Rate the Signature Above!

[cadacus_ater]

Ooo is that who I think it is?
9.9/10 (character bonus points)

@ infiCathy: Nooo I lost the game again! D:

[infiCathi]

D:< I wanna say 8/10 'cause of the cutting on the char.

<--- sux at it. xD so badly. x_X hardest part for me.

prettiest way the thingy gets shown~?

[cadacus_ater]

I like the first one best, the text is easier to read under the black line.
I agree with you that cutting (or rendering) is easily the hardest part of the process. After that is lighting and color. (those two kill my results more than anything else after rendering X_X)

For those who were curious on how I cut the character...

After trying a few different rendering methods, from color selection to layer masks, I've settled on using the pen tool (paths) to make my edges as neat as possible and an occasional use of the eraser and clone tool to do small touch-up work. I think these techniques work the same way in Photoshop, but in GIMP I make the entire path for the cut I want to make, then I curve specific segments of the path where needed to make it cleaner. Zooming in to as much as 400-800% helps with this, but sometimes you'll want to refer to your original stock at 100% zoom to help make sure you cut it right and that you aren't confusing background elements with elements of the render.

After you make your cut, look for areas you might have messed up and either patch them with the clone tool, looking to make sure the pixels you paste match with the area you are patching, or trim them with the eraser (or another path if you need to). Rendering takes time, practice, and patience (I still have room for improvement). It helps if you have pictures of your subject from multiple angles to reference. Of course, you should try to check your render against a few different solid color backgrounds, (usually a black one and a white one; I also use a green one sometimes) to make sure your edges look good.

[CyrStalAFX]

[mu0731n]

wall 'o text on rendering

My method is taking a brush, with about ~85% hardness and just following the edges. Adjusting brush size when need be. The 15% feather makes it so some of the 'little mistakes' go unnoticed since it sorta just blends in with a slight opaqueness to it. Its my "50% effort for 90% quality" method. I use yours (paths) when i really want to make it look sharp.

[cadacus_ater]

8.5/10 for them both.
Some parts of the hair look like they could be a little better cut, seem a little jagged for some reason, but other than that, they are sweeeeet

And your current one looks great.
9.5/10

[WiPwns2]

4/10

[CyrStalAFX]

test spot ^_^

[Hash]

definitely 10/10 .. just cos its cyrs ^_^

[CyrStalAFX]