{TUTORIAL + TEMPLATES} How To Mimic Don't Starve Together's Big Portrait Style

[Fidooop]

Hello, all! I'm Fid and I've figured out a way to replicate the Don't Starve Together big portrait style that is so simple that even someone like me who does not know how to make art can do it!
I had made a tutorial on how to do this long ago but at the time I was not doing it correctly nor did I explain it all very well... TBH, I'd rather that thread just die in a fire and this one take its place!

I'm going to show you how to turn this:

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Into these:

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Step 1: Getting rid of the banner (If you are starting from scratch and don't have a DS version of the big portrait with a banner then skip to step 2)

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Starting out with your good old DS version background, eh? Welp, if you stuck to that style you most likely have a banner and possibly a glow behind your character or something of that caliber. Your goal is to just go through and remove as much of it as possible! Like so:

 

Step 2: Adjusting Saturation (If you already drew your character's big portrait art in a greyscaled colortone then go ahead and skip to step 3)

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If you notice... The big portraits in DST have less color in them than the ones in DS! I've figured out a way to mimic that decolorization pretty well by unsaturating the image! c:
If your image editing software has the ability to adjust the saturation please set the saturation to negative forty to properly mimic the greyscaled colors of the DST big portraits! Example:
 

 

Step 3: The paper cut-out effect

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Another thing different between DS portraits and DST portraits are the "paper cut-out" effect which makes it look like your character was on a piece of paper, got cut out, and was placed on a cool background.
There are a few ways to achieve this that I know of and I'll go over each one!

1: copy the image, paste it on a new layer, change the entire color of the art on the new layer to a grey color leaving you with a grey shape, move the layer behind the original layer, and deform/move it around until it's sticking out from behind the character art.
Pros: very quick
Cons: Does not give a lot of control and 90% of the time it'll end up only sticking out too far or only stick out in 1 direction. You can repeat the same process twice and move 1 layer to the lower right and the 2nd layer to the upper left to try and cover all edges though.

2: Take your paint brush or pencil tool (whatever you use to draw/color), select a grey color, create a new layer, set it behind your character's art, and start drawing around the edges of your character.
Pros: Gives a lot of control
Cons: Takes forever >.<

Example of what you want to achieve:

(I kinda used the first example of how to do this so it doesn't look as good as it could... :c)

 

Step 4: Applying the background

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Now we are on to plopping on that coolio background!.... But wait... How does one get this background? Worry not! I've got ya'll covered with a few templates!

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Original:

CREDIT FOR THIS FIRST TEMPLATE GOES TO THIS THREAD: 

The rest of these were edits off of the original! Said edits were made by me! ^-^
Cloudy:

Spring:

Full Moon:

Now all you gotta do is simply paste your character art onto the background! Just like this:

 

Step 5: The "skin" portrait

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Leave your big portrait the way it is for now because we have to do a few other things first. (It is of GREAT importance that you keep the layers of your art and the background separate when you leave it. Save the project file if you're closing it.)

Some of you may be wondering what a "skin" portrait is or rather thinking "But... Mods don't have skins!". Well, mods technically do have skins! The default one! and the "skin" portrait is there to match the art of your currently equipped skin!... Which is the default one...

Anyways, this is basically a repeat of Step 4 but with a different background shape!
Templates:

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I made all of these templates on my own! (the original got a little bit of help from the original background template though...)
Original:

Cloudy:

Spring:

Full Moon:

Skin backgrounds: (I reconstructed these to the best of my ability)

 

 

 

Guest of Honor:

Survivor:

Triumphant:

 

 

Example:

 

Step 6: Creating and applying the name

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This step itself will require a few steps of its own! But do not worry, we're almost finished!

Step 6.1: Laying out the name

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Your first step in creating the name in the DST style is setting the name up like so:

"But Fid" you say... "How do I use this font?"
Well there 2 easy ways to do it without having to draw all your own and I'll go over each and their pros and cons

Using a letter template:

Template made by @Dudedude
(still need a zero to nine template >.>)
Using this template all you have to do is copy/paste each of the needed letters into a new transparent image as new layers (separate layers for each letter are needed to make the next step easier)
Pros: quick, simple, effective
Cons: makes you look silly? idk... I can't see any cons here... *shrugs*

Using a DST font:
There are 2 fonts that have this DST style about them
The first:

Download here.

LEGAL INFORMATION:

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.

Made by Klei! (Thank you, @Kzisor for providing the link)

The second:
http://mf99k.deviantart.com/art/Font-Forbidden-Knowledge-571349611
Made by @mf99k
Pros: You now have the DST font in all/most of your programs...
Cons: The next step becomes incredibly difficult and it takes a bunch of time to replicate the color/noise of other big portraits' names using this method.

Step 6.2: Making the text inconsistent

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If you followed the first method and now have each letter on a different layer you can now go to each layer and rotate/change the width or height/move up or down the letter on that layer. This is needed to give it that goofy inconsistent look that all the other portraits have!
Example:

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO SAVE THIS VERSION OF THE NAME FOR STEP 7

Step 6.3: Making a shadow

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There are many ways of giving something a shadow but the most common is copying the image (merge all the letters first), pasting it in a new layer behind it, change the color of this layer to black, moving it slightly off center to the original, and blurring it. But if you have your own method you can do it that way!
Example:

Step 6.4: Applying the name

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Now we go back to the image I told you to leave in step 5! Generally the layer order goes Background > Name > Portrait so all you gotta do is make a new layer between the portrait and the background (assuming you kept the layers separate) and paste the name there! Like this:

 

 

Step 7: Making the darkened name

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This image shows up above your character's head in the clothing selection screen after you select your character. It also shows above the character's skin portrait when you examine them!
Here is a texture template:

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Use the saved image from step 6.2, apply this texture to it, change the darkness on each of the letters, apply a shadow effect behind it much like in step 6.3, and you should come out with something like this:

 

If you've followed all these steps properly you should have a nice big portrait replicating the style of other portraits and ready to put in to your mod!
As well as a skin portrait and that darkened lookin' name!
(Also, if anyone wants to make any more portrait templates go ahead and put them here in this thread! If I like it I'll add it to the main post and give you credit!)

Here's a .zip filled with all the templates used in this tutorial: DST Big Portrait Templates.zip

Edited April 26, 2016 by Fidooop

[Asparagus]

I kinda imagine like a DIY vibe going on with like background music you usually hear in like cooking shows and stuff. Good  step-by-step wording.

[Fidooop]

Just now, Asparagus said:

I kinda imagine like a DIY vibe going on with like background music you usually hear in like cooking shows and stuff. Good  step-by-step wording.

Thanks c:

[MF99K]

wait, so what is it exactly that makes my font harder to work with? I might want to fix it if it's something major

[Neu7ral]

Actually, @mf99k font It wasn't hard. I think It was even more easier.

[Aquaterion]

3 hours ago, mf99k said:

wait, so what is it exactly that makes my font harder to work with? I might want to fix it if it's something major

I think it's due to the texture, as the other 1 has it all gray and ready to use

[MF99K]

8 hours ago, Aquaterion said:

I think it's due to the texture, as the other 1 has it all gray and ready to use

I downloaded the other font and it looks the same minus numbers and lowecase letters

[Lehla_Chan]

Oh mah gawd, thanks so much! As skilled as I am, I would've had to worst trouble with the font! I think everything else should go smoothly in paint.net now. And I love the Full Moon background. It's amazing.

Kthxbai.

[Fidooop]

On 3/11/2016 at 2:55 PM, mf99k said:

wait, so what is it exactly that makes my font harder to work with? I might want to fix it if it's something major

I love the font and use it whenever possible... the problem with it on a bigportrait though is the texture and getting it to have that jumbled up inconsistent look

[MF99K]

1 minute ago, Fidooop said:

I love the font and use it whenever possible... the problem with it on a bigportrait though is the texture and getting it to have that jumbled up inconsistent look

what program do you use? I didn't have any trouble making the letters jumbled, the only issue for me was the texture and that was only because I didn't have the texture file. Plus the letters are all on the same layer.

my main question is, what is the difference you are seeing between the two fonts, because I've tried both and they seem the same.

[Fidooop]

1 was made by Klei and 1 was made by you... I felt like I needed to include both of them lol

nice art, btw

[MF99K]

17 minutes ago, Fidooop said:

1 was made by Klei and 1 was made by you... I felt like I needed to include both of them lol

nice art, btw

thanks, but what was it that made the letters harder?

[Fidooop]

3 hours ago, mf99k said:

what was it that made the letters harder?

I don't have an image editing program for jumbling up text like that nor do I have the texture for the letters to put on the font so I use the other method with the pre-set texture c:

[Fidooop]

Updated! added skin backgrounds made after the skins in the game (Guest of Honor, Survivor, and Triumphant)