(no subject)
I promised _touched, I'd make a basic icon tut for her, so here goes nothing. I made two versions of the same icon using different techniques to show a variety of ways to do things. Any references to how to do something in PSP7 was taken from icon_tutorial.
Make this:
and this:
.
First I took this image of Mouth/Brooke from OTH.
1) I cropped it and set it to 100x100 px. (In PSP you do this to crap and scale: The crop button should be about the 4th one down on the left side, and looks like a square with overlapping edges and a diagonal line running through the center of it. Open what picture you want to use, click on the Crop button, click on the picture and drag down until the crop box is your desired size, then double-click on the cropped area. It should go down to the size of the crop box. Generally you can use Image -> Resize to shrink it down to 100x100. You have to kind of play with it to get the hang of making squares. Also to make sure it doesn't come out grainy, select "smart size.")
Aww now we have this beautiful base:
(Feel free to work with this image if you wish, just don't use and claim as your own creation if you do exactly what I do in either tut. I don't want to have to cut anyone.)
2) I duplicated my base and set it to screen at 100 opacity. The image looks nice, but I wanted it to be a little brighter so I duplicated it again and set it to screen at 50.6 opacity. Much better. Now to give my image that look I adore in icons I duplicated it again and set it to soft light at 100 opacity. Now it should look kind of bright and a little orange. This is normal, I do this with all my icons before I do anything else. If you have a dark base it may not have the same affect.
3) I made a new transparent layer and pasted in this blue gradient
(made by??) and set it to soft light at 100 opacity. Sometimes I do this step in iconing and sometimes I don't, it just depends on how it looks. (I tried to find a tut that had where the option was to change the modes on layers and couldn't find it. It should be easy to find. It's in my layers menu.)
4) I created a new layer and flood filled it with a dark blue (#17233e) and set it to exclusion at 100 opacity. This step I usually include in iconing, it really comes out nicely. This will give your icon a brownish tint that I just adore.
5) I created a new layer and flood filled it with a pale yellowish beige (#ffefcd) and set it to multiply at 100 opacity. I usually do this in my icons as well. You could very well stop here and have a nice looking icon, but I wanted to experiment so on goes the tut.
6) I created a new layer and flooed filled it with a turquoise blue (#5bc0c4) and set it to burn at 50 opacity. I wanted to bring out the blues and and greens in the icon, I really like the way this makes his shirt look.
7) I wanted to bring out the colors a tiny bit more so I created a new layer and flooed filled it with a mint green (#5bc482) and set it to burn at 20 opacity. Now the icon looks really green and you are probably wondering what the heck I'm thinking, just hold on, I'm not done yet. ;)
8) I went back to my base, duplicated it and dragged it to the top of all my layers and set it to overlay at 100, it looks really sharp and darker I know, but again hang on, I'm not crazy. ;)
9) I duplicated my base again or and brought it to the top, setting it to screen at 30 opacity. It makes a slight difference. It's a dark icon, not my usual stuff, but hey take it or leave it. You can take away as many steps as you'd like and add more screen layers wherever you choose, thats the fun in icon making, you can do what you want.
10) Ooops forgot this step, I took a light texture and placed it between Brooke and Mouth, it adds a nice little touch I believe.
11) Now you flatten your layers, at least that's what I do, I've heard some people merge them, whatever it's called, all the same to me. You can sharpen your icon at any point, some people sharpen the base, I usually sharpen the final product, depends on my mood.
So this is what I got:
Tut 2:
1) I cropped, resized, and all that jazz again.
This time I got this:
2) I duplicated it twice, set the first to screen, the second to overlay, as usual.
3) I took a rich blue (#95b9fb) and set it to burn at 100 opacity, to bring out the blues in the picture again, but in a different way.
4) I took a rich yellow (#fedb92) and set it to multiply at 45 opacity. You could stop here and you'd have something pretty, but you all know me, I can't stop, lol.
5) I took this texture
(made by?) and set it to softlight at 50 opacity. I like the funky colors this brings ou in the icon, very orangey, lol.
6) It was looking a tad too dark so I duplicated my base, brought it to the top and set it to screen at 20 opacity. A slight difference, but better.
7) Just for kicks I took this gradient
(made by??) and set it to lighten at 40 opacity. I love the red it brings out in Brooke's hair, very lovely.
8) I flattened it, sharpened it a bit and voila, another icon.
Here it is:
Okay all done, feel free to experiment. That's part of it. Most of what I know has been through trial and error and tuts. I hope this helps someone, if it's confusing let me know and I'll try to explain what I was talking about. Also _touched someone said in PSP7 if you need help you can click "F1" and that is the help option. Feel free to ask me things over AIM if you have any questions sweetie. :)
If you use these tuts, let me know, let me see what you make. I love to see how people alter the tuts I make. :)
Make this:
and this:
.
First I took this image of Mouth/Brooke from OTH.
1) I cropped it and set it to 100x100 px. (In PSP you do this to crap and scale: The crop button should be about the 4th one down on the left side, and looks like a square with overlapping edges and a diagonal line running through the center of it. Open what picture you want to use, click on the Crop button, click on the picture and drag down until the crop box is your desired size, then double-click on the cropped area. It should go down to the size of the crop box. Generally you can use Image -> Resize to shrink it down to 100x100. You have to kind of play with it to get the hang of making squares. Also to make sure it doesn't come out grainy, select "smart size.")
Aww now we have this beautiful base:
(Feel free to work with this image if you wish, just don't use and claim as your own creation if you do exactly what I do in either tut. I don't want to have to cut anyone.)
2) I duplicated my base and set it to screen at 100 opacity. The image looks nice, but I wanted it to be a little brighter so I duplicated it again and set it to screen at 50.6 opacity. Much better. Now to give my image that look I adore in icons I duplicated it again and set it to soft light at 100 opacity. Now it should look kind of bright and a little orange. This is normal, I do this with all my icons before I do anything else. If you have a dark base it may not have the same affect.
3) I made a new transparent layer and pasted in this blue gradient
(made by??) and set it to soft light at 100 opacity. Sometimes I do this step in iconing and sometimes I don't, it just depends on how it looks. (I tried to find a tut that had where the option was to change the modes on layers and couldn't find it. It should be easy to find. It's in my layers menu.)
4) I created a new layer and flood filled it with a dark blue (#17233e) and set it to exclusion at 100 opacity. This step I usually include in iconing, it really comes out nicely. This will give your icon a brownish tint that I just adore.
5) I created a new layer and flood filled it with a pale yellowish beige (#ffefcd) and set it to multiply at 100 opacity. I usually do this in my icons as well. You could very well stop here and have a nice looking icon, but I wanted to experiment so on goes the tut.
6) I created a new layer and flooed filled it with a turquoise blue (#5bc0c4) and set it to burn at 50 opacity. I wanted to bring out the blues and and greens in the icon, I really like the way this makes his shirt look.
7) I wanted to bring out the colors a tiny bit more so I created a new layer and flooed filled it with a mint green (#5bc482) and set it to burn at 20 opacity. Now the icon looks really green and you are probably wondering what the heck I'm thinking, just hold on, I'm not done yet. ;)
8) I went back to my base, duplicated it and dragged it to the top of all my layers and set it to overlay at 100, it looks really sharp and darker I know, but again hang on, I'm not crazy. ;)
9) I duplicated my base again or and brought it to the top, setting it to screen at 30 opacity. It makes a slight difference. It's a dark icon, not my usual stuff, but hey take it or leave it. You can take away as many steps as you'd like and add more screen layers wherever you choose, thats the fun in icon making, you can do what you want.
10) Ooops forgot this step, I took a light texture and placed it between Brooke and Mouth, it adds a nice little touch I believe.
11) Now you flatten your layers, at least that's what I do, I've heard some people merge them, whatever it's called, all the same to me. You can sharpen your icon at any point, some people sharpen the base, I usually sharpen the final product, depends on my mood.
So this is what I got:
Tut 2:
1) I cropped, resized, and all that jazz again.
This time I got this:
2) I duplicated it twice, set the first to screen, the second to overlay, as usual.
3) I took a rich blue (#95b9fb) and set it to burn at 100 opacity, to bring out the blues in the picture again, but in a different way.
4) I took a rich yellow (#fedb92) and set it to multiply at 45 opacity. You could stop here and you'd have something pretty, but you all know me, I can't stop, lol.
5) I took this texture
(made by?) and set it to softlight at 50 opacity. I like the funky colors this brings ou in the icon, very orangey, lol.
6) It was looking a tad too dark so I duplicated my base, brought it to the top and set it to screen at 20 opacity. A slight difference, but better.
7) Just for kicks I took this gradient
(made by??) and set it to lighten at 40 opacity. I love the red it brings out in Brooke's hair, very lovely.
8) I flattened it, sharpened it a bit and voila, another icon.
Here it is:
Okay all done, feel free to experiment. That's part of it. Most of what I know has been through trial and error and tuts. I hope this helps someone, if it's confusing let me know and I'll try to explain what I was talking about. Also _touched someone said in PSP7 if you need help you can click "F1" and that is the help option. Feel free to ask me things over AIM if you have any questions sweetie. :)
If you use these tuts, let me know, let me see what you make. I love to see how people alter the tuts I make. :)