General Art Tutorial: Making a Signature (GIMP Users Only)

[LozzyKate]

*I apologize in advance for the blurry images…I don’t know what caused that.*

I looked throughout the Avatars and Signatures section of the forums and I didn't see something like this here, so I thought I'd make this a thread.

Basically, all I'm really going to explain is how to make a signature, somewhat like mine. I'm going to go into great detail, so post any questions if you get confused at all.

So when you want to make a signature you first have to have a program that is suitable to making one. I use GIMP 2.6, so that is what you'll be seeing screenshots from throughout this tutorial. You can also use Photoshop. That is highly recommended since it does have many more features, that GIMP doesn't include. If you don't have GIMP go here: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ If you prefer Photoshop, I suggest a trial version of it.

Now, once you have GIMP, you're going to need brushes that will make you signature look good. You can download them practically anywhere that specializes in GIMP brushes. If you need somewhere to start, go here: Brushes. (That link is to DeviantArt).

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial.jpg?t=1283813155

^That is what you will see when you click the link.

Once you have downloaded the brushes that you like, you then have to install them into GIMP. Before you do that though, you have to unzip the ZIP folders that you downloaded. The ZIP folders contain various different brushes in the specific set of brushes that you chose to download. There are some files that have only one brush and stand as a single file. You don't have to do anything to those yet.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial1.jpg?t=1283813155

^ This is a ZIP File. To unzip it, right click on the folder, click extract all, then click extract.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial2.jpg?t=1283813600

Then, this should pop up:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial3.jpg?t=1283813631

Once that box disappears, you then have an unzipped folder. (Now, I had several folders already unzipped so that was just an example that I created.) Now, once all your folders are unzipped select all of them (Ctrl + A).

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial5.jpg?t=1283813917

Now, what you are going to do then is copy everything. To do that, hit Ctrl + C on your keyboard.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial4.jpg?t=1283813961

From there, you are then going to go to Start > Computer > OS (C: ) > Program Files > GIMP-2.0 > share > gimp > 2.0 > brushes.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial6.jpg?t=1283814063

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial7.jpg?t=1283814083

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial8.jpg?t=1283814102

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial9.jpg?t=1283814127

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial10.jpg?t=1283814159

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial11.jpg?t=1283814181

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial12.jpg?t=1283814199

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial13.jpg?t=1283814220

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial14.jpg?t=1283814229

Once you are there, you then hit Ctrl + V on your keyboard to paste the files into your brushes folder.

You now have a ton of new brushes in your Brush Toolbox in GIMP 2.6. Now, I know that that all seemed like a lot, but making a signature that you want others to envy takes a lot more work than it looks. This is just a forewarning: for me, it usually takes around 45 minutes to 2 hours to make a signature. Again, I know that seems like a long time, but if you have a request you have to take your time and make sure that it is done carefully and with care, so the person you are making the signature for is blown away.

From the point of pasting all the folders in the brushes folder, you can finally open GIMP. Once you have GIMP open, hit Ctrl + N on your keyboard and this will pop up:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial16.jpg?t=1283814946

Fill in 350 x 120 as the width and height (IN THAT ORDER). I usually make that the height and width for the signatures that I make. You can do whatever you prefer, but nothing too big. Always make sure that you’re following the signature rule here at Zelda Dungeon. You can get an infraction if you don’t.

Anyway, hit the “OK” button and a blank canvas will pop up that looks like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial17.jpg?t=1283814946

From there, click on the paintbrush over in the toolbox. Follow what the picture in the link below shows. You can ignore the brush that is selected (since you may not have that one), and you can ignore the scale. The scale just changed the size of the brush when you are getting ready to paint.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial18.jpg?t=1283815418

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial19.jpg?t=1283815418

Now, to explain what the opacity is…the opacity is basically how clearly you can see the stroke that you made with the brush. In other words, it is technically fading the brush stroke. I’ll explain later on what that will be used for.

Once you pick out the brush you’d like to use first, you can start painting the canvas. Use some variety in what brushes you use. Use a different brush for each stroke you make. If you run out of brushes that you’d like to use in the signature you’re making, then you can repeat brushes again. DO NOT OVERUSE YOUR STROKES THOUGH! Leave some space so there are some white spots in that canvas of yours.

Once you are done painting, you should have something that looks something like this. Again, you will be using different brushes, so don’t expect it to look exactly like what I have.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial20.jpg?t=1283816426

From there, go over to your Layers Dock, which look like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial21.jpg?t=1283816425

Click on the background layer and right click on it. Then, you are going to click on “Duplicate Layer.” Now, you will see two layers in the dock. One that says Background, and one that says Background Copy.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial22.jpg?t=1283816460

Once you have the copy, click on the Background Copy layer in the Layers Dock. The layer should turn blue.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial23.jpg?t=1283816772

Then, you’re going to go up to Filters and click on it. Next, you are going to mouse over Blur and choose Gaussian Blur.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial24.jpg?t=1283816828

This box should pop up at that point:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial25.jpg?t=1283816960

Again, you are just going to follow what the picture says. If you don’t want to choose thirteen as the point of how much the picture is blurred, you can choose what you think looks best.

At this point, your signature should look something like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial26.jpg?t=1283822701

Next, what you need to do is go over to the Layers Dock. Go over to the button that has an arrow pointing down. It should look like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial27.jpg?t=1283822701

Now, you need to click on that button and choose Multiply…well you can choose whatever you like the look of, but I always use this. What multiply does is it darkens and multiplies the colors of the brush strokes. It should turn out to look something like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial28.jpg?t=1283822840

Okay, once you have that done, you are now going to go up to Colors, click it, click Colorize, and you can now pick a color that you like.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial29.jpg?t=1283824129

Once your done, you’ll have something like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial30.jpg?t=1283824129

Now, here comes the challenging part…the render. You have to cut it out, copy it, paste it to your signature and then you have to make look right on the signature.

First, you have to have your render ready before you start making your signature. This is so the colors will blend nicely. I am going to use a picture of Link in a purple tunic.

To cut out your render, you have to open a new document. Hit Ctrl + N on your keyboard and the box will pop up; type in 1000 by 1000. I do that in case a picture is big or something.

Now, I have this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial31.jpg?t=1283826168

Since the picture is too far out for me to cut Purple Link out nicely and in good detail, I have to zoom in. All you have to do to zoom in is press the magnifying glass button in the toolbox.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/th_Tutorial32.jpg?t=1283826352

Now that I’m zoomed in, my screen now looks like this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial33.jpg?t=1283826316

Next, I am going to select the Free Select Tool. It looks like a lasso. What this does, is it allows me to cut out whatever I’d like from a picture. Note: To be able to start cutting out what you would like, click outside of the picture so it becomes part of the background.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial34.jpg?t=1283827105

If you mess up something while you are cutting out your render, just hit the backspace to try again at what it is you are trying to cut out.

Once you are finished, you’ll have something like this outside of your render:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial35.jpg?t=1283827105

Copy the render out of the picture by hitting Ctrl + C on your keyboard. From there, go back to your signature and paste it there by hitting Ctrl + V. Now you should have something similar to this:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial36.jpg?t=1283827105

Move the render around and style it however you like. You need to repeat the steps you took for the background. The only difference this time is choosing whatever mode you’d like to, once the copy of your render is blurred. (Note: To be able to do anything separately with your render, double-click on the “Pasted Layer (Floating Selection)” and hit the Enter key twice until the text isn’t gray. Also, to repeat something you did with the Filters part, hit Ctrl + F.) You should have your Layers Dock look like this afterwards:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial37.jpg?t=1283828534

Right Click on the copy of the render and select Merge Down, so the render will be one piece.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial39.jpg?t=1283828569

If you want a pop-out (or .png) image, then you need to do the following:

First, go to Image and click on it. Then, go to Canvas Size and click on it.

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial38.jpg?t=1283828569

This box should pop up. Note: unlink the link in the box (as shown in the picture below). This will allow you to edit the height and width separately, without them being changed in unison to be equal to each other. (I forgot to get a screenshot of this, so I went back and took one, so you could see what the box looked like.):

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac14/katcopley/Tutorial/Tutorial40.jpg?t=1283828696

Fix and adjust to how you would like. Again, don’t make the height to high or the width to wide. Unlink the height and width so you can change them freely and they won’t adjust so it’s equal to both the height and width.

If you go to Filters again, you can go to Light and Shadow and there are cool effects that make the signature look pretty epic, if you ask me. Also, on the toolbox, there should be a rotate tool. If you'd like to rotate your render in anyway, click that tool, then click on your render to rotate it the way you'd like to.

After this tutorial, I have completed it with this:

If you would like to use it, PM me or VM me. I can put your username in it if you’d like.

I hope this helps you make awesome signatures!

Try and make the signature that I just made and post your final pieces here (along with any questions). I'd like to see how much this tutorial helped you improve.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT:

Thanks to Kitsu, I was just informed that newer versions of GIMP can use Photoshop brushes (.abr files). Thanks Kitsu!

 

[figthersword]

thank you so much it's helps me a lot. God Bless always.

 

[bradley]

thank you for this great in-depth tutorial. I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know (custom brushes). Hopefully my next siggy will show that.

 

[LozzyKate]

thank you for this great in-depth tutorial. I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know (custom brushes). Hopefully my next siggy will show that.

No problem. Haha I hope that three-and-a-half hours of work shows you new stuff. Lol. Can't wait to see your next signature then.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

Nice tutorial, but I just wanted to add that newer versions of GIMP (2.6 and up, I think) can use .abr files, or Photoshop Brush files. So you don't just have to use GIMP brushes.

Further, you can download plugins from http://registry.gimp.org/ . To install them, just move the download file to Home/*username*/.gimp-2.*/plugins (Linux) or *:\Program Files\Gimp-2.*\share\gimp\2.0\plugins (path might be slightly different on your hard drive)

 

[LozzyKate]

Nice tutorial, but I just wanted to add that newer versions of GIMP (2.6 and up, I think) can use .abr files, or Photoshop Brush files. So you don't just have to use GIMP brushes.

Further, you can download plugins from http://registry.gimp.org/ . To install them, just move the download file to Home/*username*/.gimp-2.*/plugins (Linux) or *:\Program Files\Gimp-2.*\share\gimp\2.0\plugins (path might be slightly different on your hard drive)

Well thank you there for letting me know. I appreciate it.

 

[figthersword]

BTW did you use an application like adobe photoshop?

 

[LozzyKate]

BTW did you use an application like adobe photoshop?

I mentioned in the tutorial that used GIMP 2.6. The title says the program as well. I don't own Photoshop.

 

[figthersword]

Oh, sorry, i thought you've use another application besides of using the GIMP 2.6.

 

[LozzyKate]

Oh, sorry, i thought you've use another application besides of using the GIMP 2.6.

I have used Photoshop before, but I can't seem to handle all of it. It's a very involved program. It may look like it's simple, but it's actually really not at all.

 

[figthersword]

I have used Photoshop before, but I can't seem to handle all of it. It's a very involved program. It may look like it's simple, but it's actually really not at all.

I guess you're right, well for me as an I.T student (my college course now before i'm a NURSING student) when you use the photoshop for the first time it's so hard to do some things, like a color combinations and the contrast. But if you will try to practice with that application you will love it.

Remember there's a quote "Practice Makes Perfect"

 

[bradley]

I have used Photoshop before, but I can't seem to handle all of it. It's a very involved program. It may look like it's simple, but it's actually really not at all.

^This. Plus I despise it because itis the biggest resource hog you are ever likely to come across.

 

[figthersword]

^This. Plus I despise it because itis the biggest resource hog you are ever likely to come across.

Have you ever experience to use a photoshop in just 6 months?

 

[bradley]

Have you ever experience to use a photoshop in just 6 months?

I can't really understand what you are saying, but I used to run it on a quad-core CPU with 6gb of RAM and it slowed down my computer immensely, but my HD was failing so that may explain a bit.
....But lets not let this get any more off-topic.

 

[figthersword]

I can't really understand what you are saying, but I used to run it on a quad-core CPU with 6gb of RAM and it slowed down my computer immensely, but my HD was failing so that may explain a bit.
....But lets not let this get any more off-topic.

Ok bradley sorry if my words are getting off to this topic.