Dan

Hey, I have seen a lot of threads by new sig makers on how to improve the quality of their sigs, things like borders, text, blending, etc. Of course this will not apply to all sigs, but these are some good steps to success.

To find a topic just hit ctrl+f and type in the name of it. The current topics are:

• Borders
• Text
• Lighting
• C4D
• Renders
• Style
• Brushes
• Sig-sizes
• Pentool
• Feeling
• Blending
• In-Depth Lighting
• Patterns
• Depth
• Color
• Backgrounds
• Eye-Catching Effects

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Borders
Many people like to make borders on their sigs, and many don't. Generally, you can't go wrong with either, but the only kind of border that you want is a 1px. Generally, black borders are best, but it can be any color as long as it contrasts well with your sig.

Another kind of border, is the one used in my current sig, where you have thicker square lines on the top and bottom of your sig. This style generally looks good, but it cannot be used in every single kind of sig, wider ones work best.


This is generally the kind of border you want to stay away from, this was a very early sig of mine
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Text
Most text is done in two ways: either blended into the sig, or it is just a simple, easy to read, in your face kind of text. Like borders, it depends on your sig, and also on how well you can position the text. The most important thing is to anti-alias your text, never set it to none except for when using the font "Visitor", which is generally used in userbars. Also, stick to choosing fonts that are easy on the eye.


The text is integrated to be part of the sig, it looks natural, not out of place
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Lighting
For the majority of sigs out there, lighting is essential to the over-all feel of it. Without lighting you have a sig lacking depth, and that is generally frowned upon, unless you are doing a straight up vector design, and it is meant to look that way. An easy way to make light is to get a 100px+ soft brush, and just brush one time in the area. You can also do a lensflare to enhance the light, but it is not necessary.

Positioning of your light is very important. You want to have it in a place where it flows wells with the rest of the sig. This becomes a lot easier if your render already has lights/shadows on it, but you may have to experiment to see what works best.


The light is positioned where it would be naturally in the render, and serves to enhance the quality
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C4D
For those who don't know, C4D's are render (pictures) made with the program Cinema 4D. They can range from effect C4D's, which portray lights and vibrant colors, to abstract renders which are random designs that can be placed in your sig. Once you get some C4D's, using them is as easy as pasting them into your sig, and setting them on linear/color dodge, or screen.

Be careful though, as abusing C4D's is really frowned upon. While they may add a cool effect to your sig from time to time, it is important to use other methods as well. Also, using them in the wrong way can completely ruin the flow of your sig, thus erasing certain parts of them is very important for a quality C4D sig.


This sig is made using a combination of many different C4D's, and different effects, to achieve a solid C4D sig.
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Renders
When choosing a render, try to go with something that you can easily manipulate. It should also have a good color scheme with the type of sig you want to make. For example if you are making a black and white sig, you want a render that fits the theme, something really colorful like a rainbow wouldn't do.

When making your sig don't forget about your render. Do stuff to accentuate it, rather than kill it. At least make it look better. For that matter, it's no good being a special effect whore. Again, this ties in with forgetting about your render and letting special effects dominate when they don't work.


The render is the main focus of the sig, the sig is made around the render, instead of the other way around
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Style
When choosing styles of sigs that you want to work with, don't be confined to one type. You should experiment with different effects, and expand your sig-knowledge. Different render also work with different styles, vectors generally work good with sprite and anime-sigs, while grunge works with darker, game and movie renders.

Once again don't whore the exact same sig style over and over again. I tend to be guilty of this (we probably all are, especially when we encounter "sig-maker's block"), but do try different styles (again taking your sig-making strengths into consideration). This is even more important if you're new to sig-making as your style just has yet to be uncovered. For example, I found that my bright and bold sigs looked better but I started with smudging-styled sigs (which doesn't always lend itself to being brightly colored).


My first vector attempt came out quite well, because I used some other effects that I am familiar with to enhance the quality
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Brushes
Many sig makers like to use brushes, weather as the background of their work, or just to enhance its feel. Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with using brushes to improve the quality of your work. I use abstract brushes to add effects to weapons like swords, mostly in my Link sigs.

However, using them as the background of sigs is generally bad. It is a very basic way to make sigs, and most of the time, the render is just slapped on. Don't get me wrong, using them isn't forbidden, just try to do so in moderation. While the sig may look good, you haven't really expanded your knowledge of sig making, and aren't going to improve much.


I used some grunge brushes on the right side to add a more earthy feel to the sig, as well as making the focal point more defined.
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Sig-sizes
Choosing a size for your sig is a very important part of its final appearance, and also has to do with the render you are using. Smaller sigs are better most of the time, but a large sig can work too if executed correctly. However, having a large sig means that you have to fill the space with some eye-catching, having a huge render isn't exactly what you want.

The height and width are also important. If you are using a human render is it generally better to use a bigger sig size so that you capture more of the person, without making them tiny. Otherwise, you can use any size, as long as it fits your render well. For example, if you have a tall render, you may want a taller sig.


I choose a thinner sig size for this render, since it's focal point is much bigger in width than height
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Pentool
The pentool is a very powerful sig making tool when used well. It is used to draw shapes and designs, providing you with solid curves or straight lines. I am not sure about others, but I use the paths option when I use the pentool. Becoming good with it takes practice, but you can make VERY high level sigs with it.

The biggest advantage of the pentool is that there is no pixelation at all. It can lend itself to all sorts of sigs, but most notably in vector styled sigs. You can also do things like make renders a lot faster than if you used wand (still don't know how to do that, but that's what I heard). The main problem with pentool is that it's a rather difficult tool to grasp. In the end you really have to practice with pentool to get the most out of it.


The pentool here makes the whole sig look vibrant, modern, and clean; perfect for Gin's appearance!
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Feeling
The feeling of a sig is very similar to the style, but it goes more in-depth. The sigs should feel similar to the style; having a Kirby render in a grunge sig is generally bad. You want something that has a good flow to it, something that looks to fit the theme of the sig.

So you've designed your sig around your render? There's more than just that! Even if you get good synergy with your render, consider the overall feel and emotions that the sig portrays.

The better sigs tend to have a logical feel to them. I mean, suppose we have a fire-based sig. OK, you obviously won't use blue for it, but it could still end up having the wrong feel to it. I've seen fire-based sigs where it doesn't make sense: the fire looks too controlled. Instead, I'd give brownie points to people who make the fire explosive.


In this sig, is conveyed a theme of purity through ice, doesn't it feel icy?
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In-Depth Blending
Blending is a very, important part of sig making. It is how your render and background flow together, and giving the sig a more professional and natural feel. Things like putting matching colors above the render, or just erasing the outside of it, can really help with blending.

The act of blending is to help the render feel more natural in the sig, not like its just tossed in there.


As you can see, its just slapped in there, no blending what so ever, this is what you don't want to do


The render looks more natural and the render and background have the same (or close to) colors
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In-Depth Lighting
To further explain lighting, we have provided to different take on how to make light, which I HIGHLY recommend that you all try out.

Sometimes, a soft, round, white brush will not do the job. try using the original render (not the resized version) as an addition to your light.


The green light up the top left, comes from the render pasted on a new layer, then repositioned and rotated so that a greenish part was in the right spot, then set to overlay/soft light. I then erased some parts that did not flow with the sig.
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Patterns
Patterns are one of my favorite things to use in sig making. They can add something to your sig other than the standard lighting, blending, smudging etc. However, patterns should be used with care, and generally should be mostly erased, unless you have a flat render. The two patterns that me and most other pattern-using sig makers use are scanlines, and the black-white squares.

Whenever I use the patterns, I always set them to soft light, and erase most of them that are around the render, and the background.


I use patterns here, but in a low opacity, and I erase most of the scanlines with a splatter brush. The scanlines help add some texture, to an otherwise very smooth background
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Depth
Depth is just what its name says it is, how deep your sig is. What it really means is how real it looks, and having depth is generally better with life-like renders, rather than flat ones. Things like perspective, and lighting all come into play when you are talking about depth.

This is probably the most important feature of your sig if you want to have a really good sig. To add depth to your tag means to make it realistic, more 3D rather than 2D.
Depth can be achieved through different te4chniques including curves layers, levels layers, blur/sharpen tool, burn/dodge tool, but there are some things to keep always keep in mind:
-objects close to you can be seen clearly, objects far away are blurry
-objects close to you are brighter, objects far away are darker
-objects close to you are larger, objects far away are smaller(perspective)


The render is sharpened compared to the rest of the sig, and the orbs on the left are in perspective. Also, everything on the bottom of the sig (front for perspective) is brighter than the top (back for perspective).
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Color
Having a solid choice of colors is an incredibly important part of your sig, just like lighting and depth. Colors help make your creation more appealing to the eye if they are used properly. Even good black-white sigs have a color choice that gives them that look. To further explain colors June has provided an awesome color wheel.

Analogous colors: Colors beside each other on the wheel.
Complimentary colors: Colors across each other from the wheel.

Basically when choosing colors to use in a sig, try to use analogous or complimentary colors. Be aware that sigs with only one color look very dull, so its usually wise to add complimentary colors even if you are using an analogous color scheme.


The sig has a solid array of colors with some beige (a very light shade of orange, which is opposite blue in the color wheel).
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Backgrounds
Making a good background for a sig can sometimes be the most challenging part of sig making. A simple technique that I like to use is to make a large copy of your render/stock, and place it in the background. After that you can alter it with different filters, or doing things like rotating and erasing.

Another technique that can be used it to get a background that suits your render. For example, if you have a lion for your render, having a savanna in the background is a good idea. Keep in mind that you still want your render to be the main focal point, don't just slap it in there!


The background has a good color scheme, but keeps the render, front and center.
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Eye-Catching Effects
When making a sig, you either want to go simple style, or pull out some effects that are going to show people. Generally speaking, you want something abstract, and eye catching. C4D's are a good example of what I am talking about, but you can also do it pretty easy with some smudging, distort filters, and erasing.

Color choice is very important when making effects, you want it to match your render, but still stand out. A good example is a ice or fire effect on something, it definitely catches the eye, but still looks like it fits the sig


The football has some fire effects on it, which catch the eye and look interesting, but still feel like they suit the ball.