MK's Sigbar/Wallpaper Topic

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Yo.

Akita Neru (#1): show

I thought of a random Vocaloid and a setting to go with it, and then turned that into a sigbar. Extremely simple, four layers (Neru, background, lighting, text/border), just a trial run of the very basics.

Nitori Kawashiro (#2): show

Sepia. <3

TF2 Soldier (#3): show

I don't really like the way this turned out but it looks nice so whatever.

TF2 Spy (#4): show

Seven layers. Background, background lighting, background text, the Spy, foreground text, border, and an orange tint. Today I remembered that layer transparency does indeed exist.

Koishi Komeji (#5): show

Ten layer experiment with lighting and drop shadows. I guess I'm proud. <3

Ohana (#6 :WIP: :REQUEST:): show

Ace requested this, and I learnt that border plugins are just glorified rectangle tools. La~

TF2 Scout (#7 :REQUEST:): show

Jitter, smudge, trail. Also I found out how to make part of an image look like it's at the back, and then the other part at the front.

Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro (#8): show

Join up, open up~

Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro (#9 :REMAKE): show

The Starbound forums hate my usual dimension, so I remade it in a smaller height. There aren't any defined edges to look at though, which makes it kinda flat.

Kirby/Karyete (#10): show

I wanted to make something after taking a really long break, so yeah. Hi, Careat.

Kanako Yasaka (#12): show

Layer blending layer blending layer blending layer blending layer blending.

If you're wondering where sigbar eleven went, go here.

Tenshi and Mokou (#13 :REQUEST:): show

Lr and bradno wanted this. Most detailed one thus far. Nothing I can really say other than I learnt stuff.

Tewi and Reisen (#14 :REQUEST:): show

A person on the Starbound forums wanted one, and the signatures sizes there are strict. 150px high. ffs

Fox McCloud (#15 :REQUEST:): show

I call anything a request if someone gave me a source. Also I made this to warm up after a long break so meap

Ran Yakumo (#16): show

This is one of my lazier, less creative days.

Christmas Miku (#17): show

I've been wanting to use LF's unused Christmas Miku render forever. Unfortunately I turned out a crappy piece of work so ah well

The second image is a bit of an update but I noticed my antialiasing plugin did that white dot thing again

Princess Mononoke (#18 :REQUEST:): show

Everything blends too much with each other, and the text is an annoyance with regards to being discernible. How do I solve thiiiiis

Yoshi/Blackyoshi (#19): show

Ever since imgur compressed an uploaded image I've started using puush

Demoman/UsuarioTHf (#20): show

I'd like to thank Color Balance+ for being a useful tool in overall recoloring.

Star King (#21): show

no I don't care about your name capitalization

Emelia Kaylee/Shikieiki Yamaxanadu (#22): show

period period period ♥♥♥♥

Toon Link/MegaRainboom (#23): show

that's the last request for now done

Nitori Kawashiro (#24): show

[21:39:21] Jack Harrington: Finished my sigbar, now to think of ingenious way to upload
[21:39:52] Kyo: imageshack
[21:40:05] Jack Harrington: I'll try imgur and see what happens
[21:40:11] Kyo: ...Suwako
[21:40:32] Kyo: I had some Majora's Mask songs playing when I saw that image
[21:40:40] Jack Harrington: http://i.imgur.com/fMTxW.png
[21:40:43] Kyo: You scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me unintentionally
[21:40:45] Jack Harrington: Tell me if that looks good
[21:40:54] Kyo: She's contemplating murder.
[21:41:03] Jack Harrington: Now tell me if it looks good
[21:41:07] OnyxAlchemyst: I'd guess rape
[21:41:13] Jack Harrington: Reverse rape? Alright
[21:41:14] Kyo: I say it looks good.
[21:41:31] Jack Harrington: Maybe I should just add a line below the sig
[21:41:33] Jack Harrington: quoting this Skype
[21:41:41] Jack Harrington: "Kyo: She's contemplating murder."
[21:42:48] Kyo: Go for it.

Cirno (#25): show

For Usu, because I made arts then thought "usu's sigbar is a cirno isn't it"

Pendulum (#26): show

For Avo since he's a ♥♥♥♥ D&B connoisseur

Suwako Moriya (#27): show

I like transparency as bordering

Runouw All-Stars - Moy/Link (#28): show

First one, worst one.

Runouw All-Stars - Blablob (#29): show

Oblique yay

Runouw All-Stars - Avo/Pendulum (#30): show

Bzzzzzzzrrrrr.

Runouw All-Stars - ~MP3 Amplifier~/Princess Mononoke (#31): show

Do I call her San or Princess Mononoke

TF2 (WALLPAPER #1): show

Half-assery is best way to make Secret Santa gifts

Fujiwara no Mokou (Wallpaper #2): show

half-assery and general crappiness all around

Tenshi Hinanawi (Wallpaper #3): show

dot

Flutterpie Dash/Star king (Wallpaper #4): show

who the ♥♥♥♥ is this anyways

Tree (Wallpaper #5): show

render plugins gogogo

Blackyoshi (Wallpaper #6): show

["Find out after the break joke" here]

Cirno (Wallpaper #7): show

Wheeeeeeeee

Suika (Wallpaper #8): show

My fifth waifu <3

Requests are welcome! If you want a wallpaper, give me the dimensions of your monitor.

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

No feedback is a good sign, right?


I wanted a Spy sigbar, so the first thing I started with was cropping a render of the Spy, then I needed a background. Meet The Spy took place in BLU's intel room, so why not that? No luck - all the caps were too small or wacked-out panoramas. Next best thing I found was the staircase from the courtyard.
I made the lighting glow with a quick trick - copy background, set contrast to max, delete all the black parts with Magic Wand, then blur the remaining parts.
I fiddled around a bit with the background's brightness, contrast, lightness and saturation to end up with a fairly good BLU Base.
Smack down some text, blur it, fragment it, and it's good.
Make a layer just above the background, jab in some huge text, make the layer slightly transparent and bam.
At that point I remembered that layer transparency DOES exist, so I blurred the Spy (blurrrrrrrrr) and made the layer transparent to resemble being invisible.
I added a quick border with the rectangle tool (I swear my next sigbar is going to have to deal with that).
Finally, I put in a layer right at the top, filled it with solid orange, then made the layer really transparent to just give everything an orange tint.



I don't want to read what I just wrote.

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Background - crop, radial blur, fragment
"Ribbons" - those white and red streaks - Gaussian blurred and made slightly transparent. Don't like them too much.
Background lighting - was something until I used fragment on the background, this layer is basically useless
Koishi - crop, drop shadow (the blue outline)
Foreground lighting - that speck of light on the heart, actually took two layers for some reason - lines drawn in pencil and Gaussian blurred
Text - drop shadowed, brightness up, contrast down, Gaussian blurred
Border - rounded rectangle, edges transparent using edge fade - actually forgot to make this its own layer so it's using the background lighting layer
Border overlap - white lines drawn over where Koishi overlaps the border, Gaussian blurred, layer copied to amplify effect

Total layer count - 10

[Megar]

Are you planning on using that Spy one? Because I likey.

EDIT: And if not, would it be possible to make a RED Scout one?

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Are you planning on using that Spy one? Because I likey.

EDIT: And if not, would it be possible to make a RED Scout one?

RED Scout, huh?



Well, at least I tried.

[Megar]

Like I said on Steam chat, It looks good.
The blur effect makes it look like he's actually using the BONK! and the whole font thing gives it a fast feel, which is so Scout.

Also you are not SuYo so stop bashing yourself

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Getting into the Halloween spirit.

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Made smaller version to fit in the Starbound signature size, then completely remade it because the original one looked crappy when cropped.
Layer count - something like eight? I dunno

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

Something I made for Karyete because I was bored. I promise you I put the least amount of effort I could into this.


EDIT: Yeah I found this somewhere so why the hell not post it here

[Doram]

You know what? I've seen a lot of art come and go on this site, and this is definitely some of the best I've seen. Speaking from someone who doesn't do a lot of hand-made art himself, I have to say that you are absolutely using these tools to their max, and also making excellent choices in source material. I thoroughly appreciate finding graphics that are the appropriate resolution (and preferably higher) so that it looks smooth, clean, and crisp at the final resolution.

You did an excellent job of this with Kirby, for example, with a smooth edge line that transitions to the background graphic flawlessly, and the technical accomplishment isn't the end of your talent. Artistically, it is excellently done, with a good balance of colors, a pleasing arrangement of elements, and from a graphic arts perspective, the font is interesting, legible, and fits into the rest of the piece well.

I'd say across the spectrum, you use text well, with appropriate choices in font, color, and effects, keeping things thematically appropriate, and visually integrated, but still legible, and usually easily readable (this is actually very hard to pull off, as countless bad examples I have seen can attest to...). You also have a good sense of composition, and color, and your creative vision is quite striking as well.

My other favorite is TF2 Spy #4. This is a fantastic piece. The background is clearly either a very good render or a real life photograph, and the spy is out of focus, looking like he is either a reflection in a window (like that is all you will ever catch of him...), from a realistic perspective, or some ghostly apparition referring to his in-game stealth abilities. Either interpretation speaks well to the essence of the character, and the text speaks further to the mythos of the spy, where you are often unsure of where their loyalties truly lie. It is beautiful, expressive, and thought provoking. Fantastic.

As a stock artist, sir, you are just about at the top of your game.