Tutorial01
I started off with this image of Calinzt from Magna Carta by Hyung-tae Kim:
click to see real-scale image
I selected this base:
Duplicate the base, enter Image->Adjustments->Gradient Map
There I selected this gradient by meleada
I played with the settings until I got this:
This will be our base.
Next I copied the original base and set it to Pin Light 100%. That should give you this:
Next I took a gradient by boutondor and set it to Lighten 100%:
->
That looks too muddy so I copied the base layer, desaturated it, placed it on top of the layer palette and set it to Soft Light 100%:
->
Next I used a gradient by boutondor, placed it on top of the layer palette and set to Hue 100%.
->
Now, we've worked hard on that red colour so we don't want that to disappear altogether.
So, I made a layer mask for this gradient.
Then selected a brush (credit unknown)
click to see full-sized brush
I placed the brush on the image, so that the eye of the moon was over the eye of Calinzt, like so:
Then you get this:
Now, call me crazy but this colour combination made no sense to me.
So I went to Image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation, also known as Ctrl-U, and fiddled around with is until I got something I liked, i.e. this:
Next I took a texture by arisubox, put it on top the layer palette and set it to Darken 100%. That gives the icon a softer background.
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Now, you can always stop here, but I decided to add a little somethingsomething.
I picked this texture by ffyunie, placed it on top of the pin layer of Calinzt we did in step 3, and set it to Screen 46%.
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Then I got a lighttexture by gender, resized and cropped to my liking.
Click to see full-size texture
This is what I picked:
Set that just below the background texture, so it'll be second from the top.
I didn't want the texture to cover Calinzt face so I drew it down like so:
Then I set it to Screen 64%:
Then I picked this brush by isabellecs in red and placed it on a new layer right under the lighttexture in Pin Light 100%.
->
Then I added a border brush, credit unknown. :|
And we're done.
Now you should have a layer palette looking somewhat like this:
