FrankenFan's Photoshop Fundamentals — Sig Tutorial

[FrankenFan]

I used the same settings on all four busts, so I will have to look at the Frank and Drac; I thought it was a little too severe as well. The reason it became to wide was that I started at a width of 500 pixels and when I added the drop shadow, I had to increases it for the shadow to show up!

Results will always vary dependent on the base image to which the filter, effect, or mode is being applied. The Emboss worked well with the colors and the harder edges of the armored Iron Man figure, but may not be the best choice for the softer contours of the heads on the busts.

As you become more familiar with the results the various FX produce, you'll eliminate some of the guess-work in setting up your canvas size. For instance, I know that the default Drop Shadow settings will produce a gradient that adds 7-pixels to the right side of an image, and 8-pixels to the bottom (see attachment). After applying an effect, zoom-in to examine how it altered the original image.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I don't get a lot of time at work to play around with Photoshop, so that is why I am a little slow at this, but now that I am actually beginning to understand some of the tools and effects, I may have to get a copy for myself! A new signature and avatar are still being worked on, so soon...

You're off to a good start, Lonnie! Photoshop is an incredibly complex program to master; The more I learn, the more I realize how little I truly know!

 

[ChrisCJ99]

Holy crap man! This is supposed to be for BEGINNERS???

Man, I'm supposed to be going to school in January for graphic design.... They recommended that I familiarize myself with Photoshop and Illustator before stepping into class. I've never used these programs, and man I'm REALLY intimidated right now

But here's my attempt at the sig tutorial. Today was the FIRST time I've EVER opened up Photoshop. I skipped a few steps in the tutorial, as I couldn't really understand it. But I though it came out ok. What do you guys think?!?!

 

[FrankenFan]

Holy crap man! This is supposed to be for BEGINNERS???

Man, I'm supposed to be going to school in January for graphic design.... They recommended that I familiarize myself with Photoshop and Illustator before stepping into class. I've never used these programs, and man I'm REALLY intimidated right now

But here's my attempt at the sig tutorial. Today was the FIRST time I've EVER opened up Photoshop. I skipped a few steps in the tutorial, as I couldn't really understand it. But I though it came out ok. What do you guys think?!?!

Chris!

Photoshop is an incredibly feature-rich professional-level app with a virtually bottomless toolbox that can be quite daunting to both the novice and experienced user. But don't let that discourage you from getting in there and getting your hands dirty!

I'm sorry that you had trouble following some of my instructions. If you would name the specific steps you did not understand, I'll do my best to clarify them for you.

I must say, if this is your first time time using Photoshop, I think you have a very bright future ahead of you in the graphic design world!

 

[ChrisCJ99]

So FrankenFan, now that the forum colors have changed can I simply use the eye dropper tool to match the "Grey" background of forum posts?

Haven't tried it yet, but thought I'd ask

 

[FrankenFan]

...match the "Grey" background of forum posts?

New color is RGB 236,236,236.

 

[ChrisCJ99]

New color is RGB 236,236,236.

Thanks!

 

[ChrisCJ99]

So I gotta say THANK YOU again for the tutorial here! I've used it as a reference every time I make a sig

And I'm starting to mess a little with animations in photoshop. This is gonna be fun now

 

[laudel7]

This thread is awesome

What version of photoshop should I really get? I would only really use it for sig's or messing around with

 

[laudel7]

Anyone?

 

[FrankenFan]

You can pick up Photoshop Elements 9 for around $80 USD. It's not nearly as full-featured as Photoshop CS5 or CS5 Extended, but for what you're looking to do, it's a more affordable alternative. You can download a free trail version at Adobe.com.

You should also check out GIMP. It's free, very well documented, and features an animation tool called GAP. Did I mention that it's free?

Hope this helps and, good luck with your choice!

 

[laudel7]

thanks

 

[McHavyck]

Thanks for the informative tutorial! My first attempt is below. While being far from perfect, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot in the process.

It is appreciated!

 

[BinkyBlue]

This is nice photoshop work!

 

[Cc3680]

Thanks for the tutorial. Good instructions and great creativity. I have a Mac and have been using pixelmator for my pictures. It is good because I can still download and use the extra downloadable photoshop brushes etc. It is so similar to photoshop that I can follow your photoshop tutorial. I think photoshop is probably better than pixelmator but I'm still able to do what I like.
Tutorials like yours are very valuable for novice and self taught people like myself - so a very big thank you for sharing!

 

[Adoptedscot]

Anyone here make sigs please?, I need a new one. I would love a Lady Mechanika one but am open to suggestions. I have no idea how to make one.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks all.
Shell.
x

 

[greygoose]

I'm still available to make sigs if anyone would like one making. Just PM me.