I can't give you much advice because I don't really make things like this and don't know how to use GIMP. But I can tell you that I find the bottom one looks plain (though the left side of it is really nice, the squiggles on the right are kind of fat to me). The one on top is nice but it's reallly hard to tell what's what on the person because there's so much smoke and stuff. The right side of her just dissappears, and in a weird way to. Persoanlly I like the bottom one more (that's my opinion).
in the first one her right side kind of disappears in a wied way like katsquatch klone said, and its kind of smokier on the right side, which makes the left side empty looking. the second one is better. maybe you can continue the sqiggle from the right onto the left, but smaller and behind him. i like the second one more.
The first one really, was just a try on what I've seen people do. Normally I would put everything on 1 layer, but this time I put it on around 6. Made things easier. But the second one, I did the same thing, except alterring some things. I'm still in the proccess of uncovering stuff about GIMP, I'm no expert, so...yeah. I don't really see how the left side can look so empty, if one was to smudge it as much as I did the right side (which I admit I went overboard with XD), then it'd be nothing but the render smudged to its fullest. You gotta admit the background is kind of pretty to look at. The second one I don't like so much myself. But thanks for your opinions.
GOOD!!! 1 layer = Bad...very bad Anyway, don't listen to them the sigs are both great for how long you've been doing this, and in fact, the only thing I think you're missing is a light source, (In both), and some sharpening layers. In the first one, there isn't much depth, but colors are perty. There is a flow, which is good. The text could still use a lot of work, but we can't expect much from someone so new too this. (I didn't get really good at text till a few months ago). Finally, I'd suggest some sort of border for the first one, maybe a 1 pixel all around border. (Black pls) Hmmm...and for the second one, I'd suggest making the cinema borders smaller. They're too thick and take up too much of the sig. There's good depth in this sig, but it could be better. I'd suggest adding a few more of those line things, only a few coming from the bottom of the sig. Then after that, play around with the blur and sharpen tools to add to the depth. Yet again, a lighting source would be wonderful.
Cin pretty much said it all. Anyway, start using more layers. It'll improve your sigs by a lot. Read up on some tutorials; if you want I'll message you with a great site for them.
The more the layers, the easier to edit just in case of a mistake. I use a 5 layers at the most, sometimes more thabn that when it's really hard both signature gets a 10 from me
Most of the people already said what you need to fix. The first one is used from a vector? It seems like it. The text should be a better. I see you started smudging, that's good. The second one's quality is a bit low. Remember to always sharpen, most sigs look good in that. The lines could be a bit more vibrant imo. And always use many layers. New layer ftw. My gimp sigs usually end up in the 25 layer range.
Thanks for your help guys. Yeah, the new layer thing is helping me a lot. Yesh, only been doing this kind of stuff for about a month now, so I'm pretty new to it. I'm working with the light source, and text is hard for me to understand. I've been looking at some tuts lately, but I'm not following them that much. Just some guidelines and help, really. But thanks for your help and comments. Appreciate it.
If you keep at graphics, you may very well become pro, way sooner than lot's of people. Cause, for a month of gfx, this is really good. Well, try sharpening up your tags, and I say experiment with clipping masks. If you need help on making clipping masks, pm me. And read up on some tutorials that deal with lighting, coloring, and depth.