Ok, this is my first tutorial, but i've been using photoshop for about a year now and I think you'll find it to be helpful if you've been looking for that extra punch to your sig. These are some pretty basic techniques and are commonly used. If you are very familiar with photoshop, then this tutorial will be easy, and some people already use these techniques.
Note: I used Adobe Photoshop 7 to do this tutorial.
Ok, let's get started. First, make a diagonal scanline pattern. If you already know how, skip to STEP 3.

STEP 1
Make a new document, with the settings listed below. 5x5 pixels, transparent background.




STEP 2
Using the Pencil tool, draw a diagonal line from the top-left corner to the bottom right corner as shown. You may want to zoom in by hitting Ctrl +. When finished, go to Edit-Define Pattern. Save the pattern as "Diagonal Scanlines" or something to that effect.




STEP 3
Make a New Document, 400x125 pixels as shown. This is the perfect size for a sig in my opinion. If you like a little bigger one, use 150 or 175 instead of 125.




STEP 4
Filter-Render-Clouds. Then, Filter-Render-Difference Clouds. Repeat or Ctrl-F several times until you like the result. Image-Adjustments-Brightness/Contrast. move the contrast to about 40-60 play with the results and go with what you like.




STEP 5
To apply the scanlines, right-click and choose Select All. Repeat, but choose Fill... and use these settings, with the pattern that you made. The entire document should fill up with diagonal black lines.



Afterward, you should set the blending mode to overlay and reduce the opacity to around 33%, or whatever looks good.




STEP 6
Pull in a character or some form of brush/abstract. I used the Master Chief for my example, because he's so commonly used in most sigs/banners. be sure to get a clean cut; don't pull in a picture with an ugly white border like mine here. To get the border off, just ctrl-click, go to Select-Modify-Contract 1 pixel, hit Ctrl-Shift I and delete the white border.




STEP 7
Most people use Hue/Saturation to color their sigs. That's fine, but I prefer Color Balance, because it allows the pictures that contain color to keep their hues, but still have the correct balance for the color scheme. If you don't understand, just keep reading, you'll get it. Pull up the Color Balance dialogue box by pressing Ctrl-B. Depending on the art that you pulled in, the natural colors will reflect a certain color scheme. I saw that this picture of the Master Chief had more red and orange tones, so i pulled the bars that way. do the same coloring on all three boxes: Highlights, Shadows, and Midtones. Generally, you will pull one bar one way and another bar the opposite way to achieve a good balance.



Note: Apply the same balance to both the Background and the layer with your character. You may also use brushes/effects on a separate layer to add to the style of your sig.




STEP 10
Add some text and apply some Blending options. I used Bevel and Emboss with size set to 1, and Inner Glow set to Normal and changed to Black. Set this layer blending mode to Overlay. If this doesn't show a good output, Duplicate the layer and/or try switching it to Soft Light. Now, this part is tricky. Ctrl-click on the text layer. With it selected, hit Ctrl-N. Add a stroke, outside, with one pixel black. Ctrl-click on that layer now. With it selected, hit Ctrl-N again. Add a stroke, outside, with one pixel white. Set the last two layers you created to Overlay.
Note: If this is too hard/looks bad, skip this part of the step and just add some cool text.



Finally, to create the border, apply the same technique that you did to the text, but this time Select All and choose inner with black on the first stroke, Ctrl-click that layer; Stroke: Outer with white on a new layer, then ctrl-click that layer and stroke with black.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions or comments, contact me at dusty2you@hotmail.com. I rarely check my e-mail, so don't be surprised if I don't get back to you right away.

Happy Photoshoppin'!

I've just realized that my freakin Geocities thing is messed up because i've been using too much data transfer. If anyone has any idea on another way i can post images, tell me please. Thank You.

http://imageshack.us/

Hm. Nice tut i knew about scanlines, but for ppl who dont it will be nice.

I just made the Tutorial for those(mainly beginners) who would like to learn how to add some kick to their sigs. (and learn how to make one).
Anyway, thanks.

Yeah.. I submitted this to P2L.

i'll submit to good-tutorials.com today..


Also: I really like your sig that you ended up with. looks really nice. Yeah, N00bs will love this tut! :D

Thanks... It's my first Tutorial... i wouldn't expect it to make it on good tutorials, but if u want u can send it in.

nica thank you i like this im going to try it now B)