Digital Art Am I my beother's keeper?

Figured I'd post this, it's the only decent thing I've done in a while. I've been trying to play around with text and such. CnC please.

 

The problem with this, is the quality of the stock used. It's not a bad concept, but it's not executed as good as it could.

I'd suggest you get a better stock, the text thing was a pretty nice move, but placing another stock, lightened doesn't do it for me. Plus the blending needs better work. The focal point doesn't have lighting on it.

And that's a problem. You need to work on many things. But don't be discouraged. Just continue, and you'll get better.

 

Basically covered everything here.

Rather than giving you further CnC I'll give you this single most important advise that applies to everyone. Solid basics, make the best gfx. I've said this before but graphic design is art in its own right because it follows the same basics of aesthetics. The best thing you can do is to look at professional artwork (not saying you need to be professional, but these products are the best teachers when you examine them) examine all the little things that make it what it is. Lighting, depth, placement, these are just a few things that you can start looking for. :)

 

thank for the advice. I'll try that. I am trying to be a professional though, lol. I'll be going to school for graphic design in a few months.

GIMP destroys my images when I re-size -_-; I should start re sizing in photoshop elements, I guess.

The contrast of the stocks are a part of the concept of the image.

thanks a lot for the advice

 

Don't downgrade yourself! D:

GIMP is a bit more powerful that PS Elements. To me it looks like you re-sized the image more than once. Once you re-size an image without turning it into a smart object, the object then becomes sized at 100%. In other words once you size down, and try to size it back up you'll get some quality and pixelation issues. If THAT'S not what you did then can I see the original stock image you used?

 

The images I used:
http://www.planetrenders.net/renders/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=4
http://www.planetrenders.net/renders/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=20

I'm just saying I'll re-size the images in elements, save it as a second copy, then use the smaller ones.

 

Sorry. Those images aren't popping up for me. :p

 

These should work:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g288/animegrrl06/TBCain1.png
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g288/animegrrl06/crusnik02coolv2.png

 

I didn't even notice you had a second focal there. D:

Anyway, the white one looks really badly rendered, and above that his face is just so small to begin with. Sizing it down in any program any more than it already is will just cause problems from the start.

Tip: Don't be afraid to show a bigger focal. Just because your canvas is small, doesn't mean your focal has to be. For example:
A:

compared to
B:


In B You can see more of the focal's face, and it also helps because you better see where the lighting and direction is coming from, which makes placement of effects so much easier as it is.
When we size her down like in A she becomes more static looking. Does that make sense?

P.S: I don't mean to preach, I make these mistakes ALL the time myself. D:

 

well thank lot for the advice. I'll keep that all in mind in the future.