005. Ask the Maker part 1
AMERICAN HORROR STORY CHAPTER
The first is Grace! I made this icon using a single caps:
I cut out the subject because I found it easier to work on a composition without the messyl background. I usually use the pen tool and then refine in quick mask mode.
Let's put Grace on a new canvas, choosing size and position.
In this kind of composition (same screencap for a complex icon) I try to work with two different crops, in this case a close one and a very far one.
I duplicated the layer and added the auto-contrast and auto-color options for a quick adjustment.
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For this icon I wanted a bluish coloring, so I added a cyan/blue gradient map and I adjusted a bit the colors with the selective colors.
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I added a few strokes in her hair, no particular reason! I just love to do that, work on details and useless things! I used a ligther version of the original colors.
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I added a layer of selective colors to adjust the blue/cyan and a light grey fill layer, set on overlay, to brighten it a bit!
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The first part is done!
Now, let's take again the cut out Grace and let's put it on the canvas, choosing a different crop to make the icon more interesting! Hardly two close crop work well together!
The coloring was very flat, so I painted over the single parts with a hard brush (blue for the shirt, magenta for the coat, and sand for the hair), setting the layers on color. I added a few strokes in the hair, just because I'm really boring.
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Ok, the coloring was still flat, so I used some texture to make the things more interesting!
Both on screen, the first one at 100% and the second one at 40%.
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Waaay better!
At this point I just kept playing around with the adjustment layers and the variations (image-adjustments-variations), to improve the colors and the contrast.
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For the text I think I chose some kind of trope!
I followed the same direction of the small Grace, to balance the composition? IDK, for the text I sadly go by feel XD I try and try until I find something that looks good!
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The font is Atrek.
Finally, I added a texture on screen, I have no idea by whom:
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Kyle's turn! I totally love Evan Peters, but this character not so much :(
If I recall correctly this icon has been a pain you know where. The subject was, for some strange reason, impossible to cut out, the coloring was always dull and shitty and his hair was everywhere.
The caps:
Like I said before, I wasn't able to cut out the subject (the hair looked weird and terrible), so I put the caps on a new canvas, resized it and painted all over with the same gray of the original background. This is what I got:
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Not too bad.
I don't know why I have a yellow layer on my psd, BUT we don't need it.
I added the usual auto-contrast and auto-tone layers, and a cool photo filter.
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I used this brush and with the same color of the background I covered half of the subject, because I wanted a text there and there was no way to make it work in a different way, with such a huge contrast between the background and the subject.
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I worked a bit on the coloring:
- selective colors, to adjust the pale background
- black and white gradient fill, to add shadows and lights
- this texture set on screen, to add a bit of colors and lights
- variations (image-adjustments-variation), to add a bit of blue and purple on the whole icon.
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For the text I chose LeviBrush, and I put it on the brush stroke I've made before.
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Finally, I added a few more brush strokes on the background, setting the layer on soft light, to make it more dynamic?
Finally, our sweet/not so sweet Sister Mary Eunice.
This icon is not my usual kind of stuff, but I found the aos caps pretty hard to work with and I tried to experiment a bit.
Screencap:
The background of this one is really simple, so I just covered her hand and extended the hair.
I wanted this icon red, so:
- I added a #2d0009 fill layer on screen
- I copied all layers on top and added the auto-contrast option
- I added a b/w gradient map on soft light to add contrast.
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I added a few strokes in her hair (you know me at this point), using the original colors and some yellow.
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I didn't like the coloring, so I worked on that:
- some variations to add a bit of magenta
- a cool photo filter, except on her face (I used a layer mask to delete it from there)
- selective colors to refine.
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Now, the texture! They did all the work in this icon.
- The first one on screen 100%
- The second one on screen 100%, but here I deleted some parts and I clipped a layer of selective colors to adjust the colors, so they could fit better.
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Finally, I added a bit of contrast (auto-constrast) and sharpen (high-pass: 0.5 on soft light).