Retribution

[quote name='Dregen']Jiggly I gotta say dude that looks awsome[/quote] [size=1]I'm sure Jiggyness likes the compliment, and it's a nice thing to say, but this is a request thread. Please don't post such things in here, rather, PM him so that you don't clutter up the thread. Thanks.[/size]

[QUOTE=scram x toots]I have made a mix for her before and she really liked these songs: "such great heights"(postal service)[/QUOTE] [size=1]I'd recommend [B]The District Sleeps Alone Tonight[/B] by them much more than Such Great Heights. It's slightly sad, but it picks up at the end and if she likes The Postal Service, she's going to love this song. [QUOTE]"i Miss You"(incubus)[/QUOTE] [b]Admiration, Aqueous Transmission,[/b] and [b]Wish You Were Here[/b] are all very good songs by Incubus. Admiration has a medium tempo, but it's definitely about loving someone and (again) it's sad. Aqueous Transmission has a more Japanese feel to it, much slower and relaxed, and not really sad. Check it out though. Wish You Were Here has a medium tempo and heavier guitars than all the other songs I've mentioned thus far. [QUOTE]"run"(snow patrol)[/QUOTE] Great pick.[/size]

[size=1][IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/des.jpg[/IMG] Congrats, bossguy.[/size]

[quote name='sikaurai']I'm finding posts like these very helpful, because I'm kind of embarrassed to ask other Otakuites how they achieve such professional results in their art.[/quote] [size=1]Don't be. Digital art is an extremelly challenging media to become proficient in, and everyone acknowledges that. No one is going to laugh at you, because everyone else at one point or another was a beginner too. [QUOTE]For instance, what exactly is GIMP, and how do you obtain it?[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.gimp.org/]GIMP[/url] is a program sophisticated enough where you can create decent digital art. However, it is minimal and simplistic when compared to Photoshop in terms of function. Additionally, GIMP is free software, whereas Photoshop is very expensive. If you're interested in just seeing what digital art is like, I'd recommend GIMP to you. However, once you reach a certain point, the program's simplicity will become more of a hinderance than anything else. [QUOTE]And as for Photoshop, I heard that it is a very hard program to master. . . is there such a thing as an online tutorial? Trial and error, on such an expensive software package, would be kind of frustrating, wouldn't it?[/QUOTE] Indeed, it is a very hard program to master. I've been at it for almost two years, and you can see my skill level in my art thread. To my knowledge, there is no online tutorial because there is no feasible way to write a tutorial on such an expansive and sophisticated program. Trial and error, coupled with use of tutorials teaching them specific effects, is the way most people learned the ins and outs of the program. Here's a personal example. I got Photoshop about two years ago, and immediately wanted to create amazing art. It didn't happen, because that's like trying to draw a cityscape when you haven't mastered two point perspective. So I decided "If I want to make that effect, I'd better look up a tutorial on it." I did, and after repeating that last step and following the tutorials, I slowly accumulated knowledge on how Photoshop works. As I got better, I realized I could combine steps from other tutorials to create unique effects, and by playing around even further, I got even better results. This was a long and painful process, amounting to about 3 months of pain. And let me tell you, the life of a Photoshop noob in an unsupportive environment is a hard one, but I think that's what ultimately pushed me to get better. But don't worry, we'll be here to help if you have any questions or concerns.[/size]

[size=1]I wouldn't recommend worrying too much about the career part of graphic design. Go to college, take some classes your freshman year, and if you enjoy it alot, consider majoring in it. Then go from there. In general, graphic design can be observed in the real world (Magazines are great) if you just open your eyes and look around you. Everything from that Pepsi can you just threw away to your school textbooks is graphic design. If you observe the elements of design from the professionals, you'll learn from the best. As for how to get good with Photoshop, I'd recommend [b][i]obtaining[/i][/b] ;) it and then just playing around in it. Try to emulate effects you like alot, and read alot of tutorials ([url=http://www.pixel2life.com][b]Pixel2Life[/b][/url] is great), no matter what they're about. The best way to learn is through trial and error. With that method, not only do you learn the effects you wanted, but you also learn all sorts of interesting tricks along the way. My final tip is to stick with it through thick and thin. It will be frustrating. At times you will just want to stop forever. Just know ahead of time that it's going to be a long, bumpy ride and it won't always be fun. It'll be months, possibly years before you're where you want to be. But don't give up, just strive to get better than you were yesterday.[/size]

[quote name='Pumpkin][SIZE=1']Oh I'm sure when men see women with curves the first thing that comes to their minds is childbearing. :animeswea [/size][/quote] [size=1]I'm gonna be completely honest. Subconsciously, the guy thinks about having sex and leaving when he sees an extremely hot girl. This is an instinctive urge so that more humans are born. Of course, a man wouldn't want to waste time on a woman who would appear infertile (old, unattractive possibly due to diseases) when he could have sex with a girl who has a higher probability to bear his children. But of course, no sane guy consciously wants a kid when he first sees a girl. Heh. [QUOTE][size=1]I have to disagree with Retribution when I say [i]personality can make you appear attractive[/i]. He stood out to me because of his awesome personality. I've known lots of guys to date girls who I've thought also we're highly unattractive.[/size][/QUOTE] You're partially right. My main thrust is that personality cannot add what is not there. For instance, if you look ugly but you have a pretty cool personality, most will not be able to get past the physical component. Granted, if you're average or decent looking, a personality can push you over the edge and into the clear, but no amount of personality can compensate for a total lack of a body/face. But take my word for a grain of salt. I speak only for myself.[/size]

[quote name='White']Yeah it's too bad you don't have cat. They're much better. ;)[/quote] [size=1]catsftw. I won't begin my anti-dog rant, though. [QUOTE]I also admit that I'm shocked that Retri's femininity wasn't 100. Something must have gone wrong when he was doing the quiz. Zing! :bdance:[/QUOTE] Ignoring the fact that my masculinity was higher than yours, and your femininity was higher than mine. Zing! [/size] :p

[quote name='Red 6][COLOR=Sienna']If by 'Are you superficial,' 'Do you care what you look like?' then the answer is a definate and resounding no. Seriously, I don't care, at all. I have one pair of pants - a 2-year old pair of tattered track pants - that I wash every week or so. I wear unironed button shirts with bent collers. I have 3-year old, incredibly foul-smelling shoes with holes in the toe and a missing sole. My hair is greasy and rarley washed, and I generally smell like someone who pays little heed to hygein.[/COLOR][/quote] [size=1]Soap + hot water = your friends. [QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna]And your question confuzzles me. If you were dirty, wouldn't you smell 'bad,' and if you were clean, wouldn't you smell 'good'? Although, in answer to your question, I would prefer to smell bad and be clean because I like to be offensive to at least one sense at all times.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] I believe he means either philosophically clean v. dirty. If you "smell" clean, or people percieve you to be good/nice/clean, but you're really the opposite versus people percieve you to be ugly/dirty, but you're really nice.[/size]

[size=1]You can have a stunning personality, but if you look horrid, I'm not even to consider you romantically. I think it's that way for most folks even if they don't want to admit it. However, it's natural and healthy to think that way. Our (men's) minds naturally tend towards those with smooth skin, indictative of health, and curves, indictative of childbearing ability. But don't go overboard with it. Just caring about looks can put you in a world of trouble. I'm willing to say that looks matter more than personality. For instance, if someone had just an amazing personality but looked outright disgusting, no one would even go near them. However, if someone looked like a goddess and was actually a serious *****, no one would care. She'd be the toast of the town, with all the guys fawning over her. If I could just pull out some pseudo-math, if personality=100% and looks=0% in a person, that person will be unappealing at best. If personality=0% but looks=100%, they will recieve attention. This can only mean that looks have subconscious priority in choosing a partner. I think I'd rather smell clean and be dirty than be clean but smell dirty. Most of what matters is people's perception of you, and as long as they percieve you to be clean that's basically all that matters. If you're clean but smell dirty, no one's going to give you a chance to see if you're actually clean. They smell will drive them away. [/size]

[size=1]Fun stuff.[/size] [IMG]http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/output/motivator8533434.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/output/motivator9190722.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Shinje][color=crimson'] Since when can a website explode?[/color][/quote] [size=1]Oh, c'mon. No need to be a jerk. And if you are, at least be funny like Charles.[/size]

[quote name='Raiyuu][FONT=Trebuchet MS]I've been waiting for someone to post Angelina, because I [i]just do not see it[/i']. So many people list her - do none of you see that she looks like a fish?[/font][/quote] [size=1]You shall perish, for you are a heretic. [IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=25819[/IMG] Natalie Portman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Keira Knightly, Jessica Alba, Hyori, they all make my list too. [QUOTE=Shinmaru] [b]Vanessa Lengies[/b] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v388/Shinmaru/Vanessa_Lengies.jpg[/IMG] I was watching [b]Ghost Whisperer[/b] earlier this evening, and Vanessa impressed me with her guest spot in the episode. Her character is sort of cliche (young woman pining for her lost first love), but she is very sweet and strong in the role; she definitely caught my eye tonight (now if only she starred in films and whatnot that I actually [i]want[/i] to see! lol). Her pretty smile in that picture (and many others) did a great job of catching my eye, too, haha. She's a beautiful gal.

[size=1]Please note that we cannot help you [I]at all[/I] until you post pictures for us to critique. You might be making the same mistakes over and over again, but we just don't know.[/size]

[size=1]Thanks for the comments. Here's a random logo I made tonight after about an hour's worth of tossing around typography designs. If you ask me it's rather boring, but I have trouble adding symbols/icons without it looking cheesy. Pointers welcome. [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/echologo.jpg[/IMG] Experimental photography ftw. [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/webshotfour.jpg[/IMG][/size]

[quote name='jigglyness']You are not allowed to 'call dibs' just to let you know.[/quote] [size=1]Yes, you're right. But you're not a moderator, either, so please don't act like it. [quote name='Sara][color=#b0000b][size=1]Why not? It's not like you can stop anyone else from making something, and the person whom the avatars are for will just pick the ones they want, anyway. "Calling" doesn't [i]do[/i] anything important, so there's no reason to disallow it.[/size'][/color][/quote] The reason it's disallowed is because [i]it doesn't do anything important.[/i] It's an unnecessary post that denotes you somehow have more claim over the request than another, and last I checked, OB didn't welcome unnecessary posts. This honestly wasn't a big deal to begin with, and the modding/reprimands didn't help. If you have any further problems about this, please take it up with me via PM. Thank you.[/size]

[quote name='Ima']I will agree with Retri that you by far had the best looking butterfly and overall feel, but it did not capture the whole "freedom" feel.[/quote] [size=1]There was no theme, and if that's what you were looking for, you are mistaken. Sara's doesn't even attempt to capture freedom, so how could you fault her for that?[/size]

[size=1][B][url=http://www.personaldna.com/report.php?k=rXoQIrrBUmiQvcg-HJ-ACAAD-0adc&u=bd2b313b8cd1]Genuine creator.[/url][/B] I'd say it's pretty accurate. Of course there are slight faults, but no test is perfect (although this test is definitely getting there). I think I'd most disagree with the Authoritarianism result as being high, or perhaps I'm just a wanna-be rebel without a cause... which would be odd, as I hate rebels without causes. By the way, that quiz's interface was pretty awesome. I've never seen a quiz like that.[/size]

[size=1]Dude, give it up. You're caught. I took screenshots of your profile (both MySpace and OtakuBoards) so that in case you modify your profile to feign innocence, I've got evidence. That, and he got the right school. I referenced your page to find your school (which will remain undisclosed), and he got it on the money. We'll be doing follow up calls in the morning to make sure your school's office took him seriously. Crime doesn't pay.[/size]

[quote name='MoyakuKeramushe']I second (or is it third, or fourth) that!! Although the ability of anyone to do that mildly scares me.[/quote] [size=1]Eh, he used his MySpace link provided to the public in his profile. In retrospect it was a rather simple move. But I still must commend John for actually following through with it. I know I probably would've given an apathetic shrug had I thought about turning him in.[/size]

[quote name='John']I called them this morning, and their vice principal should be informed on the situation now.[/quote] [size=1]Dude, [B]PWNAGE[/B]. I second John as Captain of the Super Otaku Force. Can I be part of it guys? Please? ;_; I relish the justice that has been dealt, especially after losing my digital camera recently. I wish that if someone had found it, they'd return it to me (if they knew it was mine, anyway) instead of just keeping it. I also hope you have the same predicament, and you instead lose something. You'll see how it feels then.[/size]

[quote name='DeadSeraphim][size=1][color=indigo][font=arial]Just don't forget that for every band you love from back then there's twenty more with wash-downed, soulless, one hit wonders, just like for all the wash-downed, soulless, one hit wonders today, there [i]is[/i] amazing artists who do amazing things with their music.[/font][/color'][/size][/quote] [size=1]I agree [i]wholeheartedly[/i] with DeadSeraphim. How odd, how rare. I personally like avant garde artists who try new things out. Radiohead (oh, and Mogwai too) jumps to mind first, but I'm sure there are others who get their feet wet so to speak, and dive into the musical deep end. I will readily admit, though, that it has been hard finding new and innovative music out there. I guess I'm more exposed to the mainstream and I'm not really sure where to begin my search aside from last.fm. Let's just hope the music of the future isn't unadulterated techno.[/size]

[size=1]First of all, separate Iran and Israel from one another in your mind. They aren't really in conflict. Israel is in conflict with Lebanon. The US is unhappy with Iran for continuing their nuclear program. Second of all, try to read the news on a regular basis. Wikipedia would be a great start to get you all caught up on what's going on, as the information is relatively accurate and condensed (so you can catch up quickly). After you feel you've got a good grasp on what happened, try keeping up with [b][url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/]BBC News[/url][/b] or [b][url=http://www.nytimes.com/]The New York Times[/url][/b]. Both are very high quality news sources and relatively free from bias (BBC is excellent in terms of neutrality, and Fox News is a big no). Hope that helped.[/size]

[quote name='Lunox][color=dimgray']I'll admit that I've forgotten about Katrina. I know that it happened and that it was horrible, but like most things, people forgot about it and stopped caring. I don't even know how reconstruction is going, but I'm sure it's in need of help. [/color][/quote] [size=1]Yeah, I must admit I had forgotten about Katrina too. Reconstruction is going very slowly and poorly, unfortunately. I watched the 60 Minutes special on it this last Sunday, and the pictures were certainly not encouraging. Some areas of New Orleans looked exactly as they did a month after Katrina struck. I think DK touched all the points I was about to hit. It's absolutely disgusting that FEMA is halfassing their relief efforts; as if it wasn't disgusting enough that they don't budge because those primarily affected were black and poor. I bet if Katrina hit Orange County, California, there'd be relief and reconstruction immediately.[/size]

[size=1]I'm going to vote for [B]Eclipse[/B] here. [b]Eclipse[/b], your piece was pretty good. While your fire could use some crispness/vividness to it, the composition and simplicity really are what get my vote. The fire itself works well in relation to the lightbulb, in my opinion. And while I think your text could also use some jazzing up, it works well enough with this. [b]Xra[/b], you had an interesting concept, but a poor execution of it. I think your two biggest problems are that 1) it's way too busy and chaotic in the bad way, and 2) your typography is weak. In relation to 1, there's too many formulas, a picture of Einstein, and a lightbulb all fighting for the center and it doesn't work out well. In relation to 2, you basically tried biting off more than you could chew. I mean that in the respect that you really don't need to have a lengthy quote; they're more trouble than they're worth. It's hard to work in huge blocks of text. And as a general rule of thumb, Comic Sans MS is [i]always[/i] the wrong font choice to make. ...Sorry if I sounded overly negative there. I honestly didn't mean to. [b]Kitty[/b], I'm not gonna lie; yours was pretty good. Compositionally speaking, it was the best of the three, as was your typography. However I don't think the stars were a good choice for this piece, and neither does the motion blur on the lightbulb. I understand you wanted it to look dynamic/interesting and not so plain (or so I assume), but it was at the expense of much-valued clarity and crispness. Very good battle though.[/size]

[size=1]I vote for [b]Ezekiel[/b]. Jay, I felt that your piece looks very polished and well done in terms of both effects and design. Everything is graphically sound save those intrusive white lines. I think the idea is a great one, but white is too noticeable, and the lines are too great in number. I personally would've gone a different route on the border, but aside that, great job. The background (very harsh contrast, nice) is awesome, you worked in that icon pretty well, and the typography is amazing. [b]Katana[/b], wonder concept there. The stock you used is brilliant, but the icon doesn't flow well with the fire coming from the gun. I'd recommend rotating it so that the point of the triangle flows with the blast from the gun (if you see what I'm saying). The sprinkle-looking stars don't really fit in the piece with a fired gun and a fire icon. The last thing (I know it's nitpicking) is the grid overlay on the fire, which I thought to be unnecessary and rather confining to the flow of things. In retrospect, why are we voting when both of you are on the same team? Is this some sort of point-garnering thing, White?[/size]