Art New Banners

[boothten]

[size=1]I've recently really been into making new banners using a lot of different techniques. I used to be the kind of person that liked just a nice looking, high quality image along with a nice black/white border. But lately, I've really been trying to further my capabilities and see what kind of images I can make. Each of these consists of at least 15 layers, if not more. I made them all in Photoshop CS2, and read up on some tutorials before and during the making of each banner, but I didn't follow the tutorials exactly. So, I present to you, my latest banners. Oh, and just as a side note, I go by boothten on other forum boards. I'm thinking about getting it changed here too, haha. Anyway, here you go.

[center][IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/sig001.png[/IMG]
Note: I was having trouble blending the render into my background. I was fairly new at this, so it only figured seeing as how this was my first banner made using these new techniques. As you can see, it looks like I just got a nice abstract background, then pasted a render onto it. Pretty lame, I know, lol, but whatever. I did this one about four days ago.


[IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/samusbanv4.png[/IMG]
Note: I was still having trouble blending, but I was beginning to get more comfortable with it. I think the problem I had with blending was that it involved erasing bits and parts from a good looking render, and all the renders I had chosen I really liked. So, I guess I saw it as defacing a nice image. haha, whatever. I actually made three other versions of this one, but this one was by far my favorite. The other three were different in small ways like different photo filters and gradient maps. Here they are in case anyone was interested: [url=http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/samusbanv1.png][u]V1[/u][/url], [url=http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/samusbanv2.png][u]V2[/u][/url], [url=http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/samusbanv3.png][u]V3[/u][/url]. These were all made two days ago.


[IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/LanHikari/sorasig.png[/IMG]
Note: This is my best one in my opinion, which I know isn't saying much considering I've only made three, lol. I was still a little uncomfortable with blending, but I think it got better. Not much I an say about this one, other then the fact that I really enjoyed the outcome of this one. I made this one just this morning actually.[/center]


So, now that you've seen them, what do you guys think? I know I haven't posted any of my images here on OB in a while, nor have I posted here in general for that matter, but I wanted to become active here again so I though this as well a time as any. I'd love to hear the goods and bads of what you all think about my newest banners.

Cheers and thanks in advance!
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[AmnesiacKaiten]

I really love the last one. The KH one, looks great, love the lighting. The colors should be more dynamic, espeically since its such a great BG. The render doesnt really appear to be blended on first glance.

The "03" text is a little eh, imo. But other than what I mentioned, i think it looks great. You sure this is your first time doing this?

The second one is a little unblended as well. But the awesome BG and powerful, but non overwhelming light source makes me love it. The text is great as well.

I hate the border in the first one, and the colors are very dull...

[Retribution]

[font=Arial]Lan, you've made leaps and bounds since you last posted. It's really cool to see how you're exploring and finding your style.

Amnesiac said most of what I was going to say. But really quick -- I like v2 of your Samus banner more than the current one. Make sure next time around you don't leave so much unused white space (on the left)... it makes things feel unbalanced and awkward.

Keep it up![/font]

[boothten]

[size=1]Thanks a lot to the both of you, it really does mean a lot.

@ Amnesiac: Yeah, for the last one I tried making it have that darker feel, for whatever reason. The colors are a bit dull because that's the way I thought the looked best. I especially like how Sora's eye turned out so blue, when compared to everything else. Like I said though, I'm still in my trial and error stage, so things will probably be mediocre at best. Thank you for the criticism though, it's greatly appreciated.

@ Retribution: I don't know what happened with my other versions, but your right about the white space. I added text to the last one because I thought it somewhat balanced the image out to a certain degree, but yeah. I'll be sure to work on it. And the compliments mean a lot, especially from you, haha.

I'll be sure to post all of my future banners on this thread from now on, so be sure to check in every once in a while to give me some constructive criticism.
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