[Tutorial] How to make a basic graphic signature in Gimp

TheKoopabros. basic GIMP signature Tutorial.

This is what you should come up with when you are finished.



Once Gimp has fully loaded go to File--> scroll down till you see "New". Click on it and a window will pop up.

The dimensions of a standard sig are listed below.Just type them in,then hit okay.

If done correctly your window should look like the below image.



Now click on the paint bucket tool on the left hand side (as highlighted below).



Now double click on the Black square above "Bucket Fill options" now select the color red.

Now fill the blank canvas by clicking on it, if done correctly it should look like the below image



Step Two: Putting in Images

Go to File --> go to open. Now click on the image that you would like to open.(with a single color background)

Once opened it will look like the below image.(depends on the image)



Click on the magic wand tool on the left side with the rest of the tools (shown below).



Using this tool, click on the white background surrounding your image now.

Everything should now be surrounded by dotted lines.Now go to Select-->Invert as shown below.



Now go to your signature with a red background.Go to Layer --> new layer.

Just click ok because you just want the default settings right now. (Images for reference below)



Your layers window should now look like the one below. If the layer window doesn't appear, go to Dialogues->Layers.



Now left click on your background layer in the layers window (Apple key + click for macs).
If this doesn't work you can access it from the Layers menu and then go over to the Transparency tab.

There will now be a list of options, click on "Add Alpha Channel".



What this options does is allows your layers to be able to move up one level or down one level.

Now click on the layer that you just made (the transparent one), switch over to your selected character in the other window. Now you'll want to cut out your image by going to Edit->Cut. Switch back to your signature window, and again make sure that you have the transparent layer selected. Now paste by going to Edit->Paste.

Immmediately you should notice that the image is far too big. So click on Layer--> Scale Layer.(below in image)



Where it says Pixels scroll down until you see a % sign. Input the dimensions as shown in the below image.



This should convert the total image size down to 25% of its total size, losing 75% of its size.

The image should now be about the right size but is facing backwards. To fix this click on Layer--> Transform-->Flip horizontally.

Now using the Grab tool(multi-arrow shaped) click on Link and move him to the right side.
It should look like the image below now



Do the same steps you used on link with the 2 new images (open up, magic wand, invert, cut and paste, scale down, flip if necessary, and position)

Once all that is done put them on the left side.

Step 3: Finishing it up with text and the white layer

Now the black text may be difficult to see with all the characters with dark outlines
so....add a new layer.

Instead of making it transparent make it white. (as shown below)



Now your layers window should look like the below image.



Now select the new white layer you just made and scroll the opacity bar down to 16.8%.(as shown below).



Now select the white layer and press the up arrow near the bottom of the layers window, move it up to where it is on the image. What this does is lightens every layer below the white layer. This acts to make the text stand out more.

Now click on the text tool (looks like an "A") and type in the name you want to put. Select the font, font colour, and text size on the bottom left side.

Save it as a PNG by going to File->Save as..., then click on Select File Type (By Extension) and select PNG as shown below.



Your finished product should look something like the below image.



Well there we have it there's my tutorial.

Now if you've made any mistake its probably in the layers, so move them around and see if that fixes the problem.

Feedback

Now the final thing I want you all to do is tell me if this tutorial helped you any, If you found any problems with it or even if you liked it. :)

I'm open to all comments and will try to answer any questions that need answering.

Also feel free to post any signatures you made using this tutorial.