I remember when I started in PS, I had really hard time and struggle a lot. So basic idea of this tread is to help people who are new in PS to avoid that struggling and hard period. Here I plan to share and post some sort of tutorials and advices so you guys can improve even faster. I'll keep this tread organized and effective so PLEASE DON'T POST until I ask for it. Hope we'll make great work here! This is a some sort of trial period so please don't open similar treads because I got permission from the staff to open it.

I'll start with signatures because they seem to be most popular. First we'll make a good start with using a stock because sometimes you see really good stock but there isn't a render of it. I recommend to use same stock and textures.

Open a canvas I used size 500 x 185 and fill it with 252424 color. After that insert stock (I'll post it at the and of this post named stock) and re size it so it looks nice, always try so it looks not too large and not too small, here is mine so far:



You can see that his head is almost touching upper edge of the canvas and his hand is also visible and he's in good position (left central because his kinda looking to right) in the canvas so this is a good render/stock positioning. Now it's time to make that stock look even better, actually it's erasing time. Use 65 px soft brush as eraser tool and put flow to 25% and start erasing around the render until you have this:



Now we'll make nice render effects. Put stock render on color dodge mode. Make copy of it by clicking ctrl + J while stock render is selected. Desaturate copied layer by pressing shift + ctr + U and put fill of that layer to 45 % Now make another copy of main stock render but change mode of it to normal with fill 10% and move it on the top in layer palette. After that make another copy of main render, desaturate it and move it slightly to the left side so it looks kinda shadow of it and erase part over his face and jersey, actually erase everything that doesn't look good and in the end put opacity of that layer to 50% this is what I got so far:



We are almost finished with our start just few more things to do. First we'll add nice background texture (posted at the end of this post named texture 2). Place it in your canvas, set it on multiply mode with fill 50% and erase parts of it over the render (use soft brush as eraser tool with 25% flow). After that make a new layer, use 200 px soft brush in white color and just hit once above his head on the left hand side, we'll create some sort of good looking light source, final outcome and our start is finished guys and imo it looks decent and ready for some more action:



Used resources:
stock:



BG texture (texture 2):



PSD - RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Imo this was very simple so no need to post your outcomes guys yet. Hope it was useful and see ya soon guys

Tomorrow we'll practice on applying textures so for those who are interested can download PSD file from previous post or follow tutorial and make it again. See ya guys!

I'll continue with Henry signature but now we'll see how to apply textures. I'll also try to give detailed comment on each outcome posted here. Now we'll start.

First texture is this one:



Place it like in picture and with 65 px soft round brush (flow 25%) erase part which covers render, I left it on normal so you can see it better but put mode of this texture on multiply :



Next texture is this one:



Place it like in picture but set it on screen mode (again I left it on normal for better showing) and erase (same tool as before) parts which I erased also:



Next texture is this one, you have to make it smaller (remember to hold shift while re sizing but in this case I re sized it un properly, it looked better):



Again place it like in picture and erase (same eraser tool as before) parts which I erased also, put it on screen (mine is on normal and I won't repeat this again, all textures in my signature will be on normal for better showing):



Next is this one, after inserting stock go to edit - transform - rotate 90' CW and after that place it like I did and erase parts I erased also, in the end put it on multiply mode; below used texture is my signature so far:





You can see that in picture above I slightly erased some parts of the stock and kinda blended it.

Next stock is this one:



I know it will be difficult to position it like I did but give your best guys, I've applied lower part of it. Erase parts like I did and set it on multiply mode with 61% fill, I got this (remember that mine is on normal) :



Final texture is this one:



Same as before place it like I did, erase parts I erased and set it on multiply mode with 52% fill, this is mine:



And yours should look something like this (mine also after putting textures on right modes):



This should be kinda middle work, still that "wow" factor and text left to make. So now I suggest to post your outcomes, PLEASE JUST POST OUTCOMES and if you don't understand some parts, next to outcome post questions you want to be answered and I'll try to answer them. See ya soon guys and thanks.

Edit - PSD file of tutorial so far: http://rapidshare.com/files/145455155/Henry.psd.html

Thanks for all the great help this is mine at the momment i think its too dark what about you?

awesome work man
i make this sig so i can comment
my outcome with your tut and i added another things :

Originally Posted by נ-ѕтαя∂єѕιgηѕ

Thanks for all the great help this is mine at the momment i think its too dark what about you?

First I think render should be little bit smaller. It's too dark because of that stock "Ladies Gents" maybe to erase more of it or lower fill. Third stock (those lights) could be better applied imo, maybe close to the ball on the left hand side. But it's ok.

MY OUTCOME :

Originally Posted by s.Skedo

awesome work man
i make this sig so i can comment
my outcome with your tut and i added another things :

I guess you ended it already. It looks decent but could be better. Sometimes when using color dodge for your render/stock it doesn't look that good so you have to adjust it better, maybe increase fill of that top copy on normal mode. Also I can see textures over his face, it's because of that color dodge on render, so when you use that effects all textures over or under the render will be visible and they need to be erased. Overall good outocome but imo it lack some stronger colors and lights.

Originally Posted by y0us3f™

MY OUTCOME :

Your outcome has most potential so far. Try to place render little bit higher and also erase textures over his face if there is some. Overall it's good.

very good Tut

What do you think?

v1


v2


+ thanks mate ..

what a fantaboulazing tut

i'll come back later with my oc :d

thx - reputations has been added

thanks neo this is great

Originally Posted by AL-BATAL

very good Tut

What do you think?

v1


v2


+ thanks mate ..

Your outcome is really impressive and when I finish mine it won't probably be good as yours. You did excellent job my friend, no need to make a detailed comment because everything fit immensely.

Originally Posted by .Kaka11|LFC™

thanks neo this is great

Really good mate, I can see great potential and everything is fine now so final outcome is going to be awesome imo. Only thing which need to changed is the position of the render, maybe more central or right will be slightly better. See ya soon.

thanks mate i was a bi dark so i added an extra layer to light it up a bit

i took the idea and the textures and i made it by myself as full sig

MY OUTCOME



thanx

Originally Posted by MR.FADY

i took the idea and the textures and i made it by myself as full sig

MY OUTCOME



thanx

Good work mate although some parts could be better. Maybe render is too blurred and I think that effect don't go to well in this style, but that's only my opinion. Colors and blending are ok, BG also but imo text needs to be blended better, maybe other font would be more effective. Hope to see ya again mate.

my outcome..10x 4 the tutorial mate

Great work mate
your courses will help a lot of our members. looking forward to see more of your courses

Great tut mate, i decided to give it a shot, my outcome....

You probably didn't get me right mates. This tutorial isn't finished yet, we are at middle work, still more things to do but anyway,7aMaD~ArT your outcome looks really good mate but I think (I'm not sure but it looks like that) you made huge mistake and that's render/stock re sizing, it's out of proportions, so remember to hold shift while re sizing (maybe I'm wrong but stock/render looks like that).

Originally Posted by .Reno~

Great tut mate, i decided to give it a shot, my outcome....

It looks really nice mate, you went through this tutorial quite good and finish is nice, good job.