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My participation in the LIMS BTVS challenge lasted exactly one round. I hadn't expected more, and it was still fun. What I loved about it though is the concrit I got there. It's the only challenge I saw so far where voters are requested to not only vote, but also explain the reason why they voted an icon out. And of course everyone tries their best not to hurt people, so they really gave some good advice.
I took some of it and worked the participating icon over once more. They said it was too dark, which was true, the writing was too big (I had it a lot smaller, but enhanced the size in fear of it being unreadable, and I'd noticed it was a little too big in the end, but it was already way too late that night to change it again, so I let it. A mistake I won't make again...) and too dark (which I don't agree on, so I didn't change that). They were also right that the cutting away from the background was to harsh. This was something that really caught my eye in direct comparison to the other posted icons, but you don't see them before voting, so I didn't have the comparison, and I just still lack experience. (Then again, my untrained eyes maybe wouldn't have seen it even in comparison...)
I thought I show you the difference it made:
vs. 
It's really minor things I did, but the difference is still huge. I don't know if this would have kept me from being voted out, but I like it more.
So, why am I telling you all that?
I loved the concrit. I am so new to this that every advice what to do better gets me, well, better. Also, I was a little frustrated about the result (because of course I had hoped to last at least one round. Even if I knew I wouldn't, hope dies last after all, and participating without it makes no sense at all! And thank you again, red_satin_doll, for your encouraging words, they helped a lot!) and played around a bit more, and I wanted to present you the result. And (that's why I told you the whole thing) I'm not averse to getting critic on it (as long as it's constructive).
Here goes:
So, what do you think?
I took some of it and worked the participating icon over once more. They said it was too dark, which was true, the writing was too big (I had it a lot smaller, but enhanced the size in fear of it being unreadable, and I'd noticed it was a little too big in the end, but it was already way too late that night to change it again, so I let it. A mistake I won't make again...) and too dark (which I don't agree on, so I didn't change that). They were also right that the cutting away from the background was to harsh. This was something that really caught my eye in direct comparison to the other posted icons, but you don't see them before voting, so I didn't have the comparison, and I just still lack experience. (Then again, my untrained eyes maybe wouldn't have seen it even in comparison...)
I thought I show you the difference it made:
vs. It's really minor things I did, but the difference is still huge. I don't know if this would have kept me from being voted out, but I like it more.
So, why am I telling you all that?
I loved the concrit. I am so new to this that every advice what to do better gets me, well, better. Also, I was a little frustrated about the result (because of course I had hoped to last at least one round. Even if I knew I wouldn't, hope dies last after all, and participating without it makes no sense at all! And thank you again, red_satin_doll, for your encouraging words, they helped a lot!) and played around a bit more, and I wanted to present you the result. And (that's why I told you the whole thing) I'm not averse to getting critic on it (as long as it's constructive).
Here goes:
So, what do you think?
no subject
Actually this makes me think that a better system would be to not have any eliminations, but just have everybody participate and collect positive or negative points each round, and then count them all at the end to determine the winner. That way you could really improve yourself and make up for a bad start later. Then of course it wouldn't be "lims" anymore, but I think I'd like that way of doing it better.
About the new image, what I really like is how you combined the two images, that's actually brilliant. It might seem obvious, but I haven't seen it done this way before. The colours are pretty and romantic. I also think the text is good, except there seems to be a spelling mistake.
Suggestions for improvement: the font you used is pretty but not that easy to read. It's also a bit baroque, so maybe too much of a good thing to use for the whole text. Something I've had to learn myself is that often, it looks better if you combine a few different fonts and text sizes (but watch out not to overdo it). Spike's face is a lot darker than Buffy's, maybe you could lighten it up a bit to give them equal focus. Also there's still some dark borders around Spike's face, especially at his throat. This is a problem I have a lot myself, and I always find it hard to fix without removing too much, so I'm not sure I can give you good advice on how to avoid or remedy it.
Those are the main things I can think of right now!
no subject
Yeah, you're right, it would be a great idea. I think, though, it's not really meant for absolute beginners like I am, but for those like you and red_satin_doll and teragram to compete with equals, so I'm probably out of place there anyway. (And I'll try the come back challenge anyway :D).
Thank you so much for your opinion! There was indeed a spelling error, I had a part of the 'r' mistaken for the 'i', obviously. It must have sneaked in when I corrected the first mistake, the r and e had changed places... I corrected it now.
These are actually two different fonts. I kind of got taken away with the curlycues, I guess...I took the first one for Buffy (it looks very feminin, I think) and the second for Spike (kind of Victorian), which is not really fitting, now that you mention it. Another one would've been better.
I love it when someone uses different fonts and sizes! I'll keep in mind to try this one day. Maybe even with this one.
The faces were a real pain in the a**. Spike's is candle lit in the darkness of his crypt, Buffy's is shining in the bright moon light. I did a lot already to match them. Additionally the Spike pic was of low quality due to the darkness, which made it even harder. I found a tutorial today how to light up only specific parts in a picture, maybe I should try that. The main problem is the color, though - the candle light gives him such a warm yellow glow, whereas the moonlight colors Buffy in a blue-ish tone. I worked with coloring a lot already, and this is the best I could do. I'd really love to know how the pros solve problems like that. So much to learn...
You're also right about the darker edges at Spike's face. Part of it is shadow, and the other part - I gave up on *ducks*. I tried, and it looked weird, and I decided it was good enough. It isn't, I guess. I'll try again. I'll also change the second fonts.
Thank you so much for taking the time to improve my 'skills', you helped a lot!!!
no subject
Actually I think you did an amazing job matching the colours of Buffy and Spike; you managed to make them very similar in tone. The remaining problem is more with the lighting. In Photoshop (Elements) you have things like lighting brushes; I don't know if there's anything like that in Gimp? You might be able to use those to highlight Spike's face a bit, similar to Buffy's. But I don't know if it would really work, it's really difficult and I'm pretty bad at it myself. Probably there are better ways to do it, but I don't know them! I'm also self-taught (with Internet help) and a lot of what I do is just trial and error. So when it comes to techniques there's not so much I can share with you, I'm afraid.