List of ranks

[Danone]

Well, he already posted a picture of a nice Joe.

[BzzitTheMoskito]

Gave it a try.

[Ray502]

Gave it a try.

Looks pretty good to me

[Shrooblord]

It's nice, but isn't it stretched a bit vertically? It looks weird for some reason.

[BzzitTheMoskito]

It's nice, but isn't it stretched a bit vertically? It looks weird for some reason.

Hmm. I well all i can say is that i used the method so it shouldnt lose quality or be strecthed.

[Shrooblord]

Hmm. I well all i can say is that i used the method so it shouldnt lose quality or be strecthed.

'The' method? What is this method that is so well-known that it needs no naming? No seriously, I'm interested.

[BzzitTheMoskito]

'The' method? What is this method that is so well-known that it needs no naming? No seriously, I'm interested.

Well it varies to resize using percents in Image-> change pixels to percent and resize it.
The other one is the free transform tool in Photoshop.

I guess i could say The Free Transform Method.

[Shrooblord]

Ah yes, that's what I usually use. I was just intrigued because you said 'the' method, as if it had been some secretive style of editing.

On the subject of Photoshop techniques, how do you guys usually create your renders? I can Magic Wand Tool the approximate shape, but always end up spending a good fifteen minutes or more (depending on the size of the render I need) refining the edges or even figuring out whether the edge is part of the render or is just a similar background colour or GIF deformation of colour data. Do you also do it this way, or do you have a faster, maybe more efficient way of making renders?

[Matyuv]

I just use the eraser

[Adsolution]

I use the magic-erase tool, and the lasso/eraser if necessary. It takes me approximately one minute from the time I open the project till I export the completed rank. I tend to find that spending too much time on it will make you lose the vision of first-glance-appeal, and it may become messy or uneven.

[Spanex]

My method: Transform, hold SHIFT and drag to appropiate size.

[Adsolution]

That's the scaling. Shrooblord was referring to removing the background.

[Spanex]

Ah, Eraser and precision.

[Haruka]

I also use the eraser while being zoomed.

[Rayray1994]

I want Spanex's sig in the rank list.

[Master]

You could always ask her to make a special rank with her sig.

[Minor-T5]

Gave it a try.

Looks pretty good to me

It does look good.

[Master]

Gave it a try.

Looks pretty good to me

It does look good.

Could be good, but...

It's nice, but isn't it stretched a bit vertically? It looks weird for some reason.

Shroobie is right, it is stretched, are you sure you haven't changed the proportions?

[Hunchman801]

It's definitely stretched, we cannot use it.

[Shrooblord]

Okay then, I'll have an attempt at it.

Here:
OR

I like the second one better, myself.

--
I once used the Eraser tool too, but for the R2 screens, it's easier to select the entire image in question and just delete the rest in one go with the Select function, since the backgrounds are so distinctly different from the models. With the Eraser and precision, I'd just end up spending the same amount of time or more on something that I could also easily do with the Select function and paying attention to which pixels I need.
Regarding GIF cleaning, are there any tips or tools you know of? I always try to eyeball it and try to repaint regions with approximately the same colour with a previously selected one from the image. This may lead to loss of shadows though...
Eventually I used the Eraser on Joe. It was so pixellated that it didn't matter if you shaved off a few edges here and there - it actually makes it look better, smoother.

EDIT:
What's up with the forum's timing? I didn't post this at 11 PM. It's 9 PM now.