Hi Friends,
Ok, I'm summoning up all my courage, and posting here in the Finished Inkscape Work forum, an image I've recently finished (more or less), simplistic at best, amidst the work of many incredibly talented artists, whom I can only hope to one day emulate. Be kind to the little old lady, kids?

There are 2 versions. As such a beginner, I often find 2 or more similar versions equally pleasing. And while I have no trouble choosing a 'one best image' from others' work, I can't seem to choose among my own. Any tips for overcoming this?

I think I like the 1st one the best, but the 2nd is a close 2nd . (microUgly, if these are too big, let me know and I'll edit in the thumbnails) I'm still a bit confused about the final image size, because I use the 800 x 600 screen resolution. But my goal is for this to be a small poster, whichever one I finally choose. First:



Second:

Personally I much prefer the second but I liked the shape in the middle - it's just the lines radiating. I think the softer lines allow the detail of the spirographs to show. In the first one I think the image is quite busy and I wasn't really sure where my eye should be drawn. Maybe you could have the best of both and keep the central shape but unblur the lines slightly so they're more visible but not distracting?

I've recently been playing with spirographs too and also messing around with polygons to make similar patterns. It's been fun!

If I have two versions of something I find it helps to export the images as pngs and open them up next to each other. I think viewing them outside of inkscape can make things more clear.

I completely agree about the 1st one, and the larger radiating shape being distracting -- completely agree. Yet somehow, I like it being there. I did try several different combinations with those central radiating shapes. BUt let me do some more experimenting. Maybe I can come up with a compromise?

Thanks for your comments, jude! I really appreciate it

My opinion is pretty much the same as Jude's. The second one looks more deliberate, but I like the centre pattern in the first one.

Composition is a touch concept to learn and one could make any number of suggestions. But one I would make is to make the "Flower Power" much larger so it overlaps the Spirograph's. As Jude suggested, it's difficult to pick the focus of the image and making the text larger will create a central focus.

Ok, I made some changes, and now can choose one that I like the best. It sounds from micro's comments like it's lacking something as a composition. But I'm not really an artist, never studied composition. I'm always open to constructive criticism, though. I did try the larger text micro, overlapping on the spiros, but it seemed to make the text the main subject, rather than the spiros. And I want the cool spirograms to be the main subject. So anyway, for whatever it's worth:

I like the third version best. Try to give the leftmost "flower" more contrast (but otoh remember I am the guy who has color vision issues so take ti with a grain of salt).