Let me supply you with the assets we will be using in this tutorial. Below are all the pieces and parts you will need to make this signature. You can download the Pack for free by saving the target here

Now that you have all your assets. Open a new document with the demension 500×167. Then look for a good wintery background or use my image below

Next Make a new layer and Fill it with White. Set the fill to 0% and open the Blending options. Then Select “Gradient Overlay”, Set the Blend Mode to “Color Burn” with a 20% opacity. Next make the start color (555555) and the end color (000000). Set the angle to 180.

Make a new layer and Fill it with White. Set the fill to 0% and open the Blending options. Then Select “Gradient Overlay”, Set the Blend Mode to “Normal” with a 85% opacity. Next make the start color (000000) and the end color (000000) at 0% opacity. Finally set the angle to 90.

Next Open Asset08 and Save it as a new brush(You save a Brush by going to Edit > Define Brush Preset…) Name it Dark Tendral. Make a new layer in your signature. Then select the new brush and Scale it to fit in the Signature. Place it in the left side and fill it with Black.

Now that you have the Dark Tendral open the Blending Options and Select “Outer Glow”. Set the Blend Mode to Screen, The Opacity to 75%, And make the Color Black.

Next in the Blending Options and Select “Color Overlay”. Set the Blend Mode to Normal, The Opacity to 100%, And make the Color Red.

Next Open Asset07 flip the image horizontally and Save it as a new brush(You save a Brush by going to Edit > Define Brush Preset…) Name it Light Tendral. Make a new layer in your signature. Then select the new brush and Scale it to fit in the Signature. Place it in the right side and fill it with Black.

Now that you have the Light Tendral open the Blending Options and Select “Outer Glow”. Set the Blend Mode to Screen, The Opacity to 75%, And make the Color #BEEAFF.

Next in the Blending Options and Select “Color Overlay”. Set the Blend Mode to Normal, The Opacity to 100%, And make the Color Red.

Next we are going to add the Feathers to the Right side of the signature. Make a new Layer under the Light Tendrals. Then select the Feather brush you just created. Now we need to add a Scatter to the brush. Set the Scatter to 215%. Then Select the Shape Dynamics, set the Jitter to 100%, The Minimun Diameter to 33%, and the Angle Jitter to 100%.

Now with your feather brush selected with white as the color drag from the Top Right to the Bottom Center of the signature.

Next Repeat the step on the Blood this time going from Top Left to Bottom Center. Set the color to #9A5F5F and chage the layer blend to Linear Light.

Now that we have the background of the Signature done we can focus on the Foreground. Open Asset01, select the paladin and copy him into the signature. Place him on the Right Side just aabove the Light Tendrals.

Then add a Drop Shadow. Set the Blend Mode to Normal, White as the color, with an opacity of 60%. Then Make the Distance 0 and Size 26

Now select The Inner Glow. Set the Blend Mode to Screen, with the color set to white, and the Opacity to 16%.

Make a new layer and fill it with black Set the Opacity to 73%. Then add two lens flares over the Paladin’s Eyes. To get to the Lens Flare go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare. Now set the brightness to 39% and the lens typr to 105mm Prime.

With the lens Flares added set the Layer to Linear Dodge.

Now we are goin to add the Newest Hero Class to the Signature, The Death Knight. So go Back to Assest01, only this time select the death knight and copy him into the signature. Place him on the Left Side just aabove the Dark Tendrals.

Now to add some blending options. Select Drop Shadow set the Blend Mode to Multipy, color to Black, and Opacity of 75%. Next set the Distance to 0 and the size to 31.

Finally select Inner Glow. Set the Blend to Normal at 75% Opacity and make the color Black.

Now we are going to add Smoke coming out of the Death Knight’s helm and Frozen breath. Open Asset02 and Asset05 and make them into custom brushes. Then make a new layer and place Asset02 over the Right Eye Opening and Scale the brush down so it looks Like it is exiting the opening. Set the Opacity to 65%. Then repeat the steps on the left side and you show have this result.

Now we need add a menacing outterglow on the smoke. Open the blending options and select Outer Glow, Mahe the blend mode Screen, Opacity 75%, and the color #980B0B.

Moving on to the Frozen Breath. Open Asset06 and set it as a custom brush. Like before only this time make a new layer and add the smoke so it fits in the singature. Now Rotate the smoke so it looks like a frozen breath blowing towards the paladin. Finally scale is down to fit over the Death Knight’s Mouth.

Again add and Outer Glow to the breath just like with the eyes only change the color to #03075A.

Now add Asset09, The World of Warcraft: Warth of The Lich King logo.

Finally add an Outer Glow. Set the Mode to Normal, Opacity to 75%, and the Color to Black.

Then add an Inner Glow. Set the Mode to Normal, Opacity to 75%, and the Color to Black.

Lastly add some Text to the bottom of the signature. I added “I was once like you” since Arthas said that in the teaser trailer but it’s totally up to you. Add an Outer Glow to the text. Set the Mode to Normal, Opacity to 75%, and the Color to Black.

And Finished. I hope you enjoyed the Tutorial.

So let’s get started. Make a new document with a transparent background the size of your desktop. Mine is 1400×1024 so you can use that size if you like. Next fill the layer with “2AC3AF” and rename the layer base.

Now add an Inner Glow. Set the blending mode to Normal and the Opacity to 20%.

Next add a Gradient Overlay. Set the Gradient to Black to Tranparent, reverse the selection. Finally chnage the Angle to -166 and Scale to 150.

You should have something like this now:

Make a new Layer and call it “Rays 1″. Now make a few horizontal Rectangles with two close together then a large space and two more close together. Fill them with “C3742A”. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 5.0px and Hit OK.

You should have something like this now:

Now go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and set to Rectangular to Polar and hit OK. Then change the layer fill o 50% and the Blending mode to Color Dodge.

You should have something like this now:

Next make a new Layer and call it “Rays 2″. Now make a few horizontal Rectangles with a large space between each rectangle. Fill them with “2AC3AF”. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 5.0px and Hit OK.

You should have something like this now:

Now go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and set to Rectangular to Polar and hit OK. Then change the layer Opacity to 70%.

You should have something like this now:

Now make a new layer and call it “Flowing 1″. Then grab your “Flowing Star” brush and set the pixel to 10 - 15px and add a sprinkeling around. Like below:

Now make a new layer and call it “Flowing 1″. Then grab your “Flowing Star” brush and set the pixel to 20 - 30px and add a sprinkeling around. Like below:

Next download the Lotus I am using here

Now add the lotus to the bottom left corner like so:

Next add a Gradient Overlay to the Lotus layer. Set the Blend to Saturation with a 50% opacity and a scales of 80% then Hit OK.

Duplicate the layer and call it HiPass. Then go to Filter > Other > High Pass. Set the Radius to 5.0 px then Hit OK.

Finally change the blending option to Linear Light and a fill of 20%. You should have something like this now:

Now grab any kind of speaker you like and Cut the woofer out and place it over the center of the Lotus like so:

Finally CTRL+click the speaker layer and then go back to the lotus layer and copy the selecetion to a new layer. Then move that layer just above the speaker.Change the layer blend to Linear Burn and the fill to 30% and you are done!

First you need to decide what the size of your blog is going to be but for tutorial purposes I am going to show you on an 800×600 scale.

Open PhotoShop and Create a New file and fill it with white. Then create a new layer and call it “Floor”. Now grab a guide and section off the bottom so the height is 110 pixels. Finally make a selection of that area and fill it with #E5E5E5.

Floor Guide

Now that you have the Floor layer ready we are now going to add some blending options. The blending option we are going to use are a DropShadow and a Stroke. Use the settings below to blend the “Floor” layer.

DropShadow

Stroke

This should be your result:

Floor Blended

Now create a new layer and call it “Canvas”. The canvas layer is going to be the section that houses your blog enteries. Now drag out two vertical and two horizontal guides to mark out the Canvas area. The two vertical guides should be at 150 and 650 on the horizontal ruler. The two horizontal guides should be at 60 and 550 on the vertical ruler. Like below:

Canvas Guide

Now make a selection using the guides and fill the selection with White. Now we are going to add some blending options to the “Canvas” layer as well. We are going to add a DropShadow with the Settings below:

Canvas DropShadow

This should be your result:

Canvas

Next we are going to add a more impressive shadow so your blog look like it is sitting in a 3D space. So create a new Layer under your “Canvas” layer and call it “CanvasShadow”. Then drag out three more guides two vertical and one horizontal. The new horizontal guide should be at 90 and the two new vertical guides should be at 250 and 700. Like below:

Shadow Guide

With the guides in place grab your pentool and mark out a section like the image below:

Shadow Outline

Fill the path with black and you should have something very close to this:

Shadow Outline

Finally go to Filter > Blur > Gausian Blur and set the amount to about 10 - 20 and hit ok. Then set the layer fill to 40%. Here is the result:

Canvas Shadow

Now that we have the base of the site set up we are going to move to the header and navigation. Create a new layer and call it “Header”. Grab your pentool and make an outline that looks like the selection below:

Header Outline

Fill the outline with white. Then we are going to add a Dropshadow and a Gradient Overlay like the settings below:

Header DropShadow

Header Gradient Overlay

Your header should look close to this:

Header

The next part of the header is the Navigation section. Again drag out 3 new guides. Two verticle and one horizontal, the two vertical at 20 and 720 and the horizontal at 120. Then grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool with a 10px radius. Draw section out and fill it with black to look like the image below:

Navigation Outline

Then we need to add three Blending options a Drop Shadow, Stroke, and Gradient Overlary in the settings that follow:

Navigation DropShadow

Navigation Gradient Overlay

Navigation Stroke

You should have something very close to this:

Navigation

Now we are going to add the font on the navigation. I chose NEUROPOL for my font but you can choose whatever you like. Set the font size to 20px. The first Button we are going to create is Home. So type out the word home in the navigation area just like the image below:

Home Black

Then we are going to add four blending options to this font. The Options are a Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, Gradient Overlay, and Stroke like below:

Home Drop Shadow

Home Outer Glow

Home Gradient Overlay

Home Stroke

Resulting in this look:

Home Button

Repeat those steps on the next sets of fonts until you have something like this:

Navigation Buttons

Now create some dividers between each word:

Navigation Dividers

Next step is to add the header title I named the site Anime Girl Blog, but the title is up to you. Make the font size 45 and select neurpol as the font again. Then add three blending options (Outer Glow, Gradient Overlay, Stroke) shown below:

Title Outer Glow

Title Gradient Overlay

Title Stroke

Resulting in this look:

Title

Next we are going to add a global date area for your Blog. Make a new layer and call it “Date”. Drag out 4 new guides (Two vertical {115, 150} and two Horzontal {570, 765}). Then grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool with a 10px radius. Create the box using those guides and fill it with black.

Date Guide

Now we are going to add three new blending options (Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay, and Stroke)

Date Drop Shadow

Date Gradient Overlay

Date Stroke

Resulting in this look:

Date

Now that we have the date area it’s time to add the date. Use the same font we have been and set the font size to 14. Now use the present date and ad these four blending options (Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, Gradient Overlay, and Stroke) like below:

Present Date Drop Shadow

Present Date Outer Glow

Present Date Gradient Overlay

Present Date Stroke

Resulting in this look:

Present Date

We have now created most of the blog layout. The step is to add the Post area and our anime girl. You can use whatever you like for this section the steps will be the same. Drag out 4 new guides (Two vertical {115, 200} and two Horzontal {120, 215}). Now make that outline a selection and save it as “hostBox” so we can use it later. Then grab your image and paste it into the layout. Name the new layer and call it “Host”. Next adjust the size to what you would like and load the selection we saved early by going to Selection > Load Selection > select the name “hostBox” and hit OK. Then grab the magic wand tool and right click in the selection to copy out the are you want. Delete the layer with the part of the image that is not inside the box. Now you should have something close to this:

Host with No Blending

Finally add these Blending Options (Drop Shadow and Stroke) below:

Host Drop Shadow

Host Stroke

Resulting in this look:

Host

Now we need to create the post area so drag out 4 new guides (Two vertical {155, 550} and two Horzontal {220, 580}). Create a new layer and call it “Post” Now make a rounded rectangle selection in the guides and fill it with white. Then add a Drop Shadow and Stroke with the settings below:

Post Drop Shadow

Post Stroke

Resulting in this:

Post

Now that we have the shading done we need to duplicate this layer and call it “Post Header”. Add a new horizontal line (190) and drag out a rectangle marquee selectionand cut it out of the “Post Header” and delete the excess. Then apply the following Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay, and Stroke:

Post Header Drop Shadow

Post Header Gradient Overlay

Post Header Stroke

Resulting in this:

Post Header

The Final step is to Slice this image into section for display in WordPress. Here is the final with a mock up post added and some optional decorations:

Final

First you need to either make your subject image or find one online. I found this one of link from Deviantart.

Next you need to Desaturate the image. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or SHIFT+CTRL+U now you should have a nice greyscaled image.

Now that you have the greyscale we need to give the image a bit more contrast. Got to Image > Adjustments > Levels or CTRL+L set the input level to 92, 1.00, and 225 and hit OK.

Your Image should now look like this:

Finally go to Edit > Define Brush… name the Brush Link. There you have it a quick but impressive looking Brush. Here is an example of what the brush looks like:

Section 1: The Custom Brush

You need to do a search for the autobot logo. Google comes in really handy with this the higher quality the better. Now that you have the emblem we are going to create a custom brush.

Now do the same with the fill layer as you did with the outline. Now that you have both of those brushes, on to the meat and potatoes of this tutorial.

Section 2: The Wallpaper

Open a new document with the dimension of your monitor mine is 1400×1050 so you can work with that size if you like and set the fill to white. Then right click the layer to add a gradient.

Section 3: The Emblem Shield

Now we are going to create the AutoBot Emblem Shield. Open a new layer and name it Shield
Base. Grab your “Autobot Emblem” brush and make sure to place it in the center of the image. Make the brush about 500
pixels and click once. Now grab your Magic Wand Tool and select all the transparent area outside the emblem. Then go to Select > Inverse. Next go to Select > Modify > Expand and expand 10
pixels. Now fill the entire selection with black. Now select two shades of gray for the foreground/background (I used #e3e3e3 and #8f8f8f) and go to Blending
Option > Gradient Overlay.

Section 4: The Title Plaque

Create a New layer directly above the “Rays” layer and call it Plaque Select now the Rounded
Rectangle Tool (U) to insert the text’s selection table. This layer should be situated under the layers belonging to the emblem and its shadow (on the layers panel). The color of the selection is white. Next add some blending options shown below:

Drop Shadow:

Section 5: Transformer Robot Brush

Just like the first step search for your favorite autobot. I chose Optimus Prime but that is totally up to you. Once you have the brushes you want create a new layer above the “Rays” layer and name the layer “AutoBots”. Place them where ever you like in the background. Make sure your foreground color is set to the default. When you are happy with where they are set the layer to Overlay.

Web 2.0

Step 1: Cloud Filter

Step 2: Chrome

Step 3: Plastic Wrap

Step 4: Walkman

With the Cloud layer selected (1) in your layers palette, choose Filter>Render> Difference Clouds hit Ctrl-F twice. (2) Hit Ctrl-U make sure colorize box is check make the Saturation slider at 100%. Then you can change the Hue to whatever you like.

Step 5: Walkman Chrome and Plastic Wrap

The last step is to remove all the color splotches that do not belong and
add a border.

Step 6: Adding Company Slogan

layer to Screen.

you erase on low opacity.

erased a lot, just leave some pieces on the left side of the tag. Set the layer to Lighten .

sprite, and set it to Lighten. Now take your erase tool and erase the parts you don’t like.

Screen .

like this :

To start out, grab a photo that you would like to duotone. Any photo will do. I am just using one of my personal stock photos.

Now to create a duotone go to Image> Mode> Grayscale. Click yes to any question that may come up.

Now go to Image > Mode > Duotones.

Now you can either pick Monotone, Duotone, Tritone, or Quadtone. I picked Quadtone. Pick whatever colors you like as well. Then accept whenever you have it the way you like.

It looks kind of cool but let’s say you don’t like the way it turned out. Then use gradient maps to soften the coloring, or add to the coloring. For this I am going to use a purple – orange gradient map. But first, we have to change our picture back to RGB coloring. So go to Image> Mode> RGB coloring. Now go to your gradient maps area and pick a gradient I am using this:

Now I set my gradient map on screen on 50% opacity. Now my picture is lightened a lot:

Now let’s say I want it darker, instead of lighter. What I am going to do is take the exact same gradient and set it on vivid light on 75% opacity.

With just duotoning and a gradient map I created a pretty cool sunset picture.

Okay so know I opened up a new photo. This is the photo I’m using:

That is another stock photo of mine. I am applying a simple blue-ish gray duotone. You can apply whatever duotone you would like.

Then add a gradient like this:

And look at that. Add a couple textures or something and you could have yourself a great horror/macabre photo manipulation.

So as you see through duotoning you can create great photos and duotoning will help further your abilities on what you can do in photoshop.

First make a new file at 400×85 pixels. Then take your stock, and place it in like so.

Layer > New Layer, then go to Image > Apply Image.
Now click on your smudge tool and use something close to a 9-12 pixel hard round brush. Now smudge some of the background, not the girl.

Now take a nice effect c4d and place it in the sig. Set it on Linear Dodge and delete the parts covering the face, leave some parts covering the body though.

Layer > New Layer. Image > Apply Image, now go to Filter > Liquify, now move around some of the parts that are covering up her body until you have a nice soft effect.

Make a new layer and go to Image > Apply Image, now go to Filter > Distort > Displace and choose a nice .psd, the sig should now look all scratchy, so delete a few parts that cover up the face and you should have something like this.

New layer and apply image, now go Filter > Distort > Ocean Ripple, play with the settings until you have something that looks nice, then go and delete most of it, just keep a few parts over the c4d

Now throw in another nice effect c4d and place it on Linear Dodge, once again delete the parts covering the face.

Now time to make a clipping mask, make new layer and use a white splatter brush until you have something you like.

Then hide that layer and then make a new layer on top of it and Image > Apply Image. Now go to Layer > Create Clipping mask, now unhide the layer beneath it (with the white splatter brush) and then move the clipping mask layer around until you have something you like.

Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map, now select the orange and blue gradient map and set it to saturation at 13% opacity. Now make another gradient map (new adjustment layer), and select the black and white gradient map, set it on luminosity at 11% opacity. Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, play with the settings until you have something nice and then set the opacity to 30%.

Make a new layer and apply image, now go to Filter > Distort > Wave and play with the settings, then delete most of it but leave the few parts around the render that look nice.

New layer and apply image, now go to Filter > Liquify and use a large brush and just slightly move some parts around.

New layer and apply image, Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and try to light up the focal more, delete the outer parts.

New layer and apply image, now Filter > Distort > Wave, then delete the parts covering the face.

Now time for the text, go through the same steps in making a clipping mask as last time except this time instead of using a white splatter brush we are going to use white text. Everything else is the same.

New layer and apply image, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it at 1 or 2 pixels, I chose 1. Then go back and delete some parts that don’t look good and you have yourself a tag.

here we go…

Here we have a sprite tag, now what can we say about the text on this one? The text may be slightly plain, but sometimes, plain is good. Now class look closely at this text, the color matches perfectly with the sig’s colors, it is a nice default font, and it is slightly fading out on the left side. This is a nice and subtle text that goes wonderful with this sig.

Now class, this text doesn’t help the sig at all. It looks as if the person who made this sig just got tired to the end and didn’t put any thought into it. It looks just as though he used a dark Grey text, and then lowered the opacity on it, no blending or any effects to this tag at all. Plus, the text just doesn’t fit the sig.

This sig’s text is very nice…yes? You are right, it is unique on how they made the text flow with the page. Touches such as these will make your text a huge part of your sig. Now who can tell me what this text needs? Nobody knows? Well class if you look close enough you will see that the text under Life Story is awfully cramped, if it was spaced out just a tad then this text would be perfect, but a single flaw isn’t bad at all.

What about this one? It does look as if the text is sort of part of the signature, this is called a clipping mask. Using a clipping mask on text is a great way to match the text with the colors and flow of your signature. However, this shouldn’t be done all the time, because it doesn’t look good with every signature.

So what do you think about this one…, the text is nice and small, which suites this sig perfectly. Also in case you still haven’t noticed the colors compliment the sig perfectly.
Now you have learned a couple of things to do and not to do when working with typography. Typography is the most important thing in a piece of art sometimes, and cannot be left for the last “extra thing” to do when a work of art is finished.