Cyril's GFX Tutorial Thread

[Cyril]

So i'll remake this topic now.

Cyril's Tutorial for making Simple Sigs

Anyway let's begin...
Note that you need Photoshop for this tutorial.
And also you should use some custom brushes for this.
http://browse.deviantart.com/resourc...ons/psbrushes/
I'm using Metal-CX's Sparkle Brushes for this.

1. First of all open a new document in photoshop. Make sure the background color is white.
Size is up to you but i'll use 350x125.
Also press D to reset your colors to Black and White.

2. Now use Filter ---> Render ---> Clouds.
It should look something like this:


3. Now to continue... Make a couple of new layers. (Ctrl + Shift + N)
You can use any amount of layers you want but if there's too many or too few it'll just look crappy.
I'm using 3.

4. This part is a bit harder to explain... I might take a video with Camtasia or something later to explain it better.
Anyway... Go to the first layer you made. Now set your brushing color to either black or white, and choose one brush at random from the brush set you're using.
Now just brush once somewhere on the layer. Then change the brush and do it again. Repeat this a few times.

5. Now just do the above for the rest of the layers as well. Just remember. If you for example used Black on the first layer use White on the second layer and Black for the third and so on. This is important.

6. Now that you've brushed it should look something like...

That! Of course it depends on which brush set you used.
It's still very much renderless and colorless so let's fix that.

7. Now you should choose a render. I'm using...

It's already cut as well so if you want to use it you don't have to worry about that.
If you use some other render you need to cut it off the background. I'm not going into detail of that here.
Of course you need to resize it. (Alt + Ctrl + I) 250 width seems pretty good.
Then just do a Ctrl + A(Select All) and Copy&Paste it on the sig.

8. Now that you have it on the sig you need to place it well.
I'm putting it...

There.

9. Now to add some color on the signature. Go to Layer ---> New Adjustment Layer ---> Color Balance.
Keep the regular settings on the first window that pops up and click Ok.
Now just play around with the color settings to get the color you want. (Note that there are 3 tabs. Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights. Remember to change the settings for them all.)
Then add a Clouds filter on the color balance layer.
Now make one more color balance layer using the same method but use at least a bit different color settings.
You can make more if you want though.

10. Now you should probably blend the render to the background a bit.
There are many ways to do this.
I use feathering. I use Lasso with 20px feather to do this.
Go to the render layer and take out the Lasso tool.
Roughly draw around the render with the lasso.
When the selection is complete use Inverse. (Shift + Ctrl + I)
Now you should have a selection of everything except the render.
Just press delete once.
Now it should be feathered.
This is just an easy way of blending.
Anyway... now copy the render layer and put the copy atop the color balance layers and set it to Lighten Blending Mode.
Now it should look like so.


11. The only things missing now are the borders and the text.
Text you should know how to make.
And for borders there are many ways... This is one: Make a new layer atop everything, and do a Ctrl + A to select everything.
Now go to Edit ---> Stroke and set it to "Center" and 3 px Black.
Then do the same with 2 px white.
And again with 1 px black.
And now set the blending mode of this layer to Overlay.

12. Congratulations!
Your sig is now ready.
Mine ended up like so.

Now that it's ready you'd like to just host it somewhere eh?
HOLD IT!
FIRST save it as a .psd so you can fix any problems with it later if you want.

Tell me if i forgot something...
Oh and comments please.

[Aznlilboi(TCL)]

mm awesome! :P im using one of ur sigs btw hope u dont mind ^_^

[CMcB]

Ooohh finally got the tut back up...nice job! was a great tut.

[Cyril]

Originally Posted by Aznlilboi(TCL)

mm awesome! :P im using one of ur sigs btw hope u dont mind ^_^

Doesn't really matter to me.
But you should ask Dattebayo since he's the one who i made that signature for.
If you want me to make you a sig just pm me with the render you want in it and such and i'll make it when i have time.
EDIT: Oh but i don't work with animated renders.

[frytorhyme]

that was cool i might use one of those =D.

[WaffleBot]

really good tut congratz....

[ThreeDeadRats]

Huzzah! The tut is back. n_n

[Scarlete]

This is how far i could get (and yes, the background is copied from you. 2nd pic. Because i dont get how you did that with add layer and brush once etc.. =S )
The rest, i cant do either.. *silly me*

[Droom]

Cheers, Cyril! You rawk! I think I got that right from using your tutorial. How does it look?

[Cyril]

Not all that bad.
The text could use a bit more work and the render... well it seems to glow O_o
Also the render seems to not be blended.
Well otherwise it's pretty good for a first try.

[Droom]

Yeah. I didn't understand that bit with the blending completely. But, I kind of like the glow. Makes him look like the last dragon... err... lion. Heh.

[Scarlete]

How do you download the brushed, and when downloaded, how to use them all in Photoshop? Do you need a precise photoshop (like: version 7.01 or something..)
I use Adope Photoshop CS.. =/

[Cyril]

Download the brush pack(Should be .abr file type) and put it in the Photoshop brushes folder.
For me it's C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Presets\Brushes
For you it's probably C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS\Presets\Brushes
And then in photoshop...

Click the Load Brushes, and find the brush pack you downloaded.
Hope that helps.

[Scarlete]

Aah, I get it now.. *goes to download loads of brushes*

I DO SO LOVE YOU <3

Edit: Then.. how do you add those pretty text? XD My text is so plain.. i dont like it.


(I just wanted a nice font for: Trickster Online in the empty space xD)


EDIT2:
Yay, i finally got into all of this.. Here are 3 I've finished.
(see my own thread about this now.. n_n

[Cyril]

As i said in your thread already they're not bad but could use some work.
The text and the brushing could be better.

[123man]

When i click on you link to download brushes...it just shows me some picture that people drew...And I tryed doing your tut. but mine, it didnt turn out like yours...im totally lost...i've been trying to learn to do those kind of background..

[Pomspom]

Pretty nice tutorial Cyril. ^^
I'm also not sure about he blending though...

[Cyril]

Sorry i haven't been able to access the forum at all for quite a while.
123man the picture is a preview made by the brushes.
You have to click the "Download" button.
That downloads the brush pack.
And Pomspom i can't really describe the blending much better.
I might record a video of it with Camtasia sometime.

[Thorns]

Ahh thanks so much for posting this i made my very first signature :P


Please tell me if it is good for a first try >.<

[Cyril]

It's not bad for a first one.
You should try other fonts though. (www.dafont.com)
Also you didn't put any borders on it.
Also i think it should have some more color.