Yale, you just need a bit of practice. One thing that is VERY important in making sigs is matching the render to the bg. You can't just put any old render on any bg. That most recent one, for instance, your render is very flat and cartoonish, but your bg is 3-D, and the colours are too different. Also, having a good quality render can make or break your sig too. Those blurry portions of that render are a big no-no. Blur is acceptable when you're blurring a portion of your render INTO your bg, but the blur against your super-sharp bg is eye-glaring. Also, make sure your sig always has one main focal point, and the rest of the sig maintains a consistency of lines and flow, that don't detract from this focal point but instead enhance it. Don't despair. WIth a bit of practice, and going through some tutorials, you'll start to get a feel for what works and what doesn't. You probably weren't around at this point, but when Lucifus first signed up, his sigs were full of a lot of the same mistakes, but look at the beautiful work he can do now. He didn't give up and kept learning more PS, making more sigs, and now has 1337 skillZ. (I added that capital Z just for you, Luci :P )