What original things did you create in this? Where did you get the images?

What's the purpose of it? What's a guild?

lol i took the screen shot from a game called rapplez. Some korean mmo, the purpose is a sig O_o

http://i50.tinypic.com/3462pw9.jpg

thats the screenie. It was kinda hard to work with color wise.

There isn't anything to critique on this. You stole an image and applied a bunch of Photoshop filters. If you are/he is happy with the end product then you met your goal.

Personally, I can't tell what it is, at all!

So it's a graphic from a game. And I suppose the guild is part of the game somehow?

Ok, if the graphic of the guy is all you took and generated the rest yourself, then it's okish but as CKRET points out there's really nothing to critique, and I agree with those comments.

I have no idea why there's a huge blue glow/flame coming out the back of the guy.

And if it's lighting tips you want, given the position of the light source, your character would have half the left side of his body in shade, where the light seems to be coming from his right side.

Does your friend play Rapplez? If it's for a guild forum, I would use something from a game he plays.

You may get scolded for using someone else's art in the sig cuz many/most/all of us here are very conscious about copyright law.

*wags index finger* Bad! Bad Snake!

As someone who hangs out occasionally on fan forums, it's "less bad" to use an image from the game/show/band/etc in a sig pic, but it's always better to make up something original.

Regarding the sig itself, I can't really see the person/elf/humanoid at all. It is lost under the blue. Flares are very overdone and unless there's a reason for a flare (beyond "it's pretty"), I would try adding another element.

The name is difficult to read - gets too dark at the bottom.

oooooo a new sig thread

i didnt rip anything. Thats his character from rappelz. i took a screen shot of him and cut it out i put the link of the ss in another post.

And i get what ur saying u cant rly tell what he is. That's where my problem is. The blueish flame thingy is suppose to be like an aura coming off of him. I guess i didnt get that part down yet. What other element are u suggesting.
I think that the ss i took prolly should of been in a brighter area maybe.

im still getting fonts down ill try to blend that more and make it brighter

And idk how to explain a guild. In a mmo its like a team i guess

Oh, that's his character? That wasn't clear from the original posts. I don't have a suggestion for another element because I've never seen, much less played, the game. What kind of character is he? Like, what does he do? Warrior? Wizard? Tax collector? Maybe graphically represent the character's power or skill.

It would really help if you spelled out all your words in the post. Very hard to follow otherwise.

the screen grab is technically stealing someones art. you didn't create the game or the character.

it's fan art though, so it's not really a big deal. just don't try selling your sic sigs

lol tax collector. Mage kinda. Ill try that i didnt think of that thanks for the crit. I made this at school might look better if i had my own brushes.

=D thanks all

I don't normally critique sigs.

On top of the things already mentioned, bear in mind what the actual purpose of a signature is: to identify a poster in a forum.

Now I, for one, absolutely despise huge images in sigs. It's just one more thing to have to scroll past, and it annoys the stuffings out of me when I have to see that same huge image a bazillion times in a thread. I never understand why people make the bloody things so damned tall. If you're going to make sigs, at least make them less annoying. Stick to something less than 200 pixels tall so that they don't get in the way for the people who are actually trying to read the threads on the forum.

I actually PLAY Rappelz, and I don't find that image appealing. I can't for the life of me tell what class the character is supposed to be from your sig image. (There are three basic mage classes in Rappelz. The Deva primarily dress in blue and white, the Gaia wear orange and brown, and the Asura usually wear black or purple.)

In the sig you made the character blue (which would imply that he's a Deva healer) but in the screenshot you posted he is wearing orange, so he is probably actually Gaia. Why did you make it blue?

It seems to me that the focus is on "omg ps filters" rather than emphasizing the character himself, so that sort of defeats the purpose, in my opinion.

noted

"Noted" doesn't really answer the question (why did you make it blue?). In design, everything needs to be done for a reason.

The reason that I took the time to post feedback in this thread is to show that even in something as "trivial" as sig, you (as an aspiring designer) still need to accomplish a purpose. It's not just about going nuts with PS and making an image look "cool".

A designer needs to understand what it is that he is designing. You won't need to know every single thing about the ins and outs of every client's business, but you do need to have a basic understanding of what he does and of how to convey his message properly.

This might just be a sig, but you're not accurately representing your "client's" character here, and that's what design is all about.

This can be a good learning experience, as it illustrates a principal; as a designer you will normally need to ask some questions and do some research before you design something in order to make sure that you're conveying the right message about your client.

If you're not familiar with the game (club / guild / etc.), ask your friend questions about it so that you CAN accurately represent his character. It's good practice for when you start designing for real clients.