Cool Sigs....

Vamp, if you want it let me know what text you prefer

 

1002 posts in this thread

I made 2 for scribe :

 

That's awsome Billy, great work.

You guys keep on amayzing me - great work to all of you.

 

If you got PS CS3, stick with it. If you don't, look for a copy on zhe netz there's hundreds of working retail versions waiting for a download. I found one so it can't be that hard.
CS3 isn't harder to master than any other, you just gotta learn the basics on layers, paths, blending and using the pen tool instead of the crap you get with lasso and magic wand tool.
In fact when using the pen tool you can draw a path over the corner of a single pixel making the pic sharper than you can ever achieve with sharpen effects and all.
First of all, work with the largest possible pics you can find (2500x1600 is good); you can resize them later on.
Always resize them in PS using the best quality for reduction.
Start with a new layer, minimum size in my opinion is 1350x450 although I currently work with 2100x700 and 600dpi. Sadly PS won’t apply certain changes in 32 bit so leave it at 8 bit if you’re doing a lot of work on the pic.
Once you adjusted, cut or whatever you’ve done with the pics, resize them to fit into this layer and position them where you prefer.
Never enlarge a pic because the loss of quality and the addition of pixel-noise will come back to haunt you; unless you’re using it as a general background and it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit fuzzy. Reducing the pixel-noise is an option that is available in PS CS3 but I only use it to clean up an original pic before I start working on it.

Now to single out a shape from it’s background there’s several techniques.

1. If the background is really white/bright or black/dark you can just overlay it over the new background and apply blending options (darken, lighten, overlay, screen, multiply etc…). Select the new background layer and brush it with white/black over the shape you imported, this will bring out the shape more clearly. Around the hair, which is mostly the frustration zone, use a brush with fading edges and reduce to 50%-10% so the contours of the hair will gradually clear and make a smooth transition to your new background.
2. The hard backgrounds are those with lots of gray scales and or multiple colours. Basically you use the same techniques as before but you need to prepare the original pic first. Do so by excluding of one of the 3 basic colours (RGB) on the left panel, this is working with layer masks. You can also enhance the pic using hue, saturation, brightness (ctrl U brings up the panel).
3. Use the pen tool to cut out the shape. Use the largest possible pic you have, zoom out as much as you want and start left clicking with the pen on the edges. Adjust the last point you clicked with the arrows to align them even better; click on the line between 2 points and bend it to create a more rounded path rather than a sawtooth one. When you reached your last point, click again on your first point (pen tool will show a “o” next of it) to close the path. Go to paths on your left panel and click the interupted circle on the bottom; this will turn your path into a selection. Click on layers again and press ctrl J to make a copy of the layer. You now have your shape sigled out and ready to drag it into your new background.
4. Fine tuning the hair or other parts can be done with the same technique as above. Draw a path over certain small areas, make a selection of it (see 3) and copy as new layer. Apply a small amount of Gaussian blur or sharpening effects to it and drag it over the existing pic; adjust the view with opacity, fill and or blending options like multiply.
5. Still not happy with the result … merge all the visible layers you want; you can now brush over any part of the pic you want. Here you can use the blur tool to soften a single hair (don’t use blur tool on hair contours). You can also use the healing brush (replace mode) to replace unwanted pixels between the hair with background pixels; blur it a bit if you feel it needs it.
6. Use a gradient mask from transparent to 100% opacity to those areas you want to create a smooth transition between new background and picture. This is a somewhat more advanced technique but works wonders.
7. Combine some or all of the above mentioned techniques and don’t forget … as you go along there’s tons more of techniques to apply and fiddle with.

These are some of the basic techniques to create a decent blend.
Don’t be discouraged if this feels like way too much … I guess it’s like having sex. Practice and experimenting will make you better over time, hell maybe one day you’ll give her an orgasm …not that I give a fuck if she does but it all adds to your personal list of things to do in life.
Just remember, as in sex you need quality material to work with in PS CS3. If you can’t start with that … leave it and go and have a beer with the mates … much more fun.

 

My first attemp on Picture it! by Microsoft its about 10 yrs old program but a damn good one and full.

 

Those are all very well described TCF. A perfect explanation. I have learned and tried all of those. But the easiest way is color selection. All of the colors in my sigs originated from the original pic. I just use the color sampler and stay within that color scheme. But then again....I am not overlaying pics. All of my stuff is brushed.

 

Names are for demo purposes only.

 

damn nice ones dude!

 

I really like that one Jammsbro !

 

My very first try thanx to Perfect4ths and the cunt factory, still trying out some stuff don't think it's really bad

 

who is that?

I like your Amanda one.

 

I didnt make that one

And the one you mentioned is Linda Mertens.
She's a dutch singer

 

Decent job you did there, bogmon!

 

I looked her up, she's got some hot photos. I never heard her music though. I'm guessing she's a pop singer?

 

As you can probably tell i prefer simple sig designs.

Billy is more along my lines of sig design. He's went from a guy who can barely make a sig to the forefront of the guys who do them in here in a very short time.
I'd say he's my favourite sig maker right about now.

 

I friggin love mine. damn great work!

and as many said "holy shit it's not a hayden one!"

 

I thought I'd give it a try. I like the way this came out.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>