Photoshop: Brushless Abstract Forum Signatures
Ever wonder how people create innovative signatures to use on forums? There are tons of tutorials out there that attempt to show you how to create these effects using Photoshop. However, most, if not all, of them are for the same style and require you to download and install brushes. Using some of the techniques learned in these tutorials, I have created a way to make forum signatures that require no brushes. By using a few simple techniques already found in Photoshop, we will create a stylish forum signature that you can use on forums and on your user info page right here on Livejournal. In no time, you'll be on your way to making better forum signatures.
Today we'll be learning how to create this forum signature.
1. Create a new image with the following settings.
Size: 400x160
Background: White
2. Find a suitable render to use for your signature image. For our tutorial I chose an image of Babus from Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. I chose this image because of the good bright colors.
3. Remove the background from the render using the Magic Eraser
4. Resize the render. Click on Image > Image Size using the following settings.
Height: 200
Resample: Bicubic Smoother
5. Copy our render. Hit CTRL + A to select it and CTRL + C to copy it.
6. Place the render onto our background with CTRL + V.
7. Duplicate layer 1 twice by going to Layers> Duplicate Layer. We'll be working with the duplicates so click on the eye next to Layer 1 to make it invisible.
8. Use the Motion Blur filter on Layer 1 Copy. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Enter in the following information:
Our blur will look like this:
9. Repeat the same step for Layer 1 Copy 2. Change the angle from 45 degrees to -45 degrees. Our results end up like this:
10. Move the second blur to create a crisscross effect. Copy the blur layers until the background is covered. Our results will end up like this:
11. Create a new layer under our blurs. Reset your colors by hitting Shift + D. Create the cloud effect. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. We end up with this:
12. Make Layer 1 visible and move it above all other layers.
13. Duplicate Layer 1 and move it below the original render. Click on Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use the following settings.
Blur Radius: 5.0
Layer Blending: Color Burn
14. Copy all of our layers. Hit CTRL + A to select all of our layers. Then, we go to Edit > Copy Merged to copy all of our layers. Hit CTRL + V to paste the copy of our signature on top of the layers. Set the blending to Soft Light.
15. Create a new layer below your renders. Fill the layer with a custom pattern. (If you don't know how to make the pattern you can use this tutorial to learn how)
16. First, we click on Edit > Fill.
Then we chose the diagonal pattern we created from the fill pattern pop up box set to 30% opacity.
Use the following settings on your layer.
Blending: Soft Light
Opacity: 70%
17. We're going to give our signature one final touch before adding our text. On top of all our layers, we create a new layer. Click on the selection tool. Make the style Fixed and set it to 30x160 pixels. Place the selection box in the upper left corner of the signature. With the dropper tool, pick a light color from the background.
Here's the color I chose:
Fill the selection box with our chosen color. Set the layer opacity to 45%.
18. Keep the area selected and fill it with the diagonal pattern. Switch the foreground color to black. Click on Edit > Stroke. and set it to outside with 100% opacity. Hit CTRL + D to deselect our layer. Again we can stop here if we'd like but we're going to add some text.
19. Now we'll add the text to our signature. Set your foreground color to white and then select the text tool. Add text to the signature. For this signature we used the following settings.
Font: Geo Sans Light (You can use whatever works well for you).
Text: Magic Bunny
Text Size: 30
The white looks nice but we'll make it stand out with an outer glow. We click Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow and set the color to white.
20. Change the text tool to verticle text. For this signature we want to give it a touch of Japanese characters to dress it up. We used the following settings to achieve this.
Font: Japanse
Text: Babus
Text Size: 30
Here is a look at our layers before we finish off our signature:
21. To finish off our signature we first merge our layers. Click on Layers > Merge Visible Layers. Select the merged image. Add a stroke to the image using the following settings:
There we have it our signature is ready to be saved. We click File > Save As and save it as a .jpg image and a maximum file size. Now we have a signature we can use for forums or our user info page. Enjoy the new signature!
Today we'll be learning how to create this forum signature.
1. Create a new image with the following settings.
Size: 400x160
Background: White
2. Find a suitable render to use for your signature image. For our tutorial I chose an image of Babus from Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. I chose this image because of the good bright colors.
3. Remove the background from the render using the Magic Eraser
4. Resize the render. Click on Image > Image Size using the following settings.
Height: 200
Resample: Bicubic Smoother
5. Copy our render. Hit CTRL + A to select it and CTRL + C to copy it.
6. Place the render onto our background with CTRL + V.
7. Duplicate layer 1 twice by going to Layers> Duplicate Layer. We'll be working with the duplicates so click on the eye next to Layer 1 to make it invisible.
8. Use the Motion Blur filter on Layer 1 Copy. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Enter in the following information:
Our blur will look like this:
9. Repeat the same step for Layer 1 Copy 2. Change the angle from 45 degrees to -45 degrees. Our results end up like this:
10. Move the second blur to create a crisscross effect. Copy the blur layers until the background is covered. Our results will end up like this:
11. Create a new layer under our blurs. Reset your colors by hitting Shift + D. Create the cloud effect. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. We end up with this:
12. Make Layer 1 visible and move it above all other layers.
13. Duplicate Layer 1 and move it below the original render. Click on Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use the following settings.
Blur Radius: 5.0
Layer Blending: Color Burn
14. Copy all of our layers. Hit CTRL + A to select all of our layers. Then, we go to Edit > Copy Merged to copy all of our layers. Hit CTRL + V to paste the copy of our signature on top of the layers. Set the blending to Soft Light.
15. Create a new layer below your renders. Fill the layer with a custom pattern. (If you don't know how to make the pattern you can use this tutorial to learn how)
16. First, we click on Edit > Fill.
Then we chose the diagonal pattern we created from the fill pattern pop up box set to 30% opacity.
Use the following settings on your layer.
Blending: Soft Light
Opacity: 70%
17. We're going to give our signature one final touch before adding our text. On top of all our layers, we create a new layer. Click on the selection tool. Make the style Fixed and set it to 30x160 pixels. Place the selection box in the upper left corner of the signature. With the dropper tool, pick a light color from the background.
Here's the color I chose:
Fill the selection box with our chosen color. Set the layer opacity to 45%.
18. Keep the area selected and fill it with the diagonal pattern. Switch the foreground color to black. Click on Edit > Stroke. and set it to outside with 100% opacity. Hit CTRL + D to deselect our layer. Again we can stop here if we'd like but we're going to add some text.
19. Now we'll add the text to our signature. Set your foreground color to white and then select the text tool. Add text to the signature. For this signature we used the following settings.
Font: Geo Sans Light (You can use whatever works well for you).
Text: Magic Bunny
Text Size: 30
The white looks nice but we'll make it stand out with an outer glow. We click Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow and set the color to white.
20. Change the text tool to verticle text. For this signature we want to give it a touch of Japanese characters to dress it up. We used the following settings to achieve this.
Font: Japanse
Text: Babus
Text Size: 30
Here is a look at our layers before we finish off our signature:
21. To finish off our signature we first merge our layers. Click on Layers > Merge Visible Layers. Select the merged image. Add a stroke to the image using the following settings:
There we have it our signature is ready to be saved. We click File > Save As and save it as a .jpg image and a maximum file size. Now we have a signature we can use for forums or our user info page. Enjoy the new signature!