Text anyone?

[Glow]

OK, so I've been roundly told at TDA that my use of text sucks. Do any of you fab artistes out there have any good advice? I think my blending is pretty good, and I like to play with color. I'm doing a bit with brushes (finally), but people still keep ragging on my text.

Any advice would be really helpful. BTW, I use Elements 4.0.

Here's a link to my TDA gallery so you can see for yourself:

Clicky

[MagGrrl]

I guess I'm weird because I like your text!

[Alpha3760]

From what I can see your text is fine. It's bold and stands out. The point of a banner is advertising. Selling your story to the reader. If the reader thinks "cool images" but the text is so subtle that it fades into the background, there is no point. I've had people make banners for me in the past that I've declined to use because you could barely read the title it was so "blended."

[steve34]

I never claimed to have artistic ability or taste, but I see no problems with your text. As Alpha says, you can read it. I, too, have had banners come back to me in which the text was barely legible. If you can't read the title, how do you know what story it goes with?

[Glow]

That gives me a lot of reassurance because that's my primary use of graphics--to make banners for stories. Thanks!

...still...if anyone has some fab trick, let me know!

[tonyv911]

I checked it out and I didn't see what the comments were saying... they were really vague, maybe because they didn't know what they were talking about, I love your work! I actually threw in a couple of graphic related christmas wishes hoping you'd pull my name in secret santa.

One thing that might be throwing peoples perception is that they don't bother to view the full size image which sometimes distorts text, but in the examples on your gallery, this doesn't seem to really be the case anyway. No accounting for taste... except that of a gay man, and that's all that counts. I like them, hehehe.

[Glow]

Aww...thanks, Tony! Some 15 year old claimed that my text stunk because a staffer said that the text ALWAYS has to come from a color already in the graphic. I think that works sometimes, but I think once you place those kinds of overly strict rules on art, then it becomes a formula and not original. I like to create graphics to convey my own style, not to conform to someone else's rules. The girl's comment pissed me off because someone has given her some rule which will color her judgment (no pun intended) and restrict her abilities artistically. I think I'm too old for that $|-|!?%$.

[rachelemma]

1. The text looks fine to me
2. You mostly *do* use colours which come from the images
3. The banners make me want to read your stories (which I will once I have a bit more time in the new year!) and surely that's the main point?!

[Glow]

Exactly, rachelemma! That's why I make them--to draw attention to the stories. I know that others create graphics for other reasons--it is an amazing art form, after all. But even when you're creating something just for artistic effect, it can be fun to use text in an unexpected and even shocking way. That's how I tend to to artwork anyway. I don't know how my style would translate to digital media...