Pimpy
01-11-2009, 09:01 AM
Today we are trying to achieve this:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge9.jpg
I used the program Photoshop CS2, and my render was retrieved from www.planetrenders.net
Ok, so here we go.
I always start my sigs at 400 (width) x 150 (height) pixels, but some times I crop them down, this time one was of those time =\
Ok, so you make a new document and place your render in, so it takes up about 50-75% of the canvas, give or take a bit. A good sig almost always has a focal that takes up this size, as it is easy to find and gives a good point to look at.
What I got:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge1.jpg
Ok, so once you have your render in place, you will need to duplicate the render and get ready to smudge it to create your background.
ctrl + j = Duplicate Layer
Do not forget to leave one spare so you still have a render, place the spare render on top and hide the layer.
I now have this as my sig:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge2.jpg
I also saved myself alot of time, by merging all these layers, click on top visible layer and merge all your layer down onto 1 layer, this makes it easy to smudge.
ctrl + e = Merge Down
I still have the same result as above.
I know take the smudge tool and a 25 pixel soft brush.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge10.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge11.jpg
I always use a soft brush to smudge the background as it isn't too rough and can create great flow, thus creating a nice sig :)
I also usually keep my brush size for smudging from 10-30 pixels for the background layer, it varies a great deal when you get experienced and use other brushes, but for now, we are beginning and need to keep it simple :)
Ok, so when you are smudging to create the background, you need to create some flow.
My render appears to be moving down and to my left, so I smudge from this corner.
The only smudge setting I have on is smoothing, to keep it nice and smudge like?
The settings can be found in the brush presets on the right hand side of your screen (deafault setup)
Ok, after smudging this is what my result was:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge3.jpg
I did not achieve a great amount of flow as I made this sig ages ago and didn't know about flow.
But this is a good smudge sig so :)
I know unhide my render (the top layer) to see how it fits:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge4.jpg
My render stands out too much for a smudging sig, so I lightly smudge around the outside of the render with a 15 pixel soft brush achieving this result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge5.jpg
I thought my sig lacked flow, so I created a new layer,
Layer >>> New Layer
And applied my image.
Image >>> Apply Image
I then rippled my image, only thinking of the corners as they were rather sharp for what I wanted.
Filter >>> Distort >>> Ripple
My ripple settings were 100% and the ripple magnitude was set on medium.
I then erased the bits I didn't like with a soft brush to keep it blended.
This was my result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge6copy.jpg
I then thought my sig looked pretty cool so I added some text, I try to put my text close to the render.
This makes sure your eyes don't wonder away from the focal.
My result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge7.jpg
I lowered the opacity of my text so it wasn't too bright, and added a 1pixel black border to the outside of it.
Right click on layer >>> Blending options >>> Stroke
Click on stroke
I change colour to black, and made it 1 pixel instead of 3.
I then (don't know why) decided to add a gradient map, please remember I made this sig a while ago, looking back I don't believe it needed it.
To place a gradient map you need to go.
Layer >>> New adjustment Layer >>> Gradient map
Click drop down arrow to view options,
I chose the purple to orange gradient map, and put the layer on soft light with 50% opacity.
It gave the sig a softer look:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge8.jpg
I then added a really ugly border:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge9.jpg
To achieve this ugly border you need to apply your image, to do so see above.
And then go.
Edit >>> Stroke
To create this border, you will need to do this 3 times in this order.
1. A black stroke set on overlay at 5 pixels.
2. A white stroke set on overlay at 3 pixels.
3. A black stroke set on overlay or darken at 1 pixel.
Congradulations!
You have completed your sig, you can add your own personal touches where you think they are needed.
This tutorial is aimed at complete beginners for smudging, but with practice you can achieve other greater lookings sigs with this technique.
Other sigs where the sig was based on smudging:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/vap3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/Girv3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smoke.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/venom.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/Taz.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/viper.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/spidermanfate.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/my_samus.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/strife.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/maggie.jpg
And many many others.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge9.jpg
I used the program Photoshop CS2, and my render was retrieved from www.planetrenders.net
Ok, so here we go.
I always start my sigs at 400 (width) x 150 (height) pixels, but some times I crop them down, this time one was of those time =\
Ok, so you make a new document and place your render in, so it takes up about 50-75% of the canvas, give or take a bit. A good sig almost always has a focal that takes up this size, as it is easy to find and gives a good point to look at.
What I got:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge1.jpg
Ok, so once you have your render in place, you will need to duplicate the render and get ready to smudge it to create your background.
ctrl + j = Duplicate Layer
Do not forget to leave one spare so you still have a render, place the spare render on top and hide the layer.
I now have this as my sig:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge2.jpg
I also saved myself alot of time, by merging all these layers, click on top visible layer and merge all your layer down onto 1 layer, this makes it easy to smudge.
ctrl + e = Merge Down
I still have the same result as above.
I know take the smudge tool and a 25 pixel soft brush.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge10.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge11.jpg
I always use a soft brush to smudge the background as it isn't too rough and can create great flow, thus creating a nice sig :)
I also usually keep my brush size for smudging from 10-30 pixels for the background layer, it varies a great deal when you get experienced and use other brushes, but for now, we are beginning and need to keep it simple :)
Ok, so when you are smudging to create the background, you need to create some flow.
My render appears to be moving down and to my left, so I smudge from this corner.
The only smudge setting I have on is smoothing, to keep it nice and smudge like?
The settings can be found in the brush presets on the right hand side of your screen (deafault setup)
Ok, after smudging this is what my result was:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge3.jpg
I did not achieve a great amount of flow as I made this sig ages ago and didn't know about flow.
But this is a good smudge sig so :)
I know unhide my render (the top layer) to see how it fits:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge4.jpg
My render stands out too much for a smudging sig, so I lightly smudge around the outside of the render with a 15 pixel soft brush achieving this result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge5.jpg
I thought my sig lacked flow, so I created a new layer,
Layer >>> New Layer
And applied my image.
Image >>> Apply Image
I then rippled my image, only thinking of the corners as they were rather sharp for what I wanted.
Filter >>> Distort >>> Ripple
My ripple settings were 100% and the ripple magnitude was set on medium.
I then erased the bits I didn't like with a soft brush to keep it blended.
This was my result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge6copy.jpg
I then thought my sig looked pretty cool so I added some text, I try to put my text close to the render.
This makes sure your eyes don't wonder away from the focal.
My result:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge7.jpg
I lowered the opacity of my text so it wasn't too bright, and added a 1pixel black border to the outside of it.
Right click on layer >>> Blending options >>> Stroke
Click on stroke
I change colour to black, and made it 1 pixel instead of 3.
I then (don't know why) decided to add a gradient map, please remember I made this sig a while ago, looking back I don't believe it needed it.
To place a gradient map you need to go.
Layer >>> New adjustment Layer >>> Gradient map
Click drop down arrow to view options,
I chose the purple to orange gradient map, and put the layer on soft light with 50% opacity.
It gave the sig a softer look:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge8.jpg
I then added a really ugly border:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smudge9.jpg
To achieve this ugly border you need to apply your image, to do so see above.
And then go.
Edit >>> Stroke
To create this border, you will need to do this 3 times in this order.
1. A black stroke set on overlay at 5 pixels.
2. A white stroke set on overlay at 3 pixels.
3. A black stroke set on overlay or darken at 1 pixel.
Congradulations!
You have completed your sig, you can add your own personal touches where you think they are needed.
This tutorial is aimed at complete beginners for smudging, but with practice you can achieve other greater lookings sigs with this technique.
Other sigs where the sig was based on smudging:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/vap3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/Girv3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/smoke.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/venom.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/Taz.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/viper.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/spidermanfate.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/my_samus.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/strife.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff148/pimpywimp/maggie.jpg
And many many others.