Hi Maia_Moony!
WOWEEEE. For making graphics for only TWO days, I think you have an awesome start!
And I think that its great that you are clicking random buttons until things look right, because that's pretty much the only way you can really get to know your program.
If you haven't already, here are some helpful links you might want to check out:
Tutorials for Beginning Artists
Tutorial Central
Promotions 101
Optimizing Your Gallery for Promotions
Critique Corner
Keep checking out those tutorials, because they really do help! : D
Annndd, just a bit of advice, try not to lower the opacity of your people or set them on an adjustment layer that makes them somewhat transparent, as that particular method of blending makes the graphic look a bit messy.
Keep up the great work!

Nora.

second post snaggeth! woot!

anyway, i'm audrey, and here to pimp!

you're off to a really great start, i must say. you've got really great concepts and everything, but you seem to have a bit of trouble executing them.

banners&&

the banners i think are your weakest point. in the forget me not one, the font, combined with the color makes the text almost impossible to read. try using either a much darker or much lighter color for the text on that one because right now, there is such little contrast that you have to squint and put your face like inches from the screen. i think the text on both is a bit small.

sigs&&

i really think that your sigs are kind of drab. your blending is FANTASTIC, but overall, they need some hue/saturation layers, brightness/contrast layers, curves layers, stock images, textures, whatever. a big no-no is to never reduce opacity over people's face. on the first sig, it would be fantastic if she wasn't all see-through-ey. i love the melina eri clarke sig to pieces! the blending is GREAT and the text is fantastic. maybe try making the text a different color. not just black. the rest are pretty good, and on the second to last one, it looks like you chopped off her head a lot. the very last one is good, except for the halo around her hair.

icons&&

MAKE MORE ICONS! they're really good, except for the fact that you can't really tell what the first and last ones are. try using stock images with a very defined focal point, or of people, and make icons out of those. why aren't your giraffe icons in your gallery! they are great!

i feel like i was really harsh. just keep experimenting, and using tutorials, and you'll be promoted in no time!

audrey

canta_loupe: Thanks so much for the helpful links, Nora!

luscious_lucius: Good advice about the text - that seems to often be my weak point. I'll try to make more icons and make them more distinguishable (if that's the right word). Haha, no, you're not being harsh; I like hearing how to make stuff better. Thanks, Audrey

<sub>pimping!
i love your icons! the giraffe ones are so cute. i also love that second banner, it's so cute.
try not to make the coloring overpower the people. like in the second sig, i can barely see the girl because she's so dark.
i love the concept of the head in the clouds sig, but the translucent person is making me feel a bit iffy. how about instead of having her on multiply, you try a hard cut around her instead, so that her head isn't all weird and blue and her body isn't see through either?

i hope the pimp helped! you got a great start so far, so keep up the work! =D</sub>

I love love love your signature,
its so simple and perfect

nuzzy tabitha: Thanks for the pimp! I can see how the sig is dark...I might work on adjusting that. Ooh, and thank you for the advice with the clouds sig! I'll have to try that

xxEmma: Thanks I'm glad that you like it.

hello, Cathy here to pimp ya gallereeh!

I really like your gallery so far, I think your icons are really pretty
and your sigs as well! In your banners, however, you could use more stock.
But I do love the banner with no people in it, it's soooo pretty!

I hope to see some blends and more icons, soon
You've got a great gallery <3

Haaai here to pimp!
Icons: Watch out for text on icons. It actually looks nice on the food icons, but the others would be better off without it, I think. I really love all the food ones, and the coloring on this icon is really pretty. However the first four and the giraffe ones are almost boring. I feel like the actualy pictures you used aren't very eye-catching, and the giraffe ones could defintely use some awesome coloring.
Sigs: I see that you use darken a lot. I try to stray away from that with people, because the background tends to blend into their faces, and you never ever want to screw up someone's face if they're the main focus. But it's so much easier than blending right? What I do is set layers to darken, then create a layer underneath that and scribble with a WHITE brush where I don't want the background to shine through. I can see you easily doing that too this sig, and I think it would help loads. Otherwise, I think your sigs are very pretty. I especially like the sky effect in the last - how did you do that?!
Banners: These are definitely your high point. The first and fourth are my favorites. My only advice would be to watch out with text on them. For instance, the text could use some work on "In the Snow". Try using an outer glow or drop shadow. And on Don't You Evah, the third coloring is my favorite by far. Go with that one!

ps. I love The Postal Service too. New favorite band ftw.

Hey Christine!!! Here for some pimpage!

Icons: Those giraffe icons are adorable. They could use a little something more, though. Maybe some textures? The fruit icons are really nice, the strawberry one is making me drool. You've got good cuts and they're pretty nice overall.

Sigs: They're good. Try experimenting with using more stock images and different kinds of text. In the 'believe' sig, the text can be moved up a little more. My favourite is the first sig.

Banners: Once again, try using more stock. Go to the Image Pack sections and download a whole bunch of stock image packs. They honestly help a whole bunch. You have a good hold on picking good images, and the colouring is really nice. My favourite, by far, is the 'kiss' banner. It's adorable. I also like the 'That's Just Me' banner, the colours are really nice.

Overall: You've got a good start. Work on the placement of text and also using more stock images. Great job so far, hun!!

- Nala

Hi, Christine! I'm Val, and I've come to pimp your gallery.

Formal much? Ah, I think "Yo, yo hommie, how's it hangin', Val iz pimpin' in da house!!" would be slightly overboard, right?xD

Anywhoo, your gallery is lovely! Really, I think you've got a great grasp at colouring and additive use, if those food icons looked just a smidget yummier, I'd already be licking the screen...*mouth watering*

As for the sigs, you seem to be experimenting with different styles a lot, that's great! Though I would probably remove "The academy is..." one, because the smudges at the top are very distracting (the colouring is lovely, though!). As for the first one, it's great but I think you should sharpen up the bigger guy a little, or just play around, see if you can fix his quality! The "Dreaming" one is my favourite, I love the use of stock, really pretty!

Now, as for your banners, the main problem is the lack of focal point. The last banner is the only one with the clear focal point whereas in the others, you've mostly got two main pictures, one on the far left and the other on the far right, and it makes people, well it makes me confused, as when I set my eyes on the banner they shift fom right to left and back again, which should not happen. Other than that, I like your colouring and blending, but I would remove "Petunia" blend, it's too neutral for me...

All in all, hun, you're doing great, just wwatch for the focal point, image quality and the composition in general, and stress out your strengths, which are icons, colouring and blending!

Love
Val

Hey Christine
I'm Megan, and I'm pimping for youu(:

I love your gallery- I could just look at it all day(:

icons
These are incredibly well cut & coloured, but on
the first one [in the alphabet challenge, and the
middle one on the third row, the writing is very
hard to read, though it looks like it should be legible.
Also, on the middle icon, first row, the orange
has a sparkly texture going partly across it?
I love that, but they sort of stop in a straight line, as
if the image you've used cuts off there. Then
again, that's probably just me being picky
Again, I love the cuts and colourings, especially the
strawberry, and the cute 'olive you' one

sigs
I love these(: I love the text on the first one- well,
actually, you're very good with text...I'm not sure if
that makes sense, but you get me, I hope (;
I like the second two- very cute but above the cat,
there seems to be a thick blurred line..? It might just be
part of the image, but it's a bit distracting. I like the idea
of experimenting with the simpleness- it works well.
Your last sig- I adore I just want to eat it all up !

banners
These are very nice(: In the second one, again, the small
writing at the bottom left and top right I can't read..which
I feel I should be able to. I don't really have much to say
here, it's all too good! haha, I especially love the second last
one- it's beautiful, and I love the text placement oh... I've
just realised...is that an eye?! haha that's a bit freaky, but very
cool at the same time(:


Ah, sorry, this isn't very good critique :L I'm just nitpicking
really..the tiniest things But anyway, I LOVE your
gallery to bits, and want to eat it

I WILL BE BACK

meg'xo

W-O-W. I love your icons and your sigs and EVERYTHING!! You're very talented! Good work.

:::Annaliese:::

Hi Christine, I'm here to critique (and a fellow GIMPer )! First off, I've noticed that you have a lot of older stuff in here. I'd suggest you remove and replace some of them, just so your gallery is more a reflection of what you've done recently (which is usually more of your better work).

Icons: The 'Fruits' set is really cute. Maybe choose 5-10 of the best out of the set and put them on a new canvas so it showcases your best work. Personally, my favourites are:
- the fourth one in the third row;
- the fifth one in the third row;
- and the fourth one in the fourth row.
The other set is nice, not the best. it doesn't really stand out to me and the texture over the girl's face in the last one is distracting. Experiment more with different cuts and don't be afraid to go crazy with the image placement.

Sigs: The first is one of my least favourites of your sigs. It's an old sig and the smudging is awkward, especially on the left side. The second sig is VERY pretty. I really like the blending and the colouring. I even love the text and where it's placed, really nice. As for the third one, it's definitely very cute and I do like the simplicity of it. It's really great, especially the text. I like the 'mel clarke' sig, it could use contrast though. Make the 'mel' text a little smaller and move it closer to the 'clarke' text. The next sig is really great, I like it alot. Just make the text bigger. The 'World' one is good, just move the text a little over to the left. 'Shannon Jackson' is my favourite out of your sigs. You're playing around with the colouring and the composition is good. Just add a gradient, get a lower opacity soft brush and erase the gradient over the faces. That just help the sig look more put together. The next sig is good, I like the orange-y monochrome you've used, adds alot to the sig. It's just a little on the blurry side. The last sig is great, just be careful when erasing around the hair.

Banners: The first one is ADORABLE. I really like the composition and because it's so great, I think you can get away with removing the text. The 'Fly' banner is cute but the picture of the girl is low quality. Sharpen it up a little and add some 'Gaussian Blur'. The last banner is great, just move the text to the right side so it isn't so crowded on the right. And lower the reds on the girl's face a bit. Other than that, I really like the banner overall.

Other: The colourization is awesome for a first try! It's really good. It's hard to critique a colourization because it depends on a person's personal taste. I like it.

Overall: I think you have a good gallery. You need to experiment more with colouring. I know it's hard on GIMP but you find ways. Use layers filled with a certain colour and look through the drop list of different ways to blend it until you find one you like. Use Curve layers and Channel Mixers. Just keep playing around with the different setting and you'll find something that'll work. Also, download a bunch of fonts you can experiment with. You're image quality is good overall, just that one banner.

Things you should keep:
++this
++this
++this
++this
++this
++this
++this

I hope this helped, your gallery is great! Keep it up and just have fun.

- Nala

Thanks so much for the feedback I'll be working on the issues that you brought up - it's really helpful.

Hi I"m Kat and
Here to pimp :hiwav:

first of all I would like to say to pretty much ALL of your graphics! I think your style composition and work
are just amazing, for a member's artist that is . Now that that squee is over, lets get to the critique part

Icons: WOW! I really like how they "pop" out, especially the first set, the coloring and composition on them are great. I think you should play around with the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation a little more, I've been experimenting with my icons in that area, and it's improved them A LOT!. Ayways, just a little note there


Signatures: I think these are our prime glory of your gallery. My favorites are your first and third one, the coloring and composition on both are just simply amazing. Keep up the good work on these.

Banners: There really good to start off!, I think your first one is the best, the creativity and color of it is very well put together. The last two aren't that great though, the image quality isn't great and they look kinda blurry. i don't know, maybe it's just my computer.. but other then that I'd say use more HQ/HD images, they really help to make your graphics have that extra "POP" to them.

Others: I'm not really good at critiquing " Colorizations".. But it's good

Annnnnd I think that's it , wow my longest critique ever! . Hope this has been helpful and
I can't wait to see more graphics from you! I'm sure you'll make promotion in no time, with a little more practice

-Kat

Kat,

Thanks for the advice on icons! I'll be sure to try that out Hmm I hadn't noticed that those two banners' images were all that LQ, but I'll keep an eye out for that in the future for the next banners I make. Thank you so much for the critique (yay, long=good!), and for the encouragement

<sub>heyy!! I'm here for the quick/useful pimp crit

so, anyways, MY HAVE IN YOUR GALLERAAY WOULD BE this, because it's definately creative and i ant to steal your monochrome skillzz

HUM, MY LEASE FAVOURITE IS... this set. she looks like she has just slapped on that background, which could be better

THINGS YOU'RE GOOD AT: your composition, also text are really good Also, I think that sigs are your best work, and after them, banners .d

THINGS TO WOOORK ON WOULD BE IMO your colouring, it's really good on some of your stuff, but not that ood on the others also, I noticed that your blending is a bit inconsistent - you do some really good hardcuts, but on some of your graphics you have made someone's hair see-through, so i think you'd have to improve a bit on that

Overall, I think that you're doing really good and if you practice more and aybe do a bit of a cleanout in your gallery, you'd be a JA soon!

Anyways, I really hope I wasn't too harsh and that I helped even a teensy bit

- Marit</sub>

Hi there! I'm Jill, here for some quick clean out ideas

Sigs:
+This doesn't have the same lovely blending or stock placement that you've exhibited in others.
+This coloring seems flat in comparison... more 2D than 3D.

Banners:
+This because the blending is fairly choppy and some of the pieces in the background (the deer to the left, and the way a couple of the steeples stick in) are awkwardly placed.

You have a lovely gallery hun! Hope that helped a bit
-Jill

edit: woohoo!! second page!!

Your blending is really good and your coloring is good. Keep practicing and you'll get better and better.

Hi Bepo! I'm here to help you get ready for promos! I'm going to go through and list what I think should go or stay

Icons: Love the fruity ones! Keep those for sure. Bright and fun . The second set I think you should keep also but maybe give a little more variety or add another model and keep the same coloring.

Sigs: Here are the ones I would keep; 'shannon jackson' though I would play around with the font. Perhaps a pink like in the flowers? 'Ebony Marie Edwards' but again, the text is a little plain. Love the monochrome though. Maybe this could be textless? 'fly fly away' but give a little brightness. It's too dark right now and we can't really see the girls face. The others I don't think are as strong as these.

Banners: I would keep +this and +this but on that second one, the white font is really bright so maybe try a softer shade of grey . These two are by far your strongest so I would only keep these.

Color: Keep! Very good for a second time..you should have seen mine at first, hahaha. They were horrible.

I hope I helped! My favorite thing was your bright icons..I think you should look at doing more graphics with that bright coloring . I hope I helped. To reach that Junior spot you really have to keep only your best as there are so many Member Artists seeking promos. I wish you the best of look! Keep working hard!

Ashley

Jill: Thank you for your clean-out tips! I'm reeeeaally bad at letting things go, so your advice was really helpful

Carol: Thanks I definitely'll keep practicing!

Ashley: I officially luv you for all your advice Very helpful...I'm messing around with the things you mentioned as we speak. Thank you!

Here to cleanout!
You have a wonderful gallery -
I don't understand why you're not promoted.

Anyway, I think +this and this are a little plain- plus the black&white one has textures over the guys face, which I have been told is a 'nono'.
Hope I help! (:

Evening Christine!

I'm here for your requested critique. And I'm sooo sorry for the lateness of this. The joys of the real world. Giving your gallery a quick once over, you've got some great things in here. But you've also got some things that can definitely be worked on.

First thing that stands out to me is the fact that the skin tones in your graphics are just a bit off. Some are pink, some are yellow, and some are orange. You want to try to keep them looking as natural as possible. Anytime they take on orange or blue hues, they look a little bit unnatural. And as graphic makers, we don't want our subjects to look dead, or like they've been out in the sun too long. Also, watch out for bright red lips on the guys. As I don't use Gimp, I'm not sure what all you could play with to make it happen. Just experiment and see what you come up with! Best way to learn the program.

Next thing I notice is image placement. I know its hard not to center everything, but you might want to experiment with different placements for your characters. Try some closer to the top, or maybe offset to the left or the right. Just don't center everything if you can. It's really noticeable with the few graphics you've got in here. Your kiss banner is a good example of creative image placement. Just keep playing around with different placements!

Lastly, watch out for your blending & coloring. There are some graphics where there are straight edges, or on your last banner, the whites are really overpowering. When it comes to blending, you want to watch out for halos around your subjects. I'm not sure if Gimp has this, but I use layer masks, and hard cut some of my subjects. Other times, I just use a soft brush and erase away the background. You just need to figure out what's best for you. Also, textures should never go over faces, as its very distracting. Your b&w splash banner is a good example of textures over faces. It's a great concept, just fix the textures. And don't be afraid to play around with contrast. It will help add depth to your graphics.

Now on to the positives. You've got a great variety of graphics, and your icons look really good! Just watch out for them being too dark, or similar cuts. And I'm impressed with your colorization. I've yet to attempt them. Don't be afraid to try things like chapter images, or blends to add even more variety. You're on the right track, and soon you'll see yourself in junior blue!

Sorry if I can across as harsh, and feel free to PM me anytime!

(sol)