Tips and Tricks?

[Maxisback]

I know that I personally like being creative, but always have a deterrent.
Beginning this school year, I was introduced to Photoshop, and have
tinkered with it profoundly, but have not found all of its tweaks,
shortcuts, or tricks when it comes to making amazing works of art
like the ones I see on people's signatures.

So my question is this: are there any little hints, tips, tricks, etc. that anyone
has that might benefit not just me, but the community? I would think that I'm
not the only one that aspires to make a decent signature worth showing
to the rest of the world.

Note: I have seen various, almost countless, tutorials on Youtube, and only a very small percentage of them actually teach me anything. I've also read a lot of tutorials by other people.

Note2: If you're going to post something like

anybody here wanna e-date me?
or anything below that, please don't bother posting.

[Chris]

soooooooooooo guys, anyone wanna edate me? ;D

[Innovation]

Well if you want to improve, the best thing to do is let people critique your work. That way you can know which areas you need more developing on (:

[cadacus_ater]

If you are really wanting to improve, consider joining an online graphic arts community, in addition to making things and submitting them for critique. Also, if you haven't already, search for tutorials on using photoshop in addition to general sig and technique tutorials. Knowing all your shortcuts will help you do things faster as well, and if need be, try to add additional shortcuts when needed. I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that, I use GIMP, which is hard to find good tutorials for unless you know where to look. Joining a graphic arts forum helped me with this and led me to more informative and useful tutorials, reducing my search time.

[ReknoWunzz]

If you are really wanting to improve, consider joining an online graphic arts community, in addition to making things and submitting them for critique. Also, if you haven't already, search for tutorials on using photoshop in addition to general sig and technique tutorials. Knowing all your shortcuts will help you do things faster as well, and if need be, try to add additional shortcuts when needed. I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that, I use GIMP, which is hard to find good tutorials for unless you know where to look. Joining a graphic arts forum helped me with this and led me to more informative and useful tutorials, reducing my search time.

Yeaa GIMP is good or download Picasa 3.

You can also buy Adobe Photoshop CS5.

[CyrStalAFX]

^_^

[Shinji]

I use paint :<

[Derp]

Play around with different pictures with different color tones.
and play around with the filters ( upper options )
you'll prgress overtime q.q

[Maxisback]

I have noticed my progress throughout the last month.
And so, I have come to this main point:
Messing around with Photoshop (or GIMP, which I had for a while)
and learning little things can help you make good stuff.

So, I would like criticism on the work that follows:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/VenomSig1.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/NewProto9Fem.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/CODBeta2.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/C4DTake.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/NewSig2.png

Those are what I have on Photobucket, and a few of them are not completely finished.
Anyway, that's what I have as of today, please help me by giving me pointers and what-not.

[cheesedip]

I use paint :<
dayyymmmm me tooh brah!

[cadacus_ater]

I have noticed my progress throughout the last month.
And so, I have come to this main point:
Messing around with Photoshop (or GIMP, which I had for a while)
and learning little things can help you make good stuff.

So, I would like criticism on the work that follows:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/VenomSig1.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/NewProto9Fem.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/CODBeta2.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/C4DTake.png

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/max331/NewSig2.png

Those are what I have on Photobucket, and a few of them are not completely finished.
Anyway, that's what I have as of today, please help me by giving me pointers and what-not.

Curious, but are you saving your work as .png? It is better than .jpg at preserving image quality (though it does create larger files). It also allows transparency to be displayed.
But I digress....

Venom:
I like this one the most, but I have a few issues with it. Main one is the text is nearly illegible. Also it looks a little too bright or washed out in some areas, contrast could be improved, and depth might need a little work, especially for the parts of Venom that are supposed to be farther away, you might want to blur and/or smudge them a bit to make them look 'farther away'. It's something to consider.

Prototype:
While I don't see as many issues with it, it seems a little flat, and some areas seem a bit washed out still, especially around the head of the staff. If you were trying to go for lighting around the staff's head, you might try reworking at it. It looks alright in general though.

Soldier:
I don't like the bars on the sig, the purple light ray is out of place with the rest of the sig, and the back looks too white. Additionally, the lines in the background on the right edge could stand to be smoother. The idea is nice, though you might want to make the background more than a great white flash.

C4D:
Looks like it could be really cool, and it's not too bad right now, but some areas look pixelated. Again I'm not a fan of boarders in general.

Cabal Sig:
The C4D in the back has too many colors in it, making it clash with the rest of the sig. There is some pixelation again, and try to lose the border.

Hope this is of some help to you. It takes time to make a good sig (I'm still learning to myself). Just keep at it! There are some very good tutorials out there if you know where to look. But sometimes, the problem is in execution. Even when you know what you should be doing, sometimes it doesn't come out quite right. Gotta keep practicing.

[infiCathi]

Curious, but are you saving your work as .png? It is better than .jpg at preserving image quality (though it does create larger files). It also allows transparency to be displayed.
But I digress....

Venom:
I like this one the most, but I have a few issues with it. Main one is the text is nearly illegible. Also it looks a little too bright or washed out in some areas, contrast could be improved, and depth might need a little work, especially for the parts of Venom that are supposed to be farther away, you might want to blur and/or smudge them a bit to make them look 'farther away'. It's something to consider.

Prototype:
While I don't see as many issues with it, it seems a little flat, and some areas seem a bit washed out still, especially around the head of the staff. If you were trying to go for lighting around the staff's head, you might try reworking at it. It looks alright in general though.

Soldier:
I don't like the bars on the sig, the purple light ray is out of place with the rest of the sig, and the back looks too white. Additionally, the lines in the background on the right edge could stand to be smoother. The idea is nice, though you might want to make the background more than a great white flash.

C4D:
Looks like it could be really cool, and it's not too bad right now, but some areas look pixelated. Again I'm not a fan of boarders in general.

Cabal Sig:
The C4D in the back has too many colors in it, making it clash with the rest of the sig. There is some pixelation again, and try to lose the border.

Hope this is of some help to you. It takes time to make a good sig (I'm still learning to myself). Just keep at it! There are some very good tutorials out there if you know where to look. But sometimes, the problem is in execution. Even when you know what you should be doing, sometimes it doesn't come out quite right. Gotta keep practicing.

those are png's. o.o

[Innovation]

I'm kind of just adding on to Cadacus. Don't take my criticism too harshly.
I think your sigs are decent, but sometimes they clash.

1st one has a nice effect, but it just looks kind of weird, in a sense. You have this vicious monster, and a.. gentle, calm background. I the components, but they just don't go together. You can improve this by lets say, changing the background into a darker/grungier design.

The next couple are not bad, but it's the text that throws me off. You don't ALWAYS have to make your text stand-out or flashy kind of thing. You have to see if it goes with the whole picture. For example, in the first & second one, the effect you used for the text is horrible. Get rid of the shadow and bevel and gradient and w/e else you used. It's a bit too much. For me, I prefer not to even touch the bevel and emboss layer style (but that's just me, some other people can work with it well). The point is, make your text collaborate with the sig. Sometimes simplicity is good too.

Hope this helped ^^

[Maxisback]

Thanks a lot to you guys :)
I actually did think Venom was MY personal favorite, but I didn't know where else to go with the "concept" of blue.
Prototype isn't done either, so I might just redo the text and see what fits.

Again, thank you all! :)

[Error]

Imo you're overusing layer effects(such as outline, emboss, bevel, etc) to make it stick out more than the focus/render. It's also not advised to place your text so far away from your focal or in a corner unless of course, you know what you're doing. And you don't always have to have a border or such a thick one, try to open up your canvas a bit as well.

[Xiju]

hi my name is xi

[LeʇhalHeart]

hi my name is xi

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/WiII_photos/eatsht.jpg