-------------------------- THE BASICS -----------
Right, so I seem to be using the term "graphics" and "GFX" interchangebly, but they mean basicallly the same thing (though if you ask me, I label color modified gifs and avatars as graphics, but never GFX). There are a couple terms that are thrown out very often that one might scratch their head for.
RenderAn image cut out. During my time on tumblr, people that typically make graphics will use "png" instead of "render", but they're the same thing. Do note that all renders end in .png. They have checkerboard backgrounds if you open them up in an image editing program like Photohop and their backgrounds retain the blue color you get if you hover over a thumbnail in your files. They look something like this:
Spoiler!
StockI'll be frank, this word seems to have two meanings. In some situations, a stock is an image that hasn't had it's background thrown out like this. In other situations, it refers to a background that hasn't had additional resources stacked out top of it like this.
FocalThis would be the first thing you see on a tag. The main goal of a tag is to build something creative around a focal. If a tag hasn't successfully done so, the result is a messy tag. Usually.
When you boil down to it, a signature/tag isn't that much different from--say--an illustration. Of course, that isn't to say it's incredibly similar to an illustration, tags do have their own principles; ones that certainly help a lot when some of them are in use, but all of them usually don't have to be used at the same time. These principles seem to differ slightly depending on the GFX Artist you talk to, but these are mine:
- Lighting - The way light interacts with anything in the tag, most notably the render/focal.
- Flow - General movement of a tag. A good tag knows how to use the movement of the eye to its fullest.
- Depth - The "3D-ness" of a tag. Often used to draw attention to the focal. One of my personal favorites.
- Typography - Text in a tag. Often considered one of the hardest aspects of tagmaking.
- Color - There's no true way I can define it without using the word "color", but it's the way a tag achieves unity through use of specific colors.
- Style - A sort of ambiguous term, but it's a way of making a tag using specific resources (or tools in some cases). Think of it like EDM genres.
With the exception of fonts (probably), most to all of the things listed here have resources and tutorials on deviantART. As for fonts, I typically use dafont. Lemme know if any of you want links for resources and tutorials that I'd recommend.