Since I've been asked to write a tutorial on how I to sigs/whatever in my style, I've finally decided to write one. The signature I'm making in this tutorial isn't suppost to look awesome, I'm just showing you how to do. :)
Ok, first of all, let's get all the preparations done!
Preparations
1) Go to Annika von Holdt's site and then go to Resources > Visit the muse and download some brushpacks from there. The more the better, these brushes are really great, so get a bunch of them.
You will also probably need some other grunge brushes. Try to find some cracks and dirty stuff. I'm sorry that I have no url. :/
2) Get a render! Should be some scary stuff, so no anime or photo models (except if you manipulate them to zombies, hehe). If you have a digital camera, a good idea would be to take a picture of yourself or a friend, making a scary face! And remember that if you want to include some of the body, take of your shirt, clothes doesn't look too good, just a tip. ;) I will use a picture of myself that I have used before. Here is it:
http://img190.echo.cx/img190/6760/hehu3rd.jpg
Weird and scary, I know. :P
Let's move on to the next step!
Making the signature
1) Now open up a new document in Photoshop. I will use 360 x 90 - my favourite size for the moment. B)
Fill the background with black color.
2) Create a new layer. Grab some nice Annika von Holdt brushes and do some white brushing, like this:
http://img95.echo.cx/img95/6651/15me1.jpg
3) Add your render! You will of course need to scale it down to make it fit. ;P
Press Ctrl+Shift+U to make it grayscale.
http://img115.echo.cx/img115/2384/26en1.jpg
4) Hmm, the background of my render doesn't look that good, does it? Let's remove it. :P I usually just take the eraser and erase the unwanted stuff, like this:
http://img252.echo.cx/img252/9499/30by.jpg
Fast and easy. ;)
5) And what is the rabies style without the great contrasts? Go to levels and add alot contrast. A tip is to use both levels and the contrast via Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and tweak some till you get something like this:
http://img156.echo.cx/img156/331/44gb.jpg
6) Let's get on with the rest of the brushing! Create a new layer (always create a new layer, it's easier to make changes then). Select black as foreground color and some new kewl brushes and brush around a little till you have something like this:
http://img207.echo.cx/img207/3083/54xe.jpg
7) Now to the tricky part: we need some dirt and cracks and stuff. You should by now have some of that stuff in you brush collection, right? ;)
Do some nice cracks, scratches and dirt. A good idea is to create a new layer for each kind of brush. My result:
http://img48.echo.cx/img48/7959/63cf.jpg
8) Something that adds a great effect is the 1px white border:
New layer, then Ctrl+A to select everything. Choose the marquee tool (M) and right click anywhere on the image and select Stroke. Create a 1px black stroke around the image. Then go to the blending options for the stroke layer, add a white 1px stroke there, with an opacity of around 30%. You can also add shadow and stuff for an even better effect. Note that you will need quite alot shadow for it to show. ;)
This is what I came up with:
http://img252.echo.cx/img252/5008/73vb.jpg
Finishing touches
9) Now for some magic. B)
Save your signature as a JPG, then open it again. Now open the Levels or the Brightness/Contrast and tweak till you get something like this:
http://img170.echo.cx/img170/6074/83wa.jpg
10) Let's add some text! My favourite fonts for this style is Aqualine, Monsterchild, Diediedie and Scriptina. I used Aqualine with white color for this one.
Open up the blending options for the text. Set the opacity to 30-40% and add some strong shading behind the text so that it can be seen. Now add some inner shadow with opacity around 40%. If it's needed, you can also put a black 1px stroke around the text, but that's not always needed.
My result:
http://img143.echo.cx/img143/9324/91ze.jpg
Congratulations, you have now (probably) made a signature in the so called rabies style. I hope this tutorial helped, comments are appreciated! :)
