ronan's graphic works

[ronan]

Ketsui

[icycalm]

I am using the first one. Not sure how I feel about it though. Could you make another effort? Either by rotating perhaps this one a little, or trying a brand new one?

[ronan]

Your new headers look good. Here is my last attempt for Ketsui:

[icycalm]

Much better than the yellow one, but not as good as the one I currently have. Unfortunately, the backgroung screens in the one I have are from the DS version, but I don't think many people will notice, and anyway it's more important that these pages look good than that the artwork/screens in them are accurate to the version being reviewed. Since these pages do not have screenshots, the only visual element is the header, which is why I am going to so much trouble trying to get them just right. Right now I am happy with everything except the Spacewar one (of which I have a couple of ideas), and the Kick Off one, which I am going to attempt to redo.

[icycalm]

Any news on any headers? The Dead Rising one shouldn't be too hard to make (though I've tried a couple of times and failed, because the rotate tool I am using in some freeware online program sucks...) And that Guilty Gear one you made for the previous version of the site should also look good...

[ronan]

Here are two headers for Accent Core:

I will try again to make a good header for Dead Rising.

[icycalm]

Can you rotate the first one a few degrees clockwise, so that the bottom of his cape cannot be seen? I mean, so that the bottom of the sword hits the bottom of the image, if you get what I am saying, almost like the original header for the previous site...

[ronan]

Another header more similar to the old one:

[ronan]

I had not seen your answer. Here is another one, then:

[icycalm]

I am currently using this last one, but I'd like it rotated a few more degrees clockwise, if possible...

[icycalm]

This should also make a good header rotated clockwise or anti-clockwise, to get as much of the both of them in the picture as possible:



And perhaps not centered, but with them towards the right or something.

Otherwise I'll just do a straight crop and it might work okay.

[icycalm]

I made half a dozen more today and I am still making them, so what I am going to do is post here all the artwork that I tried but failed to use (most often because I don't have the proper application/patience to use the rotate tool) in case you can make something with them:

[ronan]

[ronan]

And two logos with the tagline. I am still working on the Dead Rising header and on the background.

logo-source.png (2.61 KiB) Viewed 42509 times

logo-source2.png (2.87 KiB) Viewed 42509 times

[icycalm]

I used all the latest headers: they are awesome. You should see especially the Vampire one with the second style (the green one): it's just stunning.

As for the logo, I meant to talk to you about that earlier, because you've sent me some other similar ones. It's not going to work, I am afraid, if you stick with plain text. There's just too much text crammed inside that little box, and it loses all the elegance. The Edge logo works because it's just four letters and they can afford to make them thick and stylized, with the Videogame Culture at the bottom in tiny font, but the Insomnia one simply won't work without heavy stylization. And even then, it's probably going to be too much text for a little box.

So I'd stop worrying about that if I were you. I know you think it's not professional to have different site and domain names, but that's not true. All truly great design is asymmetrical design, after all. If done right, it's awesome -- and I really do believe I've done it right ;)

[icycalm]

Ronan, how about another try at changing the color of the default style? All that green is seriously getting to me, and I find myself switching to other styles which I find more relaxing. I now know how to change the font colors on the frontpage and in the forum in like a couple of minutes as long as you've given me the color code, so the only thing that needs to be done is for you to find a shade of gold that looks good and edit the image files with it. Here are the relevant files again, if you want to give it another try:

Nexus Images.zip

(303.24 KiB) Downloaded 566 times

Just go for a brighter gold than last time, and hopefully it'll work well with the rest of the design.

[ronan]

I used another method to get brighter images, which should now look closer to the usual #f6f2bb gold color. But I fear that the text on gold background will be hard to read, at least if it is kept white.

The backgrounds would maybe need some more work, but we should first find the correct color.

Nexus Images.zip

(640.7 KiB) Downloaded 550 times

Edit: I realized that the backgrounds got fucked up when I saved them. I will make something better tomorrow.

[icycalm]

I don't think you are seeing what the problem is. You did it the last time too. Look at the frontpage now. The black in the top and bottom images is very different from the black of the main body of the background. You are not only changing the green, you are also changing the background too for some reason. If you cannot fix this problem there's no point even talking about this. And the gold needs to be real gold -- this looks like grey.

I am going to wait for you to see the frontpage and then post in this thread that you have seen it, so that I can switch the old backgrounds back. There are about 30 people who have this site's address now and I don't want them to see this.

[icycalm]

And don't worry about the visibility of fonts, leave that to me. If you don't make something visually stunning (which will require, I repeat, a really bright gold) we will not even reach the stage of worrying about fonts. Besides, the gold font will only be used for a couple of links per page, so it's not going to be a problem anyway.

[icycalm]

I changed the default style to Marble, but you can still view the Nexus style with your backgrounds if you manually select it...

[ronan]

Thanks, I have seen the problem. Sorry, the colors changed after I saved the background files. The grey used to be the right one. I knew it can happen with PNGs, but it is the first time I notice it for JPGs.

Anyway, now I can realize that my backgrounds were definitely not bright enough. I will have to work from the source file this evening.

As for the other images (the PNGs), I made them brighter, but I cannot see how they look on the page. It is still the old green files that are used in the Nexus style.

[icycalm]

I still don't understand how it is possible for a file to change after you have saved it. It's like your computer is sentient lol. The singularity has started! But anyway, I did not switch the other files, only the background, that's why everything else is still green. Switching all the files is a little extra work, so I didn't see the point since the background must be redone. The buttons need to match the background, after all. So when you sit down to rework it, remember: the colors must jump out of your monitor at you. The background must make you think of pulsating bolts of energy, not scratches on a notepad. It's better to make it too bright and tone it down later, than to give me another boring background that's only going to make us lose our enthusiasm for this whole business. Also, I almost forgot, don't change the purple part on the left of the background images...

[ronan]

Here is a new attempt for the backgrounds. The grey should be right this time: I checked in Safari that it is the same in my JPGs and on the site. (There is a minimal difference in Firefox, though, but it should not be visible.)

backgrounds.zip

(1.74 MiB) Downloaded 574 times

[icycalm]

It's a much better effort -- I can almost see it working. But why did you change the size? I can see that you have enlarged everything by switching between the gold frontpage and green forum. And the purple areas too -- there's much more purple in your version than the original one. I don't know how complicated the programs you are using are, nor how difficult the thing that I am asking, but I really want the image untouched apart from the color replacement. The closer you can get to this ideal the better the chances that this is going to work. Neither of us is an artist, so making any substantial changes is out of the question, you see. And the integration with the grey background is pretty good, but I can still sort of see the difference (and yes, I am using Firefox...)

Give it another go then? But this time do all the images and give me the color code so that we can see the entire thing and make a more accurate assessment of what changes need to be made.

It's a good effort though man. If we manage to make it work I think it will be brilliant.

[icycalm]

Another thing is that I can see much more detail in your version than the original one. I guess you must have brightened everything up to achieve a better effect, but perhaps if the gold color itself is bright enough (which I think it is now) you won't need to do this? You really need to tone down the brightness to the original's levels...

Man, I am not even sure I am communicating well what I want to say. I am not very well versed in the vocabulary of this sort of thing; I couldn't tell the difference between brightness, contrast, etc. if my life depended on it.


P.S. I've changed the default style on the frontpage again, so you'll need to select the gold one manually to see it. Compare it with the forum to see what I am saying.