[First Tag] Dumbledore! Appreciate any help to improve.

[Mecha Love]

[img]http://i42.tinypic.com/33z2tmd.png[/img]

It's a bit small, I know. It's actually my first real attempt at a tag and yeah I know, it's simple. My smudging is really off IMO. But I suppose I'll post it, see what advice you can give. I really want to improve! ^^
So help is appreciated and I be giving reps.

Also, does anyone know a better font I could use? I hate this one

[blah_blah12629]

work on the flow, the direction of your smudging, it kinda doesn't match the motion of dumbledore's wand
the lighting isn't that bad for a beginner
try making the render a bit bigger so we could see the focal
try not to have text on your tags since they have a big impact on tags. It might enhance the tag's quality or just ruin it.
remove the empty part at the bottom of the tag

Still, I"m kinda envious since it's still a bit better than my first tag

[Mecha Love]

[quote name='blah_blah12629' timestamp='1326024182' post='5754230']
work on the flow, the direction of your smudging, it kinda doesn't match the motion of dumbledore's wand. [b]I'll try that. I did it in the opposite direction I thing [/b]
the lighting isn't that bad for a beginner [b]Cheers[/b]
try making the render a bit bigger so we could see the focal [b]It's a stock photo so that'd be difficult[/b]
try not to have text on your tags since they have a big impact on tags. It might enhance the tag's quality or just ruin it. [b]I see.[/b]
remove the empty part at the bottom of the tag [b]Will do[/b]

Still, I"m kinda envious since it's still a bit better than my first tag
[/quote]

Thanks very much!

[.Rai]

When smudging, use a textured brush, if possible. i.e. something that isn't a completely circular brush. If you have GIMP, play around with the Jitter settings for the Smudge tool. The smudging becomes more smooth. I agree, Dumbledore needs his beardy goodness to be larger. It's hard to see at such a small size.

It don't actually think you even need text here. Seems unnecessary. Besides, using smaller amounts of text rather than larger sentences always works better.

Overall, very good attempt for a first tag. Some decent lighting work going on and some good understanding of the basics. Maybe use a larger canvas size next time. It'll give you more space to work in, if you're feeling ambitious.

[Mecha Love]

[quote name='.Rai' timestamp='1326026509' post='5754250']
When smudging, use a textured brush, if possible. i.e. something that isn't a completely circular brush. If you have GIMP, play around with the Jitter settings for the Smudge tool. The smudging becomes more smooth. I agree, Dumbledore needs his beardy goodness to be larger. It's hard to see at such a small size.

It don't actually think you even need text here. Seems unnecessary. Besides, using smaller amounts of text rather than larger sentences always works better.

Overall, very good attempt for a first tag. Some decent lighting work going on and some good understanding of the basics. Maybe use a larger canvas size next time. It'll give you more space to work in, if you're feeling ambitious.
[/quote]
Ok, so what kind of canvas would be ideal?
Ok, I'll take the text out.
Thanks a lot!

[.Rai]

Umm, probably something like 450 x 175 or 400 x 150. Larger, maybe 500 x 200.

[Catman25]

I used to say no text for beginners, but that was pretty foolish of me. Better to learn how to do it now rather than later. For this particular case, a wall of text doesn't work, but in other cases (not many though), large amounts of text can work.

The main thing here though is the focal point, Dumbledore. You want to make your focal stand out more, as it should be where the viewers eyes are directed to first.

It's a very nice start though. Keep at it.