Site banners (take 2)

Have a good idea? Let us know
LadySakura
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: Marquette, MI

Site banners (take 2)

Post by LadySakura »

*Added by Anon (dec-07-2006)*
This thread is continued from here...
You can find details on how to make image board banners in that thread.
*/Added by Anon*


Right...well...since the other thread kinda....flamed out >.< ....I'll try this again...

I changed it a little but not much really. Its up to Anony which version to use. Here are the pieces again.
ImageImage Image

And the whole thing:
Image


Oh, and, if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all, kthx.
Image
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. <3
User avatar
Smithy
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:50 pm
Contact:

Post by Smithy »

Looks like some good improvements on the previous version LadySakura!

Mhhh, the text doesn't look all that smooth yet, the coloring is rather bright so it looks a bit offset agains the white background to me. Perhaps you can try and adapt its opacity or use colors that will blend in some more? Or use an outer shadow instead of an outer stroke, that usually makes the outline less hard...

As for the shadows behind the characters, it makes them stand out quite a bit... what would it look like if you downgraded the opacity of the shadows or simply omitted them? How would that look?
It could turn out well, maybe you can try that...

The yellow of the hearts is very lively but it could conflict in coloring with the blueish color theme of the frames and post background on the image board... how about something more pink, like in your signature? It's a bit of a softer color.

Have you thought about making different versions? I mean, both Sakura and Misuzu look so cute, you could make a version with only Sakura in it and one with only Misuzu in it (like a pattern with a close up of the character on one side and a more distanced view of them on the other side of the banner).

Hope these ideas may be of some use to you. Have fun working with the images, because that's what it's all about! :)


Iiya! With LadySakura's avatar I always think she looks like Sakura from "Tsubasa Chronicle" who is so kawaii. *Huggles Sakura* love love desu!
LadySakura
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: Marquette, MI

Post by LadySakura »

^^^ this is what constructive criticism looks like ^^^

In case any one is wondering.


Thank you for the suggestions. ^_^

I had it without the shadows on the characters at first and I didn't like it. It seemed too flat. I can try to lighten them a bit though.

I'm just not used to working on a plain white background, so its hard for me to come up with things that look nice. I'll lighten the opacity of the stroke around the text too so that its not so "OMG LOOK AT ME" XD If I take it off completely its hard to read.
Image
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. <3
User avatar
Drake
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:05 am
Location: Morocco~~

Post by Drake »

yup,I should have said my comments more soflty like this way...well,gomen sakura,it's true that I overdid it a bit...I'm not in my forum afterall,forgive me if I wasnt nice i'll try and change my way of doing next time ,I hope you will not blame me too much and please be kind to an unkind guy like me :oops:
Image
LadySakura
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: Marquette, MI

Post by LadySakura »

I understand that you were trying to help me, I really do, and I thank you for that, but really harsh comments like that don't help me...with my personality they usually only make me feel worse about myself than I already do (I have bad self-esteem issues...but that's another topic).

You can still give me suggestions, but...just try to be a bit nicer about it >.< If you can't be nice about them..then I'd rather you just kept them to yourself. >.< Those kinds of comments may be what worked for you but we are all different.

I appreciate your effort to help me..just..not the method >.<
Image
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. <3
User avatar
Smithy
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:50 pm
Contact:

Post by Smithy »

LadySakura wrote:I had it without the shadows on the characters at first and I didn't like it. It seemed too flat. I can try to lighten them a bit though.
Mhhh... well how about instead of a black shadow, a colored shadow, like light blue, purple, or pink colored? With a lower opacity, that might create a nice effect, no? :)
LadySakura
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: Marquette, MI

Post by LadySakura »

I got rid of Sailor Venus and Kero. Changed them to Mokona and Potato, to keep the theme with the two series.

I lightened the stroke on the text and changed the yellow to pink, and lightened thier shadows. I changed the yellow hearts to a blue/green gradient.

Image
Image
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. <3
User avatar
amfest
Posts: 949
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:09 am
Location: Kingdom of Texas

Post by amfest »

OMG mokona and Potato for the win!

Big thumbs up for that change :D
Image
User avatar
Smithy
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:50 pm
Contact:

Post by Smithy »

It looks really awesome LadySakura! Truly terrific! :D

The only thing I can think of now (which is in fact not related to the image and how you created it) is that when it gets stretched horizontally - for people with screen resolutions with a width higher than 1024, it might have rather noticeable white gaps because there wouldn't be any butterflies or hearts there.
What if you slightly decreased the number of background butterflies and hearts, how would that look?
User avatar
anonymous_object
Site Admin
Posts: 1584
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:04 pm
Location: Good old US of A
Contact:

Post by anonymous_object »

Yeah, I agree. The background may be a bit dense for how e-shuushuu banners are set up. At high resolutions like 1280 or 1600, there will be a noticably large gap (of white space) between the three pieces. I've taken an image screen shot at 1280x1024 to show. It's not really bad, but at anything higher, it would start looking strange.

Here it is:
http://djtaylor.furumoon.net/images/sakura-banner.PNG

Also, another thing that might help, after seeing the image placed on the site, the site colors and the image colors don't seem to blend very well. I'm really not sure what to say about this. I don't want to say that all banners have to follow the same color scheme as the site, but as it stands, the bright yellow colors for example somewhat clash with the site colors. I know 2 of the current banners have some non-matching colors, but they feel less dense to the point of looking alright with the rest of the site. If anyone else has some thoughts on this point, I'd like to hear input.

One more thing, Potato seems to be placed too high up, I guess to take Kero's spot. I think he would look better if he were moved down a bit ^^

BTW, kawaii Sakura ^^
Sorry I'm so critical and picky, but I want to make sure all the banners fit in comfortably with the site >_<
e-shuushuu!
Image
User avatar
Drake
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:05 am
Location: Morocco~~

Post by Drake »

well since I was free this aftrernoon I decided to make something too,and I know there are a lot of rozen maidens fans here,so I think it should be good, here you go ^^ :
full version:
Image
right pic:
Image
middle pic:
Image
and left pic:
Image

as you can see I erased the border between the pictures in the png version to respect the stretching thing,but if I may ask,is it possible to make a border in the banner wich will scretch automaticly? (I dont know if it's possible cause I have absolutly no knowledge in php :3)
oh and if you there is something you dont like or anything I can correct,dont hesitate to tell me,you know what I mean :wink:

oh and I want to say thanks to Fettgans for the testbanner thing ,it helped me a lot ^^
Image
User avatar
Fettgans
Posts: 313
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:06 am
Location: Belgium
Contact:

Post by Fettgans »

Wow it's wonderful Drake, I'm not a fan of Rozen Maiden but it looks great. But I think you should avoid internal border for the pics since the table which contain it already has one.
oh and I want to say thanks to Fettgans for the testbanner thing ,it helped me a lot ^^
I'm glad it helped :) I added some part of the css to make it display the banner exactly like on the board (with the border and without top margin).
|[ Current projects : DoujinSuki | CF ]|
LadySakura
Posts: 325
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: Marquette, MI

Post by LadySakura »

I forgot it would stretch out. >.< I lessened the hearts and butterflies and switched Potato and Mokona around. Is this better?

Image

Image

Image

Whole thing:
Image
Image
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. <3
User avatar
Smithy
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:50 pm
Contact:

Post by Smithy »

Excellent improvements LadySakura! Looks really terrific now!

Somehow, I'm still thinking you could try your hand at an all Sakura banner... (kawaii!)

Drake, pretty good work, though I do fear the banner won't look as good at higher resolutions when the white interspaces appear, maybe you can lessen the roses and decorations in the middle section to see what that would look like?

The images you selected from "Rozen Maiden" are great, but aren't there any images of Suiseiseki and Suigintou where they look more lively and happy? They look pretty kawaii in these but also a bit serious, melancholic...
User avatar
Drake
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:05 am
Location: Morocco~~

Post by Drake »

But I think you should avoid internal border for the pics since the table which contain it already has one.
oh,I see,I didnt knew about the internal border in the table,I can take of the border pretty easly but i'll wait a bit for Anony to say what he thinks he can do,it'll be pretty much better with a line wich has the same color,and also thanks for this testbanner too,I see now very well that the blue border is getting in the way ^^
though I do fear the banner won't look as good at higher resolutions when the white interspaces appear, maybe you can lessen the roses and decorations in the middle section to see what that would look like?
yup I kinda feared that too,but I cant do very much,if I lessen the roses and decorations the banner will be too much empty,and I dont like it that way,if someone can send me a testban with the highest resolution possibly usable,I can get an idea of what I should do.
The images you selected from "Rozen Maiden" are great, but aren't there any images of Suiseiseki and Suigintou where they look more lively and happy? They look pretty kawaii in these but also a bit serious, melancholic...
well,since I'm not a great fan of the rozen maidens (and I dont know the chararcters very well) I just did a search *rozen maiden* in shuushuu with sorting by size and took the best pic (in white background cause i'm lazy Xp) and used them for the ban,also I don't find them very melancholic myself ,but anyway,I dont think I'll change them cause I find them okay ^^
Image
Post Reply