One result will look like the very last image in the tutorial.
So, without further ado, let's get down to business.
STEP 1:
Open a new sig (I used 400x150 pixels) and fill the background with black. Then brush up your sig (this will be in a future tutorial) with white and add a brightness/contrast layer (from the layer-->new adjustment layer menu, or the black/white circle icon in the layers box.) and bring the contrast up to about 30. It's always wise to add a brightness/contrast layer to give a background more depth, and a cleaner look.
STEP 2:
Now add whatever render you may want to use (also in a future tutorial.) In this case, I used a nice Half-Life 2 one. Add a bit more brushing to blend him in (ALSO in a future tutorial) and you're looking good so far.
STEP 3:
Then, add whatever effects you may like, and some text.
STEP 4:
Now comes the fun part. Make a new color balance layer (found right by where you found the brightnesscontrast) and check out the new box. There's some sliders, and radial buttons for the different tones of light. Make sure the preserve luminosity box is checked, otherwise the "clean-cut" feel you made earlier with the brightness/contrast layer will dissipate. Now, play with the sliders a bit to create a base color. You'll want something not too vivid, and a similar color to your render's main color.
STEP 5:
Now, for the multicoloring part. There's quite a few ways to multicolor. I'll show you a few different ones, as each one is useful in different situations. First is the cloud coloring technique. This is a really quick and easy way to multicolor, but also has less control over colors than other methods. Create a new color balance layer, and play with the sliders until you get a more vivid color, which is similar to your render's secondary color, if any. It should be along the same lines as your first one, but a lot more vibrant. Once you have that, you can go to Filter-->Render-->Clouds, and this will add a cloudy look to your color balance's mask, and you'll see that you now have a multicolored sig.
STEP 6:
You can also take it a step further by right clicking the color balance's layer mask in the layers box, and clicking "Add Layer Mask to selection", then clicking the first color balance layer, and pressing delete (make sure your background color is still black.) This will make it so instead of the primary color on all of the sig, and the secondary on certain parts on top of it, the primary color will be in some parts, and the secondary will be inverted, and everywhere else.
STEP 7:
Next up is the lasso coloring technique. This gives you a bit more control on what parts you would like to multicolor, which is useful in situations like explosions, where you'd want to have a centralized section of color, or for example, you'd like to color a render's pieces differently or something. Anyway, create your primary color just like before, and then take out your lasso tool. At the top there will be a box called feather, change the 0px to about 15px. This will give the color soft edges, instead of abruptly changing from one color to the next, although that may be wanted in some situations. Now, hold shift (to make more than one selection at a time), and make some selections wherever you want the secondary color to be. Then, let go of shift, but with the areas still selected, create a new color balance layer, and play with the settings again to get your secondary color. You'll notice that the areas you had selected, are being filled with the new color. There's your lasso coloring.
STEP 8:
A slightly less used method of coloring, but sometimes useful (mainly in tech style sigs) is the rectangle coloring technique. Starting with your base color as before, grab your rectangular selection tool, and make some selections (while holding shift) wherever you like. Then create a new color balance layer and create your secondary color again. This won't look nearly as good on this one, because this isn't a tech sig, but you get the general idea. I've also found that this works well with different layer effects and patterns.
STEP 9:
Another way to color is done by brushing over the layer masks of your color balance layers. To do this, just create your primary and secondary color balance layers, and grab whatever brush (soft grunge or sparkle works best) you like, and brush over your color balance's layer mask. This produces similar results to the lasso coloring technique, but gives you a bit more control in the way the color is shaped. This is probably the most useful coloring method, as it gives you the most control, and it's slightly easier to do than some other ones.
So, here's my final result for that sig, with a few additions.
And SURPRISE! Yes, that's right, for the first time ever, I'm giving you guys the PSD for this sig so you can check it out, and maybe learn a few more things from the different layers in there. The link will be at the bottom of the post. Try hiding/unhiding (click the eye icon) the different layers, to see what effect they have on the sig. Now, remember, this is not for you to use as your sig. You may not use this or any part of it as your own. If any layer or part of it is found in a sig of yours, that is called a rip, which is basically image plagiarism, and I will not only make you remove it, but I'll also publicly declare you as an art theft, and the download will be taken away from everyone, to prevent further problems. Remember, this is just for you to LOOK and LEARN, I'm not giving it to you to use as your own. I've never had any of my art ripped, and I'd appreciate it if I could continue with that. If you REALLY want one of my sigs, send me a request through PM or instant message, and I'll most likely make you one anyway.
Okay guys, have fun, and look forward to future tutorials by me. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to help you out. And remember, this is just a general guideline. You don't have to follow it directly, and you can add/remove/replace steps as you wish. Experimenting is the key to becoming a good designer.
Also, this was done in Photoshop CS, so things may vary in different versions, but you shouldn't have any problems.
Link to PSD:
http://www.pic-host.com/files/7m258o1nnx.psd
9/10
