new crap (beginner)

Senatar! Welcome! Your text is :thumbsup. I think it would flow better if you shortened the length of the sig, actually. Bring up retired to underneath - you could separate that and the rest with a thin line or just leave it. A border, even a simple one would finish it off. Think more horizontal then vertical, especially with message boards. Small is good (not that i do small) but vertically keep it as short as possible.

You could even try a different background. Go black? Try a picture. Its still an awesome sig with the difference clouds (that's it, right?). Great job though!!!

EDIT: Doing a border similar to the background you have behind your name would kick ass.

I honestly would if i knew how to do some borders or even some type of line, can you help me out.

Yah it is difference clouds. This is my first real sig that I actually put some time into, no pictures or anything b/c i dont know how to deal w/ that stuff yet. I just am getting really good w/ the texts bc thats really all I have been doing lol.

Because I am anal about this...you could afford to lose the word *but*...it doesnt need to be there. Your quote would be crisper without it :) Unless of course you are personally attached to it, in which case feel free to tell me to stfu. :)

haha your right but it would just be a pain in the ass to change it atm. I will deffinately take a look at it in the futer though thank you .

and here is an update



looks like there might be just too much going on

Do a rectangle instead of a square and center your border and text. That'll make it more 'unbusy' =D

The moon being underneath your name draws the attention the wrong way...the moon should be even with your name. Put the quote above and lower your name to where the moon is. You can also afford to shrink the size of the "retired" text..I'd do it at least half the size it is now and in the same font as your name. I love the funky fuzzies, but the brick doesn't seem to match the generally feel and distracts from the moon.

I kinda liked it without the border hehe. That's a preference thing. The easiest way to do a border imo is to add a layer of a solid colour, then use the marquee tool and cut the inside out of it. You can then add effects to the layer using the layer effects function if you want to funk it up a bit. In particular bevel and emboss.

These are all just suggestions...you're the artist and you have to figure out what works with your style. Keep playing around with different things and you'll learn new stuff that you like.

Tried to do some other things, but the Retired font was too small to screw around with so had to go in there w/ a 1px pencil hope it is ok.

I think it looks great! This is a good job for a beginner sig. Cripes you should see my old ones. /stabs eye. Looking forward to seeing more of your work, Sen. =)

I had a suggestion for a border if you wanted one, but I didn't know how to explain it...so I just did it. Hope you don't mind. (not that you would have to use it or anything.) Just an idea.

Simple, subtle border using a duplication of the sig layer, cut out the middle and switched the blending mode to.....screen, I think it was.

Wow that looks good thanks Rikr.

Welcome. :)

I'm not too comfortable critiquing artwork because everyone has a unique perspective, and I don't pretend to understand everyone's frame of mind. Plus I still have a long ways to go... but the render cloud background is too generic.

You can use it as a starting point, and mess around with various filters/blending modes, and for that you can check into online tutorials.

From personal experience, I liked and still like pattern overlays. What you can do is surf the web for "free backgrounds", choose one that appeals to you, and save. Open it up in Photoshop, then go to Edit --> Define pattern, and call it whatever you want.

So now you want to apply that pattern on a background. Make sure that background has a colour filling (any, just as long as it's not transparent). Then go to Layer --> Layer Style --> Pattern Overlay. Your defined pattern should be there, in the drop down menu, right after Photoshop's pre-defined patterns. Then just click OK, and the pattern should appear.

I agree, I should of just stuck w/ black or maybe something as intrical as what you are saying. But I wanted to try to attempt to do a moon and the clouds around it. I thought that rendering clouds would help me do that, and it did. This is really my first real attempt at making a sig, so i am just exploring. Thanks for the advise I appreciate it.

I think it looks great hun :) You've really incorporated some of everyone's suggestions and made it your own. Like I said, keep playing with things and you'll figure out what works for you.