Captain America Signature Tutorial (Render Sig)

[chrisco97]

Here is what you are making:



Well, after popular demand...here is a signature tutorial by me. It is on my Captain America signature, but I use the same techniques in a lot of my signatures. I do vary it up in a lot of mine, but I do use these techniques a lot. This signature was made with the help of a Photoshop tutorial (I cannot find it now).

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Plugins needed:

• Smudge (by pyrochild)
• CustomBrushesMini (by Simon Brown)
• Gradient Mapping (optional, by pyrochild)

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The tutorial:

1 - Create a new image, 350x150 (or whatever you like).
File -> New :New:...


2 - Select your render.
I used this render.

- You may need to cut it out. I did. To do this, select the Magic Wand tool ( ), and click outside of the render. Lower the tolerance if needed.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1809/58852009.png">http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1809/58852009.png


3 - Paste your render into the signature.
Place it where you like. I placed it slighty to the left from the middle.

- I erased the edges a bit to blend it.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4848/captainamericasignature.png


4 - Add a layer below the render layer and paste in your render until it fills the canvas.
This is used for the background.

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/4848/captainamericasignature.png


5 - Open Smudge, and smudge the background layer.
Brush: Soft Brush, Size: 30, Strength: 25, Jitter: 100

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2246/84051338.png">http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2246/84051338.png


6 - Flatten, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, then undo the flatten. Now paste this on a new layer and run sharpen.
Erase everything but what is over the focal.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4848/captainamericasignature.png


7 - Add a new layer and open CustomBrushesMini and brush with some splatter brushes.
We will later add a clipping mask to this.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4848/captainamericasignature.png


8 - Flatten, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, then undo the flatten. Now paste this on a new layer and then stretch it.
Now you want to go to the splatter brush layer and get the magic wand tool and hold shift while clicking the layer. Now go back to the stretched layer and press Delete.

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4848/captainamericasignature.png


9 - Get the paintbrush tool and set the size to around 75. Now brush around the edges.
Now you want to open Gaussian Blur and set it to your preference. What you are doing here is darkening the edges.

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4848/captainamericasignature.png">http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4848/captainamericasignature.png


10 - Add some finishing touches.
You can now add some finishing touches. Like a light source, some gradient maps, a border and some text.

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Final result:

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How do I get the brushes used in this tutorial?

1 - Download ABRViewer.NET.
Scroll down until you find the download button.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1732/85523060.png">http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1732/85523060.png


2 - Download the brush pack of your choice.
I used these splatter brushes.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1921/32778003.png">http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1921/32778003.png


3 - Open ABRViewer.NET and select File -> Open Brush Sets.
Then select your .ABR file of brushes you downloaded earlier.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5791/38029645.png">http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5791/38029645.png


4 - Once the processing is finished, select Export -> Thumbnails.
Save them in Documents/Paint.NET User Files/Custom Brushes.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9461/41795503.png">http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9461/41795503.png Edited January 3, 2013 by chrisco97

[Heat Stroke]

So you use jitter when smudging! I never used that, but I will now! I will find time to try this out, hopefully soon. But it looks good!

[Sfifer]

I think it looked best at Step 4... that has some serious wow factor to it.

[chrisco97]

Thanks guys!

[Tarat]

I approve! ^_^

[chrisco97]

Thanks.

[Goonfella]

I know I`ve already post my effort on Fans but I`ll post it here as well anyway. Great tut Chris.

I added a couple of textures to the background and played around with the blending modes to get this effect. Like HeatStroke, I`d never used jitter when smudging before so this has definitely taught me something.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Goonfella

[chrisco97]

I like it Goonie! As I said on Fans.

Thanks a lot for trying out the tutorial guys!

[Kemaru]

How clever, I hadn't thought of using 100% Jitter before! Great tutorial, good job.

[chrisco97]

Thank you Kemaru! I appreciate it!

[Stone85]

Great tutorial, thanks for posting. Never would've tried Jitter lol.

Brushing isn't really my thing, but I loosely followed this tutorial with an unfinished sig I had saved somewhere and got this:

Not my best, but I really like it. It's my first stock sig that didn't turn out horrible, I just wish I picked a better picture.

[chrisco97]

Thanks Stone! Good work on the sig, btw. Looks nice!

[Stone85]

Thanks Stone! Good work on the sig, btw. Looks nice!

Thanks! I'm going to try again with a new stock sometime soon. Just can't really get any ideas.

[chrisco97]

Cool! Can't wait to see it.

[Stone85]

haha thanks

[Axle]

gotta try this tut, been wondering how to make that Cap'n America sig

[chrisco97]

Great! Can't wait to see your result.

[Sfifer]

Where abouts do you get your brushes from Chrisco?

[Wolfman 1990]

i like the whole idea with the brushes splatter, it gives the background a more realistic picture

[dug]

100% Jitter.COOL! Great stuff.

[chrisco97]

Thank you!

[chrisco97]

Where abouts do you get your brushes from Chrisco?

I have added a mini-tutorial to the first post.

[frandaman]

this is rubish tut didnt help at all.

dude if your gonna give a tutorial atleast explain wat to do, you abreaviated the whole tuorial.

this is so rubish -_-

[Tarat]

I think this is a very straightforward and well thought out tut. If you have problems following this one then try some easier ones, gain some skill,and come back to this later =)

Also, what is the problem with abbreviating the short cuts? It teaches those who don't know quicker ways to accomplish something. Besides, only Steps 6&8 had shortcuts.

If you want to complain, that's your right. Just please don't complain needlessly, and give a reason for your complaint. Don't just bash something without a legit reason.

On another note, if you have a problem completing a tut, you can post on it's thread and ask for help. Someone will step up and give you an answer =)

[chrisco97]

I think this is a very straightforward and well thought out tut. If you have problems following this one then try some easier ones, gain some skill,and come back to this later =)

Also, what is the problem with abbreviating the short cuts? It teaches those who don't know quicker ways to accomplish something. Besides, only Steps 6&8 had shortcuts.

If you want to complain, that's your right. Just please don't complain needlessly, and give a reason for your complaint. Don't just bash something without a legit reason.

On another note, if you have a problem completing a tut, you can post on it's thread and ask for help. Someone will step up and give you an answer =)

Thank you Tarat, I appreciate it.