RE: Project Custom-The Elite Fan Creations Tournament BY INVITATION ONLY!
Resources:
- Original Glaceon image found here:
http://www.pokesho.com/elog/07_04.html
- Background done with a circle gradient and various Photoshop filters, then distorted with Perspective view.
- Text made in a similiar way as the background.
- Sparkles were made by mouse. The only Photoshop tool I used was opacity for each unique sparkle.
- Eyes were recolored by Replace Color and Brightness/Contrast functions, then modifies by mouse and clone stamp to change the expression.
---THINGS CHANGED/ADDED AFTER FEEDBACK---
- Border changed to a simple black 1px thick border.
- Resized to reasonable banner size.
- Background color changed via Replace Color function.
Piece/Relation-to-Challange Details:
The phrase, "Beauty is only skin deep," generally means that what is seen on the outside doesn't reflect what's on the inside. In this case, Glaceon is generally thought of as a beautiful pokemon. The eyes tell a different story, though. In some movies, a character could look into another's eyes and see straight through something, such as a lie, practically identifying the inner-person. In this case, Glaceon is the outer beauty, while the eyes reflect Glaceon's actual personality. In terms of how this reflects me as an artist, Glaceon represents the "beauty" of my works, while the "evil personailty" shown by the eyes represents my current style of "Trial and Error," as I like to call it. Usually, when I start a banner, I don't have the slightest idea of what the end result will be because so many of the steps in my banner-making process are determined by random effects and ideas that arise as I progress further into it. Due to this randomness, my "true" style isn't really completely shown by any one of my works. Each product has its out unique style and ideas. Therefore, my "true" style is nearly impossible to see in any/all of my works, just like it's nearly impossible to completely and successfully judge someone by their looks. I also take a strong belief in the mentioned phrase in real life. That's also probably why I don't have any GFs. lol I don't look at a girl and go like, "OMFG, she so freaking cute! LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT! *DROOL*" lol In order for me to even consider a GF, I want to know that they're going to be a good person on the inside, not someone decietful and talks behind your back.
Time Required:
5-6 hours (first submition) + 1.5 hours (after feedback) = 6.5-7.5 hours (total)
Personal Thoughts:
No matter what this banner gets as a rating, I will be happy with this banner. I put more time and effort into this banner than I have any other banner I have worked on, including banners I have made back when I was using my school's Photoshop CS2 program, and those only took me about 1-2 hours on average, and those were only somewhat satisfactory. I tried a great many, MANY things in this banner that I've never tried in the past. These things include Perspective distortion (including the text), the sparkle effect (which was mouse-drawn), and ESPECIALLY character expression changing. I also exposed myself to the concept of color usage for the first time, thanks to the feedback I got from BR. As a result, I changed the background to not only make Glaceon stand out, but also help make the sparkles a little more noticable. Therefore, I went with a dark shade of a bluish purple. I don't know about what other's think of when they think of the word, "Tundra," but I always think of that color that is now in the background of the banner. And since Glaceon is an ice type, I believe that this "Tundra" color matched Glaceon quite well, and, as I wanted, helps let the sparkles show themselves off more than they would in a light-colored background. I personally believe that this banner will score high marks, but even if it doesn't, it's my personal favorite piece of banner-art I have made yet. And many more masterpieces are going to join that "Wes1234's Banner Hall of Fame" as this contest progresses (assuming that I make it through this round). I have learned a lot about design in just this one round. I look forward to all the other things I could learn throughout this contest to improve my banners, avatar, and even enrich my own fanfics with.
DESCRIPTION LAST EDITED: February 11, 2008 @ 10:53 PM
