Hail. I started in Photoshop Yesterday morning. I sent a couple of images to professionals and they tell me i have Talent. Here are all my works so far, tell me what do you think please? And try to go easy on me, i'm still a Newbie
(Note. The ones with Xenomorph and T-Rex aren't Real signatures. I made them for testing purposes. And PLEASE don't accuse me of Ripping. I never did that, and i was accused several times already. I just like Photoshop):

 

I'm no PS expert, but as an Architecture major who's studied traditional art for 12 years, I think your use of colors and image composition are good, for the most part.

 

Thank you. That really means a lot to me. For now, i'm just working with minor Lighting Effects and brushes, I plan to improve more and use different techniques.

 

I like the first a lot. The images, the colours and composition fit very nicely together. The others, though... most of them look and feel rather distastefully copy-pasteish. The second image fits with the background better than most of the others, but it still looks like an image slapped over a background - they don't quite meld, I guess.

I dislike number three because personally I think cartoon style and photographs go horribly together. Again, you've slapped an image over a fire background. It looks lame. The colours of the phoenix are too flat compared to the background. (You could try using the flames as the actual phoenix instead, actually - that might work pretty well on a plain background.) I also think that it could do with more width, to balance the image out a little.

The fourth - the outline of the knight works okay transitionally generally, but the image doesn't fit the background very well. It's the perspective: not sure if I can place it properly, but the two images feel a little weird put against each other like that.

The next is okay, but it's a little flat in terms of composition and imagination. It's not particularly inspiring, and again the knight doesn't really fit the background very well.

I hate the next one. It looks like you've got the alien pasted over a background and lightening pasted next to it. The composition is screwy, lacks anything interesting, and just looks kinda.... bad. Sorry.

The next one is okay again because the style is all the same. It goes nicely together, although it also feels a little plain. Not sure how you could improve it: perhaps try to have a little more going on? Or not. I don't really know.

The t-rex one sucks because the forest doesn't fit the animal at all. You need a darker background otherwise it looks silly. Light sources, you know?

The next is... I can't really tell. I can't see what's going on in that one. The background looks okay, though, from what I can see.

The charizard one is gay. Utterly gay. It's a gay-looking cartoon animal (not that I don't like charizard, but that image is made of too many bright colours) with a silly background - one that has lightning in it, again.

All that said, these definitely aren't bad attempts from someone just starting, or even horrible attempts. Except maybe the charizard and Alien ones. Those are horrible. These kinds of pictures aren't really my speciality, to be honest, so I apologise for being kind of vague. Your attempts are probably a hell of a lot better than anything I could do.

Try not to use fire and lightning so much, by the way, at least not without it being elegant. They're both pretty horribly clichéd.

 

Thanks for the Comment. I really appreciate it.

The first picture is my Pride and Joy. It took me well over an hour to make it, and i agree that the colors are fantastic.

You are Absolutely right about the one with the Alien, that's exactly what i did, but it was just an experiment to see what would Lightning look like.

Yes, you were right. Most of these Signatures are "image slapped over a background"

The T-Rex one was again, just an experiment.

The one before the Charizard (Yes, i agree it's Gay. I wanted to see what i can do with cartoon stuff) is some kind of a Black Knight in the Dark Forest or something, i was again experimenting with lighting.

Again, thank you a lot for this Comment. It will definitely improve my PS Skills.

 

Add a border

 

I add a Border to each one, i just delete the sides, because i don't like them.

 

I only glanced at Palindrome's response so I'm not sure if I'm just repeating the same thing. It's also been more than a year since I made a sig myself so I'm not really into it anymore.

Your biggest problem for now, seems to be blending your renders into the sigs.

1. Decent. Although I don't really like the render (personal taste), it fits pretty well and colors are good. Despite that it has nothing that really stands out.

2. One of your better ones imo but the motion blur is a bit too accentuated. Maybe you should try erasing it with a soft brush (while not making it too obvious that you erased) on his face and some other places. What I like most about this one, is that you did use some effects, while not perfect, and you didn't just put the render above the rest.

3. I don't like this one. You've got the fire with the phoenix on it and as Palindrome said, it doesn't fit.

4. The knight doesn't fit the background at all and I don't like the glow around the knight although it could be worse than here.

5. Has a lot of potential. I like the background and the placement of the knight but I think it should be possible to maybe get some mist or something in front of the knight. The background is sort of mysterious but the knight is too clear in contrast.

6. No

7. Not that bad although it is nothing special. I also have my doubts about the quality of the picture of the dragon. Try to avoid using renders that aren't high quality because in most cases, an render with a bit of pixels detracts from the sig.

8. T-rex doesn't fit at all.

9. I like this one although there are a few problems. There is something really wrong with the lighting. The light in the background obviously comes from behind the knight while there also is some light on the rider from the side from which we look at and that doesn't fit with the background. I can't really explain but I hope you see what I mean. Also the grey from the horse and knight is ugly imo. Despite this, I've got a good feeling with this one. I like the composition.

10. No.

Conclusion: I've seen way worse from starters but it's pretty clear that you only just started, which is not a shame. I do like your composition and I think you've got enough potential to get better really fast. It's better than my first sigs in any case.

 

Thank you. These Tips really help me, i'll try to blend Renders into Backgrounds more.

 

Decent bunch, the lot of them.

I agree. Use a smear or blur tool to clear the edges of your renders. It'll smoothen the edges out and make the edges blend with the background.

 

This is definitely the most Useful comment i got today. It made my Signatures look a lot better. So thank you.

Tried to fit it in the Background and added a bit of Fog/Mist(May have went overdrive on it) Tell me what you think, please:

Tried what you said, improved?

 

Your definatly better than me when I first started. Though you should use some more of the effects that photoshop has to offer. Also you should use some C4D's. They can add some nice backround effects. Or help to focus on some aspects of the render. You could get some good advice going to one of the many Photoshop forums out there. They offer resources and tutorials. Though I loved the edit u did on 5 with the added fog effect.

 

Thanks for the Tips.

Also, if i might add, i think this is the most Mature topic i had anywhere. I asked for advices on several Forums and mostly got Flamed by Immature Idiots and Jealous Children.

So. Thank you DLP Members for making my day.

 

These are probably the best of the lot.. A decent blend of background and foreground, plus the text is visible but doesn't really draw the eye. Colors and such match pretty well...

Whereas...

These don't work so much... Your render clashes against/doesn't really match your background.

The Aliens, Charizard, and phoenix one's I just don't like at all. Just bad ideas. Renders and backgrounds look awful. The Halo one is just bad quality... And the T-Rex is just random. D:

 

What do you think about Halo one now?

 

I like the 1st and 7th ones, the 1st is just nice, background and dragon fitting and a pretty awesome angle and all, but the 7th one seems very peaceful and clear.


I could be wrong, but the knight of the 5th one seems to have a red light shining on it while the background exists out of dark blue/green sky, making the background sky more red would make it seem a little more natural I think.

The ninth one has also a beautiful background, but the render isn't very clear.

Also you seem to always use the same Font for your name, perhaps trying out some new ones could help. Looping ones on medieval theme, digitized-like for more sci-fi themed? I really don't like the font you used for Alien, it's too messy.
You can make artwork from your name as well, some colours or places of your name don't fit well in the whole.

 

Thank you. I'll try that.