Hey guys,
I'm far from perfect when it comes to photoshop. I only know the basics and everything, but I don't know half as much as any of you. Don't know how to "aquafy" things, etc. Anyway, I decided to make an avatar and see how thing'd turn out. i did it all myself, but i'd like a professional opinion. more importantly, i'd even appreciate constructive criticism and ways as to how i can improve the avy itself (as in "do this in photoshop") etc. thanks again!
Avatar is on the left
Depends on what you want it to say, really !
For example, my sig and avatar both show my love for aqua : not aqua blue which is commonplace, but an aqua reincarnation in one of my favourite colours. Also tries to show the aesthetics of a simple, clean and elegant interface.
Some basic pointers :
1. Corners more rounded and less pixellated. Use .png or .gif if you aren't doing so already.
2. Try to have the gloss contour in the avatar match that in the sig. They ideally should look like a pair - colours, shapes, fonts and so on. You get the idea 
3. Decrease the opacity of the shadow in your Bevel and Emboss a little - I typically use between 25 to 40 %. Find what works best for you !
4. If you are using inner glow, decrease the opacity again to have a more smooth transition.
5. If Union Jack refers to the colours of the British flag, then I would humbly suggest getting the colours to match the text.
As you can see, it depends a great deal on the message that you wish to convey 
Hope this helps somewhat :thumbs:
look for plug-ins that can do all those easily...
Thanks for the advice guys! I'm working on it right now.
Actually, no, Union Jack doesn't refer to the British flag. well, it does in a way, seeing as how i chose the name based on my fascination of the flag and brit rock bands, but i'm actually canadian hehe 
and @ S@m, can you give me a list of plugins that can do some of this stuff? the ones i have really kind of suck. thanks!
You can find some interesting aqua styles at aquagrl site!
ok, first off. thanks for the link above! it was great 
secondly, so i've taken into suggestion the advice above and this is what i came up with. what do you guys think? if it works out well enough, i'll make a signature to match it. what do you guys think though? better than the first?
thanks again for all the help!
its cool but the 'union jack' is not in the middle... the ryt has more space...
or bottom. i like it, but a sugestion is more cool styles like a bit more shadow, or more decorative text for UNION JACK. one thing that bothers me is that the corners aren't smooth. that's all. download yz shadow and look at it's presetted shadow for inactive windows. i like it. and it might be good for your avatar. anywayz, it's very good. and i can't do anything like that. i tried to make an avatar but it was just stick-figure crappy skills.
edit:. oh, and another suggestion. the U and J should be capital. the others are optional. it makes it mroe official and professional.
btw, steelfist: ur not going to make ur own avatar? the neji one.. hehe
add a drop-shadow for the leaf too
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