. You will know exactly where the focal is as well.

How? You look at it first when you stare at it. It is simple, and because it gets all this attention, you should make sure it is the most important spot on your tag. Now the focal point changes from artwork to artwork, so if you think someplace else on the image looks cooler, then accent that point more than any other. Use colours, lines, all the imaginary flow in the image to direct a person's attention to the focus.

Note: Flow is important as well. Eyes naturally swap from left to right and up to down in a backwards S pattern. You don't have to use this flow though, you can use something more powerful... Like lighting. Lighting IMO is the most dynamic part of a tag as it gives a sense of realism into the picture and directs the flow of the eyes much stronger than every other element in design. Back on subject. Without flow, you have a stale and confusing image where the eyes are unable to move easily and quickly.

Make that focus pop!

Now there is a problem with both your Vocaloid themed tags, use of space.

In the Rin tag, you balance the sides well using the colour split and the text and render, but that leaves a large gap of unused space with is visually boring. You should have removed most of it and concentrated on a much smaller area... It makes sense that Rin is the focus of the tag and hence should be strongly emphasized.

On the other side, the Luka tag is quite unbalanced towards the right side with Luka's body and the text... With the colour split near the middle and nothing to offset the weight on the left side. The use of space is okay, but the text placement could use work.

I also noticed that the render quality is quite low. Stray away from low quality pictures, subjects and focal points should always. Always. Always. Be clear and crisp. If you are using HQ pictures, then take more time in extracting the renders. Magic Wand tool is super easy but also ridiculously cheap and it always looks bad unless you are pro with feathering options AND you have a single character portrait against solid colours... Just don't ever use magic wand to extract. Pen Tool is very accurate or you can be like what I did before and Layer Mask'd/Erased very carefully. Good render = Better tag.

Don't use Magic Wand ever. EVER.

Ehhh. I'm guessing again that you're trying smudge styles which looks interesting, but don't smudge the subject. The background and C4Ds are the things that are supposed to be smudged, and the entire point from what I saw is to blend the background with the render and create a continuous image with the focus still intact. I'm pretty sure what I said was wrong.

---

And last thing to say is that everything I dislike about your work is simply a personal matter of style. I do believe however that the coloring in your tags does need work because it is generally confusing and unfitting for the subject and feeling... And you could try and add more into your works, they are very very simple. Yeah. I'm tired.

I think I missed stuff. Yeah. The second tutorial was goood.

[Meian]

Well after I finished crying about half way through, I was able to read the rest of it only to start again.
Joking XD

I appreciate the feedback, but after that line about being a matter of style... I don't know.
But I shall be trying out those tutorials soon.

(BTW I added a few more, critique those?)

[Paprika]

Most of the smudge style works I see are done very differently from what you do. I don't like the style itself very much (except one piece ohmygod that was amazing) so I'm not going to judge it.

Buuut.

IMO, Lighter lines look much better than dark ones.

Spoiler

Interesting background, it has a nice texture to it but the type is obscured by the darkness. Shouldn't be dark on dark.


The background frankly doesn't blend at all with the render. You did it with the last one, but not this... It feels random, unorganized... But it's balanced.


Cute, this one is nice. Nothing offsetting.


The two subjects don't hold any sort of tie together... This needs works. Although you did try and add in some lighting and illuminate Rin, it's kinda fake in the lighting and it doesn't feel connected to the bright source on the right. Also, her colouring is bright for the image. Len in the right needs to be adjusted colourwise (or Rin to Len), to make him fit; he's much too dull.

Also something with the text, text shadow helps give a 3-D effect as you know already, but be careful with placement for the shadow. Placing it too far away removes the 3-D effect because the viewer can't perceive it easily as an object with depth against a flat image. Because you don't have much of a background and the renders are on the same plane, making the shadows much closer to the text (and not totally black, because shadows really never do that anyways) would make the "pop" more subtle and more effective.


With the black lines crossing your tag go underneath the one Kaito, and over the second one makes it confusing. You have two objects on a flat object, and another flat object implying depth. You attempted to use lighting again and the Kaito on the right fits the BG well, but the one on the left is strange. Try to not blend the outsides on your render, it gives for an extremely low quality feel. Not exaggerating, it looks bad.

And as for the text/shadow, the thing I said for the last one applies here as well. It's much too far out and instead of being a property of the object, becomes an entirely new element.

[Meian]

Thank you for the many tips, I shall keep on practicing and if you could keep helping me on this thread that'd be nice, I really want to get decent at this, at least.
So Thank You, Once again.
(Added one more, if you share to share your thoughts.)