What is SOTW

• SOTW stands for Signature of the Week. It's a competition in which competitors enter a single signature every week, in hopes that receive the first place prize.
• What's the catch? The catch is that, there will always be a theme every week that you all must follow, like Anime or Pokemon.
• There's gonna be a point system. At the end of every competition there will be a winner and a runner up. The winner will get 50 points, the runner up will get 25. At the end of every 10 competitions, the person with the most points will receive a prize. It will vary every time, depending on what I can get.
• I will also be critiquing each signature individually, so I will not be participating. I was hoping that there would be more than one judge, so if you are interested in judging, feel free to pm me.
• Criticism can sometimes be harsh, so please don't feel discouraged from joining if I'm harsh, I'm only doing it so you can improve on your mistakes in the next competition.
• If at any point you break these rules, you can be banned from the competition for any period of time.

Rules

• Explicit images are not to be used of any kind
• Please present some sort of abbreviation of your forum name (This is to prevent the theft of signatures).
• The maximum dimensions for any entry must be within 450x250 pixels. Any larger and the signature will be disqualified.
• Each entry must be presented with the signature and the link of the render/stock below it. Use the code like shown:

Render - <insert render here>



• When posting in a SOTW thread, please only post entries. Discussion isn't tolerated unless asking for anything you aren't clear about.
• Each SOTW will start on a Monday and will finish on a Friday (Creed Time). Any entries after 23:59 on the Friday will not be considered for judging.
• Above all, if I find any trace of art theft, you will be banned from these competitions and I will push for you to be banned from the game as it's basically cheating to gain better in game items.

I will be posting the winners in this thread, so please don't post here. Pm me if you have questions, and if the question is valid or it is a problem, I will post it in this thread.

I'll also be keeping track of points on this thread.

If you would like to learn about signature making PLEASE PM me! I have plenty of tutorials that can and will help you when it comes to signature making!

I will post results here, so frequently check in.

Well, there was a disappointing amount of entries this week, but hopefully there'll be more people.

For the participants, you all did a great job, here are the individual critiques:

Arsenic212 - 7.5/10
The brushwork on this one is really good. The lighting is very good, and with the paintbrush you used, the flow is very good. I'm very impressed that when using the brushes to overlap the render, you didn't overdo it, which is very common. The text is a little bland for my taste. You might wanna throw a clipping layer above it, and brush in a few colors, just so it doesn't look so simple. Also, I think on this one, you could've worked a way to avoid corner text. The placement of the main text is good though. Overall, good signature.

Complanboy - 5.5/10
Well, visually it is appealing. The fractals/brushes you used look very nice. However, under greater inspection, there are a few flaws. Number one, the depth of the signature is very uneven. At one side of the sig, it's almost pitch black, however on the other side it's light. It should be even. The next big problem is text. Black text on this is TERRIBLE. That's what really tanked this rating. The placement of the text is good, but the font and colors are so boring. At least use a gradient or a clipping layer to make it look a little nicer. Nice effort, but you could've done better.

Kev9821 - 6.5/10
I really like the concept you tried to implement. The bubbles with reflections of the render was really creative. I think, you may have overdone it with the fractals and the lighting however. The render itself stands out so much from the background, so it's lacking flow. It kinda looks like you just put it on a black background which is lazy. Unfortunately that really hurt your score. The text was nice, the gradient matched, but if you made the background a little nicer, this might have won.

DarkVortex - 8.5/10
Wow. The render and the background flow so well, that you could think that those flames you made were actually part of the render. I like how you reflected the render to suit your signature, because a lot people forget that that's even an option. Everything on this signature is well executed, except depth. The text kinda pops, but it just stays that color. There's no transition to the end of the signature, so it just kinda ends abruptly. It's not really a big deal, but it's still something. However, your fractals and brushwork are used very nicely. The text is very good, despite the blank white text as it matches your background, adding to the flow. Very good job, a well deserved win.

DarkVortex wins, and Arsenic212 is the runner-up.
Everyone did a good job, and hopefully more people will come and enter the next SOTW.

The next SOTW will be on monday, and I hope you all will join!

Also, I found a co-judge: Oscah. He'll be judging with me, so we can get a better way to determine a winner.

Oscar hasn't logged on so looks like I'm doing this solo again...

Since I never stated that you can't use the same signature in multiple competitions, Kev's entry is technically allowed, however, from this point onwards, you must use a NEW signature as your entry, or something you haven't uploaded anywhere else.

DarkVortex and Complanboy have been disqualified for a breaking a rule. DarkVortex's entry was a day late, therefore couldn't count.

Now to the ratings:

charmtrainee - 3/10
Backgrounds very boring. Not impressed with the render placement either. This could've been a decent smudge signature with the "flames" coming out of his hands. The effect on the text looks somewhat nice, but the font is so boring. The placement could also be better. Also you tried to put the identification text at the top-right. Never place text in the corner, as it takes away from the attention of the focal.

kev9821 - 4.5/10
I like the idea of making the shield kinda "shine", but the render is way too dark for the sig. I can barely see Panth's body, and that makes the focal really just the shield and part of his face. The text also looks boring. Placement is fine, but it looks like you took the render, and just made it a clipping layer to the text. You tried to add depth, which is nice, but you gotta make the render stand out a little more.

Dualot - 6/10
The lighting is good, and it's a good idea to use that greenish light at the top of your sig to match the green tint on the right side of the Render's body. The background is really boring, again. The background shifts to almost black on the left as if your trying to hide the background, and I understand your trying to keep it simple, but it seems kind of lazy. The brushwork/fractal use seems good. The major problem with the sig is the text. It's way too small. You don't wanna hide the text, rather make it flow with the background. If it was a little bigger, and if you placed it more creatively, it could've potentially brought the background together.

DaymienInferno1 - 2/10
The first thing that pops out at me is the corner text. Never place the text in the corner of your signature, as it detracts from the focal. The effect around the render is pretty useless and would've probably been better if you tried a different technique. The background is extremely boring. Black and Grey? That never works. There are red bubbles and tints all over the render, but you kinda ignored that, instead of using lighting or a fractal to make the color flow.

Arsenic212 - 6.5/10
I like how the c4d covers part of the render. That tends to make the signature more visually appealing and adds to the flow. I'm not a fan of the lack of sub-text, however. Subtext always makes a signature more appealing, since just having one word on a signature tends to look kind of awkward. I suggest you try using those "Tiny-Text" brushes. This takes up space, and makes it easier to use subtext creatively. Lighting and depth is good. The render choice could've been better, though. I'm not a fan of using the back of a head as a render, but it's not too big of a deal. Unlike most other entries, you put effort into your background. The little lights make the signature very crisp, which makes it look nice. The bottom right of your sig seems kinda off though, since it seems like you tried to use lighting to make it stand out, when it would've been better to keep it dark, or maybe erase that part of the c4d and allow his arm to be slightly more visible.

Arsenic212 wins.
Dualot is the runner-up.

Current Leaderboards:
Arsenic212 - 75.
DarkVortex - 50.
Dualot - 25.

If Oscar ever decides to come on and post his critique for this, I'll edit the score and possibly the winners.

I'm going to post the next SOTW tomorrow, since I'll be traveling on Monday and I'd rather just give you guys an extra day instead of taking away a day.
Thanks for participating, and hope you all participate next SOTW!

Ahhhh, I'm a day late. Sorry guys, please don't hurt me

charmtrainee:
What I like here, is that you've tried to blend the render in with the tag, and that you've created a sort of wavy effect with it to match the fire. Great Effort! I do have a few notes though but the main thing I will talk about are the text, and a way to increase the depth of the tag. The "The Burning vengeane" text is really big and is taking up most of the focal of the sig. A good way to test this is to scroll up and down the page a few times and then stop on the sig, where your eyes are drawn to immediately is the main focal. The text here draws the attention and it is where my eyes are drawn. What you want to do is make the render the focal of the tag. Try making it a little bigger next time (2/4 - 2/3) Of the tag is a good way to start at first, and then make the text smaller and I personally would've put the text by his waist. Good effort though and I expect big things from you!
3/10

Kev9821:
What I like about this tag is that is has a clear theme, which is underwater. You have done well in making the render match the rest of the tag. One thing though, is that for me the render is a little too big and there's not much of anything else in the tag. Also, the text does not need such a big stroke around it because it's stealing attention from the focal
5/10

Dualot:
This needs alot of work done lighting wise, I can't really seem to see any present. The text is pretty difficult to read, so maybe use a straight serif font in a light colour. Or in a dark colour with a single pixel stroke in a dark colour. The placement for it is pretty good. You can skype message me if you want help with lighting
6/10

DaymienInferno1:
I like the whole scratchy effect you've got going on here, it matches the render rather well so good job on that. I would say that it's a little too high, so crop maybe 10-20 pixels off the top and bottom, and it would probably work pretty good with a wide screen border. How you do that is: Use the single row marquee tool in photoshop, it's under the rectangular marquee tool and move it to the top of the tag. press alt and backspace to fill it with your foregroud colour. move it down 1 pixel with the arrow key and fill again. Do this three/four times and then do the bottom. Feel free to message me for more help with it
4/10

Arsenic212:
Pretty disappointed here. The c4d's seem placed in with no sense of flow or anything. There's not really any depth, (try a high pass filter, put it on softlight. Also, a black/white gradient map on luminosity) And the ender isn't really blended at all. Try zooming into like 800% and slightly smudging the edges with a small, soft brush.
3.5/10

Complanboy - 6/10
It seems that every time I tell you, the text is boring. It wouldn't be too hard, especially in this type of sig, to use a clipping mask over a font. Also your subtext is really, really small. Well, I like your tries at smudging, but the thing is with smudge sigs, the main point of it is to smudge a decent amount of the signature, to add to the background. [you must login to view links]
This one is a very good smudge, and if you notice, he used part of the render and incorporated it into the smudge aspect. It looks nice, the lighting is fine, but smudging without using a good amount of the render to smudge makes it very simple. Nice try, and I hope you use these notes in your next entry.

Dualot - 4/10
Render seems kinda LQ, and I'm not really a fan of how the sig becomes so white all of a sudden. Color scheme flows with the sig, and the text is bigger than last time, and it looks better. Not much depth at all, and if the render was a little higher quality, i think the sig would've looked nicer.

Arsenic212 - 5/10
Idk if i told you before, but there's so much free space. Try using a bigger render or a smaller canvas. 450 is huge, tbh. If you used a smaller canvas/bigger render, this probably would've won. Smudged around the render nicely, but the background is so boring, and there's so little depth. The text, even though it's white, actually looks kinda nice. Matches up well with the smudge technique. Lighting is fine, but so much open space. :c

TamerzZ - 3/10
The c4ds are really blurry. The text is so simple too. I mean you put a different kinda different color as the "lighting". It's not the same as the text color, so it doesn't work. Also for your lighting, you might wanna put the setting to Linear Dodge (add) or Screen. Make the opacity lower too, so it doesn't look like you used a soft brush for lighting. Nice try.

DarkVortex - 5.5/10
The flames are kinda your thing right? Lol, I mean it looks nice with the render. I think you could've picked a better render though, it's really low quality, and pretty blurry. I've looked up most SAO/Asuna renders and they're not that good. The text is good, seems kinda simple, but it's better than most in this SOTW, tbh. I like how that, even though you had to use White text, you used outer glow. It's a simple tactic, and it looks pretty good. The flames themselves kinda seem to make they're own lighting which is good, not bad, but the low quality render really hurt you on this one.

Complanboy wins, nice try all.

When Oscar posts his Critiques, i'll put the Leaderboards up.

Also a little update, there's going to be a 10k coin prize from me, and a 20k prize in pokemon from Dualot to the person who accumulates the most points by the end of SOTW 10.

Complanboy - 6/10
I actually rather like the text here as I like simple text, although, I think it would've looked better if you could have tried to either put it on the sleeve of the jacket or something to make it look like part of the render. You have a good flow to the smudge on the left, but the right doesn't really match that. The blending to the bottom left of the render and bottom right of the render looks a little odd, it may have worked better if it was more consistent. Try a vibrancy layer next time, the colours look a little dull.

Dualot - 3/10
It's waaaay overdodged so you have like no detail.

Arsenic212 - 3.5/10
Pretty good attempt here, the colours go with the render really well. If you look at the bat, there's some sort of swirl around it, same with the skateboard. Personally, I would've tried to duplicate the render and cut those out, adding the swirls around the body, would've given it a nice effect. Good effort though, keep it up bud :)

TamerzZ - 4/10
You've done well matchign colours here, but with the c4d's it looks a bit cluttered and randomly placed. Your text is the main thing I'll pick out here though. It's really big and is creating it's own focal which takes away from the real focal(the violin guy). Try and always put text near the focal, so the two add rather than divide the attention between the two of them.

DarkVortex - N/A

Image has disappeared

Complanboy - 12/20
Dualot - 7/20
Arsenic212 - 8.5/20
TamerzZ - 7/20
DarkVortex - 5.5/10 (If you post the signature again, we'll change this)

Complan wins, Arsenic212 is the runner-up.

Current Leaderboards:
Arsenic212 - 100.
Complanboy - 50.
DarkVortex - 50.
Dualot - 25.

Complanboy - 5.5/10
Nice job, i like the new style your doing. Text color's better, but try to be more creative with text placement and font, since the font's the same. You also gotta smudge part of the render. That makes the smudge signature. Just smudging the background is lazy. Good flow, lighting is good. You listened to Oscar too with the vibrancy. A little depth would've been nice. Good job, nonetheless.

Shinxey - 1/10
Well you're a beginner right? I have tutorials that could probably help you. There's more to a sig then just making lines and putting text. If you use PhotoShop i'll give you some tutorials.

Arsenic212 - 5.5/10
Good flow. Needs some more depth. "SOTW" text is good but not a fan of "Axent". Maybe you could've used a tiny font brush, and placed it better, or made Axent look a little nicer, somehow. Not a fan of the simple font you used for that part of the font either, and since that's the main text it's a pretty big blow. I feel like it's so simple and it just doesn't work with the placement and how the subtext stands out more. Good use of effects, and BG is way better than last time.

Dualot - 7/10
Honestly, there's not too many big flaws with this one. It flows nicely, fractals and effects work nicely with the render. Missing some depth tho, maybe some exposure and curves would've made it look a little nicer. Text Effects could've probably enabled you to do more creative things with the text, but it's fine as it is now. Probably could've added some glow/drop shadow, and gave it some stroke to give it an outline. Left side of the sig seems to be overpopulated with tiny Bokeh, which may have been better looking if there was less, but it's not too big of a problem.

DarkVortex - 6.5/10
Good use of c4ds, and it seems your the only one here who knows how to use text effects D: I was kinda looking forward to your signature flames, but it still looks good lol. I like what you did with the red soft brush on screen, but in some places it kinda looks like you did just that, rather than tried to make it flow. Lightings fine, text placement is good, but again font is too simple. Main text font in this one is fine, but maybe you could've done something with the subtext. Good depth. Good job.

Robath - 3.5/10
Good for a first entry. :D
Idk if i've given you smudge tuts yet, but with smudge it's important to follow a patter from the render that becomes the bg. You kinda missed that, so it's much less appealing. Good lighting. Text needs a lot of work. Text doesn't flow, color doesn't match, font doesn't work. Subtext isn't differentiable from main text. Needs some work. Nice try though.

Amathyst - DQ'd due to lateness. If you want a CnC pm me.

Jeffrey0 - 4.5/10
Bokeh effect is nice. Render's well placed. Eye glow is good, but you might wanna pull it back to match the hair or something. The lines in the corner are kinda unnecessary, might've been better without them. Text effects are kinda random too. Next time match the glow with eye color or hair color, and put the text below the adjustment layer.

DarkVortex - 6.5/10
Effects are good, lighting is subtle, which is nice. Depth comes in too quickly at the bottom. Looks like you put some exposure and erased some of it off with a soft brush. Next time make it more subtle. Use a 100% soft brush, then 50%, then 25%, etc. Also, while text color and gradient flow is good, using the same/similar fonts for main text and subtext tend to detract from the appeal of a sig. Nicely done however.

Robath - 4/10
Well, the sharpness is a little off. Next time sharpen the render, not the fractals. Texture above the text is kind of unnecessary. With the text, the glow effect on the main text is kinda off. I can't tell if it's stroke or outer glow, but either way, drop shadow probably would've been nicer. Sub text contrasts well with the font of the main text. Bokeh effect in the right effect is unnecessary, but the the bokeh in the rest of the sig is nice. You're improving nicely. :)

Arsenic212 - 5/10
Background's too simple, and so is the text. Stop taking the easy way out. Start differentiating between subtext and main text by using text effects. Use glow/bevel/shadows/stroke, it makes the text look more intricate. Fractal effect coming from the bottom is nice though. You did add some effects to the eyes, but not too much to be that noticeable, but it does deserve a mention. Lighting is good and the depth matches the theme of the sig.

PyrusFreak - 6/10
While i'm not a fan of the text, since it's so difficult to see. I like how you utilized the blur effect to your advantage. It creates the illusion of distance, and it's a fairly advanced technique to pull off. Since the bottom part of the c4d is sharpened it adds to the effect. Next time when you place your fractal, do it under the border. Looks awkward as it is now. Might need to add a little depth, next time.

Amathyst - 4/10
Needs depth. Text should be put under the adjustments, and maybe next time try using two different fonts and more subtext. Make "FkAma" the main text and make the subtext different. Sharpness of the face of the render is a little too strong. Bokeh effect is nice. Lighting could be better.

For the last two SOTWs here's the results, since Oscar is busy.

SOTW #4 - Music
Dualot wins
DarkVortex is runner-up.

SOTW #5 - Freestyle
DarkVortex wins.
PyrusFreak is runner-up.


Current Leaderboards:
DarkVortex - 125.
Arsenic212 - 100.
Dualot - 75
Complanboy - 50.
PyrusFreak - 25.