Imagine Tutorials | Ongoing

23》Tips To A Good Graphic

No matter what app/program you use, there is always a way to make your graphics look good. Maybe some of these tips can help make your graphic look much more professional! (Just skip to the end of you wanna see examples instead of my rambling)

Tip #1 | Blend everything together.

When textures and stock photos, make sure that all of those photos are blended together well. If not, they could end up looking incredibly messy and cluttered; especially when doing manips. If the model doesn't seem to blend with the background right, it can turn out to be odd looking. Try adjusting the brightness and contrast if all else doesn't work.

Tip #2 | Add only necessary colourings.

Let's face it. We all love adding colourings and filters cause it makes our graphics look so cool. However, adding too much of them can really make a graphic look over saturated and for the hues to be all over the place, overall making the graphic look unprofessional. So try not to add too many psds and overlays or it could (possibly) ruin your graphic!

Tip #3 | Use only a minimum of a few fonts.

Fonts. They're so fun to play around with, especially with book cover titles and stuff like that. But this fun won't last for long if it ends up making your graphic look unprofessional and weird altogether. I recommend using two or three fonts in one graphic. Also, try to refrain from making a font too contrasting with the background. Like, if there was a darker background for the graphic, don't use a neon colour for the font.

Tip #4 | Textures. Just...textures.

Has anyone ever just scrolled through DeviantArt seeing some really amazing graphics that you wanna try and make as well? You know, those blends and signatures that look so complicated but look so incredible at the same time? And then you go and try to make them too but it just turns into a cluttered mess XD. Then you wonder how these people even make those mind-blowing-out-of-this-world graphics. Here's a clue: try finding for tutorials on DeviantArt or even on Wattpad, that teach you how to make certain graphics! *cough* Abbysidian *cough* has amazing graphics, resources and some tutorials as well! You could try them out if you'd like! (They're a serious challenge XD)

Tip #5 | Contrast.

Okay, adjusting the brightness and contrast of an overall graphic is just absolute torture, especially if it's a themed graphic that has something to do with manipulation. Perhaps using a lighting texture seems like a good idea, and then you feel like adjusting it, so here we go, adjusting the littlest things until the graphic is incomprehensible. Here's a tip: making the contrast of a graphic lower is quite a good idea, but it doesn't always work. Play around with it (not too much though) and prevent from using too much lighting textures too.

An example of a cluttered graphic which just turned out to be a mess:

If you observe closely, there is one section of the graphic that has way too many colours and it's lighting seem off. It's not blended that well either and the manip isn't fully cut out.

An example of a graphic that has too many textures and lighting problems:

No. Just no. And the fonts bleh; the textures aren't well blended, the colouring is so wrong, the contrast is just too strong and it's just a mess, really.

An example of a blend made through a tutorial on DeviantArt:

As you can see, it doesn't look as cluttered and the resources used are good (because tutorials are so freaking helpful and i'm so grateful for them urgh).

And example of an average manip graphic:

See what I mean? Yes, the contrast is totally off but it doesn't look as cluttered as some of the previous examples!

This one isn't too bad either (well except for that crappy manip ugh what was i doing) but the background is a little too messy.

These are just some tips to make a professional looking graphic (not like i'm a professional either so don't take my advice) and I hope they help you on the way of your graphic journey!

Good luck! (;

P.S The critiqued graphics all belong to me, so no worries about people getting offended because I'm using my own graphics as examples. (Criticizing my own graphics; I have no life *-*)

Tutorial by iridescity-