Birdman - Thank you, however I am not the first to do this. I am just the only one who will keep it going. Until someone else starts another thread like this as well. Anyways, now I shall CnC your tag haha. The first two things I noticed in this that I did not care for too much was the border and the text. I simply hate borders but in this case, even putting my hate aside, I think the tag would look better with no border at all. Then the text looks like it is in there just to be in there. It does not really fit well with the tag and the whole subtle look is not working either. I think in this tag, no text at all would look the best, but I am sure there is some text you might be able to pull off in the tag. I like how you tried to get the depth into your tag by having the blurred background with the sharper, smaller effects up front. However, the blurred background, I think the light spots and effects are a bit too large back there. All your effects up front are small yet all large in the back. Maybe even just adding some small blurred effects back there would look nice. The right side does seem a bit empty too, especially since the left has such a large explosion type effect. I the lighting in this tag also might be a bit too strong. I know that was the look you were going for, but I think it might have been a bit overdone. Also the light going down I think transitions oddly because it looks totally different from the other sides of the explosion. I also think the effects in the explosion are nice, but I think they would look better if more were going in one direction. Like more effects are going to the left and just a bit more subtle effects going around the rest because I get the feel of him punching to the right center and not just plain center.
Demonflair - I am actually not really liking this tag at all. The render itself you have used is either of very bad quality or it is a bad cut. Either way, that is not making the tag look any better. Then the other thing that I noticed was the text. You have just white text with a drop shadow in the upper right corner. You have to be careful with text, its not just text, its an art. In this case, the color, the font, and the placement are all not good for the tag. The placement is just odd, especially with that much text. Then also the white with a drop shadow just never looks good in a tag, not that I have seen yet at least. Also the font you used is nice and simple, but combined with the other flaws it ruins it. That lighting dot on the right is so totally random in the tag I am not even sure why you put that there. That color is not all that attractive, does not match any of the rest of the tag, and it not even a light source for the tag. So I think that just needs to go or you need to do more with that....just just put a soft brush spot in the tag. Also that light on his sword is so much better quality than that of the render, it just looks odd. However that is a decent light source for the tag. The depth is pretty good in the tag, mainly because of blur and its a background scene, but there are no frontal effects. You need some effects up front with the render. Also, get rid of that border. The main thing though that has ruined the tag though is that render. The render, or the cut of the render, is such bad quality that it drops the tag a lot in quality.
I plan to keep this open as long as people come in and post tags. I am leaving for awhile...I will be back later today.
Was excited to have you see this one. I thought it turned out well. At least I thought I did the text better and got rid of multiple light sources. And guess what... NO BORDER! P.S. Almost done uploading your packs to my site.
Hulka - Sorry, I got caught up with something and forgot I had this open. My apologies. I am actually not really liking this tag at all. There are just too many aspects in it that to me are not the best use of effects, as well as them not mixing together well. I would have to say I would go with the version that you posted on DA (please make sure I do not have to go to link in the future). The main reason I prefer that one is the color to me seems a bit better. In the first tag the colors just seem randomly put in there. Almost as if you finished the tag and then decided you want either more colors or just different colors in it. However, in my opinion I think the two main things that need to be fixed in this tag would have to be the scan lines and the text. The scan lines you just need to get rid of. A few, small areas of scan lines are not always bad, however, in this case, it is throughout the whole tag and does not look attractive at all. There is just too much over it and it gives the tag a not as vibrant feel as well. Then also the text is not the best in this either. The font is simple and I like that, I actually think is fits well with the render. However, the font color and the position is just odd. Maybe try just a solid color or a clipping mask for the text color/overlay. Also though, the position is not in the best. I know text is hard, but you will eventually get the hang of it. The last two things are the effects and the duplicated render. To me the duplicated, faded render on the left just looks out of place. Maybe a bar with a duplicated part of the tag might look nice, but the duplicated faded render just looks out of place. Also the effects seem very minimal in this tag. I think that there needs to be more in it. Without the effects there is no flow or depth in the tag. Those are the two main things that a tag needs. Flow just having it go in one or maybe two direction. Then depth you can do by either blur and sharpen between the effects or you can also do some using the dodge and burn tool.
