The Fame Monster: Signature Tutorial

[Emma 199]

*What we're making:

*

*What you'll need: Texture 1, Stock 1, Stock 2 (all linked below), Model(s) of Your Choice

*Difficulty: Easy

*

Hello everyone! I thought I would write a tutorial for this signature mainly because it's actually super easy. The detailed steps are below!

ONE.

Open a 600x100 canvas. Take the TFM outtake (or other model) and do not resize. The face needs a close crop. Simply place it on your canvas. It's okay if you have a little white space, because the next step is going to fix that!

TWO.

This doesn't really matter that much in the end, but it does help a little bit with the base. I took this texture, (edited to fit this particular graphic.. I take no ownership of the original) and placed it so that there was still a bit of empty space. My result looks like this.

THREE.

I then took this stock and simply set it to lighten around Gaga. Erase anything you don't want want. Result!

FOUR.

I took another stock image - this one - resized it slightly, placed it on my canvas, and erased it. Click me!

FIVE.

Take the other TFM out-take (or whatever model you're using). Resize it so it's fairly small and on top of all the other layers. Place it where you want, and cut it out.

SIX - COLORING!

This is a really simple coloring. My steps:

01. Make a new black and white gradient map (not to be confused with a standard gradient). Click okay.

02. Make a new color balance layer with the following:

Midtones: 70/-10/0

Shadows: -70/0/-10

Make a new Invert layer. Set it to Subtract at 40%.

Since that last layer made things fairly dark, we're going to lighten it up a little. Make a new curves layer with the following settings, simply by clicking a random point and filling in the numbers:

RGB, Point One:

Output: 143

Input: 122

RGB, Point 2:

Output: 125

Input: 99

The coloring is DONE! You can stop here, or you can do these optional layers:

- Copy Merged > Topaz of 62%. (I believe I used the Curly Smooth Filter with a Strength of 4, Threshold of .21 and a radius of 8. You can erase the parts of this layer that don't look right to you, or use your own settings all together).

- Copy Merged > Filter > Other > High Pass set Soft Light for sharpening.

-For text, I used the font Lassigue. A general rule of thumb is that the longer the text, the smaller the font and vice-versa. I also used a motion blur (if you do this, make sure to duplicate your text layer so you have a backup) with a distance of two or three, in addition to a black and white gradient map with an opacity of about 50% or so.

I hope you enjoyed it and please post your results!

[SnowWhite 0]

I am SO trying this <3

EDIT: Ta daaaa? (I don't have topaz so I winged it :P)

[Emma 199]

Love your result! Super pretty!

I was worried that the coloring would be iffy on some images, but I'm glad it worked out. :)

[SnowWhite 0]

I had to tweak it a bit, cause i use CS3 and it doesn't have subtract but It worked.

I like it a lot. :3