Chaos Project

I've decided to try and broaden my skills in other areas aside from programming. If the only thing I'm good at is programming, I'm probably not going to make it far in any solo project. (Which I haven't.) So I've decided to try and get better with graphics. I've scrapped pixel art, I can't get any of that stuff to look right. So I'll go ahead and use this topic on anything graphical wise that I accomplish. (Anything worthwhile anyways)

Lightning Signature
Lightning is a character from Final Fantasy 13 for anyone who's not aware.

First Attempt

Several issues here. Face doesn't match, text outline, pattern, and color don't match very well. The two backgrounds seem to clash a bit. The border is a bit odd, but matches the text.

Second Attempt

Changed a lot of things in this one. Looks a lot better in my opinion. Removed the lightning from the background. Applied some outer glows using a shade from her hair. Applied some color to the background to make it match the outerglow, came out pretty well. Changed text's pattern, much more fitting.

Third Attempt

After following Aqua's advice, I tried to spruce it up a bit. Though I feel I added way too much lightning in the background. I dunno, would like your opinions on this one. I tried changing the glow as she suggested but I wasn't quite able to get the result I wanted. Moved her face upwards a few pixels. Changed the text a bit, this includes glow and overall color.
Here's a slightly alternate version with more of the gunblade showing as Aqua suggested.


Final Attempt

Erased some of the lightning so it wasn't so parallel. (Thanks Aqua!)

Blastoise Signature (WIP)

First Attempt

Not bad for a first draft if I say so myself. I know it doesn't look all that great but I can't really tell what to improve on. Too much blue for starters, the text can easily be worked on. Perhaps change up the backgrounds a bit? Blastoise's water cannon probably looks odd, mostly because I had to edit the blast in myself. Any feedback is much appreciated.

Leon Chameleon

Wanted to do another siggie/avvie for myself. Had little advice from GAX but overall I think it turned out really well. Any thoughts or opinions on it would be great. :3

This looks pretty decent for a first attempt.
I agree, second one looks better and more consistent. In graphics design, there are a few good concepts that you can use to make everything look better. One is the use of either a themed color scheme or the use of complementary colors. Look it up, useful stuff.

G_G switches avatar from pony gurl to human gurl?! OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH!!! :w00t:

but really, nice first attempt :)

I think you should have kept the lightning in the background and add more to it to the text.
It adds nice texture to an otherwise plain background.  Make sure you have some of the faded lightning bolts on the right side of Lightning though.
The color of the background bolts might need to be slightly adjusted.  A more magenta~ish blue or maybe lighter on the inside of the bolts?  It's hard for me to say; ultimately, it's your call.

Also add some faded bolts behind the GAM of the text, so that the lightning bolts would be a consistent and unifying theme.
On the text, maybe add some bolts to go this way /  Like one or two would do.

The other glow is a VERY nice touch, but perhaps make the left side blend into the background pink.  The right side already does this because the glow hits the bottom of the background.  On the left side, the gunblade interrupts the glow, so maybe make it that darker pink that is in the gradient.

And maaaaaybe expand the height of the image on the bottom by a little bit so that more of the gunblade is visible.  To someone who is unfamiliar with the character, the bits that pop up are pretty confusing.  At least move it by like 3-4 pixels so that both parts of the visible gunblade are connected.

@Blizz: I'll look into it, I learned about those in Web Design class, but never really practiced them.

@Mark: I know right? xD

@Aqua: Thanks for the critique. I'm definitely going to take your advice. I'll try and do what you said and post my third attempt. :3

EDIT: Here are my attempted edits.

After following Aqua's advice, I tried to spruce it up a bit. Though I feel I added way too much lightning in the background. I dunno, would like your opinions on this one. I tried changing the glow as she suggested but I wasn't quite able to get the result I wanted. Moved her face upwards a few pixels. Changed the text a bit, this includes glow and overall color.
Here's a slightly alternate version with more of the gunblade showing as Aqua suggested.

Placement of Lightning and gunblade is a lot better in this one than the second one.
I didn't know the gunblade dipped down that low, but this one suggests it and actually has Lightning as the focal point, rather than Lightning and maybe the gunblade.

There are parts of the old text that I like and parts of the new one, so I'm kinda iffy... Maybe combine the two? :V:?

Only thing that bothers em about the lightning bolts are the two bolts which are like... identical in shape, the one in the ME and the one right below the text.  They're too 'parallel' for me when I think of Lightning.

Overall, it's a really good improvement from just these small changes.

Thanks again, Aqua. I'll try to change the lightning a bit. As for the old text, was it the color or the glow? Those were the only things I changed. The pattern might look different compared to the Second Attempt but that's because I accidentally changed the scale and position of the pattern. Again, thanks. :3

Alright, here's my minor edit on fixing that parallel lightning issue. I think I'm happy with this. If anyone has any more suggestions, I'll try improving it, if not, I'm going to leave it as is.

Looks awesome :D

Thanks Aqua. I'm working on a few other things, experimental wise, I'll be sure to post them when I have the time to finish.

Blastoise Signature (WIP)

First Attempt

Not bad for a first draft if I say so myself. I know it doesn't look all that great but I can't really tell what to improve on. Too much blue for starters, the text can easily be worked on. Perhaps change up the backgrounds a bit? Blastoise's water cannon probably looks odd, mostly because I had to edit the blast in myself. Any feedback is much appreciated.

Nice sig game_guy. However, I think you need a little more contrast between the text and the background.

Aaaaaaaand finally an update. lol. Wanted to do another signature on my new favorite character Leon Chameleon (from Awesomenauts, fun game IMO) Anyways, here's the siggie result.



Thoughts and opinions if any. :3

Lol, nicely done! I'm about to attempt a sig and avy atm. Hope it looks as good as that o.o
Where do you get your resources?

All I do is just google for all my things. If I need a background with some bubbles "bubble background" lol. You could always use http://planetrenders.net/ As well.