The Mask of Norro

JP: Poor font choice, EXCELLENT blending on the soldier though his color looks a bit out of place (He's completely orange o.o), the blending ont he girl is strange as she's glowing orange, and the guy looks out of place as the only non-orange person...or perhaps you meant the orange on the two as a symbol between them? Could be something deep and meaningful there... HFD: Again, poor font choice...but I do love what you've done. The brightness you've used with the girl to offset the duller parts of the graphic really comes off well, though I'm iffy on some of the brushes you've used, as they cross over from floor to wall and make parts look fused together in a slant rather then an L form. This is fucking close though, the both of you did overall very good jobs...ugh, fuck the both of you for making this hard to choose, lol. I'll have to go for HFD though...JP's was great, but HFD's had a better feel to it with more symbolism. There were some awkward parts to both graphics, but I think HFD's juuuuust edges JP's out by a hair. Great work from the both of you though

Changed - Cut out a picture of a couple being married - Cut out several pictures of tombstones to use in the graveyard picture - Cut out picture of a large mansion to use across background - Cemetary backdrop changed--where the mansions currently are used to be a forest, and the sky is a blend of the cemetary's sky and the mansion's. - Fucked around with the colors to make it look like an old picture, and made the couple shine as though they were 'spirits' to fit with the theme The text used are the lyrics from the chorus of the song "To The End" by My Chemical Romance I pray to God this thing's pulled me out of my slump...I really like how it came out. Took awhile, and a shitload of layers, but yeah...I think it came out great. My Chemical Romance - To The End

I've hit a rough spot with my graphics recently: I either come up with ideas for a graphic that are still too complex for me, or I can't think of anything to do. My designs seem to be falling behind a little, and all in all I'm just having problems being creative. It ROYALLY sucks -.- So I'm looking for a bit of creative advice from those with more experience (Dochappy, AJ, IWC, etc.)...have you ever had graphics block? How'd you handle it/what methods did you use to inspire you or get you more creative again? Any advice at all is appreciated, and I'm hoping that I don't have to "ride this out" until it goes away. Especially with AT4 and this month's contest nearing a close

Junky, that stroke on your sig is awful Cuts are a bit rough with the Raven one and the glow is SERIOUSLY not needed for the Mike Awesome one...both graphics are really sub-par, but they're improvements on the last ones, that's for sure. Keep trying man, you'll keep improving. Start moving up to larger sizes gradually too, and work on graphics with a deep idea or form of expression to them too, and just keep experimenting.

Tom's going to murder you in your sleep. Overall I like it but yeah, I suggest sleeping with one eye open from now on >_>

Hell mine was worse. My first graphic in EWB I think was like two webdings symbols over a black background, with Chris Daniels placed over them with his arms faded to the side. Plus shitty text, can't forget that. So yeah...his sucks, but it's to be expected of a newbie to Photoshop

I'd have to agree with that, those are DAMN good man...probably the best designs I've ever seen for DVD covers. Gotta teach me your skillz sometime

Like I said over at BS, my idea when I read it was like an American Dream sorta thing, so I figured that if that were Hollywood's perception of it they WOULD make the film look glamorous, lol.

Tom convinced me to enter the GFX league over at BS, so I did and came up with this for the competition: (Thumbnail, click to enlarge ) Ratings? Thoughts?

IWC's seems as though it would better fit a billboard (So long as he darkened that logo a little, damn thing's far too light and nearly gets lost in the white background for me), which is good yet at the same time we're looking for a poster here...IWC's would just be a bit too plain and have far too much empty space to work as an actual poster it seems to me. TGO's has something about it I don't like that much, maybe it's the font size, I don't know. I could picture it as an advertisement in a magazine moreso then I could a poster, but it still works nicely as a poster too. Soft color scheme works well, too. This graphic could probably also work for a flower/inscents shop TGO gets my vote, and if I'm correct in thinking that it's first to 3, also wins.

Jumping Jesus on a cracker that's fucking awesome

Another way is to right click the box icon in the tool bar and change it to the vertical line. Set one vertical line to the left, then hold shift and set another to the right, both dead on the edge of the graphic. Then, right click the vertical line icon on the toolbar and change it to horizontal, hold shift and set one line on the top, hold shift and set another on the bottom. Then, go to Edit>Fill>Black or Edit>Fill>Foreground Color, making sure the foreground color is the color you want your border to be. Click ok, and you have a picture perfect 1pxl border. Once you get the hang of it, it goes by really fast and won't take as long as it looks on here. That's the way I do it anyway.

I find it ironic that 'last month', we had more then enough judges and not enough entrants. 'This month', we have more then enough entrants and not enough judges. Is May even going to have it's own contest at this rate?

Looks like someone's confident in me

Technically, midnight tonight is the 8th...lol

Billboard Design Billboard

Any word on the judging for this?

As stated, the text seems to throw things off quite a bit. If you'd like to shoot for continuity, I'd suggest using the same font that you used in your signature, just not the same effect. Overall it works as an avatar: simple, yet effective.

Your background reminds me of some of the ones I did several months after I first started, which means that since that was your first you're starting way ahead from where I did. The blending of the cut is nice, though a bit awkward given the textures within the background, and I do like the font used (Just not the font effects or the strong glow. Mess around with it a little in your Layer Effects option, fade it or make it darker...I'm sure that'd look good, and don't use too much bevel. If you find yourself needing to use it...soften it. Alot. Oh, and for the blue outline around the main text...kill that too, or atleast make it darker and harder to see, which would make the font stand out a bit more.) Typically, I'd suggest a black border with such a graphic, but white works fine too.

This pong battle has been rather hit and miss with the both of you, but I'm happy to say that, for the majority of the pong battle, you two have been hitting heavily. Very nice work from the both of you, I'm really impressed

...are those premade backgrounds 'blended' together? They've got to be, I've seen them before. Either that or really basic. Font's a bit meh, blending with the square shouldn't show through your two cuts, drop shadow on the text is a bit much and really, the bar on the top seems unneccesary since you have the faded one below. Overall the peice is a bit too small to try and fit so much in, and your little glow on the right-hand side of the background seems unneeded.

Copy the shortcut and paste it into your navigational bar, then hit enter. Anyway, it needs a border, but the blending is overall rather nice. I'm a bit iffy with the text though. Word of advice however: You have nice, even spacing on the left side of your graphic, which leaves the right side cluttered with all the faces. I'd suggest cutting down on the number of cuts over there, just keep with the spacing you've used on the left side of the graphic.

:thumbsup: I love challenges, so will do lol

Holy crap that billboard picture is grainy

It's good, but I prefer Photobucket over it until Photobucket crashes Imageshack gets sloppy seconds on my graphics