Updated with a new pics +) please view c/c is welcome

[armybuilder]

http://planetrenders.net/renders/displayimage.php?pos=-3158

 

 

 

As you asked Hawkxs

[Georgelemmons]

Try to use colors that blend with the renders. Your last sig would have been better if you chose a better color scheme. Also, it looks like there's some green brushing over the render, which makes him look like he's going to puke.

 

 

 

You have the general technique right, but work on the colors.

[armybuilder]

I know the colour scheme wasnt right was half down on purpose to see if i could see the blending on it.

 

 

 

Thanks for the C/C +)

[Hawks]

Try something:

 

Background layer: Solid color, matches render

 

Middle layer: copy/paste render to cover layer, gaussian blur, other random things to make it look some what not-a-render (if that makes sense)

 

Top layer: Render

 

 

 

Then chuck in whatever you see fit... C4Ds, brushes, smudging, etc.

 

 

 

And thanks for the render link. :D

[armybuilder]

 

 

 

That what you meant Hawkxs??

 

Im not too sure what to do with C4D's Anyone got a nice tutorial for me to read?

[Hawks]

C4Ds: on PlanetRenders, just look through their C4Ds and find ones you like... Also look for 'complicated' ones; lots of sharp points, etc. to add texture to the background.

 

 

 

Also find some more brushes... And don't use the RGB Pick or whatever does the messed up TV static thing... It looks ugly, no offense. Try using Distorts>Pick then use Motion Blur to give it a bit of flow, pick something (see the clone trooper gun in my sig) and set the angle to match that.

 

 

 

EDIT: Copied what I said on devart:

 

Better, but next time try adding C4Ds (desaturated, layer set to overlay, fiddle with opacity) and maybe some random brushing (new layer, pick color that goes with render, pick cool brushes [try ~Knux57] then set to soft light/overlay)

[armybuilder]

 

 

 

^^^^^^ HORRIBLE!!!^^^

 

 

 

I did that using this http://www.gimptalk.com/forum/enguarde- ... 19378.html

 

IM sorry but i messed that up badly...

[Hawks]

Try it again with a different render, that has one main color.

[Da_Latios]

What is up with everyone dissing .jpg? It's my favourite format. Guess what format my signature is? .jpg! It all depends on how you render it.

[Georgelemmons]

What is up with everyone dissing .jpg? It's my favourite format. Guess what format my signature is? .jpg! It all depends on how you render it.

 

 

 

Exactly :

 

 

 

You can get 100% quality .jpgs half the size of a .png the same quality.

[Sam]

C4Ds: on PlanetRenders, just look through their C4Ds and find ones you like... Also look for 'complicated' ones; lots of sharp points, etc. to add texture to the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, just no. That'll make a tag [cabbage]ty.

[Laxaria]

Ok, Im surprised at the sudden improvement and lack of "you suck" and "work on blah blah blah" comments which I saw previously. Must be cause Thru isn't here.

 

 

 

Anyways, back to the images.

 

 

 

When working on your first pieces, try to think more so on composition and making something that looks good. Don't overcomplicate things by trying things you are not exceptionally familier with with. GIMP in itself has a lot of filters and a lot of useful ones. I suggest looking at some "Grunge" signature tutorials on how to create effects with brushes. Practice using these brushes and different effects to create backgrounds for your renders. Avoid text unless you did it as a request. Also try to pick up some art terms like rule of thirds, blending, rendering, etc. I personally use GIMP myself, and I have been in the same situation.

 

 

 

When you are doing anything (sigs, avatars, banners), an important thing to note is the composition. You do not need C4Ds to make a good tag, nor exceptional skills, but you need a good grasp at how to create and meld effects together to create it. Working on backgrounds is quite hard to start off as, so I suggest reading up on "grunge" tutorials to get a better hang of it. For example, this is one of my earlier pieces of work:

 

 

 

[hide=Your eyes will bleed][/hide]

 

 

 

Its far from good, and of horrible quality to what I think I can do now, but that was done basically with "Grunge Scratches" brushing.

 

 

 

When you look at a render, ask yourself these questions:

 

 

 

What is the most obvious color you can see from the render?

 

What is the emotion or feeling given by the render? Is it a warm or hot feeling or a cool and relaxing one?

 

 

 

For the above tag, I felt that the most obvious color I could use in the background was red and different hues of it. As such, I picked different shades of red, yellow and orange to add to the background to give it different color and more color without deviating from the main idea of "red".

 

 

 

Look through as many tutorials as you can to master learning effects. When you start to understand the tools you have, will you see much more notable improvement. Understand the filters GIMP has and how to use them to your advantage. Look through various pieces of work found on deviantArt or GIMPTalk, or just browse the forums at PlanetRenders or GameRenders for ideas and to see how others did their work. Exposing yourself more to various pieces of work will give you an idea of what you should try to accomplish and provide goals.

 

 

 

Don't be afraid to try something new, but work on things one at a time. Try to get the hang of making a "grunge" type signature before moving on to C4Ds and fractals, for example, to get the hang of composition, color choice and the tools available to you. Gimp has an inbuilt fractal flame maker, so use that to your advantage. Utilise blurring and motion blurring. Mapping. Displacement. Etc.

 

 

 

If you've never done anything in GIMP before, I suggest going back and working on things like glowing lines and the like to get a hang of using the program. I am not saying that your pieces of work are bad in any way, but when you graner greater grasp at the tools you have, you will find it much easier to improve and much easier to do each piece. Quality over quantity, remember that.

 

 

 

Another tip I'll throw out is to diffrentiate between opinion and fact. Not all opinions are good, but not all are inaccurate. In essence, develop your own traits and creativity, and learn to add your own sense and personal touch to your work. Don't copy others, but carve a niche and something for yourself. Ultimately, the only people who will say your work "sucks" is mainly those who know and do tags, but those who do not will not understand how you did it and be amazed and awed by your work (I get that a lot, which is kinda pathetic at times, honestly).

 

 

 

Ultimately, doing sigs, tags, avatars or any images should be because you want to, not because you need to. At the very least, be have pride in your work, even if no one else does.

[armybuilder]

I enjoy working on sigs etc. I do alot for school and friends and lol alot have avatars done by me +P

 

Its not that i dont enjoy them its just i get angry when it doesnt look to good.

 

 

 

I hear what your saying ive been on Gimp for a few years now.

 

Tbh i wish Thru would comment it would be nice. However Ouchy and Hawkxs have helped alot.

 

 

 

I know People who are good at tags give harsher critism than other tbh it helps just makes me want to work on it more.

[Pat_61]

I know People who are good at tags give harsher critism than other tbh it helps just makes me want to work on it more.

 

 

 

Lol Calling Nadril.... Good job though army

 

 

 

Remeber you can still make good backgrounds with the ripple effect(Noting my horrible guide)

 

[armybuilder]

I personally think my backgrounds are good.

 

My Latest one and the rbg on the kratos one is bad but other than that i dont think they are that bad.

 

However you can all be the judge of that one.

 

I much more prefer to do backgrounds then foreground

[ThruItAll]

What you're struggling on is the background i think

 

try this;

 

Outcome:

 

1. To start:

 

Get your canvas:

 

 

2: Go to filter>render>clouds>difference clouds, I used defaults, but you can mix it up if you want.

 

Should have something like this:

 

 

3. Now get your brush. (I used Galaxy - Big, a default gimp one. You may use a different one or your grunge brushes.)

 

Start smudging it, should get:

 

 

4. Get a new layer, make it black:

 

 

5. Then make a big supernova in your focal point. Filters> Light and shadow > supernova.

 

Maybe something like this?

 

 

6. Smudge your supernova layer a bit, like this:

 

 

7. Set on overlay. Duplicate a few times till it looks good.

 

8. Now go Edit>CopyVisible, then paste.

 

9. With your new layer, go to Filters>Distort>Video. Click ok.

 

You'll get this:

 

 

10. Set this layer to overlay

 

11. Now, with you brush erase little bits of your lines on that layer. Like so:

 

 

12: Now smudge around those parts so you get something like this.

 

 

13. Make a new layer (transparent) and with your vine brush outline your grunge focal bit:

 

 

14. You might think, what the hell am I doing. Now, check your brushes menu, that its on the vine brush. And there will be a little slidey thing with spacing next to it, pull it right to the left, all the way to one, now start smudging.

 

15. Should have like this:

 

 

16. Now go to Filters>Enhance>Sharpen and put it between 80-90 should have this.

 

 

16. Now, set this to overlay. Then get the vine layer, and go to color>colorize. Select your hue. That will be your base colour. Im using b&w though.

 

17.

 

18. If your light points are too big, go to your smudged supernova layers, and smudge into the centre of the supernova's direction.

 

 

 

I know my first outcome and second outcome are different caus I lost my tutorial for that one on top.

 

 

 

You dont have to that color, and place your render in, and smudge the sides in a little so its looks like its inside the background.

 

 

 

I notice that most images don't work.

 

If you've got msn i can tell you how via there, because it is a bit tedious to do so here.

[Shiny]

No offense but that looks horrible thru :lol:

[Pat_61]

Nice shiny... :lol:

[VjuliusT]

Considering that's not even 10% of a siggy what's so wrong with it? Shut up *rawr*.

[armybuilder]

been a while but ive been busy revising.

 

 

 

 

I think its not very good but ill leave that to you..

[Hawks]

'Tis interesting... I try to stay away from the cartoon renders though, I don't like them...

 

 

 

Um. The colors don't really match the bg. Try adding another layer over the render and brush a bit so it layers underneath. I've got a few that I could show... Haven't uploaded them yet will in a min.

 

See:

 

 

 

Sparkley things over the render.

[armybuilder]

 

 

 

That better Hawks?

 

Okay i know ive not brushed the other layer but i cant change brush colour..

[Sam]

I don't like how that bright white brushing over the render looks, even if it does make a background, I don't like it. Try some textures and C4D's in the background, and experiment with blending modes and opacities.

[armybuilder]

Ive got two versions tbh. one with it behind it and one infront.

 

Tbh in that one its infront because of two reasons.

 

I wanted to see if i could get it so the tongue leaps over the white. I think its looks pretty well if you look at it closely you can tell the two renders dont quite blend into each other and one is lighter over the other.

[Hawks]

Less giant brushing though. Try smaller ones, like the default Sparks brush, on a new layer, then go to Map>Displace. Then fiddle with it until it looks interesting, then go to Colors>Desaturate, then set the layer to Dodge or whatever.

 

 

 

In the brush dialog, check the box that says 'Use gradient color' or whatever. Make sure the beginning of the graident is the color you want to use (change it in the color thing and then pick the FG to BG gradient and you should be able to make it any color)

 

 

 

C4Ds are always good, also try complementary colors with interesting brushing in the bg (set to like soft light or something like that)

 

 

 

Hopefully I make sense. If I don't just say and I'll attempt to explain. :D