Signature Space Taker-Upers

[Doodles]

Okay so hi! I've made galleries of stuff I've made before on Serebii (alas, the threads were all too old to just bump with new content) and I've got some new stuff to share. I'm hastily putting together this thread before I go out to dinner, but I'll fix it up and make it pretty later.

So what I've got to show off here is a few banners that I've done in this new style I sort of just put together with a set of brushes. I really like this theme, but at the same time they're all more flawed than I'd like them to be. So I'm looking for some serious criticism (preferably from people who know their way around Photoshop enough to be specific). While my ego goes crazy about it, I'm not too interested in people saying stuff like "these are pretty good," or "I don't like that one too much."

So without further talking your ears off (metaphorically), these are my new style of banners.


    Spoiler:- 500x200 Banners:

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    Spoiler:- 500x250 Banners:

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    Spoiler:- 520x260 Twitter Headers:

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    Spoiler:- 90x90 Avatars:

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Oh, and one more thing! As you can probably tell, I am really awful with text. It doesn't matter how subtle the text is, I can never get it to look good. I've looked at several tutorials on text effects and "minimalistic" text, but I just can't get it. Maybe I just have to get a feel for it eventually, but if anyone has any advice for text, please let me know.

[Guywhoiam]

I can't tell you are awful with text. It all looks fine to me.

[Doodles]

I can't tell you are awful with text. It all looks fine to me.

Well half the text isn't my work, it's the official text from the various series'. Like with the SOA (Kirito) one. I had help with the Sakura one.

[MetalicSeadra]

I like the choice of background you picked. That combination of blocky/smudge has great appeal. And that Bane & Batman one is simply something else. Please, continue to do more.

[Doodles]

I like the choice of background you picked. That combination of blocky/smudge has great appeal. And that Bane & Batman one is simply something else. Please, continue to do more.

Thanks! Yeah funny story with the background. I was actually looking for a new set of smudge brushes, and the ones I downloaded, instead of a standard smudge effect, they scrambled the stuff around like that. I thought the effect was pretty awesome, so I've been using it again and again.

[Doodles]

Moreeeeee banners! xD

[Doodles]

Couple more banners incoming!

[Sworn Metalhead]

Hey there Doodles, first off I really like your work - it is subtle yet striking.

Your text certainly isn't awful, but I think you need to introduce some more fonts into your collection. There's maybe a little too much use of Trajan Pro and Papyrus, bring in some cool new typefaces and your banners will no doubt improve. I can't really criticise beyond that to be honest, I struggle with text often too - we're only just starting to learn about it at Uni.

Also try playing around with the Motion Blur filter on your text (or a duplicate layer), I've found it sometimes completes an image.

Your Bane banner is sweet by the way, after watching the film I made my own as a tribute lol:



Out of interest how do you get that blocky sort of effect on your backgrounds? Keep the good stuff coming!

Peace \,,/

[Doodles]

Hey there Doodles, first off I really like your work - it is subtle yet striking.

Your text certainly isn't awful, but I think you need to introduce some more fonts into your collection. There's maybe a little too much use of Trajan Pro and Papyrus, bring in some cool new typefaces and your banners will no doubt improve. I can't really criticise beyond that to be honest, I struggle with text often too - we're only just starting to learn about it at Uni.

Also try playing around with the Motion Blur filter on your text (or a duplicate layer), I've found it sometimes completes an image.

Your Bane banner is sweet by the way, after watching the film I made my own as a tribute lol:



Out of interest how do you get that blocky sort of effect on your backgrounds? Keep the good stuff coming!

Peace \,,/

Omg I'm flattered that you like my stuff. The thing with text is I DO suck, whether it's more so that I can't blend them, or just a creativity flaw, I'm not sure. My friend showed me how he does his fonts with Papyrus which I basically stole and changed about 1%. I even more recently watched a nice text tutorial that used the Trajan font which is why I also made a few in that. I keep sticking with fonts I've seen work in the past, because so many have not worked. The Curlz MT with the Hypno's Lullaby banner (which I am super proud of) was honestly just a lucky guess that managed to work out.

As for that super awesome background: funny story actually. I was looking for a new set of smudge brushes, and I got this set which well... Did that. They just like scramble parts of what you're smudging all over the screen. It wasn't until later that I found out that all you have to do is go into the brush properties (preferably with a more polygonal brush, not circles, and certainly not fuzzy shapes) and turn up the scattering.

I'll definitely try that motion blur with the text. You can see something kind of similar I did with the Vega one for example. I literally just put bars on top of it and lowered the opacity in an attempt to spice up the text with qualities other than letters.

Now, if I may, I'll end with a question I have for you. What is your secret with tech brushes!? I can not get them to work, yet you manage to put them in that Bane banner, which, forgive me if I'm wrong, but techiness isn't even the theme of it. I have like half a dozen sets of tech brushes from binary patterns to hexagons to techy rings, and I just can't blend them. Any advice?

[Popboi]

They're incredible
I love the Pink Panther one :3

[Sworn Metalhead]

Omg I'm flattered that you like my stuff. The thing with text is I DO suck, whether it's more so that I can't blend them, or just a creativity flaw, I'm not sure. My friend showed me how he does his fonts with Papyrus which I basically stole and changed about 1%. I even more recently watched a nice text tutorial that used the Trajan font which is why I also made a few in that. I keep sticking with fonts I've seen work in the past, because so many have not worked. The Curlz MT with the Hypno's Lullaby banner (which I am super proud of) was honestly just a lucky guess that managed to work out.

As for that super awesome background: funny story actually. I was looking for a new set of smudge brushes, and I got this set which well... Did that. They just like scramble parts of what you're smudging all over the screen. It wasn't until later that I found out that all you have to do is go into the brush properties (preferably with a more polygonal brush, not circles, and certainly not fuzzy shapes) and turn up the scattering.

I'll definitely try that motion blur with the text. You can see something kind of similar I did with the Vega one for example. I literally just put bars on top of it and lowered the opacity in an attempt to spice up the text with qualities other than letters.

Now, if I may, I'll end with a question I have for you. What is your secret with tech brushes!? I can not get them to work, yet you manage to put them in that Bane banner, which, forgive me if I'm wrong, but techiness isn't even the theme of it. I have like half a dozen sets of tech brushes from binary patterns to hexagons to techy rings, and I just can't blend them. Any advice?

Ah I see, I'd definitely recommend scrolling through dafont.com and downloading some unique fonts - with regard to choosing which one goes with an image, ask yourself:

- Is the image organic or inorganic/mechanical?
- Is the image hard or soft?
- Rough or gentle?
- Jagged or smooth?

After answering some of those you can narrow down which fonts will work by asking yourself the same thing about them. Also I'm assuming that you haven't explored the style tab just above where the layers are displayed? As in, changing layers to Soft Light, Hard Light, Linear Dodge etc... I frequently set my text to Overlay or Soft Light (which allows the underlying layers to show through without completely getting rid of the fill). Try it out with images too, you never know.

For tech banners, I would emphasise:

- don't over-complicate things
- keep the brushes varied
- start with lighter marks, and as you add more layers make them more visible
- use the styles tab I mentioned earlier; again, soft light and overlay settings work best here.

I used light tech brushes in the Bane banner because I thought it completed the image, also I thought the central one looked something like a timer, or a countdown to the end of civilisation.

[Doodles]

Ah I see, I'd definitely recommend scrolling through dafont.com and downloading some unique fonts - with regard to choosing which one goes with an image, ask yourself:

- Is the image organic or inorganic/mechanical?
- Is the image hard or soft?
- Rough or gentle?
- Jagged or smooth?

After answering some of those you can narrow down which fonts will work by asking yourself the same thing about them. Also I'm assuming that you haven't explored the style tab just above where the layers are displayed? As in, changing layers to Soft Light, Hard Light, Linear Dodge etc... I frequently set my text to Overlay or Soft Light (which allows the underlying layers to show through without completely getting rid of the fill). Try it out with images too, you never know.

For tech banners, I would emphasise:

- don't over-complicate things
- keep the brushes varied
- start with lighter marks, and as you add more layers make them more visible
- use the styles tab I mentioned earlier; again, soft light and overlay settings work best here.

I used light tech brushes in the Bane banner because I thought it completed the image, also I thought the central one looked something like a timer, or a countdown to the end of civilisation.

Omg I totally see it with the Bane banner now. I didn't even think of that. xD

And I do play around with layer styles a lot (how do you think I got C4Ds in there to look okay). But I'll try another tech banner like that.

[Eeveelover824]

Omg I totally see it with the Bane banner now. I didn't even think of that. xD

And I do play around with layer styles a lot (how do you think I got C4Ds in there to look okay). But I'll try another tech banner like that.

i acutally would love to see your tech banner doodles its not that complicated it just take some time to get the the tech banner look whole with the brushes you don't want to have to much brush effects or it will over power the the whole of the banner...also yeah make sure to mess around with the layer effects for the layers...i personally don't use any layer effects on the text especially soft light or overlay cuaz i don't see any major changes when you do it but that is my preference...if you post a tech banner i would love to critique and help you with it...i do love your work as well doodles

[Doodles]

Still not getting very good turnouts on the techy banners.

I took a break from tech ones because I was frustrating myself, so I made this. :P

[Eeveelover824]

Still not getting very good turnouts on the techy banners.

I took a break from tech ones because I was frustrating myself, so I made this. :P

not bad doodles on the hunger games banner it seems that the banner itself is a bit too dark and i noticed did you smudge the girl at all it seems a bit smudgy right under hear arm that is pulling the arrow back maybe its just me overall its not bad i like it though...not sure if you use the brightness and contrast levels on your banners...i normally use curves and levels to to try balance the contrast and brightness of the banner so it doesn't look dual and or way to bright...try to find the balance of brightness and contrast which sometimes i do admit i struggle sometimes....

[Doodles]

This one turned out great! c:



More!



And some more!

[Eeveelover824]

i like the first banner its nice i like it really i do but the second banner i can really see the text well it seems a bit to faded through the background and hard to see, sometimes a faded look can turn deadly but trying to make it look purfect is the key to a fading text ...but the colors are very i exquisite would say keep it up doodles