Sakura's Christmas Sig Tutorial

[Sakura]

Hey there AF, I decided to make a beginner level tutorial for anyone who wants to make a forum signature in the style that I use often. 
Since it's Christmas, I'll be doing this one in Christmas style, but you can apply these steps to any type that you make.
I'll keep this incredibly simple and basic to try to keep it understandable for anyone, even those with limited Photoshop knowledge.

What we are making:

What you will need:
A main render (PNG), A PNG frame, Some PNG's that match the theme of what you are making (in this case we will use Christmas PNG's). and Photoshop or a program similar to Photoshop such as Gimp or Photopea which are free programs similar to PS. 

If you want to use the resources I used in making this, you can find everything that I used: At the following link
I highly suggest the free website PngEgg.Com to find your PNG's on. I think you need an account but it's free to use and where I find all my PNG's. I also suggest DeviantArt which has a good selection of both free and paid resources. 

Step 1:
Make a new canvas, I'm using size 475x301. 
Add in your render and your frame and position them the way you like on the canvas. Make sure your frame is behind your render. 

Step 2:
You will need a picture that matches the theme of what you are making. I used a snow theme since this is a Winter/Christmas theme. 
Position it behind/underneath your frame and move it around until you like the way it looks in the frame. You may notice some of the picture sticks out from the frame, just use the eraser tool and erase the parts of the picture that stick out of the frame. 

Step 3:
Next I started adding our PNG's.
In the first image I added a blue Christmas tree. Make sure you put a PNG such as a Christmas tree behind the other layers. You want something behind the render. 
In the second image I've added a garland that goes well with the image.
In the third image I've added something in the corner to bring everything together better. 
Make sure you put PNG's in front of and behind your main render to create depth and blend everything together better. 

 

Step 4:
Next we will add text. The text I used are called "Gosmick Sans" & "Ginette" I don't know if they are available from a free font site or not but any font is fine.
I usually like to pair capital non-cursive letters, with lower case cursive letters when using fonts. 

If you don't know how to put a border around your font, simply follow these steps~
Click on the layer with your text you want to add the border around (double click, a box will pop up).

 

This should be the box that pops up. Simply click on the side where it says "Stroke" and choose the size and color you would like. You can even have it be a gradient if you prefer that instead of a solid color. 

Now as you could see with my font, it didn't really stand out and you wouldn't see it well. I usually fix this by taking a soft brush and simply brushing behind the text a small bit so that the text will stand out more. If your text doesn't blend in and you can see it fine then you don't need this step. If you do use this step make sure it's a color that still blends in well. As you can see below my text is now much more readable. 
Make sure you create a new layer under your text to brush your soft brush on if you use this step.

Step 5:
The next thing we are going to do is add a border behind the render so it looks like below:

The first thing you need to do is go to the layer with your render on it, hold down the "CTRL" button on your keyboard and click the layer the render is on. You should see the render become highlighted letting you know it is selected as shown below:


The next step is adding our background border. In order to do this go to Layer at the top tools > new fill layer > Solid color (keep your render highlighted). 

A dialog box should pop up and simply click "okay". 
It will then allow you to select a color of your choosing. Make sure it's something that fits the color scheme you already using, in this case I chose red.
Make sure you move this layer behind the render at that point. 
Once you've done so, deselect your render and click on the layer that has our created background border on it. Select the move tool, and move it out behind your render by dragging it out from behind your render a little bit and it should look like this now:

Now at this point, you could call this completed if you like what you have. 

If you are fairly familiar with photoshop however you could follow my below steps for enhancing the color, or if you just want to try it  

Step 6: Optional color layers:
• First thing to do with our coloring steps is return to the bottom of your layers and make the white BG invisible for a moment. 
• After you have done that go to the very top of all your layers, it must be at the top, and create a new layer. 
• Go to the tool bar at the top and click Image > Apply image. This will apply the entire image without the white BG.
• Return to your white BG and make it visible again.
• Return to your new layer where you applied the image and follow the below steps *BUT PLEASE NOTE* You will need to adjust these settings to your specific signature and what looks better for it. The numbers you use might be different, just play around with them and see what looks best on your signature.
 

• Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Saturation +20
• Image > Adjustments > Selective Coloring > Select "Neutral" from the drop down box > Cyan = -10 > Magenta = +10 > Yellow = -10 > Black = +5
• Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast > Brightness + 3, Contrast + 8
• Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter > Select "Cooling Filter (LBB)" from the drop down box and set density to 11%
• Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Saturation + 10
 

Finished result:


 

[Animedragon]

A very BIG thank you @Sakura for putting this together. The weather here is horrible so I think I'm going to be spending some time today working through this.

[Zeref]

This is a very good tutorial you explain everything even in a way I can understand that very good  I think I will be trying this tonight or tomorrow and will post my result. Hopefully it isn't very bad and my result comes out alright. 

[Sakura]

Glad you guys like it, looking forward to seeing your results 

[Sarada]

Cute tut sis.

I quickly tried it out and this was the result-

I'll try more in-depth later with something else. I like this style. 

[Sasuke]

Alright I'm going to try my hand at this later and see what I come up with sometime this week. I'll post my results too.

@Sarada - Your result was amazing looking too. 

[Animedragon]

10 hours ago, Sarada said:

Cute tut sis.

I quickly tried it out and this was the result-

I'll try more in-depth later with something else. I like this style. 

That's an excellent piece of work, it's so colourful and christmassy and all the elements fit together perfectly.

[Sarada]

Thanks @Sasuke I want to see your result too : > 

3 hours ago, Animedragon said:

That's an excellent piece of work, it's so colourful and christmassy and all the elements fit together perfectly.

Thanks very much my dude I liked your version of it a lot on your showcase too

[Sakura]

Love the outcome @Sarada I'm glad to see you guys are using the tut and it's cool to see what people come up with using it ^^

[Zeref]

20 hours ago, Sarada said:

Cute tut sis.

I quickly tried it out and this was the result-

I'll try more in-depth later with something else. I like this style. 

Really like that a lot Lillie you did a great job with the coloring and everything. 

[Forlorn]

I was able to follow along contrary to what I was afraid of. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ I'm working on a Kaiba Christmas sig to post here as my result, too. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 

[Sarada]

17 hours ago, Zeref said:

Really like that a lot Lillie you did a great job with the coloring and everything. 

Thanks Pessi

58 minutes ago, Forlorn said:

I was able to follow along contrary to what I was afraid of. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ I'm working on a Kaiba Christmas sig to post here as my result, too. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 

Seto Kaiba is one of my gods

[Zeref]

Okay I finished trying it to I came out with these outcomes.

[Animedragon]

7 hours ago, Zeref said:

Okay I finished trying it to I came out with these outcomes.

You've done a really good job on those, they look really great and all the parts fit together very well.

[Sasuke]

13 hours ago, Zeref said:

Okay I finished trying it to I came out with these outcomes.

Nice results Pessi. I still need to do mine. 

[Sakura]

On 12/10/2024 at 8:50 PM, Zeref said:

Okay I finished trying it to I came out with these outcomes.

REEEEEEEEEEEE I saw it already but I'll say it again ~ it turned out really awesome n you did a greatttt job  

[Sarada]

On 12/10/2024 at 8:50 PM, Zeref said:

Okay I finished trying it to I came out with these outcomes.

That's great Pessi

[Zeref]

On 12/11/2024 at 4:14 AM, Animedragon said:

You've done a really good job on those, they look really great and all the parts fit together very well.

On 12/11/2024 at 10:42 AM, Sasuke said:

Nice results Pessi. I still need to do mine. 

19 hours ago, Sakura said:

REEEEEEEEEEEE I saw it already but I'll say it again ~ it turned out really awesome n you did a greatttt job  

4 hours ago, Sarada said:

That's great Pessi

 

Thanks to you all I don't normally make a lot of gfx but might try to make more in the future. 

[Forlorn]

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

Edited December 13, 2024 by Forlorn

[Sasuke]

5 hours ago, Forlorn said:

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

I think it looks great and just as good as anyone else's posted.

[Animedragon]

5 hours ago, Forlorn said:

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

Don't put yourself down @Forlorn this is a beautiful sig and is very well done. The two garlands are well placed and the colours of the various elements blend together perfectly.

[Sarada]

11 hours ago, Forlorn said:

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

Nothing wrong with it my guy, it looks nice. And Seto looks cute af in that Santa hat. 

[Zeref]

16 hours ago, Forlorn said:

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

Damn I think it's really amazing you did good on it. 

[Sakura]

20 hours ago, Forlorn said:

Everyone's result is so much better than mine. ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^; ^^;  I never do a good job at much of anything I do (other than in games), but here's the result of my project and staying true to making a Kaiba project like I said I would. I also had to put together a Christmas Kaiba render because I couldn't find one for some reason. >< >< >< >< ><

I see nothingggg wrong with it. To me it looks amazing and it looks you did all the steps really well

[Forlorn]

Thank you, my friends. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ It was surprising how the Christmas hat seemed to fit Kaiba's render tbh. I wasn't even sure if it would be convincing enough to look like he was really wearing it. lol I figured blue and white would fit a Kaiba Christmas sig though after I stumbled across some white Christmas tree renders at that pngegg.com website that @Sakura mentioned. I ended up bookmarking it. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Oh, but the ornament renders I used were the same ones that @Sakura used except I adjusted the Hue to change the color of the ornaments themselves to blue. I did the same thing with the other decorative render. I spent so much time looking for blue ornament renders at that website, but I didn't find any that I thought would go well with the sig, so I eventually just changed the colors around in those 2 renders around the frame. Thanks for making your resources available on imgur btw, li'l sis'~~ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ I managed to find a Christmas hat that had a kind of anime look to it, but it was red, too, so I changed that to blue as well. XD I found the digital snowflakes pic on that Pixabay website I use and I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be a good fit for a pic in a frame featuring Kaiba. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ I also found another frame I thought would go well fitting inside of the ice frame which is the frost looking frame inside of the ice frame, so I figured why not add it as long as the text can still be read. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^  I sometimes forget how easy it is to change the colors around in an image with an image editor though. I'm grateful that Photopea is free, that's for sure. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Though I do wish an internet connection wasn't required to use it.
>< >< >< >< ><

Edited December 15, 2024 by Forlorn