Over the past month-ish that I've been making sigs, I feel like I haven't made too much progress. I've looked at some tutorials to learn how to use certain aspects of Photoshop well, and have had help from a few members on the forum, but I sill can only make mediocre sigs. What would you (preferably those of you who have seen my sigs over time) recommend for me to get... well, just better?
Think this deviation best explains things for just about any new sig maker, even myself (cause I'm still a noob myself :3) (not mine)
The tutorial that Hayabusa posted is ace. I've seen it before. (btw, Hayabusa, you frequent gfxbb or do you just lurk?) Other than the obvious 'follow a tutorial' tip, there are some things I like to do. First and foremost, inspiration. For me, there's two places to draw your inspiration from. The first would be a particular stock. I notice that you use rather common, slightly overused stocks. Now yes, that's not always a bad thing, but they don't really speak. The stock you use is one of the most important building blocks of your signature. Look at a stock like this one. What does it say to you? Loneliness in the the face of destruction? Dependency? Build off of the emotion you find in the stock, and translate it into the signature. Don't just choose a stock because it looks decent, or it's your favorite character. Pick it because it speaks to you. Look at this tag (made by Cinny). Clearly the original stock had a dark or sinister feel to it, and that translated into the signature. Another thing I like to do is trying to emulate a certain artist's style. Look at different people's work, be it tags or something else, and try to take what you think makes their style their style. Like in this piece, the artist used a distinct style -- rough lines, tan background, landscapes. Take all of that into consideration, and put it into your tag. Instead of reading tutorials, look at the final product of people's work, and try to do it yourself. In this tag they use very colorful C4Ds. Try doing that in a tag. In this tag they use clear, smooth smudging to create flow, and have a nice 'spacey' effect. Do that in a tag. And then take all of the things you've learned and work them into your tags. Make it your own, but still leave the traces of inspiration. Think about what you like and don't like about tags you see. A tip on tutorials: 'Full Sig Tuts' are all fine and dandy, but try reading tutorials that are more specific to what you're looking for. If you need help with text, look for tutorials like this or this. ... If you need me to I'll rant some more. xD Just before I end the post, ask an experienced designer to help you out step-by-step over messenger. Show them every once in a while, and pay attention to what they say. That really seems to help. :3
Misty is especially right about the parts reading tuts on certain subjects. Its nice to start out with something basic and simple like this before moving on and trying to do things like clipping masks and such that might not turn out good. In addition to Hayabusa's tutorial, this one is also helpful. It even goes into things like pentooling and the words that gfx artists use. Colors are important too whether you use alot or only one or two. This site can help you remember the basics of colors such as using Monotone Chromatic, Complimentary, and Analog colors. Dont forget to practice, practice, practice.
