As I've been really busy in real life, I have been forced to put my signature service on hold. Due to complaints about the wait and such, I've figured I have enough time to make a guide on creating a basic signature - please note, your photo-editing program may not support some of the things I'll be doing here. If so, just skip that part. Also, you do not need to copy this exactly, otherwise that's just.. well... uncreative. Step 1: Acquire a background image. This step is pretty self-explanitory. I find that a picture that has a mixture of trees, hills and some water works well. I'll be using the image below. If you can't seem to find a nice photo, you can take some pre-edited images from my photography thread here (Please note, in order to use one of the photos in this thread, you must give credit to me). Step 2: Create a canvas. Each photo-editing program is different, but creating a canvas isn't rocket science. I'll be using a 725x150 pixel canvas. Once that's done, throw in your background image. The whole photo probably wont fit into the canvas, so try and get the best shot. Step 3: Add some effects. Adding effects can be really simple, yet very complicated. I like to add a lot of blur - maybe blur out the whole background to direct attention to the text you're going to add later. Maybe enhance the exposure and colours. In this photo, I've added blur on the top and bottom. This leaves room for text in the middle. Step 4: Add text. Adding your name is basically essential on a signature. Maybe add some things about yourself (e.g. Master Builder | Visit #### for a good shop!"). Choosing a good font can change everything - one that fits in with the background is good. Say your background is a medieval build you made, a modern font wouldn't work that well. Instead, maybe choose a simple font, like Times New Roman. You can also find heaps of fonts on the internet. Here, I used Edmondsans. Bold for the top text (THE_LEGEND4), and regular for the bottom. Step 5: Publish! Your signature is basically complete, all you need to do is export it and upload it to imgur, or another image hosting site. Then copy the direct link and add it to your signature!
As I put in my sig request about 2 months ago I believe, will you still get around to it? Nice explanation! ~FDNY21
Thanks! Unfortunately, you put your request in at the time when I couldn't do anything - I'll be getting to all the signatures when I have the time.
I mainly use Adobe After Effects - which is actually a video editing program. I just use it as I have more experience with it than any other program. But if you have no experience and you're looking to get a program, I recommend Photoshop, because it has more features dedicated to photo editing.
And then there's just me making my sig in ms paint... Yours is obviously more creative and attractive than mine good guidelines though
Thanks everyone for the awesome feedback! I really appreciate it. If I have time, I may be able to do one or two more tutorials - maybe about a 3D players and such. What do you all think?
As far as free programs go, I'd recommend GIMP, it is pretty powerful for being free. Legend might know of a better one though.
I just wanted to say that I've been working in Photoshop for signatures, and I'd definitely recommend that. After having figured out where all buttons are and what they do, the program is pretty easy and comfortable to work with. Like Legend said, Photoshop gives more creative freedom for 2D images for example digital painting (it has more filters than After Effects I think? Not sure.), but After Effects can be quite handy for creating 3D objects. I tried GIMP a couple of years ago, and I remember the menus being less intuitive and cluttered, and the program was just taking up a lot of memory and being slow. But those were just my experiences haha. I might be too used to Photoshop. I bought the whole Adobe Suite with a student license by the way, which cost about $100. So for those doing a lot of graphic design in the future, that might be an option. Edit: Come to think of it, I'd recommend Paint Shop Pro as a free program. Also: Bump for Legend's tutorial :3 Has anyone tried making a sig with this tutorial? I'd love to see some awesome results!
The next step is using keyboard shortcuts, it accelerates everything a lot. Some of them: Ctrl+Z: Undo Ctrl+Alt+Z: Go backwards twice or more Ctrl+U: Color Ctrl+Shift+I: Reverse selection W: Magic Wand B: Brush/Pencil G: Gradient/Bucket I: Color picker Ctrl+E: Combine Ctrl+Shift+E: Combine all E: Eraser F5: Brush control panel R: Finger tool M: Square selection L: Lace selection C: Cut
