How To Make a Sig (Step by step)

Step 1: Prep

If you want to have a spiffy sig, you need to prep the images you will be using. Assuming you are using photoshop, you can render (get rid of the background, giving the illusion that the image was drawn there) the image using the lasso tool. Go 'round the parts of the image you want used, and try using the magnetic lasso as it's helpful if you don't have a steady hand. Copy the selected image and paste it on a new file that the image fits on. Save this, as they are nice to have on hand for future projects. Next, go to new and make an image the size that you want the sig. Now you are ready to begin.

Step 2: Roughin' it

Now you want to set up the image in the general fashion you want the finished product to look like. The new image should be transparent and ready to start a background on. Choose the Gradient tool to make a neat faded background look. HINT: Select the colors yourself, or choose a color from the renders you are using with the eyedropper tool. Next you need to use the move tool to drag your renders onto you newly made background. If it doesn't look right, you can always change the colors for the background. Move the Images around to see what loos best and try to edit the gradient to make it emphasize the images used. Now, you should be ready to move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Prettifying

This is where the brushes and texts come into use. There are many preloaded brushes that will work nicely with whatever you are making, however you can fine tune them if you wish. A good rule of thumb when using burshes with color, is to create new layers to put them on, so that if you mess it up, you can restart without having to delete all of your work. When You've finished that, move to text. You can use the thext tool on any layer and it will make a text layer. To use it, click and drag the cursor to create a text box, then start typing. If you are typing over images, it is difficult to get the color right, so if you need to, you can use a different color for each character.

Step 4: Are you done?

This step is for if you want a border or editing. Bording looks nice on some sigs, but not on others.

Step 5: Saving

This is one thing that can be a pain. Getting the right filesize for EOFF. You don't want to sacrifice quality for image size, so try to use .jpg on the max setting (usually 10). If you are going to print it out, you should save it as a .png as it is usually the best image quality.

Step 6: Congratulations

If you are like me, you'll want to show of your spiffy sig by putting it online or showing on the screen to friends or family.

I, by showing my step-mum on of my images, got her to pay me for creating ads for her business. Very spiffy money. I'm cheap, so I only charge $5 but I could charage more. If you enjoy this sorts of thing, you can do it professionally as a Graphic Designer. but now I'm just Rambling, so I'll go away for now.

Question here! Just wondering how people make the rainbow or colored filter effects on their images. I've been trying to figure it out, but I'm not really good at exploring Photoshop.


Admins or Mods: sorry if I'm supposed to out this into my other post. It's two different days, and I figured it'd be okay. Feel free to merge it though.

[leeza]Yes, this should have been an edit instead of a new post. ~ Leeza

*merges*[/leeza]