Mercury Ice Graphics

http://www.animedomain.com/eternalusagi/mercury.html

This is my first review, everyone, so please be gentle in your criticisms.

Front page: A nice, neat layout that is promising as to the quality of the graphics inside. This seems to be a fairly small page, with a handful of things to do and some great potential. Of course, the MIDI file could be taken out since, even though it is lovely, it is my own personal preference not to have a file playing (since I search the Internet with a CD or mp3 blaring from my computer speakers on most occasions). Perhaps even having a console for the option of turning it off would be nice. The main graphic looks pretty, a stylized version of Super Sailor Mercury's end pose, even if the text on it is a little hard to read. Let us check out the links.

Page kits: It seems this page is newer than I thought. So far, there is only one set of graphics here. However, the webmistress keeps with her clean layout, which I like. The Page Kit itself, called "Sailor Scrapbook" is actually very cute and original! I myself wouldn't give such a good idea away for free, so commendations are in order. Of course, it could take some work to get the words at the side to correspond with the lines (so the notebook divisions don't run through the text to make it unreadable). The main graphic is adorable, and the whole comes together nicely. She also has something that I consider to be very important.. if you are going to make free graphics, try and make them look professional, instead of screaming "this person is using another person's layout!". Thumbs-up for originality! I would personally like to see more in this section! One quick fix: "Download" is spelled wrong in the download link.

Finished work: According to the page, this is where the webmistress shows other works that she has done. She chooses to display only banners she has done. I would like to see more, though, to give people more of an idea of her range. Can she do buttons? Can she make bars? Perhaps try displaying one of each kind of graphic available, so the viewer knows where her talents truly lay. She also mentions being able to make other anime graphics. Examples of these as well might help. In most cases, her banners are tasteful and well-made, so it does indicate a certain amount of graphical know-how. Another quick fix: The term is "of course" not "of coarse".

Links: It appears that her link page is connected to another site entirely (one on Angelfire). I checked out the main page, and the site is for an RPG. There is no indication that this site belongs to her, but since it's in doubt, I just thought I'd call attention to it. The links have short descriptions with each, but 3 of the banners don't work. In addition, it really isn't necessary to have screenshots of each page. It slows down the loading time considerably, and to be honest, the descriptions work well enough with the banners (without adding extra modem time). Besides, that approach in and of itself is original.

Request a graphic: Just a simple form you can fill out for a custom graphic. Provided by a remote server, so there isn't much control that she has over layout or appearance.

Then of course we have the obligatory e-mail link, and a mailing list. However, the mailing list doesn't say what it is about. According to the main page, this is version 1.2 of the site, but there is no other indication of when this was last updated.

Final analysis: The webmistress obviously knows how to make well-organized layouts with bright yet tasteful graphics. I would like to see this page expand more, since it is obvious the person knows what she's doing. Right now the site is very small. Maybe you could add some more graphics (more page designs, different kinds of graphics, etc.)? And perhaps you'd like to try a tutorial or two.. such as making banners. While it is true that graphic-making is partially all a matter of taste, there are some basic pointers that can be given. A few write-ups, some more graphics, and this page could be one of the best. Keep up the good work, Sara!

How did I find this page: Searching the AniPike Miscellaneous Sailor Moon Links section.

Back to Sailor Cosmos' Reviews