Alliedassault - Quick Tutorial

So you want to make a sig for yourself but you don't know how? Here's what you need to do to make one. I'm gonna cover the basic steps to making them, but nothing specific like layer transparencies or filters. That's for other tutorials and your own experimentation.

1. Open your imaging program and set up a blank canvas. You can use Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, Gimp, etc. Start a new file. You will want to make your sig the appropriate size. The new forum rules say that the max. size is 550x150 pixels. You probably won't need that much. Zoner uses 400x125 and I use 415x125 or 415x130 depending on what I'm using in it.

2. Choose your basic layout and source images. Pick what pictures you want to use in the sig. Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers pictures are popular. Most of the good pictures from these are DVD captures that people have done. Also, rudedog's movie capture packs are good. If you want something else, like actual period photos, Google and the image search are very helpful. Once you have your pictures, figure out what you are going to do with them. This brings us to the most important step...

3. Create your sig. This is where you need to get creative and experiment with the program. Position, trim, and resize your source images. (Check out my blending tutorial - it's a sticky.) Mess around with different colors, filters, hue/saturation, brightness/contrast, blurring, etc. Once the actual image is done, add the appropriate text (your name, and possibly a motto) to it. Place the text somewhere in the image where it looks good, and choose fonts and colors that work with the image. Once everything is in place and looks good, your sig is finished. Save it in the appropriate format. JPEGs generally do the trick, but use GIFs if you have any transparencies.

4. Host your sig. Unless you have your own webspace, use http://mohaa.cact-sd.org/upload.php and upload it there. Once it's uploaded, paste the appropriate code (URL and [img]-[/img] tags) into the signature space in your profile.

There it is. How to make a sig. Remember to experiment and be creative.