Pulp Fiction sig thing

[L0SS]

I could probably have done a lot more with it to make it look better.

 

The whole tile thing was meant to represent the jigsaw narrative of the film. I think the gradient lighting on Vincent works well, but not sure about the background texture I used.

 

The masking thing is also a little meh. Regardless, give it a rating. Thanks.

 

EDIT: V2 up.

[L0SS]

Bump for ze comments.

[вєgσттєη ιηѕαηιту]

I think it looks really choppy and overall blending is bad... 7/10 for creativity and nice color scheme.

[L0SS]

I think it looks really choppy and overall blending is bad... 7/10 for creativity and nice color scheme.

Yeah, sort of what I was thinking. I'm going to do another one with Mia or Jules, as they're easier to cut out in the majority of their images. What would you suggest in terms of blending? I'm also gonna change the Text and masking, looks pretty lame at the moment. Thanks for the feedback.

[вєgσттєη ιηѕαηιту]

Finding a way to make the shading of the background match the image would help a lot in my opinion. No problem.

[Tormented]

okokok I'd rather not be rude so I'm actually gonna have a look over this piece.

 

So first things first I just don't like the concept, for example the square spacing is awfully done they look scruffy and uneven, the red to render just doesn't seem to work and the black text of box at the bottom just seems unneeded. You need to work on your uses of Gradient Maps, Photo Filters, Layer masks before adding in text. 

 

Some lighting would've been nice as well.

[L0SS]

okokok I'd rather not be rude so I'm actually gonna have a look over this piece.

 

So first things first I just don't like the concept, for example the square spacing is awfully done they look scruffy and uneven, the red to render just doesn't seem to work and the black text of box at the bottom just seems unneeded. You need to work on your uses of Gradient Maps, Photo Filters, Layer masks before adding in text. 

 

Sone lighting would've been nice as well.

Yeah, I see what you mean. Although I must say I like the tiling effect, personally. As you can probably tell, I wanted it to be asymmetrical and messy; in order to match the style of the film. Though you're right, I need to work a lot in all of those areas. The text was really just slapped on at the end. I'll take that on board, thanks.

[Tormented]

Well glad to hear, if you ever need anything give me a shout.

[.Rai]

Learn to use displacement maps, although I'm not actually on whether GIMP has that utility or not. It's essentially a much more abstract, and freer version of the tiling you've used, which looks a little artificial. I'm all for conceptual work, but if the concept is poorly represented by the technique, then I don't think it's worth it.

The whole thing is crying out for a darker background. More of my attention is brought to the large block of saturated red, rather than the largely black render (which has already been broken up with distracting tiling). The background should compliment, therefore it should be darker and less colourful. It also gives you an opportunity to boost up the contrast on the render. Define a light source too. In this, an ambiguous splodge of white cloudy light is coming from behind, yet does not emit any sort of effect on the render. By the same measure, there seem to be various coloured patches all on the render. Unless there is a clear light casting that colour, then it's irrelevant. Try soft-brushing colour with a brush on a Screen or Dodge style layer mode. Also, you can try finding some resources for this same purpose. Search DeviantArt for various things: bubble C4Ds, fractals. Stick them on in educated positions for additional lighting and ornamentation. Some practice should account for it.

A few more minor things. Text is distractingly unnecessary. The font is perhaps gaudy, and clichéd, and the black border is really very dark and distracting. Remove that and instead just darken the entire background as mentioned. Also, consider moving the render to the right until it's about two thirds to the right. This is for composition purposes. See the rule of thirds and search it for some more info.

[L0SS]

Learn to use displacement maps, although I'm not actually on whether GIMP has that utility or not. It's essentially a much more abstract, and freer version of the tiling you've used, which looks a little artificial. I'm all for conceptual work, but if the concept is poorly represented by the technique, then I don't think it's worth it.

The whole thing is crying out for a darker background. More of my attention is brought to the large block of saturated red, rather than the largely black render (which has already been broken up with distracting tiling). The background should compliment, therefore it should be darker and less colourful. It also gives you an opportunity to boost up the contrast on the render. Define a light source too. In this, an ambiguous splodge of white cloudy light is coming from behind, yet does not emit any sort of effect on the render. By the same measure, there seem to be various coloured patches all on the render. Unless there is a clear light casting that colour, then it's irrelevant. Try soft-brushing colour with a brush on a Screen or Dodge style layer mode. Also, you can try finding some resources for this same purpose. Search DeviantArt for various things: bubble C4Ds, fractals. Stick them on in educated positions for additional lighting and ornamentation. Some practice should account for it.

A few more minor things. Text is distractingly unnecessary. The font is perhaps gaudy, and clichéd, and the black border is really very dark and distracting. Remove that and instead just darken the entire background as mentioned. Also, consider moving the render to the right until it's about two thirds to the right. This is for composition purposes. See the rule of thirds and search it for some more info.

Thanks for taking some time to break that down for me. As you've might have guessed, I'm new to the whole process.

 

It looks looks like the improvements to be made are: Define a light source, darken the background, remove the text, and general minor improvements and enhancements.

 

I think it's probably best to start with a blank canvas and work from there. Great advice, much appreciated.

 

Btw, I'm using Photoshop, so displacement maps should be available.

[.Rai]

Ah, yes, if you're using Photoshop, do a bit of research on displacement maps. It's a tricky thing that even I don't really use that much. I think working afresh is a great thing to do, because you can really get in a method for yourself to practise from.

Keep at it, because you actually have a lot of the basic skills down.