My recent work

[Mikel]

I've gotten much better

 

[Defiant]

Well you seem to understand size and composition well enough, but the sigs are just too plain. Punk and Big Show just have a plain gradient BG while Aries is too detailed.

You just need to learn how to make use of empty areas.

 

[The_King]

Avatars are good.
Some comments on the banners...
CM Punk: As Defiant said, it's just a render on a gradient with text and lighting. Nothing bad about it, but it isn't super compelling either.
Big Show: Same as the Punk one. Very plain but not bad.
Aries: The best of the three because the background is more dynamic. However, the font is plain and doesn't really flow with your background choice. The render is a bit blurry and again doesn't flow.

Defiant is right. You need to work on your use of empty space. I'd suggest looking up some basic tutorials on blending so that way you can use the picture's background to your advantage. Pretty good for just picking it back up. Keep working at it!

 

[Mikel]

Thank you for the comments. Much more positive than the first time I displayed my work:

The Punk banner was my first one with using the technique. So reason it wasn't great.
Big Show, I was testing out how to place stuff like the Broski wear on a superstar, that's it.
Aries, that's my recent work. And you're right, text is plain and doesn't fit the background.

Again thank you for these comments and I'll continue working at my graphics.

 

[Mikel]

Though I'd like to ask how do I fill that extra space. What do you suggest?

 

[Mikel]

That is the one I made today ^

 

[IA-SteveB]

You would do well to review and practice some signature tutorials. Unless it comes totally natural for you, you won't get anywhere churning out sigs that are simple and look the same. I mean this with the best of intent because we all have to start somewhere. Do a google search for photoshop signature tutorials and give it a shot. You will learn a lot and figure out some cool ways to do new things. Oddly enough, a lot of people struggle with text in terms of font choices and styling ... myself included.

Here is a Photoshop tip to prevent squished and funky renders. When pasting renders in a signature, hold down the shift key when resizing it to fit so it maintains the correct aspect ratio. Some of your renders are either squished or skinny. if you look at your basketball one, Wade and Bosh are both out of aspect ratio and squished. Even Cowherd looks "off."

 

[The_King]

Lesner avatar is pretty good as well. I'd suggest brightening up the render and possibly upping the contrast to make it pop more. Gray is a hard color to work with imo.

In terms of overall suggestions:
-Definitely search simple signature tutorials (you can find tons of forums with these as well deviantart). Start with easy things and work your way up.
-I always suggest newbies to try blending pictures and using the background of the picture to their advantage. For instance, my sig is three blended CM Punk pics which is simpler than using gradients/CD4/images/etc to create a background. Just search a basic PS blending tutorial.
-In terms of text/font choice, it is very hard haha. I'd suggest avoiding text unless you find one that just fits perfectly.

Keep at it!

 

[Mikel]

The 2 graphics in my signature was not made by me, Stevie B.

And I use GIMP, could you tell?

 

[IA-SteveB]

How was I supposed to know? I was just giving a tip or two, but I know better now. Good luck.

 

[The_King]

The 2 graphics in my signature was not made by me, Stevie B.

And I use GIMP, could you tell?

Haha, I thought that might be the case. You can still find a lot of tutorials for GIMP though so go peruse the internet haha.

 

[Mikel]

It's fine. That's my thing, GIMP and Photoshop are very similar. Last time I was here, I got a ton of people saying to dump GIMP after a week and go do Photoshop. hahaha. Thanks guys

 

[Mikel]

I made this one today for a CAW E-Fed:

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa402/Mikel_OWU_46/NewGenerationWrestling.jpg

 

[Mikel]

And this is my CAW's:

 

[Mikel]

WTF? Why are they showing up so small on here?