Saffire's Banners

[Saffire Persian]

Saffire's Banners​

New Banners as of April 25th! ​

Here are some banners I decided to put here for others to see. They're banners I made for myself or other people. Most of the banners I put here are Fanfiction banners, as they're the ones I'd [like] to think I do the best on. Any commentary, criticism, suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated.

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This is a banner I made for my upcoming fanfic - my first try and really 'blending' different pictures and backgrounds together. I liked how it turned out.

A new banner I made for Requiem of a Dream. ^^... Had a bit of fun mixing images in this one again.

My second banner made for Serpent Syra's Eyes of the Python. And that weird shadow is a Kabutops, BTW.

Made for Timid Kyogre's The Forgotten Enchantment. The background was made by me using brushes and such. ^^

Another banner I made for Syra. ^_^.. It had a cool look to it, I think.

New Banners :

http://i2.*******.com/vd20kk.jpg

Made for Iceking's fic. ^_^.. I enjoyed making this one, and the Jynx quite plainly says 'READ OR DIE!'

Cute Metamorphosis Banner

*note that this one contains slight spoilers for my fic, Metamorphosis. ^_^ This is a banner that just screams 'cute'. Picture drawn by Minako for me.

This is a banner I made for a Horror One-shot of mine that's coming... within the next few months. ^_^

 

[katiekitten]

They are quite nice, Saffire! My favourites have to be The Forgotten Enchantment and requeam of a dream. What program did you use to make them?

A little word of advice, I tend to think that banners with borders look better that banners without. They just look- incomplete, unfinished to me.

You are getting a lot better at cutting out, on some of your other ones it was a little choppy. I used to cut out all the time, but as seen in some of my works, my computer never cut where I told it to, always veering to the left, leaving a white border. So now when I create banners, I don't cut out each peice as often as I used to, just resize it and fade out one side. I think it looks more effective, but that is just my opinion.

 

[Sin]

The Eyes of A Python ones both look great, they all do really. I don't know much about banner making though, but katiekitten is right about the borders making them look finished. Nice job.
-Sin

 

[Saffire Persian]

Katiekitten: Yes, my cut outs back then were a little choppy - I've gotten a tad better at making banners since I'm a bit more experienced. I use Photoshop Elements most of the time, and sometimes Photoshop CS2, but only rarely. ^^ And borders? I could probably do them, I just never do.. 0_o... don't know how to do them, really. Though I probably could if I tried.

Sin: Thanks.

 

[katiekitten]

Adobe photshops elements? Same program I use... I trick I found out, and I am not sure you have figured out yet, is when you are putting the text in, go to the scroll down box that says 'normal' (If you have the layers option dragged out, beside the opacity bar) If you change it from normal to overlay, you get a really neat effect! Color burn works well with black text, overlay with white. And you can do the same with layers, just duplicate the bottom and make it overlay. That is how, in your banner, I got the moon to seem so bright. A lot of overlays.

With the border thing, just get the pencil, zoom in close, and with the one pixel brush, try and get a straight line. It takes a few tries, but the result is really effective.

Sorry for not replying for so long, I didn't notice you had posted... If you need any further help, just let me know.

Ps, Incase you didn't know, (but you probably do) the magic wand tool is not as annoying as it looks. It is actually really useful when cutting things out.

Edit: I know this is a major bump, and I am sorry about it. If it is not aloud, I'll simply delete the post and put it in Pm. Sorry!

 

[Flame Haze SnS]

Wow! Look at that Absol banner! That was really great art! Only if I had your Absol on my banner instead of sprite...Kudos for the great banner art!

 

[Metal Force]

Awesome banners!! I realy like'em, good jop!

 

[Haunt of the Vile]

You Pwn'd my soul.

*dies*

 

[Silentvibrava]

I'm impressed with these banners. I really like the the "Requiem of a Dream." It has beautiful mixing done to it.

How did you make these appealing banners? I want to know, because I want to make some for my own story. Which program did you use?

 

[Gily]

woah woah woah those are cool

 

[katiekitten]

Some more advice...

With just one overlay, the text can be pretty weak. On some versions, mine included, if you click on the text layer and get the blur tool, you can trace it over the text and make the text glow. It is a really neat effect, it strengthens weak letters, which really helps if the text is set against a too dark/too light background. If that doesn't work, just replica the text a couple of times.

On the animation front, create the first scene you want in one window. select it using the laso tool, (do a wide circle off the picture, in the grey. not fidily at all) copy it, and open it in a new window with it being the bselayer. In the other window create the next scene, paste it in the animation window, until you have all the scenes as different layers in a single picture. Then click the save as web tool, (looks like the paste button) and change the file type to gif. click the animate box, change the gif types until the images looked like they did before. (gif makes the colors go wacky sometimes) then click the preview in web button. (The internet explorer icon) It will show each image one after the other. To change the speed they lick, just fiddle with the time settings. (In the save as web place) When you are happy with it, save and upload! Beware with the order you put the layers in, you might need to reverse the order. Sorry, I can't remember the exact way right now, for I am on holiday and I don't have it in front of me.

I hope I helped! *hugs and runs off*

 

[Minami Itsuki]

Trust and Betrayal Poochyena is my favorite.

It has your own flair and style to it, which is awesome. With that said, I can't really tell you to change this or that since that will hamper your style right?

All the advice I can give right now is find better stocks for them. Example: the Absol stock could be changed to something else more exciting/ more fitting to the mood. Be creative!

Awesome banners. ^^; Love them. Really!

 

[Saffire Persian]

Thanks for the replies! I totally forgot about this thread as I didn't subscribe. ^_^

Katiekitten: Thanks for your advice. 0.o I'm not that good at mixing/blending yet - Trust and Betrayal was my first attempt at really blending, and it takes me a long time to do. ^^ Well, mixing and blending.

As for animation, I suck at it. ^_^ I know how to make them, but I'm a begginer. *wishes she could do the cool flashy stuff you did for the Requiem banner* ^_^ I still love that one to death.

Lightkeeper: Primarily Adobe Photoshop Elements... as in 99.9% of the time. ^_^

Also, I added