Tiggers GFX workshop no.1 - Graffitti

[Tigger]

OK, your gonna need a graphics program like Fireworks or Photoshop (I'm gonna show you in fireworks cos it is the easiest to get hold of for free )

You'll also need to download some decent graffitti fonts, try www.acidfonts.com for some cool ones.

I've also zipped some of my favourite graffiti fonts here.

OK, download all the stuff your gonna need and install the software / fonts.

[Tigger]

Right when you've got all that installed run fireworks and select 'new' from the file menu to create a new picture.

Set the width to 350 pixels, the height to 150 pixels and the background colour to transparent. Click 'OK'

Select the text tool (the 'A' in the tools pallete) and click on your picture. This will bring up you Text Editor box.

Choose one of you new graffitti fonts and type your name into the box. Select it and adjust the height to a size that looks good, don't worry about the colour yet. When it looks right click 'OK'.

Click once on the text you've created to select it and then go into the 'Fill' options - it's one of the little tabs between 'stroke' and 'effect' - play around with the options on the drop-down menu's until you get an effect you like.

To outline the text go into the 'Stroke' options, choose 'Pencil' in the top drop-down, '1 pixel - soft' in the 2nd drop-down, set the colour to black and the width to 2.

Finally go to the 'Modify' menu and choose 'Trim' this will shrink your canvas to fit.

Thats it!!! Now you just need to save it. In the 'Optimize' tab (near stroke and fill) make sure the export file format is set to 'GIF' and that it says 'Alpha Transparency' at the bottom.

Go to the 'File' menu and choose 'Export' to save your pic to your hard drive.

[Tigger]

Finally you need to upload your image to the internet. If you haven't got your own webspace e-mail it to me at andy@splattdesigns.co.uk and I'll put it up for you.


Here's the one I did whilst writing this tutorial:



Any problems, just ask!

Hope this helps

[hektik]

cheers guv: one problem: cant download all the stuff at work

will have to try and go round my sisters and sort it out some time.

humpfph!!!

[Tigger]

Unlucky m8! I forgot to mention - you can usually find a trial version of Fireworks on the cover disk of .net magazine - saves downloading if you have a slow connection.

[VinylAnimal]

Tigger mate, gotta say top fookin man for this workshop !!!!!

I'm not a big graphics man (not the most artistic bloke me, lol) but this is one seriously detailed post and I can follow what you're saying. Lol, that's unusual for me...

Fukkin massive respect for taking the time to help peeps out on this one !!!!!

[rob s.]

Yay! Nearly there


Cheers Tigger - top advice there!

[grad]

yep nice one tigger....easy to follow and all that..might have a nosey at fireworks meself..


grad stands back and waits for the flood of new sigs...

[Tigger]

Rob mate, thats spot on that - it just needs outlining to pick out the letters better.

Turning the 'stroke' option on and seeting it to 2px does this:

[rob s.]

Nice! Is there a "stroke" equivalent in PaintShop Pro 7 at all?

I tried just going round the edges with black but it went kinda chunky and weird looking...

I tried selecting the text and then inverting it so's I could add on the outside rather than go over the colour, but I got in a bit of a pickle with it!

[Tigger]

Don't know mate, I only really know Photoshop, Fireworks and Illustrator. Fireworks is as I described it, with photoshop there is a 'Stroke Selection' option which wdraws a line around the selection to get the same effect.

Alternatively put the same text in black, 1 or 2 points bigger behind it (thats if you can use layers, re-draw it with the black first otherwise) so it just stands out round the edges.

[Tigger]

Rob, just had a look at a demo of PSP7 - theres a stroke option in the Text Entry box when that pops up, you can set it in there.

[rob s.]

Right - let's give it a whirl...





... and the crowd go wild!


Tigger - thanks loads for all yer help, it's very much appreciated!

I'd never in a million years have worked out what the stroke button did!

Shows once again just how very darn cool these boards are - OSA is most definately the place to be!

[Tigger]

Thats fekkin mint m8! Nice one!

[Tigger]

Just a quick note that this months Computer Arts Special has got loads of decent tutorials and all the software you could ever need on the coverdisc, including Poser which is the fantastic software I use for designning my cyberbabes!!!