Durions Graphics Workshop.

[Durion]

Hey guys, I decided that I would get my old unorganised thread deleted so that I can make a new thread which I can keep organised and up to date. Also, I'll be taking some requests from members, but I have decided to have the requirement that the member must have at least 80 posts or more. For the first few signatures (not the avatars) that I post whilst I create this thread, I will add some text talking about the images, after that I will just upload images with a few words.

The Gimp:

These are all signatures that I used making the Gimp, which is a good program, but I had very little skills at the time of making them.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/DurionGokuSignature.jpg

A signature like this is very simple to make but isn't the most effective in terms of appearance. I just used a gradient for the background layer, then adding a Goku render I cut out on top of that. I can't remember how I gave it an outline but I liked it, and it got rid of any white outline that I really couldn't be bothered to zoom into and erase. After that I just made a new layer underneath the layer on which I anchored my render, and used brushes that I thought looked nice.

However, I made the signature way to big, which I now realise as a noob mistake. It's about 400 x by 230 (I think), which is just too big, it would have looked better if I made it smaller. I also failed to read up about which files types are good for what types of images, and used the .jpg file type, which is just a terrible type for saving an image that you want to keep good quality or transparancy.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/KrillinSignature.jpg

This signature is exactly the same as the signature above, since I did make this one right after the Goku one. They both look fairly okay, but they aren't something that I'd use now, I'd have to recreate them from scratch if I was going to use anything like that, and make them as good as the signatures I made in Photoshop. I'd have to make the signature smaller, as I said before, they are huge and would look better at a smaller size.

I might make some more Dragonball signatures with Photoshop in the next week or so, although I think Vincent is winning in that department so far.

Photoshop:

Here are the signatures that I have made using Photoshop, this is also the only section I will be adding to, as I don't use the Gimp for making signatures anymore, as overall, in it is inferior in many ways, and making signatures is one of those ways. Although, as you can see three of them are near enough duplications of each other, as I was not sure which of the three signatures that yann would like the most.

Tech Signature
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/TechSignature.png

This signature took a much longer period of time to create, with it taking well past an hour just to complete the 3 Tech brush layers that I created, along with around another 20 layers used to create the signature. My labour paid off though, with my creating the best signature I will make in a long time (even though I did use a guide). I really like the render placement and how it blends into it's surroundings, the text looks great to.

yann's Signature 1
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/yannsSignature-1.png

This was the first signature I made for yann, but when I sent it to Kybyrian to review, he stated that the text needs to have some opacity so that the attention isn't taken away from the render. He also said that it might look better if the text was larger and more central, so that attention wasn't moved down to the corner. Therefore, the following was created...

yann's Signature 2
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/yannsSignature1.png

I then created this as it looked better than the first, and as Kybyrian said, it gave the render more attention than the text, which is the best thing for a signature to do. I then decided that I think it would look better it I changed the render a bit to make it look awesome, so finally I created...

yann's Signature 3
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/yannsSignature2.png

I'm very surprised that yann decided to go with the first over this, as I thing that compared to this first this signature is a thing of beauty. :xd:

As most of you will agree (since it is a fact), the signatures that I created using Photoshop are superior to the ones I created using the Gimp...so now for the avatars I created in each. =D

Sorry for the double post, but I can only have 10 images in a post. D:

The Gimp:

Joker Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/JokerAvatar.jpg

Goku Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/GokuAvatar.jpg

Krillin Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/KrillinAvataer.jpg

To be honest, the only one there that I would be likely to use again is the Joker image, which is just a picture of the Joker cropped and scaled down to a good size. :xd:

Tech Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/TechAvatar-1.png

TreeHuggerPanda's Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/THPsAvatar.png

Once again, the images I created in Photoshop are better than those that I created in the Gimp.

If an admin or Moderator can somehow seperate this section from the section above where I state I'm sorry for the double post, I'd be grateful as the posts keep merging, pushing the image count above 10.

[Austin]

Cool graphics, bro.

[Bigelover88]

Heya Durion! Not bad at all! Yes I agree. Photoshop is the best program to use to make graphics. Not that I don't like Gimp but compared to Photoshop it has many disadvantages. I like it you have one working space and simply can drag and drop the pics instead of copying and paste it in several different windows. I know people will disagree with me and like Gimp more but that's everybody's personal choice. Keep up the good work and post more if you can

[Durion]

Heya Durion! Not bad at all! Yes I agree. Photoshop is the best program to use to make graphics. Not that I don't like Gimp but compared to Photoshop it has many disadvantages. I like it you have one working space and simply can drag and drop the pics instead of copying and paste it in several different windows. I know people will disagree with me and like Gimp more but that's everybody's personal choice. Keep up the good work and post more if you can

To be honest, anyone that knows the difference between Gimp and Photoshop will tell you that each do have the advantages and disadvantages over each other, but in the area of making images, Photoshop is superior. :)

This is the last image I will be making until at the most the 20th, as my laptop has died and I get my new computer in the next week or so. I'll get onto making some more signatures today. =D

[Kybyrian]

To be honest, anyone that knows the difference between Gimp and Photoshop will tell you that each do have the advantages and disadvantages over each other, but in the area of making images, Photoshop is superior. :)

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/KenpachiSignature.png

This is the last image I will be making until at the most the 20th, as my laptop has died and I get my new computer in the next week or so.

Definitely turned out well. I didn't really try hard, but I didn't seem to get the "flow" right with the rectangles added in there(on the left of the render). I didn't really get too far into it, though. Good signature. :) Also, Kenpachi was the influence for my other more widely used username, Kenpari.

[Josie]

Awesome thats Great My sig was made by LozzyKate both of you are great

[DayDreamer]

*sigh* photoshop isn't agreeing with my wallet -_- XD
anyway those look really nice,keep up the good work :D

[Josie]

So what else you can do then Siggys and Avatars like wallpapers Banners and Etc.

[Durion]

Definitely turned out well. I didn't really try hard, but I didn't seem to get the "flow" right with the rectangles added in there(on the left of the render). I didn't really get too far into it, though. Good signature. :) Also, Kenpachi was the influence for my other more widely used username, Kenpari.

Haha, and there was me thinking that you were someone that hated Bleach and Manga all together. xD Kenpachi is one of my favourite characters from the series, so I decided that he deserved to be in one of my signatures. It was a good decision I suppose, I like how the signature turned out, despite the emptiness on the left side.

However, I was rather disappointed that it didn't turn out more like a real fire effect, although I guess it looks like a white flame. I might but a colour balance layer over it to try and get it to look more like a flame. Although, that's if I can get my .psd's off my now broken laptop.

[yann]

Oh cmon now Durion, you know that I loved all 3 of your signatures! :)
The only reason I chose number one was that my name wasn't what I wanted my siggy to based around, I wanted Zangetsu to stand out more. Is for that reason that I chose number one, and I love it! :D
Cheers bud!

[Kybyrian]

Oh cmon now Durion, you know that I loved all 3 of your signatures! :)
The only reason I chose number one was that my name wasn't what I wanted my siggy to based around, I wanted Zangetsu to stand out more. Is for that reason that I chose number one, and I love it! :D
Cheers bud!

In the first one the text is hardly noticeable, which is what most people don't want in a sig. It's bad to have it small and crowded in a corner. I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, though. There really isn't much you can do to a gradient overlay on text to make it less visible aside from lowering the opacity. A solid color might have worked, but eh.

I'm commenting on this because I'm the one that told him to move the text and lower the opacity btw. I think it would have worked a lot better if Zangetsu was colored instead of black and white, though. He seems rather plain in that picture and it makes it hard to really draw attention to him.

[Durion]

In the first one the text is hardly noticeable, which is what most people don't want in a sig. It's bad to have it small and crowded in a corner. I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, though. There really isn't much you can do to a gradient overlay on text to make it less visible aside from lowering the opacity. A solid color might have worked, but eh.

I'm commenting on this because I'm the one that told him to move the text and lower the opacity btw. I think it would have worked a lot better if Zangetsu was colored instead of black and white, though. He seems rather plain in that picture and it makes it hard to really draw attention to him.

I'm sure you said something about the text attracting too much attention. =\ Or did I imagine that? Also, Old Man Zengetsu probably does have more colour on his than in the signature that I made. However, myself and yann read scanned manga so he appears as black and white. yann asked for the background to be black and white because as it's fitting for the render.


Oh cmon now Durion, you know that I loved all 3 of your signatures! :)
The only reason I chose number one was that my name wasn't what I wanted my siggy to based around, I wanted Zangetsu to stand out more. Is for that reason that I chose number one, and I love it!
Cheers bud!

I was just surprised you didn't go for the third, I love the way Old Man Zangetsu blends into the background.

Ichigo Signature
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/IchigoSignature.png
Just found this, the first signature I ever made on Photoshop when I had between below 0 and 0 skills.

Kenpachi Signature
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/KenpachiSignature-1.png

Vasto Lord Ichigo Signature
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/VastoLordIchigo.png

TNinja's Signature
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/TNinjasSignature2.png

And finally, for to go with my new signature I made this...

Vasto Lord Ichigo Avatar
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/VastoLordIchigoAvatar.png

[TheGreen]

I love the way you used the blank space.
The renders and text are really well balance in these last two sigs.
What i really like is how much the white stands out in them. When I look at it, white just seems brighter than any other white on the page, and that, sir, is awesome.

[Baysiderulez]

Oh cmon now Durion, you know that I loved all 3 of your signatures! :)
The only reason I chose number one was that my name wasn't what I wanted my siggy to based around, I wanted Zangetsu to stand out more. Is for that reason that I chose number one, and I love it! :D
Cheers bud!

I have to agree, that's what I liked about it. The text was there, but the render should be the focus of the sig, not the text. And this one accomplished that. Many artists when starting out on sigs, focus too much on making the text noticeable. Text is a nice addition to a sig, but its never what makes a sig, and it can most definitely -break- an otherwise good signature.

Great Job Durion!

[Durion]

I've not used Photoshop in a long time, but recently I decided that I wanted a new signature and avatar that contained The Scarecrow from Batman: Arkham Asylum. After messing around for a few hours here are my products:

Scarecrow Signature 1
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowSignatureGreyText.png

Scarecrow Signature 2
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowSignatureYellowText.png

Obviously the only difference between these two is the colour of the text on each one. I also decided to make an avatar to go along side this, pretty much just one of the signatures cropped down to a 100 by 100 pixel square. Here it is:

Scarecrow Avatar 1
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowAvatar.png

After that I decided to see if there was anything else that I could to make the signature look better. After after 20 minutes or so of trial and error, I ended up with the following signatures and avatar.

Scarecrow Signature 3
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowSignatureGreyText2.png

Scarecrow Signature 4
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowSignatureYellowText2.png

And here is the avatar:

Scarecrow Avatar 2
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad320/DurionZD/Signatures%20and%20Avatars/ScarecrowAvatar2.png

I'll probably post some more images up over the next week or so.