So I decided that I would learn GIMP under "trial by fire" so to speak. Rather than just messing around randomly I would try and make something. The result is my current sig (which I'll also place below). All CnC is encouraged, even nit-picky and pet peevish stuff. I want to know anything I can improve on so I can attempt to do so. Spoiler: First Signature
Add a bit more to your post dear. This might help: http://www.kh-vids.net/showthread.php?103669-The-Essentials-of-CnC-(Read-before-posting) Anyway, this is certainly not nearly as bad as my first sig. =] Firstly, the render placement is alright, but if you do intend to keep going with this, read up on some things about composition--namely, the rule of thirds, but there is definitely more than that to pay attention to. Check out some basic tutorials simply on composition. If need be I can point you in the right direction. In the instance of this sig, my eye is more going to his cape as the focal point and not his face/fist. The text is not too bad, I appreciate the attempt definitely, but I try not to crowd my tags with so many words. Sometimes you can pull this off, but it might be easiest for now to stick to just one or two large words with some subtext. But keep experimenting! Text is a very, very difficult thing to get right, only experimentation will help you unfortunately, haha. I've found that flashy fonts don't usually work too well, try to stick to your basic serif (Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia, etc) and sans-serif fonts (Arial, Century Gothic, Verdana, Futura, Helevetica, Tahoma, etc). The guy in the background at the far left is a bit distracting, but your background on the right seems interesting. Maybe try repeating some of that on the left side? And don't be afraid to cover your render a bit with effects! Blending can work wonders. The best advice to give to a beginner imo is just to read tutorials. We have some decent ones here, but GimpTalk is excellent, definitely check them out.
Definitely check out Gimptalk if you're going to continue using Gimp. It can be immensely helpful. You're off to a good start. As Misty said, you just need practice. For a first attempt this is really good. Just practice, and learn composition, and you'll be doing great stuff in no time.
I happen to really like it, it's much better than my first sigs... (see my sig now and you will see what I mean lol) The text captures what Full Metal Alchemist is about. So it works, but as Misty said, maybe a simpler font would be better. Also, I have to agree with Misty again that the background on the right is great, but I must disagree with her about the guy on the left, I mean, it's Alphonse and I liked the transparency thing going on with him, it reflects his back story like in the anime/manga and it is relevant to the text you added, especially as they are brothers.. Of course lol, Misty is more the expert than me, so I'd listen to her instead. My point is though, is that I can see why you did it that way. It's a very clever sig and bloody good first attempt. I look forward to your future work. lol
It is kind of funny because in selecting fonts I initially liked the one used for "In Order to Gain" because it's chalky yet eloquent look reminded me of the transmutation circles but it didn't end up all that good. My sig design made it hard to read without a border but including a border didn't look right on that style of text. I should have just scratched it for a new one. But the "You Must Lose" text I ended up just settling on because I was tired of searching, but once it was in my sig I liked it better (though it still isn't great). Though something I didn't notice at first that is now annoying me is a bit more on what Misty said about focus. Ed's render naturally draws you towards his face and fist, but then I positioned child Al behind him to represent him moving forward from his past. What ends up happening though is the two focus points negate each other and you end up looking at his jacket. I'm not quite sure how I would fix it though. Maybe fade the bulk of the jacket and then move Al closer to center? I'll be sure to check out some more tutorials and keep this in my back pocket to see if I can make it even better somewhere down the road.
