Hiddenkenshin's Attempt Of Signaturetastic Thingums

[HiddenKenshin 0]

An incredibly long title it is!

 

The initial reason why I got "into" graphics design were signatures. I soon moved on to wallpapers, but still, I'd very much appreciate some ratings/comments/feedback.

 

Do note, I'm not all too wild about your-generic-signature with a random style and a videogame render blended in. If you're expecting this, I don't have much to please your eye for.

 

---OLDER---

Emperor Siggy

Lightly animated banner for a buddy of mine who was also playing Travian.

 

The Ursa flag

No, it doesn't say beer, it's dutch for bear ^^ (hence, Ursa, latin for bear), this is prolly the most complicated and painstaking signature I4ve ever made, since everything was done from scratch. The waving effect included, which is a sort of image map, NOT just a filter effect.

 

Luthien golden plate

Signature for a charming young lady called Luth, it's a bit big and bulky, because it was a concept design at the time. She was nuts about it, and took it as it was. No idea if she got away with it on other fora ^^

 

Elite-Nicco

A good guy from Denmark requested a Halo-based siggy. Since I was sorta reluctant to yet-another-Master-Chief siggy(requested somewhat around the release of Halo II), he wanted an Elite covenant featured in it. I animated it for kicks, and I liked the effect.

 

Hellwars banner/siggy

A hellwars banner that was supposed to serve as both a signature and a site banner.

 

---MORE RECENT---

Travian siggy:

Signature for myself on an MMORPG called Travian. I was a roman tribe, hence an old, Roman theme without turning into a gothic theme.

 

Zanshin MapleStory banner

Another pseudonym I use is Zanshin, if HiddenKenshin is too long. For a game community of maplestory.

 

Another Zanshin

Same as above, but just for any other fora where I use Zanshin

 

Azmidiske pack

A signature I made to accompany the wallpaper she requested (seen here)

 

Khan siggy

Request from a forum.

Edited January 28, 2007 by HiddenKenshin (see edit history)

[leafbunk 0]

I like the golden plate signature, but for some reason (might just be me) the detail quality looks a bit blurry. You're right in saying that it does seem a bit big for a signature, but if that was the intention then that's what it is! I think it might have looked a bit more rustic/bold had you added a more defined border around that particular signature. Maybe even the addition of a drop shadow as you have used in some of your other signatures, would have given this one a more 3-dimensional and bold look. Nice font though and sort of rustic design. ;)The hellwars signature is cool. It's pretty bold and dark, and seems very prominent in it's design, like it would stand out very nicely against a dark background. Being against the white though, it's good too. I think it would have benefited a bit from a drop shadow as well, to give it an even more prominent look. The fire is cool though, and the chains are neat. I like the rather dark marron/red that you've chosen, as it works well with the metal and the dark theme you've gone with for this signature.The Travian signature is very nicely done I think. It seems to be the perfect size, and it is very appealing. I like the textures, and the colours, and the nice, simple, red/brown border that it has. I think the drop shadow is great here, and really adds to the signature. I also like how you've utilized transparency to give it even more variety. I think I like this one the best out of the ones you've shown here. This one just really seems to flow together, and isn't so obtrusive as the others, due to their size. This one though, it looks very, very nice and clean.The Maplestory banner is nice as well, and I much prefer it's size than some of the larger ones you've shown. I like how you've incorporated your character into the banner, and I like how he has a shadow and is slightly larger than the banner itself, to give it more dimension. The font would be slightly hard to understand, if you hadn't provided your name, but that's not really a problem I guess. It's good that the font has that white outline for it, so it doesn't blend into the background. It has a nice separation between the background pattern and the font itself.Nice work on all of them. I just commented on a few that I really like, but I like the variety in all of your signatures. It's nice to see that they're all pretty much different, and that you've tried new things and techniques with each.

[HiddenKenshin 0]

I like the golden plate signature, but for some reason (might just be me) the detail quality looks a bit blurry. You're right in saying that it does seem a bit big for a signature, but if that was the intention then that's what it is! I think it might have looked a bit more rustic/bold had you added a more defined border around that particular signature. Maybe even the addition of a drop shadow as you have used in some of your other signatures, would have given this one a more 3-dimensional and bold look. Nice font though and sort of rustic design.
The hellwars signature is cool. It's pretty bold and dark, and seems very prominent in it's design, like it would stand out very nicely against a dark background. Being against the white though, it's good too. I think it would have benefited a bit from a drop shadow as well, to give it an even more prominent look. The fire is cool though, and the chains are neat. I like the rather dark marron/red that you've chosen, as it works well with the metal and the dark theme you've gone with for this signature.

The Travian signature is very nicely done I think. It seems to be the perfect size, and it is very appealing. I like the textures, and the colours, and the nice, simple, red/brown border that it has. I think the drop shadow is great here, and really adds to the signature. I also like how you've utilized transparency to give it even more variety. I think I like this one the best out of the ones you've shown here. This one just really seems to flow together, and isn't so obtrusive as the others, due to their size. This one though, it looks very, very nice and clean.

The Maplestory banner is nice as well, and I much prefer it's size than some of the larger ones you've shown. I like how you've incorporated your character into the banner, and I like how he has a shadow and is slightly larger than the banner itself, to give it more dimension. The font would be slightly hard to understand, if you hadn't provided your name, but that's not really a problem I guess. It's good that the font has that white outline for it, so it doesn't blend into the background. It has a nice separation between the background pattern and the font itself.

Nice work on all of them. I just commented on a few that I really like, but I like the variety in all of your signatures. It's nice to see that they're all pretty much different, and that you've tried new things and techniques with each.

w00t!

Thank you kindly for taking the time to review my siggies.

My most favorite siggies seem to have disappeared, along with my previous hosting, I'll try to reupload them somewhere...
It's nice to hear the positive sides, but I surely do would like to hear the downsides. Like, I always wonder if my font, is in fact, readable, especially with the whole animaniac nickname thing I got going on.

The Luthien sig was indeed unfinished, but she didn't want any changes on it. Next to that, it's only since the more recent sigs that I've started using .png, they deal with shadows muuuuch better than .gif. In fact, .gif seems to hate me a little bit.
Everytime I learnt myself summin' new, I moved on to a new style, or adapted the previous one. Right now, I'm looking into vector things, never done those before.

[Rokuso 0]

Your signatures could be better. If your signatures are going to use a render, try blending in the render so that it has that great effect. And try adding some depth, so it has that great effect.Also, try adding in some lighting so that your signature dosen't look so lifeless.

[HiddenKenshin 0]

Your signatures could be better.
If your signatures are going to use a render, try blending in the render so that it has that great effect.

And try adding some depth, so it has that great effect.

Also, try adding in some lighting so that your signature dosen't look so lifeless.

Thanks for the suggestions!

As for the renders, I don't like to use renders at all, anymore. I'm really tired of seeing yet-another-hi-res-game-character blended in with some random filter effects. They seem rather lifeless and pointless to me. I don't wish to identify myself with Master Chief or a Killzone trooper. (anymore, heh) They get rather boring to make, in fact, because it usually features the same set of techniques over and over again.
As for depth, I'm not sure what you mean by that. I often use bevel and emboss blending options, and drop shadows, but not too much, so the sig doesn't get too bulky.

You're spot on with the lighting comment, I've never really bothered into adding decent lighting, it will probably add to designs better.

Recently, I haven't made much sigs, and usually just stick to a simple, attractive looking but non-intrusive siggy featuring my name and/or website.
The non-intrusive design has become key in my siggies. I've noticed how my own -and other people's- behaviour, concerning siggies has changed that, when coming across a screamy, large signature, it is simply ad-block'ed.
Edited February 25, 2007 by HiddenKenshin (see edit history)