Well its time to face facts, the only tricks I know with text are clipping mask, varying font size, and having a whole lot of fonts to choose from. I need advice (Also as a suggestion, maybe we should have a few threads like this to talk about different techniques and stuff, kinda what a graphics crew is about right?)
That'd be cool, I'd love some tips on how to effectively do text too- Look at my tags, see how crap the text is? xD
I never use clipping mask lately. Think it's kinda bad looking way to pimp your tag. before this styl of text I used two fonts in tags. 1 bold and 1 regular or italic. and the bolds gets 1 particulair color (like pink) and the regular or italic gets a white or black color. that just basic easy way imo.
dunno if this helps but it might help http://www.logoorange.com/logo-design-08.php since a logo is nearly the same as your typography
but i like entering in SOTW and i need my name on there xD what do you guys think about this tag's text? (tag also posted in show off thread ) edit another text version:
the thing most people don't do is spend enough time on text. they want to just add it in 2 minutes and be done. but for it to properly complement the sig, it has to be well planned and executed. experiment with gradient fills and drop shadows.
"When putting text, The font you'll be use gonna blend the tag your making. Let say a grunge tag, so your gonna use creepy looking font somthing like that if you get what i mean. Also when putting text, your main focus is the title not the sub text. So doing that, you must make the main title more visible and the sub title less visible.
I always try to make my text help with the flow and put it in rule of thirds (vertical and horizontal). However I do need some tips as well, seeing as my text isn't so great.
Yeah.. My text is Crap. usually i dont even put text anymore , I really need work on that D:, but most of the tutorials written on text almost never help me out
I won't lie I truly think my text is good most of the time. A bit concieded but it's the comments I get plus I'm really picky and perfectionist towards text.
well, i'll see if i can give some tips and examples - how i thought up text, why it fits where it does, etc. try to fit the text style to the subject of the sig. in this case: the subject of the sig is bionic commando. it's a futuristic, slightly militaristic game, and the text should reflect that emphasis. so, i needed some fonts that would be sufficiently techno-oriented. i tried to find a font that felt "bionic" to me. something clean and blocky, but not hard to read. then for the commando text, i found a font that felt was "fast". it's naturally tilted forward, and the spacing between the letters is even. it also works well with the bionic text. all of the work trying out fonts took me around 20 minutes, because i wanted to find the perfect ones. so, i added them in and positioned them. they didn't blend in well, so i ran a slight gray-to-white gradient fill for them and added a slight drop shadow. now they looked like silver metal, which fit much better. still, something was missing. what else could i add that would fit in with the rest of the sig? i thought for a while, then i remembered that a honeycomb pattern is used a lot in science and technology because of its strength. so i added the pattern behind the text, and made it slightly translucent to appear like glass or toughened plastic. once it all came together, nothing felt out of place, and i knew i'd achieved some good text in that sig. now, in this sig, before i added the text: i was presented with some issues. i had the render and the background, two separate flows to deal with, and an imbalance in color and complexity that skewed to the right. so the text had to work with, and solve, many different problems. i tried text similar to the text in the bionic commando sig, but it was flat and only on one plane. i needed to emphasize the depth. after some brainstorming, i hit upon the idea of perspective'd text. it was a risky thing, but it just might work. first, i needed to have a font that would fit the theme of the sig. ghost in the shell is a futuristic anime, and it deals with a lot of cyberspace conspiracy. so, i chose a font that reminded me of a computer display. then, i needed to perspective each part of the text to match the flow from the center. after that, i added the color - a purple to light purple gradient fill, and a slight drop shadow. then, i lowered the opacity on the whole thing, but just a little. it's supposed to be slightly see-thru, like a ghost. another technique you might want to try is show in this sig: you can get color and thematic inspiration for text from your render! first, i decided to place the text on the left side to use up some of the empty space. i then needed a font that would express the feel of the sig, which was less "old eastern ninja mystical" and more "modern ninja with technology". i searched and searched, trying out different fonts. finally i found one that fit just right. now i needed a font to express the activity that he's doing. something a little playful, but not silly. the search was easier this time (lucky for me!). then, it was time to use some colors. for the naruto text, i could have used the usual orange dominant color, but his other colors are blue and white. so, i made a blue and white gradient fill, and added a drop shadow for a dark border to the text. for the streetwatcher text, i did an orange gradient fill, and another drop shadow. but while the naruto text stood out against the background, the streetwatcher text was lost against it. i added a brown box, with a WHITE drop shadow (another of naruto's colors) and then had a clipping mask of his arm seal, just to tie the text to the render even more. the result? text that fits the render perfectly. in the last example: this sig's text was especially challenging. i was using a complex background with many intricate patterns. the text had to be impressive and attention grabbing in order for it not to be lost against it. at the same time, the text couldn't be TOO bold, or it would overshadow the render. so, what to do? break up the text into manageable tasks, like usual! first, i took a good look at the sig and decided that the overall feel was very classy and clean. no grungy, dirty fonts here. also, while there's technology in the sig, it's more of an "old science" feel, and therefore techno fonts wouldn't be appropriate. i finally settled on using a serif font, which worked well for all parts of the text. i then assembled and positioned the text. the final fantasy words fit rather nicely together, which i thought was a good sign. if i wanted light text, i'd need to make it stand out from the light background. but a drop shadow, by itself, would just ADD to the complexity of the background. so, i made a selection of the text, and expanded it. then, i made a new layer underneath the text and drop-shadow layer, and filled it with the brown color of the render's skin tones. this helped the text to stand out, as well as connecting the render and text together. i added a large XII in the background, and gave it a gray to light gray gradient fill, and a light outline. then i gave it a drop shadow. this time, it worked well with the large shape of the text. after that, it still needed something to soften it and blend it. so i added some pen tooled lines, and some brushed lighting. i hope this helped! ^_^
holy crap pepsi, that ^ there is awesome and really great food for thought, im gonna re-read it when i get back home (just read it now btu im at school and im sure i'll forget something) -.- tried some gradient maps/shadows/stokes etc.
rarr, deacu most of your images has been removed or deleted.. I would like to see those :lol: and great advice dr pepsi
