Tutorial: Fecks Filter Tutorial
Program: Adobe Photoshop
Fecks Filter Tutorial
In this tutorial you will be learning all you need to know to make signatures like these:
The first step to this tutorial is of course to open up a new document. I'm using the size 340x120 but you can use whatever size you like best. Everyone has their favorites after all...
Once you open your new document, fill it with a dark grey or black. [Edit >> Fill]
Now go to Filter >> Render >> Lens Flare. Set the brightness to 120 - 150% and pick a spot on your signature to place it, preferbly somewhere where it will be behind your rence once we put that in.
Now that we have out the Lens Flare and its done. Its time to stick our render in there, place your render over where you just put your lense flare.
Now that we have our render in there, we want to duplicate it (CTRL+J) 3 times. This sho uld give us four render layers to work with.
Hide the top 3 and go back to your original render layer. What we are going to do on this one is smudge around the outside of the render. Just do this with your favorite smudge brush and your favorite settings. The brush you use and the settings you use will be different to mine and will also make your outcome more indivual.
Once you have done that, unhide your next render layer adn do the same thing. Smudge around the outside of your render. This time, however, instead of leaving the layer set to normal 100% opacity. We want to change that to Color Dodge 100%. You should have something like this.
Next thing we want to do is unhide your next render layer. On this one we wnat to do a wave so go to Filter >> Distort >> Wave. Just keep clicking randomize until you get something that you think will add good flow to your signature.
Now finally unhide your top render layer and blend it in a bit. I did this using a technique that was taught to me a while ago. How I did my blending is to get the LASSO TOOL and go right around the outside of your render. Follow the outline closely, but not to close. If doesn't matter if it is rough. Once you have gone the whole way around your render, hit CTRL+I to invert what you selected with the lasso tool. Now hit CTRL+D and feather to 15px. NOw just press your DELETE key until you think your render is blended enough.
What we want to do next is add some EFFECT C4D's to the signature. Open up a couple of nice colored ones, preferbly onces of a similar color to a color in your render.
Add your first effect c4d to your signature and set it to Linear Dodge. Move it around utnil its in a nice spot. Erase any parts covering the render.
Add your second effect crd and again set to linear dodge and move it around until its in a good spot. Erase any parts covering up parts of the render.
Now you should have your very top layer selected so hit CTRL+E to merge the layer down. What we are doing here is merging all the c4d layers togeather.
Now that we have all the c4ds on one layer go to Filter >> DIstort >> Wave and click randomize until you get something you like. This will lwave your c4ds, what we want to do is add a little more flow. Erase any parts on the render that you don't like.
Now create a new layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+N) and go to Image >> Apply Image. Once you have done that go to Filter >> Distort >> ZigZag.
Set the ammount to 100. The ridges to 1. And the style to Pond Ripples.
Once you have done that take out a 100px soft brush and 50% opacity and erase away most of the layer. Leaving only parts to add to the flow.
Create a new layer again and apply the image once more. This time go to Filter >> Distort >> Wave. Like before continue clicking randomize until you get something nice. As with the previous layer, erase away a lot leaving only parts to add flow.
Again, create a new layer and apply the image. We will be using a different filter again this time.
Go to Filter >> Distort >> Glass
I used these settings, Distortion 12. Smoothing 10. Texture Tiny Lens. Scaling 190%.
Erase most of the layer leaving only touches to add a nice effect.
Now what we want to do is go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Gradient Map. Use the black to white gradient map and set it to Multiply 48%.
Next go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Gradient Map. Use the orange and purple one this time. Set the layer to screen and 54% Opacity 69% Fill.
Now that we have done that we need a Curves layer. To do this go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves. Play around with the settings until you get something that looks good. Everyone will have different settings because everyones signature will be different.
Create a new layer and apply the image. Now go to Filter >> BLur >> Motion Blur. Yes thats right motion blur. Many people you will see use a Guassian Blur for this but I felt like being a little different. Set the Motion Blur Angle to as close to the angle of your flow as you can. Set the distance to 75px.
Now set this layer to Soft Light with 100% opacity.
Now create a new layer and apply the image once more. Now go to Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen. You should only need to sharpen your signature once. But just sharpen it until it looks good.
Finally add some text and your border and we are done. You will notice that mine I chose a simple 1px black border and some small p izel font text that I moved somewhere so it wasn't really in the road.
There it is, also I'd like to once again thank Feck for allowing me to post his tutorial!
