Help me, help myself

[Dratai]

Okay here's the deal, I want to have a few communication/transmission bars for my characters. They don't have to be extravagant or anything. But I was thinking, since I have some experience with drawing and a few of the programmes myself, I was thinking I could do some on my own instead of bothering someone else (since I hate being a neusance concerning these things).

So my question is: does anyone have any guides/guidelines or hints for these kind of things?
A way to more easily make them, I mean. And not slap on some photoshop effects/text and call it perfect.

Simple, but cool/useful/nice.
Complex works too.
Any hints/tips, really. And think about it, this could be useful to others as well.
So you could easily hit me up for a "painjob" afterwards, for less than cheap/free, as a way to practice. <.<

Please?

[Rommie]

Go with the flow... there's no way around photoshop effects/text... always make a background layer with the forum post color. It makes testing much faster.

You can look up on http://www.deviantart.com/ for Tech Brushes, there's plenty of them. Just don't abuse them, and don't just stick them together. Add shapes of your own, erase some, etc.

---

In space, nobody knows I'm a panda

[Dratai]

Go with the flow... there's no way around photoshop effects/text... always make a background layer with the forum post color. It makes testing much faster.

You can look up on http://www.deviantart.com/ for Tech Brushes, there's plenty of them. Just don't abuse them, and don't just stick them together. Add shapes of your own, erase some, etc.

I don't currently have photoshop, though, as this is a moderately new laptop on which I just couldn't be assed to get it yet, because I normally hand-draw everything I do, rather than rely on effect brushes.
My favorite program is 4.5 openCanvas because it I like the way it handles my tablet strokes. (especially since I suffer from severe tremors, it's the most smooth and clean approach for me.) After that comes SAI, because it has some effect brushes, but it also has a very deep adjustment setup. It's a more art-minded engine than photoshop, in my eyes. Photoshop is picture fixing, firstmost.

Then again I'm not very familiar with photoshop because the few times I used it, I couldn't get used to the brushes and settings. (for that matter I couldn't find the settings I wanted to adjust)

But aye, I could use tech brushes, if you recommend that..
I was mostly looking for tips on how these things should look, honestly.
Such as how other people make the layout for them, things like giving them a "screen" style look.

Edit: Thanks for the hint though. Even if I have a stick up my ass, sometimes