Reavers Beginner Tutorial ! [Archive] - Just All Gamers United

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JAGeReaver

11-20-2008, 07:36 PM

Reavers Tutorial!

In this tutorial, I am going to provide you with EVERYTHING you need to make this sig

http://null-vector.com/tut/slipknot%20copy.png

First! Your going to need these brushes!

Abstraction by Blazter:
http://null-vector.com/tut/Abstraction By Blazter.abr

Chalk Brushes:
http://null-vector.com/tut/chalk.abr

To install these brushes, download them to your desktop. Once their done downloading go to the hard drive you installed Adobe Photoshop on, and double click it, then go to Program Files, and then Adobe, after that go to Adobe Photoshop CS2, or whatever version you have, then go into Presets then go into brushes, and drag and drop the brushes you just downloaded into that folder. ALL DONE with the installation
if your having trouble finding your adobe folder copy and paste this into the address bar in your explorer C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Presets\Brushes

NOW! Open up photoshop!

Go to File > New (or ctrl+n) and make a 400 x 120 sig

http://null-vector.com/tut/1.jpg

After you create a new sig, go to File > Open and open up this stock:

http://null-vector.com/tut/slipknot.jpg

You should have something that looks like this right about now

http://null-vector.com/tut/2.jpg

Now were going to resize the stock so it will fit inside of our signature!
Go to Image > Image Size change it to 500 x 350

http://null-vector.com/tut/4.jpg

Now with the Slipknot stock selected, hit ctrl+a, then hit ctrl+c, this keystroke first selects the whole image then copies the image to your clipboard. Once you have done that go to your signature and press ctrl+v, which should paste the stock inside of your sig. You should have something like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/5.jpg

Now select your eraser tool (E) and use the settings that are in the image above, and erase around the main person that I have used in the sig. You can change the brush size but try and keep it @ 50% hardness or below.

Try and get something like this:
http://null-vector.com/tut/6.jpg

Now with the Eyedropper tool (I) select two of the darker colors from the stock. After you get two dark colors go to Layer > New Layer and then grab the gradient tool (G), if its the paint bucket go to the icon and hold down your mouse button and another tool will appear. And then click and drag the gradient across the sig and try to get something like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/7.jpg

Now duplicate the original stock with it being selected, to duplicate the stock, make sure its selected to the right it should be highlighted in blue if not click it and it will be, after its selected press ctrl+j this will duplicate the layer and name it Layer 1 Copy now select the copy and drag it to the top of the other layers.

Heres where things get a little fun, grab your smudge tool, (R) if its not the smudge tool do the same thing that you had to do with the paint bucket to get it to show up, and at the top there will be text that says Brush: and there will be a black dot next to it, click the black dot and then a new menu will pop up that says Master Diamater 12 px (or some other number) and there should be another arrow right next to the 12 px. Click that, and another drop down will come up and select your chalk brush. Should look like this:

http://null-vector.com/tut/9.jpg

Select the brush I have selected and change the px to 20. Now on the same bar that we selected the brush on it will have more stuff to the very right, such as Brushes > Tool Presets > Layer Comps click the Brushes tab and use the settings I show below:

http://null-vector.com/tut/10.jpg

http://null-vector.com/tut/11.jpg

http://null-vector.com/tut/12.jpg

Now that the settings are done, its time to start using the tool! Make sure you have Layer 1 copy selected and smudge the shoulders of the stock leaving the hair the neck and the face alone, smudge the shoulders and the shirt it should look something like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/14.jpg

After you have that done Duplicate Layer 1 Copy about 3 times, to do this use the same steps as before, select Layer 1 Copy, and press Ctrl+J 3 times, and youll see 3 new layers come up. After you do this make sure to drag Layer 1 Copy to the top of all the layers. Once you do this select each layer and spread them out through the whole sig, you should get something like this.

http://null-vector.com/tut/15.jpg

When they are all spread out select one of the duplicates that is under Layer 1 Copy and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use the settings below:

http://null-vector.com/tut/16.jpg

Do this to all 3 layer copies so you should have a result like this.

http://null-vector.com/tut/17.jpg

OK! Now set all these layers to Color Dodge to do this, go to where the layers are and you should see a drop down that says Normal with a down arrow, click this and then go down to Color Dodge, make sure you do it to all the motion blurred layers.

After you set them all to color dodge, were going to add a Effect C4d to the picture I'll be providing the one I use, but you can use your own if you wish:

http://null-vector.com/tut/C4D 283.png

Open that up in photoshop, press Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+C, and go back to your sig and press Ctrl+V. Now go to your Move Tool (V) and move it around to around this area

http://null-vector.com/tut/21.jpg

Once you have it there set it to Lighten (Oh and before I forget make sure that this layer is on top of all the other layers).

You should result in having something like this, IGNORE THE RED BRUSH I END UP DELETING IT CAUSE IT LOOKED STUPID

http://null-vector.com/tut/22.jpg

This part is going to be a little complicated BUT FOLLOW MY STEPS AND YOULL BE FINE <3 Create a New Layer (Layer > New Layer) and it should be a blank layer at the top, if you've done everything correctly. Drag this layer so that its BELOW the Motion Blurred Images. Now select your Brush tool (B) and go to the top where we selected the chalk brush before, and select Abstraction by Blazter like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/23.jpg

The brush that I used is the second to last one in the set.. Now after you have that selected we need to change the color of the brush, select the color, and change it to a7964a, it should look like

http://null-vector.com/tut/24.jpg

Ok! now once you have the color selected, make sure that the layer is selected, it should be called Layer 3 (If I can do math xD) and brush where I brush!

http://null-vector.com/tut/25.jpg

Now were going to select a new brush and brush in the other corner!

http://null-vector.com/tut/26.jpg

http://null-vector.com/tut/27.jpg

Now were going to add a layer adjustment, but before we do this press (D) on your keyboard (This resets the colors back to black and white) Now select the top layer, and go to Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map
this should make everything black and white! This is what we want it should look like this, take note of my layers (Ignore layer 3, 4 should be 3 and 3 shouldn't exist.)

http://null-vector.com/tut/30.jpg

Set the gradient map to Soft Light and change the Opacity to 30%

Now make another Layer Adjusment, Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map this time we dont want black and white so dont press ok yet! Click the color that goes from black to white in the window that pops up and a new window will pop up select the Blue to Red to Yellow color and press ok and press ok again it should look like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/32.jpg

Set this layer to Soft Light with a 40% opacity.

Now do another layer adjusment, Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map and select the color purple to green to orange, should look like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/34.jpg

Set this to Soft Light with a 40% opacity.

You should have something that looks similar to this:

http://null-vector.com/tut/35.jpg

Now were going to create a new Layer Adjustment, Image > Adjustments > Curves Try and get it relativly close to this

http://null-vector.com/tut/37.jpg

After you do that, go to Layer > New Layer and then go to Image > Apply Image (Make sure the new layer is on top of all the other layers) With this layer selected go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen

http://null-vector.com/tut/39.jpg

Now create another new layer, Layer > New Layer and Image > Apply Image (Make sure the new layer is on ttop of all the other layers) With this layer selected go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur set it to 1.0 px and click ok

http://null-vector.com/tut/40.jpg

Now get your erasure tool (E) and set it to 80 PX with a 50% hardness and erase ONLY the face on the blurred layer so it should look like this after wards

http://null-vector.com/tut/41.jpg

Now were going to add another Layer Adjustments, Image > Adjustments > Curves use these settings

http://null-vector.com/tut/42.jpg

Now make anoher Layer Adjustment, Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map select the Blue to Red to Yellow again

http://null-vector.com/tut/43.jpg

Set this to Soft Light, 40% opacity

Now create a new layer, Layer > New Layer, and apply image, Image > Apply Image. Your sig should look like this right now.

http://null-vector.com/tut/44.jpg

With that layer selected, play around with the burn and dodge tools, if you don't like the way it looks with the burn or dodge you can just hide or delete the layer anyways!

After your down playing around make a new Layer, Layer > New Layer. And press CTRL+A, this will select the whole canvas. After you do that go to Edit > Stroke, change the color to black and to 2px center so something like this

http://null-vector.com/tut/47.jpg

ADD TEXT AND YOUR DONE! Congratz~!

http://null-vector.com/tut/48.jpg

http://null-vector.com/tut/slipknot%20copy.png

POST YOUR RESULTS!

JAGeBoyle

11-20-2008, 08:32 PM

Awesome Job. That took you a long time. I am impressed.

JAGeAdam

11-20-2008, 08:38 PM

JAGeReaver

11-20-2008, 08:42 PM

The only problem I have with the tutorial is that duplicating the render and using motion blur for effects is very old and novice. Also using brushes is very bad. Use default brushes and the various tools to create effects using hard grunge or abstract or fractal brushes for effects is kind of bleh.

Vector brushes, Tech Brushes, Splatter brushes and such are fine, but the grunge/fractal/abstract ones that are super effect heavy take away from creativity imo.

The whole purpose of this tutorial is to help novices (people who arent very good with photoshop) Learn how to make a decent sig, if you look at the way I wrote the tutorial, I wrote it in a very slow fashion and didn't skip any steps, infact I even showed them how to install brushes.

This is ment to be a beginner tutorial, not something for me and you adam.

Start off slow as I like to say, infact this tutorial was a request by someone, I wasn't going to even make it, but the fact that they were a beginner is what I kept in mind.

So thanks for the input, but it's supposed to be novice

JAGeAdam

11-20-2008, 09:20 PM

JAGeReaver

11-20-2008, 09:22 PM

But telling people it's ok to use brushes is going to hinder their ability to advance with photoshop. Make a tutorial with mostly defaults and show them how to make cool effects with defaults/filters. That IMO would help better than a tutorial that is geared towards beginners.

The hardest things to grasp if you don't know about them early are Focal points, depth and lighting.

I would make a tutorial focusing on those first.

Then make one :3

I hardly consider using 2 brushes being dependent on them, but I mean thats my opinion. Also, I'm not forcing ANYONE to use this tutorial, it is completely up to their discretion. If they feel that this is not a tutorial for their skill level they do not have to use it.

Also you say that relying on stuff takes out from the creativity, what about C4d's? Aren't we sometimes relying on them to make an effect or for some sort of depth? Or is that different in some way?

JAGeAdam

11-20-2008, 10:29 PM

Then make one :3

I hardly consider using 2 brushes being dependent on them, but I mean thats my opinion. Also, I'm not forcing ANYONE to use this tutorial, it is completely up to their discretion. If they feel that this is not a tutorial for their skill level they do not have to use it.

Also you say that relying on stuff takes out from the creativity, what about C4d's? Aren't we sometimes relying on them to make an effect or for some sort of depth? Or is that different in some way?

c4ds ADD to effects and create flow. brushes ARE the effect. brushes pretty much create backgrounds that's what they are for.

brushes are fine if they are MINIMAL but what you did there was pretty much create the effects with 2 brush clicks. that's all I was saying.

JAGeKooru

11-23-2008, 02:13 AM

God damn, spoiler those pics/steps so my computer doesn't vomit graphics and cry. This kind of looks like the tutorial you never gave me...

JAGeBoyle

11-23-2008, 11:37 PM

All posts that were not constructive to the initial point of this thread have been deleted. Opinions are welcome, not always need to be accepted or taken but always welcome.

This tutorial is a good step by step for ANYONE new to Photoshop or wanting to get started with making sigs, I personally started with brushes and learned about layers from tutorials like this....

Its a good first step and its definitely not the know all tutorial. Someone should not simply take this tutorial follow it step by step and never consider learning more. Its a great starting step.

Good tutorial,

Adam your opinion is correct, BUT most tutorials you could post or make would be too difficult for someone who does not know the buttons in Photoshop to even consider.

You need to learn to crawl before you can learn to run.

JAGeAdam

11-24-2008, 02:08 AM

Adam your opinion is correct, BUT most tutorials you could post or make would be too difficult for someone who does not know the buttons in Photoshop to even consider.

You need to learn to crawl before you can learn to run.

This is truth, and I agree. I wasn't trying to say the tutorial was bad. I was only trying to give reaver advice for future tutorials. Once people do get used to photoshop they are going to want more advanced and cool effects. So I was trying to say for his next tutorial he should do a more advanced one using his most recent effects and such.