Knockpixel Critique V2

[HARRYHARRYHARRYs_twin]

Whoever posts after me, please critique InCompanyOfFaeries/Carly's banner. I'm just weighing in my opinion, not looking for critique at the moment.

Not a bad banner overall. I like how well the colors/tone for the girl, road and background trees match together well. The guy's skin is a little too yellow for me. It stood out to me, and just bugged me. I'm not really loving the large flower/field of flowers at the very bottom -- the colors don't match the rest of the banner. I think they're just a little too much for the banner. I'd suggest either removing them or turning them to more of a darkish, sepia tone. Also, over the pinkish flower, I can see a bit of either the girl pic or a texture -- I think it's a texture. Either erase that out or make sure the flower is laid over it. Ilike the texture over the girl, though. It works well with the banner. I don't like the texture over the flower though -- I just think it doesn't work well where it is. Maybe if you moved it underneath the girl, and to the left a bit. I think it might look nice over the trees there. I'm not loving the texture by the guy's shoulder, either (sorry, I'm all over textures today). I'd put it on a lower opacity, so you could see it the shape of it, but more of the road behind it. Again with opacity, in the first banner I'd either get rid of the white stuff or lower the opacity of it. I don't think it's really working for it. I DO like your text -- it's a very nice font, and I like the size you used for the second one. I would have made the words on the first one around the same size as the font on the second one -- it's just a smidge too big for my tastes. On the lower banner, I like how the word 'beginning' is brighter and slightly different from the other words -- it puts a nice emphasis on it. I'm just a little bothered how that word looks over the hoodie of the guy -- I don't know if I was looking at it and my eyes went weird, or what, but it looks like the letters over the hoodie are brighter than the other ones, and it's kind of distracting. I'd put that line of text around where the flowers are now.

I'm sorry if that sounded a little harsh -- I know you asked for it, but once I get going, I'll keep nitpicking. I really do like your banners though, Carly -- overall they look nice, and I think you're doing great, especially as a new bannermaker on MNFF. I just looked at your thread, and I really like your Merlin banner, by the way.
I'm also sorry if what I just wrote is a total mess. I'm all over the place today. If you need me to explain anything as to what I meant, PM me. I'm more than happy to do so.
~Selina

[RedChequeredConverse]

Hey, Carly.

First off, I love the picture of the girl -- she's gorgeous. I also love the pic of the road, and the texture you put over the girls shoulders -- very pretty, and it adds just the right amount of color.

My main problem with the banner is that it's very busy; there are so many different images, and one doesn't take prominence. I'd recommend either taking some images out, or else rearrange things a bit so that one part -- the girl, for instance -- is what immidiately draws the viewer's eye.

For the first one, the main thing that bothers me is the white -- it doesn't seem (to me, at least) to go with the natural feel of the rest of the images.

For both, the font is bothering me a bit -- again it's 'playful' feel doesn't mesh with the tranquility of the rest of the banner. I'd suggest either a more elegant or a more natural (or both, if you can find it) font. The color, also, is a bit stark -- maybe instead of bright white, go with more of a soft green, or pink to match the flower.

Hope this helped!

~Red

I'm just getting back into bannermaking after a long hiatus, so I'd like some help with this:



Thanks!

[bluexroses]

Hi Red!
Your banner is beautiful! I love the colors you've used, as well as the texture. One thing I noticed though is girl's shoulder on the right sort of disappears into the background, so you may want to fill it in somehow. That's a creative idea to use the bracket next to the text. The top line is a bit hard to read, though. Maybe you could make it just slightly more bold. Also, the really bright white strip on the right side is a little distracting, so you may want to crop the banner there. Other than that, I can't really find anything to critique. Great job!

My banner:


Version 2

I need some help with text.

[the opaleye]

Ayesha: I love the colouring of the textures in this banner against the b/w background. It's very effective. One thing I try to avoid with banners is putting a texture over a persons face and skin so I would suggest erasing the orange texture from Michael's face and hand. That will also help the banner feel less flat.

As for text...well, text is the hardest bit in bannermaking. If it's really troubling you then my best advice is to keep it simple. A Times font or Georgia in capitals is always a good way to go. Play around with reducing the space between the lines of text as well. That can often give it a more 'together and seamless' look. As for the 'it's you' well, you need to put an apostrophe in there and also I'm not too sure about the placement. I would bring that text over to the same side as the other text. Perhaps try playing around with some scripty fonts if you want it to stand out from the main catchphrase. Jane Austen is a great scripty font as well as Jacek Zieba-Jasinski, both of which can be found at dafont.com.

Also, play around with making the font a very light grey. You don't want the text to fade into the background but you also want it to match the rest of the banner and at the moment the white doesn't seem to match the overall mood. Or even add a white to grey gradient over the text...

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions then don't hesitate to PM me!!!

The next person can critique Ayesha.

Julia XD

[TM_WandStick]

Let's see if we can't get this going again, shall we?

Ayesha: I know you made this forever ago and you already made some changes to it, but I guess I'll give some critique anyway. I agree with Julia that the texture on the black and white is really nice. I also agree with her that the text needs to be changed up a bit and the texture needs to go from the man's face/hand.

Other than that... Well, I don't think the background and the picture of the man really connect. A picture of a tree, and a guy in suit... it just doesn't go together in my mind. (If this is from a TV show or something, then go ahead and slap me. I just don't get it right now.) I doesn't help that the proportions of the two pictures are different.

Anyway, here's my banner...



What say you? As harsh as you please.

-Toni

[TM_WandStick]

*struggles in, carrying the feebly stirring body of the KA*

Let's get this forum active again!

Here's another banner, one that I'm really not very happy with. Does anyone have any advice? Harsh, I guess.

[voldy_mort]

Harsh, you say?

Honestly, it's quite bedazzling and nice, but perhaps a bit too busy, IMHO. It's really a very nice banner, but but the placement doesn't pop, cause there's no real focus in the banner. The black and white is very nice, maybe a splash of colours somewhere could give you a focal point, you can see how that might work. So really, there's nothing particularly bad about this banner, but an extra something or shift in image placement can make it pop. I like you balance of black and white it feels pretty much evenly distributed, although teh white and grye is a leetle overbearing. I do like it very much, though.


I hope that wasn't too harsh!

-Sitara

[msk8]

I think the disco ball has good contrast, but the rest of it might need a bit more. I like Sitara's idea of a splash of color. Maybe as streaks across the lettering? If you look closely, you can tell that the glow for the disco ball is just a bit off-white. I think that there is not enough contrast for it to look quite right, so you could maybe intensify the difference in color or make the glow plain white. I would probably intensify the difference if I left the letters black-and-white, and turn it to white if I were going to change the letters. Overall, though, I like this banner. the stars work well in the background and the banner has good balance. I would suggest maybe making the lettering a bit lighter.

Hope that was helpful.

EDIT: Aww, come on people. Now I actually have something, and I have to edit it in 'cause nobody posted.

[TM_WandStick]

EDIT: This post switchy thing has been happenning a lot lately. This critique is for Megan's eye banner in the post below this.

Okay. So, this banner is a really weird shape, but that's not really a problem. I like the idea of putting the fire in the eye, it looks pretty cool with the red/black contrast. I also like how the skin starts at a sort of bluish color at the top and turns to greenish/yellowish on the side and bottom. Overall, though, I think the entire banner is too yellow. I think it would look better if you made the edges of the banner dark (like on the left side, except more). Oh, and I might be imagining it, but the eye looks like it's upside down to me. Other than that, I think it would be interesting if you added some text to the banner to sort of bring everything together. Overall, though, it's really a nice banner (especially because you're pretty new).

Okay, here's my banner. It's pretty different from anything I've ever tried before, so I'm not really sure about it (I did the text on Wordle.net, by the way). I was wondering if I should put more images in, maybe behind the text? Harsh.



EDIT: This post switchy thing has been happenning a lot lately. This critique is for Megan's eye banner in the post below this.

[msk8]

Yes, yes I'm double-posting, but no one posted before me and I really would like some input on this banner.