Basically this thread could help people who might want to create a signature and do not know how.

Please post something that could help people learn how to make any signature themselves without the need to use something like mybannermaker.com
It would also help if you made/found video tutorial or add pictures, step by step.

Right now I will use Photoshop for my tutorial. Maybe later on I will try to get a hang of some other editing software, like Gimp, PaintShop, and possibly some others.

I'll start off with a  very simple Reflection tutorial, you could use it to make something very simple look a bit complicated.

Software Used Adobe Photoshop CS3. Now, you do not necessarily have to use Photoshop because, well you have to pay to get the program. There are other programs that are free and could pretty much do the same thing.



Okay, here we go, I will start this off:

Open Photoshop and press File, New. It depends what image you are going to use so you will have to figure out a size for it, just make sure that it's not too huge, because, honestly, not that many people like to look at a huge signature. Most of the time a signature size would be under 500x200.

For this I will use 450x450.  I found a Lionhead logo which you always see on top of your window, and I will add reflection to it. You could do this to any image, exactly the same way.



I had to resize the image a bit so I could add the reflection to it. To resize you could either press ctrl+T or go up to Edit, Free Transform 

Then Duplicate the image by right clicking on the layer pallete over on the right side and simply press ok.



Once you have done that, move the duplicated layer underneath the original one using the move tool. Then go up to Edit, Transform, Flip Vertically]



Then enter the [i]quick mask mode by simply pressing the letter "Q" on your keyboard. You will know you are in it because the file name changes on top of your window and will contain something that says quick mask mode.

Select the Gradient tool over on the left tool menu. Then position the cursor somewhere in the middle of your original image, hold shift and drag the line down all the way to the bottom. Once you did that the images should glow red (?).



Simply exit the quick mask mode by pressing "Q" again on your keyboard. You should see a rectangular box under the duplicated image. Press "Delete" and bam you have a reflection!!! (press delete as many times as you desire, the image will fade more the more you press delete).



Then you could delete the default background layer (in my case white) and you should see little squares around your images. Save the image as .png file and upload it to your favorite image hosting site, like photobucket.com, or imageshack.us, and others.

In the end it all should look like this.




It all might look a bit complicated right now, but once you know what you are doing you could do all that in under one minute.

I really hope this helps someone.


And also here are some basic tutorials I found that could help a lot.

How to make an animated signature.

And this one could help you do tons of things, like making a glass, or making a border with a shadow.

Thank you for reading & please anybody who knows any tips please post here.

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I've got 2 small, but helpful tips.
1. Effects and blending. When you have multiple layers, or even one layer (excluding the Background layer, that can't be blended), you can use effects to blend them together. First right click on the layer you want to change the blend effect of, but right click in the empty area to the right of the small thumbnail(ringed in red), not directly on it.


Then select one of the many effects (glow, shadow, etc...) and change as much stuff as you like, try lots of crazy things, and keep the picture visible in the background, that way you can see what the effects are doing to it.


2. Saving with clear/see-through/invisible areas on a picture. Firstly, right click on the Background layer (same place as before) and delete the layer.


Then, save as, but as a .PGN file. These will support 'invisible' areas of a picture, .JPEG will not (not to my knowledge anyway).


One very valuable last piece of advise, always add things to a new layer, keep the background as it starts, or delete it entirely. To do this, simply go to the top toolbar and select 'Layer' -> 'New' -> 'Layers...' -> 'OK'. That will give you a new layer to work on, and don't forget to select the layer you want to change before you edit, a frequent mistake I still make.

The best place for getting to know the basic, and complex, workings of Photoshop CS2/3 is the Internet. Google your need followed by Photoshop-CS2 (or 3 depending on your version) and Tutorial, and you should get a huge selection of places to look at. Remember; Google is your friend.

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Great tips Uzi. I just learned something new!!!
That's the idea. 

Also, experimenting with your image could end up in you having a really cool picture. It just takes time.

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Hey peeps. Lon3 Wolf, I'm still quite busy so I won't be able to post a lot but I'll quickly link some tutorials and brush sites that will have to do in the mean time.

I found this tutorial really helpful when I was first learning: Photoshop Sig Tutorial

If your in need of some brushes you can always find some kick ass ones here.
Also if you looking for some cool pictures, try a place like Planet Renders or PSD Protocol.

I'll post again in a little more depth when I have a more time to spare .

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GLaDOS: "The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak".

Thank you , those are some helpful links.

If anyone has anything other than photoshop please also post tips for those programs here.

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Something extremly basic (for the newbies):

To avoid sharp, contrasting borders when adding a cut-out, you can use the Gaussfilter (or any other based on what you intend to create) option. It's easiest with a program that supports Layers:

Simply copy the picture you want to insert and layer them one on top of the other, then applie the Filter to the lower layer, that creates a effect similar to using Halo-Effects. See example below:

Eve

This is just what I had at hand to demonstrate the effect. The background was chosen in order to give a contrast. What you see in sequence is

1. Cut-out with out added FX
2. Cut-out with Gaussfilter (0.5) applied
3. Cut-out with applied Gaussfilter layered

 

 

Edit: And just remembered this thread by MJLover on how to create a snowy layer in Photoshop http://community.lionhead.com/forums/post/2184853.aspx

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"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude.
It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them."

Thank you Daninsky.


Here is another very basic tutorial.

Making a very basic shape with a shadow for you signature. Like my current one.

Open photoshop, File, New, I picked my size to be 450x100.



Then select the Rectangle Tool, or it could actually be Rounded Rectangle Tool, it depends if you want your signature to have rounded edges or sharp. In my case I picked sharp.

Draw your shape, make sure to leave some space on the bottom and the right side. (needed for shadow)

Then right click on that layer and select Rasterize



Right click on your image again and select Blending Options

On the first tab that pops up make sure Fill Opacity is set to '0'

Then click on Shadow tab and don't change anything, just make sure the tab has a check mark next to it. (it should once you click on it)

You could add Inner Glow if you wish, make the colour 'White' and set Blend Mode to 'Normal'.

Then click on the Stroke tab, set the colour to 'Black' (or any other border you wish to see), and set the size to be 1px.

Looks like this after you did the above.



Then you could insert what ever picture you want into the box. Open up your picture and use the Move Tool to drag the image into your future signature. You also might have to resize the image to your liking, use CTRL+T



Select your "box" layer, then select the Magic Wand Tool and click on your
"box" image. It should select it and show a moving rectangle around it. Now press CTRL+SHIFT and click on your image layer (the added picture, in my case the Apple) , hit Delete key and you should see a "box" with your image on the white background.



Then select the defualt (first) background layer and delete it, you should see you "box & image" only.



Save your image as .png and upload to your image hosting site.
The image should look like this in the end:




This is very simple, but looks nice.

Hope this might help.

Cheers.


P.S. Sorry for big images, I just want to make sure that you are able to see what I am doing.

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207 views so far, and only 3 replies? (not including my posts) Come on guys!!!
If you did try one of the tutorials above post what you came out with.

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Ok well I really suck at the whole creativity thing but that vista thing looked really cool so I tried it. This is my first time ever making a sig and I know it shows.
I don't think I'll actually use this but I thought I'd post it anyway.
If anyone wants to give me any ideas to help it not suck fell free to tell me.

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I've got a question. How does one add new brushes to Photoshop CS3 on Windows XP?

Edit: Ignore this, I found out the answer.

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Saidar:

Ok well I really suck at the whole creativity thing but that vista thing looked really cool so I tried it. This is my first time ever making a sig and I know it shows.
I don't think I'll actually use this but I thought I'd post it anyway.
If anyone wants to give me any ideas to help it not suck fell free to tell me.

Hi, for some reason the image does not show, neither when I put the actual address in my browser.  

Don't worry about the creativity thing, I am not creative at all , I just try to make something that looks nice. So try to experiment, and you will come out with something great.

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Lon3Wolf:

Hi, for some reason the image does not show, neither when I put the actual address in my browser.  

Don't worry about the creativity thing, I am not creative at all , I just try to make something that looks nice. So try to experiment, and you will come out with something great.

Odd I just uploaded it to imageshack....
Oh well if it's still not working I'll uploaded somewhere else.
I made another one don't much like it ether but w/e.
Again any comments or ideas are welcome.

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I like that second one a lot better than the first, if only for the simple reason that I can't tell what I'm looking at in the first.

I would go with rounded corners for the inner box, too, would give it a more homogeneous look.

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"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude.
It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them."

They are both very nice actually , just depends whichever image you like yourself. Now I see what you mean by vista "theme" hahah. I used to make those all the time.

As Daninsky said rounded edges would look nice. The thing is, the person who wrote the tutorial stuck to the "how vista window" looks like, this is where the sharp edges come from.  But rounded edge would really look neat, I agree. 

Both of them look either way, job.

P.S. I think the image did not show up at first for me because I was on a different computer at the library, and the PC's they have there, uh, suck. =D

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Ok I edited the last one and I made another one.

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Looks nice, keep it up.

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I cant offer much photoshop help since I use gimp, but I can say that simply rotating and setting a lower opacity each time can make a decent design especially for a sig, if you want to create more of a half circle pattern with your image and then set some effects around the edges or the bottom to create an awesome design, it is simple enough you dont even need a background but ity looks , even though I personally make a background every time, atleast a gradient...

also, if you are looking for more of a color surrounding a certain part of your image, set up a airbrush with that color and just click once ebvery time around the edge you wish to colorize and i should leave the more detailed parts alone compared to the basic background color, it works very well when looking for a color change in one specific part

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The Labyrinth

Shisou:

Just because I'm a man. A manly-man. In fact, I'm currently eating a Manwich, no joke.

Thanks SfK-Pyro, I want this thread to have tips for all kinds of programs, not just Photoshop, this is where I got the silly title name  "random image editing software tutorials".

Not too long ago I got a PM saying I don't have photoshop , and I mentioned some other free programs like Gimp and others, but unfortunately there aren't really that many tips for something other than Photoshop . But Sfk-Pyro, you could be kind enough to show how to create a very simple signature using Gimp (since you have it).

Not forcing you though, but if you are ever bored and have nothing to do, you could write a tutorial.

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yeah then there is the issue of actually having the motivation for doing so

Gimp is really just a mini photoshop, but I like it and it is free, it is hard to figure out how things work at first tho.

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The Labyrinth

Shisou:

Just because I'm a man. A manly-man. In fact, I'm currently eating a Manwich, no joke.

SO continuing from the other thread.

Yeah I seroiusly considered putting a bag , maybe a flaming bag on teh head of something OR, taking one of teh Obsidian Greathammers and using motion trail on it, have it angled at about 45° , then maybe turn it into an animation where it transitions from Here comes teh banhammer into you've been bagged! Heh yea =)

Nice. I really like the "you have been bagged" part.

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Thanks =) I just experimented with it, its gonna be a bit of a challenge, but I've decided that with the help of a free translator, I'm just gonna do it all in Russian just to throw people off xD Bags name in russian is Сумка, owned is Находящийся в собственности, and banned is Запрещенный. So the only bad thing about it is I cant use the Fable Font, but the thing is, only the people who speak russian will know what it says.Allthough the banned one... not too sure about that seeing as it IS a free translator. I"m probably gonna do half in Gimp, then do the other half and add effects in PSP7 and then graft the images onto each other. Oh yeah, Gimp works pretty , it might just be my comp, but the load time takes a while, as well as closing it out, but it runs smoothly. My only irk with it is that Its not contained within 1 window and that throws me off.

Well we have something in common. I speak Russian also.
I think you could do that, as long as The Bag knows what it all meanas and does not find it offensive in any way.

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Lon3Wolf:

Well we have something in common. I speak Russian also.
I think you could do that, as long as The Bag knows what it all meanas and does not find it offensive in any way.

Lol... I wish I spoke Russian, but as long as a couple people understand it... I might do it in Spanish, but yeah =) I am gonna go for Bag's consent on it... if he likes the idea, there might be a lot of people being Bagged around here...

Wow...I really need to start paying attention... Too many school/college classes.

Now that I look at it again, the free translator shows it's true skills. If you would write that, it would really confuse some of the Russian speakers, as it is quite off target.

You would have to put something like, "You have been hit with the bag" into your translator, and it would actually sound a bit as a joke.   (Вы попали в мешок) Which, if you translate back to English means, "You are now in the bag"
As you can see, Google Translator that I tried did not give me the right translation, I put one thing in, and I get completely different meaning.

Anyway, if you do finish that project, please show it off here.


I am also thinking of writing another tutorial, any ideas what I should do it on? That is, if someone actually wants another one...

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