MNDF's Signature Thread

[MyNameDidntFit]

Well, I'm sure you can all guess where I got the idea to post this thread here. Anyways, just going to throw up a handful of pieces of work that I've done over the years. Comments and criticisms are welcomed and encouraged.

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Recent:

Cadian 85th (render is from an in-game DoWII screenshot I took)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/CadianFD.png

SW:ToR Bounty Hunter (from SW:ToR's 'Deceived' cinematic)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/FOTORbounty.png
(forgive the hair. I'm not great at doing hair for my renders)

The Deceiver (from SW:ToR's 'Deceived' cinematic)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/DeceivedSD.png
(I dislike the text on the left of this one)

"Babes" SotW (Jessica Alba)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/CallahanFD.png

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No-So-Recent:

Killzone (from, er, Killzone...)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/Killzone4D.png

Black Templar (Warhammer 40,000 fan art)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/Draft1.png

Baneblade (Warhammer 40,000)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/BanebladeSig.png

Husky (... it's a dog...)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/HuskyTRFtherogue.jpg

Half-Life (playing with animation)
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr343/MNDF_gfx/Signatures/burn-in.gif

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And that would be a sample of pretty much all the sigs I've made for myself -- I have a plethora of other crap that was made for non-me people buried deep within the folders of my PB account but that's not important :p

Thoughts/Critiques/Comments/Marriage Proposals?

[Nonsequitur]

Personally, I like Cadian 85th. I usually don't go for yellows but it works.

[Diachron]

That's truly great stuff. The blends are very clean. I like how the left arm on the Bounty Hunter is translucent, and the different layers of depth in the image.

So here's something I've always wondered-- how do you achieve the texture backgrounds in images like the Cadian 85th and The Deceiver's aura? I see them all the time in signatures like yours and Graeme's and others across the net, but I don't know exactly how they're concocted.

Do you create them with filters in PS and insert them as a layer? What's your thought process while creating them?

I dabble with images and icons, but it's total amateur hour, let me assure you. Some of them crack me up in their awfulness, as a matter of fact. :lol:

It'd be utterly fascinating to see a signature deconstructed to its layers. Anyway, great stuff.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Brushes are the key to those things. The background of the Cadian 85th started off as a plain yellow-green and from there I played with different grunge brushes that I had at the time. Basically it's trial and error -- keeping every brush on a different layer so you can modify them easily and just placing them almost randomly until you see something that looks good. From there you do the same thing again and again until you get the desired effect.

The Deceiver's aura is another bit of brushwork. I started that one just looking through my brushes to see what I could use to blend him into the background image and found a set of renders where one of them was similar in line to the right side of him. From there I placed a bunch of different brushes from that set around him until I had something that looked good.


I'd give you the .PSDs of the signatures so you can see what I mean, but I don't have them anymore -- though, they might be on my old PC. I'll see if I can have a look some time soon for you.

[Diachron]

Ah! Yes that makes perfect sense. I used to paint miniatures a million years ago so I suppose many of those concepts are simply universal.

Very illuminating, thanks!

[MotherGraham~]

Definitely marriage proposal! *Travels over there and marries you... hopefully* :D
I'm envious. :(

But yeah, I love the bounty hunter, Jessica Alba and Husky one. They're done extremely nice. Say, where did you get your inspiration (if I may call it that) from?

Also, you might want to consider posting some tutorials on how you do things! I'm sure people here would love it.

[Archangel]

Sir, I believe your idea of 'recent' needs some revising, as I have done no GFXing for 6 months, and you'd stopped before me. Still, you know my thoughts on most of these, just as I know your thoughts on all of mine.

The Deceiver still irks me, mind. Possibly because I have the exact same brushes you used for the aura, so every time I see it I'm like "Hrm, thems be brushes," rather than "Thems be nice looking auras."

[MyNameDidntFit]

But yeah, I love the bounty hunter, Jessica Alba and Husky one. They're done extremely nice. Say, where did you get your inspiration (if I may call it that) from?
Mostly I either see a good render that gives me an idea or an idea just randomly smacks me in the face.

For example:

For the Bounty Hunter, I got the idea after nerdgasming repeated over the cinematic for a good long period of several hours. The tech theme of the brushes and such just came from my thinking when I think of a high-tech bounty hunter suit and from the techy view in the cinematic.

For Alba, I was given a theme and then I found a render and from there I was just looking through my brushes and playing with random ones when I stumbled across it.

For the Husky, someone posted a stock of a husky on a forum and I thought it's eyes were amazing and thus wanted to make a sig out of it.

Also, you might want to consider posting some tutorials on how you do things! I'm sure people here would love it.
I don't remember how I did half of what I did -- certainly not well enough to do tutorials. If I get back into the business for a bit I might consider it for you guys.

Sir, I believe your idea of 'recent' needs some revising, as I have done no GFXing for 6 months, and you'd stopped before me. Still, you know my thoughts on most of these, just as I know your thoughts on all of mine.
Recent is, well, relative >.>

The Deceiver still irks me, mind. Possibly because I have the exact same brushes you used for the aura, so every time I see it I'm like "Hrm, thems be brushes," rather than "Thems be nice looking auras."
Or maybe it's because of the frakking mess that is the text.

[Archangel]

Possibly that, too.

[Steph]

I don't remember how I did half of what I did -- certainly not well enough to do tutorials. If I get back into the business for a bit I might consider it for you guys.

Oh damn, I like this idea of tutorials as I've always wanted to try some of that stuff myself but I've never known where to start really.


Amazing work =)

[MyNameDidntFit]

There are countless good tutorials out there that are great to start off with. All you'll need is a simple Google search and you'll be good to go.

[Whaturmuva]

You always were quite the designer. Might need your assistance on a little project I'm currently working on.