15 replies to this topic

[Juturna]

Here's the winners! Congrats to all who won and well done to all who entered!

1st Place goes to: LikeRobots


2nd Place goes to: Rachel4


3rd Place goes to: Musician


Winning entrants please PM the person supplying the prize you're entitled to, to receive it.

Spoiler

imjustbored



helio



bleedingskulls



fimend

[Strategist]

Thanks for running the comp this time round Juturna Congrats to the winners!

[Rachel4]

Congrats to the winner and everyone else, THAT WAS FUN

[fimend]

I have first prize, so PM me a trade link.

[esotericaKoalan]

It's kind-of a downside that if you enter a SOTW, you can't CnC until after it's finished, or you'll be disqualified for giving away which tag is yours.
(I mean, I want to post my opinions, but I can't until it's over...)

Again, these are just my opinions, from seeing tons of tags in the past, and you don't have to agree with them.

Spoiler

Spoiler

The first impression that this tag makes is "bright." That's not a good thing, because over-brightened things tire the eye.

Overall, this tag is very chaotic. There is no flow and no distinct light source, and the bright, almost C4D-spam on the left distracts the viewer from the most important part of the tag - the focal.

To improve the flow, you can reposition the C4D and other effects so that their general direction matches general direction of the render (where she's about to fling the thing in her hand, the direction that her head is facing, etc). Making a distinct light source (like a spotlight) will also improve flow.

Also, you can see her hand's shadow (probably on a wall in the stock), and that undermines the depth. Instead of getting a 3D sense, you get the sense that you're looking at a wall. To fix that, you can either get rid of it (by rendering or erasing, which takes time), or you can block it with another C4D/object.

Spoiler

Overall, this tag is C4D-spam. There are few tiny spots of actual render in an ocean of C4Ds. C4Ds are used to emphasize the render, not to overwhelm it, which is the case here. (Remember, the main point of your tag is Lady Gaga, not C4Ds. At least that's what I assume.)

The render that you used is badly cut out. By badly cut out, I mean soft erased, to the extent that parts of the edges of the render are missing/transparent. For example, that face on the left looks like a randomly floating ghost head.

The color scheme you picked isn't very appealing either. Blue, orange, and cyan generally work well together, but you used tiny bits of that on a largely grayscale tag.

Also, this tag has no distinct focus. There is one on the left, where the head is, there is one all the way on the other side, where the other head is. The focus on the right distracts the viewer from the focus on the left, and vice versa, making the viewer's eyes dart back and forth between the two.

There isn't really that much that I can suggest except for using less C4Ds and reading this tutorial.

Spoiler

This tag looks unfinished - like those sloppy advertisement banners found on various sites.
The main thing causing that feel is the text. Text should never be a main portion of your tag, unless you're doing typography, which is not the case.
(Try making your text smaller, changing each word/phrase to a different font, positioning your text in a non-square way, etc.)

I find the tag separated into 2 regions: the left half with the text, and the right with the image. This creates 2 focal points, but it can be easily fixed by moving both closer to the middle.

I find the Quiggle largely unnecessary - it ruins the romantic mood. Of course, this is an opinion (well actually this entire post is...), but I find that tags with a romantic feel, appeal more than tags with a humorous feel. But the main reason I'd want to remove the Quiggle is so that I can emphasize the couple even more. A spotlight on them would do so much.

The depth in this tag is pretty good, but it can be improved by blurring the bokeh in the background. (Yes, that light effect is called bokeh - weird term, right?) Also, the clef-shaped bokeh behind the text is pretty clever.

Finally, the color scheme needs to be changed (i.e. the colors need to match each other). This is pretty simple to do: just put on around 5-30 adjustments layers (gradient maps/photo filters/etc) on different blending modes from 5-50% opacity and you're done.
(Actually, removing the Quiggle would be a pretty effective way of changing the color scheme too...)

Overall, this tag has the most potential out of the others.

Spoiler

This tag is very small, which makes it difficult to focus on the details. Everything just seems too crowded, especially the text.

The color scheme seems a little dull. And a water-themed color scheme would seem to make more sense with the text (instead of the hot/dry color scheme here).

Spoiler

This is my tag, feel free to disparage it as much as you want. But please don't just say, "it sucks," without any criticism at all.
If you're curious, the character in the tag is my line-art of the Spirit of Rock from Maplestory.

I will distribute the PSD for this when I get the chance.

Spoiler

This tag is multi-focal. When you look at the guitar on the right, you get distracted by the face on the left, and vice versa.

The depth of this tag is very awkward. Objects that seem like they should be in the front are in the back (the text with its shadow), and the cracks in the back limit the depth.

The render is low quality. The guitar is over-sharpened and too bright, and the person's leg is blurred so much that it hardly looks like a leg anymore. (I actually thought his leg was a blurred C4D at first.)

Spoiler

The render in this tag is low quality and over-sharpened, and the noise in the background makes the tag seem even lower quality.
In general, the tag just seems very empty.

Grayscale generally doesn't work very well when tiny amounts of color are added, unless you're making a color splash.

There's not much else to say here.

[Juturna]

Thanks for running the comp this time round Juturna

np~!

I have first prize, so PM me a trade link.

I have 2 & 3rd, so PM me a trade link as well~

It's kind-of a downside that if you enter a SOTW, you can't CnC until after it's finished, or you'll be disqualified for giving away which tag is yours.

lol I've done it. I just C&C my own tag along with the rest (along with not stating I made it or anything of course). Here,I'll pull up my example from #23.

5. Huh. A bit too bright. Also, I notice how the clipping mask/strip behind sora doesn't align with the wireframes and C4D's you have going. Not too bad, it just bothers me. I do like your colouring though. Also, that red effect to the right of Sora (just that wave-y thing part) should go.

seeing as 5 was my own tag. Just C&C it. or state what you don't like about your own. It's not too hard. ^^;

Then again, if you don't want to, you don't have to. That's just what I do to get around that. /le shrug

[IcedEarth]

Congrats to the winners!
Also, just want to say thanks for the detailed crits guys.
That was my first try so it helps a lot, I will definitely take what you said into consideration.

Edited by bleedingskulls, 27 December 2011 - 11:53 AM.

[Juturna]

Aaaaaahhh, in that case, it was absolutely fantastic for a first. Keeping going ^^; Keep trying. I see potential in you. :3

[Musician]

This is my absolute first signature.
I can't believe I actually placed. ._.

Congrats to the other winners, and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everybody who voted. <3

Also, thanks for the critique, Juturna & Helio!

[luvsmyncis]

*Rachel4 fanclub for life*

[Musician]

*Rachel4 fanclub for life*

I'M IN! *_*

[Rachel4]

Thank You for the critique Helio and the tut lol next time ill try and render properly , but its so tempting to get a soft brush

*Rachel4 fanclub for life*

I'M IN! *_*

Edited by Rachel4, 28 December 2011 - 06:29 AM.

[imjustbored]

Just so everyone knows, that AFI sig was made a good 4 or 5 years ago... maybe longer. I can't even find the original anymore. That being said... grats to the winners, I just wanted to enter to see if we had any artists left on Codex.

[Scot]

I wish someone would figure easter egg 5 by now. The answer was so blantantly posted yet no one took action to claim it.

/end rant. I figure I'd post this in here since no one reads this thread anyway. i love men

[likerobots]

wah wah wah maybe if i procrastinate more have time tonight i'll have a third look through the board :|
Scot did you ever post the answers to the other easter eggs? or are you going to? :3

[Nymh]

wah wah wah maybe if i procrastinate more have time tonight i'll have a third look through the board :|
Scot did you ever post the answers to the other easter eggs? or are you going to? :3

Here are links to the other eggs when they were found:

http://www.neocodex....ost__p__1536411 (in the first Advent post)
http://www.neocodex....ost__p__1539651 (the picture)
http://www.neocodex....ost__p__1538645 (d'aww)
http://www.neocodex....ost__p__1536936 (in the first Crossword post)