These tutorial is for first time sig artists using photoshop elements or higher
{i am posting this here instead of in the sig thread because the tutorial will get lost and unseen, this is not for requests, just helpfull information)
Signature size: befor you start your signature you need to have a basic size for it. the best known and used size is 500(width)x150(hight), this alows you to see the renders (characters/weapons/vehicles, ect) clearly and confortably. but remember that some forums may only alow a sertain size, which meens you either have a larger space for your work which allows more detail, or a small space which can be more difficult to work with.
your first sig shouldnt be absolutly amazing. but we can still make it seem like your a pro with simple steps.
this is what we are going to make
Step one! find an image. the best places to look are in Google and at official Halo sites! The image we are going to use is this! (image is smaller then usuall)
open this in photoshop and copy the parts you want with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (Ctrl-M) then press Ctrl-C to copy, or right click and copy.
now create a new file with the wanted dimentions
click ok and a blank canvas is ready for you. paste your image that you copied into this blank canvas by rightclicking and pasting or pressing Ctrl-V. this is what will come up.
The image that we coppied is larger then the canvas we have set up. but its still fine, we can move this image around with the Move Tool or by pressing V. click and drag the image until you have it how you want it.
now that we have centerd out image how we want it to look, we get to play around with the lighting and contrast! click on enhance in the main toolbar, then Brightness/Contrast, and select Brightness/Contrast again!
play around with the contrast and brightness untill your satisfied. I ended up with -19 Brightness and +35 Contrast. make sure preview is selected.
my image now looks like this
now go back to Enhance and Brightness/Contrast and select Levels or press Ctrl-L.
The Levels tool allows you to further define your image to the fullest extent. i set my Imput Levels to 10-0.77-191 and my Output Levels to 0-255.
first we need to make a new layer by pressing Ctrl-Shift-N. lets name this layer Border. your border serves a good perpose. it can bring the viewers eye to a sertain area, or from keeping him/her from wondering off, ALWAYS have a border, simple or complicated.
Our border is going to be simple. all it is, is 4 lines near the outside of the image, make sure that the border doesn't stand out too much, make the lines have an Opasity of 80%
to make the viewers eye focused on the inner parts of the image, duplicate the image
now with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, select the image that we just duplicated, but only inside the border
once selected, delete this, deselect the erased part and change the blending mode to screen, duplicate and screen over and over again untill you think it looks really nice. after 4 times this is what it looks like for me.
emerge all the layers you have into one by selecting any layer but the bottom one and pressing Ctrl-E, do this till all the layers form into one. now that thats over we have one more thing to do! Add some text. Place the text in a simple, clean place, prefferably away from any renders and action. have a suitable font with a deacent size and your good!
Befor we finish this sig we should make the texts oppacity 80% to make it seem like its blending into the background nicely. emerge the text layer and save!
the final sig will look somewhat like this!
congradulations you've completed your first sig!
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