Thursday, February 11, 2010
Name: ChaeRin
Your graphic (url): http://i49.tinypic.com/2c08sz.jpg
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~Colour/Color -1.5/3
Yikes, why does the font color match the border and the butterfly? Don't get me wrong, green is my absolutely favorite color. Definitely not biased or anything. I really like the fact that you use some hint of yellow along with your green, but you could have included a bit of yellow green. Why? Well if you added yellow green, then your color theme would have been analogous. Analogous colors are any three colors which are side by side on a color wheel. Remember the color wheel? Based on the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow? Using the third color could have created a wholesome feel to your graphic. Black and white is not a color so I'm purely grading on the green and the yellow background.
~Font -1/3
It seems like you have trouble with fonts. Photoshop 7.0 has many tools that you can use to enhance the font. Even a simple font, such as Times can be crafted into a masterpiece. Don't rely too much on the style of the font. I like how it expresses a relaxed mood and goes pretty well with your pictures, but there could have been more to it. A simple font is needed when your content is rather busy. An interesting font that pulls everything together is needed when your content is rather simple. Am I confusing you? In other words, you might need a little more practice when handing text/fonts. What you can do is to play around with your fonts on an empty canvas. Experimentation is the key. Try everything. Stroke it, contour it, color it, put a texture over it, crop it. Cut out bits and pieces of it, and then paste them around creatively. You get the idea. Experiment!
~Image Suitability- 2/3
Your pictures are fine. They seem to be able to express a mood. Why is that Yunho is on a sofa while the others are standing? If you cover up Yunho with your hands, you realize that the other two really match; however, if you cover up Jae Joong, the experience is not the same. Was it possible for you to choose a different picture of him? If it wasn't you could have: 1)Hide parts of his pictures by using an eraser and/or textures. 2)Use a collage style, for example, making him the only framed person. 3)Rearrange the pictures. Also, your blending can be a little bit neater. There's a bunch of questionable things between the girl and the guys. Perhaps you left it there to create some textures or something, but it would look cleaner if they were gone. What's up with the butterfly? It is your fan fiction, right? Is it related to your fan fiction? If it's a décor, then it's very random. Butterfly brushes are often used in graphic designing, and are a great choice...but in this case, it doesn't really make sense. At least to the viewers, it doesn't. If you added a butterfly, you could have added flowers or something to go along with the butterfly. Instead, you chose to leave it flying solo. Have you thought about using stocks? Well, actually the layout of the picture makes it a little bit difficult for stocks, but there are ways to do so if you want to include them.
~Overall layout -1.5/3
I like the poster. The horizontal layout, the black and white, and the soft effect. Aside from those, everything else can be improved. Bring in some textures, patterns, stocks. Create a theme. Do you start designing by making a background or blending the pictures? The first step would always be to touch up your pictures. You then can blend the images together on a white canvas, and then add a background or vice versa. What about creating everything separately? A canvas for blending. A canvas for text. A canvas for textures/stocks/background. A canvas for the special touches. Finally, a canvas for the entire look. Just an idea. You can give it a try.
Have you tried landscape dimensions? A suggestion: 1) open the same file. 2)Create a new file 3) Drag the other file over. 4) PLAY (literally) around with your old file and see if you can design something out of that one. It might seem...a little bit stupid, but you will be able to make comparisons.
Result: - 6/12
Extra: Honestly I'm here to help you, not to mock you or something. I was tempted to physically show you what I mean by fixing up the fonts/adding stocks and such, but I'm not qualified to do so. After all, this is your artwork, not mine. If you want to see what I mean, I'm willing to ask permission to demonstrate my points. I doubt you would. Suggestions, review other people's styles. See how they design. No, this is not copying or stealing their style. This is studying. It's like writing. In order to improve, you must read... a lot. It's not like I'm asking you to plagiarize someone's design. I'm asking you to analyze their works. Think about their use of color, fonts, pictures. Look at their styles. Can you duplicate their technique? Do you know what technique they're using? What must they do to improve? Familiarize yourself with all or most photoshop tools. I'm only suggesting you this because I've been there before. I know you have it in you.
Anyways, I did judge you based on this artwork only, so I know you can do better. Sorry for rambling. I'm writing this review an hour or two before sunrise. Please forgive me. My writing skills is already offline. I hope that this review helps. Can I ask you a question? Do you prefer long, detailed reviews like this, or the shorter ones?
Serenity | 2:47 PM