Art James's Banners

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE=1]The sentinal is very appealing, no not because its from the Matrix movies. It sets a sense of sadness, or possibly peace. I like how everything is blue yet the red is the only other color shown, but not too boldly, more faint.[/SIZE]

[Zen]

[QOUTE]

Kill Bill
[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/killbillbanner3.gif[/img]

[/QUOTE]

May I have permission to steal this banner?

[James]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Baron Samedi [/i]
[B]Heh... what I meant James, was to a state of perfection, where [i]you[/i] are happy about the banner. By saying that you didn't really like them and had rushed them, you obviously hadn't done that.

[/B][/QUOTE]

[color=#707875]I am happy with the banner. For a quick play around with a brush, I think it came out well. That is, apart from its stock image.

And Double_B...I guess you can use my banner, if you credit me with its creation. I'm usually very protective over proprietary stuff though (whether it's personal stuff, or OB/theOtaku related work). But eh. If you like it, I don't see why you can't use it.

I notice that Leh is using a banner I made for him, without crediting me. And that kinda sucks, not to be acknowledged for your work. So yeah, that's really my only requirement.

Hopefully I can post more banners up here at a later date.

[/color]

[Shizoku]

[COLOR=crimson]Those are cool banners, James what is the random image code? [/COLOR]

:whoops:

[James]

[color=#707875]Thanks, Shizoku. There is no code for random images...no vB code anyway. You need to set up random images on your own server using a PHP file.

And please, remove one of your banners. We only allow one at a time, per signature. I recommend that you read the rules before you continue posting.[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

Also James, you should put up your MarioKart banners as well.. I've seen a few, but you havn't included them here yet.

[James]

[color=#707875]I have a few more added to my rotation (and some removed) that I thought you guys might want to see on their own.

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/banneranime1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/JSR_Banner.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/tokyohighway.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/v7.gif[/img]

The last two relate to the next edition of OtakuBoards. ~_^

The final banner really messed up though; it was supposed to animate very quickly (the still parts are right...but the movement was meant to be faster and smoother). It looked fine in Animation Shop and I saved it with the exact same settings/timing/number of frames. Yet on the Internet, it seems to be slow.

Oh well. At least it's something. ~_^[/color]

[Syn]

The first two are nice, pretty much the same standard as all your banners.

The third....well....what the hell happened? Its...very ugly :/ I dont like it at all.

The 4th im undecided on, I dont like animation but I like the idea behind it, plus it gives is a little peak into the new OB.

So yeah, first two, nothing to complain about, third, ew, 4th, meh.

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]You know James, I feel really bad because I'm using the banner you made me and I haven't officially "credited" you for it. I didn't know you felt that way. :( I sowwy.[/color][/size]

[James]

[color=#707875]Heh, thanks for the comments. I think. ~_^

In response, I too was a bit iffy about the animated one. But I thought it'd be a nice little teaser. It's a shame that it didn't come out as smoothly as I had expected.

Regarding the Tokyo Highway banner...I don't know what to say really. It's a highway. You know, a road. So it's very simple. I like it, though I can see why you wouldn't.

But by the same token, I think that you have a very specific taste, Kaisuke. One of these days I might impress you by making a minimalist/high-tech image. I don't do it very often simply because I find it really boring; [i]everyone[/i] does it. It's very easy to do.

Mostly my banners are pretty much a case of mucking around with images and trying out different compositions. So you know, there is often no particular "design" to them you might say.

Still, I welcome the comments. And Tori...don't worry. It doesn't matter. I only dislike it when people request a banner from me specifically and use it/edit it without crediting me in some way. I feel that the creator should be credited with their work. But in your case I don't mind; I gave the image to you as a gift. So it wasn't something you really requested from me or used without my permission. ^_^[/color]

[Mimmsicle]

[COLOR=firebrick]All your banners are exquisite and aesthetically pleasing.
You have a very eloquent style and the banners pure simplicity makes them [i]even more[/i] eloquent. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=royalblue]The last banner made me look forward to[size=1] (and also built up my anticipation for)[/size] the next OB version. You tease, you ; )

The [i]"Tokyo Highway"[/i] really appealed to me. It comes off as saying nothing, but at the same time it transmits so much, that the brain can't comprehend. Thereby ruling it out as nothing.
When in fact there is soo much exuding [size=1](is that a word?)[/size] from it.
Emotions, thoughts. You name it, it delivers [i]*nods[/i]

The first banner [size=1](I decided not to go through them in order, makes for more fun)[/size] is really pretty. I don't know what else I can say... that wouldn't be a repetition of the "Tokyo Highway" comment ;p

The second banner is interesting. It comes off funky, fresh and innovative.
It looks like really good graffiti ^_^
Making the girl [size=1](?, you can never be sure ^_~)[/size] black and white took the edge out of it, made it more striking.
It'd be interesting to see it in color though, for comparison.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=firebrick]All in all, you make really sweet/pretty/smart banners. : )

- Mimmi[/COLOR]

[Ozzy J.]

Yuo are a very talented artist James, there are some great techniques you used to make those banners, like my favourite one.....

[img]http://www.otakuboards.com/banners/banneranime1.jpg[/img]

What is that picture off? It looks really cool, it reminds me of the anime chick on the old boards logo (pre christmas - pre registration)

Nice effects, keep up the coll artwork.

- Ozzy.

[Boo]

[color=gray]
The first one of these 4 is great. Took precisely the right part of the picture. Great job.

The second one is nice too, yet the gray untop of color disturbes me a lot. It just doesnt look right..

The third is nice too, but the text is standing a little too sharp out of the banner.

The fourth is well... eh... Dunno. The animation is nice, yet a little short. Ehm yeah...[/color]

[James]

[color=#707875]Here I am again, with a new banner. >=P

Basically, it's the one in my signature right now. But I'll paste it in the thread, anyway.

I didn't put my previous banner in the sig, because it was, more or less, only a cropped image with a custom border. This one has a little more done to it.

[center][img]http://www.otakuboards.com/jamesimages/clubhel.jpg[/img][/center]

[left] [/left]
[left]It's obviously inspired by Revolutions...but I wanted to do something a little different. I didn't really put a lot of thought into it; it was a spur of the moment design. But I did feel the need to do something different to my old banner, for sure.[/color][/left]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1][color=darkred]. I must say, that is pretty cool James. The attention to detail, such as the outlined [splodges] of white on it, the dots around the edge [how do you do that?] and a few other bits. I personally prefer a continuous border style, but your border actually is really effective. I would never have associated it with the Matrix series though, I must say. It looks good, but one thing I would do is bring the lines that make the bottle shape down so that they merge with the green border. Do you see what I mean? Just pull them up and down [respectively] and merge them. That might look better- I don't know. Overall though, not a bad banner.[/size][/color][size=1]

Aesthetics: 8/10
Technical: 8.5/10[/size]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

I know I've already said I really liked it James, but I didn't really express why. So I will now.

Its definetely alot diffrent than alot of your other works, but impressive. The oval desending into a rectangle is something I've never thought of, its unique. The border is actually my favorite part of the banner. Also a unique way of framing a banner. ~_^ The only thing that really bothers me about it are the rounded curves, their too jagged. It would look much better smoothened.

This actually inspired me to make my current signature and avatar.

[Retribution]

Is it just me, or are all of the images misdirected?

All I can see are a bunch of x's. Someone help me. tell me if somethings wrong with MY browser. Thats all.

[James]

[color=#707875]Oh, nope, nothing is wrong with your browser. The other images (all but the last one) were deleted. So yeah, it's no problem. Heh.[/color]

[Guest beyblader]

What I mean is how after you cut the image out of a big one, how do you put a border, then add other images ontop? What program do you use James? And, do you know how to make templates for buttons?

[James]

[color=#707875]Well, that's a really complicated question. It's complicated for a number of reasons.

For one thing, if I were to tell you specifically what I did, I'd probably be here for quite a while. But also, it depends entirely on the program that one is using. What I did to make that banner would be a slightly different process to someone who was using Photoshop, for example.

I used Paint Shop Pro 8 to develop that banner...and I use PSP8 for [i]all [/i]of my digital work on OtakuBoards and elsewhere. I'm so comfortable with it, that I even use it in conjunction with Photoshop for school projects.

Most people use Photoshop though. But I've never liked Photoshop...I've always found Adobe products annoying to use, for some reason. Photoshop can do some amazing stuff, but quite often you can tell that something has been "Photoshopped", because [i]most [/i]people don't really know how to use it. They're only getting 5% out of what it can do.

In terms of what I did to make that latest banner...it wasn't particularly difficult. It was just a combination of using the line tool, the "blinds" image effect and some specific point-by-point selections. Really it was mostly those three tools, so it was very simple and it didn't take very long to produce (about 5 minutes or something). Once you learn the software, it's very easy to churn things out and stuff. It mostly comes down to your own aesthetic knowledge and how you apply certain things, like colour and composition.

Anyway, I'm rambling. If you really want to know the specifics on how to make banners, I think it's probably best to do an online search for a tutorial or something. It's very difficult for me to give you a tutorial on here, without going into great step-by-step stuff, and using screenshots and so on. If I just quickly explained it, it wouldn't make a lot of sense.[/color]