I'm not sure how many people use Gimp here, so there might not even be any point to this. If anyone does try, I'll put the results here ^__^
SL92's Chalk Smudge Sig Tut for Gimp said:Here is a tutorial on how to make something like this:
Any level of Gimp-user can make one of these, from beginners to advanced, though this tutorial was written so that a beginner could understand. You will need these brushes. _________________________________________________ First, open a blank canvas, I suggest something about 400x150 pixels. Fill it in with black.
Next, find a render, open it as a new layer, and move/resize it appropriately. I'll be using Charizard.
Now, open the Layers tab. Duplicate the render layer four to six times. Rotate and move the duplicates around so cannot see any black. Once finished, move the original render to the top of the stack.
Still in the Layers tab, marge the duplicates together. You should be left with three layers: a black layer, the merged duplicated renders, and the main render. Highlight the merged duplicated renders layer (I'll called this the background from now on). Then, go Filters -> Artistic -> GIMPressionist, and select Dotify. Click Apply, then OK.
With that layer still highlighted, go to the Brushes tab. Select a chalk brush. Scroll up if you missed the ]http://209.85.62.24/145/11/0/f137685/ex5.jpg[/img]
Now, highlight your render layer. Using the Color Picker Tool (the eyedropper) select a main, light color from your render. I choose from a bright orange area on Charizard's face. Now, swap your foreground and background colors. (See the two boxes with different colors in them? Click the arrow you see there). Select a darker color now. If you choose a light orange before, choose a dark orange now, if you choose a light blue before, a dark blue now, etc. Select the Blend (Gradient) Tool, and set "Shape" to Bilinear.
Create a new, transparent layer below your render. Holding Ctrl, drag your gradient from the middle of the layer to the left/right edge of the layer. If the darker color is not farther from the render than the lighter color, swap your fore and background colors and try again. Set this gradient layer to 80% Opacity.
Next, duplicate the render layer. Highlight the bottom render. Now take a large chalk brush. In the same way you smudged the background, smudge the bottom render outward, making your way around it. In the Layers tab, set this layer's Mode to Screen.
Optional:
<div class='spoiler_toggle'>Spoiler: click to toggle</div><div class="spoiler" style="display:none;">Do you have a 3x3 diagonal line pattern? Create a new image with a transparent background, 3 pixels by 3 pixels. With the Circle (01) brush, color in the top-right pixel, the middle pixel, and the bottom left pixel with the Pencil Tool. Save it as Diagonal 3x3.pat.
Put this pattern in "C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\patterns", or wherever you installed Gimp. You may have to save and restart Gimp for the pattern to appear. Now, directly underneath your render layer, create a new transparent layer. With the Rectangle Select Tool, create a selection from coordinates (0,0), making the selection about 50 pixels wide and entire height of your image. From the Patterns tab, drag your new pattern into this selection. Select -> None. Duplicate this layer, and move it to the extreme right of the image. Merge the two layers, and set the Mode to Soft Light at about 30% Opacity.
</div>In the same way you made the other gradient, create a new layer above the render layer. Reset your foreground and background colors to black and white. Ctrl+Drag a Bilinear gradient from the center of your image to the left/right edge. Make sure it get darker as it gets towards the far edges of your image. You should now have six layers now, seven if you did the optional steps above. Right-click your render layer in the Layers tab, and select "Alpha to Selection". Select -> Shrink. Set it to 2 or 3, uncheck "Shrink from image border", and click OK. Now Select -> Feather. Set this from 5 to 10, and click OK. Highlight the black and white gradient layer in the Layers tab, and press Delete. (Ctrl+K in older versions of Gimp) Select -> None. Finally, set this layer's Mode to Soft Light, at 100% Opacity.
If you skipped the optional part, ignore the diagonal lines on each side. To bland in your render a bit: Highlight your render layer, Alpha to Selection again, Shrink by 2 again, Select -> Invert, then Filters -> Blur -> Blur.
Now, advanced users can Gradient Map, and add more to this image. For everyone else, just add text and a border. To add the style of border I've been using, create a new layer, above all the rest. Fill it with white. Select -> All, Select -> Shrink by 2, and Delete. You'll now have a white, 2px border. Repeat that, but this time use black and only Shrink by 1. In the Layers tab, make sure the black 1px border is above the white 2px border, and set them both to 50% Opacity. Once you put in your text, congrats! You just made a sig.
