This tutorial is for making a game-related signature. Signatures off-topic can be made using the instructions below, but will be much harder.
First off, we need to find a game that you enjoy. In this example, I'll take Halo 2. We now need to search for the Starting Image, a simple image that people have already made. However, we want to be careful and choose the correct one. Follow these rules and you should find a decent one:
Good Images:
- Ones with a colorful background.
- Ones with the main character on them.
- Ones with good color and art quality.
Bad Images:
- Ones with a lot of text.
- Ones with plain color.
- Ones with someone elses name on it.
- Ones with black & white art on it.
- Ones with the game case on it.
- Ones with "real" people on it.
- Ones with text on a angle
- Ones with gameplay footage.
- Ones with small height & width.
- Ones with random monster/items/character on it.
- Lastly, but most important, ones commonly used.
With the above in mind, I found this image:
Now it's time to Crop, or cut down the images of excess material. To do that, we are going to use an easy program called Microsoft Paint. If you do not have that, you can still follow the directions below and use your image program to follow along.
Open up Microsoft Paint by clicking on Start, Programs, Accessories, and Paint. Now copy the image you found on Google, and paste it into Paint. Or, if you saved it, open it up from that location.
Now we want to select the portion of the image we want for our signature, since this is way to big. Select the image to be larger in width then height. Also try to include the head of the main character. You can select the image by clicking on the icon shown like this:
When it's selected, it should look like this:
Press Ctrl + V, or click "Copy" from the context menu to copy the image. Then open a new Paint program and paste it.
Now we need a font. Go back to www.google.com , but don't click on images. Instead, just search for the font under web. For this, we are going to search for Halo 2 font. After a little searching, I found this: http://www.free-font-downloads.com/downloa...332.Halo-2.html Simple save the font anywhere.
Now we need to extract it. Get Winzip, or another program similar. Then extract the file. Inside should be a file similar to this one.
We need to install it. First off, copy the font file. Then, find the fonts folder. On my operating system, Windows XP, you simple right-click on Start and go to explore. Then click on WINDOWS and find the folder "font" Paste it there and it should install properly.
Now visit your logo in Paint. Find a nice spot to put your name (bottom right is good). Click on the text button.
Then select the portion you want the text to be. Be sure to click on the second button at the bottom left hand side.
Now type in your text. My name is Sizux, so I'd type that in. I recommend you make your name in all lowercase letters--it just looks better. To change the font, click on View and Text Toolbar. Change it to the new font type (Halo 2) and your perfered size. Also change it to white, so people can see it. This is what my signature looked like afterwards, just so you know how cool they can be. Hope you found this helpful.
