AC's Smudging Tutorial

[Sawyer]

This tutorial was originally created for TutorialTomb

In this tutorial we'll be learning how to create the smudge signature below in less than 10 steps.

Alright, so... let's begin.

Step 1) Create a new image, whatever banner size you prefer. (I use 340x100) Fill the background with black and take out some grunge brushes or defaults on low opacity. Brush with a whole bunch of different colors, it won't really matter which colors they are, but they have to be very light. When you're done brushing, your image should look something like this:

Step 2) Here comes the part where we actually start smudging. Now, there are many different kinds of smudge brushes you can use, but there are two that I prefer. There is the maple leaf brush (default) or this special one that I made. In order to customize this brush yourself, though, you'll be making it yourself. Make a new image, 100x100 (or larger), and type a big X in the middle with the font Arial. Click Select>All. Then, click Edit>Define Brush Preset and name it whatever you want to. Take out your smudge tool and select the newly made X brush. Select Shape Dynamics after selecting the brush. Here are the settings I used: Size Jitter- 100%; Control- Pen Pressure; Minimum Diameter- 0%; Angle Jitter- 100%; Control- Off; Roundness Jitter- 100%; Control- Off; Minimum Roundness- 1%. Now start smudging with that brush with the direction of your preferred flow. When you are done with this click Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen twice. Now your sig should look something like this: (My flow is zooming from the center, not from any direction)

Step 3) Duplicate your smudge layer once and name it blur. Set the blending mode to overlay and motion blur or radial blur according to your flow. (For example, if your flow was directed from the left to the right, you would motion blur at 0?. If your image is like mine, however, you would use radial blur, set on zoom and Best Quality. The strength doesn't really matter, however, just do what you think looks best for your sig. Now, if your sig still has all of the colors in it after smudging, you'll probably want to change the colors to fit your render. My render happens to be light blue, so I will type ctrl+U (Hue and Saturation) and tick colorize, and make its Hue 215, and the Saturation 25. At this time, your sig should look like this:

Step 4) This step is optional, but very easy. Make a new layer called Flurry. Brush once in white anywhere on the sig and smudge it in the direction of your flow. Sharpen twice again and set the blending mode to Overlay.

Step 5) Now we get to put our stock in =D
Drag your render into the image and duplicate it 3 times to create 4 of the same layer. Of the 4 layers, make the top 2 and the bottom 1 invisible, leaving only the second-to-bottom render layer. This is the part where you can kind of change your smudge brush. Go back to your smudge settings and select Scattering. Leave it at the default settings. Then go to Shape Dynamics and change the roundness jitter to 50%. Go to Brush Tip Shape and select the maple leaf brush and set its size to 32 pixels. Smudge around in the direction of your flow and sharpen twice again. Set this layer's Blending Mode to Color Dodge or Normal, whichever looks best. Now do the same thing with the 3rd to bottom render layer except before smudging move the layer over a little bit to the left. Smudge again and sharpen twice, and keep the Blending Mode at Normal. Do the same thing with the last layer, except move this one over to the right instead. Your image should look like this:

Step 6) Now remember when we made that first layer that was brushed and smudged with a bunch of colors? Duplicate it and put it on top of everything. Set its blending mode to Overlay and ctrl+U and make it blue with the Hue and Saturation. Bring the original render layer up to the top and take your maple leaf smudge brush. Change the strength to 50% and start smudging around him to make it blend into the background. And now it should look something like this:

Step 7) This step is another optional one. Type ctrl+A, ctrl+shift+C, then ctrl+V. Change the new layer's blending mode to Overlay and change the opacity to 50%.

Step 8) Now for all the little details. Add some text, anything you want, and add a border.

Finished Product: (After some filters, etc. I sharpened up the render a bit, as well)

Good luck and happy smudging!

 

[mistywishmaker]

A great a useful tutorial :) I love how the result came out =D

 

[Sawyer]

Thanks so much ^^ You mind trying it and showing your result?