Offering Constructive Critique $25k

reina__ · April 2009

Hey, I'm offering constructive critique again. $25k for each banner CC. Contracts go to Reinz. (with dot). This is constructive critique. I am not judging you and I am not making fun of your work. If you feel offended, I am sorry, but learn to take cc better, especially if you enter your banners in this. I am not trying to offend you or make you feel "lesser" or anything similar. If you aren't aware of my level of graphic making, here is one of my recent ones: <img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/24ot6z6.jpg"; alt="http://i32.tinypic.com/24ot6z6.jpg"; class="bb-image" /> I won't be giving any program instructions, just ideas. You will have to figure out how to do them on your own (I only have Paint Shop Pro 9 so I can't anyway). I have made millions on several virtual games by doing graphics and you can too. I started seriously graphic making in October 2008. I had done a few MS Paint banners before then. This just goes to show that you can make pro-level banners too. *Practice as much as possible and play around with color palettes, and even search around DeviantArt and Google for color combination ideas.* I strongly encourage using ONLY RF pictures. I have seen several banners with copyrighted photos. It is a serious crime. I used to do it too but I feel absolutely horrible about it and now do not use pictures with the © symbol protecting them.

Kazuko · April 2009

<img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/2yx521j.png"; alt="http://i43.tinypic.com/2yx521j.png"; class="bb-image" /> Take it away. I know it's crowded, but I had to have -some- way to fit all those breeds on there. *sigh*

reina__ · April 2009

I personally love this banner. Although it is crowded, you've done a good job with the placement of the dogs. The outline makes them stand out more than if they weren't outlined. Nice. Perhaps if the overall picture was larger, you would have more room on the top or bottom for the quote, "We've Picked Your Poison," because it could pop out a little more. Also, the dog on the far right, I'm guessing you got that picture from Wiki? That is a Presa. I've seen it on there before and tried to get the guy to take it off, but oh well. He also put a Bullmastiff up on the Corso pics.

The blue brindle Presa looks more like a Corso anyway, so it's all good. The font of "Triple Threat Kennels" is a bit hard to read. You should try an Eroded font, <a href="http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=107"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=107</a>; rather than a distorted font. The colors in the background are great. I love that it's simple in the background, because then it makes the dogs pop out a little more. That cool?

Kazuko · April 2009

xD The dog on the far right is supposed to be a Presa, and the one next to it a Corso. *shrugs* And yeah, the slogan "We've Picked Your Poison" was thrown up there because I had no where else to put it. xD But thanks. =D I'll keep that font in mind next time I change around my kennel. xD

MondyFlax · April 2009

version one: <img src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/TheclimbBG.png"; alt="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/TheclimbBG.png"; class="bb-image" /> version two: <img src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/Theclimb.png"; alt="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/Theclimb.png"; class="bb-image" /> this one is harder to read.. and then this one <img src="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/justadream.png"; alt="http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/MondyFlax/justadream.png"; class="bb-image" /> Those are my two latest banners. >.>

reina__ · April 2009

Those are great. I love the backgrounds! When you have a picture and want to put writing on top, less detail is always better than more. Try making the background softer, and making the font more bold, or flipping that around. Obviously you want ppl to be able to read the text best, and since the background is quite prominent anyway, soften it and bring out the text somewhat. Try overlapping the text with the same text but a different color (you could go dark grey-blue, or medium grey-blue) but just subtle. Play around with softening the background, the colors, the texture.

Very nice otherwise.

lovefrompaige · April 2009

<img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/2dvj1w4.jpg"; alt="http://i39.tinypic.com/2dvj1w4.jpg"; class="bb-image" /> Here is one of my latest banners...

Kerry · April 2009

MondyFlax · April 2009

reina__ wrote:

Those are great. I love the backgrounds! When you have a picture and want to put writing on top, less detail is always better than more. Try making the background softer, and making the font more bold, or flipping that around. Obviously you want ppl to be able to read the text best, and since the background is quite prominent anyway, soften it and bring out the text somewhat. Try overlapping the text with the same text but a different color (you could go dark grey-blue, or medium grey-blue) but just subtle. Play around with softening the background, the colors, the texture. Very nice otherwise.

Thank you so much

I needed some pointers. xD I threw those together within about 20 mins.. so. xD Thanks a lot

reina__ · April 2009

Paige - I love this manip! The colors make it pop out so well, oh and the black silhouette is awesome too. Very creative. First things first--the text. All that is really distinguishable is "Boxers." Light on dark, or Dark on Light makes test the easiest to read. In this case you have selected a buttery yellow to go on top of orangey red, which is pretty difficult to read. Perhaps if you outlined the text in something darker, or changed the color. I like the glowingness of the font though, that looks way cool! Try placing the "Obernewtyn's Boxers" on the black ground part. Then you'd be able to see the soccer ball better. The Boxer on the bottom's head is a little transparent. Try copying and pasting the head as another layer so it's clearer. I can't tell if there's supposed to be text in the white portion above the Boxer on the left hand side's head, but if there is--you guessed it--it is unreadable. The "Obernewtyn" on the top might be better off on the other side. Hope that helps. Steph - Excellent! For the first one, I do love the softness and the way you've blended the pictures together. Something that may make it pop out a little more is to keep the softness, but add a little more contrast to the pictures, and dark them at the same time. I barely noticed the writing in the background until now. Making the background darker, contrasty, yet still soft will make the text pop out even more. Soft purples & small black letters often don't go together as well as they should--since the pixels of small black letters are often actually dark purples and reds. (When you save as a .jpg, it does that for some odd reason.) The "Sierra Lynn" looks great with the glowing outline! Second- Perhaps if the mountains had more contrast and brightness, they would stand out a lot more, and the focus would be on the hills. Right now, the eye isn't really drawn to anything. Always keep in mind that you want the eye to be drawn somewhere. If you moved the "Fuzwig Hills" elsewhere, the mountains will be clearly seen and ppl will get the jist that the mountains are the focal point, not the scribbly writing, the textures, and the text. Nice and bright otherwise! Keep up your great work.

lovefrompaige · April 2009

Paige - I love this manip! The colors make it pop out so well, oh and the black silhouette is awesome too. Very creative. First things first--the text. All that is really distinguishable is "Boxers." Light on dark, or Dark on Light makes test the easiest to read. In this case you have selected a buttery yellow to go on top of orangey red, which is pretty difficult to read. Perhaps if you outlined the text in something darker, or changed the color. I like the glowingness of the font though, that looks way cool! Try placing the "Obernewtyn's Boxers" on the black ground part. Then you'd be able to see the soccer ball better. The Boxer on the bottom's head is a little transparent. Try copying and pasting the head as another layer so it's clearer. I can't tell if there's supposed to be text in the white portion above the Boxer on the left hand side's head, but if there is--you guessed it--it is unreadable. The "Obernewtyn" on the top might be better off on the other side. Hope that helps.

lol *slaps self* I told myself to move it over to the black side but nooo... I forgot to do that....... :roll: And as for the top text, yeah, only Obernewtyn was suppose to show. lol I'll be more careful next time on placing. Thankies!

saved09 · April 2009

<img src="http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/mwsr2010/saved09bordercollieblingtext.gif"; alt="http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/mwsr2010/saved09bordercollieblingtext.gif"; class="bb-image" /> What do you think of this banner? It was a first time shot, so i need to know how to improve things a bit.

reina__ · April 2009

First time?!?!? :shock: Wow. Way better than my first time, fo sho. I really like the colors you chose and the moving text is rockin. Not everyone can do that so you got an advantage on that one. The cutting of the dog is pretty sharp--try softening the edges after you cut and paste. Depending on what exactly you want, try a texture instead of the same dog over and over again for the background. There are a lot of textures on the web that you can use, search.creativecommons.org and check the 2nd box, and type in brown texture.

Other than that, it's great! You can change the font to something custom - there are thousands of downloadable fonts on dafont.com or other places to change the "feel" of the banner. Also try putting 1px borders on. Good luck with learning!

saved09 · April 2009

Thanks for the advice. I'll See what i can find.

reina__ · April 2009

:arrow:

lovefrompaige · April 2009

TheDogHandler · April 2009

<img src="http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Gabbylew/fastnfuriousx.png"; alt="http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Gabbylew/fastnfuriousx.png"; class="bb-image" /> (: ?

reina__ · April 2009

lovefrompaige - I love this one! I love the background, very nice. I also love the softness of the pictures that you do in your banners. Since you are making the dogs and background soft, try making the text stand out; a little more sharp than the rest. Remember light text on dark background, or dark text on light background shows up the best. "Clearwater" looks great, but "Kennels" is a bit harder to read. Also the top "Pitbulls" is a bit hard to read too. The trees distracts the eye. Also, the grass line in the middle and the right side breaks and looks fake. The whole left third of the banner is great -- the color palettes look great together (white, black, and the peachy brown color). Try making the whole thing of that palette, rather than breaking it into greeny-blue and greys. Beautiful otherwise. TheDogHandler - Hey, this one is great! I enjoy the brush or the cut of the cars--creative! Try softening the cut of the cars and the cars, and adding contrast/clarity to the people. Since the people take up the majority of the banner it will be more eye-popping that way (unless you don't want it to be). The thing above the girl on the right's head is a little distracting, and I'm not sure what it is, and also the thing by the left girl's mouth. If that could be cleaned up it would look a lot neater. The 3D effect of the letters - nice! I like the color of them and the placement also! Vin Diesels shirt.... that shouldn't be there... LOL I'm just kidding. (*covers mouth*, "oops did I just say that?") Other than that it's great!!! If you want the theme of the writing to be more car-y, try a blockier font, but keep it the way it is if not.

TheDogHandler · April 2009

reina__ wrote:

TheDogHandler - Hey, this one is great! I enjoy the brush or the cut of the cars--creative! Try softening the cut of the cars and the cars, and adding contrast/clarity to the people. Since the people take up the majority of the banner it will be more eye-popping that way (unless you don't want it to be). The thing above the girl on the right's head is a little distracting, and I'm not sure what it is, and also the thing by the left girl's mouth. If that could be cleaned up it would look a lot neater. The 3D effect of the letters - nice! I like the color of them and the placement also! Vin Diesels shirt.... that shouldn't be there... LOL I'm just kidding. (*covers mouth*, "oops did I just say that?") Other than that it's great!!! If you want the theme of the writing to be more car-y, try a blockier font, but keep it the way it is if not.

I'm not sure what those things actually are O.O I think they're brushes, because I thought it looked slightly boring without something .. but they kind of spoil the picture now I look

.. and I thought about increasing contrast, but then things would be too bright, so the mysterious objects [

] would seem more outlined. Vin Diesels shirt should definately not be there, agreed :P .. Thanks reina! I'll do some more soon and post them for you! - are you sure you don't want payment?

lovefrompaige · April 2009

lovefrompaige - I love this one! I love the background, very nice. I also love the softness of the pictures that you do in your banners. Since you are making the dogs and background soft, try making the text stand out; a little more sharp than the rest. Remember light text on dark background, or dark text on light background shows up the best. "Clearwater" looks great, but "Kennels" is a bit harder to read. Also the top "Pitbulls" is a bit hard to read too. The trees distracts the eye. Also, the grass line in the middle and the right side breaks and looks fake. The whole left third of the banner is great -- the color palettes look great together (white, black, and the peachy brown color). Try making the whole thing of that palette, rather than breaking it into greeny-blue and greys. Beautiful otherwise.

*Writes it down in notes* Thankies

reina__ · April 2009

TheDogHandler wrote:

reina__ wrote:

TheDogHandler - Hey, this one is great! I enjoy the brush or the cut of the cars--creative! Try softening the cut of the cars and the cars, and adding contrast/clarity to the people. Since the people take up the majority of the banner it will be more eye-popping that way (unless you don't want it to be). The thing above the girl on the right's head is a little distracting, and I'm not sure what it is, and also the thing by the left girl's mouth. If that could be cleaned up it would look a lot neater. The 3D effect of the letters - nice! I like the color of them and the placement also! Vin Diesels shirt.... that shouldn't be there... LOL I'm just kidding. (*covers mouth*, "oops did I just say that?") Other than that it's great!!! If you want the theme of the writing to be more car-y, try a blockier font, but keep it the way it is if not.

 I'm not sure what those things actually are O.O I think they're brushes, because I thought it looked slightly boring without something .. but they kind of spoil the picture now I look .. and I thought about increasing contrast, but then things would be too bright, so the mysterious objects [ ] would seem more outlined. Vin Diesels shirt should definately not be there, agreed :P .. Thanks reina! I'll do some more soon and post them for you! - are you sure you don't want payment?

Nope, I'm ok. If you add contrast and lower brightness it works better. Try that!

LuvMe · April 2009

98rtsy · April 2009

My newest one. It was just a quick example I made. <img src="http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww213/mustangboy615/Banner9.png"; alt="http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww213/mustangboy615/Banner9.png"; class="bb-image" />

SylverWyndIV · April 2009

<img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/28ahm9v.jpg"; alt="http://i44.tinypic.com/28ahm9v.jpg"; class="bb-image" /> This one is brand-new (:

reina__ · April 2009

Dogcot -

The greyscale effect of it is great -- sets the mood. Call me stupid but at first I couldn't tell what the little girl was, just looked like a blob in some grass. I'm sorry. Now that I see it, something that would make it more interesting would be maybe to extend the photo crop so her head is near the right side more, and the text be on the left side. Then maybe if the text was not in a paragraph form but more spread around it would add some spice. Perhaps soften the background too so that the text jumps out a little.

Terriers - Nice... People often like it better when you don't copy someone else's style.

Anyway, try softening the background, add contrast, take out brightness, add clarity and saturation. Then cut out the dogs less softly -- erase the white parts around the dogs and then layer the parts over that have gotten slightly transparent. Add contrast/brightness and saturation, and maybe mess with curves or colorization. It might look a little more eye-catching if you change the font to something more custom - there are thousands you can download on dafont.com. Kudos for using non-copyrighted banners.

Brittsy - I love the color palette you chose. Brown and blue will always look great together! To be frank, what is within the limits of the banner border is all a mess to me. It would make for a great background/texture though! If you add something like a couple Scotch Collies on the side it would catch the eye 100% more. Depending what you want, "November Song Kennels" should be bigger than "Show Your True Colors"... but it doesn't really matter in this case. The picture part is really cool but like I said I can't really see anything else other than handwriting and 2 dog faces. If you add some dogs on the side, make them dark and sharp and clear. It will add a little something extra.

Keep up your great work.

PishPosh · April 2009

Here you go, give me all you got. I don't care hwo harsh you are ^.^ I'm really sorry I have alot

You don't have to critique them all. <img src="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/CC1-1.png"; alt="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/CC1-1.png"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/Ailora1.png"; alt="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/Ailora1.png"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/Example1-1.png"; alt="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/Example1-1.png"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/BigBang2.png"; alt="http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/tikie06/BigBang2.png"; class="bb-image" />

reina__ · May 2009

Well since you posted them all I'm gunna have to !

I LOVE the first one. I love the background -- so cool; the color palette is absolutely great. I love it when people use sunsets/sunrises because it makes the whole picture look beautiful. I like the birds too (is that a brush?). The things that I would have to say is try to make the edges of the dogs harder, because they look like you didn't put a lot of time into them. Try adding contrast/lowering brightness in the brown puppy with it's ear flopped over, and then soften it. If you didn't save a copy without the puppies, you can just copy and paste another layer on top.

Btw, Relient K = thumbs up. Pishposh, I never knew you were such a great artist! Wow! I will definitely order from you (that is if you let me).

I love the second one. the ONLY thing I can really find in this is the sentence spacing. "I love the rain," and "It hides my tears" are pretty close and then "and shatters my pain" is somewhat far. It's not a big deal -- and it depends if that's what you meant to do.

Great banner. I love this one too! It's very.. fantasy-like, I think. The hair in between the frontal coyote wolf thing's picture.. is that supposed to be there? Make sure when you write what the person wants, it doesn't trail onto the running one's nose. It's ok if it's on the frontal picture's chest area, though. I love the background colors thought!:D Eeeee Big Bang! The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth guy is really cute. Good job! LOL! I like the spacey look you have going on, and OMG the glowing portion in the corner is GREAT. I did this too, and I found it a little hard to find good places to put all the little song titles everywhere, but you made it look easy. I like the cloudy effects you've got, and the music and stars! The "Big Bang" text doesn't really go, or pop out as much as it should. If it was red or something that contrasted with the bluey background, it would look better. Also if you made the font more futuristic. I don't know what program you use but usually you can find a text texture that looks like chrome or something.

Otherwise, it's great! Keep in mind that my critique is very minute; most things I point out people won't really notice, but when you change them, it will make a lot of difference. And the more you practice the same thing over again, the better you get! It doesn't matter how much time you take, just how many times you do it.

PishPosh · May 2009

Thank you very much! This will definitely help me in the future

And yes you will be able to buy from me eventually >.< I really do appreciate it though, I like getting all the critique I can.

reina__ · June 2009

:arrow:

Berton · June 2009

<img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/tak4zo.jpg"; alt="http://i42.tinypic.com/tak4zo.jpg"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/eulhlz.png"; alt="http://i42.tinypic.com/eulhlz.png"; class="bb-image" /> Ill send the contract from Wheaton Showing in a few

EpikLove · June 2009

<img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/1zvriw9.png"; alt="http://i42.tinypic.com/1zvriw9.png"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/nbdu8z.png"; alt="http://i41.tinypic.com/nbdu8z.png"; class="bb-image" /> <img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/f0ymc1.png"; alt="http://i43.tinypic.com/f0ymc1.png"; class="bb-image" /> [The following pics are big, so I didn't want to take up any more space than I had to. xD] <a href="http://i42.tinypic.com/35053sg.png"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i42.tinypic.com/35053sg.png</a> <a href="http://i39.tinypic.com/wlyopl.png"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i39.tinypic.com/wlyopl.png</a> <a href="http://i41.tinypic.com/4ggcwl.png"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i41.tinypic.com/4ggcwl.png</a> <a href="http://i40.tinypic.com/15q21io.png"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://i40.tinypic.com/15q21io.png</a> Take it away reina.. I know it's a lot, so I'm sending 100k over from Epik Love. ^_^; Sent the contract. [:

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Offering Constructive Critique $25k

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