Alright now. Before you start off, you must have some basic knowledge of GIMP. It is a good idea to have your own method of blending too. I will show you a couple of blending methods if you don't have any. BE SURE TO NAME THEM THE SAME NAMES I DO OR SOMETHING YOU CAN REMEMBER IT HELPS.

If you use this tut, or have any suggestions for it, please post, you don't have to but it would be nice.. Thank you.

Brushes Needed: Abstract (Or Grunge works good too but I favor Abstract)
Text: Any, I didn't use text.

Step I:
Start off by making a 400x115 picture. Make sure it is white. Duplicate "Background". It will give you "Background Copy". Delete "Background" layer and rename the "Background Copy" layer to Background.

(You should still be working on 1 layer)

Step II:
(Try and have as few "dark" spots as you can) Get out your Brushes and brush around. This part will of course have a major impact on your signature, so be sure to try pretty good at this step. Now go to Layers > Colors > Colorize. Make the colors match your render. I am using this:


(You should still be working on one layer)

Step III:
The intresting part. Ok get your Paths Tool, Design Mode selected, Polygonal Checked, and draw a "cross" going from left to right. Have the "bottom" piece cut off some. HINT: Click and drag some "Guide Bars" to where you are going to do the paths tool. This is optional, if you don't know what I am talking about don't do it. In the folowing picture, I did it. Now click "Create Selection From Path". If you used the guide bars, go ahead and move them out of the way.


(You should still be working on one layer)

Step IV:
Now it is time to create a new layer. Go to Layers > Duplicate Layer. Name this layer "Bar". Now go to Edit > Stroke Selection > Stroke by 2. I used black. Now remember to stroke on the Bar layer, not the background layer.



Step V:

Now remember to keep your selection. Go to Filter > Blur > Pixelize. I did 7,7. Now in the selection you should see some blurry boxes. Ok now we need to make it look better. Go to Filter > Enhance > Sharpen. Now put it on any number that looks good. I did 70. Go ahead and go to Select > Select none. You should now have something like this.



Step VI:
There are two ways yu can make your background look darker and better. You only need to do one of these options.

Option 1: Now we still need to make it look better. Get out your render, cut it out, copy it. Create a new layer named Render Color. Now get your render it paste it everywhere, not leaving any empty spot.



Set "Render Color" layer to Overlay.

Option 2:

Go back to "Bar Layer" select it. Now duplicate it. Go to Layers > Colors > Colorize. Have the same settings as you did at the beggining. But make it darker. You might need to set the mode to Overlay. Now merge this layer down.

Here is what I got.



Step VII:

Now time to add your actual render. But in this step we will also be blending it in. Create a new Layer name it "Render". Be sure it is transparent. Now place your render in.

Here are some ways to blend it in. (I used more then one way)
Option 1: Duplicate the Render layer. Now on the layer that has been duplicated go to Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur. Try different settings. I put it on 100. IIR. Now set the layer to Overlay.

Option 2: Do Alpha to Selection on the "Render" layer. Then Invert. Select > Invert. Now click on the Background Layer and get your eraser. Set the Eraser Opacity to around 50. Brush around the Render. Now do the same thing on the Bar Layer.

Option 3: Do Alpha to Selection on the Render layer. Create a new Layer and name it "Blend". Go to Edit > Stroke Selection > then Stroke it with black by 1. Now Invert selection, with your Blend layer still selected, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur and do it by around 70 to 100.

Now Option 2 and 3 go great together.

Step VIII:
Border, agains there are many ways to do this. Here are two ways.

Option 1: Create a new layer, transparent. Call it "Border". Now on the Border layer go to Select > Select all. Then go to Edit > Stoke Selection > Stroke by how ever many you want. 4 or so is good.

Option 2: Create a new layer, transparent. Call it "Border". Now select all by going to Select > Select All. Now go to Edit > Stroke Selection > Stoke it by 4 or 5 with White. Now set the layer mode to Overlay.

You are finished.



Other Outcomes:

My other one (Don't try to steal it, it has my name in it)


Choochi's (should work)


Icegoten's


Kitten Dude's



Chomex's


Linkinpark's



Radian's







Nonk's


Bitmap's


Novox's

Hmm, if you need help post too. 42 Views no replys? :. Surely someone likes it. :w:.

Hey, that's really cool: Here's my outcome:



Good job! :w:

Thank you. I like yours. Like how you added 4 selections to pixelize. I'll add it to the top.

My outcome
This is without text though.

love this tut probs try it out..

ps: do you have a tut for your current?

Cool! Keep up the tuts with your creative mind you!
My Result:

Thanks you all. Nice. Also Twistd, no I do not currently have a tutorial for my current sig.

Grant, yours does not work.

I'm 100% sure that this has already been posted in another tutorial.

I Like the outcomes, might try this.

Hey penny, nice tut but.....This has been posted bfore

Whos is Penny? There is something somewhat like this that has been posted before. But this one is differen't in ways and the otehr one is badly explained.

k, and ur new nickname is PENNY YAY!!!! lmao

Hmm, are you ok? : :w:.

Nice Turorial, Happy with my results. Avatar & Sig

Thank you, nice work. I'll add them to the post.

Very nice! I've bookmarked this tut, keep up the good work!
This is my result:

I've already used this effect before, but for my back ground, I was thinking of doing something like this

and


But I think you should remove the 2px thing around where you want to pixelize the area, because then, some pixels turn out black, and others not, looks weird in some situations :O Also, my signature is an example too

very nice, although i made a few adjustments to mine, using a bevel instead of a stroke, and using my own tile technique. please excuse the border and text on the samus one, they were done fast. the top one is my most recent and its more grunge than abstract.

heres my result:



(I don't know how to use paths)

*Also LinkinPark can you tell me how u did that effect plz*

This is corrupt! You're stealing all the credit with someone else's tutorial!

*Also LinkinPark can you tell me how u did that effect plz*

Could you explain which effect you are talking about?

Nice job guys, I will add them to the top.

Link: I think he means how to make the squares on the whole picture.

Kwin: What do you mean? I did not steal this tutorial. Made it from scratch. As you can tell. If you think I have ripped a tutorial, which I have no reason to, then private message me. Don't keep spamming this thread with lies.

IMG]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc149/BitMap42/crosssig.png[/img]

My result. Oh! and any chance on showing me how to do the text in your outcome? It's Awesome

Great tut

EDIT: Odd, my image wont' show up. well just copy paste the link I guess

Love it!

I'll get to it right now!