Good first attempt Blood.

Jolie gave good advice. Drop shadows will make the text pop and give you more of a 3D effect. There is always the temptation to center things and make everything symmetrical. That's good sometimes and not so good at other times. Try to think outside of the box on that.

Also, when creating a site banner, you probably don't want the site name as the smallest element on the banner. The site name needs to stand out.

As O said, you're doing great and you seem to have knack for GIMP.

Don't start..

I just hate the language itself.. Doesn't matter if dutch people speak it or belgians.. It sucks anyway

Btw Thanks for the advice

And thanks for the compliment GnuTux.. I will be delivering the final product today..

Regards

P.S. I love it how it's all centered here... Because then it looks like the hands are grabbing everything...

Based on this pic. (transform that into CGI Water effect hands and you get the hands I have)

My finished banner for Gimpchat.com...



Hope you like it..

I made it so that the water comes down from the hand..

Wilber shines just like he does on the original banner..

I used Bevel & Emboss on the top text and used the pencil colours that we use now in the bottom text to let it get into your eye...

I used lots of shadows and so on..

... That's it. Just to let you know what exactly I done..

Oh and I also fiddled with the layers a bit to see what mode is best and stuff

Regards

Hope you like it!

Nice work Bloodwell. I'll put it up on the site for a while to see how it looks..

If the Gimp Chat text was brighter and more color saturated, it would pop.

You are coming on like a house on fire. Each one gets better and better.

I would like to see the opacity on Wilbur's shadow lowered quite a bit.
Also, the light source on Wilbur is coming from the top left and on the hands it is coming from the bottom.
The light should be coming from the same direction in all your objects IMO

I'll darken the hands a bit and lower the opacity of his shadow..

then I'll repost and you can put it on

Okay so here it is..

I replaced the shadow on the hands so it's correct

I lowered the opacity on the Wilber shadow some more... But I can't do to much because I already merged some layers and closed gimp so I can't unmerge them anymore..



That's it

You can put that on the website and see what it looks like..

Regards

I put up your logo so you could see how it looks..

I noticed right away the background color was off a little . It's gonna need to be: #EEF4F5

WTG Bloodwell!

Well, I guess you disappeared. I'll put it back up for you next time you're online.

The overall design idea is good. I see what you are going for.

The large cyborg hands are a bit overkill for a site like this. That kind of design element would be perfect for a gaming site.

What is needed for a site like this is a more understated design. Actually, if you removed the hands and blended the rest into the background, that would be more understated and elegant. Perhaps the hands could be replaced with some other graphic. That graphic could then be extended on both sides of the banner (via html) to fill a wider browser screen.

oopss i see only now this post..
About the simmetry i often love it but in this case i agree with GnuTux

The hands are not Cyborg.. It's water..
I thought water goes good with paint... and paint = GIMP
I have no idea with what I could replace them though.

I'll change the background colour and reupload it..

Okay I changed the background colour to the same colour as the site..

If it's still not the same I'll have to restart because then it's probably because of the Hue saturation and stuff..

So let me know..

I love it but ofcourse if you want something else you can always tell me

TBH Bloodwell_,
I think what Gnu Tux said about the hands being overkill, I have to agree.
To me they don't fit with the site. The eye goes directly to those hands and the gimp chat text is lost in the shuffle.
I really do think you are coming along great though.
I know you don't mind honest criticism so this is just my take on it. Others may think differently......

I made 4 more versions...

I'll add a poll to this topic and let you guys vote wich one is the best

1

2

3

4

I added those things in the corners to fill up the space a bit... You choose

Regards

Bloodwell, I like the first and second one best. I think I'll go for number 2.

Vote then

Hope GnuTux is gonna be happy with the results without the hands

Yes, I like the ones without the hands better.

The one that jolie mate is a lot better tho

I wouldn't have been able to make a banner like yours with the little experience you have. So in comparison yours is much better.