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yesss... i finished it... ok, it may be complicated, but i did the best i could in making a picture by picture analysis. just hopefully everyone can interpret it like i do... nay hoo 15 steps/pictures, so im just gunna put a url for each, but put a description with it! hopefully u can follow along! the programs of use i reccommend are MSPaint, and Adobe Photoshop.

step 1
ok this ones simple get your work area ready... open up Paint and Adobe photoshop. notice the 2 red ovals at the bottom of the picture~

step 2
find your character thats going to be on your banner! im using tenma from school rumble!

step 3
find your background for the signature! i used another school rumblewall paper, and took a small piece from it. remember though, sig boundaries are only 500x500 pixels, so be careful how big u make this piece. note the red indicator and what it says~

step 4
ok a bit complicated now... take the background picture, and put it in your paint program. then take the trimming tool and cut out the certain piece that will be part of your backround ONLY. note the red indicators (one in the top left, one huge oval).

step 5
now take the part u trimmed, and shove it in the topleft corner of the picture. make sure u dont push it too far though, as the walls are not "solid" so to speak...

step 6
now, click a random part on the picture to unselect the items u were playing with. then, go to the very bottom right corner where u should see a dot (i know its hard but bare w/ me). if you hold your cursor over it correctly, it will turn into a diagonal adjustment arrow. note the red indicator showing where u should see this dot...

step 7
now once it is a diagonal adjustment cursor/arrow, click and drag it and make the perimeter surround ONLY your background portion! it should look like in the picture if done right.

step 8
once it is like this, take your trusty trimming square tool (refer back to step 4), and box off / surround your background, and press ctrl+c, other known as the copy function! once u have done that, open up adobe photoshop and click file, then new. adobe will then ask how big the picture should be etc. it will be preset to the dimensions of your background for some reason lol... just make sure though u set it to transparent, then click ok. it should come out like the example.

step 9
now once the window is set up like that, play with its size a bit. go to the top, and click image, then image size. there should be an option where it says constrain proportions. **DESELECT THIS**. make sure ur width is 500 pixels (max for gaia), and ur height is up to u, as long as it does not exceed 500, and it also depends how big your character will appear.

step 10
now once u have adjusted that blank image size paste ur background on by pressing ctrl+V. ur background will fit snug right into the window, with some slack on top for your character to stand out! note the picture.

step 11
now we re going to backtrack... remember your picture u chose with the character on it? (refer to step 2). copy n paste it, or even open it on a new window in adobe photoshop! now, if it was originally a wallpaper, ur guna have to adjust the size. do the same this as u did in step 9, EXCEPT, keep the proportions constrained. this is so that your character wont become out of whack / proportion! adjust it to a decent size, trial and error always works. make sure the picture is always at 100% (not at the top of the picture). if its too big, undo, readjust; too small, undo, readjust. your target size should be that the size of your character should not exceed the new background window (refer to step 9).

step 12
ok this step is the most tedious, and requires a lot of patience, a steady hand, and a good eye. dont get frustrated when u mess up! what u need to do first is zoom in on your character. so u can see some pixels or until your character fits perfectly in the window (meaning u shouldnt scroll to see more). now take a tool on the left that looks like a weird pointed shape. this is called the pologonial lasoe. if this is a circular shape, click the small little arrow on it, and change the mode (refer to picture). now with this, start outlining your character small clicks at a time. this needs patience, but itll get a nice trim around it! refer to the picture on what it should look like.

step 13
after countless minutes, and many tries, u should manage to surround your character nicely! on my example u will notice that the outline trim is now broken / spotted. this means whatever is inside that will be toyed with.... which we will do! once u have surrounded the character, hit ctrl-x! other known as the cut function. it will tear your surrounded peice right off the board!

step 14
ok i hope u didnt exit the background portion... (refer to step 9). bring this back up on the screen, and hit ctrl-v(paste). ur charcater should pop right onto the background. adjust your character in the proper position u like (i put tenma on the right). and there u have it! ur basic signature thats ready to be decorated and written on! now, what u wanna do is save it as a PSD(photoshop file) so u can go back and play with it if needed, and also save it as a GIF so it has the transparent background!

step 15!!!
once uve saved it, we go back to our roots... open up the GIF file in MSPaint! here now u can do what u like! put a border around the background with the line tools, put shapes, anything! the sky is the limit! but make sure u dont save any mess ups! if u do mess up here, jst find the undo function on the top bar, and itll step back. once u put ur words and borders and what not perfectly, save it over! u now have your completed siggy! lets upload it and show it off!!!

key tools and buttons
ctrl-c = copies a picture
ctrl-v = pastes a copy or a cut out
ctr-x = cuts a selected picture
ctrl-z = undo ***very useful***
alt-ctrl-z = stepback / further undo ***very useful b/c ctrl-z usually goes back only 1 mistake***
photoshop
MSPaint
PSD file
GIF file
1001fonts ***very useful to get unique fonts for the siggy***

well thats about it, thx for pputting up w/ it, i hope u were successful! IF YOU AHVE ANY QUESTIONS HONESTLY, DONT HESITATE TO PM ME. ILL HELP AS MUCH AS I CAN.

oh... and if u wanted to see my completed one of the example, look at the signature blaugh