Knockpixel Critique V2

[Annalise28]

Hey Kate

Thanks for the critique!

I really, really like your banner, although the first thing I saw was the people on the left being a little... blurry or pixelated or grainy or... something. I am really unsure as to *what* it is, just that the people are a little distracting being.... how they are. And you could also blend them a little better into the background. But other than that, the flowers are beaitiful and the text is amazing.

^bad critique. (ugh, i suck...)

Here is my banner.



Harsh please!

~ Annalise x

[Hokey]

*tiptoes in*

Hello there, I haven't been around for a while, but I'm on my way back to bannermaking and would very much like some honest critique on my newer projects...

But first! Critique for Annalise: Oooh! *loves Paramore* Very pretty I like what you've done with the flowers and the blob thingies! The color work is perfect and I like the minimalistic sense to it. The darker blobs on the left are disturbing me though, maybe tone them down a bit? I also feel that the text is a liiiiittle bit cramped, a bit more room for the last row wouldn't hurt. It's a shame to cut off the y and p, me thinks.
Don't think I can be much harsher I'm afraid, 'cause I actually thought it was really pretty

Here's my latest:


Be harsh, please!!

Thanks!

~Jennifer

[th_poet14]

Alright, I'm going to sound like a bit of a stalker here...but who can honestly say they don't stalk the BA? Welcome back! I remember seeing your banners in some of the old BA threads, and I can't wait to see some more of your designs.

Alright, so your banner. First off, the girl's left shoulder is blended awkwardly, it's quite blurry. I love the text you chose for Come Home (love that song ), but the purple glow behind it doesn't seem to fit with the banner. Also, the text above is placed really awkwardly, I'd try to find a better place to put it. As a whole, the banner doesn't seem...seamless, I guess is the best way to describe it. It seems like a group of images rather than just one.

I really hope that this is alright to post, and if it isn't, I apologize Pixies! But I would love some critique on a blend I made a few days ago, it's one of the first I've made. HARSH please!

Blend

Kate

[Phia Phoenix]

Kate! I haven't seen you round in ages! *hugs*

OK, this is a lovely blend, really... There are only two things I can see to criticise. The first is the series of faint dark lines - a horizon, or part of the texture? - cutting the image in half; it's unnecessary and confusing. It makes it look like there's a lake or something in the background of the city, which of course is at utter odds with the clouds. I'd get rid of the lines altogether.

The second thing is the... oh God, I know there's a proper name for them but it's late and I have a memory block - the circles of light, the texture? You know what I mean, there's a whole heap of them in a curvy line from the top left hand corner to the bottom right. Anyway, there's one over the back of the girl's head which I'd get rid of were I you, it goes against the flow of her hair and just annoys the viewer's eye. Well, my eye at any rate. Also, her face seems to fade into the building behind her... where she ends at the lower layer starts isn't very well defined.

And, while I'm staring at that part of the image, is the white building between the couple part of the same layer as the other buildings? It seems rather incongruous, too ugly and modern to fit in with the beautiful chimneyed architecture in the rest of the image. I didn't notice it at first, but now that I have it's really jumping out at me.

But I had to think long and hard to find those tiny critiques, it's a beautiful blend, and communicates a lovely mood. I hope you make a banner out of it!

OK here's my latest banner... I'm not very proud of it to be honest, so I was hoping for some good crit. Harsh, please. I'm sorry to interrupt such a lovely run of beautiful banners - unlike their creators, I wasn't working with visual beauty in mind.

xoxo Phia

[Hokey]

Hi, Phia!
The thing with your banner, to me, is that it's very traditional, so to say. One person at each side, one in the middle, a background and some text. There simply isn't anything very original that jumps out at you!
The font is fitting for the theme, but the shadowing isn't quite the same tone of color as the background, I'd try fixing that! I like the soldiers as a background, and the coloring you've done with them. I also like the grainy circle, but I'd tone it down just a bit, so that you acutally see it's the same picture as the background (I had to stare at it a bit to assure myself that it actually was). Also, Dumbledore's shoulder is quite horribly cut off, poor thing.
A suggestion if you want to try and spice this banner up a bit: maybe set both Grindelwald and Dumbledore to one side, flipping one of them (this way you can cover up Dumbly's shoulder, as well ) and maybe play around with the positioning of the text?
Good luck! And by the way, I quite like the picture you chose for Grindelwald!

Here's a very simple banner I made the other day, just to practice on coloring:

Any opinions?

~Jen

[Hokey]

...double-posting to suggest another banner to give critique on, since my last was fairly simple and probably hard to say anything of value about

How 'bout this one, from my sig?


*pokes people, hoping to revive this thread*

~Jen

[the_weird_one]

Hello, Jen! I'm guessing I was gone when you last were a bannermaker, but anyways, it's nice to see you!

*not sure if she should be here or not*
I'm assuming it's harsh, because that's what I do best...
The image with the people on it is a little bit too blurry, I think I would like the banner more if it was cleared up a little. The text, also spurring out from the people picture is hard to read, maybe darken that or set it to a brighter color (that might be the same thing...) or just delete it altogether. The shadow on the flower text I do not like either, however, it might be hard to see without it, so I suggest loosing that a bit. The blurry picture is bothering me the most, though. And the color on the people picture sorta clashes with the flowers. But I DO like the flowers! Very nice choice.

Banner to critique-


Medium would be luvly, my dears.
-Addy

[Annalise28]

Is it wrong to suggest that that banner creeps the hell out of me :\ It's good, but really scary, like, really. haha.

Anyway. The main thing I noticed that stopped the banner from being *perfecto* is the textures you used. One or two light textures/filters would be okay, but it seems to crowd the banner with all of the textures/filters. They don't crowd it in a 'too many pictures' way, they crowd it in a way that is distracting.. So I would suggest removing the ones to the left, and the one in the middle. So you're left with the big, bright one to the right. Maybe you could add in a picture of stars and set it to Lighten Only/Darken Only.. Can't remember which one would work for that... You could just check out the different layer modes and see which one you liked the best. But erase some of the stars because using a bajillion of them wouldn't be the best, either. Also, you can see a touch of brick wall in between the two pictures so I would just smudge the picture on the left towards the right so that you can't really see the bricks. The girl on the right, being a drawing/manipulation, whatever she is, is a little strange considering the picture on the right is a photograph. But I understand how hard it would be to find a real life photograph as good as that picture. Then maybe you could add some text? Cause without text, it seems to not have a... purpose. So if you added text, it would give the viewer an idea of what it is about and what the point of it is I really like the whole idea of the banner though, it has a very deep/meaningful effect which, other than the bloody look of it, is probably what scares me about it

I hope that wasn't too harsh! I really like your banner, and the points I picked out are me being... picky. Overall, your banner is verrry good!

So... my banner:

Yeah, I realize it's probably too crowded, but I'm not worried about that. So, if you could critique on something else, that would be great! xx

~ Annalise x

[Hokey]

Hey Annalise!
What a different and exciting version of a Hufflepuff banner! I'm feeling that the badger doesn't stick out though, all you see is the yellow flower. I think I'd like it more if the badger were more contrasted or something, so that you see that it's actually a badger with sunglasses The left edge of the sunglasses isn't very smooth, and it disturbs me how one of the flower petals on the right (the one in like a 45 degree angle) seems to go right into the fur. Fade that one out, perhaps?
I like your choice of font, although the text seems to get a bit pixel-y towards the end Or is it just me? A small suggestion would also be a border to pull the banner together, I'm thinking a duplicate set to burn...
Oh, and also, the bottom left corner looks a bit out of place with all its green-ness. You might want to tone it down just a bit, or change to a less distracting colour.

Mine:

My beautiful hometown. I feel like I want to do something more with it, but I don't know what. Now it just looks like a boring postcard. Harsh, please!

~Jen

[InCompanyOfFaeries]

Hi Jen!

SO, I am brand new at all of this and I am still learning all of the finer points of banner making. However, I LOVE LOVE LOVE yours. The colors are vibrant and the composition is incredibly interesting. I really like it the way it is...I think it could maybe get too busy if you add anything new. The one thing that you could maybe fix is the Swedish writing, it's a tad hard to read. Maybe bold it or something? But, again, I really love this. I would love to visit there someday

Alrighty, so here are my banners. They are two different versions of the same one...I keep going back and forth... Please be HARSH. Thanks

-Carly