Retribution

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange']I don't think easily really is a good way to describe recovering sonfidence. a lot of these advices skip a few important steps. The whole initial problem was that he can't start conversations -- why tell him to when the whole point is that he can't?[/COLOR][/quote][size=1]Speaking to people is easy, no matter which way you slice it. All it consists of is opening your mouth and vocalizing. He's just not really sure of himself, and he can easily remedy that as well. I mean 'easy' as in his problem has a relatively quick solution to it. The whole point of telling him to start conversations when he isn't doing that is because [i]that's all there is to it.[/i] What would you rather have me tell him? He has one solution to his problem, and that's to start talking to people he doesn't know very well. You can't develop social skills without doing that. I skip important steps because socializing isn't a paint-by-numbers sort of thing. We can't hold his hand, we can't really coach him, and so step-by-step guidance is a waste. At a certain point he has to suck it up and deal with the awkwardness and talk. I suggested he have a friend with him because it helps with the whole social anxiety thing, but either way he's going to have to take charge in that conversation, be it with or without a friend for if he doesn't, he's not getting any better! [quote name='medafunk']I've been trying to do that, and sofar have not been successful.[/quote]Try harder is the only advice I can give to you. You have to move past your fear. Talking to new people is outside your comfort zone is uncomfortable (dur) but you have to do it. There's no quick and easy, no corners to cut on this. You work up the courage, walk over, and talk. Be amiable, listen, actively participate in the conversation. Relate to what they're saying, smile a lot, and maybe toss in a compliment. But really folks, just suck it up and get out there.[/size]

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange']What you have, I believe, is an inferiority complex -- something I suffer from as well. [/COLOR][/quote] [size=1]Judging from what cancer typed, you are absolutely wrong. Inferiority complex is when you feel [i]inferior[/i] to other people, not shy or awkward. All he needs to do is force himself to talk to people and eventually he'll feel more comfortable in social situations. Cancer, I think your fear stems from lack of experience, and because of that lack you're just not feeling all that sure of yourself. It's no big deal, and you can fix it pretty easily. I'd recommend you get a good friend to introduce you to new people. It takes the difficulty out of starting the conversation (ex: "I've known _____ for ____ years, how'd you know him?") and there's a crutch there for you. Don't feel like you need to dive into the deep end, wading is just fine.[/size]

[size=1]How is the guy's personality? If he's as annoying as you say he is to everyone, then you [i]want[/i] him and Sue to spend more time together. Odds are she'll see how much of a prick he is, and will be repulsed. That tactic never fails for me. But you have to be sure she's not going to like him. If you don't want to take that gamble and instead want to hop into the action now (I personally think you should wait, but if you have an itchy trigger finger...) then you [b]really[/b] need to talk to this other fellow. Tell him the following things. - You still want to be his friend, and he's a really cool guy. Stress this. - You like the same girl as him. He'll invariably ask what you want to do, and be upfront about your motives. Tell him that if he doesn't get his **** together, you're moving in because like it or not, he has zero ownership of or entitlement to Sue. Depending on how mature he is and how you phrase it, you could either murder your friendship or strike understanding. For the love of god, don't talk to him. Just sit back, be nice to her, and let him have his chance. If you can be sure he'll make a fool of himself and she won't like him enough to consider him romantically, then let it go for now. Once he has his chance and messes it up, he has no right to be mad.[/size]

[size=1]Let him keep trying if you're confident she has no feelings for him. Does Andy know you dissuaded Sue from liking him? If not, just be the neutral party so that he can't really harbor animosity towards you when Sue goes for you. If so, well, you've already screwed that friendship up and you've got nothing to lose.[/size]

[quote name='fire_fly52']i think what they called you heartless for is you voice your oppion like that in their time of need. they were just looking for someone to be sad with.[/quote] [size=1]Precisely. It's always tactless to come off as apathetic in someone's time of need. Really, all you need to do is be there for the person because that's all they're looking for. "lol idc" is the worst message you can send someone in their time of need. Next time, instead of being kind of distant, at least [i]act[/i] sad, nod a lot, frown, and say "Wow, sorry to hear that."[/size]

[QUOTE=Nerdsy][color=deeppink]Facts are information, and they're being used to prove a point. That's propaganda. [URL=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/propaganda]Here's the definition if you don't believe me.[/URL] Just because its propaganda doesn't mean it's can't be true. ; )[/color][/QUOTE][quote name='Dictionary.com']information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.[/quote][size=1]From that, I would argue that scientists saying "drugs are harmful" is not propaganda. They have no agenda, they are not spreading this information to harm or help a group. They are simply reporting their findings. Sorry. [QUOTE][color=deeppink]A person not paying attention to the road might kill somebody. Does that make driving imoral?[/color][/QUOTE] No, but it makes not paying attention while driving 'immoral'. Likewise, driving while high doesn't make driving immoral, but driving while under the influence. [QUOTE][color=deeppink]Making it legal would probably help subdue drug-related crime (much like re-legalizing alcohol stopped a lot of criminal behavior caused by prohibition in the US), and I personally wouldn't call prostitution immoral either. However, I know that's not a widely held opinion, and I'd rather not discuss that here. I don't have any idea what legalizing it would do for the land value.[/color][/QUOTE] That's the problem with calling something 'immoral'. That's not the debate here, really. It's whether or not these behaviors are detrimental to yourself and society at large. And we're not here to debate the pros and cons of legalization either, but that would be fun.[/size]

[quote name='Nerdsy][color=deeppink']Just so you know, that's still propaganda, just like most of this thread. My post included.[/color][/quote] [size=1]As far as I can tell, Rachmaninoff's posts were not propaganda as they are supported by the majority of the scientific community with fact (or as close as we can be to them at this point). [QUOTE][color=deeppink]I simply don't see how taking drugs, even the most self-damaging ones, is immoral. [/color][/QUOTE] A number of reasons. Most notable is that these drugs cause violent or irrational behavior in the user, to the point where their judgment is severely impaired. That opens the door for any number of scenarios were innocent parties can be harmed or killed. Additionally, selling contraband on the streets seriously screws a neighborhood. With illegal drugs come the crime and prostitutes. The land value plummets as well.[/size]

[size=1]I never really understood why pride was a sin, or why chastity was a virtue. In any event, I think I'm mostly an envious and vain person. I don't see it as a problem though, because those sentiments don't really rule my behavior to the point of negativity. And everyone is very restrained and composed. It's a social status-quo we tacitly uphold.[/size]

[size=1]Hey Vash_trigun, it's not really a rule, but if you link to the picture you'd like to see in your signature more artists will try to help. Just a quick suggestion I thought I'd give to you. Take it easy![/size]

[size=1]I'm personally very impressed with your work, 1nOnlyCloud. Great job. If you ever get the time and feel like doing a step-by-step tutorial, I'm sure it'd benefit many of the artists here. NIKI, please don't post your own work in someone else's thread. If you'd like to show your own work, create your own thread instead of hijacking 1nOnlyCloud's. And everyone, please no tutorial begging. This thread should be for constructive criticism and praise of the artist's work, not just "how'd you do it?".[/size]

[size=1]Hey artisticpoet, I'm going to move this to the Manga Workshop where you'll be more likely to receive help. In the future, though, post these kinds of things there. Thanks![/size]

[size=1]I'm going to have a hard enough time paying off my massive student loans, finding a job and affordable housing without going into the red, let alone get a mil before I retire.[/size]

[size=1]That has zero bearing on the debate at hand. You asserted that people will always find a way to harm others, regardless of weapon restriction/regulation. The fact of the matter is, things like school shootings wouldn't be possible without firearms. Essentially, the damage would be limited by the limited weaponry.[/size]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']Even if we take all the guns away, I wonder if it would stop people who feel driven to hurt others, I wonder if they would simply find another means to harm people. So that's really what has me the most shocked over this. The trying to understand the thought process that lead them to such a violent solution.[/quote] [size=1]A man is angry and fed up with the world and decides he just wants to hurt as many people as possible before dying. Scenario 1: Man gets a semi-automatic weapon and ammo, goes to a mall during peak business hours and opens fire. Many are killed (let's say he kills 20, which isn't tough to do in a mall), while hundreds are wounded. Mall police with their pistol sidearms have a time of taking the man down, but can do it before the SWAT need to be called. Scenario 2: Man can only obtain a machete and maims 5 people before being taken down in a hail of bullets. Is there really a debate here?[/size]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']I understand what you are saying Retribution, but the fact that things like this happen doesn't mean that the people or the authorities aren't working on fixing the factors that contribute to it.[/quote] [size=1]I get what you mean, but every time a highly tragic school shooting occurs, there's this moral-panic-inspired debate over gun control, when in fact this debate shouldn't have needed a shooting to spark it.[/size]

[quote name='White][COLOR=DimGray][FONT=Tahoma]I like looking and smelling good. I like being complimented on how I look by girls because they have good taste in fashion (of course).[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [size=1]Ditto on that one. I've succumbed to more than a few gender stereotypes that have shape who I am, so I assume if I were a girl I would be a stereotypical one. And I think I'd be a maneater, w00t.[/size]

[quote name='Lunox][color=dimgray'] *head/desk*[/color][/quote] [size=1]Yeah, I thought of you when this thread was posted. I guess since we're all too lazy to redo our old pieces, this was more appealing. Sorry. :\[/size]

[quote name='NIKI12345']Make sure you don't claim others work as yours.[/quote][size=1]Not only that, but [b]give credit to the original artist and where you found it[/b]. I'll close the thread immediately if I see people post up random images with no credit -- I know I'd be livid if some random person posted my stuff on some random forum with no credit. I'm a bit reluctant to let this thread fly, but I'll give it a shot, as it's original.[/size]

[size=1]Nice thread, KW. [SIZE=4][FONT=Arial][B]OLD[/B][/FONT][/SIZE] I was never really a huge fan of filters, but I used a few of them here and there. I can't outline a specific way I made my older pieces, mostly because I explored quite a bit and read a bunch of tutorials. I tried to mimic artists I liked, styles I liked, but I got tired of looking like every other sig artist out there. The abstract backgrounds with glowing text and an anime stock on top really didn't satisfy me. I searched for something better, some way to improve without looking like everyone else. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/retribattle.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/sunburst.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/shinnbanner.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/sfbanner.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=4][FONT=Arial][B]NEW[/B][/FONT][/SIZE] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/retriava.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/set.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/naruto2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/etikrevol.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/enao.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/2.jpg[/IMG] I ended up just looking at what separated a good forum signature artist from a good magazine/television ad artist. The answer was simplicity. So I cut out as much of the crap as I possibly could, distilled my style, and cut out even more. There was no filters, no special effects present. There was simply text and color. Everything I did for quite a while was utilizing only text. If there were dotted lines in the piece, it was from hyphens. If a splash of color went across the piece, it was a super-enlarged letter. I became a minimalist, almost to a fault, and decided to incorporate more elements into it, the most prominent of which were colored bars and lines. It was ridiculously frustrating to get to this point. I once showed my work to an online acquaintance to get brutally honest feedback, and he told me I "was nothing special" and looked like everyone else, except worse. I am truly pleased with how I did not give up, how I ate the bitter words and used it all to better myself. I worked like a dog for my skill, spending hours just toying with Photoshop, learning the ins and outs, and not really seeking outside help. I suppose it would've been easier with a mentor to guide me, but those I sought help from were either too brutal and distant or about as good as I was. In total, I've been at GFX for about 3 years. The summer before last was probably when I made my jump from "old" to "new" style. And it always makes me smile when I impact other artists. And White, you've come a loooooooong way since your olden days.[/size]

[quote name='DeathKnight][color=crimson]Man I'd be smarter if this damn penis wasn't always getting in my way.[/color][/QUOTE][QUOTE=Baron Samedi][size=1]...guaranteed to make you friends and create ensured [B]e-penis growth[/B'].[/size][/quote][size=1]Way to ignore the obvious. Unless you were going for that lamely sarcastic joke... I'm a big fan of [b]Dagger[/b]. She doesn't really post too often anymore, but when she does it's either a very intelligent or funny post. Chatting on AIM is also fun... assuming you can get over your fear and borderline adoration of her.[/size]

[quote name='Aaryanna][COLOR=darkred']The real shock is that someone would kill so many people that they had never met, not that guns are dangerous. ^_~[/COLOR][/quote] [size=1]"Guns are dangerous" is not the shock, it is the realization many people come to after a spurt of violence. I'm saying it shouldn't take a spurt of violence to mobilize people against homicide and the factors that contribute to it.[/size]

[size=1]Open a book and copy down some interesting words. Use those words as a jumping-off point for your short story's concept. And don't limit your story to the plausible or realistic. A story about fruit vs vegetable genocide should never be out of bounds.[/size]

[size=1]Everyone notices the sensational killings. There was a sniper on the loose in the DC Metropolitan Area a few years ago, completely random killings. It lasted quite a while, and there were something like 20 casualties. But that's a pretty small number for this area. I think the DC Metro Area had something in the neighborhood of 300+ homicides that year, which is ridiculous per capita. All I'm saying is don't let the news fool you. Homicide is a very frequent occurrence. Just because it happens in a mall shouldn't affect your attitude towards such things. It shouldn't take a mall shooting to make you see the danger of guns. Hell, it happens several times a week over here.[/size]

[quote name='KoboyashiSumiko']Ummm yeah...uh not to be a meanie-jerk-face-butt-crack, but they kinda....lack quality? IM SO SORRY BUT ITS SO TRUE!!! :animedepr :animecry:[/quote] [size=1]Koboyashi, you can tell people what they could improve without being "mean". DecemberWolf did it perfectly -- they said what could be better and how it could be done rather than just saying "These aren't good." Please offer more constructive criticism in the future. Thanks.[/size]

[size=1]Well, it largely depends on what type of "complex" background you want to create. In KW's first signature you linked, you could easily achieve it through a Gaussian blurred picture and a color overlay. Below is a crude example of what you could do to mimic that effect: [b]Original Photo[/b] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/tutorial1.jpg[/IMG] [b]Upped Contrast and Color Balance[/b] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/tutorial2.jpg[/IMG] [b]Top layer Gaussian blurred and Overlayed over the original layer[/b] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/tutorial3.jpg[/IMG] Voila. As for her second signature, that's just a bunch of brushes and pattern overlays with a color balance tossed on top of it all. Experiment, read a bunch of tutorials, and try to incorporate those new techniques into your style. With practice, you'll get polished and original sigs. Don't be afraid to play around, fail, and start from square one again. Failure is inherent when you're learning something new. But do not give up because it's tough. Stick with it, good luck.[/size]