Thats a great site, that will help me a lot! Thanks so much.
Thats a great site, that will help me a lot! Thanks so much.
make a mew layer and apply image then use the filters in the Artist (something similar) list, try them out then set the layer to lighten and erase a little here and there till you get what you want. I think 'cut out' or something over it work that effect.Originally Posted by atlanteay
I have a lot of questions don't i? This one is about getting renders to look smudgy and almost like cartoonish feel.
Notice in this sig, the character with blue hair looks kind of blurry and has this odd brushing on her that makes her look like she was painted. How can i achieve that effect?
^ ...i feel stupid now. Thanks Owen, i'll test it out right now.
EDIT: nope owen, it's not cut out but i'm sure it's something from the Artistic category, just not sure which one.
I just got Adobe Photoshop, as it seems to be the main program used for these types of things, but i thought Corel was confusing, this is something else...
I dont even know how to copy and image because i cant select anything, it keeps saying my layer is locked
Umm... in the lower right corner you have your layers. If you can't draw, just add a new layer. If you want to select everything you've produced, just try doing MERGE LEVELS. It should be in the bottom of the Layers dropdown-menu, if I remember right. If you're confused, just keep merging the layers. You'll get a grip of it eventually.I just got Adobe Photoshop, as it seems to be the main program used for these types of things, but i thought Corel was confusing, this is something else...
I dont even know how to copy and image because i cant select anything, it keeps saying my layer is locked
Thanks lol, although i just switched back to PSP, it's so much easier!!
Sure, no probs. The thing about photoshop is that you have to do a lot manually, while other programs have a good number of presets. If you ever need help with Photoshop though, just send me a PM.
Moved to Graphic Design to prevent sticky clutter in Help.
A nice resource thread here.
Lots of renders/artbooks/stocks/tuts.
Updated regularly too.
||★|| GFX resources thread ||★||
^Click to play ^
It seems a shame for this thread to be stickied and not still be used for anything, so I decided to make a tutorial and see if it starts a bit of a trend. Unfortunately my print screen button no longer works so I'm reduced to using the snipping tool, which means no screen shots of open menus, but I'll try to be as descriptive as I can. I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS5, and I've never used anything else so I don't know how applicable this is to other programs, but as long as you have blending tools, some effects (mainly blur and lighting related), and access to some C4D images then you should be alright.
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In this tutorial I figured I'd just focus on how to make a nice looking sig using predominately C4D's, because it's something that is sooo easy and very few people do when they start out (I didn't even know they existed for the longest time). A C4D (stands for Cinema 4D) in relation to sig making is usually a rendered image or texture that you can use to, for want of a better word, beautify your sig. They're great for filling up empty space on your sig, they are easy to use (although sometimes not as easy to find), and you don't have to do any installing like brushes.
So, as with any sig start by preparing your stock, I just finished Final Fantasy XIII so as celebration let's use lightning cause she's a BAMF. Prepare it any way you want; lasso, grab a pre-cut stock etc. Personally, I was born an eraser and I'll die an eraser.
(SPOILER)
Drag it into a new file with dimensions of your choosing (my default size is 380x140). Give it a rough resize and then set it to invisible so that we can work on the background.
(SPOILER)
Okay, so now we have an empty canvas and we're pretty much free to do whatever the hell we want. To add some order to the proceedings and to calm myself down I've decided to fill in the empty layer with a nice, smart black.
(SPOILER)
Now open up a C4D image of your choosing, I've decided that my colour scheme is going to be black and yellow, because of the two little strips of yellow on Light's shoulder, and it shouldn't clash with anything else. So I've picked a C4D in that colour range. If you can find a C4D with a transparent background then they are godsends, because otherwise you may find yourself a bit limited with blending options. Here's the one I've decided to start with. ((As a side note, if anyone has trouble finding a C4D or wants to follow this tutorial to a tee and wants the images I used then just send me a PM and I'll send them to you))
(SPOILER)
So we'll drag that into our working file, give it a quick resize (check it against your stock if you're wondering about where it will look best), and then take a look. Also, as a general rule of thumb after I've done my initial resize I like to copy a layer (unless it's a basic background or something) at least 3 times.
(SPOILER)
Awesome... well, not really, it actually looks a bit tit, but we'll fix that. Let's try a blending option and see if we can make it a little less harsh and get it to sit with the background a bit better. I've decided to go with 'Linear Dodge (Add)', and that was purely by trying them all and picking which one I liked the most. I've also dropped the opacity down to 68%
(SPOILER)
That's better, it's a little less harsh on the eyes, but it's still really plain, definitely going to need some sprucing up. Let's grab one of those copies that we made of the C4D and take it off of invisible. Make sure it's placed above the blended C4D on the layer tab and then let's go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. It's a matter of then toying around with the settings that you like, but these are the ones that I ended up going with.
(SPOILER)
Now that I've applied the blur I'm going to use another blending option to get it sitting nicely with the original C4D that's directly underneath it. This time I've gone with 'Linear Light'. Let's observe the damage.
(SPOILER)
Looks quite nice. However, I went with a radial blur because it was a spherical C4D, it doesn't mean that you have to use those exact settings; be sure to toy around with different blurs or even some distortion filters like glass and ripple.
A quick check shows us that although the background is coming along, it still looks very plain and doesn't sync well with the stock. So it's time to add a new C4D. Here's the one I've picked.
(SPOILER)
Looks kinda like something you'd find in the crystarium, I think this is going to look pretty wicked. Go ahead and drag it into the working file and then do the usual resize/move until it looks nice and then be sure to copy it a few times. I've placed it underneath the C4D that we were previously working on, and this is the result.
(SPOILER)
Looking good, but I want Lighting to be more immersed in the background, so I'm going to take one of the copies I made of the new C4D and place it above my lightning stock on the layer order, then I set the blending mode on the C4D to overlay and use the eraser tool to get rid of anything that I don't like, such as the parts covering Light's face or torso. This is what I came up with.
(SPOILER)
I'm pretty happy with that now. I'd say that the bulk of the sig is done and now comes the finishing touches. In this case let's start with making our stock really 'pop' a bit more. This is simple and effective; take one of the copies you made of your stock (it should still be your topmost layer, if not, drag it up there), and then simply set the blending option to overlay. As you can see it's basically and instant bad ass button, the darks get darker and the image stands out from background just enough (I also took the opacity down to 90% and used the eraser on parts of her sword because I wanted the C4D to show up through the blade).
(SPOILER)
Next up I wanted to add a very light gradient over the top of the background, so I created a new layer and filled it in, this is what it looked like isolated.
(SPOILER)
Then I set the blending mode to 'Lighten' and dropped the opacity to 50%. It made the left side stand out a little bit more, and also made the C4D more visible.
(SPOILER)
However, for my mind it's too visible now so I'm going to use the eraser with a very low flow to soften up the two most prominent C4D's that I added.
(SPOILER)
This makes the sig look less cluttered, and it's going to give us room for text if we want it. Now I want to add a photo filter (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter>) to grunge it up a bit, so here's the settings I ended up using (And I placed the filter above all of the C4D's and the gradient, but below the stock).
(SPOILER)
I guess I'll add a border as well to finish up, I had planned on using a lens flair but I don't think it needs it. I'm going to be lazy and just create a new layer, use the rectangular marquee tool to select it all and then Edit>Stroke to create a border. I used the yellow colour from her shoulder and then even set the stroke to overlay, because I'm crazy like that. Here's the final layer list
(SPOILER)
And now we can take a look at the final result.
(SPOILER)
So there you have it. Hopefully this tutorial helps some people to learn some new techniques, or experiment with C4D's if they haven't before, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Awesome sig and a very good tutorial, I recently aquired photoshop so this will be very helpful. But where do you get C4D images from?
I've had them for so long that I honestly forgot. I think I may have even grabbed some packs from the Anime Arcadia link above my post.
I just did a google search for 'C4D Render packs' and found a few resource sites though, so I'd suggest just doing a search in google or deviantart
Shoeberto is right! Move to graphic design, much much more interesting stuff to do.
I've been reading this forum and i get nice tips how to make great signature... I will post my work here too after i'm finish and tell what to improve... Can't wait to finish this...
Last edited by KarenStevens; 02-11-2012 at 06:11 AM.
If you're asking about those specific C4D's I used they don't really have names and I couldn't honestly tell you where I got them, sorry. If you're asking what a C4D is in general; like I said, it's a rendered shape that you can use in signature making, usually by blending it into a background as I did in the tutorial. If you need more specific info a Google search on 'C4D' should explain it better than I ever could. Good luck with you sig attempt!
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