Art My First Digital Stuff

[DeGHead]

I'm new here, so if I do anything wrong... sorry?

Anyway
I found a couple pictures of my favorite bassist (Toshiya of Dir en Grey) and did my first real photoshop attempts.

I would really like some constructive crit if possible. Thanks!

[jigglyness]

Not bad for the first time. Definitely not bad. For starters, the drop shadow for the text doesn't match the image at all. Also just try to increase the image quality of the stock. The picture is really pixelly. Try to keep it clean. :)

[DeGHead]

Thanks!

I noticed the pixelation right before you posted, thanks for the tip.

By "the drop shadow for the text doesn't match the image at all." What exactly is meant?

Is it just because I had the two "shadows" in different places?

[jigglyness]

Well, basicly both don't really match the image. Mainly in the first image. The text color itself doesn't match very well with the bright blue. Try sticking with colors that are in the image itself or similar colors. :)

[DeGHead]

I also made my sig.

[jigglyness]

for your sig. it looks good although maybe try to have the main text stick out more. Just dont increase the saturation any higher cuz that is very n00bish. haha. just remember making the text color brighter doesn't necessarily make it easier to see. :)

[DeGHead]

Yeah, I was wondering how to do that actually, it blended in a little too much.

My dad's a photoshop wiz, so he's been showing me a few tricks.

[jigglyness]

well you can try having a outer glow with the red text to try to bring out the colors. :) also try to have a border.

[DeGHead]

Well I've added an outer glow, slight inner glow, and also a slight pillow emboss, and I think I've succeeded in making the text stick out more, but I've also made it harder to read...

This stuff is gonna take some practice. Thanks for the help though.

[DeGHead]

I just finished making these.

I'm fairly happy with the first, please let me know what you think.

[jigglyness]

For the dir en grey one, sometimes too much text effects makes it even harder to read. there was no need for the inner glow and to make it more legible, instead of having the outer glow lighter, have it darker since the text itself is bright.

as for the pink one, its pretty good but try to increase the qulatiy of the main stock. you can try duplicating the top layer then put a guassian blur. then set it to soft glow. then it should look a lot better. experiment with that. :)

and for the witch hunter robin one, try having the outer glow darker than the text color since th bg seems more dark .

[sakurasuka]

[size=1]Awesomeness, for your first tries at PhotoShop.

I envy those of you lucky enough to have PS. I am stuck with PaintShopPro and MSPaint. Meh.

Anywho. Here's my idea for making the text on your banner more legible.

1. Make it red. That pinkish color doesn't even go with it a little bit.
2. Duplicate layer.
3. Lighten bottom layer to white.
4. Gaussian Blur bottom [white] layer.

There are also Outer Glow tools, but I really don't use those. I find it better if the glow is on a seperate layer, it allows me to have more freedom with it.

As for the rest of the images, you most definitely are getting better. All I can tell you is practice, you don't have many apparent flaws, you just aren't yet aquainted with the program. That comes with time.[/size]

[DeGHead]

Thanks for all the help!

I was a moron and saved the projects to where I can't edit them, so I'll use your info for future projects.

Thanks again!