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okay, folks, what you've all been waiting for! how to make a cool pop-out sig in teh GIMP!
this is what we will end up with!
now, this tutorial assumes you know how to start up GIMP, and open a new file.
we will be using this picture as our render!
nice, eh? save it to your computer, so we can all work on the same image.
okay. step one!
open the GIMP. go to File > new
this should bring up this picture:
make sure to match your sig's dimensions to the ones shown. make it 500 pixels wide by 180 pixels tall.
now, we need to make a decent background.
it gets a bit tricky here:
in the main GIMP window, choose a foreground color that is a nice blue. i chose this one:
now, click on the paint bucket icon and then click in the white image that you made in the first step.
you should have this after doing that:
now, in the image window, the one that's currently blue, at the top, you will see a row of options. click dialogs > layers that will bring up a window like this:
at the bottom of this Layers window, you will see an icon on the left that looks like a sheet of paper. click it, and that should bring up a window like this:
make sure to match the numbers in your window to the numbers in this one above. ^_^
click okay. this will make your blue image have a new white layer on top of it!
now, at the top of the image window, the one that recently turned white, click on Filters > Render > Clouds > solid noise. a window should pop up:
match the numbers in your window to the ones you see above, and hit okay.
your image should look like this:
now, go to your Layers window, and click on the top layer, the one with the little gray picture. this will select the top layer. now at the top of the layers window, you will see a little drop down called Mode. choose Overlay.
now look at your image window, it should look like this:
cool, eh? good job so far!
NOW, i want you to make another layer. (remember, this is done by clicking the icon at the bottom left of the Layers window)
after that, go to your image window. at the top bar, click Filters > Render > Nature > Flame
a window should pop up! it will look like this:
now, match your numbers to these numbers above, and click EDIT at the top.
now that you have clicked Edit, a new window should pop up:
you want to make sure that the variation is set to swirl. then, click randomize until you find a nice, wind-shaped swirl. click okay. this will take you back to this screen here:
now, set the the colormap to gris josette, and the sample density to 20. then hit okay.
now, your computer will take a minute to process and draw this nice swirl.
but when it is done, your main image will look something like this:
nice, but it could look better. let's make some adjustments.
go to your Layers window. make sure that your newest layer, the one with the swirl is at the top and is selected. it should be highlighted in gray. now, in the layers window, set the mode to screen. your image should now look like this:
now that looks cool! we're just about done with the sig background. next, we'll be working with the render.
open the picture of link in the king of red lions.
now, in the main GIMP window, click on the magic wand icon. now set the parameters EXACTLY as you see in this picture below.
now. in the "link in his ship" picture window, go to the top bar and click Layers > Transparency > Add alpha channel
the go to Layers > transparency > alpha to selection. NOW, click on Select, and choose None.
right. now, you can click on the WHITE part of the "link in his ship" picture. this will select it. go to Edit > Cut. hey, the white part's gone! good! do this again for the white parts in between link's arm and the mast, and his arm and the rudder.
your picture of "link in his ship" should now look like this:
if it does, great!
now, once the white part of the "link and his ship" image is gone, look at the top bar and click Image > Scale image. a window will pop up. enter the specifications below.
remember to set interpolation to cubic!
now, in the "link and his ship" window, at the bottom left is a botton that says 66%. click it, and change it to 100%. this will let you see the image's actual size.
you are almost ready to complete the sig!
okay. now, in the window where you have your nice blue background, click on File. don't click anything else. now, go to your Layers window. add a new layer, only this time, instead of making it white, make it transparent. look at the picture for reference.
alright. now, go to Select > All. now go back to the main GIMP window. make the FG color white. go back to the background window. click Select > shrink, and shrink by 15 pixels.
now, go to Edit > stroke selection, and choose 5 pixels. don't bother any other settings. click okay. the go to Select > None. now, go to Script-Fu > Decor > border.
double click on the color, and make it white. set the other parameters as seen in the picture below.
okay. now, here are the final steps.
go to your blue background window. at the top, click Image > Canvas size. a window will pop up. click on the chain link once to separate the two different parameters. then enter the values seen in this picture:
now, add a new transparent layer to the blue background. then go to the ship picture and click Edit > copy. then go back to the blue background and click Edit > paste. drag the ship to where you want it. then, in the layers window, click on the anchor.
now, in the combined picture, go to Edit > copy visible. now, go to the main GIMP window and click File > New.
in the new picture window, click Layers > delete layer. then go to your Layers window and add a new trasnparent layer. now go to Edit > Paste in the new picture window.
last step!
in this new window, go to File > save As. pick a name like "link sig" remember to save it as a gif.
you should end up with this:
now, host your project, and let me see!
