Complete signature tutorial

this tutorial is a full guide on making a grunge signature from the brushing to the blending to the coloring
for this tutorial the only thing u need is a basic knowledge of photoshop that u can get in one day

if you do exactly what this tutorial says your result wil kinda look like this:



open a new file on signature size im just gonna use 380x135 which IMO is a nice size to work with

press D now you should have the colors cook and white in your color pallete Fill the background cook, then switch the colors so white is your main color

now select some nice grunge brushes if you dont have them already the attached zip file contains most nice grunge brushes i use (all work in photoshop 7.0 and higher)
(EDDITED IN: coulden't attach or host anywhere)
if you dont know how to install the brushes you just need to unzip them to program files>adobe>photoshop>presets>brushes then restart photoshop and they are in the list of brushes

now start brushing till you have something like this:


(to brush select this icon:



in the tool window, and select a brush u like, then click in the canvas)

you now finished the brushing part

now come's the coloring part
press CTRL+B to add a color balance you can now mix till you have a color u like it doesn't have to be exactly the color u like cause we're gonna get the colors come out more later in this tutorial
this was my result:

now come's the part that really makes the sig, duplicate the brushing layer (right click on the layer then select duplicate layer)
just fool around with the different blending modes(they can be found up in the layer window next to the opacity where it says normal) and make alot of new layers for a good effect i mostly use up to 4 layers
also add some layer just filled with colors and change their blending modes u should have a effect like this:


but because i also used an purple colored layer i had this:

i used first a screen then a 45% color burn then a 100% overlay then a 50% multiply and final a purple colored layer with the blend mode color burn

the background is now finished

now it comes for the image here you will also learn the basics of blending images into your sig
we will just take a good image (i got this one from )

ill just copy it and paste it in the sig (ctrl+v in the canvas)
and cut the background fast with the eraser tool on a soft basic brush this will gve a better effect then cutting with lasso tool and it goes much faster
it now will look like this:


now to blend it i just change the blending mode to screen then i duplicated the layer and putted the blending mode to normal and i changed the color to the same as the backgroundcolor in this case soft red by pressing CTRL+U to color it
then i putted the blending mode to overlay on 70% opacity
it now looks like this:


the render is now in now its time for the text

select the text tool in the tools window

drag a box for your text in the canvas
in that type the text you want in i typed my name Phixion
select the text and choose a good font that also fits the sig if you don't have any check for fonts
i chose the st. charles font from dafont now you have your text on the right size with a good font we come to the part where you make your font look good
choose a color that is the same as the background color or if you prefer another color
then change the blend mode so that u like how the text looks and if it really is needed with multiple layers i used two layers one with color burn 100% and one with color burn on 25%
do something like that aswell just play around with blending modes till it looks nice
if it still is missing something then, go to blending options (right click on text layer > blending options)
now in the new window you get play around with the settings till you have nice text
i used and inner shadow with the following settings:


and a bevel and emboss with these settings:


my signature now looks like this:


and now as final the border:

i know there are easier ways but i always do it like this:
select the marquee tool in the tools window (this icon )
then up in your screen you see this


click on the arrow thats pointing down and select fixed size
change the settings to your sig size but on both width and height 2 pixels less then your sig size this is important! otherwise the border will not work
so when your sig is 380x135 use the settings 378x133
click in the canvas and move the selection to the middle with the arrow keys now rightclick in canvas and select: "select inverse"
now you have the border selection then select the bottom layer and do a rightclick>layer via copy
drag the new layer to the top of all layers
make the layer cook (edit>fill>change the use thing at the content to cook and press ok)
now you have a 1px cook border

YOUR FINISHED you have a complete sig
this was my result:

awesome tutorial man. I know potato peeler about PS but when I get a chance I will read ur tutorial and lets hope it helps me

its on pixel2life now

you got too much time on your hands


nice tutorial phixy

lol im delicious from school for 3 weeks i made this tutorial in like 5 days didn't work much on it i was just bored

Really nice TUT but some reason I can't type any letters just numbers in the text box

Maybe you're using a font that only enables numbers, have you tried a different font?

you have to click in the box once if you didnt know that
and do you have the new layer that shows up with the text al the way on top?

how do i fill the background with cook. I'am using photoshop 8

use the paintbucket tool or go to edit>fill>and then set the use in the content in the popup screen you get to cook leave the rest to the standard settings then press ok

come on everyone lets see soem results

Here what i came up. I'am having promblem with the text and i have no idea how to clean it up

exelent tutorial

ty
the sig you made samven needs to show the image more are you shure you have the image layer above the brushing layer? otherwise thats the problem if thats not it check if the blending mode is on soft light then you have to duplicate or change it

Hi

I would like to know what is the name of the bitmap looking font that many people use.

Thanks