r3n's simple grunge sig tutorial

ok, heres something i picked up while learning how to "grunge". i use it all the time now, and the amount of different results it can give are infinite. now the most important thing to realise when grunging is that the GREATER VARIETY OF brushes you have, the BETTER! so before you carry on with the rest of this tutorial im going to give you a minute to grab tons of brushes!

ok now once uve downloaded lots of these its time to install them. if you know all about this or you already have lots of great brushes at your disposal then shoot down the page and carry on!

firstly to install the brushes you need to unrar them (using winrar duh), to c:/programfiles/adobe/photoshop/presets/brushes. or something similar depending on where you installed PS. if you're using paintshoppro....then you're a baka and i cant help you [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

finally, once uve done the above you can open photoshop!

create a new canvas, (using forum size restrictions of course).

press "d" to reset the palette, go to filter->render->clouds - here

create a new layer, and set the layer mode to "soft light"

now, whip out your brushes (go to the brush tool, then press the little arrow in the top right corner of your brush menu, so that you can load different brush sets) and start brushing (keep the colour of the brush to black), firstly i recommend using large brushes that create a background, like cloudy or other rough, large brushes - here

now create a new layer, set mode to "soft light" again, now pull out some different brushes and dabble about with them on the canvas. - here (the key to good grunging is to get the right amount of brushing in the right areas, so that your grunge finishes with good amounts of "light" and "dark" areas. its up to you to experiment with placing and combinations of brushes, there is no guidebook for it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] )

now repeat the step above another until you feel your canvas is looking full enough and no more is needed (its easier to edit your image if you use lots of different layers, creating a new layer each time youve used a couple of brushes, i find) - here

now create a new layer, set the layer mode to "soft light", but this time set the foreground colour to white instead of black. now start brushing the sig again, remember these brushes will stand out more so use less of them.

finally go to layer->new adjustment layer->color balance. a window will appear, press "ok", another window will appear. now its time to put some colour into your bleak sig. flick between shadow/midtones/highlights and any of the bars on each (although i recommend leaving shadows alone), until your sig is looking acceptable and properly grunged - here

and thats my grunge tutorial!

after you've done the above you can add a cool character pic, some text, and a border, and voila you have yourself a grunge sig!

http://jtownend.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/spawn1.jpg

more examples (without pic/text/border)

http://jtownend.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/grunge1.jpg

http://jtownend.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/grunge2.jpg

http://jtownend.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/grunge3.jpg

remember depending on the positioning/type/amount of brushing you use, its possible to create completely different sigs using this tutorial over and over!

hope you liked it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] please post complaints/questions if you have any

omg that is awsome.....

you kick ass.

wow. XD

thank you for that nice little tutorial, i always wondered how everyone made it so cool looking.

cool
im gonna check them out

you can never know what extra things you may learn[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

this is a pretty good tutorial. you get a high five.

that a five out of 10 or 100?

ive updated the sig, stuck some simple text on it.

if you make an attempt show us the results, wanna see if the guide works [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

This is actually the same method, more or less, that I use for my sig making, and have been using for more than a year!

It's a quite a good way to go, as it's really limited only by your own creativity in finding and applying brushes in unique ways. Two people using the exact same downloading brush set will still get entirely different looking results.

My fave brush site is VBrush but I've got sets from absolutely all over the place.

One more word of wisdom: creative fonts are as important as creative brushes. We're all tired of Times New Roman or Arial, but it's equally important to choose a font that's not overused or illegible. Keep it readable! My main font source is 1001 Free Fonts, have a look around but keep those things in mind.

Good job on the tutorial, r3n!

Knowledge is flowing into my brain, yes Im smart again

You make that shit with a fucking brush?

Jesus.

Edit: I tried it and GOD YOU RULE. I'm giving you a promotion... ehh... fuck I can't give promotions, but consider yourself SPECIAL. This kicks ass. So much ass. So funny. So fast. So good looking!!

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thanks guys, thats an interesting attempt thi3f [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img], jst keep experimenting and you'll find something that you like. anyway im off 2 japan for a month, so dont expect much forum input during this time [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

cya!

(p.s. taking loads of photos and will host em when i get back for your viewing pleasure)

i love u man ( only as a freind in the forums )

And here's my grunge attempt, full fledged sig! http://www.deviantart.com/view/9839376/
The pic doesn't really fit the background I guess but blah blah he wears blue clothes so blah blah blue color blah I liked how it turned out anyway blah blah I love grunging oh hell yeah

And later r3n

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wow gotta try this when i have time. those look awesoem theif not enough text at all.

Grunging makes wicked wallpapers, too!

http://www.deviantart.com/view/9889801/

the only gay part about this is that, once you have downloaded 40000000000 brushes, you have to load them one by one. is there a quick way of doing this?

Hmmm seems that my tutorial got burned.. oh wellz, nice one r3n, gonna try this out later

i got one little question. to what folder do i extract downloaded fonts?

i made a folder for the fonts i dled then extract them in there the i copy/paste them into C:\WINDOWS\Fonts hope that helps

cool tutorial. nice and easy, i'm definitely gonna go give this a try.