[Azazel.]

I'm gonna show you new guys a thing or two about PS.

I'm using PS 6 , so this should translate pretty well into the newer versians.
This post is for BASICS. This is just to help with the general methods I use.

Most everyone has a different way of doing the same thing , so if you know short-cuts or hotkeys thats great. For this I will be only using the mouse.

First off , I will show you how to make a basic sig.

Single picture and text.

Understanding the ballance , and how you should aprouch the basic questions about where the text should go , how the picture should be altered I will also try to show you guys but alot of that is instinct.

Take what you learn and re-arange it , try different methods of the same thing.
Once you find what works for you , it will become easy.

So lets get started , we will be making this sig:

[img]http://www.daplayazclub.com/uploads/pilly.jpg[/img]

Now the first thing you will need is the source pic :

[img]http://www.daplayazclub.com/uploads/pillybase.jpg[/img]

Now right click on this picture and save it with your other collection of pictures.

Open this image in PS and take a good LONG hard look at it.

Ask yourself , what can be done to make this picture come alive?
How can I use this picture and NOTHING else and make it stand out?
You should notice right off the bat that the image in my sig and this one are quite different.

Here is what we are gonna do:

Go up to Image> Adjust > and chose Brightness and contrast.

Play with the contrast some , we want the color to come alive! But be careful , we don't want it too strong. The picture will look overdone , and not real.

Now that is just not enough......

Go to Image > Adjust > Hue and Saturation.

Play with the saturation , once again be careful not to over do it. We don't want a neon sign , we want life in the picture.

Once we have the picture how we want it , we can import it to the sig.
Now the way I do this is I have one of my old sigs open too , and I just drag it right on top of the old one.

You could also have a new sig created for the picture , or just crop it to the desired size.

Now you should have noticed the wonderful little sprinkles of light.....

We will now make those. Trust me it's easier than you think.

Select your sig , just click on it , go over to the right and add a new layer.
If you don't know how to add a new layer , just go up to windows > show Layers. A window will apear on the right that has a small version of your sig in it.
To create a new layer you need only click on the folded corner icon on the bottom. It's the 5th one , right next to the garbage can.
Hitting that will create a new layer called Layer 2.
Click the brush tool , and select a small non-fuzzy brush.
Now make your color white and add a few little dots to your 2nd layer.

Now pop down to the bottom of the layer pallet , and hit the little circled F.
Thats the first one in the row that we made a new layer with.

A little list apears , select outer glow and play with that until you see a similar look to that of my sig.

Doesn't take much....lol.

Now you are basically done. All you need is text.

Chose something that will show up well , and that can be seen without having to add a glow or stoke to bring it out.

Ok , thats it.

Here are a few things you should remember:

Ballance : Make the sig ballanced , don't try to crowd to much in there. Don't make everything on one side of the sig without helping the other side out too.
A good way to check this is , close your eyes ..... bring a different picture to mind. Now open them and look at your sig.
Did your focus go to one side and stay there without looking at the other side?

Background , or source picture. : Try to find pictures that have some " life " to them. it is easier to give a little life than alot of life to a picture. Try to find pictures that you have never seen before , or things that interest you simply by there appearance.

Creativity : Try to use your brushes and Layers more than you use the Filters tab. Try new things even if they fail , you will only learn by trying new things.

Now if you read all this , you have proven to yourself you want to learn.

Ask any questions that come to mind. The guys at AA may give you a hard time , but they will always help you learn.


Rob.

[Fireal]

Too long of a read, since i probably no what it is. GG

[Magnum]

A few comments:

[quote:8c9a7]Understanding the ballance , and how you should aprouch the basic questions about where the text should go , how the picture should be altered I will also try to show you guys but alot of that is instinct. [/quote:8c9a7]
Yes, dear god, yes.

[quote:8c9a7]How can I use this picture and NOTHING else and make it stand out?[/quote:8c9a7]
I agree kinda. A good sig is based on strong source images. But don't limit yourself with the "NOTHING else" bit.

[quote:8c9a7]You could also have a new sig created for the picture , or just crop it to the desired size. [/quote:8c9a7]
No. Always start with a blank canvas the size you want. That lets you adjust much more. If you want to change the size, don't crop it, just adjust the canvas size. In general, if you can avoid doing something destructive, it's a good idea. That way you can adjust it later. Instead of erasing, use layer masks. Instead of colorizing, use a color adjustment layer. Stuff like that makes things so much more versatile.

[quote:8c9a7]Click the brush tool , and select a small non-fuzzy brush.
Now make your color white and add a few little dots to your 2nd layer. [/quote:8c9a7]
If you have PS7, the brush palette is EXTREMELY powerful. To do this sig for example, you can put on some size jitter, and it will make different size dots automatically.

[quote:8c9a7]A little list apears , select outer glow and play with that until you see a similar look to that of my sig.[/quote:8c9a7]
Don't abuse outer glow. That and inner bevelling are used way too often. Also, DO NOT use the default outer glow settings unless you are absolutely sure that the yellowish color actually works in your sig. Note that a lot of my outer glow uses are a color based on the sig, set to color/linear burn.

[quote:8c9a7]Chose something that will show up well , and that can be seen without having to add a glow or stoke to bring it out.[/quote:8c9a7]
Yes and no. Font choice is extremely important. Don't use Arial, or the Halo font, or that shitty pirate thing, because they look like crap, and they never match the sig they are on. The font should stand alone, and fit the theme. However, subtle use of layer effects and other things to enhance, or create a style are good.

[quote:8c9a7]Ballance...
Background , or source picture...
Creativity...
[/quote:8c9a7]
Yes, yes, and yes. Extremely important. A good note on filters is that they do have some excellent uses. Those uses are usually not applying them to source images (except blur, etc.). The good uses are making things from scratch like a wood texture, the snow I made in a sig a while back, etc.

[guarnere]

Right...I know all of you hate the dreaded "Lens Flare" filter, but heres a good use for it...

Before:

[img]http://24.58.175.68/LF_01.jpg[/img]

After:

[img]http://24.58.175.68/LF_02.jpg[/img]

It just spices up the 'light'

You can't really use lens flare and make it look good unless you're carefull. OK im tired. happy:

calmdown:

[Magnum]

The first one there is good, if somewhat abused. The second one isn't particularly good.

[strvs]

Yea, second looks better without the lens flare . :/

[Azazel.]

Exelent points guys , here is why I worded it the way I did.

" How can I use this picture and NOTHING else and make it stand out "

The point of this is to get people used to altering a single image. Many images can create a sig by themselves. But I wanted to show how I make a picture have more life than when I found it.
That certanly doesn't mean you should always use one picture and nothing else , it means how can THIS picture stand on it's own.

Import image to sig.

The simplest way I have have found to add an image to a sig is to just drag and drop.
Agreed it doesn't allow for resizing once it's there , but I just wanted to keep things simple and easy.

LOL , I don't know how to use layer masks....

Filters ,
Filters are great , hell look at my angel sig...... Lens Flare!
But what brings it to life are the layers on top of the filter , and the brush work on the sides.
I didn't start making good sigs till I learned good layer and brush habits.

[Magnum]

[quote="Azazel.":d03cc]The simplest way I have have found to add an image to a sig is to just drag and drop.
Agreed it doesn't allow for resizing once it's there , but I just wanted to keep things simple and easy.[/quote:d03cc]
This is a very confusing statement. First, drag and drop is copy and paste. I just do a select all, copy on my source pic, and paste it into my sig as a new layer. (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, click over to sig, Ctrl+V) But what are you talking about not being able to resize? You copy the entire source image into the sig as a new layer, and you can do anything you want to that layer. Move it around, resize, etc. Just make sure you have your bounding box on.

[Kemikalie]

gj guys.


EDIT: never mind. annoy:

[Fireal]

Originally Posted by Kemikalie

gj guys.

all i can say: if you got a good pic from the beginning, it isnt that hard to make a good sig of it. dont clutter to much with it.

......
He already said that, in the first post dipshit.

[Jotun]

nice job zen.

[^=ir!$h|Shot=^]

not to be mean all u guys do is take a picture resize it modify a little and put ur name on it mean while some other people dont use other sourse of pics and u guys go it fucking sucks duh??

[Short Hand]

i never just slap a pic on buddy.

[Magnum]

[quote="^=ir!$h|Shot=^":0a862]not to be mean all u guys do is take a picture resize it modify a little and put ur name on it mean while some other people dont use other sourse of pics and u guys go it fucking sucks duh??[/quote:0a862]
Thanks for trolling, you missed the point.

[strvs]

[quote="^=ir!$h|Shot=^":d89e9]not to be mean all u guys do is take a picture resize it modify a little and put ur name on it mean while some other people dont use other sourse of pics and u guys go it fucking sucks duh??[/quote:d89e9] annoy: