Cool sigs!

Dang, i've been here 5 minutes and I'm in awe!
Who makes the cool sigs around here? cuz i need pointers.
I'll post some of my work here later. (nothin special)

well the main sig makers are Dr Maniacal (sry if its spelt wrong) and Raimu
Me and zeph also make sigs however here is my newest sig
Not sure how the lettering worked out but its pretty ok if i do say so myself

but i have the best sig of all time... believe it.

I can give you plenty of pointers, 57r!k3r.

I've given Petro lots, and his new sig shows.. a little improvement.

Just ask away n' stuff.

I can also give you tips on animation!!!!

YEAH. The first thing i'd like to know?
WHAT PROGRAM IS USED!!!!!!
I have printshop, but thats not worth much.
EDIT:
Also-where do u get the wicked backgrounds?

well they all use adobe photoshop which isnt that cheap really but i use a free one called gimp 2.6
and the backgrounds are more composed of a mixture of effects masks and stock images found around the web

I use Photoshop CS2. Petro's right, it's rather expensive. Thank god my Dad had a copy.

I use C4ds, a special type of a stock photo. You erase, use brushes, and blend multiple together to make awesome backgrounds. On my current sig, I have all C4Ds.

It's important to use brushes you find on the web to add to your sig. They can really add to the effect, or fix a certain spot you think is empty. They are also good replacement c4ds!


So let's recap for those of you who skim. Use Brushes, C4Ds, Stock Photos, blend them together, and have a good idea for the sig itself. Make sure the focus of the sig, (the character or thing) isn't too blurred, or hard to see. Make it obviously the focus, but make sure it fits into the sig. It looks bad if it seems out of place.

Woah! thats the best help i've ever received....
Allright, money isn't a problem, here. (income tax. Woot!)
What can i buy, so I can start bein officially tutored?
And is it online? Or can i hop and skip over to the nearest wal*mart and buy it?

Well, here's some of what i consider my best. (the rest are in horrible shape. >.<)
One thing i wanna learn, and its probably obvious, but how do ya make the shapes all wicked as well?
I mean, mine are all boring squares.

My god, i'm havin a blast with these smileys.

Woah. It seems your images are WAAAAY too big. The size itself is pretty big too. But omg everything inside seems blown up too much. The stuff is rly blurry inside.

As for boring shapes, Doc made a topic for just that. Look for Doc's Tutorials.
I think you need Photoshop for that though.

I like my sig's squarishness THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

jk... yet not O_o

57r!k3r wrote:Woah! thats the best help i've ever received....
Allright, money isn't a problem, here. (income tax. Woot!)
What can i buy, so I can start bein officially tutored?
And is it online? Or can i hop and skip over to the nearest wal*mart and buy it?

Uh.. just type in Photoshop in google.. they have a website I think. You can get the best version.


BTW, DONT DOUBLE POST!!! IT'S ILLEGAL! D : <

*posts before Zeph gets here*

Okay first off... most of these seem very pixilated, the one with Striker's Luigi is a prime example. Be really careful about resizing your images so that they won't become pixilated, and so that the quality won't be reduced. Also, always choose the highest quality picture possible to use as the subject of your signature. You don't want the main focal point to be blocky/pixilated, or blurred (unless the blur is slight, and there for a reason such as expressing motion/depth). Also, when shrinking or expanding your main pic, be careful not to distort it. The Striker's Luigi is again, an example of this, see how he seems to be squished and stretched to fit inside the sig? You don't want to do that. Make the sig fit around him, rather than making him fit inside the sig. Don't limit yourself to a particular canvas size.

Also, be careful about how you use blending modes. Don't just put something on Overlay because you can. Take into account how it will work and blend with the rest of the sig, and if whatever is on the layer you're switching the blending mode of, make sure that it still stands out. The very bottom one, with Link Snake and marth, is what I'm targeting with that statement. I can see Link because the area behind him is light, and he contrasts well with it, so overlay (or whatever mode you used) was not bad idea there. However, I can't see Snake at all, and Marth is a little difficult to make out. With that sig, I think you should try making the characters the background, and overlaying the blue background thing on top of them. Then go in with a soft eraser on maybe 30% opacity, and erase the bits of blue that obscure the characters.

One more thing, try not to make text the main focus of the sig, unless you have no pictures. Really standout-ish text, like the "Charged" in the Luigi sig, takes away from the sig's flow, and is distracting. If you include text, you want it to blend with the flow, mood, and theme of the sig. If you have a grungy, dynamic sig, a grungy font would be the best choice. If you have a calm sig with a graceful flow, you'll want something in cursive. And so on. That's why fonts are important.

Anyways, that;s all the critique I feel like writing right now... oh, and for the custom shapes, I developed a methood for getting those a while ago, here's my tutorial: https://smashunderground.darkbb.com/art-gallery-f17/tutorials-t387.htm

EDIT: Darn you Zeph. XD

Dr_Maniacal wrote:*posts before Zeph gets here*
EDIT: Darn you Zeph. XD

Pwnt! XD

Zephron© wrote:

Dr_Maniacal wrote:*posts before Zeph gets here*
EDIT: Darn you Zeph. XD

Pwnt! XD

SPAM! xD

Nice job for a beginner i'm the softy after zeph and doc come here xD.

You could use some adjustments and please read docs post so you know about the tutorials!

Again great job for a beginner!

Allright, sweet! I'd jump right on that, but.......alas, photoshop escapes meh grip.
Will take what all said to heart. starting with WHERE TA BUY PRINTSHOPNESS.
Afterwards, i'll check out that link. Need all the help i can get.
.........poor dr. maniacal.

About the double posting.......I could have sworn i waz editing the same post......

57r!k3r lemme get this clear you dont need to spend dollars to do the stuff we are doin on the site. Adobe photoshop is only nessecary if your doing this professionally really. Gimp 2.6 works perfectly fine and it doesnt cost a penny. just google it.

You make that meta knight sig with gimp?

nah my sig is made by doc but if you go to my gallery the sigs i have there are made with gimp.
However i could make my sig in gimp if i didnt detest changing the colors of things so much

Which is one of the many reasons Adobe is better. Just depends on you, 57r!k3r.

Adobe has a lot more options and lets you do things easier, (and more people use it) but costs an arm and a leg

GIMP is free, but gives you a lot of trouble with things....

zeph what does gimp give one trouble with?

I cant use it because I have Macintosh (explains why I had to have photoshop)
but I've heard from others, that it has a couple weird ways of doing things, colors are sometimes difficult, it "detests" it like Petro said. And then there aren't nearly as many tutorials explaining GIMP, because you cant really read a Photoshop tutorial always and then translate it into gimp.

It's essentially an advanced version of MS Paint.

no it doesnt hate colouring i hate colouring and there are alot of gimp tutorials

Not as many as PS....

Anyways, I'm not trying to argue. Just saying for free, GIMP is good, but Adobe Pohotoshop has 10x more things you can do to make it look better, and it's worth the money if the guy can buy it.

Of course, if he really is just trying this as some side hobby, GIMP would be best until he wants to get serious.

Art... a hobby? Artwork is ALWAYS serious business.

Photoshop for the win; if you can get it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

I wouldn't ever suggest for it to be a hobby, but unfortunately some people consider it as so. So sad Q_Q