My latest...(Colin's Gallery)...AZ

Look at the first post you dirty bitch!

Wow That came out of nowhere.

The jeans came out very good. Nice job.

Updated with a Biggie banner.

good work on that nas vector thingy ...even i dislike that stuff
that biggie one is cool, but i thing u should make that text ''Poetic Soul'' a lil more lighter

Great Nas vector! That's really nice. If you put hair on him, he looks like P. Diddy though.

On that Nas vector did you type "God's Son" on his belt or did it just vector like that?

I typed God's Son, trying to vector it did not work at all. It looked like absolute crap.

Message to everyone that checks this thread

I like the fact that a lot of you come in here and love what I do. But I know there's problems and flaws with what I do a lot of the time. I like criticism. I'm not saying come in here and insult every little thing about the sig and make jokes about my mom. If there's something you don't particularily like, SAY IT.

I'm not perfect.

You are perfect Colin, accept it.

First off, you're a great sig maker, Colin, and I think you're one of the best here, but I have to be brutally honest that I think your Amare sig is one of your worst works. (That, and c0n4d's Michael Jordan sig. I believe I've already critiqued him on that one.)

The first words that come to me are: dull, flat and stagnant. I see you're trying to make a relation with the environment (Phoenix) with the player, but the way you depict it is so contradictory. When I think of Phoenix, I think of fire, movement, energy. There's no movement, there's no excitement. Like the rocks, it's just dull and stagnant. Maybe you tried to create movement with the action of the player and the diagonal slopes of the rocks, ending off with "Amare" at the bottom. The way I see it, they're just vertical alignments of elements, confirmed with the awful diagonal background. The color and uniformity of the background is what causes the flatness of the overall composition. The text "Amare" looks dynamic, and could've worked if there was more movement in the composition, but it contradicts with the overall feel. The image of Amare could've worked if more of himself was shown. The way it's shown, his movement is static, for all I know, he could be just standing there with his hands in the air, rather than jumping prior to release.

I think it's nice that you're leaning away from the boring, repetitive custom brushstrokes that virtually 95% of sig makers use, but in this case, it probably would've worked better. The blending of the Suns logo against the rocks is a nice touch. The yellow could be toned down to blend in more with the rocks (without losing the contrast), though.

I hope you liked my critique

Thanks man, my original idea was to brush in a sunrise. But I just couldn't get it to work. I don't think I've ever used the smudge tool that much. I've been trying to get some tips on a gfx website I frequent to no avail.

I'm trying one more thing with this sig, if it doesn't work I'm off to a new idea.

When I think of Phoenix, I think of fire, movement, energy.

true. but you've got to admit when you think of amare's nose you think of mountains.

col.. instead of "the lost sun", what do you think of "prodigal sun"..

wow colin i love your jj sig, it really good, i love the comment under it!

Excellent sig with "The Lost Son!" If you want me to be ultra-anal, the little flame in the bottom right corner is distracting, and the text portion seems to be a rocket shooting out of his ass. Other than that though, the background is amazing.

Im liking that Joe Johnson sig Nice stuff

Id critisize it but i cant. Its one of the coolest looking sigs ive seen. What did you do to the Johnson pic to get it like the BG? Just duplicate it and put it on screen?

probably under the color balance....
btw amazing sig Colin one of your best

Thanks very much guys. Cy, little things like that may seem stupid, but I think they're important. I'll fix that later. But that rocket comment was purely anal. Jackass... (pun oh so definitely not intended, I didn't even realize it until I wrote vivid light down the page a ways.)

I'll tell you the basics of the Joe Johnson effect.

Desaturate pic, duplicate layer, set duplicate to 'vivid light' (give a fiery hard look), put them under the balance layers.

Just duplicate it and put it on screen?

Maybe a lightning filter or duplicate->overlay and then under the color balance layer. I'm not sure but I like the looks of it.

Updated with a Deron Williams set for Jugs.

not one of your best, it looks like it was pretty simple to make, it looks fine none-the less

i like the saturation/blurs/w/e you used on the deron williams pic, and i like the stripes in the background, how did you make that?

yes i know i always ask those questions, just trying to learn more about photoshop

The stripes are simple. Pen tool a shape, fill it with white, lower opacity to 45%-ish.

Getting the background to look smooth enough, but still have some depth was harder than it may seem. And thanks.

The stripes look awkward. Try making some of them a little smaller and more intricate.

New sig for Skip posted.

thats some crazy stuff Col...i dont like that curve u made, it seems too random. Maybe if u made a similar curve to the rockets jersey? i dunno...nice J switch, BG, and text tho