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Abstract Chrome Signature Tutorial
Yup - I'm addicted to signatures and whatnot at the moment. I promise for those of you who want something other than this, I will be moving on to other things soon enough.
Playing around with grunge brushes, I accidentally stumbled across a new (or new to me) very easy effect to do that makes a very nice, abstract chrome signature. If you want to make life easy, go ahead and download the grunge brushes I'm using here - the .zip also contains the font Scriptina which I'll be using.
| Difficulty Level: |
Beginner - Intermediate |
Time Needed: |
20-30 Minutes |
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PDF Version: |
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| 1 |
New Canvas
open a new canvas (File, New or Ctrl+N). The one I'm working with is sized at 388 x 276 pixels, with a white background. |
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| 2 |
The Brush
Grab a dark color - the actual color doesn't matter, because it will change shortly - and go wild with several of your grunge brushes. Do your brushwork right on your background layer - don't create a new layer for the brush work.
After playing with this effect a few times, I've noticed that the more "bumpy" white space you have - like in the lower section of my example - the more abstract the final effect looks. The reason I've done both? So that once the effect is done, I can pick and choose which part of the image I like best. This is also the reason to start out so large. |
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| 3 |
The Chrome
Duplicate your background layer (Right-click the layer, choose "Duplicate"). Then, click "Filter" and hover over "Sketch" and choose "Chrome". Leave all settings at their default. |
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| 4 |
Color Overlay
Hit your layer styles (the lil "f" or "fx" icon in the bottom left of your layers palette) and go to "Color Overlay". The mode of the color overlay needs to be changed to "Color". Then, choose the color you like - I went for a gray-blue tone. Click OK and crop your image down to the spot you like. I chose this spot because it reminds me of rippling water. |
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| 5 |
Text Background
To turn this into a nifty little sig, we're going to add another something to our image. Pick up black for your foreground color and use your rectangle tool to draw across the middle of your image. Then, rasterize the layer and lower its opacity to about 42%. Finally, hit your layer styles again and add a 1 pixel black stroke to the rectangle. Don't lower the opacity of the stroke, and you end up with this: |
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| 6 |
The Text
Pick up white for your foreground and grab your text tool. I'm using Scriptina font at 72 points size. Place it the way you like it - and there you go! A very classy signature. |
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