What to look for in a Signature

[link64]

Ok this is kind of a add on to the thread Ece made. But instead of the 1/10 rating stuff im going to show you what to look out for in sigs.

I'm doing this because i really enjoy GFX and I love seeing good work. I hate it when good work is ignored for something that isn't actually that good. It might be one has a render of something popular so people will in so people will instantly say its good without really looking at the sig itself.

This is the things I've found what actually makes a sig good:

Depth
Flow
Composition
Concept
Effects
Text/Misc

I'll go over some of these things in this thread to give you an idea of how you can spot these things out in someones sig. This will also help you give advice on someones sig if they don't have any of the above in it.


Depth: In a sig you should have a main focal point. This is what you will be looking at in the sig most of the time. The main focal point in sigs would usually be the render you are using. But you can decide it to be something else if it looks good =]. Now you really want ths main focal point to stand out from the sides of your sigs,the background and the effects. So in other words things that are suppose to look further away in you sig should be blurrier make the sig look "Deeper".

Here is a simple example. Ill use my friends sig from another forum to show you



Notice how everyone else other than the main focal is blurred, and if you look close the further away they get the blurrier they are. That has added depth to his sig. =)

That was quite a simple example but you should get the point. Some ways of adding depth into your sigs are: Blurring and sharpening like i mentioned in the above. But you can also use adjustments and other tools to do this as well. burn/dodge tools. Creating shadowing with the levels and curves adjustments.

Flow: I find flow a little harder to explain but it pretty much means that the render/effects in you sig seem to all move in a certain direction (flow in a certain direction) The direction of flow would depend on the render you are using. If you have a sig that is facing a certain direction (left or right) i would suggest making it flow in the opposite direction of that sig. but in some case it will work the other way around.

<--- See all of my effects are moving to the right.

But if the render is facing forward in the sig i like to make my sig go off in two directions with effects. A lot will say that it isn't flowing when you do this but i like to disagree ;]. Here's an example of what i mean.



But if you cant make the render flow in one direction when they are facing forwards you could always just make the background flow instead.

Concept: This is just the idea behind the sig. Like this ones concept is death



As you can see they guy who made this sig pulled off the idea really well. Looks like he has just collapsed onto a table has blood running from his mouth blood then running across the glass table. You should really take you time when looking at peoples concepts. Have a look at the render or stock they used and see how much effort really went into the sig.

Effects: Effects really do make a sig great imo. You can do sooo many things to add effects that it just isn't funny. A lot of people tend to use effect c4ds now but effects can also be added by smudging and clipping masks. I would say brushing i think brushes look ugly unless it is a vector sig or you are using a soft brush for lighting.

<--- Nice effects =]

Text/misc: Text is something i actually completely fail at. But usually try to keep the text simple if your not good at it like me xD. Also when doing text try to make the colors match the sig and blend it in. Notice the text in that last sig that i posted. A few things that you can add to text to make them cool are: adding clipping masks, gradient maps and strokes.

Other things to take note of: Lighting. You will notice a lot of sigs have light sources in there sigs. (the parts that look shiny and glow ;]) You make these by using soft brushes and setting it to scree/linear dodge.



Not the best example but you can see where the lighting is, but you get the point.

Borders: Don't really like borders all that much but try adding a border that matches the sig. Some sigs look better without them though.

Hope this helps. Have fun commenting on sigs now ;]

[Ray]

xD
for peeps who don't know how to make boarders (on gimp)

Layer > new layer

Fill with black

select > All (cntrl a)

Select > Shrink 3px

cntrl x

select > none.

Set to screen etc.



=l nice tut , i new you were threataning to to this

[link64]

Originally Posted by Rayquaza

xD
for peeps who don't know how to make boarders (on gimp)

Layer > new layer

Fill with black

select > All (cntrl a)

Select > Shrink 3px

cntrl x

select > none.

Set to screen etc.



=l nice tut , i new you were threataning to to this

Yes i noticed Ece and ZG's threads and thought i would just add to it.

[Ece]

Thank you for making a professional guide on how to actually critique a signature, many people were just basing their ratings on what they thought was pretty or not, hopefully this will change some people's views and hopefully sprout some critics on these boards.

I'll go ahead and move this to showcase (since that's where most signatures are critiqued anyways) and sticky it. Well done.

[Ray]

i don't claim to be professional , or anything , but the amount of people who just put a c4d under a render is upsetting..

mabey , they'll realise..

[link64]

Originally Posted by Rayquaza

i don't claim to be professional , or anything , but the amount of people who just put a c4d under a render is upsetting..

mabey , they'll realise..

This is exactly what i have been seeing. Thing is the render is just put in on top and in some cases the render is made even worse quality. But when people think its better than something that has had alot of work put onto is just annoying.

Thanks for sticking this though im glad you approve of it =].

[Ray]

REAL sig makers use stocks.
just becuase they're "hard"

My kirby sig is a stock , just blown up with map displacments and smudging

[ZG-kitty]

Yes, thank you for that. :P

Being a Nintendo forum and not a GFX forum...some of the voters are kinda going for what treats their eye..which is the point..but it's also more than what you see..just use your mind and analyze.

Thanks again Link.

[Fury]

Very nice and professional sounding. Good work.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Rayquaza

xD
for peeps who don't know how to make boarders (on gimp)

Layer > new layer

Fill with black

select > All (cntrl a)

Select > Shrink 3px

cntrl x

select > none.

Set to screen etc.



=l nice tut , i new you were threataning to to this

An alternative way to create a border is by

*Creating a New Layer

*Select All (CTRL + A)

*Then Edit > Stroke selection, leave the settings selected on Stroke line and Solid color change the width to whatever size that you desire and then click stroke (note that the border will appear as whatever color that you have set to your foreground color).

Also, thank you link, hopefully people will use this, helpful member award well deserved.

[mephistopholies]

ece your sign is the best i've seen i have to say... who knows it might just be paper mario but its great.