Makuta

[Haecceity]

So I got around to editing a landscape I made...The link to the pic.That background is entirely custom.Made with GIMP.C&C appreciated!

Edited May 30, 2012 by Temporphilic

[Dwanny]

Wow, that background is very impressive.Nice eyes too.

[<Reverb>]

The background is make impressively. You font you chose was perfect, but I think it would look better in black. Maybe add a little blur, and the mask darken it a little. That maybe would make it look better. ~Gravity

[Elemental Ussal]

I like the detail on the mask. The eyes look kind of like they are made of crystal or something. Nice effect.

[Haecceity]

Wow, that background is very impressive.Nice eyes too.

Thanks! =3

The background is make impressively. You font you chose was perfect, but I think it would look better in black. Maybe add a little blur, and the mask darken it a little. That maybe would make it look better. ~Gravity

I toyed with the idea of using black for a while, but I decided that I liked the contrast of red better. It looks out of place, sort of like the way Teridax "seared his name into the land." Oh, BTW, that font isn't Chiller. Those are custom-drawn letters.

I like the detail on the mask. The eyes look kind of like they are made of crystal or something. Nice effect.

I was going for an earthy effect with the mask, glad it worked. Edited June 5, 2012 by Temporphilic

[iPenguin]

I hate to be the one who crashes the party but if I were to give my brutally honest opinion I would say that it isn't that great. It's not horrible, but it's not great either.Let's start with the mask: it seems like that it's a recoloured MNOLG hau with some beveled shapes pasted on top. As far as beveled effects go, it is done well. However, the problem isn't how (or hau... get it? Wow, I'm terrible ) the beveled effect is used rather than the type of bevel that was used. This bevel effect extremely archaic and outdated (it's so 2004) and while it has its uses, those uses are quite different than the ones used in this picture. In this case, it isn't used brilliantly, nor is it used terribly either. The bevels that don't have a lot of shadow seem to work well. The other ones seem to look a worse. Another thing with the mask is that the border isn't anti-aliased and has this pixel outline. Same with the eyes; they seem to be slightly pixelated around the edges. This problem is a fairly major one, but luckily there is a quick fix, which is to feather a selection slightly after it is made. Some subtle problems with the mask seem to be that the left side of the mask seems to have a thinnish black outline while the right side does not. Consistency is key. Another minor problem is that right eye (our right) seems to be slightly misplaced. The lower left edge of the eye seems to be on top of the "nose" of the hau. It's hard to describe, but the eye should be moved a few pixels to the right. And the jewels used for the eye should be slightly smaller. I think if the eyes were anti-aliased and had a slight blur to them, they would look exponentially better. Most of the problems with the mask can easily be fixed with an extra 5-10 min of work. Those little changes can be the difference between mediocre and awesome.I'm not a big fan of the background, mainly because I don't really get it. From an artistic standpoint, it isn't the prettiest thing I have ever seen. Though I can deduct that it seems to be an aerial photo of a forest with the RGB values to change the overall colour to green and the accursed bevel effect. With all due respect, it actually looks ugly. Anyways I think the mask doesn't really blend in with the background, it's sort of just pasted on. Same with the text, it doesn't really seem to fit in. I know green and red are opposites and contrast each other the most, but red almost seems to be a little bit too harsh. I don't know, I get a little bit of a headache when looking at it. It might be because the text is so bright when compared to the slightly darker background./end rantI apologise in advance if I were too hard, but criticism only makes you better. It's harsh, but the faster you learn the truth, the better. That said, it doesn't seem to be that you are an expert in image manipulation, but practice and experimentation only makes you better. If you take this and future criticism seriously, your future works will be exponentially better.

[Reznas]

I must agree with Peng Floyd on this. Don't get me wrong, it looks pretty good, but it could use a lot of work. That's fine though, even professional artists need to improve their artwork sometimes. And please don't take my criticism personally. What I'm trying to do is help you improve, and even if I may seem harsh or irrational at times, I'm only trying to help you get better at your artwork.Now to start, the mask just doesn't seem natural to me. As Peng said before, beveling images can be good at times, but it just doesn't seem to fit the interpretation that you have in this image. The mask also needs to be entirely symmetrical, so next time I would work on one half of the Hau and then copy it, paste it, and flip it horizontally. Then you just fit it on the other side of the original half. Also, from what I see, the black line on the top left corner of the mask is supposed to be a shadow, am I correct? If so, next time, I would try to have a little bit more of perspective and blur the shadow a bit. Think of where the light (If there is a light source shining onto the image) is coming from. If it coming from the right, make the shadow on the left. If the light is coming from above the object, make the shadow below the object. Just think about where the shadow would be in real life. I must also add that the small dots indented into the mask aren't very necessary. I'm not entirely sure what you interpreted from the dots, but in my opinion, this isn't the kind of object you would use them on.Secondly, the background just really doesn't fit with the mask. When I think of Makuta, I think of darkness, blackness, and everything that represents evil. But when I see this background, it just really doesn't remind me of him. Try making backgrounds that contrast with the foreground and relate to the foreground (In these type of images). So if you take a photo of Tahu and put a background behind it, what do you think the background will be of generally? Fire. Lava. Red colors. All of these things remind you of Tahu. So next time when making a background for an image like this, think of what reminds you of the image and make that your image (Or part of your image).Lastly, the text just seems out of place. I'm sorry if that seems harsh, but it just needs a bit of work. In this type of image, I would try not to center the text (If you have text). Rather, I would put it in one of the corners. I would also make the text contrast with the background and foreground. So in this case, you would use a blackish, shadowy kind of text since it's Makuta. But besides that, it's fairly good. I can see that you worked hard and you did a good job. Just keep working on it, and you'll get there. With a lot of practice and experience, you will be able to make very good banners and images. Keep up the good work! -Rez

Edited June 10, 2012 by -Reznas-

[WeatherDragon]

I like it. It seems to have a bit of a "Nintendo 64 image" feel to me, which I find very artistic.

[Nuparu1995]

Like the detail on the Infected Hau! Reminds me of the old Flash animations!