Cool Grunge Signature - Photoshop tutorial

. First open a new document that is the size you would like your sig to be, I used 200x400px, and make sure your colors are black and white by pressing (D). And go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Press ctrl+f to randomize this until you get a design you like. Remember that these clouds will be the basis for your layout of your sig, so do it until you feel it looks right.



2. Take a grunge brush set (you can find one at http://glitter-tramp.com/juuichi/ or just create your own, but that takes time and is frustrating if you don’t like the result) and fill the canvas with white brush strokes from these brushes. They should create an old and outdated "grunge" look. Next, right click the layer and click blending options. Enable the drop shadow at default settings to give an added effect.



3. At this point you should have a render or stock photo in mind. I am going to use a halo render from planetrenders.net. Due to the fact that I like my grunge sigs to have a dirty look I am going to use a orange/brown background by creating a Color Balance Layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance...). Play around with the colors until you are satisfied for your own.



4. At this point I duplicated the render and with the duplicated layer, applied a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) at 6.0 px and decreased the opacity of the layer to 20% through the blending options of the layer.



5. Next select the layer with your render on it and click "Add Layer Mask" in the layers palette. Use the Black and White gradient to fade parts of the render in and out. This will help to blend the render in with your background and look like it is one with the background.



6. Next we will add the text, the hardest part of a grunge theme sig. For mine I used a simple text (Lucida Sans) because I could not find any that fit in with my theme, hopefully you have better luck. I still managed to get this font to work. First duplicate your text layer and play with the blending options on the duplicated layer. Next move the original text to the front and lower the opacity so you can see the lower text easier, Then link the two together and merge them together. Take back out your grunge brushes, except this time through the eraser tool, and take off little specks of your text to make it have the grunge feeling. You just created your own text!

7. Put this text in a corner and adjust the size accordingly and you have your own sig. Select your background layer, right click it, and select blending options yet again. Put a 1 pixel black stroke on the inside part of this layer. Now sit back and enjoy your masterpiece that you have created. Hope this helped you to create your first grunge sig.



Source: http://www.tutorialhero.com/tutorial-9-cool_grunge_signature.php