thats what i did pretty much oh well i will have to work on that

Erase around the contoures, so it looks like one picture bleeding into another.

Heidi, anything you try won't be exactly easy. Maybe a trial of PS or PSP.

This is a FANTASTIC IDEA! Sometimes you just have those banners where there is something missing you just can't put your finger on? Anyway could I get some tips on this banner. I even asked my dad for advice and all he could come up with was that it was too purple.




And- Larissa: I have a suggestion! The text "I Want to Break" kind of runs into your other text and the guys head. Maybe you could make it smaller? Or shift the guy a bit to the left and your big block of text to the right? I don't know. Just a suggestion.

Tony, maybe bring the saturation down just a bit.

thanks Mar!

toni, the thing i would suggest is taking or thining the lines on it a bit. but the text is very well placed and nice, i would take some purple out because it doesn't seem to fit with the PQ costumes, maybe try a blue or red?
i don't mean to be harsh.

Somehow I didn't see that.

Thanks! I just changed that. :mrgreen:

Larissa: Happy I could help!!

Thanks Bob & Jade! And don't worry Jade- its constructive criticism! I appreciate your thoughts! I changed a bit making it more blue, and I think it looks better!

any comments would be great! the original image is here
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r286/ar..._Trailer_14.jpg
i also need help with text placement. i want to say somewhere along the lines of either
the greatest disaster in college sports history
or
from the ashes we rose
with WE ARE MARSHALL in smaller font below one of those two lines.

this banner is also another version of this one

which i like but i dont like the text.

so advice on text or anything else would be wonderful.

Ooo! Ooo! Me! Me! Help me! Some constructive critism on my current banner and avatar... and does anyone have tips on getting "re-inspired"? Lately I haven't been able to finish anything graphics wise, because I'm just feeling so uninspired. And I really want to work on stuff, but I just can't get myself to! Any advice on that?

Can somebody give me suggestions on my current banner?

I actually likt the design of your banner, I'd just suggest you add something to it...like maybe Up the saturation a little bit.

Go to livejournal and look at their icons. The icon tutorial page is a most excellent place to visit, because it updates daily, and seeing new works can inspire anyone to build their artistic ideas back up. Also, I find playing a good piece of music you don't usually listen to helps. One part of the artistic side of your brain aids the other.

--

My best general advice for anyone is to play with exclusion. I give all credit to RocktheSoul for bringing that up with me, and while I'm not using it in my current banner/avatar, I love that option. Playing around with that and the overlays and colour burns can produce some beautiful results.

Yeah I agree with Nick about inspiration, I see icons on livejournal all the time with a certain style I like and when I try it it usually leads to something else. And sometimes different colorings and pictures too.

^ I love just sitting and playing with coloring until it looks right. It alwasy gives you a burst of creativity when you come up with sumthing new.

Okay I have GIMP
So its not the best in the world



Hit me with it

:ha:

I hate giving contructive criticsm. I'm always afraid it will come out the wrong way!

Wickedunlimited: Maybe try lowering the opacity of the texture you used? It's a pretty texture, but it's too dark in places.

And, just a general note to people: I love using bright blue, red, etc. in banners....but if you get to the point where your banner is glowing, you've used too much.

Okay Ill think about that next time
Thanks

wickedunlimited - You don't really want the focus of banners to be the texture/brush/gradient, but instead to be on the images themselves. This can become really difficult to manage. At that point in your banner, I would suggest either lowering the opacity of the glow, or applying an overlay to your images.

Okay ^

Now I'm still a beginner and cannot use special features and brushes and etc. for my life so this is pretty simple. I wanna hear your thoughts.

It's really dark and the font is plain and doesn't work too well.

does this look ok i know it needs work any suggestions

The pictures need to be feathered/erased/blended.

Galindaispopular - seconding Bob's reply. I would argue blending is about the most important thing to do to get halfway decent banners. Yes, it can take a while to get the hang of it but it's worth it. The first time I got a blend/feather to work I was actually shrieking with excitement! So... you'll practice :ha:

Now, anyone got any suggestions for my current set. I didn't actually do any textures on it, just colour blend layers. Also I know the pics aren't the best quality as I did it before the pics went onto the official London site yesterday. So, should I start over?

^ you might want to add some coloring effects to the pictures to make them stand out more. Right now the focus of you banner is going to the bright red around the text.

Anything for my current avatar? That's my first time using the lighting feature.

It looks like Stephanie is using her magic powers to shoot a beam of light out of her forehead (one more thing to add to her list... :ha:). I'd suggest moving it to the bottom, maybe?

Any C&C on all of my stuff in general, please? I'd like any crit.

Daisy, I really wish I could critisize your banner, but I love it far too much.

Daisy, I actually really love your styles and tech. You're blending's good, the text use is well done and not pixelated, etc. I only have good crit. for you. HAHA.

I'd also suggest moving the highlight towards either the bottom or towards the left side. Your saturation is very strong, so I am assuming that you used overlay. It looks really good.

I agree with what Nick said. When you use light textures, you have to remember that you're trying to complement the picture and not necessarily cover it. You know what I mean? Ahh... I hope I don't sound mean... but it's really good!

Thanks Sarah, Nick, and Dana!
And no Dana, you don't sound mean, I came her for constructive criticsm! :-)

I'll see what I can do with the placement of the light. I may just have to find a different picture for it.

does my avatar look nice i know the blinking is a bit fast but thats the only way to make it look decent

I don't see a banner. Only an avatar. The avatar looks a little scratchy, and the text looks a little too crisp. Check the opacity level of the image itself, and perhaps give the text a 50% opacity stroke with an overlay color.

I'm no expert, but on your current avatar, I would bake the border be "flat" rather then the 3-Dish border that looks like a picture frame that you have on it now.

Any critisism for this banner I just made?


Hold nothing back, I won't be offended.

edit// and for this avatar:

The avatar is too blue and too dark. Lighten it up a bit and use color balance to make it less blue.

My only problem with the banner is that it's light (especially in the circle) on the left side, but not the right. I'm a very symmetrical person, but I do think that the circle on the right is too dark. Stephanie is kind of hard to see.

Yes I agree. Maybe use the dodge tool to lighten it up a bit.

I guess this isn't really constructive critism, but I have a question:

Has anyone else tried to lighten your pictures and grapics up with an RGB curve layer as opposed to duplicating the backround layer and setting it to screen? I usually do this and I like the effect much more, because it's easier to control how light your picture gets... I was just wondering if anyone else used this technique? (:

^ I do sometimes =] It depends on how I want to color it!

can anyone give me some suggestions for my current banner/icon?

also, i was wondering if anyone knew how to feather on gimp...right now I'm just doing the overlap and erase method and sometimes it just doesn't work very well.

You made that in GIMP?! I'm really impressed. Um, you might want to lighten it up in some parts. Like by the Moritz/Ilse picture

I have gimp too and I cant make graphics that good !
Thats awesome

:ha: ... those were my thoughts exactly. That's a really great banner!

I kind of have the reverse question. I can feather in Gimp but can only do the overlap & erase in PS so how does one feather in PS? Currently I have to go into Gimp to do the feathering then I import into PS for the rest, which is a bit of a pain.
Also is it possible to cut out circles in PS (like on my new baner, where the circles were done in Gimp)? The help mentioned a circular marquee tool but I can only find a rectangular one. Where does one find the circular version?

Thanks!

Check your messages ^ I left u one