Kalli's Epic Critique Thread

Discussion in 'Signatures' started by Kalli, Jul 18, 2007.

  1. Gannon

    Gannon Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]

    btw its all pen tool.
     
  2. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    Gannon -

    Well hmmm, I really was wanting to stick towards tags, and not Small Pieces. Anyways though, I think that this piece is very well done. I am very impressed with the pen tool work you have done here. The only thing that I think might be a bit better would be the eyeball/socket part of the piece. It actually took me a few looks to realize what it really was. I do like how it almost resemble like an encyclopedia but I think the small words were a bit overdone in the piece. Then finally is the Dragon text. To me, it kinda of just does fit in well with everything else. Overall though, I think you did a very good job with the pen tool...I am impressed.
     
  3. punisher246

    punisher246 Well-Known Member

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    Thnx! :)
     
  4. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    Punisher246 -

    Version 1 by far! Version 2, with the black and white, just does not look all that great. The color version is by far much better. Now for the overall tag. The first thing I noticed that I thought could be much better was the text. I like the font you used for Smudge along with the color variation and choice, but not the other. The font you chose for your name just does not look good at all and does not fit in well with the rest of the tag imo. Then next, I think the tag might look better without any border at all. But for me, I personally do not like borders at all.

    I simply love the smudging you have done on the left side, but unfortunately that is all. The right side has good smudge effects with the brighter color, yet the right side and somewhat middle seem to be lacking. Also the smudging around the render's shoulders seems to be oddly done, mostly the left side. You did a good job on the background with the lighting, except it should not be that light next to his right shoulder imo. However, the lighting on the render seems to be odd. It seems as though the render itself is a bit overcontrasted compared to the rest of the tag. That is probably the biggest downfall for me in the entire tag.
     
  5. Eloquence

    Eloquence Senior Member

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  6. charming

    charming Well-Known Member

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    stock not render done with filters and default brushes

    i dont like using c4d's really but any advice from yourself would be more than welcome =]
     
  7. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    Eloquence -

    Well I would have to say that this tag is not the best. It is kinda of just too empty. It seems like all that it is, is a stock with what looks like some c4ds on front of it. The text also does not fit all that well, especially since it is just plain white. I would suggest maybe even using a larger canvas, so that way you might be able to get more than just the people. If you were to do that you could create some depth within the tag and maybe some good flow. Also the effects you have over them just are random, and some of them do not look too great.

    Merged Post:


    Charming -

    Don't worry I usually prefer not to use any c4ds myself. My current only uses one small c4d. Anyways for the tag...the effects are decent but a bit too repetative and since it is just them they seem kinda of boring. On the far right it looks like you may have used liquify or something because you can see strokes...maybe get those a little less visible. The lighting itself seems to be a bit strong in that one place. Maybe try to get it varied out so that the light to dark contrast happens a little less sudden. Maybe also try moving the light source up a bit more.

    However, the stock itself is kind of odd. Maybe use a better stock haha. Anyways, the flow is pretty good but imo there is no real depth to the tag. Maybe if you were to get some darker spots and maybe even blur/sharpen some spots up that might help with that a bit. But I would also suggest not completely staying away from c4ds. Even the most subtle amount can always improve a tag.
     
  8. charming

    charming Well-Known Member

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    finally usefull c&c ill have a play with it tomorrow as its quite late =/ and take that in mind =]
     
  9. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    I am glad I could help!
     
  10. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    And Misfortune has pushed me down...hehe
     
  11. Th3DarkCloud

    Th3DarkCloud Member

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  12. iFusion

    iFusion Well-Known Member

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    C&C Please.

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  13. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    Th3DarkCloud -

    I would have to say that I would go with version one. Merely on the fact that it has a bit more color in the overall tag which looks nice. Just having the blue did not look as good. However, the first thing that I noticed when I looked at your tag was the text. The text in this does not look too great. You used some funky font. What I would suggest doing, is keeping the font subtle like that, but using a simple font...maybe even a default font. Fancy font is not always the best for a tag.

    Then the next thing I was really looking at were the effects of the tag. I see that they are pretty minimal which is not bad but there is a small problem with that. With the first one and the color variation you do keep some depth in there which is pretty good. However, the effects over the sprite seem kinda over contrasted or too bright imo. I am talking right on his feet. Maybe add some more messy effects down there but keep it in a flowish feel. That is the other thing, is the flow of the tag. I liked how the light was going down...the flow was kinda down. Then you added that bluish purple line to the tag going horizontal and imo that was totally unneeded. It looks out of place to me and disrupts the flow of the tag.

    Then next would come the lighting. You did a good job on lighting placement and not having it too bright. However, the light to dark transition is not the best. It seems to go dark a bit too fast, maybe try to have it transition a tad bit more in the tag. A suggestion I would also add for the effects is maybe add a few effects in there that are sharpened...like under the sprite.

    Merged Post:


    iFusion -

    I am not really feeling this tag all that much. I will try to explain why but there is just an odd feel to it. I think the best way to describe it is that the overall tag has a glazed over kinda foggy feel to it imo. Some type of filter you used or blur layer or something, that just ruins the entire tag for me. The first big thing I noticed though that did not go great with the tag was the font. The font just looks slapped on there, kinda forced. It does not look as though you tried to make it fit in with the tag. I mean all the sudden you have this black font that is of bad quality, and oddly placed. So maybe make it a bit more subtle, or even try different fonts and colors.

    That is another thing about the tag. The colors to me seem just boring. They are kinda smudged together and there is no real appeal to them. I think the colors on the cars could be a lot more vibrant and the effects could even have somewhat of a color to them, not just boring greyish white. Then for the effects. I like the idea of the tag and the effects, but one big thing bugs me. The car in the back is more sharp than the car in the front, yet the effects in the front are more sharp than in the back. I think the back needs to be blurred and the front sharpened. Maybe try to even that out. Also in the front car try to do like the back with the effects going over the car, I think that would look nice.
     
  14. Hulka

    Hulka Well-Known Member

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  15. Kalli

    Kalli Senior Member

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    Hulka -

    Hmm, its a tag with c4d overload. Definitely the first thing I noticed were all of the c4d renders you put in there. A lot of c4d renders are not bad, but you have to know how to use them or it just does not come out looking...I guess you could say clean. In this case you just stuck a bunch in there which created a chaotic messy look which caused there to be no flow within the tag. Another downside to doing that is the effects that causes, especially with depth and such, it often makes the render look out of place. In this case, the left side depth does not go well with the render imo. So do not just stick a bunch of c4ds into a tag, try to add other effects as well. Also try to make them flow in a certain direction rather than going every way imaginable.

    The next thing I noticed was the text. The text looks like you just wanted text on the tag. Like you took a font you liked with a good looking color and just stuck it on there. When working with text, you want to make sure that the text flows well with the tag, and is not just an eye sore to the tag. Next would be the lighting. The lighting in this tag is not bad, but I would not say it is good either. It just looks like you stuck a lot of lighting in there which technically works, but does not look all that great. You should try to focus on one or maybe two light source coming from a certain direction. To figure that out you have to look at the render to see where the lighting is coming from. The colors in this tag are also kinda random. When you think of Mario...at least for me...I think of red and blue. In this tag, however, there is just a lot of colors, none of which really are there to compliment the render.

    I think I am down to the last two things. The first thing is the render blending. You did not do a bad job, and again it is not a great job. First the right side is blended in pretty well. Yet the left and middle are not done the greatest. In the middle you have that big light beam that is kinda fuzzy blurry going across the render. Then next on the left you have that c4d going across his hat. You see the effects can look good over the render, yet sometimes it will just look overdone and it will not look that great.
     

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