Onu Sour | Triple & One

[Demaian]

I have four tags, but really its one and two other versions and another different one. You may have remembered me from the "First six tags of the year" thread.

Features: Hizumi; Vocalist of D'espairsRay

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6968/hizucopy2iw8.png

This being my first version. I wasn't too happy since I really don't do "dark" themed tags like I used to, I still wanted to give it a shot.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5331/hizucopyxj8.png

So, now I messed around with colors maybe a bit too much and nearly flipped the tag. I'm just a sucker for color, but really, all that color made the details in my first tag washed-out so I'm just trashing this.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/4310/onusourii0.png

This is what I have as a final product, and I'm really quite happy with this one as it blows the other two out of the water. All I can say is, thank goodness I kept trying to edit it. Oh, and the "Onu Sour" thing doesn't really mean anything.

Features: Reita, Bassist of The GazettE

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6911/reitacopyhf7.png

Again, a different tag, but this was like a quick job and I'm sure it looks like it. Not too happy with it but I am crazy over the colors so I'll probably come back to this tag and redo it sometime. All I like is the left, the rest is just nasty for now. XD

Comments, critique/ism welcome.

 

[Holic]

Question, are you using paint or Photoshop. I'm thinking Photoshop, but want to make sure.

I like the first one, but I have some nitpicks about it. Sizewise, its too long. Your render/pic takes up about a 1/5 of your sig. Cut out the useless extra siding and it'll bring more attention to the render.
Also, the reason I asked if you were using paint was cause of your blending. There are many extra black squares you can see around the render and I'm assuming its from when you cut the pic out from its original picture. I might be wrong, but you should look up masking and blending tuts, and if you need some help I can give you some.

The second one is blah for me. THe first one was better.

This was the best version, I agree. The colors add something to it for me. But sometimes Ican't tell what you were trying to do when you made the lines. Like, I'm guessing the wite lines are kinda like wires or something. Also, there are more random blocks of lines around that I think should have been removed.

Sorry for all the nitpicking, cause I still like them. I'm sure you'll improve too and I'd like to see the rest.

Curious, did you make your sig?

 

[Shahab]

I am not good in these kind of styles
Well. For I , the second is better , since it hides the low quality of the stock.
Try to use higher quality stocks for your sigs.
God , I can't even CnC on these styles ...

 

[Eidolon]

Out of your sigs the my favourite is the sig you are currently using. Of those four my favourite is the peachy sig. I absolutely love the yellow-blue gradient on that sig.

One thing I don't like about it is the yellow line. I think that is a good idea, but what did you use to do it. It looks very low quality - like made with pencil/pen tool or something. It would look good if it looked high-quality.

Anyway - nice work - I actually love the long sigs. The only one I don't like that much is the 1st one.

*EDIT*
Hey - what image size do you use for those sigs? I might try one.

 

[Shahab]

^
For image size

Right click on the one you want and click on Propertise
The size shows there.

 

[Eidolon]

^
For image size

Right click on the one you want and click on Propertise
The size shows there.

Ah Cheers - I'm rubbish with computers outside of Photoshop

 

[Demaian]

Question, are you using paint or Photoshop. I'm thinking Photoshop, but want to make sure.

I like the first one, but I have some nitpicks about it. Sizewise, its too long. Your render/pic takes up about a 1/5 of your sig. Cut out the useless extra siding and it'll bring more attention to the render.
Also, the reason I asked if you were using paint was cause of your blending. There are many extra black squares you can see around the render and I'm assuming its from when you cut the pic out from its original picture. I might be wrong, but you should look up masking and blending tuts, and if you need some help I can give you some.

The second one is blah for me. THe first one was better.

This was the best version, I agree. The colors add something to it for me. But sometimes Ican't tell what you were trying to do when you made the lines. Like, I'm guessing the wite lines are kinda like wires or something. Also, there are more random blocks of lines around that I think should have been removed.

Sorry for all the nitpicking, cause I still like them. I'm sure you'll improve too and I'd like to see the rest.

Curious, did you make your sig?

Yes.

Its too long? That's your preference of course. The size was to accommodate what I wanted to go back to: the slender canvas sizes instead of the bulky ones. I do either one depending the overall look I want. Here are some where I've used different sizes, and the sizes I do vary a lot, I otherwise don't really care for exact pixel sizes either.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/AzureTear/futremix.png

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3338/rogucopyeg9.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/AzureTear/ii.png

Hizumi may not take up that much space, but that intentionally leaves more empty canvas space to do something with it. I've been criticised before for leaving the stock to take up too much space of a tag and that in turn leaves less effort behind to do the real dirty work- filling the empty space that's left. Instead of the canvas size, the text was brighter than pretty much anything else in the tag to bring the focal point towards the surrounding area where Hizumi is in the tag. Useless extra space? In terms of space, the surrounding area was left create the overall atmoshphere. Yes I agree it could've been utilized a lot better; coming from me.

The blending? In art, sometimes you really shouldn't look at things so literally. I used my imagination all the time. The solid black blocks are not from the original stock- no. I added them there as a sense he's fading away or breaking apart, hence the somewhat dark feeling and sour/bitter feeling within him. Since it is graphics, maybe he's also piecing himself together with those extra pixels. I usually don't explain what the meaning I did in this and that all the time in my work because I encourage people to translate the work into their own words- and sometimes I prefer it not so literrally because sometimes that destroys the meaning I meant to carry out, but different people think in different ways. Sometimes what I do may somewhat seem to have abstract elements in them so that everyone can translate what they see- differently.

I blended the picture in a different way. It might not be the soft and whatever sterotype 'look' you conform to search for, but I do whatever I must to be a little different or original from anybody else.

Yeah I totally agree, the second one is just color on top of the first one.

And refering to the third tag, like I said, a bit of imagination, but I can understand how others don't get it, after all, we are artists for a reason. I tend to edit the original picture with different lines as you can see in the third, I sorta added 'headgear' to his face and some fuchia hair. This was actually a reference I tried to make with another dead man artist, hide (hee-dah) from X Japan (not same person as Hyde) and in part, inspired by the "Armored Warriors" in the Kingdom Hearts II Secret Ending.

Pretty minimalistic, but the line from his ear was pretty much representing earphones and the wire. After all, it is related to music; Hizumi is the vocalist of D'espairsRay, and the other person I portray him is in the third tag is hide, a dead musician whom I sometimes pay tribute to in my work. He is a force to be reckoned with.

Randomosity sometimes add 'play' to the tag so the tag doesn't look like such a kill-joy or in otherwords, depressing. I also did it in a different way to add other colors so the palette didn't look so limited. I couldn't resist myself. Sure, there are other ways you can add color to a piece, its just my clockwork and how I tick is different from most people, or anybody else in the world. But I can't deny the fact that hardly anything can be original these days I suppose (and you can argue), but I do what I feel I haven't really seen before.

You don't have to apologize for what you've already said. This isn't near to what I faced in my younger days, being shot down and the critcisms of doom, but its what makes me get up to try harder to beat their critcism. I don't want to sound cocky or anything either. I've went through a lot and I'm sure tons of other artists have braved through many storms.

Actually, your 'nitpicking' has really freshened me up because for once, I don't get "Oh its so kewl" or something stupid like that. Sometimes, I need something else other than praise because too much of one thing will in a sense make me vulnerable.

And I've indeed made my current tag.

I didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing you or anything, I totally respect what it is you're saying.

I am not good in these kind of styles
Well. For I , the second is better , since it hides the low quality of the stock.
Try to use higher quality stocks for your sigs.
God , I can't even CnC on these styles ...

Well these pictures were only very recently released by magazines, and what people scan is what I end up with. What you see is what you get. Also, the picture had raindrops on it so that's why it appears grainy when I sized it down and then after that, having to sharpen it made it even more grainy, no excuse though, since I was simply too lazy to touch-up the skin myself.

Out of your sigs the my favourite is the sig you are currently using. Of those four my favourite is the peachy sig. I absolutely love the yellow-blue gradient on that sig.

One thing I don't like about it is the yellow line. I think that is a good idea, but what did you use to do it. It looks very low quality - like made with pencil/pen tool or something. It would look good if it looked high-quality.

Anyway - nice work - I actually love the long sigs. The only one I don't like that much is the 1st one.

*EDIT*
Hey - what image size do you use for those sigs? I might try one.

I have to disagree if you are talking about that pastel yellow bar on the far right end of the fourth tag. That is not low quality. I saved it as a PNG; I think low quality would be as being grainy or has off-color spots on it and the likes of something like that, but I don't know if the brightness is affecting how you see it. I used the Rectangle Tool to make it, without the Anti-Aliased box checked because I didn't want that softness to it.

I agree with you it is sort of a good idea only because the yellow goes with the cyan. However, it isn't perfectly mixing in with the tag is what you're saying.

Ah Cheers - I'm rubbish with computers outside of Photoshop

X)

EDIT: I forgot to thank you all for the replies! It really makes me realize how DEAD some forums out there really are. Keep up the activity guys.

 

[Holic]

wow. Ok, I totally see what you mean now. Like you said, I've been pretty accustomed to the typical sigs you see around now adays. The tech ones, the vector ones, the abstract ones. I liked how you explained everything you did. I can totally see what you envisioned now.

Still, I hold my opinion that some of the extra pixels look more like a mistake then on purpose, but that's just me.

BTW, I totally think that third one of your old stuff that you posted is crazy awesome.

 

[Eidolon]

Yes.
I have to disagree if you are talking about that pastel yellow bar on the far right end of the fourth tag. That is not low quality. I saved it as a PNG; I think low quality would be as being grainy or has off-color spots on it and the likes of something like that, but I don't know if the brightness is affecting how you see it. I used the Rectangle Tool to make it, without the Anti-Aliased box checked because I didn't want that softness to it.

No sorry I mean the line down the middle of the sig. On my monitor it is coming up as quite jagged (edges). Maybe that's my monitor, but that's what I meant.

 

[Morrigan]

I think you already know that I love you style,so they're all awesome for me.

 

[Demaian]

No sorry I mean the line down the middle of the sig. On my monitor it is coming up as quite jagged (edges). Maybe that's my monitor, but that's what I meant.

Ah I see what you mean. I apologize for misunderstanding. Yeah, it does have jaggies when you take that closer look. I didn't use the Pencil because that tends to be rougher than the 1 px default brush, which I used there. Basically, everything I do, I basically skip the Pen Tool sometimes and just do it with free-hand mouse and scribble around to add funk/child's play maybe?

I'm perfectly fine with jaggies myself. I used to go through the trouble of making sure everything is smooth and sleek like everyone else (as if it was established by some great artist's "Standard of Art"), but I just decided hey, I've established what I needed before in my work and I don't need to prove anyone anything (yet), just my drive alone is enough.

This isn't directed at anyone really:

What is "perfect" art anyway? The Vatican's paintings? What is art? Does that mean when I see someone sculpt a mount of elephant poop to look like dog poop mean its art? "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?" Is it really now? The question might be, what is good and what is bad art, and who defines them? Would running my nails down a chalkboard be considered "music"? These are rhetorical questions (some of this knowledge coming from one of my best teachers).

Basically, I'm always trying to think outside the box. I'm just seeing how different people on different levels will respond is why I decided to share my stuff here (that and my favorite places are either rotting or dead or disappeared).

I pretty much got off-topic, but I've had these thoughts bottled in for too long to not share them with people who are doing graphics like myself.

I think you already know that I love you style,so they're all awesome for me.

Thank you. I sense a bit of too much coyness from your words than what I'm usually hearing.

---

And I hope you are all not getting the sense of being shot-down or something. Thank you all for your input. I greatly appreciate it.