working with ps cs5 for the first time been reading tutorials (here and on another site ) just starting to mess around would like to get better

any helpful imput on what i should work on would be much appreciated thanks guys

you render looks low quality and the effects don't mmatch up with the textures on the render

you have two focals which is drawing attention to either side of the tag

the left focal is framed in negative space so the eye draws to it naturally, which would be good if it weren't for the shit on the right

avoid text until you're good at it, which won't be for a long time

keep doing tutorials over and over again. more tutorials allways.

ok with the effects im not understanding other than...i did too much obviously (was trying stuff out)

the render was much more clear i was trying to get it to blend in more...major fail

i completley understand what you mean on 2 focal points after seeing it ...should have one ...check

text...yeah self explained lol

tutorials yes yes and yes

thanks man main pointr i get is 1 focal point, no text for now, and fix textures /eeffects to blend more (i think this is what your meaning)

thanks man off to read some more tuts more input is always appreciated

This post was edited by mikedin on Apr 21 2015 04:23pm

really the only way to improve is sheer volume of work, so the more tutorials you do the better you'll get

it'll also teach you what brushes and textures and shit to look out for

i did this one earlier on my laptop i forgot about when i followed a tut exactly is this more what you mean?



on the other one i should have stayed with what i started instead of adding the other render into it i think is what you mean

This post was edited by mikedin on Apr 21 2015 05:00pm

the render is low quality again (the transformer is grainy, probably because you used a small picture to boot or didnt resize it properly)
also you will have to look at the flow of your signature, you can see the 3 white stripes on the right dont match the basic flow you get from the transformer
still not nearly as bad as my first attempts and if you have fun doing sigs youll get the hang quickly
if you go to deviantart.com and search for signature tutorial you will find a buttload of stuff to read.

Yeah not sure why it's grainy I'm not resizing them at all just dragging them into ps and centering it where I want it I tried click drag and I tried saving opening in ps both end up the exact same any tips on how to put my render from Internet to sig?

Thanks for replies tho guys I've done worse there are the first attempts at really trying to make real sigs before photoshop cs5 I was using Adobe Photoshop elements 11 and decided it wasent doing what I wanted so I upgraded to the cs5 and started looking into the tuts here and other places

This post was edited by mikedin on Apr 22 2015 04:51am

Make sure you only end up downsizing renders. Starting with anything smaller, then increasing the size will blur it. Also, to optimize your quality to meet the 70KB file size regulation for jsp, use 'Save for Web' when you export. Usually jpeg is the best option, unless you're doing transparent sigs. Leave the colors as is, but you can drop the quality a little. Usually 85-95% quality will sneak under the 70KB range. I usually export when the thing says 66-67 KBs.

Even if you start with a large, sharp image, the sharpness does get lost when you resize it down. You can try sharpening the object slightly to refine the edges. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen Edges. Also, more often than not you want to only sharpen your focal point, which will help draw the focus. That's not a rule, but it tends to look best with a render. If the character has parts of their body closer, then you could also try to just sharpen the closer parts and leave the parts further back as is. To achieve the varying sharpness, duplicate layers, sharpen the above layers, then erase/mask parts you don't want sharpened.

This post was edited by ericswanson_19 on Apr 22 2015 11:28am

This is pretty much what I do...I prefer to find an image I only like part of.. Like a full body render then bring the face into the 400x100 area and not resize it at all

I don't particularly like sharpen ...always looks funny to me

The save for web option I just really tried for the first time yesterday when I animated somthing for the first time to see how to do it (it worked whoot!).

I will probably try most of these thing tonite on a sig and try it out ...I think one of my biggest problems thus far is finding the right effects to fit the renders I'm using then as you both say the render quality I like making transparent sigs but not going to focus on that for now or text as was stated above not to mention I'm still trying to figure out what everything does in Photoshop I'm learning where everything is decently well


I very much appreciate all this input as always ISO more

download a shitton of c4ds and textures and just try them to see if they fit on your tag or not
theres a lot of compilations on deviantart but you can also use pics of a sundown or the ocean on a tag
its just trial and error mostly. like putting it as a layer, moving it around, changing blending options.. thats where the fun is at for me

This post was edited by Jajangmyon on Apr 23 2015 05:31am