Beginner's Guide: Creating a Signature Using Photoshop(Elements 6.0)

Beginner's Guide: Creating Your First Signature Using Photoshop (6.0) ~ zzack13

Photoshop is a great program that can create avatars, signatures, and edit a varity of photos. This guide will teach you the basic tools and information needed to create a signature using Photoshop Elements 6.0.

NOTE: I am not a PS pro, I am not claiming to be pro, nor do I think my work is perfect. This guide is made to teach new PS users the format and requirements for making a signature. NOT the legistics.

Setting up

Before you jump into creating a signature you need to get prepared.

First, you will need to search for a "render" online. A render is a cut out of an image that has no background that can be used to create a signature.
I use "http://www.gamerenders.com/", Google Images, and Photobucket for my renders.

When you find a render you like you are going to open the large version of the image and right click>Save Picture As.. and save your image as something you will remember as a .PNG file.



Once your render is saved you want to search for 2+ "c4d renders"
Once those are saved like you saved your first render you are ready to open Photoshop(PS) and set your page up.

Page Settings
Next open PS. Then go to file>new>blank file and use these settings:



The width and height can be adjusted as you adapt your own style up to about 400x150 but I prefer using those settings.

The Background
*NOTE: From here you could follow a seperate tutorial and create a totally different background. I am just using this generic set up to demo a signature made with PS.*

1. Hit Shift+K to select the paint bucket and fill your first layer with white. (if you didn't set your background to white in the step above)
2. Next create a "new layer" which can be done on the right side of the screen. On this new layer you are going to place your render into your signature.
3. File>place and select your character render.
4. Once your render is on your layer you are going to hold shift and adjust it so it is large or small enough for your sig.

Once it is placed you can create many different backgrounds. There are various tutorials online showing how to use the Photoshop filters to create a background but I will show you a generic one you can use.

Right click your render layer and Duplicate your render once and select the bottom one.

Select the "smudge" tool and set the strength to 100% and the size to 50 px
smude your bottom render layer out from your image horizontally so you fill your background with your render's colors.
Then smudge vertically up and down so it blends together



Next filter>sketch>water paper the background layer
Then duplicate the render layer so you have 2 render layers total.

On the top layer use the sharpen tool lightly to make the render stand out.
Then on the 2nd layer change the layer style to lumonosity at a 60% opacity


Text and Filling Space
The last component to a signature is the text and the c4d renders we mentioned before.

*There are also many text tutorials and downloadable fonts out there but I am just creating quick text as an example.*

• Create a new layer and select the text tool.
• Select an empty spot and type your username or whatever you like with a color that blends with your background. Or black and white.
• Then change the layer style to something that blends good and lower the opacity if needed.

In my signature I used a font called "stylin' BRK" from "dafont.com" with a layer style of Exclusion and 80% opacity

The final step are the c4d's. These are used to lower the amount of empty space and blend the overall signature.

• Place the c4d's in the 2 new layers the same way we placed the character render.
  
• Rotate and resize the renders so they all flow in the same direction as your character render and place the layer below the text and your previous character renders.
  
• Next you will lower the opacity below 30 on each one and change the layer style so they look good.

I used hard mix and 10% opacity on one and difference and 20% opacity on the other.

At this point you have a basic signature. But there are many other added things you can use. Smudge effects, lighting, gradiant maps..pretty much every PS tool can be used to make a signature. There are millions of tutorials online but this is the basic format and procedure for making a signature using Photoshop.



Have fun, learn lots, and I hope you enjoyed my guide!

 

Will use this for my upcoming merchanting/selling-buying threads. Thanks you much.

 

Cool guide. Noob friendly.

 

I wil be using this 5/5