AmmocK
02-10-2008, 08:08 PM
as the title says, this is a tut for absolute beginners, so i am goin to keep it real simple
here is wt we will be making
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/tut.png
but i am goin to cover more than just how to make this sig, basically its a few tips that i hve learned along the way that i think can help the beginners as they helped me. I am goin to cover the folowing basics of sig making in this tutorial
1- Render/Stock Choice
2- Placement
3- Flow
3- Adding C4ds
4- Depth
5- Lighting
6- Text
7- Finishing touches
so lets get started
1- Render Choice
this is very important, to make a good sig u need a good render, so choose urs wisely and carefully, dont just go for an image u really like, here are a few things to consider when choosing ur renders
i- quality: low quality renders make low quality sigs, as simple as that, so make sure the render/stock ur choosing is good/high quality
ii: action: choose a render that has something goin on rather than just a simple character standing plainly, renders with action hve a natural flow and depth, so it makes it easier for u to maintain a flow in ur signature, heres an example
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumblebee-1.png
BAD, its a good render but there is not much goin on, its a lil hard to create a flow with that specially if ur a beginner like me
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumbl1ebee.png
Better, great render, has a flow to it
so now that we hve chosen our render, lets get started
there are many different ways to create backgrounds, but as i said that i am goin to keep it very simple, i am goin to use this pic of bumblebee camaro as the background
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumblebee-2.jpg
1: create a new document with ur preferd sig size, mine is 380 x 130
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step1.jpg
2: paste in ur car stock and place it in a way that will match the flow of ur render, flow is very important part of ur sig, your main focal point of the sig is ur render, and everything else is supposed to bring the attention of the viewer to that point
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step2.jpg
3: now take out ur render, paste it in and scale it to a decent size
that positioning of the render is important, dont put them in the corners (other than a few rare cases), putinn them in the corners will leave too much space in the sig which will distract the viewer which we definitely do not want, we want their attention focused on the render
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step3.jpg
4. Now take out a c4d i am goin to use this 1
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/159.png
now paste it in and change its bleding mode to screen, scale it down a bit, put in on the left side of the render, then rotate it to match the flow of the sig and change its color to white and erase any parts that cover the render or look bad, u shud hve something lookin like this
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/c4d1.jpg
5. Now paste the same c4d again, change the blending mode to screen, scale and place it on the right side, rotate and change color, again erase any parts tht cover the focal or look bad
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/c4d2.jpg
7. now we are goin to add some lighting to it, lighting can improve the look of ur sig but where to put it is important, dont just put it randomly, take a look at the shading/lighting in ur render/stock that way u can determine where to put it.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/b4light.jpg
in this 1 the light seems to be coming from the top left corner, so create a new layer, take out a large soft brush, and brush (just click once or twice) in the top left corner, if it looks too bright then lower the opacity a bit
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/lightadded.jpg
8.Now we are goin to add a lil depth, i am not very good at it myself, most ppl use the blur tool and blur around the focal to make it stand out more, some ppl use the dodge and burn tool to bring out the focal to the front, u can try either of those, i am goin to use the blur tool.
so create new layer and go image>apply image, then take out a small soft brush, and blur around ur focal a lil, dont over do it
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/depth.jpg
9.we are almost done, now its turn to add text, text is many people's weak area including myself, here are some tips that i hve learnd from other so far.
use simpel system fonts like trebuchet ms, arial etc, and dont add just the title, try to make it more interesting by adding a keyword, caption, link etc, choose some light/dark colors from ur sig
Posiotiong Text: now this is very important, a mistake that all beginners make, i did too, DONT put ur texts in the corners, it looks bad and distracts away from the focal, so keep it away frm the corners, somewhere near your focal point
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/textadded.jpg
10. Optional: now we are pretty much done, all we need is a border, but the colors of the sig look raw/unprocessed, so we are goin to add a few adjustment layers to enhance it a bit, Gradient maps can change the look of ur sig significantly, so here are the gradient maps i did
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/gradient1.jpg
set to normal 55%
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad1added.jpg
then add a purple n Orange
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad2.jpg
set to soft light 60%
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad2added.jpg
in the end adjust the briughtness and contrast a bit
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/contrast.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/contrastadded.jpg
11. Now finally add a border and your done.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/tut.png
I hope this tutorial was helpful to you guys, the tut is fairly simple but the objective was to share a few basic things about sig making that i hve learned from different tutorials and people. Its my 1st tutorial so if any part is unclear then i apologize, if u have any more suggestions or questions then feel free to ask
here is wt we will be making
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/tut.png
but i am goin to cover more than just how to make this sig, basically its a few tips that i hve learned along the way that i think can help the beginners as they helped me. I am goin to cover the folowing basics of sig making in this tutorial
1- Render/Stock Choice
2- Placement
3- Flow
3- Adding C4ds
4- Depth
5- Lighting
6- Text
7- Finishing touches
so lets get started
1- Render Choice
this is very important, to make a good sig u need a good render, so choose urs wisely and carefully, dont just go for an image u really like, here are a few things to consider when choosing ur renders
i- quality: low quality renders make low quality sigs, as simple as that, so make sure the render/stock ur choosing is good/high quality
ii: action: choose a render that has something goin on rather than just a simple character standing plainly, renders with action hve a natural flow and depth, so it makes it easier for u to maintain a flow in ur signature, heres an example
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumblebee-1.png
BAD, its a good render but there is not much goin on, its a lil hard to create a flow with that specially if ur a beginner like me
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumbl1ebee.png
Better, great render, has a flow to it
so now that we hve chosen our render, lets get started
there are many different ways to create backgrounds, but as i said that i am goin to keep it very simple, i am goin to use this pic of bumblebee camaro as the background
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/bumblebee-2.jpg
1: create a new document with ur preferd sig size, mine is 380 x 130
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step1.jpg
2: paste in ur car stock and place it in a way that will match the flow of ur render, flow is very important part of ur sig, your main focal point of the sig is ur render, and everything else is supposed to bring the attention of the viewer to that point
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step2.jpg
3: now take out ur render, paste it in and scale it to a decent size
that positioning of the render is important, dont put them in the corners (other than a few rare cases), putinn them in the corners will leave too much space in the sig which will distract the viewer which we definitely do not want, we want their attention focused on the render
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/step3.jpg
4. Now take out a c4d i am goin to use this 1
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/159.png
now paste it in and change its bleding mode to screen, scale it down a bit, put in on the left side of the render, then rotate it to match the flow of the sig and change its color to white and erase any parts that cover the render or look bad, u shud hve something lookin like this
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/c4d1.jpg
5. Now paste the same c4d again, change the blending mode to screen, scale and place it on the right side, rotate and change color, again erase any parts tht cover the focal or look bad
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/c4d2.jpg
7. now we are goin to add some lighting to it, lighting can improve the look of ur sig but where to put it is important, dont just put it randomly, take a look at the shading/lighting in ur render/stock that way u can determine where to put it.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/b4light.jpg
in this 1 the light seems to be coming from the top left corner, so create a new layer, take out a large soft brush, and brush (just click once or twice) in the top left corner, if it looks too bright then lower the opacity a bit
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/lightadded.jpg
8.Now we are goin to add a lil depth, i am not very good at it myself, most ppl use the blur tool and blur around the focal to make it stand out more, some ppl use the dodge and burn tool to bring out the focal to the front, u can try either of those, i am goin to use the blur tool.
so create new layer and go image>apply image, then take out a small soft brush, and blur around ur focal a lil, dont over do it
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/depth.jpg
9.we are almost done, now its turn to add text, text is many people's weak area including myself, here are some tips that i hve learnd from other so far.
use simpel system fonts like trebuchet ms, arial etc, and dont add just the title, try to make it more interesting by adding a keyword, caption, link etc, choose some light/dark colors from ur sig
Posiotiong Text: now this is very important, a mistake that all beginners make, i did too, DONT put ur texts in the corners, it looks bad and distracts away from the focal, so keep it away frm the corners, somewhere near your focal point
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/textadded.jpg
10. Optional: now we are pretty much done, all we need is a border, but the colors of the sig look raw/unprocessed, so we are goin to add a few adjustment layers to enhance it a bit, Gradient maps can change the look of ur sig significantly, so here are the gradient maps i did
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/gradient1.jpg
set to normal 55%
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad1added.jpg
then add a purple n Orange
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad2.jpg
set to soft light 60%
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/grad2added.jpg
in the end adjust the briughtness and contrast a bit
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/contrast.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/contrastadded.jpg
11. Now finally add a border and your done.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/AmmocK/tut.png
I hope this tutorial was helpful to you guys, the tut is fairly simple but the objective was to share a few basic things about sig making that i hve learned from different tutorials and people. Its my 1st tutorial so if any part is unclear then i apologize, if u have any more suggestions or questions then feel free to ask