by Guest Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:59 pmLogo And The Leonardo
Introduction
Ever seen one of those flashy logos, and always wanted to make one? Well, this tutorial should cover the basics of making a basic text logo for your own self.
Getting Started
Before starting, you need to download Adobe Photoshop from the following link. Your next step is to look for a suitable font. Select your logo according to how you would like your logo to be themed. Here are a few fonts I searched for myself.
Gothic: Gothic Love Letters, Black Night, Blackletter, Diamond Gothic and Black Family.
Music: Metallica, Slipknot, Soulfly, Smashing Pumpkins, Offspring, Powerman 5000, Godsmack, AC/DC, Deafleopard, Bon Jovi, and Pink Floyd.
Video-Games: Mario, Residental Evil, Final Fantasy, Twisted Metal, Emulogic, Atari Kids, Namco, and Pokemon GB.
Movies: Aladdin, Galactica, Pirates of the Caribbean, Enemy Of The State, Spawn, Blade II, and Sleepy Hollow.
After you download your font, you'll probably want to install it to your PC. To do so, open the .rar file and search for the font file (Most fonts have a .ttf format). Go to the Control Panel and search for "Font". Open the folder that has the name "Font", and extract your font in that file. You need to run as the PC Administrator (Meaning that you have access to the main account) to be able to do so.
Creating your logo
Once you're ready, create a new file with the size 1000x1000 (Keep your logo as big as possible). Type in your name using the font of your choice, then right click on the text's layer and select "Blending Options". Here is where you can modify your text to make it look good, by using the following effects:
Drop Shadow: Gives the text a a bit of 3d effects, and shows that the text and banner are not the same. To use correctly, make sure the shadow is really near the text.
Inner Shadow: Helps give text a darker color (use for thick fonts, such as the Twisted Metal font). Adjust settings according to how dark you want it. Do not use if Satin is enabled.
Outer Glow: Does nothing to the text. Use only if text isn't visible on any dark background in any other signature.
Inner Glow: Gives text a bit of light. Do not enable with Inner Shadow, and keep Glow Size to a minimum.
Bevel and Emboss: Use to give text a 3d effect. Use only if other darkening and lighting effects are disabled Also keep size to a minimal since it can really make text look bad if used incorrectly.
Contour: Deepens 3d effects. Worsens signature, so keep away. Bevel and Emboss must be enabled to use.
Texture: Uses patterns to give text a bit of a 3d feeling. Try not to use much. Bevel and Emboss must be enabled to use.
Satin: Darkens text at certain areas. Best not to use much, and do not use if Inner Shadow is enabled.
Color Overlay: Gives text one color level, but if combined with other effects, can give off different color levels. Disables Gradient and Pattern Overlays if enabled.
Gradient Overlay: Gives text a mix of colors. Much better than Color Overlay, and may gave a dark effect by using a gradient of black and the color of your choice. Disables Pattern Overlay if enabled.
Pattern Overlay: Gives text a pattern chosen by the artist. Not great for text, so refrain from using this effect. Does not disable any effect when enabled.
Stroke: Gives text a black outline, or simply gives it an outline of any color or gradient selected by the artist. Use both Inside and Outside stroking, then use which seems better (an inside stroking of 1 Pixel is usually the best).
At times, we do not aim at using English text alone, but few artists would like to have a bit of Japanese in their logos. Using this free guide, Japanese would be quite easier to use now. The first Kanji isn't great to use, since it does not include letters that may be included in other languages, so stick to the second Kanji instead. In Japanese, letters are formed by having either a vowel on its own, a consonant and a vowel, or two consonants and one vowel, so be sure that you might not type in your name exactly the way it's supposed to be written. Also notice that Japanese has no "L" in it, so use an "R" instead. If you have a Google quick-search plug-in in your browser, copy and paste letters until they form the word you want. Use the same style for your Japanese text as well (Same effects used for your main English text). To be able to insert Japanese text, its best to try inserting it:
● Really small and above the text on the right.
● Really small and under the text on the right.
● Really small and above the text in the middle.
● Really small and under the text in the middle.
● Larger than the text and behind it.
● A bit smaller than text and under it in the middle.
● Larger than text and beneath it in the middle (Only if you want the Japanese lettering as a main).
Tips
● Always use a squared file to create your fonts; you do not want your font to be too tall or too wide.
● Save a .psd and a .png copy of your logo; you might need to edit effects again when you're to make the logo smaller.
● Logos can be used instead if you can't use Watermarks on deviantArt.
● Logos can also be used instead of typing in your name in signatures.
● Windows already has good Japanese fonts, but you might want to download other fonts such as the font Epson-Futo-Gyosho.
Credits
● KimoForce: Writing Article.
● 1001fonts.com: Providing fonts.
● Musiceffect.com: Providing fonts.
● Free-fonts.com: Providing fonts.
● Fontspace.com: Providing fonts.
● Simplythebest.net: Providing fonts.
● Reader: Reading.
© Kimo Force
~ Kimo Force
