[Tutorial #2] Pastel Éowyn
Going from this: 
to this:
Requested by shadowhunter
I started out with a promotional image of Éowyn and cut her out. I prefer cutting my subjects out of the original sized images because they tend to look better when you resize them, especially if they have curly or wavy hair that goes everywhere! But with Éowyn, I probably could've resized her then cut her out as her hair is fairly calm in this image.
Technically, I started out with a color fill layer of #9265ed as my background.
Then I added a texture from raiindust's Hopeless Heart texture set and set it on soft light, 100% opacity. Usually, when I am adding textures, I put it on screen, lighten, soft light, or multiply, but lately I've been experimenting with other layer modes like subtract or linear burn. But for this, I did the tried and true soft light layer mode. I liked how the texture when from a bunch of different colors to different shades of purple.
But I felt like it still looked kind of empty and needed something to go behind where Éowyn would be. So this time, I added a texture from lookslikerain's The Best and Worst Parts of Me texture set. I recently discovered her textures, and I LOVE THEM!!!!!!! So I went with this texture, because it had my two favorite colors (purple and turquoise) plus the circle as a point of interest. I set it on soft light, 100% opacity. See how it adds some interest. I liked the grungy feel it added, especially since I was going for a painted look.
Now, it's time for Éowyn to come back! ^^
Now duplicate Éowyn and Gaussian blur (Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur) the layer at a radius of 6.0. In PSP, go to Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 6.0. Set this layer on soft light, 100% opacity. I like using the blurred layer to give a dreamy, shiny feel, although that's not the look I'm going for in this icon!
Duplicate the original Éowyn layer and bring the duplicated layer to the top. This time I'm going to use the high pass filter. In Photoshop, go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the radius to 10.0. In PSP, it's under Effects>Edge Effects>High Pass and set the radius to 10.0 (don't select desaturate). I discovered this filter back when I used GIMP. It's really wonderful when you set it to soft light. I never use it for anything else, though. Anyways, set this layer to soft light, 100% opacity. Notice how there's more contrast and definition.
Éowyn's skin looks a litte dark and dull. So, next, I added a gradient map layer and picked a gradient map from jaejunggim's Skin Tones gradient set. If you want to find the exact shade, it's the first light pinkish shade that comes after a bunch of darker brown shades. I inverted the mask, and used a small round brush and painted over Éowyn's face and neck. If you don't have gradient maps, you can just choose a peachy color and paint over her face and skin. I set this layer to soft light, 100% opacity.
Next, I painted over her dress and overdress in white. I have no idea why I didn't set this layer to a different layer mode, but it stays on Normal, 100% opacity.
Then I took a dark purple shade (#65168e) and painted where her overdress was. This layer is also on Normal, 100% opacity.
Notice how the top of her hair is really dark. I took a small round brush and painted over her hair and a few dark spots in white. I think I either used blur or blur more and then set the layer to soft light, 100% opacity. Now, her blonde hair looks more even in its tone.
But it's still too dark. So I painted over her hair with a bright yellow color (#ffd601) and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. I really love soft light, apparently! ^^ Now, we're starting to get the bright, almost unnatural coloring! ^^
But now I'm going to cancel out that coloring. Well, sort of. I added a selective color layer with the following settings: Red: C: +100, M: +29, Y: -40, B: +14; Yellow: C: +100, M: -100, Y: -100, B: -100; Neutral: C:+22, M: +12, Y: -20, B: -18. This layer isn't translatable outside of Photoshop. So I suggest copy-merging (or copy visible layers) and pasting it on top and desaturating/grayscaling (Image>Grayscale in PSP) the layer. Then lower the opacity until you get the look you're looking for. I masked out the background. You could probably just erase, but I like to use the mask feature just in case I mess up or in case I want to reuse the layer later.
The next layer is something I learned from abyss_valkyrie. I took this bright reddish pink color (#fe102f) and set it on saturation, 100% opacity. Yes, I masked out the background again! Now, we've got the unnaturally bright coloring. The red layer doesn't always work, so that's why I had to do the selective coloring layer.
But it doesn't quite have the matte look that I'm looking for. So I duplicated the orginal Éowyn layer, inverted it (CTRL+I in Photoshop, Image>Negative Image in PSP), and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. I think I got this technique from tinnny. See how Éowyn's skin has more of matte coloring?
Now this next layer doesn't really make sense because I haven't put in the next texture yet. Basically, I'm painting a purple background (#9265ed) behind the next texture.
Add this texture by adriftingsea's Badlands texture set (I wonder if this is named after the Badlands in South Dakota. It's very beautiful there!), move it below Éowyn's face, erase the sky, and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. But now you can see how I painted the background purple. ^^
Now it's time to sharpen! I copy-merged the visible layers and pasted it as a new layer (SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E in Photoshop)(Edit>Copy>Copy Merged then paste the new layer in PSP). Sharpen however you wish. I use Filter>Filter Gallery>Artistic>Paint Daubs with the brush and sharpen settings at 1. I left this layer at Normal, 100% opacity, but if it's too sharp, you can always lower the opacity of the layer. I usually lower it anywhere from 40% to 80%. If it's less than 40%, I delete the layer, because there's not really a reason for the icon to be sharpened.
This next technique I discovered from theotherayn's guide to vintage coloring. Add a white layer (#ffffff) and set it to saturation, 20%. This tones down the colors while maintaining the matte look.
Lastly, I added a Levels layer and hit auto. This darkens the background a tad and provides more contrast!
Voila! There you have it!
.psd.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
to this:
Requested by shadowhunter
I started out with a promotional image of Éowyn and cut her out. I prefer cutting my subjects out of the original sized images because they tend to look better when you resize them, especially if they have curly or wavy hair that goes everywhere! But with Éowyn, I probably could've resized her then cut her out as her hair is fairly calm in this image.
Technically, I started out with a color fill layer of #9265ed as my background.
Then I added a texture from raiindust's Hopeless Heart texture set and set it on soft light, 100% opacity. Usually, when I am adding textures, I put it on screen, lighten, soft light, or multiply, but lately I've been experimenting with other layer modes like subtract or linear burn. But for this, I did the tried and true soft light layer mode. I liked how the texture when from a bunch of different colors to different shades of purple.
But I felt like it still looked kind of empty and needed something to go behind where Éowyn would be. So this time, I added a texture from lookslikerain's The Best and Worst Parts of Me texture set. I recently discovered her textures, and I LOVE THEM!!!!!!! So I went with this texture, because it had my two favorite colors (purple and turquoise) plus the circle as a point of interest. I set it on soft light, 100% opacity. See how it adds some interest. I liked the grungy feel it added, especially since I was going for a painted look.
Now, it's time for Éowyn to come back! ^^
Now duplicate Éowyn and Gaussian blur (Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur) the layer at a radius of 6.0. In PSP, go to Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 6.0. Set this layer on soft light, 100% opacity. I like using the blurred layer to give a dreamy, shiny feel, although that's not the look I'm going for in this icon!
Duplicate the original Éowyn layer and bring the duplicated layer to the top. This time I'm going to use the high pass filter. In Photoshop, go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the radius to 10.0. In PSP, it's under Effects>Edge Effects>High Pass and set the radius to 10.0 (don't select desaturate). I discovered this filter back when I used GIMP. It's really wonderful when you set it to soft light. I never use it for anything else, though. Anyways, set this layer to soft light, 100% opacity. Notice how there's more contrast and definition.
Éowyn's skin looks a litte dark and dull. So, next, I added a gradient map layer and picked a gradient map from jaejunggim's Skin Tones gradient set. If you want to find the exact shade, it's the first light pinkish shade that comes after a bunch of darker brown shades. I inverted the mask, and used a small round brush and painted over Éowyn's face and neck. If you don't have gradient maps, you can just choose a peachy color and paint over her face and skin. I set this layer to soft light, 100% opacity.
Next, I painted over her dress and overdress in white. I have no idea why I didn't set this layer to a different layer mode, but it stays on Normal, 100% opacity.
Then I took a dark purple shade (#65168e) and painted where her overdress was. This layer is also on Normal, 100% opacity.
Notice how the top of her hair is really dark. I took a small round brush and painted over her hair and a few dark spots in white. I think I either used blur or blur more and then set the layer to soft light, 100% opacity. Now, her blonde hair looks more even in its tone.
But it's still too dark. So I painted over her hair with a bright yellow color (#ffd601) and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. I really love soft light, apparently! ^^ Now, we're starting to get the bright, almost unnatural coloring! ^^
But now I'm going to cancel out that coloring. Well, sort of. I added a selective color layer with the following settings: Red: C: +100, M: +29, Y: -40, B: +14; Yellow: C: +100, M: -100, Y: -100, B: -100; Neutral: C:+22, M: +12, Y: -20, B: -18. This layer isn't translatable outside of Photoshop. So I suggest copy-merging (or copy visible layers) and pasting it on top and desaturating/grayscaling (Image>Grayscale in PSP) the layer. Then lower the opacity until you get the look you're looking for. I masked out the background. You could probably just erase, but I like to use the mask feature just in case I mess up or in case I want to reuse the layer later.
The next layer is something I learned from abyss_valkyrie. I took this bright reddish pink color (#fe102f) and set it on saturation, 100% opacity. Yes, I masked out the background again! Now, we've got the unnaturally bright coloring. The red layer doesn't always work, so that's why I had to do the selective coloring layer.
But it doesn't quite have the matte look that I'm looking for. So I duplicated the orginal Éowyn layer, inverted it (CTRL+I in Photoshop, Image>Negative Image in PSP), and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. I think I got this technique from tinnny. See how Éowyn's skin has more of matte coloring?
Now this next layer doesn't really make sense because I haven't put in the next texture yet. Basically, I'm painting a purple background (#9265ed) behind the next texture.
Add this texture by adriftingsea's Badlands texture set (I wonder if this is named after the Badlands in South Dakota. It's very beautiful there!), move it below Éowyn's face, erase the sky, and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. But now you can see how I painted the background purple. ^^
Now it's time to sharpen! I copy-merged the visible layers and pasted it as a new layer (SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E in Photoshop)(Edit>Copy>Copy Merged then paste the new layer in PSP). Sharpen however you wish. I use Filter>Filter Gallery>Artistic>Paint Daubs with the brush and sharpen settings at 1. I left this layer at Normal, 100% opacity, but if it's too sharp, you can always lower the opacity of the layer. I usually lower it anywhere from 40% to 80%. If it's less than 40%, I delete the layer, because there's not really a reason for the icon to be sharpened.
This next technique I discovered from theotherayn's guide to vintage coloring. Add a white layer (#ffffff) and set it to saturation, 20%. This tones down the colors while maintaining the matte look.
Lastly, I added a Levels layer and hit auto. This darkens the background a tad and provides more contrast!
Voila! There you have it!
.psd.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!