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Depu Techiikue
09-10-2006, 21:30
INTRODUCTION TO SMUDGING -- FOR SIGS
- a tutorial by .KrytikaL. // Hell And Heaven Net

This is an introduction to smudging for signatures. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to make the following sig from scratch:

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8341/penellokrytbu0.jpg

Note that this tutorial will only be introducing you to smudging. My tutorial for advanced users who are more familiar with smudging will be coming soon. My advanced tutorial will be smudging only, as this one will rely on brushing for the final result.

Requirements
- Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or higher
- Default brush set used by Photoshop
- Basic knowledge on brushing
- Basic knowledge on the toolbar
- A creative drive, and patience :P

Step One
First, find a "render" you want to use for the sig. A render is your picture of the character, or object, that your sig will feature. For this tutorial, I will be using a render of Penello from Final Fantasy XII.

If you wish to use the same render as me, you can get it here:
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/3177/annieeco4.png

Step Two
Now it's time to make your canvas. Look at the details of your render to estimate what would be a just size for the canvas. For the tutorial, I will be making a canvas with the 375 (width) by 140 (height) dimensions. Be sure your resolution is set to 72 pixels per inch, your color mode is RGB Clolor, and the background is transparent.

Step Three
Now it's time to pick our colors. Press "D" on your keyboard to reset your fore and background colors. Then, click on your eyedropper tool (right above the magnifying glass in the toolbar), and select a somewhat bright color of your render. For this tutorial, I'm going to be using that light shade of green from her sleeve. If you want the exact same color, the HEX color code is D4EED5.

Step Four
Now, we must fill our canvas! Grab the gradient tool, which is one space to the right from the eraser tool. On the top, make sure the linear gradient mode is selected -- the most far left gradient button of the five. For mode, make sure it says Difference, and for Opacity make sure it's at 100%. Be sure Reverse is unchecked, and Dither and Transparency are both checked.

Now, hold down Shift, and from the middle drag your cursor down to the bottom of the canvas. You should see a mostly green canvas. What you can't see is the bottom is fading into a white, but due to the brightness of this green it may be hard to notice. This will come in handy later on.

Step Five
Apply your render to the canvas. Be sure you resize it so that it's not too big for the canvas. You can use CTRL + T to open the free transform option for that layer (the render), then hold Shift and move the corners in to resize the entire render in its proper proportions. Placement of the render is entirely up to you. For this tutorial, I will be putting the render in the middle. Here is my result thus far:

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/5627/1gf4.jpg

Step Six
Now it's time to set up the smudging. Start off by ensuring your render layer is selected, and hold down CTRL and press "J" five times; this will duplicate the layer five times, and put each layer on top of the last one. Right now your layers box should say "Layer 2 copy 5", unless you've renamed any of your layers. Now, select the smudge tool (right under the eraser tool, if you see a drop of water or a triangle, left click and hold down on that button then select the hand), and at the top where it says "Brush:" and shows what brush you're using, select the arrow to change your brush, and select the default brush that looks like a really messy and grungey bear claw scratch, and is at size 63.

Here is what the brush will look like:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4119/2ug3.jpg

If you do not see that brush, then click the arrow pointing to the right next to the brush size box, and go to Reset Brushes...

--- ~ Part Two Below ~ ---

Depu Techiikue
09-10-2006, 21:42
Step Seven
Go to Window > Brushes, and use these settings:

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3772/3zp7.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/899/4el7.jpg


Step Eight
This step requires your creative drive as well! Now, select the bottom layer (the original render), and with your smudge tool selected still, just start smuding all over the canvas. You'll fix the uglyness later. Once you're done, set this layer to Color Dodge in the blending options drop down menu.

Now select the layer above this, and it will automatically become visible. Now, just smudge over her body, face and arm. You'll see some brownish smudging. Set this layer to Hard Light. For the layer above this one, do the exact same thing.

For the next layer, just do some basic smudging around the outline of her body. Put this layer to Screen. You'll see your old result brightened up a bit. For the next layer, just put it to Linear Light to add some emphasis to the current result.

For the final layer, put it to Overlay to increase the emphasis on it.

I did not go into great detail for this section, as it really requires you to use your own style. This was my result for the smudging.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/55/5ya5.jpg

While this is a tutorial teaching you how to smudge, it will always be different for every person, as it depends on your artistic stroke with your hand. The best thing you can do for learning how to smudge is just follow the guidebook, that I've posted right up there.

Step Nine
Start off by clicking your brush tool. Now, press "X" on your keyboard to swap your fore and background colors. Now, your creative drive must come in! Since every sig will be different for this step as it depends on the render, you must experience with your own style of brushing for this. But I'll still tell you how I'm doing it on this. Start off by making a new layer (SHIFT + CTRL + N), and name it whatever you want. Put the color to None and the Opacity to 100%, and the Mode to None. Click OK.

To make things easier to see, I suggest turning your foreground color to Black. Now, select whatever brush you like best. I'm going to use the Wind Brushes.

If you want the wind brushes, you can download from any one of these links I've uploaded them to:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7VYCALR3
http://rapidshare.de/files/36123723/WindBrushes4.abr

Now, on your new layer you created, brush one time on the right side and one time on the left side. Now hold down CTRL and click on the layer you just brushed one. Create a new layer (SHIFT + CTRL + N) and use the same settings as the one from above.

Step Ten
Now, swap your foreground and background colors again, so that light shade of green is your foreground again. With the selection from your brush layers still on, go to Edit > Fill. In the message box, for Use, select Foreground Color. For blending, put the Mode to Normal and Opacity to 100%. Click OK.

Now, set this green ugly looking layer to Color, and duplicate it three times. Now, merge the bottom green layer with the brushing layer, and then the next bottom green layer with the brushing layer again. You have to do it in reverse for the effect we want.

Now, once you're done, your brushing layer will be blackish-greenish. Now, set the brushing layer to Hard Light, and put the opacity to 40%.

--- ~ Part Three Below ~ ---

Depu Techiikue
09-10-2006, 21:43
Step Eleven
Now, apply your render to the canvas again at it's normal size. But now, we're going to do another free transform (CTRL + T), and make it bigger. Hold down shift, and move one of the corners OUTWARD. Once you have the render so her face and arm cover up most of the canvas, click the checkmark on the top menu or click the move tool. Use your smudge tool to smudge all over the canvas, covering it in brownish smudge marks. Now put this layer to Overlay, and then duplicate this layer. On the duplicated layer, put the blending mode to Soft Light.

Here is my result this far:
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8088/6bw5.jpg

Step Twelve
In your layers window, you will six buttons on the bottom. Click the fourth one, that looks like a circle that is half black half white. From that menu, click on Levels. Move the Levels dialogue box away from your canvas so you can see what this will be doing to your sig. You can either use the values I'm giving you, or mess around with the arrows yourself. You'll notice their effects as you move them. Moving them to the right will darken your sig, and moving them to the left will brighten it.

In the Input Levels boxes, put 0.40 in the middle box. Then in the left box, enter in 40. In the right box, enter in 250. Now remember, at this step, you can use your own settings.

Step Thirteen
Time for your creative drive to kick in again! From here, click the same button (half black half white circle), and select Hue/Saturation. Click Colorize, then enter in these settings:

Hue: 223 | Saturation: 59 | Lightness: +14

Now put this layer to Hard Light. Put the opacity to 49%.

Repeat this step, but use these settings:

Hue: 0 | Saturation: 47 | Lightness: +14.

Once again, put this layer to Hard Light. Put the opacity to 49%.

This is my result:
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/4924/7rn4.jpg

Step Fourteen
Now, make a new layer (SHIFT + CTRL + N) and go to Image on the top menu, then select Apply Image. Use the default settings, and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 4.0, and then click OK. Put this layer to Lighten, then drop the opacity to 49%.

Step Fifteen
Add some text, and a border, and you're done! If you're not sure on how to make your text look cool, check out the other tuts on HHN. Here is my final result:

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8341/penellokrytbu0.jpg

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please post your results! I want to see how the results turned out for everyone... it will help me with my tut writing and the more results I see the more I'll be encouraged to write more. :p

//.C.o.l.o.r.[s] <3
25-11-2006, 00:36
once again a nice tut! ^^

my outcome:
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/Kaito_03/Allensig.png

Depu Techiikue
27-11-2006, 19:33
XD!!! Nice text. :P LOL

Thanks for following the tut. Nice outcome! Nice coloring on your's. =P

Danke for the complements on the tut. =D

Xenoti
28-11-2006, 03:44
hey when I tried this with photoshop 7.0 when I tried to use the brush tool, i didnt have the options in the windows as you did, nor did it even do anything to the first render when i clicked