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Zenister
09-29-2010, 10:03 PM
Hey guys. I'm new here. I'm a head moderator of a Graphics, Fiction, and Art section on another site, but I wanted some new opinions on my work, so I thought I'd look for a new forum site.

Critique is welcome, but so is praise ;). I'll post stock images if I have them, but I don't always save things.

Sigs:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/bladeandsoulsig.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/redraincoat-1.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/raidensupersharp.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/zatsuneomgbattle.png

SOTW Winners:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/prismdeath.png

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/7769/sotw14love.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/sotw18blackandwhite.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/badassmechasig.png

FlashD
09-30-2010, 12:42 PM
This forum is for signatures and avatars only. Your other works have been moved to Dazzle Us (http://www.animeforum.com/showthread.php?98229-Locked-and-Loaded-Grace-s-GFXing) and Wallpapers (http://www.animeforum.com/showthread.php?98230-Locked-and-Loaded-Grace-s-GFXing).

Zenister
10-01-2010, 01:00 AM
My mistake.

Kaname Shikara
10-01-2010, 01:21 AM
I really like them ^^ the 1st one is my favorite. Nice effects on all of them ^^

Zenister
10-01-2010, 03:02 AM
Oh hey, I remember you =D. You were my random buddy when I broke the forum. XD

Thanks for stopping in! Glad you like the first sig. It's pretty old, actually (maybe a month or so?) from when I was first getting the hand of lighting effects.

Kaname Shikara
10-01-2010, 03:04 AM
XD

You're pretty skilled at sig making o.o I'm still....eh-ish XD I should look at more tutorials and experiment more ^^ how long have you been making sigs?

AnimeSaw
10-01-2010, 09:58 AM
I really liked the Blood one, I think it was very nicely done. Keep them coming.

Zenister
10-01-2010, 12:08 PM
XD

You're pretty skilled at sig making o.o I'm still....eh-ish XD I should look at more tutorials and experiment more ^^ how long have you been making sigs?

Mmm... I'd say I've been doing this for about a year now. I work with Gimp, but I have to admit, I've only within the past month or so really gotten the hang of it. I found a great Gimp community that taught me a lot. If you ever want a sig, I'd be thrilled to make you one. =D


I really liked the Blood one, I think it was very nicely done. Keep them coming.

Thank you very much! I should have a new one within a day or so.

Bulf
10-01-2010, 01:49 PM
Ehh. It's more of a personal taste, but they're too big to me. I like the one with the Witch best, and the text in the last one. I can't really give any cnc yet though, so I'll wait til you post more.

Zenister
10-01-2010, 04:09 PM
Well thanks for the cnc that you did give. =]

My standard sig size is 500x200, but it depends on the stock. If I want to show more of the stock, I can go as big as 225 pixels tall. I've never liked really little sigs, but that's just my taste. I'll make something little just for you one of these days. =P

Until then, I made a new piece today:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/absinthetournyfinal.png

Jose
10-09-2010, 04:37 PM
I like them too, but you seems to make them too monochromatic for me. The purple one only has shades of purple, your latest one only has green and yellow. Experiment with different colors. =]

Zenister
10-09-2010, 06:44 PM
I hate sigs with too many colors.

I pick three at the most and stick to my palette.

Yurka
10-12-2010, 12:04 AM
I like your latest one the most. It looks more colorful than your other ones and seems to have a better use of lighting and flow. Though I have to agree with what some other people have said, they look kind of big. You don't really need that much space on a tag unless you're actually going to use it and you're mostly just ending up with unneeded negative space.

Experimenting with a little bit of more color would be nice too. Get out of your comfort zone.

Zenister
10-12-2010, 12:25 AM
My sigs are pretty much always 500x200 pixels, but I know smaller ones are definitely more common. I just never had a taste for them because I like to get a lot of my stock image into the final product if I can. I used to make ones that were only 450 pixels wide, but on the forum site where I moderate, it's more popular for them to be bigger because our sig limit is 800x300. I guess I'm just in the habit from that.

As for the colors thing, I dunno what to tell you guys. I think most of your sigs with 5 - 6 colors in them have way too much going on. I could make something with a full rainbow in it, but I wouldn't like it. It's not really a matter of comfort for me, just personal taste.

I appreciate all the comments, though. If it'll make you guys happy, I will make a tiny, many-colored sig the next time I get a chance, and we'll see how it looks. (I actually had to make a much smaller one for the SOTW contest, which you guys will see once the thread is up.)

I wanted to show off my new piece today, but after all that, I almost don't want to XD. This isn't going to help with your colors and size arguments:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/forgetmenot1.png

I was experiementing with text and grunge. I'll do the color and size thing another time. I plan to take the background blurry text stuff out, since I've decided I don't like it.

Zenister
10-25-2010, 01:45 AM
Well, now that voting is over, I suppose I can post this:

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/7769/sotw14love.png

Thanks to everyone who voted for my sig. I was so happy to win by vote, if not by judge choice.

Bulf
11-01-2010, 12:19 AM
ooooOoOh pretty xD
Not much to say today, but it's a beautiful sig. The side-border could go though. I'm not a fan of the images-on-the-side thing. I personally think it'd look better without the side part. Everything else if good though. Make moar :D!

Zenister
11-01-2010, 12:52 AM
Thanks a lot ;). I have made more, and there's one in particular that I really want to post, but I have to wait a little bit. XD

Zenister
11-06-2010, 02:14 AM
Well, I won sig of the week again by votes, but the judges never pick me XD. I'm still so honored though.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/prismdeath-1-1.png

iAnime
11-06-2010, 12:20 PM
I like the third sig you have up there.
It seems like you haven't made too many sigs yet. Generally people start with brush reliant sigs so you may want to look into other tutorials to learn skills and apply them.

Xeyuzio
11-06-2010, 02:36 PM
This one is my favorite http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/durrrrrr-1.png the only thing I don't like about it is the corners the seem to bold but other than that the sig is absolutely perfect :D

Zenister
11-06-2010, 06:11 PM
iAnime: I've actually made 600+ sigs, I just don't bother to post the vast majority of them. Thanks for the tip, though.

4n1m3: Thank you!

What did you guys think of the latest sig I posted? The one that won SOTW?

Cotaku
11-06-2010, 07:44 PM
Your tag for SOTW is great. Definitely would have been my second vote.
the colors are amazing and the small borders just add that subtle "completeness." (I can't explain it any better than that...)

The only thing I would recommend is maybe making the word "COLOR" a bit more easy to read. There are just certain letters that are a bit hard to read, and I know a rainbow effect will do this. But if there was a way, then that's all I can recommend.
Great job, and congratulations on all of your votes!

Zenister
11-06-2010, 09:00 PM
Thank you very much! I agree with you about the text. I struggled with picking a font for a long time and then just kinda gave up, ha ha.

Xeyuzio
11-07-2010, 12:24 PM
On the latest one, on the top of her face were the flowers are it looks a tad to bright an that really caught my eye but I really like the text :(

Zenister
12-03-2010, 11:35 AM
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x268/azarathianraven/shanacircusrequest.png

Request for a friend. I like everything but the size and the text.

And another SOTW winner ^^:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/sotw18blackandwhite.png

Zenister
12-06-2010, 12:48 PM
man, I haven't update in forever. I need to get on that.

Zenister
03-15-2011, 07:05 PM
Here's some old SOTW/BOTM stuff and other things:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/badassmechasig.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/sotw30freestyle.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/redraincoat.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/raidensupersharp.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/faithybloodyrequest.png

Xeyuzio
03-15-2011, 07:34 PM
Zenister, I completely forgot you had a thread you should definitely post more often. Anyways the one I really want to comment on is the 4th one because it's simply amazing, the blue goes perfect and the text is outstandingly amazing, I expect no less from one of the greatest graphic designers on AF. I can't wait to see more of your work!

Zenister
03-16-2011, 10:31 AM
Thanks, dude! That's really awesome of you to say. =]

I just always forget about threads like this, but I'll def try to post more often.

Aleyna
03-16-2011, 11:35 PM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/raidensupersharp.png
I love the colors in that signature, but I think it looks a little over sharpened in some places.

Zenister
03-17-2011, 11:13 AM
I titled it "super sharp" for a reason, ha ha. Thanks for the comment!

I made this yesterday using a friend of mine's artwork. Her Original Character is named Alastor.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/alastorsigmaybe.png

Vintniv
03-18-2011, 10:45 AM
You are getting into C4Ds, nice. A couple prop tips.

First of all, never, ever, make them obvious. I have large collections of C4Ds amassed over years of searching, and at so in some cases I can tell what C4D you are using; I can in some cases in go so far as to know the exact file name of them. So you should add more variety. Like, by the way I am looking at it, here's what you did to the most recent signature:

Layer 1: Background Stock, heavily blurred
Layer 2: C4D, heavily blurred
Layer 3: Effect C4d, Set to Screen or Linear Dodge
Layer 4: Extracted Stock Image
Layer 5: Another C4D
Layer 6: Some sort of Adjustment layer to boost the Red color
Layer 7: Text

More or less, I'm generalizing of course. But long story short, you should add more variety. In some of my tags, I use anywhere from 6-10 C4Ds so its far more difficult to tell what I did, I think that might help you too. Using a larger variety of C4Ds could also help you add more contrast to your colors.

Everything else about the tag is basically fine, but at this point you should start looking into making the tags far more complicated than they really are.

Zenister
03-18-2011, 04:11 PM
I don't think knowing what c4d I used is that big of a deal, but I can see how it might be detrimental. Does it ruin the magic for you or something?

Everything else is solid advice. The background isn't a stock, though. It's smudging. Also, the 'c4ds' in the background are actually brushes that I layered and added beveling to, to make them look more 3D.

Front part is def a c4d though, and the fractal was set to screen because I use Gimp. You're spot on there.

Thanks for the advice, brorrito. ;) I'll look into doing that for my BOTM entry.

Zenister
05-22-2011, 12:14 AM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/robotgirlpurpleandblue.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/backwardbotm.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/mmoaionangelsig4.png

Xeyuzio
05-23-2011, 09:51 AM
I like the first one the best but it needs a little something to complete it, the blue lighting looks amazing and the C4D's seem correctly placed, all it needs is a little text and you're good.

The second one could do without the lighting in her back, the typography could have been better. Also good placement with the C4D's.

I don't really like the last one, that big black spot is really distracting and the render seems a bit small, what I really like in this one is the effects on the right side, they're fantastic.

Overall I like your style but you can always try something new other then C4D's. =P

Zenister
06-25-2011, 03:07 PM
Goal for next few weeks: work on text. It's about damn time.

Step one.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/GFAwormcantitext.png

By the way, there are no c4ds in that, and I used brushes and clipping masks for the first time in months. If one person says it looks exactly like all my other stuff -- it doesn't, you're a silly goose -- I'm going to be unhappy.

After that I want to start doing more creative things like these pieces I made yesterday:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/7thringofhell.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/acceptancegunguy1.png

They both suck composition wise, but bear with me, this is about trying text out.

Also, does anyone know why the perspective tool like to make my text look blurry like this?

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/acceptancegunguy2.png

I think it's the font face, but I could be wrong.

Zio Yex
06-26-2011, 10:24 PM
What to say what say... I love the first one, it's amazing but the cursive-ish font doesn't really fit with it. Also the little red ball by his head, that layer should be placed below the render layer, it doesn't look well there. The second one has a fantastic light source and the text is well done, great job on that one. I don't really like the last two but on the perspective tool it's going to get blurry and the right side because that side was enlarged which naturally makes things blurry, that's why the other side isn't blurry. ~Xey

Zenister
06-27-2011, 06:48 PM
Thanks for the compliments, bro! I appreciate it. =]

Hm, I'll have to play with it some. It's definitely worse with serif fonts, I've noticed. Thanks for the advice. ;)

Yurka
06-28-2011, 12:49 PM
Lol you've gotten a lot better. I especially like the depth you got going on the first sig on post #34. Lovely colors as well, even though I disagree with Zoi. I think it looks wonderful as it it right now and text would take away from the composition unless you did something amazing with it.

Anyway, I like your latest stuff, hope to see more.

Zenister
06-28-2011, 04:30 PM
I appreciate that so much because I'm a huge fan of your style. Thanks. =]

Zenister
07-04-2011, 01:58 AM
I'm going to have a very exciting post for you guys in about a week, but until then it dawned on me that I've never posted any of my avatars or my tutorial for making them.

Avatars:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/orengumimaskavi.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/bishoujoiconsotffeb.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/tutorialavatarkaelin1.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/150samuraigirlavi.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/redonlyinmyheartavi.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/twcsrbastardversion.jpg

Zenister
07-09-2011, 08:51 PM
Now that SOTW has ended, I can post this:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/psvectorsotw2.png

Thanks for all the wonderful comments you guys made while voting! I blushed repeatedly. :)

Also, here's my battle of the month entry:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/botmgungirlv1final.png

Bulf
07-10-2011, 01:10 AM
I'm certainly loving you're typography in the last two. They're both fantastic sigs, and probably some of my Favorites from you (the "Death/Color" one is still my favorite). I can't really point out anything in particular I dislike on either of them (without being a super nit-picky nerd). Your style is like...everywhere; Out of everyone that usually enters sotw I have the hardest time identifying your sigs, so I can't wait to see what you pull out next!

Tranquiose
07-10-2011, 01:31 AM
Your Signature's are Getting better,
You have good composition, The Render is Balanced by Proportion, You Are Quite Talented in
putting in the depth of the tag keep it up, Use of colors are okay, improve your lighting with most of the tags.
i like your avatars too clean and professional~ Good luck, this dude wants to see more.

Zenister
07-11-2011, 12:51 AM
You guys are far too kind to me. ;)

Thank you so much for the comments.

Zenister
07-21-2011, 01:36 PM
New avatars. These are up for grabs if anyone wants them.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/sexyredshatteredavi.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/singitoutmikuavi1.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Icons/redonlyinmyheartavi.png

And then my past two BOTM entries:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/izayacolorscmykbotm.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/kirinobotmfanatic.png

I have to admit a serious fault of mine as a GFXer on this last piece. I completely hate it. I mean, completely. I can objectively recognize that it's not that bad, but I had a vision in my head of what I wanted, and even after working on it for seven hours, I just couldn't make that vision come to life. As a result, this entry makes me angry just to look at it.

And now for a piece that doesn't make me angry.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/angelontherocks.png

I'm ridiculously in love with this one, and I can't even say why.

Nesh
07-21-2011, 03:06 PM
Wohow *0*..amazing pieces !! I love the avatars and the BOTM entries.

And the last one----I adore it **
The rocky texture background, the C4D, light, the text everything works perfectly.

Xeyuzio
07-21-2011, 04:24 PM
Almost all your avatars are amazing, I wish mine weren't so bland. xD Anyways your new signatures look great, and you typography is improving quickly. The one after your "Call Me Your King" is almost as dazzling as that one itself. The girl one is intriguing but you should move the text to the right side on my opinion. FANTASTIC job as usual. <333

Zenister
07-21-2011, 06:13 PM
Thanks you guys ^^. You are far too sweet to me.

I actually have a tutorial for my avatars that I can PM to you if you like. It has "bad language" in it, so I'm not allowed to post it here. XD

Zenister
08-09-2011, 04:53 PM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/mahoushoujozsigfinal.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Ulquiorrasylphrequest.png

wanted to change my style up again:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/pictureperfect.png

I can't seem to settle on any one idea lately. XD

Beyond The Grave
08-10-2011, 03:26 PM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/raidensupersharp.png



Out of all the ones I've seen here of yours this one has got to be the BEST. A nice blend of C4D action and a focal to match. But...this probably would of looked better without the text since it doesn't seem to fit with this composition. Nice work though and keep it up. I REALLY like your avatars though, you seem to shine with the smaller canvas space you work with ^_^

Zenister
08-10-2011, 04:12 PM
Funny enough, as much as everyone else loved that one, I've never cared for it XD. Thanks so much for the comment!

Archaic Devices
08-22-2011, 08:16 AM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/mahoushoujozsigfinal.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Ulquiorrasylphrequest.png

wanted to change my style up again:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/pictureperfect.png

I can't seem to settle on any one idea lately. XD

Man I love your sigs~

Anyway, I really like the first one, and thus I don't have much critique for it. I would recommend expanding the colors into the black a little more, and move the text down beneath her lower left side. For the second one, I like the effects done around Ulquiorra, but I'm not a huge fan of the right and left sides. It looks cool, but it almost seems like you just left it there, with no blending at all with Ulquiorra and the effects done around him. For the third one, the girl almost seems separated from the rest of the sig. I think she's a little too far to the right, always remember the rule of thirds, it applies to sigs too. Otherwise I have nothing else to say, nice job.

Famahama
08-22-2011, 11:59 AM
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/raidensupersharp.png
^
So goddamn pretty. Amazing contrast and easy for my eyes to follow.

The text seems a bit awkward imo. I'm thinking it's either the font choice/placement/ or slightly blurry text.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/7thringofhell.png
^ Pretty good, reminds me of the above.

The lighting is pretty sweet, love the sparkles. Composition and color seems to blend together quite nicely too.

but I seriously dont like the text, it seems forced and takes away the focus from the girl. A textless version might be nice.


Overall though, work on the control of lighting. Most of the others are unnecessarily bright and not sharp enough imo. eg: This (http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/botmgungirlv1final.png) and more.

But still, plenty of good stuff coming from you :D Looking forward for moar!

Zenister
09-22-2011, 01:08 AM
Oh wow, been a long time since I updated.

SOTW winners:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/vocaloidlilymaybe.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/suckerpunchambersotwfinal.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/bloodcghostsotwblue.png

Some fun stuff in new and old styles:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/flyheadphonessig1.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/Mikuhatsuneloveiswar.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/Jinthewanderingsamurai.png

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa125/zenny1410/Sigs/mikuhatsunescream1.png

sephygirl1789
09-22-2011, 07:38 AM
you have done an excellent job on your sigs i really love those that have harmonious colors it really pops out at me and have a somber effect on me i really love #1,2,4, and 5 they really catch my eye on the color coordination

Ezza Obsuna
09-23-2011, 03:18 AM
Those are so cool. Amazing. Definitely superb. I love your colorful tags more and more. And I recognize one of the avatars you posted in one of the tutorials I saw when I was looking around. You must have made that tut then?

Anyway, I use GIMP too. And it's just so fantastic that you can make those tags from GIMP. You definitely inspire me. Maybe you could teach me a thing or two?

See ya. Great great job in all this. :)

Zenister
09-23-2011, 12:14 PM
I did make an avatar tutorial, for a pink/purple avi that said "Tricks". I tried to post it here, but they wouldn't let me because I swear in it. That's me, though, if we're talking about the same thing. =]

I'd be happy to tell you anything I know! I can even send you some xcf files sometime if you like.

Ezza Obsuna
09-26-2011, 02:26 AM
I did make an avatar tutorial, for a pink/purple avi that said "Tricks". I tried to post it here, but they wouldn't let me because I swear in it. That's me, though, if we're talking about the same thing. =]

I'd be happy to tell you anything I know! I can even send you some xcf files sometime if you like.

That would be awesome. You can be sort of my master. :) And say, we're talking about the same thing. I sure loved that tut. I never new avvies could be so great.

Zenister
09-26-2011, 10:26 PM
I'm glad you liked it! I haven't used that avi style in a while, but I might bring it back sometime soon.