Oooh! Thanks alyCe and Saywells. Your comments really helped and I'll try to mess around with it some more.
#1. For this one, I was just practicing cutting out with pen tool haha. This was the first I've done with it. I usually used the magnetic lasso but it hasn't been working out since I've been doing BIGGER pictures and such. It was just a practice and isn't intended to be printed or anything. I will take into account your comments on color and typography. The color was used to attract the attention while not detracting from people's ability to look at it. Haha. I will try to downtone the colors a bit. In addition, the "information" font at the bottom was Myriad Pro. I wanted that so it wouldn't be the focal point. The title "SkateFest 08" and the skater, were to be the focal point. So, yeah. I'll try and tweak it a bit more!
#2. Number 2 was also just a mock up. I was using some new techniques with drop shadow, gradients, and stroke to create a weird effect. It is basically my "design name", CBDesign, put onto there. It is somewhat are too explain. I just wanted critique on like how it flowed together and how it
looked in general.
Thanks again for your guys' speedy responses and critiques!
~chris