I sucked at Gimp, so I gave photoshop a try. Thank god for tutorials. Actually, the first two I made (The second one was a remake of the first) came out horrible, even in my eyes. So we'll pretend those never existed. Spoiler I like this one, but I got confused. It was supposed to be made by clipping masks, but I got lost. Still don't understand them completely, but eh. Working with X brushes and the "flame" effect. Using the Liquify tool for flow (I just noticed the spot in front of his face where the flow just stops lol). The render's cut off abruptly on the right, but I didn't want to place him on the edge so I improvised. Did it work? The first one was made for the Sotw, but I didn't like the text or c4d or the line around the C4D. Second's one remade, but it's still kind of eh, imo. I'm experimenting with displacements. Started following a tutorial for this, but I ended up doing my own thing in the end. Although the text and glow effect I kept from the tut. Opinions?
First One: I definitely like your effects on here, and the overall composition is rather nice. Text... well, it isn't great, but it's not terrible either. A good rule of thumb for it is that you should either go all caps or all lowercase. Having just one word capitalized is all good and well in the grammar world, but it creates an unbalanced look when it comes to the height of the text. My major problem though is the gradient map. While I encourage trying out new coloring techniques, 99% of the time you can't just leave the gradient map on Normal at 100% opacity. For example, that gradient map often looks nice when you set it to Pin Light at a lower opacity. The point is to modify and enhance the preexisting colors, not to completely drain them out (unless you're going B&W). As for issues with clipping masks, I didn't understand them either for a while. This tutorial might help you: http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/1697/clippingmaskstut.jpg Second One: Effects are fairly nice. The render you used doesn't look too great though. Some of the edges are rather choppy, especially around the hair. Text isn't my favorite; it's much too far from your focal point. That glittery effect on there is god awful too. o_o Third One: To be honest, it took me a while to figure out exactly what I was looking at. I'm all up for abstract, but I don't think you were going for that. Blending is important, but not to the point where it just looks like effects effects effects. Your stock has to be discernible. Otherwise, your liquifying is pretty hawt. Fourth One: The second version of this is actually quite gorgeous. The composition is solid and the idea behind it is nice. I can even see that you made an attempt at altering the light, which is always appreciated in my book. The text, though... Turn your anti-aliasing on, lol. I have some issues with the placement of the stock too, this tutorial would be a good read for you: http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6017/everyoneissomeonecopyqd1.png Fifth One: Very nice, actually. Considering you're just starting out this is really great. Something still does feel off about the text, but otherwise I don't have much of a problem with this. Sorry if I came off as kind of harsh. :c Hope this helped. Keep up the good work~
