You suck at photoshop2~Sig tutorial [Archive]

Amadeus

01-20-2009, 10:23 AM

This here is one of the many sig tutorials I'll be posting up, knowing that those of you who want to make a sig will have the basic know-how of crafting a decent rendered abstract sig.....so here we go. This is all rendered in Photoshop CS3.

1. Create a New Document with dimensions to your liking...I used 370x140.

2. On your first layer, create a radial gradient from the center going outwards with the colors of your preference, or those belonging to your render for this tutorial. Decent renders can be googled, or a buttload of them can be found on http://www.deviantart.com.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig1.jpg

3. Now look for a render that would give a decent effect. Like the one shown below, place above your gradient layer and set it to lighten under layer options. Move it around until you get a nice look and erase parts you don't like.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig2.jpg

4. Find another render effect to compliment it, set its blending mode to Lighten at 100%. You should have something like this:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig3.jpg

5. Creat a new layer and Stamp Visible by using Alt+Ctrl+Shift+E. Apply a Black to White linear gradient. Set the later to Multiply at 50%

6. Now create a new layer and Stamp Visible once more. Smudge the layer to your liking. You can either do a smudge that shows drastic changes or slight changes. Use the following settings with a solid round paintbrush. Smudge strength should range from 70%-80%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig4.gif

You should have something like this, or similar:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig5.jpg

8. Now once again create a new layer and Stamp Visible. We are going to apply a 3 color gradient map. It is up to you what colors you want to use, but I will show you my choices of colors. Also, if it is hard to decide which colors you want to use, you can sheese color from your current work as in the above image with the eye dropper. After you get your gradient, set the layer blending mode to Soft Light at 80%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig6.jpg

9. Now that we have the background, we can paste in our render. Resize it and place it such that the lighting of the background and render are almost similar. In other words, so the lighting doesn't look weird.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig7.jpg

10. Now copy the layer your render is on 5 times, and hide the original layer. We'll need it for later.

11. With the first render copy, smudge it at about 50% strength with a soft brush and set it to linear dodge at 100%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig8.jpg

12. Then we smudge the second render copy layer above that. Increase the smudge strength to 100% and do a slight smudge on the render itself without spreading it out too far. Set this layer to Color Burn at 50%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig9.jpg

13. move on to the third render copy and smudge it with a hard brush and set the layer to Screen at 100%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig10.jpg

14. Go to the fourth render copy. Right click the layer, and go to Select>All. On top of the screen, set the feather to about 12-15px. Invert the selection; Ctrl+Shift+I while the selection is still active; then press Delete once. Set layer to Screen at 50%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig11.jpg

15. now with the fifth layer copy, do a motion blur in any direction want with the distance set at about 15-20px. Set the layer blending mode to Linear Dodge at 100%.

16. now create a new layer, and choose any two color from the current image with the eyedropper. Preferably a light and dark color, but not necessarily the same base color or similar shade.

17. Choose the gradient tool and change the option to reflect gradient. Then from the center of the image, drag it out in a perpendicular direction to the motion blur. The lighter color should be the foreground color. You should have something like this.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig13.jpg

18. Set this gradient layer to Soft Light at 100%. You should have something similar to what I've got below. Notice how the colors you chose for the gradient shine through your background image:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig14.jpg

19. Now go back up to the original render layer (the one you hidden before), and duplicate it once more. Then move that layer to the top of all the layers. Now choose a brush that will have a jagged or pixelated edge, and smudge just around the edges only. Whenusing the smudge tool, just reduce the Scattering amount to a little over 100% and set the Smudge strength to almost 100%. 97%-99% will work just fine. What we're achieving here is we're trying to blend your render into your image, so it doesn't have that "cut out" look.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig15.jpg

20. Set this layer to Screen at 100%.

21. Now Duplicate the original render once more and send it to the top of all the layers. Then duplicate it 4 more times.

22. Go to the seventh render copy, select it, and feather at around 20px. Invert selection and press Delete once. Set layer to Normal at 50% opacity.

23. On the eighth render copy, load selection, feather at around 10px, invert selection, and press Delete once. Set to Normal at 30% opacity.

24. On the ninth render copy, set to Normal at 65% opacity.

25. On the tenth render copy, set to Normal at 20% opactiy.

26. On the eleventh and final render copy, set to Soft Light at 50%. You should have something like this after all the steps so far:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig16.jpg

27. Create a new layer, Stamp Visible. Apply a gradient map that contradicts the one you created before. Set to Liner Light at 80%.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig17.jpg

28. Create a new layer, stamp visible. Apply a Black and white linear gradient. Set to Soft Light at 40%.

29. Create a new layer, Stamp visible. Apply a cool color linear gradient. Set to Color Dodge at 80%. You should have something like this:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig18.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/thephatone1002/sigtutorial/sig19.jpg

...and that's the basis of a rendered abstract signature. You can continue on from here, adding renders, colors, text or whatever suits your fancy. Or of course, you can just leave it as is and show it off.