INTRODUCTION
A few people were asking whether I could do a tutorial. I really appreciate that people want to know how I make my pieces. But my honest answer is, I am too lazy to do a full scale tutorial as it will require a lot of printscreens, cropping, managing and writing
. I apologize for this. Nevertheless, I have decided to compile a list of tips and tricks that I have used, and may be useful for some artists in improving their works, or making things more efficient. I apologize if some of you know about these things before.
Note that the following are for photoshop tools. I am not sure how similar it is to GIMP. Sorry GIMP users.
GFX TIPS AND TRICKS
1.)
Situation: The text is very unfitting or not blended well.
What to do: Try one or more of the following techniques
Solution#1
Study the sigs and 'infer' the right font
-Study the signature carefully. Is it a 'serious' sig? a 'cheerful' one? a 'sad' one? a simple one?
-Serious and simple sigs may use serious fonts such as blue highway, delicious smallcaps, agency, etc. Scripts work well too (see below)
-Serious fonts surprisingly work very well with cheerful sigs (e.g. sigs on moogles, cute stuff, etc). Fancy fonts such as Bradley hands ITC and comic sans ms do not usually work with these sigs, actually. In fact, I perceive them as unsuitable to be used in any type of signature at all.
-'sad' sigs work well with script fonts. But unfortunately the typical default fonts in most computers do not have much decent script-like fonts. But the ones available for download work very well with solemn-looking sigs.
Solution#2
Use more than one type of font
-Use contrasting fonts such as a script font and a serious font.
-These two should have contrasting colors too, if possible. But sometimes the same shade of color work well.
Solution#3
Vague text effect
-Not everything vague is bad. Sometimes, vague text turns out great as long as the main text is completely visible.
-Vague texts may be in the form of:
A. very low opacity
B. very small font size
C. cluttered together
D. mirror image
E. vertical texts
-Larger text volume usually work well with vague text.
-Place them below, behind or on top of the main text. Experiment with it to get better effects.
Solution#4
Erase to get shadow effect
-Once the text is finalised, rasterize the text layer.
-Using the less opaque brush, erase the edges as desired. Do not erase too much as it may affect visibility
Solution#5
Decrease the opacity or play with the colors
-Decrease the text opacity to blend even more with the sig
-Change the font color to one that is less clashing with the background
-you may even apply a gradient overlay on the text
Solution#6
Outer glow effect
-Double click on the text layer.
-Check 'outer glow'
-There are different kinds of outer glow effects that you can achieve.
A. black outline
*Change blend mode of the outer glow to 'normal'
*change the color of the outer glow to black
*You may need to adjust opacity, spread, size or range of the glow
*black outlined texts work best if the inner color is light
B. bright text
*Change the blend mode of the outer glow to 'color dodge'
*change the color of the outer glow to something light
*You may need to adjust opacity, spread, size or range of the glow
*bright texts work best if the inner color is dark
-experiment with other different text blend modes such as 'screen', and also different outer glow colors
-Outer glow also works well with brushes such as stars, specks, etc.
Solution#7
Text placement
-Before you begin your work, you should have some idea of where do you want to place the text.
-Therefore, you should have left some space to place the text.
-Placing parts of the text on the body of the characters can work quite well as long as their faces are not disrupted.
-Avoid placing texts in either of the four corners.
-It is advisable to place texts on or just adjacent to the brightest spot in the sig.
Solution#8
Add accompaniments
-This includes vague text, brushes or small pictures. For example, small paint splashes, simple circles/squares, stars, hearts and other well defined images.
-Place near or behind the main text.
-Adjust opacity of these images if necessary.
Additional tips on text problems:
-You may need to download new fonts for best results.
-applying 'drop shadow' to text does not work well most of the time. Avoid this, unless the applied text is vague and/or is placed behind the main text.
2.)
Situation: Background of the sig is too crowded and/or there are too many colors.
What to do: Select the background layer. If there is more than 1 layer involved in the background, group them together OR use apply image. To apply image, create a new layer, select image>apply image. Then apply one or more of the following to the layer:
Solution#1
blend the background components together
-select filter>artistic>dry brush
Solution#2
Increase OR decrease the brightness of the layer
-select image>adjustment>brightness/contrast
-move the cursor for brightness as desired
-sometimes you have to go the extreme ends of the spectrum to get the best results
Solution#3
Decreasing opacities
-behind the current layers, fill a new layer with a desired color.
-decrease opacities of the layers in front by double clicking on these layers, then move the opacity cursor.
Solution#4
Adjusting saturation
-select image>adjustment>hue/saturation
-adjust the saturation by decreasing it
Additional tips on background problems:
-you can use a combination of the solutions above to get better effects
-if you only want the effect to be applied over certain regions, before applying the effect, copy the layer first. Apply the effects to the copied layer. Then on the copied layer, erase the regions that does not need the effect.
-The advantage of copying layers as above is, you can have a variety of opacities or color schemes on different regions.
-If you have to use 'apply image', use the eraser tool to remove the effects that were unnecessarily applied on text or the character.
-Warning: if you use apply image or grouping layers, it is no longer possible to edit the components of the grouped layers, obviously.
3.)
Situation: The render is not blended too well with the background
What to do: Do one or more of the following:
Solution#1
Applying gradients
-create a new layer on top of everything
-Select the gradient tool (it is below the eraser tool)
-choose a suitable gradient.
-apply to the whole piece
-change the blend mode of the layer to either:
A. soft light. Works best for gradients with less clashing colors
B. color burn. Works best for light gradients
C. color dodge. Works best for dark gradients
D. experiment with other blend modes if you are not happy with the above
Solution#2
Applying brushes
-Create a new layer
-use a suitable brush and apply around the edges of the render
-types of brushes that usually work well in blending:
A. specks/dust
B. bokeh
C. paint splashes
-Adjust opacity of the brush as necessary
Solution#3
Some of the tricks in 'background problems' above can also work well in blending the render, but do not apply too much.
Additional tips on blending problems:
-You may need to download new brushes/gradients/textures to have more variety or better effects.
-Use the erase tool to remove the brush/gradient from crucial regions such as character's faces. This will also create a great lighting effect.
-You may need several tries to get the best effects.
4.)
Situation: The sig looks to dark and uniform
What to do: apply one or more of the followings:
Solution#1
Photo filter
-apply image
-select image>adjustment>photo filter
-choose a suitable color. A clashing color surprisingly work well sometimes
-Erase the parts that look less fitting. e.g. character faces
-repeat for different colors to achieve a more colorful sig
-do not make photo filters too obvious
Solution#2
Lighting
A. adjust brightness
-apply image
-adjust brightness of the image
-erase unnecessary parts if they are too bright.
B. lens flare
-apply image
-Select filter>render>lens flare
-Move the cursor to the brightest area in the sig
-experiment with the different types of lenses as they can work well in some sigs, and not for others
C. lighting effects
-apply image
-Select filter>render>lighting effects
-experiment with the various lighting options and the position of lighting
D. vague black brush
-create a new layer
-use the faded brush and apply around the darker edges of the sig. Don't apply around the brighter edges.
-adjust opacity as desired
Additional tips on overall lighting and color problems:
-Warning: By using apply image it is no longer possible to edit the components of the grouped layers, obviously.
I think that's all for now. I may update if I think of something else. Again, I am sure most of you know a portion of the ones I mentioned above already. So I apologize for that. I also apologize if I had made any mistakes or I have unintentionally suggested an inefficient method. I am still relatively new in graphics. Take note that not everything advised here always work. Experiment with different effects and practice to get better.
Good luck!
