As of now, I'm taking logo requests for anybody who is interested.
Just note I have a few guidelines that I'd appreciate very much if you followed.

1) Please do not spam me with requests, and please limit your requests to one at a time. I would also appreciate not being rushed, I will work as fast as I can, I'm still rather new to Photoshop and the like.

2) I would ask that you be VERY specific with what you want. Colors, gradients, etc. As for designs, I lack the skill to hand-draw them (I use brushes to make the designs, hehe...)
So if you request something I don't have, I will try to look for it, if I cannot find it, then I apologize, and you'll have to either change your request, or, if you can locate brushes that are what you're looking for and link them to me, that would be fine as well.

3) Please, please, PLEASE, do not expect some unbelievable masterpiece. As I stated before, I'm not very experienced, so making something as good as others here can do is not something that comes easily to me. On the flip side, if I do something wrong, please do not hesitate to tell me. I would hate to mess something up and have someone not tell me because they do not want to irritate me or something.

Onto examples, these are the best ones that I've done so far. (According to the kind people who have helped me along the way. )
Note: Please do not re-use any logos other than the ones you request without permission from myself (if it isn't made for someone else) or the requester (if I made it for said requester). Thanks.













Again, if you want to request something, ask of course. But remember to be specific, I can't read minds.


vvvvvvv Old Stuff vvvvvvv______________________________________________________vvvvvvv Old Stuff vvvvvvv

I'm pretty new to Photoshop, but I whipped up a couple of logos.
Here's one I made for a game idea I had:


And this is the new (non-lame online text generator logo) and improved logo for The Shinora Chronicles:


The only problems I have with these personally is I feel like the spacing between the words is off. I may redo them later, but since school started back up for me, it's going to have to take a back-seat for now.

~RionTarokai

I like the second one, but its a little difficult to just read at first glance.
Spacing out each letter a bit more would be very benificial I think.
Or just reducing some of the hangy wispy bits.
Overall a nice title image.

The first one looks fine, maybe tinker with the 'project' part though.

I think you're using Photoshop quite well, though I would argue that you need to look into making your logos more readable.
I can hardly tell what they say.
Despite not being able to read what they say, I think they look cool. =]

Work on readability and I think you'll do fine.

@Darkblade
Looking it at now, the C is really hard to read...Don't ever remember it like that but...wierd. Maybe it was just me. Also, tinker with the "project" part how?

@X-M-O
I can agree the second is hard to read, what with the little wispy bits flying off of it all over the place, but I think the first one is a lot easier to read, at least, it is for me. Perhaps it's just the "Project" part that's less readable?

In anycase, thanks for the feedback, I'll take that to heart for next time.

~RionTarokai

I just think the project part could be given some more attention.
Maybe make it a bit larger and alter the 'J'.

@Darkblade
...Yes...And now for whatever reason the J looks like an I or a lowercase L to me. It's like when I first made the logo for The Shinora Chronicles. I could read it fine, then I made this thread, you replied to it, and all of a sudden I could also hardly make it out. My eyes are messing with me. @_@

Okay...So...bigger...and the J actually needs to look like a J. Got it, thanks.

~RionTarokai

Alright, I've updated the first two, and made one as a request from a friend for his game (he's not a user on here, though.)

First up, the new "Shinora Chronicles" logo. Hopefully it's an easier read.



And the new "Project Exodus" logo.



Finally, "The Surcease War" logo.


Friend I made it for is pleased with the end result, so I guess that's all that counts. ^^

~RionTarokai

Much better! =]

I would like to say that a few more edits are needed though. The colours work better in terms of readability, and the first two lines of the "Shinora Chronicles" logo seem to look all right, but the last line, "chronicles", needs a bit more love.
The letters are close together in some places and far apart in others, in the graphic art community we would call this "improper kerning". It makes it difficult to read because the eye expects a new word to begin after a space that is longer than the previous spaces between characters. Thus it is read as "c hro n ic l e s" instead of "chronicles". To fix this, you could add spaces between the letters that are closer together (instead of trying to force the larger characters on top of each other). Spacing the characters further apart isn't necessarily a bad thing either, as it will increase readability and you can even add more details/flavour to them upon doing so (for example the letters "hro" could be as fancy as the letters "c", "e", and "s" without making it look awkward). =]

I love what you've done with the Project Exodus logo this time around; far better and much easier to read.

The Surcease War logo looks nice, but it is a little too blurry. Just barely though.
I would recommend either using a font that has more space between the letters (and its own curves), or you could decrease the shadow's size and increase its contour. Go with "Half Round" contour on the drop shadow, and increase the opacity to about 85%.
(Of course, you don't have to follow those instructions exactly, but it will help move you in the right direction for that shadow being less blurry.)
It also looks as if you are using Satin, and I'd recommend making a change to that contour instead (if you don't want to make the above changes suggested).

Looking great, and you seem to have a good idea as to what you want in the logos. =D

Fair enough, I actually agree there. The spacing is pretty odd, but quite honestly, so is the font. The last "s" in "Chronicles" is actually lower case. The first "s" in "Shinora" being uppercase. I'm not sure of the reason as to why the uppercase "s" does not have the same, if not more of that fancy little effect the lowercase "s" has going on there. Though, I've tested this and most of the uppercase letters in the font (Angelic War) have the same properties. Less or no wisp-like effects on the uppercase letters, and more on the lowercase ones. Trying to find the right balance is difficult for me, as I don't want it to look bland, but I also don't want the image to lose its readability, because at that point it virtually serves no purpose. (Other than to look cool, I suppose.)

I wish I had a scanner, though. That way, I could scan my drawings that I do. (Believe me though, I'm not too good at it though. I'm trying to learn how to do proportions and stuff better, but it just doesn't work out for me. My hand(s) do not cooperate with what I have in mind. :c)
About the only other kind of art I do other than this (which is recent, I'm still learning.) is editing sprites. Though, to be honest, my range of which sprites I edit is fairly limited. (Mostly edited Pokemon Trainer sprites. I'd like to learn to make my own from scratch but...I've tried. And I truly do not want anyone to bear witness to the horrors that have arose from my experiments.)

Also, X-M-O, I've been meaning to ask. Why and how does your avatar continuously change whenever I refresh the page/come back to it/etc.?
I've been wondering that for a while, but I never remembered to ask.
Oh yeah, and I'll work on "The Shinora Chronicle"'s logo again in a bit, going to have dinner soon, though. In any case, thanks for the feedback, it's been very helpful to me, and I appreciate it.

EDIT: I totally missed the bottom half of your comment, my bad. I was just skimming through since I was a tad busy while reading.
Glad to hear you like the Project Exodus logo. To be honest, I like it much better than the first one myself.
As with the Surcease War logo, I don't remember if I used satin. The drop shadow does look a bit blurry actually, dunno how I didn't notice that before, honestly. Either way, thanks a lot.

~RionTarokai

Alright, here's the newly updated "Shinora Chronicles" logo. I tried spacing each individual letter as evenly as possible. Hopefully you all like this better than the previous versions. ^^

Yeah, I completely understand the difficulty with fonts... but that's why I'm helping you along, eh? :3



I'd love to see some of your artwork. You could even take a camera and snap some shots just to show them off until you have a scanner.

Pixel-art is sometimes rather difficult and sometimes rather simple; it depends on what you're working on. Characters that look more realistic or less realistic could make a huge difference on the complexity of the artwork. Practice will help with that though, and there are tutorials to assist you in working on sprites. I can supply a few tutorials, if you would like. =]
(Many can be found in the pinned resource topic in this art forum.)



No problem. I get that question rather often. ^^
I use signavatar.com to get my images to randomly appear as they do. =]



Enjoy your dinner! :3
You're welcome, I do what little I can to support artists.



No worries, lol. That happens a lot when I type (I put too much into posts at times, lol).

Yeah, the Project Exodus logo has been much more improved upon than the previous version. ^^

You're welcome. =]



Beautiful!
The only thing I'd do now, is run through a few different colour themes (rainbow is great, but I'm just giving you a suggestion for your own personal research in colour schemes). Try light blues and then go to dark greens, and perhaps even some bold colours like you did originally; just to test things out a bit (even go grey-scale for the sake of it). =D

Either way, it already looks great and you've done a nice job with it!

Yowza, they are so much better than before.
Loving the new Project Exodus logo.
Excellent !

@X-M-O
Yeah, I appreciate the assistance, the stuff I've done looks a lot better now because of the input you've all been giving me. Thanks much.
Used the site you linked, works perfectly for me, thanks. Canneverhavetoomuchpony.
Looking through my snapshots with the old-ish Logitech webcam I have, I do still have some of my old pictures. (Pretty old, let me tell ya.)
If you want, I can post some of my sprite edits. (I actually have one where I have the original sprite and then basically 2-3 other sprites showing how I changed it to the final result, the final sprite, and a picture that I used for references and colors.)
As for different color schemes, I agree. I didn't save the project at all (only the image...) but I could possibly just put different styles over it. Possibly.

@Darkblade
Thanks a lot, glad you like them. You and X-M-O have been a great help, I appreciate it you guys.


Let me know if you want to see any of my sprite edits/drawings, or possibly more logos or something.

~RionTarokai

I'd love to see more of your work; drawings, sprite edits, more logos - everything!

You have a natural eye for art, from what I can tell. =]


Oh, and if you want to simply take the "Shinora Chronicles" logo and change its colour (without the PSD file) just load it into Photoshop and press "CTRL+U" or "CTRL+B" to change its colour to something you'd like (just experiment with those tools, if you haven't already) and if you want to change lighting press "CTRL+L" for the Levels tool. =]

Alright, I'll start posting that tomorrow. EST time zone, so it's about 11:40 right now, and since I have school...YeahIneedsleep
Natural eye for art?...Hm..I dunno...I'm not that good. Maybe I'm just getting a lucky break?

Well, that's good to know...Although before I read this I already made a new project file for it. (Obviously, it's not exactly the same. I couldn't replicate the effect on the "the" in the logo, which is disappointing to me, considering I liked how it was. Oh well. I think I spaced/organized the letters better this time anyway. I've made quite a few color schemes, and I'll make more tomorrow.)

Also, before I go, I'll just throw this on this post.

One of my many trainer sprite edits. Edited it from Gary Oak to my character, Rion Tarokai (for whom my avatar is named.)
Sprite is from Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver.
A little bit about him:

Age: Seventeen
Birthday: May Twenty-Fifth, Nineteen-Ninety-Four
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Purple
Originally from a story I began writing, but never completed, titled "The Perfect Light" as the main character.
He's generally quiet, but is very serious when he fights. From when he was ten up until fourteen he was captured as a prisoner of war by Kaoli Occupation Forces. (Yeah, KOF (assuming you read the story/etc. on The Shinora Chronicles, you'd notice they're in it.) are originally from The Perfect Light. I will probably change that, since I planned for "The Shinora Chronicles" to potentially lead into the events of "The Perfect Light".)
He lost his parents the day he was captured. However, his two siblings survived. His younger brother, Kamron, who presently is nine years old, and his older sister, Cerise, who is presently nineteen years old.

That's about it, anyways, I need to go to bed now, it's almost 12:00. Hoo boy.

~RionTarokai

Yeah, one thing I always do is save PSD files of anything I plan on using.
It's a good habit to keep them. ^^

Your sprite looks pretty good, and the background character information is always neat to have. =D

I have a PSD now, of course. Glad you like the sprite, and his background information underwent much planning and changing before I finally decided on what it was actually going to be.

So...


...I drew on my homework.
...
'Nuff said.
(P.S. I know, my drawing skills need major improvement. I also apologize for the fade. My mom's scanner decided to work finally, however it seems to have faded a lot of the lines. What a prick. :C)

~RionTarokai

I'm fairly certain that you can edit the settings on the scanner to capture the image better; though I don't know what settings might exist on your specific software connected with your scanner.

Taking a French class? =]

Anyway, I don't think your anatomy is far from what it should be - and I like the style you're going with. =]

Well, the scanner is connected to my mom's computer, and she usually doesn't let me mess with it. (She believes I will cause issues with it, though sometimes I feel like I know more about it than she does, but..what're you gunna do?)

Yes, I do take French. Though, I forgot most of it over Summer and Winter Break.

Anatomy is one of the many things I have problems with. I feel like I'm only good with the hair, to be honest. I'm sure you noticed her bangs cover her other eye, that's more or less laziness on my part, because I can't normally draw both eyes. I just have issues with getting the second eye to look right. Most times, it ends up ridiculously larger than the other one. I'm also bad with hands and feet. Also terrible at shading, hence why the character was more or less not shaded whatsoever, haha...I've tried looking at tutorials as well, but I still can't seem to get anything right. I dunno, maybe I am getting it right(ish) and I'm being paranoid about it.

You like the style? Well...Thanks. I'm not too good (I've seen artists who draw anime/manga-style as well, and my drawings look like ugly stick figures compared to their works. Although, I know one of them personally and she's a huge braggart about it. Yelled at me when I told her neko characters don't have human ears, that's what the cat ears are for. She went off on how I needed to "get to her level" before I could "say shit" about her art. )

Anyways, thanks, anddd..here's one of my older-ish ones, I took a snapshot of it with my webcam a while back:


Here's something more recent, when I first ever attempted drawing ponies:


And then, I went into Photoshop and messed with it (first time using Photoshop):


I've drawn more since then but, I don't believe I have any very recent photos. I could do some salvaging later today, if I can find time.

~RionTarokai

EDIT: Almost forgot, here's the new Shinora Chronicles logo(s)!

Yeah, mums are that way sometimes.

You easily forget things you've learned about a foreign language when you don't practice it often (and I mean daily, lol).
I used to speak Spanish quite well, and I knew a bit of French and Italian as well; now I can hardly remember the pronunciation rules of any of the languages except Spanish (because in Texas I hear Spanish at least once every few days, lol).

In relation to anatomy, and your problem with drawing eyes that match, something you should always do (chiefly at this stage of learning) is draw guides first (geometrical shapes that will determine the distance and location of your character before getting into the details of shape and body parts and hair). =]

On to your images:
First one: Looks really cool, nice idea and overall design. ^^

Pony pictures: Nicely done, and very colourful. Good work converting it to a digital version, by the way. =]
Using Photoshop, you can get much more straight lines if you use the pen tool to redraw the edges, then you'd just convert the vector to a selection and fill it with the appropriate colour(s). Having each piece redrawn using vectors, also allows you to manage each part individually and allows you to apply specific effects to each section (not always practical, but sometimes you might want this). Always save that work in a PSD so you can go back and change things at a later date, if you want to. =]

To the logos:
First version looks really great; glad you were able to recreate it without much difficulty. ^^
Second version is my favourite; almost has a Matrix theme going on there, but it is clearly readable and even gives it a dark forest-themed appearance.
Third version is too blurry, and this is because (unlike with the way green works with black) you have an inner shadow of the same colour as the outer shadow. This can work in some cases (for example, the logo in my signature uses this technique to feint a blur), but when dealing directly with a font, you can get a better effect if you do a Stroke at size 1 with the position set at inside and remove the inner glow or inner shadow (whichever you used). This should work to remove the blur and get the font to look better. =]
The colour is great, just need to be sure it isn't too blurry.
Fourth version looks all right, not my preference, but it seems to work fine.
Last version seems a bit overkill with special effects, but it is still readable. =]

Thanks for the input. I honestly have -no- idea why the third one god so blurry. It was fine until I merged the "The" layer and the "Shinora Chronicles" layer. It's like it decided to paste it on top of itself, like there's two of the logo on top of each other, it's wierd.
As for the fourth one, not really my preference either, I was just experimenting.
The fifth? I didn't actually do a whole lot. I used the default settings for inner and outer glow, and applied the bubbles pattern overlay. Oh yeah, and I did a drop shadow, too...I think.

As for the images, the first one is an OC of mine incarnated into "BLEACH", and anime/manga I like to watch/read. As for the pony pictures, I was actually pretty lucky for the non-digital version when I colored it. I had pretty much all the right colors to begin with. Reason the digital version looks odd is because I used a mouse the entire time. I also am not very good with Photoshop, and since that was my first time using it, I didn't expect a masterpiece.
Also doesn't help that I don't have very steady hands. Makes it more difficult for me to draw. =c
Also, I was wondering (Warning: This may come across as a noob question, but for the most part, I'm still relatively "new" here. Made my account ages ago and posted like once. Then I went inactive, a really bad habit I have with all forums.) would it be proper for me to put up music I make in this thread also? (I use a program called MusicShake, it's not all epic like FL Studio and the like, but it's easy for me to use, I've tried FL Studio before and I was more confused than when I tried using Photoshop for the first time.)
I might have a two-hour delay tomorrow...Which is good...I need some time off. My mom said I didn't have to set my alarm since it's so crummy outside right now. Ah...Good ol' Indiana!
Although, considering I go to Concord, we could have a volcanic eruption and they'd still make us go. ;c
Need to get my motivation back up though...I haven't been working on The Shinora Chronicles as of late. I've done looking around and I haven't really found any suitable tilesets for caves. I wanted to redo the cave dungeon where you start, because, as Ashalina said, it is very bland. (As is quite a few of my maps...but that was from sheer laziness, before I intended to share it with the general public...er...general internet public, rather.)
I'll do some more searching, perhaps I'll find trees also so I can redo the forest dungeon. I'll have to avoid the dungeon generator though...even if it makes my life -so- much easier. Ah well, it's for the greater good.
Jeez, I've gone on a rant here! I suppose I better shut up and get on with what I need to do. Thanks for your comments everyone. I appreciate all the help you've given me.
P.S. Officially, this is the forum I've been the most active on, and made the most posts in -ever-.

~RionTarokai

~RionTarokai

When you merge two layers that have special effects, Photoshop will automatically drop the special effects that were added to the lower layer and apply only the special effects of the upper layer. Thus, whatever special effects you had on the lower layer were removed and replaced with the others.
Merging isn't recommended, and usually isn't necessary unless you are preparing something to be printed (I've done this for companies that wanted graphics printed on shirts, mugs, CD covers, etc. and would be the only time I've really required merging). Having hundreds of layers can be annoying, but you can create a layer folder to organise them, of you find that there are too many.
I don't see this being a problem when working with font logos though. 0.o

Yeah, I can imagine you'd be confused jumping right into a complex music program like that on your first time using music software, lol.

Anyway, yes. You are free to post your own music in this topic.

Yeah, Indiana is nice country at various times of the year (generally before it gets cold; which is the only time I've visited Indiana, lol). I was in Indianapolis University most of the time though (I'm a professor and travelled there recently).

Well, I'm glad you like it here. ^^
Feel free to rant whenever you feel the need (some of us read, others don't, but don't be ashamed of that). =]

I went a bit overboard with the Project EXodus logos. :B















Moving away from Project EXodus, this is a random logo I made for the heck of it:



That's all I have for now.

Indiana isn't a country. :0
Unless I misinterpreted that. I do that sometimes.
I had no idea you're a professor. Wow. You're not gunna give me homework, are you?

No idea Photoshop did that. Well, I saved an image without merging layers, (Soul Slayer logo)
that seemed to work out pretty well. I just figured you had to merge layers or it would only save the top layer (unless you saved it as a project or something)

Ranting is something I tend to do often, though most times it's not intentional, I just start rambling on, kind of like right now.
In anycase, thanks for the feedback.

~RionTarokai

Wow, your theme music is much better than I had expected, considering the software you've using and the fact that you are supposedly a beginner.
Nice work, I like it (despite the repetition, lol).

Wow, I love the purple. XD
And I love all of those different versions of it - you certainly did quite a few variations, and they look great.

I like the new Soul Slayer logo you made, it's pretty cool. And the "Embracing Chaos" text is very readable; good job. =D

Oh, I can see how that could be confused, lol.
I typed "Indiana is nice country" not "Indiana is a nice country"; slight difference. I'm simply using the phrase "nice country" to describe the location, which I've been told is a Texan way to say "the location and environment is quite pleasant".
Pardon my attempts to sound Texan/American, lol. XD

I'm a professor, so I don't make geographical mistakes very often at all.
No, I don't give homework to anyone that is not a student of mine, lol. (I also don't give a great deal of homework to my students either; they usually don't need it anyway unless their grades show otherwise.)

No, when Photoshop saves an image, it saves it exactly as you see it when you save it. (Unless you apply specific options to the save menu and decline to use Preview when saving.)
Photoshop will not save layers that can be edited as layers in PNG, JPG, etc., but it will save the image as if it merged the layers (minus the negative effects of actually merging the layers yourself using "CTRL+E" or "Flatten Image").

You're welcome. I'm glad I could be of some use to you.

Well thanks, I'm glad you like it. I have other songs from MusicShake as well, however they're not on YouTube. I actually uploaded them to the MusicShake website. (Under the username "Biollante")
Only problem is you have to buy the music as an MP3 if you want to have it. Even if you make it, which I think is...really wierd.
Another thing I dislike about the website is anyone can buy any MP3 for commercial use. (It just costs quite a bit more.)
People can do that and make money off of music you make, and you get nothing out of it. Doesn't seem like a very fair trade to me, to be honest. I may end up deleting my music from the site and just recording them as .wav files using the MusicShake program. Anyway...

Yeah, I did notice there was no "a" between Indiana and country, I was just unsure if you possibly made some kind of human error. (We do that sometimes. )
I'm not from Texas, and I've never been there, so I wouldn't know.
I was actually born in Michigan, then moved to Indiana when I was going into the 2nd grade, then moved back to Michigan for half of 6th grade, and then moved BACK to Indiana for the other half and I've been in the same school district ever since. (Same school system I attended 2nd-5th.)
It's a good thing I'm not you're student then. Schoolwork isn't something I can focus easily on. (Especially when most of my classes have annoying Freshman, sometimes even upperclassmen with the same attitude, are constantly chit-chatting in the background. What's worse is I can hear them. Really could live my life without knowing what they've said.)

As for the Project EXodus theme, anyways, I feel like I should still do something with it, I dunno. Haven't made a musicshake song since I made the one for my friend who went out for Basic Training a couple months ago. (He just went back from his holiday break not too long ago.)
Story he told me for why he wanted to join the National Guard was quite touching, actually.

As for Indiana, yeah, it's best to visit before it starts getting cold, because then it's just terrible. Walking home from school I almost fell, going TO the bus stop I was ankle-deep in snow, and I don't have boots.

Onto the logos, glad you like the Project EXodus ones. (Glad you like the purple too. It's my favorite color after all. )
I thought the Soul Slayer one was pretty neat as well, also glad it's not unreadable like my old ones used to be. Good to know that I actually did something that doesn't have mistakes that absolutely must be revised.

I'm tempted to do more pixel art now. Actually, I'm tempted to work on a lot of things. That's probably why I can't decide and get bored. Hm...
I'll figure it out soon enough.

Oh hey, I'm level 2. Time to allocate stat points.

~RionTarokai

Yeah, I'd protect my music if I were you. =\
Main reason I don't put anything online that could be interesting enough to steal. I'll never be caught in that trap.

Ah, typo error... that doesn't happen often in my posts.
I reread my posts many times over, so it is a rare occurrence (and wasn't an error in this case). ^^

That's interesting, so you've really been "on the move" quite a bit, lol.
That probably makes having close friends a difficult thing. =\

Purple is among my favourite colours as well. ^^

No, you're doing quite well. Besides, if you make mistakes, and then fix them, then that only means you're learning and no one can accuse you of being "terrible" or whatever, so long as you continue to work hard and you continue to progress.

Yeah, successfully accomplishing something that is important to you does tend to create a need to do more or make more things.

Level 2? Oh yeah, lol. The post-count changes that automatically unless you have your own text in there (you'll need 100 posts before you can edit that in your profile). =]

Yeah, I'll probably end up removing the music from the site and just using the program to record them.

I misspell stuff sometimes, but not normally, either. I just misinterpreted your saying is all.

On the move a lot? Well, we kind of settled down...Ish. We're moving again soon, though.
Keeping close friends isn't too hard as long as we can keep in touch.

My favorite colors (in order) are purple, black and orange.

Yes, yes it does.

100 posts? Challenge Accepted.

Now, on for a...'update'?

I just recently completed a pixel art mugshot of Rion. From scratch, that is. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt in ages. In fact it's a major improvement from the last time I tried. However, I am aware of my poor skill in shading, also aware it needs work regardless. Anyways, here it is:



~RionTarokai

Oh wow, moving again? I'd go crazy, lol. I've got way too much equipment and such to want to move often. ><

I don't have an order for my favourites, because I like them all the same. D=
But here they are: Purple (almost any hue), Green (bold and/or darker-coloured), Yellow (bright, bold only), Orange (very saturated), Black and White and Silver (shades), Blue (most hues), and Red (strictly very saturated). :3

Oh, I like your pixel-art! =D
The shading isn't bad at all, actually. Perhaps a little too detailed on the neck (not the collarbone, because that looks correct, but the other two black lines are perhaps not necessary - or just need a different colour than black, like a beige that matches the skin tone).

Okay. How about this, then?



And I decided while I was fixing that up, to recolor/slightly edit it into Alastor Yaotzin, the manifestation of Rion's evil.



And then, another slight edit/recolor is Rion, with a more serious expression, his left eye turned orange. This is actually an indicator that he's going to use or is using Ryuuseiame. (Meteorain)
It's his signature beam attack that can cause massive damage.


Yeah, we're moving again, but probably not until the end of the school year.

Agreed with all but yellow. (No offense of course, I just...I dunno. Yellow doesn't appeal to me as much, lol)

Glad you liked it, as you can see though, I think I fixed it....I think. I'll let you guys be the judge of that.

EDIT: Didn't mention this, but this was done with a mouse (note my unsteady hands) and was done in Microsoft Paint. (I use Windows XP. I cannot STAND the MS Paint in Windows 7/ e.e)

~RionTarokai

It looks much better. =D
Yeah, it was just standing out a bit too much previously. =]

Oh cool, evil and destructive versions!

On the evil one, I'm thinking that the grey hair is too bland (not enough contrast). Perhaps, like you have with the other two, put a darker grey around the edges than what you've got currently. ^^

Yellow was first introduced to me (naturally) when I saw a lemon, and it looked so cool and bright and shiny. >:3
Of course, the next time I really considered it as a favourite colour is when I played Super Mario Bros. on the SNES. Yeah, the Yellow Yoshi was absolutely adorable! :3

Yes, that makes sense. (And I don't particularly care for the new MSPaint either - as a matter of fact, I still have the Windows 3.1 Paint program, and I installed it on this particular computer - Windows 7 - when I first got it, lol.)

I'm not sure which one you said wasn't dark enough, so I darkened the inner shade and the outline of the hair. Also changed his background from blue to purple to more suit his..uh..evil-ness?



And then I made Rialothos Kyukyozaki, the 'true' form of Rion and Alastor if they were to become one being again.


Rialothos's hair was a pain to shade.

~RionTarokai

The hair looks great! =D
Yeah, just wasn't enough contrast, looks fine now. ^^

Rialothos' hair looks good, but there is a slight problem with the hair by his neck.
The hair would look perfect, except that the top of his hair doesn't seem to match the style and length of hair that is being suggested by the hair trailing down the back and sides of his neck.
Seems that there shouldn't be that much hair there compared to how much is on top of his head. Maybe making it appear as though he has more hair (thicker on top?) would fix it. (I can see the problem, but in this case I don't think I can offer a practical solution directly.) I've failed you! =[

Okay. I figured there was some issue with the lower part of his hair. I'm not sure how to make the top look thicker, but I'll give it a shot.
I'll work on it when I get home tomorrow, for now, I'm off to bed.
You haven't failed, X-M-O, not your fault if you can't find a good way to explain it.

~RionTarokai

Awesome. ^^
I was partially joking, though I'm usually quite good at converting thoughts into writing, lol. (I blame it on all of the brownies I've eaten, it's making my mind go dumb on me for the moment.)

Looking forward to seeing what you do to correct the hair, and I'll try not to find anything wrong with it this time. XD

Suddenly, two hour delay.
I was ready for school and everything too. Then my step-dad comes out and tells me there's a two hour delay.
Hardcore fail on my part.

Anyway, since I have about an hour from now till I have to get ready to actually leave, I attempted fixing Rialothos.


Honestly I had no idea what you meant, so I was just winging it the entire time.
Also changed his hair color and the color of his shirt.

EDIT: Zero Kiryuu in your random pics ftw.
EDIT Again: More than one Vampire Knight character in your random pics ftw.
EDIT Again Again: Possibly more than half the characters you use for pics, I know who they are ftw.
Edit FOUR: MOAR STUFF.


~RionTarokai

It looks like it matches a lot better now; more hair worked it seems. :3

Yes, Zero Kiryu from Vampire Knight - and I don't remember which other one I have in there (I'll know him when I see him, lol).
Wow, you must watch as much anime as I do. XD

It's Kaname. Ironically, the picture I see as I'm posting this reply is Zero Kiryu. xD
Found some really awesome patterns for photoshop, came in handy when I made that spoiler'd art below the edits.
I don't watch anime often, I've watched all the current episodes of most of the anime I actually do watch, so I read the manga afterward.

Glad it worked out. It was either the extra bit of hair...or perhaps...the color?
(DUN DUN DUN?)
Anyways, glad you like it. With A LOT more practice I think I'll be able to do the upper part of the torso.

~RionTarokai

Yeah, Kaname and Zero are rivals, but probably my favourite characters from the series. XD
Ah yeah, I still need to catch up with the manga. :3

I do like the patterns and such you've used in that image; and I must say that you tend to include ponies everywhere.

Oh yes, I'd love to see how you would do a torso; everyone has their own perspective of how it should look, and I'll avoid finding mistakes. =D

I do have ponies everywhere, yes. It's just something I like.
I just realized MusicShake doesn't have an embed player anymore, apparently. That's sad. Means I'll have to put the music elsewhere after painstakingly recording -everything.-

Speaking of manga, there's probably some new chapters that I haven't read of Bleach, Fairy Tail, etc.

No idea how I'll do the torso. I know I'm going to despise getting to the hands and feet. They are my arch enemy.

Oh yes, before I forget...If I were to want to post literature, would it go in a separate topic or would I post it here too?

~RionTarokai

Ponies! >:3

Ah, well I believe you could use Soundcloud instead, if it suits you. ^^
(I know a few musicians here use them, and it gives you the option to allow others to download or to only allow them to listen.)

I'm so far behind in Bleach... only on the fourth volume. ><
(Don't tell me what happens, lol.)

"Arch nemesis" would be better to call it, that way they don't dislike you as much once you start working on them. XD

You most absolutely may post your literature here. ^^
Just like the music you posted; this is your art topic (any form of art that is legal and appropriate can be placed in here). =D

Alrighty, after about a 2-day procrastination period, I got around to whipping up a couple new logos to experiment with the new fonts I got.





I'd like to know which version you guys like better, any mistakes/etc., or things that can be improved, thanks.

~RionTarokai

I think a marriage of the two would look nice.

I love "The Shinora Chronicles 2" using the rainbow colours and "The Perfect Light" being in different colours, but that's just a preference.

I would, however recommend that you use the style on the first image for the text "The Perfect Light" versus the second image's style for those same words (the second one is more difficult to read).

Maybe make the shadow on the second image's text a little stronger (only for "The Shinora Chronicles 2" part; similar to the strength of the shadow on the first image of the same words).

Okay...How's this, then?


~RionTarokai

It's very colourful! =D

I think it looks great, but I also think you should come up with some more experiments to see what else you can do with it.
Messing around in Photoshop really does help you with ideas and such over time, just grab those tools and try out new things!
If you grab one that you don't know how to use, let me know and I can give you some tips. =]

Nice job!

Thanks, X-M-O.
Ironically, before I read your reply, I actually took the logo into GIMP and applied a supernova effect after colorizing it. I think the "The Perfect Light" part is harder to read now because of it, however I also believe it conveys the theme better.



What do you think?

~RionTarokai

It might convey the theme better, but it still needs to be readable.
I'd recommend taking some of that golden shadow colour from the upper text and applying it as a 1-pixel outside Stroke on the bottom text. =]
Or you could just put it on a black (or any dark) background. =D

It looks cool though, the effect. ^^

Yes, readability seems to be a somewhat consistent problem for me. I agree completely though, it has to do more than fit the theme. I'll probably go for more color schemes and see which ones I like best and such. Also, in GIMP I'm not sure if it has that stroke effect, I'd have to do a lot of poking around with the tools and whatnot.

EDIT: I redid the normal Shinora Chronicles logo and added a nifty background design. If I recall correctly, the person's dA username was Oceanist.

Tell me what you think. Yes? No? Different color scheme? I really want to make this look the best it can be.

EDIT 2: I did another one, different color scheme, different wing design (by the same person)

I think the color scheme is better on this one, but that's just me. I'll let you all decide.
Probably should have realized the wing cut-off on the second one is a problem if I intend on using it on the title screen...Well, if need be, I'll remake it. (I saved the gradients I used this time!)

EDIT 3: Alright, I re-did the second one, this time the wing thingy is in full view.

Tell me what you think.

EDIT 4: Story prologue removed due to the new notice thingy.

~RionTarokai

P.S: Totally made the story up as I went along, too.

Your story is looking interesting. ^^
You'll have to ask someone else for critique on it though (I've a personal rule against me giving out critique to others' writing).

Anyway, I like the two new logos. It seems that every time you make a logo, you make two extreme versions of the same thing (meaning that you go full bold colour on one and pastel on the other). I think that a marriage between the two would do nicely. ^^
On average, I think that is something you should do; create two logos of the same text, and then create a marriage between them and POOF it becomes awesome. XD

Hmm...A marriage between the two, how? Use first/second color scheme? First/second image's wing design? I'm not sure entirely what you mean, but perhaps I can give it a shot...No promises, though.

As for the story...
At the end, I should not have put "it was the last thing Bradley ever read" because it isn't. Anyways, no more spoilers on that.
As for your personal rule...well...I'll not attempt to delve into that, whatever made you decide that is your business and it would be very rude of me to pry.
Though, to be honest, you're the only one who really replies to any of these posts, lol.
That's fine though, even your advice alone is extremely helpful.

Well, I took your advice to the best of my knowledge, which unfortunately isn't much, and this is the end result:



~RionTarokai

I love it!! :3
Perhaps a little more dark outline on the golden text (but just barely to help with readability), but it's beautiful! =D

"Marriage" is usually the term I use to say "take the best of both and make them one". I rarely use marriage in the sense of a legal partnership, but anyway. XD
You've got the idea, and you're doing splendidly. ^^