just starting to try my hand at sigs, comments suggestions appreciated

[Destria]

<p>ok, so far this is my first, and only sig.  after several hours hating myself trying to figure out photoshop CS4, I actually read through some more of seagoats tutorials, and figured things out, so, a huge thank you to seagoat for your tuts!!!</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/Lustaryacutout.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p>comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated like stated above, this is my first, with hopefully many to come as I get better with photoshop.</p><p>This is one of my many lowbie alts</p>

[Destria]

<p>ok...and my second attempt </p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/destriatag1.gif" border="0" /></a></p>

[Destria]

<p>well, this is some fun stuff, nowhere near the level of so many of you sig crafters, but all good things in time</p>

[Seagoat]

<p>You're quite welcome! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>You have a good start here...I have just a few thoughts:</p><p>Be careful about your foreground blending with your background. In #1, the text is kinda hard to read because the only things separating it from the background are the outlines of the letters. I like the effect you were trying to achieve, so you can try using partially transparent text in a contrasting color. That way, you can still see the background through the letters, but it should be easier to read.</p><p>In #2, same thing...the green text blends with the green in the background, and your character's black armor blends with the black in the background. Simply mirroring the background (if the void anchor is separate from it) -- so that the black is behind the green text, and the green is behind your character -- would work wonders for separating the foreground from the background. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Also be careful of using bevels on small/thin text. Even with a simple font, bevels can decrease readability to a surprising degree. In #2, the small beveled text will be ok if it has red and black behind it, but it's just something to keep in mind!</p>

[Destria]

<p>Thanks for the reply, and the tips, I definitely see what your saying with the blending and difficulties to read/differentiate text/char/bg.  After reading that, I got a somewhat simpler design here I don't really like the look of it, with the colors/blending on the background, its just not as vibrant as I would like, but I did make sure to differentiate the colors for better legibility.</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/destria1.gif" border="0" /></a></p>

[Destria]

<p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">This is definitely my best so far...but I used minimal effects out of photoshop and instead used a seperate image cropped down and resized for the background.</span></p><p>Until I get around to makin sure the artist of the background work is ok with it, this ones temporarily out of service</p>

[phatd42]

<p>it looks great, just lease be careful using images you find online, unless theyre labled as free stock or something.  Many artists require permission for their photos, drawings or other artwork to be used.  Otherwise its copyright infringement.</p>

[Destria]

<p>/sigh....I should be smart enough to know that lol, thanks for the reminder.  Well, its been a few days, worked with photoshop some more...and I'm pretty sure i'm gonna be removing that last one, on account of its NOT my art work used in the background, and I don't need that drama, but I have managed to [Removed for Content] my photoshop with a variety of free addons, and I have already started working on something bigger better and more badass.  But...its gonna have to wait on being posted until I can figure out why my wireless router stopped connecting.   And thanks again for the feedback and tips, it means alot, and is VERY helpful.</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p>You can often simply ask an artist if they would mind you using a bit of their art for a sig image like these. Explain what you want, show them a draft version of what you have in mind.</p><p>As long as it's a small detail and not the substance of their work, many artists are very flattered that you like their stuff and are happy enough to let it be used for something small-scale and non-commercial like this.</p><p>But asking is important!</p>

[Destria]

<p>OK, got a few new ones made up, one for myself and 2 more for a guildmate, minor difference between the 2</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/Tsernu2.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/Tsernu1.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/Destria.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p>These are all original work, backgrounds done with a large variety of brushes in photoshop, downloaded from brushesdownload.com  HUGE amount of free brush downloads.</p>

[phatd42]

<p><a href="http://www.obsidiandawn.com/">http://www.obsidiandawn.com/</a></p><p>one of my favorite free brushes people. </p><p>She allows her products to be used for free, unless you will be profiting off them in some way then then you can purchase the rights to use them commercially. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Seidhkona]

<p>I wanted to ask if you may have a bit of color vision deficiency. I have mild  tritanomoly myself, but I was wondering if your color choices might be influenced by some degree of deuteranopia.</p><p>One tool I use extensively are  the <a href="http://www.visibone.com/colorblind/" target="_blank">Visibone reference charts</a>. The gold-blue square in the lower left corner is how the colors in the main chart look if you have red-green colorblindness.</p><p><a href="http://www.visibone.com/color/chart_847.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.visibone.com/color/chart_847.gif" width="300" /></a></p>

[Destria]

<p>many thanks for the linky Phat, once I started with the new brushes..its like an addiction, I find it hard to stop lol. </p><p>And Sig, so far as I'm aware, and as of my last vision test, I have no color vision deficiencies or blindness, I am however a big fan of bright vibrant colors, and on a contrast very dark, and deep hues and colors, not so much on the in between tho, my color theory teacher in school hates it!!!</p><p>Biggest thing to me tho is, is it visually appealing?? does it seem too busy?? is it too static?? </p><p>I'm workin alot on playin with different things in the photoshop and different ideas; so far, only done work for myself and one guildmate, tho I have another guildmate with a request in, not sure if its a plus or minus but neither one has given me much of an idea on what they would like for a background, just "whatever looks good" lol</p>

[phatd42]

<p>My personal opinion would be to stick with just two or three colors. maybe two similar and one contrasting, (like orange and yellow with a touch of blue, for instance) but thats just my opinion and my personal taste.  Youll notice alot of mine are pretty monochromatic, and I envy people who arent afraid to step outside the box and make things truly bright and vibrant. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>but you also dont want to make it too busy or gaudy, so limiting yourself to a certain number of colors, or just two (or so) color ranges might help there. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>In the end its up to you to find your own style and what you think looks the best to you.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>So with the color thing being up to you, my only advice really is to practice with your text work.. download masses of fonts, and work on improving your screenshot quality. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p><a href="http://www.dafont.com/top.php">http://www.dafont.com/top.php</a></p><p>Edit:  When you take screenshots, first of course make sure your quality is set as high as your computer allows, then also be as close to your target as you can.. the surrounding background isnt important.. and most times below the waist also isnt important.  Since you cut those poertions out.  Set your monitor resolution for the most pixels possible, and that ought to give you a larger image and much more versatile screenshot to work with.  An image resizes smaller much better than bigger, with far less distortion.</p>

[Destria]

<p>Aye, fortunately I'm able to set my PC up to max settings for screenshots, and, as long as its not  an overly busy zone, it doesn't lag me out...usually.  Always fun when you go to take a super high quality screen shot and get reduced to 1-3 FPS for twenty minutes while you try and kill the settings. lol</p><p>Thanks for the tips, I'm gonna have to see what I can do managing to try something a bit more monochromatic, I find it difficult personally as I like the variety.  But I believe in trying new things and trying to do them right.</p>

[Seagoat]

<p>Don't forget to take everything we say with a grain of salt. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Everyone has their own style!</p><p>This sig Reilena just posted is a great example of using lots of colors in a way that isn't overwhelming:<a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?start=120&topic_id=367097#5019932" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...=367097#5019932</a></p><p>Notice that all of the colors used in the background can be found somewhere on the character. I find that the character image is what gives me inspiration when it comes to picking a color palette for a sig (if one isn't specified). Using the same handful of colors over and over again within an image helps to unify the sig and tie all its elements together. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Destria]

<p>Aye, definitely taking it with a grain of salt, but also interesting in trying out suggestions, I feel it is helping me alot with my own style development.</p>

[Destria]

<p>Heres what I came up with for my wifes trouby, and playin around with a more monochromatic color scheme</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/falasig-1.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>ok...non-supersized.  lol, originally posted way too large.</p>

[Destria]

<p>my first attempt at animated sig....heres hoping</p><p>/sigh fail......</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/tsernuachieve.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p>ok....after redoing it...and deleting the fail....</p>

[Destria]

<p>Well, I feel like with this one I've finally taken a strong step in understanding and working with my photoshop animator and making animated sigs. so, without further ado, here is the siggy I have made, after many grueling hours at the keyboard and mouse, for my beloved Berserker.</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/ErszebethBathory.gif" border="0" alt="Erszebeth"></a></p><p>its a bit long of an animation but any faster and it felt too rushed.</p><p>and as always, feedback appreciated.</p>

[Destria]

<p>Well, I feel like with this one I've finally taken a strong step in understanding and working with my photoshop animator and making animated sigs. so, without further ado, here is the siggy I have made, after many grueling hours at the keyboard and mouse, for my beloved Berserker.</p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv231/Erszebeth_AB/ErszebethBathory.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p>its a bit long of an animation but any faster and it felt too rushed.</p><p>and as always, feedback appreciated.</p>

[Amaran]

<p>You are showing some good improvement here. I admire your work ethic as well, you are obviously working very hard.</p><p>As a sig maker myself, my advice echoes some of what was said before. I always use the main subject of an image for color inspiration. However, I don't always directly copy a color.</p><p>Sometimes it works out best to use the eyedropper tool (or whatever tool you have to pick up a color from your image) and then adjust the color to one that works better for a background (while using the color as a start point so it is still similar). The key is you want the viewer's eye to gravitate to the subject. The background is to compliment the figure/subject.</p><p>Sometimes it is tough to find the right shades to make this work. Especially with text. I find myself often spending a large amount of time trying to find just the right color to outline my text to make it pop without being too distracting.</p><p>Anyways, my biggest suggestion is to not stop making signatures. Every one you make you will learn something new. Even if you aren't 100% happy with it, it is still experience. Keep it up and I will keep an eye on your thread to see your progress. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Oh, and also you can find plenty of stock images that are free to use for backgrounds. I often do this. Try Deviantart, there is some good stuff if you don't mind spending some time looking. Just be sure that it is stock and not someone's personal art you use. Another good way to make backgrounds is to use screenshots of scenery from the game. You can use them as is, or add effects like changing the color hue, making it higher contrast (I often do that, as I am a big fan of vibrant colors as well). You can also use filters to make a regular screenshot look like a watercolor painting or such.</p>