Making a forum Signature (Part 1 & 2)

[1869_Flame]

Please read first:
This is a tutorial i wrote a few years back years back on how to create a signature. It might not be fully up to date any more, but i think it might still help some people out here to make some awesome looking signatures
The sizes of the signatures used in this tutorial may be bigger than the max allowed size for signatures on the famcraft forums. At this point of writing, i am not sure what size is maximum allowed on the famcraft forums.


Before we start:
For this tutorial i use photoshop CS3. I assume any newer version of photoshop has all the same functions, thought they might be on some other places in the menu than in CS3.
And least but not last: Turn on some good music before you start! (how about that famcraft radio huh? )


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Tutorial
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One of the first thing you want to do, when starting to work on sigs is to download some Fonts and Brushes. At this time photoshop doesn't even need to be started yet.
2 very good sites to be looking for some fonts are http://www.dafont.com and http://www.1001fonts.com
Note the different copyright notices on the fonts (Free for commercial use / free for personal use / etcetera ) Just browse the fonts and download the ones you like. try to think in what style you want your sig to be, and make choices based on that.
After you downloaded the fonts, best place to put them will be in C:/windows/fonts (i dont know where you should put this on a mac)  but alternative you could also load them into C:/Program files/Common files/adobe/fonts
personally i would go for the first.

now for the brushes use this link: Deviantart Brushes
or go to Deviant website and go to the "Resources & Stock Images" => "Application Resources" => "Photoshop Brushes"
just browse the brushes here and again, download the ones you like.
you can find loads and loads of brushed here, so take your time to find a few you like and think would be nice for your signature.
after downloading, put the brushes in C:/programfiles/Adobe/Present/Brushes

Now its time to fire up photoshop, and load the brushes into the application. if done correct, the new fonts will also be loaded now.
To add the brushes, click on the normal brush in the left menu, after that click on the tittle black down arrow right from where you see the current selected brush. you will see a list of the brushes now that ware loaded into photoshop and you can select the one you want to use.
it should look a bit like this:



Now click on the little arrow on the top right that i pointed in red in the above image. after clicking on this little black arrow, click on "Load brushes" now browse to your brushes and load them into photoshop.

**alternative you can drag/drop the new downloaded brushes into photoshop application to load them**

If all went well, you now have  a nice collection of Fonts and Brushes to start working on your signature.

Ok lets start a new document.
Personally i prefer a wide but low height sig. In my opinion this fits best on forums without getting huge sigs.
So i will take for this example a signature with 500 with and 100 height.
The setting i use are set like this:



Now to start off with, we are going to render some clouds. so click in the top menu on "Filter" => "Render" => "Clouds" you will see some black and white clouds. (if you selected a colour by accident, press "D" on keyboard to reset colours back to black and white)
now you can press a few times on CTRL + F to repeat the clouds forming till you have a nice setting of clouds you want to use for your sig.

Now press CTRL + Shift + N to create a new layer. Don't change any of the settings on the layer.
To make it more easy to understand your own layers, you could rename them. For example rename the to Black1 / White1 or something like that.

Ff you haven't done yet, click again on "D" to reset your colours to black and white. colour will be added later on.

Now on this new layer, start brushing. only use the colours black and white.
For this example it doesn't matter if you use black and white on the same layer, just brush your image some and make use of the different brushes you got. Make sure you fill your image a bit.

Now make a second layer by pressing  CTRL + Shift + N again. Again you could rename the layer to make it more easy to identify. Now on this new layer, start brushing again like you also done on the previous layer.
You can add more layers if you want to, but for this tutorial i will stop at just these 2 layers to keep it easy.

My image will now look like this, depending on the brushes, you should have something similar to it:



Allright, time to make some colours. Click in the top menu on "Layer" => "New Adjustment Layer" => "Color balance" and click OK.
You will see a window looking like this:



For this tutorial, i will use this settings:

Midtones: +100, -50, -100
Shadows: +100, -50, -100

At this tutorial i don't use the Highlights because these have a pretty strong effect, using it in the wrong way will make your sig look bad. But feel free to experiment with it later on.
After setting the settings, click on OK to apply.

Now, in the right corner you see a little window looking like this:



Click on the Eye image to make that current layer invisible. use this now to make the colour balance layer you just make invisible.
we will make it back visible later on, so keep it invisible for now.

Now make a second colour balance layer above the first one, so again click on: "Layer" => "New Adjustment Layer" => "Color balance"
This time use these settings:

Midtones: 0, 0, -100
Shadows: 0, 0, -100

Again make the newly made layer invisible with the eye.
Now create a 3rd (and last) colour balance layer, and use these settings now:

Midtones: 100, -50, -100
Shadows: 100, 0, -100

Make all the colour layers back visible by clicking on the eye again.
The sig will look like this now:



With all those colour it looks pretty horrable now, i know. We will be fixing this by using selecting 1 of the colour balance layers and clicking "Filter" => "Render" => "Clouds"
By selecting the other layers 1 by 1 and pressing CTRL + F you will also apply the clouds effect on these layers too.
Keep on pressing the CTRL + F on the different layers till you see a effect you like.
My image will look like this now, and if done correct yours will have a similar effect.



Oh yea! it starts to look like a real sig now.
Now you probably want a image into your signature.

In this tutorial a image is already provided. this image is already rendered, so there is no need for you to render one on your own.
Save the image to your computer to some place where you can find it again.
 

(or direct link: http://tinypic.com/evcqqc.png)

Open the image by pressing CTRL + O  (or in the top menu "File" => "Open" )

Now you have 2 windows opened at the same time, 1 with the signature in it, the other with the image.
At first, go to your signature and select the top brush layer. Now create a new layer here, so this new layer will be in between the top brush layer and the colour layers. This way, when we insert the image into the signature, it will be under the colour balance layers. Optionally you can create a new layer at the top of all layers and have this one selected, this way the image will be put on top (and will not have some colour overflow from the colour balance layers)

Go to the image window now can click on this tool:



Now just drag/drop the image into your signature. You will see the image is loaded into the signature now.
Click CTRL + T to get a selection box around the image so you can adjust the with and height.
In the top you also see this menu bar



when resizing the image, hold down SHIFT to make the with and height go in the same proportion (or click on the little chain in the menu bar)

for this tutorial i use these settings:
W:  55,0%
H:  55,0%

Just drag it to a nice spot in the signature. mine will look like this now:



Still having the image layer selected, press  CTRL  + J to make a copy of the image layer. now hide the newly created one (the one called copy) by clicking the little eye in front of the layer again.
Click on the original image layer again and in the top menu click on "Select" => "Load Selection". you will see the image is totally selected. now press CTRL + ALT + D you see a small window open where you can set a number. depending on the size of the image and the nr of detail in the image the nr must be bigger or smaller.
for this tutorial use the nr 7, and click OK.
You see the selection lines have been made smoother . After done this, go to the top menu and click on "Layer" => "Layer Mask" => "Reveal selection"
you will see the image more blending in with the signature now.

Click on layer where the copy of the image is in now, the one we have made invisible before, and make it back visible again.
After making it back visible, go in the top menu to "Filter" => "Blur" => "Gaussian blur" and make it some like 5 pixel radius, and hit OK.
you see the image get blurred. Now click with the right mouse button on the layer and select bleding options in the menu.



You will see a new window is getting opened. As i pointed out in red look at these settings, and set the "Blend mode" for this layer to "Soft light"



All the other functions in the left menu we wont be using for this layer. But again, feel free to experiment with them and see what it does to the signature. But we will get back to these settings later on.
The signature should be looking a bit like this now:



Ok, time to put in some text.
In this tutorial we will place the text underneath the colour balance layers, so select the last normal layer that's underneath the colour balance layers.
Click on the text tool button in the left menu.



Pick one of the fonts you like from the top menu. also the new fonts you have downloaded should be there too. (note, when you added a font after PS was started, you might need to restart PS to see it in the list)
Click somewhere in the image, and start writing the text you want. When the text is too big, choose a other font size, or resize the whole text the same way you resized the image.
you can also change the location of the text afterwards by using the movement tool you also used on placing the image.

Now its time to make the text look better than it already does. i'll just use some example on what is possible, but again, feel free to experiment on your own.

Fist select the text layer if it was not selected, and use the right mouse button on the layer again to goto the blending options.
You see the blending options window again, and this time in the left menu, click on the "inner shadow" you will see the options now that belong to the "inner shadow" the settings i use are shown in this image:



You will see the the looks of the text change.
Still in the blending options, click on the "outer glow" now. Again you see the settings that belong to this option. For this tutorial i will use these settings now:



Again the same i will do for the option "Bevel and emboss".
Here i just leave the settings alone, but when you are following this tutorial step by step (as you should be doing **wink** ) here are the settings so you can check if you have them the same:



Still in the Blending options menu, click on the option "Gradient Overlay" also here i wont change any of the settings, but you can check again according to this image



Now the text is done, so you can click the OK in the blending options to close the window and apply all the settings you just made.
The image will be looking like this now:



Done!

Dont forget to save the signature as psd file, and save it to a image type file too. for example .png

i hope this tutorial will help you in making signatures!
good luck!!

[1869_Flame]

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Tutorial Part 2
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In part 2 i will explain something about pixel stretch (my personal favorite for signatures )
When you do this tutorial, i will assume you also did part one of the signature tutorial!! or already have a bit of experience with sig creating

For this tutorial i will use the same image again from the first tutorial.


(Direct link: http://tinypic.com/evcqqc.png)

Again we start off my creating a new document with the setting as shown below. I will use 500 x 100 again.



For now we keep this document alone.
Now press Ctrl + O to open the image you want to use. I will use the above image for this tutorial.
In the left menu, at the selection part, hold down the button and choose the “single colum selection” like shown in this image:



Now select in the image a nice middle line that had a nice representation of the image like here:



Press 1 time on the "V" button, this way it will "cut" the line.
Now, using the movement tool (as we done in part 1 of the tutorial) drag the line into your signature. Yea yea, i know, its not always easy to get just that little line, but you must keep trying
Once you *finaly* get it into your signature press the CTRL + T to get the selection box again, and stretch it till you got a nice effect like this:



Press twice on Enter to apply it and move on to the next steps.
You can now close the image window (do not save)
Back in the Signature, having the layer with the pixel stretch selected, press CTRL + SHIFT + U this way the background will be set back to black and white.
**If you want to, you can still move the pixel stretch around go get a nice spot as background**
It should be looking a bit like this now:



Again open a image by pressing CTRL + O (or open trough top menu) and drag/drop the image into your signature (in part one of the tutorial is explained how to). Use the Selection box (CTRL + T) again to nicely resize your image again. i'll use the same settings as in part 1 again.
Signature should be looking a bit like this now:



Now select the the most lower layer in the layer overview.
Start making 3 new layers now by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + N
to make them more easy to identify later on, rename them to Black1 / White1 / Black2.
you can add more layers if you want to, just keep them switching from black / white / black / white and so on.
For this example i ony use 3 layers: 2 black, and 1 white one.

As you probably already have understand, use black brushed on the black layers and white brushes on white layers.
For this signature, try to use some more "grunge brushes" this will make a nicer effect later on.
After brushing, the image will look a bit like this now:



Select the first Black layer now (in my image called zwart1). In the layer overview menu, you see a pull down menu. The selected layer is here set on "normal". pull down the menu and set the layer to "Overlay"
the menu is located here:



Do this for all the brushed layers, the layers black1 / white1 / balck2 / ... (so not the background and image layer)
The image will be looking similar to this now:



Now its time to change the Opacity of the brushed layers (black1 / white1 / balck2 / ... )
So select the first brushed layer "Black1" and set the Opacity on a value between the 60 and 80% (Try experimenting with these numbers later on get get just that effect you want)
this image show you where the button is in case you cant find it:



Do the same for the other brushed layers (black1 / white1 / balck2 / ... ) the Opacity doesn't have to be the same on all those layers, as long as you variate between 60 and 80 % its ok.

Time to get some color into the sig. Select the most top Brushed layer (underneath the image, should shown on above image)
This way the colour balance layer will be above the brushed layers, but underneath the image layer.
Click  "Layer" => "New Layer Adjustment" => "color balance"
you will see this image again (also explained in part1)



This time we want to try to put the same kind of colours from the image, into the background.
So for this image the colour balance values will be

Midtones: +3,-19,-47 
No Shadows

Make a second Colour balance layer with the values:

Midtones: -23,+38,0
No Shadows

And make a 3rd Colour balance layer now with the values:

Midtones: +34,+18,-65

if done correct you have the colour balance layers underneath the image layer, shown in this image:



If its a bit mixed up, just drag/drop in the layer overview to sort them into the correct order.

Now its time to render clouds on the colour layers again, so click on the colour balance 1 layer and click in the top menu on "Filter" => "Render" => "Clouds" and use the CTRL + F again on the other colour balance layers to apply the same effect. keep pressing the CTRL + F on the several layers till you see a nice effect in the signature that you like.
The signature will be looking a bit like this now:




**Note on the shadow -> this is just an alternative way of creating shadow, you can do it the easy way through the blending options (this way has some other ups and downs)**
Now select the layer where the image in in, and click in the top menu on "Select" => "Load Selection" and hit the ok button.
Still having the selection loaded, hit CTRL + SHIFT + N to create a new layer. you could rename this to "shadow" if you want to.
**Hit the "D" button to reset your colours if its not on black and white**
In the new created layer hit ALT + Backspace. You will see the selection is filled with black now.



In the layer overview, drag this new "shadow" layer underneath the normal image layer.
Layer overview looks like this now:



Now hide the normal image layer by clicking on the eye in front of the layer. after you have hidden the image layer, select the "shadow" layer again, and using the move tool, just drag it a bit to the left and a bit up (alternative use the arrow keys on they keyboard).
set the Opacity on this "shadow" to a value between 40 and 60 % like this:



You see it looks like a real shadow now.
Hit Ctrl + D do deselect the shadow and make the image back visible again
**Note: there are more ways to make a shadow at a image, i just show you this way because of the technique you can also use for other stiff like this**

Time to make time image look better. Select the Upper Brush layer, in my case the Black2 one.
Now hit 1 time the CTRL + ALT + E, and do the same for the other brushed layers that you used.
depending on the desired effect and the brush you used, you can use the CTRL + ALT + E multiple times on the same layer. you see the image already looking better now.
It should be looking a bit like this now:



Click one one of the brushed layers again and in the top menu, click on "Filter" => "Sharpen" => "Sharpen"
and do this also for the other brushed layers. depending on the image you can also use the sharpen on the image itself (not the shadow layer).
and again, depending on what brushes you used, and what effect you desire you can use this option multiple times on  the same layer (CTRL + F)

my image looks like this now:


Using the text as explained in part 1 you can add text and stuff if you want to.
again i hope this tutorial was useful to you! good luck!!
i'm curious at what you made, so feel free to post!!

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If you don't want a border, scroll down to skip
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=>BORDER!!!<=

Here i will explain how to add a small and easy border to a signature.
To make a border, add a new layer on top of all the other layers. optional you could rename it to "border"
First press "D" again on the keyboard to reset the colours.
Now hit CTRL + Backspace to totally fill the image.
after doing this, set the "fill" to 0 % as this image shows you:



Now go to the Blending options of this layer by Right clicking on the layer.
In the left menu, it the "Stroke" option. set the size to 1 pixel and the position to inside. For this tutorial i will use a white border, so set the colour to white.



This will give you a simple white border. again, experiment with the blending options to add some more effects.
in some cases you may want the image to overlap the border. in that case, just drag the border layer underneath the image layer

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The Tutorial continues
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Click on the most down layer in the layer overview now, the one called layer 1, that also has the pixel stretch background in it, and hit CTRL + L
You will see this menu now:



Use the numbers 15, 1, 230
this way you can add a bit more effect, but again, experimenting in the key.
The image Should be looking a bit like this now:



If you havn't done any text yet, you still can use it now (explained in part 1)
Else just save the signature as PSD and as a image type.

[1869_Flame]

- Reserved for future use -

[Luca_B123]

I just used signaturecraft.us to create mine... Since I am no good at stuff like that...

[PixelArtistTavi]

I can do that easily on Photoshop cs6