Skiyomi's Avatars/Banners/Wallpapers

[Senkou]

This one is personally my second-favourite because of the font style you used on Failure. Nice job there d('-'d)

The Gravity avatar is simple, yet it is effective. I like how the text gets smaller, kinda like an upside-down pyramid.

The third avatar, well, how can I put this nicely... looks like all you did was take a picture from the series and scale+crop it down D:

As for the reptile avatar.... *calls you a reptile* :3 *shot*

The curiouser avatar is really good. Out of these avatars you just posted, this is my third favourite. I love the blue colors you used, and the text 'curiouser & curiouser' really fits the image. You seem to have this talent of entering the fitting text

This is epic. The facial expression Filia makes in the avatar is funny, and the text really suits the image, just like the rest of your avatars in general Would I be correct if I said you used color balance in this particular avatar? If so, then it's really good

The last avatar is good. I like how the letters in it have... a 'border' on them. Think you can teach me sometime? :3


Your wallpaper... isn't it the one you used in WBC 90? It looks bright. Really bright. The font style and the text itself, however, cover up for that flow, but the wallpaper is still not good. ):

 

[Skiyomi]

The third avatar actually has a lot of color/contrast work on it. I didn't want to do much beyond that, because I wanted to focus on Gourry's expression, and not just show off XD

I was lucky with the text on that 'to make fun of me' avatar. It's exactly what she says at that moment . Oh, and I used 'Selective Color' and 'Replace Color' on it. Not Color Balance.

Oh, adding borders to text is really easy in Photoshop CS2. Enter your text, right click on the layer, select 'Blending Options', then go down to 'Stroke' in the menu that pops up. Then you can fiddle with how you want the border to look. That's all there is to it!

Yeah... I didn't really like that wall either. But I do have a weakness for bright images.

 

[Skiyomi]

Today's been a busy week and much more for writing than graphics. Here's the little I've got...

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Fandoms: Slayers & The Princess and the Frog

 

[Senkou]

I missed rating your graphics xP

This one made me laugh so hard. A simple word, yet very effective in that situation. Lina's pwned expression is very funny XD You really do know how to choose good pictures to make graphics out of them, eh? xP

This one is scary. Scary, but good. You deserve a medal for having made "The Scariest Avatar"

The banner is good. I love the "Transmogrification Central!" text. The small text is good as well. The only flaw I see in the banner is that it's too bright in the middle :/

 

[Giggity...]

The banner is good. I love the "Transmogrification Central!" text. The small text is good as well. The only flaw I see in the banner is that it's too bright in the middle :/

^.

Maybe try darkening the edges a bit more, or just tone it down

 

[Skiyomi]

I kinda wanted it to be really bright there actually. All the magic's coming from the talisman and the doorway the talisman came from, so that's where I wanted the... focus of energy to be, if that makes sense. It doesn't look *that* bright to me, but I realize I have a bit of a bias towards bright images.

 

[Skiyomi]

Back from vacation!

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Fandoms: Bleach, Pokemon, The Princess and the Frog, Slayers, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles

Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i37.*******.com/k51iko_th.jpg

 

[Northern Lights]

This banner. I loves it - the use of single colour tinting and desaturated snapshots. I havn't entered the WBC in a while.

For some reason I feel this would look great as an Icon =] - I've noticed your starting to branch into more styles, less grunge and texture based to more sort of ... Pop Art look

 

[Skiyomi]

Thanks! Hmm... maybe I'll try to make an icon version of that banner, 'cause now that you mention it...

I have been trying to branch out more, so I'm glad it's noticeable

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Fandoms: Disgaea, Inuyasha, Pokemon, The Princess and the Frog, & Slayers

Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i33.*******.com/312u7g0_th.jpg http://i36.*******.com/23igwht_th.jpg

 

[Skiyomi]

Fandoms: Disgaea 3, Kristin Chenoweth, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, The Princess and the Frog, Ranma 1/2, Slayers, & Yugioh

Click thumbnail for Full-view:

http://i53.*******.com/vg0xs4_th.jpg http://i52.*******.com/2qlvl0g_th.jpg

 

[Skiyomi]

Back with more before the long day ahead of me. *sigh*

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Fandoms: Hana-Kimi, Pokemon, & Slayers

Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i54.*******.com/v6i438_th.jpg http://i54.*******.com/o0yphf_th.jpg

 

[Satoshi_poketo monsta]

My goodness! Your works are incredible. Also epic and creative. Nicely done my friend, Love them all~

 

[Giggity...]

I LOVE this icon, there's something about the colours in it that are just so well done. They work well together, they're well formatted and the images choice is great :3


Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i33.*******.com/312u7g0_th.jpg


EEEWW! Ski, what happened : O That is such major texture abuse! The colours on that are really nice and then you've gone and slapped this big ugly texture on it which kinda ruins it tbh, its too overbearing and doesn't add much of an effect to the picture, you'd be better off without it.

These two are GORGEOUS! The lighting is beautiful, they're perfectly sharpened- you used a stock image : O and the colour splash effect just works so well. Kudos to you ^^

I like all of these banners, they have good layout and excellent intergrating with textures and brushes worked into them. Although on the last one the border just doesnt cut it for me. One thing I do like about these though is that they scream 'SKIYOMI!' at you, its a very distinct style you work with and if somebody was to show me these I would guess it to be yours. The choice of colours is good and my favourite is the brock/misty one, <3 vintage cartoon style <3

^for all of the above^

I think you've tried to work too much text into nearly all of these Ski, in my oppinion icons look best without text- although it is a talent of yours and you do produce some very good ones with text, these ones I just think its a bit overdone. Also the second from left could do with a bit of saturation abuse me thinks xD

Love it! Great choice of image, funny and humorous, the text is intergrated well instead of being overbearing. The colours are lovely and its quite frankly a please to look at or to be technical- aesthetically pleasing xD



Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i54.*******.com/v6i438_th.jpg http://i54.*******.com/o0yphf_th.jpg

I like both of these, unlike the one I commentd on before you havent spammed them with textures, when doing cartoon wallpapers I find its always best to do something more pop-arty unless they have an extra element to them which wouldnt fit (like the one on the left.)

Left: Its lovely Ski, the colours are top notch and you couldn;t have done better, the text is well placed and once again your skills with it shine through. The small text isnt distracting-which it can be in some cases- and the layout is generally very good.

Right: Typical Skiyomi style displayed at its best, brilliant text brightly coloured and accopmanied by a style that fits the image. well done ^^


You're work so far Ski is lovely and you produce masses of it, and consistent production of high quality graphics is always a good sign. I can;t fault you on your use of cartoon images as you know more about how to use them than me XD

However I've gone back pages and pages and I can't find a piece of yours that uses stock images. You might be brilliant at what you do Ski but you need to broaden your horizons a bit, try working with different mediums. I guess what Im trying to say is...


USE SOME STOCK IMAGES!

 

[Skiyomi]

First of all, thanks Giggity (and Satoshi_poketo monsta before I forget ). I really appreciate the contributions.

Yeah... the texture-monkey wallpaper. In my defense that is only one texture. It's just a really crappy one. I was having a bad day and the wall wasn't blending the way I wanted it to. I took the dumb way out, I admit.

Now see, it's funny, but I might as well say this about the stock image thing here. You may say 'stock image' for those two avatars, but I said 'Kristin Chenoweth!!'. See, I don't make graphics to be artsy. Honestly, I do not actually consider myself an artist. I make 'em out of the love o' the fandom, which is why you see so many Slayers graphics in this thread.

Sure, I'll make the occasional piece for a series I don't know or watch, but usually just 'cause someone did the equivalent of hailing me down in the street and shouting 'Why don't you make Naruto graphics?' or something. It's still a fandom thing, even if it's not my fandom.

In a way, that's why my avatars have a lot of text on them where they would probably look prettier without. I like funny fandom avatars, what can I say? Also I love text. Reading it, writing it, tweaking it, placing it... I just love text. That's why you see a lot of it and will continue to see a lot of it.

So yeah, text avatars are here to stay. I obviously do my very best to make them integrate well. Some of them work, some of them don't. Some of them I legitimately erase the text from after working a long time and not being able to get it right. Sometimes I like the text too much, think it looks adequate if not excellent, and think the line is worth keeping.

Now see, it's funny, but I hate the Hana-Kimi wallpaper (one on the left) almost as much as the over-textured one you noted. I feel like it's just overbrushed. Also it feels like a wallpaper I've done *many* times before.

The style of the wallpaper with Xellos is one that I'm much more fond of lately...

So yeah, I should be pushing my horizons and all... and I *do* make an effort to try new things, but I'm not about to give up my utilitarian 'this-is-a-fun-hobby-let's-not-turn-it-into-work' attitude

With all that said, here's this week's updates (which'll probably just go to show that I aint changed a bit).

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Fandoms: Pokemon, The Princess and the Frog, Slayers

Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i55.*******.com/15gzd5t_th.jpg

 

[ShinySandshrew]

Oh goodness! Where to start?! I guess I'll just critiqué two avatars and one banner.

1st Avatar

This one doesn't look that great to me because the center of the avatar is her hair and it looks like you turned the brightness up a little too much.

2nd Avatar

This one has a nice ethereal feel too it. The lighting works well with the photo. The only thing that I can see that might be out of place is there looks like there is some noise around the edges that might not belong there. And yes I realize how funny that statement sounds.

Banner

This one is my favorite of your most recent banners. The lighting effects and the background that you used work very well with these two scoundrels. The only thing that I can see that detracts from the image is that the black of the shadow on Lamda's back is quite dark and makes the curve of his back less distinct.

And that's all I have to say!

 

[Skiyomi]

Thanks for the feedback!

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Fandoms: Pokemon, The Princess and the Frog, & Slayers

Click thumbnail for full-view:

http://i56.*******.com/29vcqah_th.jpg http://i55.*******.com/14trihg_th.jpg

 

[Northern Lights]

Excuse me but hummana hummana

I love the colouring on this one

Bad quality image *shot* but no, that aside i feel there needs a bit more contrast on this one

So yeah, I should be pushing my horizons and all... and I *do* make an effort to try new things, but I'm not about to give up my utilitarian 'this-is-a-fun-hobby-let's-not-turn-it-into-work' attitude

Damn straight - but I am curious as to how you would execute a set of Stock based Graphics - I love to experiment, even if the outcomes aren't very good my herb banner for example >.<

 

[Skiyomi]

Thanks for all your comments <3

Bad quality image *shot* but no, that aside i feel there needs a bit more contrast on this one

Yeah X_x. I made it for someone in the Shippers Truth or Dare thread so I didn't really have a lot of good choices for images to use. Could be that contrast would help... struggling against the bad image quality limited a lot of my options.

Damn straight - but I am curious as to how you would execute a set of Stock based Graphics - I love to experiment, even if the outcomes aren't very good my herb banner for example >.<

Hmm... maybe I'll give it a go if I find a picture I really like. I work with a lot of real world backgrounds in my wallpapers (whether people think that's wise or not ).

I only did one thing this week because I've been working hard to get it done in time for October. *accomplishment!*

Click thumbnail for full-view:



It's a Halloween forum header I was asked to make for Beloved Enemy and I've been pretty much working on it on and off all September. It took so long because I had to redraw the screenshot images vector-style (but they're not actually vectors) in Photoshop... which took awhile. I changed the colors on Filia's outfit on the right-hand picture of her to be more in-keeping with the Halloween theme. The little rhyme before "Beloved Enemy" was picked out by the admin and is apparently from a fanfic.

 

[m!ss p!nk]

Awww cute kitten, luv it <3
The light brown effect's my fave in diis :3

LOOL, i like their expressions..

I lol's at that one xD

The effect's really nice, the white thing's my fave in that one ~
What's the name of this thing? :3

I like the effect on this one.

Oh my, i really like this one, the both make really nice pair, don't you think? i guess you do already d:

And the fonts, I LOOVE IT, where do you take yours? :3

Looking forward more ~ <3

 

[Skiyomi]

Thanks for your comments!

What's the name of this thing? :3

You mean the white thing? I think it's like a stock image of a doily or something that I used as a divider.

Oh my, i really like this one, the both make really nice pair, don't you think? i guess you do already d:

XD They're my favorite pair ever.

And the fonts, I LOOVE IT, where do you take yours? :3

DaFont, I believe. Though I haven't gone font hunting in awhile.