Yay! You've posted a gallery! I keep seeing your work on HPFF and was hoping you'd post (again) here. The two you've done for Shelby's story are fantastic, very complex and amazingly blended, especially the new one. They're really striking graphics, and suit her story perfectly. The Luna/Cho also stands out with a lot of depth and a great composition.
I know you're not a graphic artist, but you do make graphics very well.
Group: Up For Grabs
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From: Fangtasia.
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< for Susan.
Ilia! You know I really admire your graphics and I have to agree with Susan, the first Armageddon banner is really amazing. As is your Luna/Cho! Mainly everything. I'm so happy you have zero willpower I love your gallery, and having it here will make it so much easier to keep up
Keep it up!
-Sarah
This post has been edited by !kaBOOM: Oct 11 2009, 10:04 PM
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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK MIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darn you susan and sarah D: and darn you mids for not telling me you were back! *cries*
i think my favorite banner is the murder in the bathroom one. the blending is awesome and the g dragon sig! heck yes. win xD and the last banenr is really pretty. you have this cool/unique style that shows through graphics. btw i'm so glad your back. plz stay this time?
ily -goes to stalk pro-
This post has been edited by teh lofflies: Oct 11 2009, 10:12 PM
Group: Junior Artist
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From: The Blue Nowhere
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Susan: Wow, really? Thanks! It means a lot, especially coming from you, to hear that you have been watching my work on HPFF Thank you so much
Sarah: XD Thank you! I'm so happy that you like my stuff. Don't stalk me, though. XD
Krys!: Sorry! It was a spur-of-the-moment deal. I didn't tell anyone XD Whoo G-Dragon! Now you won't be the only one sporting heavy Asian stuff in your gallery XD I have a style? Thanks! I think I will stay. Well, as long as I can, anyway. =P
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omg, ilia's back! squeeee! hai! :3
so umm, i've missed your graphics. alot. because their awesome. its great to see you've returned. your banners are absolutely lovely, i really, really do like them. really, your whole gallery is pretty win XD
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Lovely gallery! ^___^ Of all your graphics, this is my favorite from you! Love the stock use and composition! And well, Luna and Cho are in the banner! ^__^ I also like this banner from you, as well as this signature! The colorization that you have posted is great, too, by the way- it's realistic and well done! I also like this collage blend that you've done, too! My critique for you is to watch out for image quality- some of your graphics are too blurry and sharp in some places. Anyway, keep up the great work! :]
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From: The Blue Nowhere
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yellowlicous: Thank you! That Cho/Luna banner turned out a lot better than I'd expected, actually XD I'm glad you like it! Thank you so much! Blends are my favorite (can you tell?) I'll definitely work in image quality. Thanks so much for the critique
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Pimp!
Wow, you have such a pretty gallery!
I especially like your icons, though they are rather simple looking(not in a bad way) they still have a nice depth to them, which I adore. - wow, that last banner is gorgeous! On that sixth banner, I find the text 'welcome to hell' a bit hard to read, but other than that, it's pretty
I absolutely love the colouring on the third sig! the second sig confused me a bit, and it took me a while to see what it actually was, maybe my brain is just being stupid this early, haha (: but I liked it, nonetheless.
The only thing I can say about your blends is: wow they're awesome! I fell in love with them. It was love at first sight, I'm telling you. You're great with blends.
Uh huh, I love your gallery!
hugs!
This post has been edited by cathyyy: Oct 18 2009, 05:46 AM
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I'm here to pimp!
Your coloring is the first thing I noticed. You really have a handle on it. I also think your banners and your blends are your strengths. Which is I why I think you should make your colorizations thumbnails, and highlight your best banners. When it comes to promotion time, colorizations don't really get you anywhere, so you want to show of your good stuff!
Your avatars are an area you could improve in, and have a lot of fun with. Try using your coloring skills on some great, HQ pictures. I think you could make some really great stuff.
I think you're off to a great start, and I can't wait to see more!
Group: Junior Artist
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From: The Blue Nowhere
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cathyyy: Thank you! Icons are my least-favorite XD Those were all made for the negative space challenge, so simple was kind of a must. I'll definitely work on some more icons in the future. I know that signature is confusing, but I like it that way =P I kind of wanted people to have to look at it a while to see what's there. Thank you! Blends are my favorite Thank you so much for the awesome pimp!
hpfan45: Thank you! I think I have to work more on my banners, but it means so much to hear that you like them. Thanks!
Lady of Tears: Thanks! Coloring took me SO long to understand, but it's great to hear that I'm doing well in it. That's an interesting point. I've taken your advice and I've rearranged my gallery. Thank you so much!
Yeah, I don't care much for icons =P I'll have to work more on them. Thank you so much!
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From: NYC ♥
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Wow, Ilia, great gallery you've got here! <3 The Asiannnn stuff I seriously do love everythinggg. My favs are: the large icons, Africa, the colouring on 'Utopia', the text of Armageddon, the colouring of murder, and basically everything else with a bit of fix ups here and there.
For your banners, you may want to sharpen up the images - specifically, the second banner and the murder banner, the other banners are all really great. For the first, you should brighten it up a little, so that it has some contrast as well as darkness. XD The second banner is really interesting, and with a tab of sharpening and some contrast, it'll be great. I love the third banner, Luna looks great, maybe you should take out the lightening between them and just clean up the blending on the left of Cho and create a clear focal point. Love the Murder banner. Seriously. Just sharpen Harry & Draco and add some contrast. The Armageddon one is great, just a little sharp in terms of colours, but it probably fits altogether with the idea, so it's just me. XD I adore the colouring of your 'Utopia' banner. Just fix up the blending of her hair a little bit, and try to make the focal point/point of interest more clear.
I LOVE the use of negative space and the text in the Africa blend. Your blends are all really great, just make sure you work on the focal point thing, and it's great that you actually use images that relate to your graphics - some artists (evenme*hides*) tend to just blend a whole lot of stuff together, even if it has no point at all. XD
Your signatures seem a little bit loaded, maybe you could try and simplify them a little bit, or make a clear focal point - just so it doesn't look too busy.
Overall, greatttttt gallery. I love it. Just work on focal points, contrast, and sharpening images and you'll be fine. I'm checking back for updates soon!! -rae
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From: places.
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Hello Ilia!!!
I'm here for your requested critique, sorry for the delay! Oh school, such the pain the in the rear end Anyhow, because you specified what it is that you'd like me to look at and give you critique on I'll focus on that for you!
To-Do List: So you asked initially what it is that you can do to your gallery for the best chance at promotions, and more or less overall display of your best work! I'll just go ahead and list off the things I think that you can remove from your gallery and why.
Banners: To be honest I love your banners you have a real knack for them and the composition is to die for! Honestly, your banners are better than mine at points of them, so kuddos there. However, I think the ones that could be all right to take out are (although it's part of the series challenge) the 'Streak of Madness' banner. Because with this banner, the coloring seems too contrasted and sort of clashes a little with the image of the woman. The colors could be toned down a little bit (never thought I'd hear myself say that!). It's the saturation that's too high. As well, the blending that you've done around her hair, although very nice, sort of sticks out in comparison to the rest of your banners where the blending is perfect. So, in this regard you would want to take this banner out because it doesn't display your banner skills the way they deserve to be.
Also in the series challenge, I would take out that last banner as well. Only because the same things are happening, where the blending on the smaller girl's hair to the left is a little more sloppy than your other banners and it sticks out more. As well, the blood isn't integrated into the banner very well (sorry!). It's just that it's very bright and looks like it was added to the banner instead of blended into it. So, just work on the blending the colors of a mostly black and white banner so that they fit both the mood and tone of the banner.
The final banner that I think you can remove is the banner beneath the powers that be banner. Honestly, with this one it's the saturation and grainy feel and bluriness of the banner that really takes away from it's appeal.
Other than that your banners are PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL!
Blends: Well the only one that I think can be removed is the 'Take Me As I Am' blend. Although it is very bright, it doesn't really seem to fit with the style you've created for yourself. Your work is very creative and done very well with good cuts and blending techniques and this just doesn't seem to come to par with the rest of your blends.
Sigs: Again, I love your creativity and yet simplicity, but honestly, I believe the signature that needs to be removed would be the last one. As awesome of a concept as that sig is, the fact that it has no focal point takes away from it. I like the smoke and all, but there is so much there that it took me a while to find the face and to really know that there was another one there. And just if there was more of a center point to look at (focal) then the sig would work better. However, I very much admire your creativity and your experimentation (as you said before) So that DEFINITELY is a great quality to have in an artist
Strengths: Your strengths are a tie between your banners and your blends. Honestly, I adore both of them sooooo much and am very jealous of both sections, so I'm a little torn between them. But if I had to choose one over the other I would choose banners because the composition and blending and coloring (for the most part) is just spot on each time. You use that small space so well and pack a lot in it without over crowding. SO JEALOUS
Weakness: I agree, your signatures seem to be your weak spots. I would just do some more experimentation with them to really get you used to them!
Advice: Well I sorta gave a lot of it above, but my final words on your gallery would be that I very much LOVE that you're experimenting and trying new things and really attempting to expand your horizons. That's something that all TDA artists struggle with some times, and it's nice that you're doing it However, now that you've done experiments, I think you need to them find what is most comfortable with you that you like to do and do fairly well and try sharpening those skills bit by bit. Until you define your style completely (which won't happen over night so don't worry ). But you're well on your way! Hope this helped and that it wasn't harsh! Sorry if it was
The Super Duper, 20 July 2010
Oct 11 2009, 09:47 PM
The Luna/Cho also stands out with a lot of depth and a great composition. 
< for Susan.
-goes to stalk pro-
XD
Thanks! I think I will stay. Well, as long as I can, anyway. =P
jenn