Basic Sig Tutorial

[Kyo]

This tutorial will show inexperienced or beginner GFX artists how to make a basic signature banner and matching avatar. It may also teach a few veterans something new. I'll be using photoshop CS2.

the basics

Now to begin with you want to create a new blank document in photoshop that is about 350x150 pixels. This is a nice size as it's not too big or too small, however, the size is really up to you.

Now you are going to want to find a render to put in your banner. If you have a picture in mind then use my cutting tool tutorial to try and get rid of the background as best as you can. if not then try here: www.planetrenders.net - you have to register but the renders here are top notch.

For the purpose of this tutorial I will be using this image:

now you want to resize your picture to fit nicely in your banner. Now don't try and fit the entire render in the banner, usually it won't happen, the picture will ,once been resized too small, make the banner look empty look empty. Composition is key but that requires practice more than being shown how. instead just put in the main features of the render. here is the result of the resize:

Now after you've pulled your image into the banner it should look something like this:

Now hide the picture of venom so you can work on the background:

Next you want to make dure you've selected the background layer. go to Edit>Fill and then select colour in the drop down box, either select a colour that blends well with the image or use the eyedropper tool to select a colour from the image. Once you have done that make a new layer (under the render but above the background). set this layer to something light hard light or multiply. Now fill this layer in black.

the next task requires brushing. to get decent brushes try checking deviantart or google "photoshop brushes" to find sites which have brushes for you to use. Once you have some brushes you like you can start brushing using the colour white, this won't show up white due to the multiply effect.

you should have something like this:

after you are happy with that layer create another new layer and this time use a contrasting colour. if you like you can mess with the opacity for effect. you should get something like this:

Next we add some text. now to find a font that matches your banner's style (grungy, metallic, etc) then you should go to www.dafont.com and find the ext that fits your sig. Once you have the text type it in in white colour and position it where you want, remember to have anti-aliasing et to smooth.

now right click the text layer and go to belnding options. you can mess around with the indivdual effects until you have something effective. I have used a overlay effect with a stroke effect and a slight outer glow. here's my result:

okay now merge all the layers and then go to Image>Canvas Size and then increase the canvas size by 2x2 pixels and make the extension colour black to make a thin border around the banner. after that you are done. the finished result is thus:

to make the avatar simply make a new document that is 98x98 pixels (this will become 100x100 later) and then pull the image into the avatar blank then increase the canvas size as did before.

I hope this helped everyone.

Advanced techniques:

Learn to use the blending options on your render and text to help make the banner look better.

use the color balance and brightness/contrast tools to get the signature just right.

Use a combination of the gradient tool, lighting effects and lens flares to enhance your image.

using the advanced techniques i enhanced the signature. check out the difference:

basic sig:

enhanced version:

thank you and happy sig making!

I made this a while ago so apologies for any crappyness or stupid methods lol.

[-PHXN- New001]

Pretty good tutorial.

Some grammatical errors, but thats fine.

Its pretty simple, but good for beginning techniques. a job well done.

[Sean Eats Airplane]

I'd put the tutorials on a base, and second it's very restricted. I don't see much for free creation.

[WAIW]

Whatever happened to good old fashioned tutorial backgrounds? I think that's a base. I also don't see why you would show the entire screenshot for the first few steps.

[Anooxy]

gha... I hate big images on forums. Nice tutorial btw...

[Kyo]

like i said it was a while ago i made it. couldnt be bothered fixing it up i just copy and pasted it from the forum it was on ages ago. i reckon its a good crash course for photoshop newbies. other than that its not all that great.

[darkslayer]

Nice tutorial!