Beketov

I wouldn't call mine masterpieces (although some how I made it this far, I think that's going to end this vote) but I'm completely willing to upload my 4.

As jack said the text could be blended a bit more but I kinda like a strong text on this one, I think it works here. The render effects look absolutely stunning and I really like the overall flow you created by putting the render on that side of the canvas. The BG and stock work overall is very good but my main complaint comes from whatever is going on in the bottom left. Something is over contrasted and oddly shaped down there and it distracts my eyes and throws some of that wonderful flow off. Get rid of that and this is even more amazing.

Render effects look really slick here which is easily the strongest plus going for this ounce that I really like. The cloudy BG is nice but would be good to blend the render into it more as Jack said. Maybe instead of that grey blob on the left it would have worked to have the BG clipped over there. I also agree that a stronger red could help. Lighting is simple but pretty effective. I would drop the kerning on the text a bit and make it overall a bit larger; I think it sorta gets overshadowed by everything as it is now.

Manips can be tricky sometimes, you have to watch out with what effects can and cannot work on them. For example, whatever is giving this a grey haze (looks like something set on screen maybe?) is a no go for this piece; the contrast is thrown way off. Get some curves layers in there to bring some darkness back in. Aside from that, the render is sitting a bit too high in the sig; I'd like to see his face down a bit further. The text is simple but relatively effective. Might help to get some really small text (borderline unreadable) as a way of "underlining" the main text. The face is a bit too sharp which isn't always a major issue but there isn't really a lot going on here so it does make it a bit distracting.

Well there's something different if I've ever seen it. The Barney sperm purple might be a TAD strong as it drowns out everything else a little bit but I can see where you were going with this. The text is bold and strong which is nice, stock work seems on point. Lighting could be a bit stronger to compensate for the colouring. I think overall if you bring the purple down a bit to make everything else come out a bit more it would help but I like the creativity.

Competition is getting fierce for sure. Number 1 is fucking sex in sig form. Also, if everyone is up for it, I think it would be awesome to release the PSD's for every sig from the contest once it ends. What do you think @jack?

This is definitely something different from your norm and I like that you're trying some crazy stuff out to see what sticks, kudos for that. The colouring is pretty crazy but works decently well. I would like to see maybe a bit more darkness on his right side (our left) to make the lighting work better contrast wise but it's not bad. Text is unfortunately a bit of an eyesore here. Not really sure what I would do to fix that but it needs a bit of something to work better; the black bar just stands out way too much. Maybe just go with a bigger font; just the last name, in balk, and slap it on the shoulder with some effects to blend it in a bit.

This is definitely different and original which I like. The BG is clean and simple, lighting is subtle but works. Text is a pretty major focal point but I think that works here. Render blending and effects are the main concern in that neither seems to exist. I think a render with a white jersey may have worked better to keep the flow from the text. Maybe try incorporating some of those lines into the render to help it blend. It feels like a good piece with a render slapped on which doesn't work perfectly unfortunately.

Gotta agree with Jack on this. Everything seems to be on point effect wise; great text, good stock work, nice colouring, but then it all gets washed out under some kind of grey smog. Get whatever is creating that effect out of there and replace it with some proper lighting and curves layers to get this properly exposed' it will make a world of difference I promise you.

I really like the look you are going for here, just not sure you fully committed to it. The Clean BG works but is a tad under-contrasted IMO which makes the strong lighting not stand out as much as it could. The effects look really nice but their colours are a tad desaturated and could pop more. Lighting and text are both really well done. Overall I like the idea, but small changes would make a big difference here.

Normally I would say pick one for grading but with the new review system I think posting two versions is probably fine. I would like to see something in the middle f these two personally. I think the stronger colouring and lighting of the first one really works but the brightness is up a bit too high so the contrast looks better in the second. Get some contrast going on with a curves layer or two and it will really help. Try getting the lighting a little higher as well so it's not right in his eye, that should make it a bit less distracting. I think the text is okay but try to get the kerning (the space between the letters) down a bit and maybe add some extra bits of text to make it pop a bit more. Overall, pretty good start but needs some more work.

Vote?

Great, I'm now being outplayed by CPU players.

One of these days, I'll get a win.

Just gonna get this back on page 1

It's the Sharpe curse, I've never once had a good rookie year. I've gotten used to it haha

Your welcome, I exist to pad the stats of others apparently

That's basically the point I'm at. I should have just stopped doing PT's to stay in the VHLM and get an extra season. Coming into the VHL under 300 TPE is a death sentence for goalies.

Just download avast. Completely free (just need to register yearly) and it works better than any other anti-virus I ever saw.

Definitely not against Stockholm. Why was I riding pine against Riga but starting against Stockholm?

I'm not even blaming you, the last line of my above most was mostly in jest. We could be entirely wrong as well, but I do remember having a discussion about morale early on and deciding that it would make things feel too random so we turned it off. That decision may have been reversed at some point though; or never existed in the first place and Kendrick and I are just not remembering things well.

I recall this as well but sadly the search function is off on the original board so I can't just search for the word "morale" to find it easier. No way am I searching through all Scotty's posts just to prove Jardy wrong.

I'll give this a formal review later but just wanted to let you know that this is probably one of the sexiest pieces you have ever done. I would jizz all over that colouring if I knew how to make it myself.

I mentioned the story behind this to Jack but figure it's fun for everyone. I had 3/4 of this sig done and my Photoshop crashed trying to load a plugin. I got lucky and it recovered the piece with only 2 layers lost but this was REALLY close to not existing.