Critique this sig in progress.

[Polaris]

go to deviantart or for free acess to photos: stock.xchng - the leading free stock photography site (http://www.sxc.hu/) ;)

[ShunNakamura]

Just a quick little thing I threw together. Mostly I did it to make use of scans that I was practicing my rendering skills on(Sempai is teaching me to use the pen tool to do it rather than the lasso tool like I am used to. Must say it is interesting).


http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/Grimoire-of-The-Sages/BitterVirgin.jpg

As you can see, other than making use of rendered images I was also doing this to practice with those fancy borders I am so fond of. So focus more on the border and the quality of the hair on the renders than the background(which I just through together in 10 or so minutes at most).

[Polaris]

Pen tool is the most powerful tool in PS! It's not so good in GIMP so I don't use it a lot!:)

I love your borders they're different :D

[ShunNakamura]

Pen tool is the most powerful tool in PS! It's not so good in GIMP so I don't use it a lot!:)


Shun is a curious monkey, so I ask what is different from GIMP's pen tool. I may use GIMP from time to time, but since Sempai uses PS I figured if I was going to have him help me that I best use PS as well(normally I cut my images with GIMP, I just find it more comfortable than PS).

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5028/ako2rp5.jpg

Anyways I got WIP. The idea felt good at first, however, I seem to be running into some snags in the finishing touches category. I think I needed to thicken the border. In addition I need to work on it to give it a more wood like finish. I need to fill the room with a lamp and some furniture. Maybe a rug and some cat toys as well. I forgot to give a shadow on the paper clip, but perchance that isn't quite as needed as I think. In addition I want to have it look like it is behind glass/plastic like many picture frames possess.

And yes I realize that squishing a paper clip into a picture frame could be a trick and a half.

If I missed anything(such as messing up on my editing of this picture (http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8964/fde541e5ad1fedf4f82a93cnf9.jpg) to make a concert news clipping) point it out. I figure since I am putting some thought into this one that I may as well see how far I can go with it.

[ShunNakamura]

*Casts Revive on self*


Well I have another WIP to post up. I call it a WIP because I still feel there are things I could do to fix it up. It fills kinda plain to me. I need some lighting or something. Maybe a fancy border. Plus, I should probably add some of the 'features' they offer onto the banner for them.

However, I don't know when I will get around to it... I am kinda worn out as of late all things taken into consideration.

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/549/rmbannervs6.png

[Carl the Llama]

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2972/yuri3jh5.jpg


Love this piccie... what do you use to give it that... I dont know the right word for it but gritty perhaps? not quite gritty but you know what I mean lol

[ShunNakamura]

Back from the grave once again.

First old business.

Kaiser all I do to get the texture is to use Photoshop's Texture overlay on the appropriate layer(sometimes it takes a bit of guesswork to get the exact feel that I want). That or if I can't get the right texture with the inbuilt tool I will make a new layer. Create the texture I want on it with various brushes/images and then use one of the blending options on top of the layers I want affected.

I believe in that one I did both to get that particular effect. Also using a light grunge brush(a spongy one if I recall right) overtop the render helped give it the splatter type feel(not sure if what that technically is called but it reminds me of back when I used watercolors).



New business isn't really all that new. Simply I finished, somewhat, an old WIP.


http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/6646/akophotooq7.png

Maybe the frame is a bit much. I've attached the orginally frame since Pol likes to see the originals. However, I rushed the edits on it a bit much(I decided to use the WIP for a SoTW that I was made aware of a mere hour or so before entries closed). Therefore it isn't too fancy.


P.S. what is up with "And the mome rath ShunNakamura outgrabe" on the quotes?

[ShunNakamura]

Another quick update

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6815/xellos2bz8.jpg

[ShunNakamura]

May as well make another entry before I get bumped off the page.

My Halloween signature!
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4974/halloweenwholezo9.jpg


I might just start making these things semi-frequently again. That will probably depend on the degree of C&C I get.


Question: The Border, is it too stand-offish? I am not sure, but the border gets mixed feelings from me :/.

Edit- Extra info. Currently am medicated so if you think it looks crazy/funky that might be why.

[Arc_Master_14]

COORO!!!!!!!! OHEMGEES!

[ShunNakamura]

Wow.... someone actually recognized him! I didn't think anyone here read +Anima. He is such a fun character(actually he might be the reason the background is funky!) to read about :D.


And once again I got another one done. Not sure what I want to do with it. I got this far with it... and I can't seem to go any further without making it look worse.... yet something feels undone about it.


http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/712/alicelmalvinjd5.png

It probably needs some lighting. I think light streams(as if passing through clouds) would be best.... maybe. But I haven't been able to implement them in a way I like yet.

Well at times like this it is sometimes best to take a break. I'll go read some manga, maybe work a bit on a render that is on my to-do list and see what else I can do.

[Arc_Master_14]

Wow.... someone actually recognized him! I didn't think anyone here read +Anima. He is such a fun character(actually he might be the reason the background is funky!) to read about :D

I lUBBB this manga but was addened that I had to buy it around chapter 52 because of stupid liscensor company!

[ShunNakamura]

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2314/takingshapetb4.png
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4116/takingshape2sd3.jpg
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4682/takingshape3uy4.jpg
A Pokemon WIP for a SOTW elsewhere.

3 versions... man do I hate black and white.

[ShunNakamura]

Well since I can not get a font easily readable on all Backgrounds and since I don't really care about which posts are mine here(easy enough to find since they have so many images) I will just let the default font go.



http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1834/arturiapendragonwipfz4.jpg
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/8793/arturiapendragon2em3.jpg
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/3185/arturiapendragon3ff3.jpg
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6169/arturiapendragon32bn7.jpg

Anyways as you can see I have another signature. This one is currently a WIP. I am trying something different with this one. Anyways, as usual critique you your hearts content. In this case you might actually make a difference(since it isn't done yet and all).

[ShunNakamura]

Once again another WIP, Though I really am tempted to just call this one done. I really only intended to make a simple tag like image with this one.
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/6961/hug3gb6.jpg

[ShunNakamura]

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/2842/arturiavsagriashu9.png
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1008/arturiavsagriasstandoffez4.png
Another WIP. I found this image to be fairly entertaining. Go Agrias! Kick some Saber butt!

[ShunNakamura]

Well I haven't been busy lately, and neither has the forum. But just for the sake of completeness I'll include this puppy here(get it?! puppy?)
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6048/pupsshoesa0.jpg

And my avatar full size version
http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/9595/ava2zi3.jpg

[Polaris]

Awwww puppies! ^^ they look so cute :)

[ShunNakamura]

Awwww puppies! ^^ they look so cute :)

I assume it was the 'cute' bit that garnered me a vote or two in a SotW I entered it in. Surprised me because it did better than I usually do(and I didn't really put much work into it :/).


http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6852/sotwhaunt.pnghttp://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1821/sotwhaunt2.png
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4470/sotwhauntedit.png
I announced it done. I got a few different versions though

Background made from image.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9172/ashiodozanminingtownhai.th.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ashiodozanminingtownhai.jpg)


The banner currently in my signature(which didn't get a single vote in an SotW) background was made from this (http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u225/blackdragontamer/Romantic%20Anime/SakuraBlossomTree1.jpg) and this (http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/images/jigokushoujo/sakura01.jpg). Mostly, I had a few other sakura petal images.

Edit-
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5126/reality.png

[Polaris]

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6852/sotwhaunt.png

this one looks perhaps too grunge and the effects on the person make it look messy!
Second one is better :)

[ShunNakamura]

Hmm.. actually there shouldn't be any effects over the person... and I avoided putting effects under it too. Even if I remove all the effects the render is the same.The thing is the render is 'see through'. She is supposed to be a ghost. Anyways it was something I wasn't entirely happy with, but that was mostly because I couldn't get the text the way I wanted it.

And of course if I am posting it probably means I have another entry.
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/7061/kurumu.jpg
The stock was VERY quickly and rudely cut, so if you see jagged edges that is why. They were from a manga(b&w, which usually isn't my strong suit I believe). Oddly for a quick job with little thought, it is one of the few 'recent' ones I have made that I am pretty much happy with(the other being the Sakurahana one currently in my signature).

[Polaris]

wow this one rocks :) Really really enjoyed it :)

[ShunNakamura]

wow this one rocks :) Really really enjoyed it :)
Funnily it seems that sometimes the quick ones are the best! Of course the quick ones have also sowed some of the most embarrassing stuff ever created!

I rendered this-
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7807/render1d.png
to make this
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/5828/concept3.png
And yes the left most image was so badly 'rendered' by me that I probably should be shot for it. Anyways another quicky meant purely to generate a laugh or two. Poor Rin:love:, I love it when she is tormented!


Now all I need to do is find someway to use the below in a signature.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8682/2289649443fbea0f0189o.jpg
:love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love:

[Depression Moon]

You are quite talented there Ms.?
I can't make a sig in Gimp for the life of me! The colors seem to really pop out.

[Fonzie]

Go get Photoshop.

[Polaris]

The pop-out sig could be bigger! it's nice to have bigger to see the details :)
I said that one rocked because it was different it didn't have all that grungy stuff! It's cleaner ^^

[Depression Moon]

Go get Photoshop.
I don't want to risk another virus.

[ShunNakamura]

Well I saw an animated 'tag' as an entry in Sakurahana's signature competition. I was lazy this time around for the lucky star theme. So I went and did this :p.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4808/luckychannelsmall.png
My comment is as follows: He is awfully calm for a dead man :D.

[Polaris]

AWWWWW LUCKY CHANNEL! >.< so awesome!

[Fonzie]

Go get Photoshop.
I don't want to risk another virus.

Ergh, Torrent anyone?

[ShunNakamura]

Yay! Another update!
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5566/angeldemon.png
There is NO brushing or even C4D's involved in this. I wanted to see what I could do with layering, layer effects, and selective cropping alone. May not be done. If I can figure some brushing that would improve it I will do so.

Things I think I should try to do is selectively sharpen the building(s) somewhat. They blend a bit too much for my tastes currently. But I obviously don't want to overpower the scenery with it(the buildings are merely an addition to the scenery). The goal here was to create a landscape/scenery type deal. I think I succeeded well enough, though I don't see a focal point or true flow in the image(but I have trouble seeing focal points in the first place).

[Polaris]

I like it, I do think colors might need others like the red on the girl with bat wings. :) Color work will help you choosing a focal point :)

[ShunNakamura]

You mean getting rid of the red, like this? Or were you talking about something else?
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2643/demonangel.png

The problem with focal points is even if I try to apply some of the focal point rules that I know; I don't know if it is working or not. The easiest example is "The Last Supper" (http://www.n-sane.net/fundamentals/focal-point/step1.jpg) painting. To my eyes there is no focal point in that painting. Once it is explained I can follow it easily enough. But I can't see it until it is spelled out for me.

The example here is that I placed the angel demon pair exactly on the division point of light and dark figuring that the contrast(and that the demon is in the dark and the angel on the light, more or less) would help act as a focal. Add that to the fact that the bg is fairly mild and the render decently strong. Shrug. In theory it should work. But I don't see a focal. And I have been told I often lack a focal in my work.

[Polaris]

Well the focal point is easier when you have someone in the middle! For an example here:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/Adeselna/yuna_tidus2.jpg

Even though there are two people: Tidus and Yuna, they are both in the middle and they also have a scenario behind it. Even though there are several colors, making the focal point in the middle and background not crowd is the best example how to be sucessful in creating a focal point. :)

Work more in colors, gradient maps, photoshop actions, color balance they are all very good :)

[ShunNakamura]

Hate to say this but my focus isn't focused on that image. Though that one is easy to know why. Shun = Text oriented. No matter what the image is if his initial scan spots anything resembling readable text he goes there first. So my eyes are bouncing all over that image. Though I am beginning to think I have been reading too much manga as of late. I am starting to naturally begin from right to left(it used to be the other way around).


Ah well, personally I want to focus on my backgrounds for the next few works(this also means less text which means I may be able to work a bit more on recognizing focals). I feel I have been cutting corners with backgrounds for ages now. Just brush, C4D, or the ilk and go. Boring. I would much rather work on the type of BG that this one has. It is just that when I started I used to put a lot of thought, if not skill/effort, into my backgrounds. But I don't feel as if I have done that in a while(well I did but a fair bit of effort into the Sakurahana one, but I was mostly just playing with what I could do with layering effects, so the result was non-intended).



Edit- Odd I just realized I never posted up the prior signature I made using the World War II image(the one I used to make the buildings in this most recent one. It is also what inspired the 'design' for another of the recent ones I did here... though oddly it seems imageshack bugged out on me again. Imageshack is really beginning to disappoint me :( ). Well here it is. I suppose it never got uploaded because I considered it a WIP. I didn't like it without the overlay effects. But the overlay is too much. I just could not find my happy place.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4980/pssigughhv3qh5.jpg
Oddly I personally have a focus on this one. Which is highly unusual. I almost never focus properly on an image.

[Polaris]

Like I said when you have images on the middle is easier to have a good focal point! you can never go wrong with images on the middle! With images on the left is slighly harder. I don't know I used to put a lot of text on my sigs and a lot of people still say that my text is really big. I don't give a :bou::bou::bou::bou: because those who say that are obviously ignorant and didn't get my message but when you want to put too much text use it in a nicer way. The sig needs a better blending, like I don't know if those are c4ds, but if they are they looked like you pasted them. They also looked like wings, which is cool, but the yellow clashes a little.

Perhaps you should focus on simple sigs like stocks instead of renders or things like that and practise from that part. :) Colors are very important on a sig, so take a little more time using it. You never get them right at the first time so use gradients maps and then delete them if they suck :)

Some people asked me i I had Teamview so i could show them how I make my sigs, but I told them it was complete chaos and they woulnd't get a damn thing, My tuts would be better because I explained a lot more and they had the correct process! :)


So making sigs is all about chaos!:D Just keep making them :)

[ShunNakamura]

First let me post up the new work. I made a quick/cut avatar to go with the last one.
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7888/avatardemon.jpg


The wings in the Pumpkin Scissors were produced from this.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/171/wingsdnd.th.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wingsdnd.jpg)
What I did with them was personally cut and then fused them with the render(I did play a bit with the color, but probably not as much as I should have). Anyhow, even with images centered I still don't always focus right. For example with out the overlay being as badly blended as it is I fail to focus(the fact that it is clear only over the render focuses me there). In addition if I remove the web I also fail to focus strongly(though if the badly blended overlay is there I at least focus in the general area, though not right on it). Basically the web + the lack of clarity off the render + the renders stronger colors(the green really does stand off the yellow pretty well) + etc...

Well basically looking at the PSD shows me that most of the layers seem to be dedicated to trying to bring the focus to the render. This leaves me to believe that I was doing this as an experiment to see what it took to focus my eyes somewhere. Makes sense in a way since its date was around the time I first began getting frustrated about not seeing focal points even in other people's signatures(even when other people said great focal work or the like to the person). In addition that would explain why I didn't touch the render. Normally I do a lot of color balancing/curving/contrasting on my renders. This was just a normal layer with a very light sharpening layer over it... that is it.


Anyways I still have the PSD(woot, I thought it went by by when I had to reformat recently. Looks like I actually back up a significant number of my old psd files. Speaking of backed up PSD's I think I even have the merging psd(the one where I fused the wings to the render).

Well I did a couple of very quick edits to it. I dropped the overlayering yellow screen thing. Sharpened the background and went and did my usual custom work on the render.
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3400/pssigreview.png
The Yellow overlay really brightened the image up. This is what looks like AFTER I re-brightened it. It very dark/colourless and lacked contrast before I played with it.

Also as an attempt to compensate for dumping the bad blending layer creating focal, I selectively dulled the wings. Sadly it did not work. In this version I do not see a focal :/. Also I just noticed I need to strengthen the bottom border bit. I can't really see it anymore.

[Lawr]

I really like your work, Shun. ( Overlay ftw amirite? ) I know you cut out pics a while ago, but I discovered that turning on anti-alias with the Polygon Lasso really helps the look of the edges of the picture, but good work anyways. Focal points are hard for me as well!

I can't believe I don't have this thread subscribed. :confused:

[ShunNakamura]

I don't use the lasso tool these days to cut. The Pen tool works better as far as I am concerned. True, none of my pen cuts have matched my best lasso cuts yet. But the pen saves me time and is more forgiving of my shaky hands.

Yup if I am posting that means I have a new one. Not much overlay effects this time. Though I did run a couple of filters over the top layer. Overall though this is a REAL quick one. Took me about an hour and a half, cutting renders included.

Version 1, this is what it looked like as I was done adding stuff to it. I figured anymore would make it too busy. However, something still wasn't right. Namely I think I went overboard with the colors.
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2489/hiyori2.png

This prompted me to make version 2. I saturated the colors a bit and came up with this.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6441/hiyori2saturated.png
I am fairly certain I prefer V2. Though I suspect I should play around a bit more and see if I can keep some of the red in it while still toning it down. I think I went too far both ways.


This made me make V3. I mainly did some curve/color balance adjustments.
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3114/hiyori3.png
I think v3 is my favorite. So unless someone has some ideas of what I should do to improve it here it is. Sadly focal/flow is non-existent. It was a quicky and I completely forgot to plan that bit out.

[ShunNakamura]

Double POST! Over a month. Looks like I took a hiatus!


Also an avatar
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2910/avatargpt.png

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8348/haruhil.jpg

[ShunNakamura]

Well here is a tentative version of something I am playing with.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2489/08thmsteamedit.png
I basically lifted much of the background work of the old PSWIP of mine and then edited it a bit for my new signature. It is still in the tentative phase.

[Polaris]

The one you have now the bg is cool, but the image is badly cut :(

[ShunNakamura]

The one you have now the bg is cool, but the image is badly cut :(

Yeah I haven't been taking the time to fully render the images these days, as long as they do what I want them to(I have been focusing on the BG's).

However if you are talking about Haruhi's shoulder that was intentional. That dumb shoulder kept messing with the way I wanted it to look and kept subtracting from the background *mutters*.



I have a new concept I am working on(I cobbled it together fairly quick, I just wanted a rough form of what I was thinking while it was still fresh). And this one is using a fully cut render.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8605/yurithefloweringkonoset.png
Being in the concept stage I haven't bothered with trimming the border properly yet(I have a feeling that will be a bit tedious to get exactly right, plus I just finished cutting the render :/). There is also no text, but I kinda planned this as being a no-text render. The most I would add is a "Konosetsu, pactio complete" type of thing. I suppose I could 'engrave' it into the border frame.

Things to do are:
-I will play with the render(so far it is untouched, just re-sized and copy pasted into the frame).
-I will try to 3d'ify the border a bit more(though if I don't like the effect I'll leave it as is).
-Play with the background contrast. The grayscale bit is a bit weak I think.
-Fix the frame edges
-Perhaps engrave text.
-Anything else anyone can find wrong.

For those interested in the render, here it is -
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6946/konosetsu.png
Not the best cut thing, but it works.

[Lawr]

Very nice cut, and I've always liked your creative borders! I'm kind of interested in your whole "3D-ify" thing you might do too. :eyebrow:

[ShunNakamura]

Thanks :d. The creative borders tend to take longer to make, but when they come out right they feel all worth it :D.


Well I got V?? of the concept :D. Found out I was more bored than I thought lol.

Edit- I decided to use a cheap trick to get rid of much of the edge issue. It also, imo, made it look better overall.
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/3962/yurithefloweringkonoseti.gif

Edit 2- I tried 'warming' up the render to blend it better.
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3413/konosetsufloweringcolor.gif

[ShunNakamura]

Ahoy me hearties! This day I be bearing a pirate styled gift for ye!

Bad attempt at piracy aside, here is my latest work.
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2668/yarrnxt.png

The below was the stock I based it around.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/5324/1145930956.jpg


Changes. I am thinking of changing the font and making the border thicker(on some backgrounds it doesn't stand out much) and possibly more detailed. Also I supposed I should fix the render on the left. I very sloppily cut it... and haven't really done much with it. As for the dumb bird. It just doesn't want to blend well. So I have to play with it more.

[Polaris]

I really like your last one! :) Def. a style to keep :)

[ShunNakamura]

Well it isn't quite done yet, in my opinion, but from this (http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7369/sunrisewallpaper1152x86.jpg), I have gotten this-
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4348/sargasso.png

It was a request. But apparently they didn't like it when it was darker(had I known I probably would have picked a different stock to work from, however, it doesn't look bad lit up, just was a bit of work to go from the original to this).

*I should note. It is going to be a backdrop, they will superimpose their own text. Or so the plan is.



Things to do. I need to blend the rock on the right a bit better(it looks out of place, yes? Some of the areas have too strong of contrast and others lack depth(though it is a lot better than before).

[Polaris]

I think the problem lays in contrast, it's all so brigh that the images look faded :) but the atmosphere is nice:)

[ShunNakamura]

I concur with your opinion :D. The real issue is keeping as bright as the requester wants while maintaining contrast. What this means is a lot of small touch ups/redrawing. As you can see I COMPLETELY redrew the water.

I redid the sky to try and add some depth. Plus I redid some of the creatures to make them less standoffish(or however you want to put it). And tried blending the outcrop of land on the right a bit more.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4348/sargasso.png
Look any better? What would you think of adding a small fantasy boat with childlike figures to observe the dolphin? I was also thinking of adding some small birds. All to add some extra life to it(obviously I would be working all this on a micro scale in the far back).

[ShunNakamura]

Well someone else finished the request before I did so I'll just put it on the backburner for now and work on my next project.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9557/touhoushrunk.png
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/6725/touhoushrunk3.png
Decided to take a break with playing with landscapes.

Edit did a different take of it utilizing the same base background I made.
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1911/nurse.png

[Polaris]

The pics are great but watch out the faces and contrast :)

[ShunNakamura]

As for that previous one. This is what I got after doing some cleaning. Forgot to clean up the girl's arms though.
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/2595/outt.png

[ShunNakamura]

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8307/22401496.png
So far so... meh. I redrew parts of the render so feel free to point out any issues there.

[Polaris]

Hm I think that those effects instead of being in the borders it should be focus on the middle. Also text looks kinda choppy, look for a better font, those calligraphy ones! They give a real effect to it :)

[ShunNakamura]

The text was hand drawn and it was clear but it drew my attention into the focus better when it was choppier(plus it now looks more like writing in my dreams looks... writing is never clear in my dreams :/). Anyways I can manually touch it up if need be. My desired focal was the text, did it work?


As for the effect. The Effect IS the border. It is one of those 'dreamy' picture frame borders. I enclosed the signature on it(I can change it so it penetrates deeper in). I was going to try drawing them manually.. .but man do I suck at drawing wispy things in photoshop. I can undress Saber, but can I make a wispy cloud thing? Of course not.

[ShunNakamura]

Got my second animation that I have ever done(ok, I think I copied the snow effect once.. but that was literally copied from one to the other) ... this one is signficantly more complex than the first one. Anyways I posted up a very base concept elswhere and was told that the plain blue sky background was a bit plain(plus the only reason I went with it is because the images I was animating had that as part of the bg) and that the animation was a bit quick and jerky.

After touching it up I got this.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1189/rinsig2ani.gif
Massive indeed. But I slowed down the animation a bit and added some extra frames to try and make it smoother. Plus, I reordered it to try and smooth it out. However, I think I failed my cuts in some areas :/. Maybe I should just scrap the small resolution images I am using and take some screencaps from the game :/. But I don't know if I could find a wide enough variety of facial expressions in time, however, i would love to add this smile.

Anyways I think I may need to redo the composition. The 'opening' in the buildings should probably be behind Rin to make her the focal.. or does the animation suffice in that regards alone? Plus I ain't sure I am happy with the left most building.


Edit- Elsewhere I was told I needed more frames inbetween the steps and needed to set the between steps as no delay instead of what I had it at :/.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5936/rinlargesize.gif
As I feared the size increased greatly

[Polaris]

I like the animation, not sure about the subtext "the tsundere queen" kinda hard to read :)

[ShunNakamura]

Good point on the text. I hadn't caught that and nobody had to yet point it out to me. Anyways I changed the sub-text and I altered the username text to something that I think looks a bit better. I really need a good place to put the username(will enter it into a SoTW and I need the username on it, but I can't seem to find something I 'really' like :/).

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8423/rinnewtext.gif

Edit- And her it is super optimized to about 1/4 of the size.
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9781/rinnewtextopti2.gif

[ShunNakamura]

Cleaned up the white bits and worked a lot on optimization. Choosing your own color table from scratch can really do wonders.

here it is at 1/4 size with decent quality! It is even smaller than the low quality one in the previous post!
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7341/blendedrinmerged.gif

[ShunNakamura]

And here I go with another new one. It is still in the concept stage. No border. The text will almost for sure change in at least some fashion, etc.


http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3981/conceptborder.png
Tell me if the focal is Dawn/Piplup, because they are NOT supposed to be the focal. In fact I can't enter it into a SotW if that is the case.

And this (http://www.anonym.to/?http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7631/rushingwinterstream.jpg) was the original image I used for the scenery.

[ShunNakamura]

I do not know if any of you recall this (http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/4340/photomanipyr7.png) one I made quite a while ago or not. However, I recently decided to redo it.

The result was this
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/192/finished.png
Since I wanted to submit it to a SotW I ended up rushing it(sadly the day I was planning to do the border/text turned out to be not so free at all, was actually rather busy). Thus, the border text are a bit iffy in my opinion. Any suggestions, particularly on text would be welcome.

Anyways, even with it rushed it is CLEARLY better than the original attempt.

[Polaris]

omg that kitty looks sooo cute <3

[ShunNakamura]

Indeed, evil cats are cute :D.


http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5302/gettingthere.png
Being in the concept stage I haven't really played with lighting or blending of most objects yet, nor have I done much border wise(other than the curtains which are part of the concept). I was mostly getting everything placed and sized how I wanted it.

Oh and these were the original stocks used for the BG/FG
Curtians (http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3718/stagecurtainsred3.jpg)
Background (http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1230/weddingsetup.jpg)

Edit- And the main render was
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3892/mainrender.png
Edit in Edit - Fixed another mistake in the render
From this image (http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5017/largeanimepaperscanspum.jpg)

Edit2- A somewhat poor attempt at lighting
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5558/merged.png

[Polaris]

I think this one is your best so far. Really clean and with great depth :)

[ShunNakamura]

Well I decided to add some sparkles(since you can bet that such a scene in anime/manga would probably have sparkles, flowers, or hearts flying about:p. I figured flowers and hearts would be messy though, while sparkles might be doable). Probably overkill though. But figured I would ask. Execution is probably bad though. I don't really know how to do that sparkle effect(other than brushing over the image).

Also I attempted to fix some issues with the back renders faces/heads. Mr. Exia Piliot in particular looked odd to me.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5558/merged.png

[ShunNakamura]

Not a signature, but I figured I may as well share this. I took this (http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3003/bunde.jpg) and came out with the following.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3708/donemaybe.png
Clearly I was out of my league when I started this. I must have been clinically insane at the time. Regardless though It is 'usable' at least.

[Polaris]

wow that's really awesome! I suck at rendering but that's perfect

[ShunNakamura]

Actually after posting it up I noticed many issues with the render :/. A 'fixed' version. Still some white fuzz and a few spots bug me... but I think I have spent enough time on it :p.
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3708/donemaybe.png

[ShunNakamura]

Well I haven't been doing much lately. Long story short my computer died not long after that last render I made and I have been on a 350mhz for ages. However, I suffered from withdrawal and have decided I would see if I could run GIMP on this thing. And it works! Though I can't do anything to complex or render anything too large. 512mb of ram may not be 'bad' per say, but a 350 doesn't pull it very far!


Anyways onto the meat of the post here it is!
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/5009/entry.png
Have to keep it simple since I can't do anything to complicated. The Background was predominately formed from this image (http://www.futuristspeaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/library-483s.jpg). The main render is from here (http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5531/readordie07.jpg).

[ShunNakamura]

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5471/clownw.jpg
I was clowning around on another forum so I made this quick job to commemorate the occasion.