RE: MIDNIGHTdesignsers -- GFX Group
Members List
Leaders
NerdSparks (Skype: lilsparks267)
SuperSleuth (Skype: supersleuth10)
Top Tier (14+ badges)
None yet
Middle Tier (7+ badges)
None yet
Lower Tier (0+ badges)
HolyMackerel
Spammy (Skype: spritemasta)
Gentlefish
Blui
Morsus
Badges
These will be handed out by NerdSparks and I and shown after your name in the members list above. We aren't going to be handing these out like candy on Halloween. Some of these badges will be difficult to earn, as we will be picky with the sigs you submit. We do this for your own good so you can learn and get better, don't be offended. If you are posting a sig in order to obtain a certain badge, please say so. We aren't going to try and guess. Entries for a badge must be posted here. For badges such as completing a sig request for someone, just link us to the member you did the request for. Participation badges will be given out automatically to those who earn them, don't ask for these. If you think we forgot to give you a badge you deserve, let us know in the Skype chat.
Rendered an image well
Used a c4d in a sig correctly
Created a sig with good depth
Created a sig with good flow
Created a sig with good lighting
Created a sig with good color scheme
Used good font/placement with text
Won a contest hosted by this thread
Provided good, constructive criticism for another member’s sig
Created a short gfx tutorial about something you learned
Created an art gallery thread with your sigs
Correct placement of render and render quality is good
Completed a sig request for someone
Collaborated with someone to create a sig
Weekly Participation in the art thread
Invite a member to join this art group
Good participation in the Skype group chat
Art Dictionary
(credit to Soul)
C4Ds
=Cinema 4Ds, something that makes your signature looking cool.
Example (The layer mode of C4Ds should be 'Lighten')
Tag / Banner
An image you can put into your signature
PS (Photoshop)
The best image manipulation program, but the most expensive one. You can get it for about 1.700$, but there's also a free 30-days trial version available.
Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
It's the best freeware you can get. It has almost any features you need. But it's hard to work with for beginners.
Paint.NET
Another program you can use for your graphics. It isn't nearly as good as Gimp but it's pretty easy to work with.
MS Paint
A graphic program that's pre-installed on Windows. You can't do very much with this. Mainly used for Sprites.
Render
A cutout of an image. It has a transparent background.
Shortcuts
AotW = Artwork of the Week
Avy = Avatar
B/W = Black/White (Greyscale) Image
C4D = Cinema 4D
C&C = Comment and Critique
GFX = Graphics Design
HQ = High Quality
KIU = Keep it up
LP = Large Piece
LQ = Low Quality
PS = Photoshop
PSD = Photoshop Document (An image without merged layers)
PSP = Paint Shop Pro
SotW = Signature of the Week
TBH = To be honest
XCF = Gimp Document
.gif = File format used for animations. It's low on quality.
.jpeg = Don't ever use this, it has horrible quality but the file size is low.
.png = The best file format, you can make transparent images and the quality is good.
JPEG is a lossy format so that means that the quality can even deteriorate over time producing what we call "JPEG artifacts".
Tutorial by NerdSparks
This is not a tutorial as much as it is something to help when you're creating a graphics art. I will try to cover a lot while not saying too much, so bear with me. This thread is updated as I think of new tips,
Starting:
The first thing to do when creating your graphic art is to figure out your theme. Normally in a tag your theme will be your render and the effects you create around on/on it .
Your render will determine the size of your canvas, and the major colors you should be using. If You have a slender render, then you shouldn't have a a canvas that is too wide. A safe size for all tags is 360x120. If anything you can increase/decrease the width from there should you find necessary. Personally for my works use a canvas size of about 400x300 (at that point they would not be considered tags btw)
A quality tag will always start with a quality render. If your render is bad then typically you tag will come out bad. Always go for High Quality when possible. Your renders should always have something with a little pop to them, rather than a dull lifeless flat render. You can easily see what I mean when you compare a Sugimori Scan to a typical TCG Scan. When doing pokemon gfx I prefer to use rendered TCG images. I also frequent Planetrenders/GFXresouce/Animerender for my renders. Searching for render packs is a very smart idea. I usually bookmark renders I like as I come across them for future use.
The color wheel is something that every designer should be familiar with naturally, or at least always have on hand. You should always match your colors nicely, only stepping outside of a fourth of the color wheel when needing contrast. This site can help when creating a tag if can define your theme colors by Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter. Google search an image of a color wheel to find other contrasting/complimenting colors as you please.
Your basic composition of any work should always be playing off of your render. They should match or at the very least not seem out of place with each other. This even goes back to color. An anime girl render on a real life city street probably doesn't flow well, neither does a soccer player in soccer gear on a basketball court.
Midway
When adding effects the render/theme should be the first thing you think about. Playing off of the render's natural high points and flow will help you make your effects seamless. Fractals are great to bring focus to a certain aspect of a render and their color/lighting is easily changeable to your work's needs.
C4D Renders can help bring flow to your work by placing them as a Hard C4D or a Soft C4D. A Hard C4D is one that is used as it is, the only adjustments would be color and light. The C4D render itself largely unchanged. A Soft C4D would be something possibly added on Overlay or Screen to bring a shift in the flow of the C4D.
My favorite effects at the moment revolve around bubble and water stocks. Using the highlight portions of each stock you can create some cool effects. Fractals and flares are also very helpful in creating effects. Typically you'll see that placed on either Soft Light/Linear Dodge/Screen.
Lighting is something that should be started at the beginning, but it's understandable if you were to attempt it midway. Lighting should take advantage of your render's natural light spots and accentuate them based on what your piece needs. It should look natural like it's always been there, and typically one should stay away from the plain white and go for a pale color. Lighting can be added by Soft Brushing, or A White-Transparent Radial Gradient. Additionally the Dodge/Burn tool can highlight some spots of your tag. Additional lighting can be created by soft brushing a light blue/pink/red to your tag while setting the layer to linear dodge (if you need something really bright) or screen (for something more foggy_
Ending
Gradient Maps are a wonderful thing when used right. Gradient maps should always be planned out and used with the color wheel in mind. Always check to see if your banner looked better before the adjustment rather than after. Do not get too wild with Gradient Maps as they can hurt, but used effectively they're great. Google search premade gradient packs so that you don't have to think of the colors yourself, and always remember the quintessential black to white gradient.
Curves/Levels/Brightness-Contrast when you play with these too much, people will notice and overall it doesn't help to do it in high amounts. Use these sparingly to give your tag an extra kick, or dull down something that's hurting even your eyes. Each tag is different so I cannot specifically say what will work and what will not work.
Clipping Mask will cover up unwanted spots on your signature but if you are trying to cover up half of your signature then you probably just want to re-do it. Additionally you can use them to create some extra flow when put on overlay. How you use them is up to you. To create a clipping mask the use of splatter brushes, speckle brushes are usually preferred. Clipping masks can also be used to isolate a certain effect in a particular spot.
The Eraser can be used at the end of a tag to get ride of anything on a previous layer that now in retrospect you can say you don't need. You can get rid of pieces of gradient maps, c4ds, and even your render. You can crop out the empty edges of your tag as to bring your focal into what matters. If you have a big black side that's taking up 50 pixels of your 400 pixel image just remove it.
Add text only if you think it fits. Keep text short and to the point. Place it somewhere close to the focal and blend it lightly. If you're not confident with your text always make a version without, and post both and ask for advice on your text. Generally stay away from script/grunge fonts and play with more standard fonts until you understand placement and blending for the text.
Adding borders is entirely up to you. A lot of people like them A lot of people don't. A general rule for borders is keep the colors limited to White or Black. 1px all around border, 3/5/10 pixel widescreen border, or 3/5/10 pixel Top and Bottom Border. When making the Widescreen and Top and Bottom Border an easy thing to do is crop the 1px border gimp forces you to do. (I.E on the Top and Bottom Border GIMP forces you to take a 1px border on the sides).
Additional Resources:
Smeargle Tutorial: http://supersleuth10.deviantart.com/art/Nancy-Drew-Mystery-Sig-Tutorial-311039254
Mantine Tag Tutorial: http://spm3.deviantart.com/art/Mantine-Tag-Tutorial-251465894
