Tutorial: Black Swan coloring.
library_of_sex asked for this tutorial. And I'm happy to oblige. :)
Subject: Black Swan
Program: Photoshop CS4
Translateable: If you know the other programm well, it should be translatable.
Includes: Curves, Color Balance, Selective Color, Vibrance, Photo Filter.
Difficulty Easy.
We'll be going from
to
in a few easy steps. I will explain a lot so that beginner's can hopefully learn something new too. But if you are already familiar with all of this, just skip my ramblings.
1. Step
I used this screencap from dj43 and cropped it.
The next step is alway to adjust the lightning of the base. When I have a bright picture I tone it down a little or in most cases, such as this, I brightened the dark base. I always use a Curves layer for this first step. I just fiddle around until I get the result I want.
This is what we get:
2. Step
The next I want to do is give the icon depth and vibrance. I duplicated the result we got in step 1 and set that layer to Soft Light, Opacity 100%. To soften the icon I blurred this layer. I can't give you the numbers I used, but I used the filter Gaussian Blur and just fiddled around until it looked right, but it was something in the realms of 1,0-3,0. (Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.)
This is what it looks like without Blur:
And this is what we get with the Blur:
Nice difference, isn't it?
3. Step
Now our icon is still pretty dark, so I added another Curves layer. Again, just play around until you are satisfied with your result. The numbers won't work exactly like this on other pictures.
And this is how it looks like now:
4. Step
So now, the icon is to yellowish for my taste, so I added a Color Balance Layer. As with everything else it's just playing around with the settings until you are satisfied. I usually just change the Midtones settings, because they affect all colors of the icon. But the general rule of course is, if you have too much yellow increase blue and vice versa. If you want the reds to pop more increase red and magenta. It's quite self-explanatory I guess, once you have played with it once.
So now we have this:
5. Step
My favorite new tool is the Vibrance Layer. I added one to give the icon a bit more color. If you don't have Vibrance Layers increase the saturation. In this case it should certainly do the job.
Okay, the difference is not big, but it's all about the details. :)
6. Step
Another detail I wanted to change was to give Nina's lips more color. I added a Selective Color layer, Opacity 44% (like everything else the opacity is a matter or experimenting).
But now all of her face has a more reddish tone, which is not what I wanted. So I used a vector mask (it can also be called layer mask; all color adjustment layers have the vector mask already applied). Make sure you have selected the vector mask. Use a black brush and paint over the parts of your icon you don't want to be affected by the Selective Color layer. If you erased to much, don't worry, paint over the part you want to be visible again with a white brush. Nifty technique. I use it in every icon.
So in this case I erased the light parts of Nina's face, so the red of the lips stands out more.
7. Step
I think the light white painted parts of her face are still too yellowish, so applied a Photofilter layer. I used Cooling Filter (80), Opacity 60% and toned the density down a little as well. Then I proceeded as in the step before, using the vector mask to erase all parts of the Filter layer that were not supposed to be affected.
If you don't have Photofilters a blue soft light layer actually works more or less the same.
This is what it looks like now:
8. Step
I duplicated and merged our result and pastened this new layer on top of everything else. I sharpened the layer (go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen) and toned down the Opacity to 48%. Still Nina's skin was too sharpened in many places, so I applied a vector mask (I told you, I use that techique a lot!) and erased everything besides her eyes and lips.
The result:
9. Step
Now this still feels a bit plain, so I duplicated, merged and pasted the whole again. I set the layer to Soft Light, Opacity 22%. To soften it, I applied a very light Gaussian Blur (I don't know the exact number I used, but it was probably something around 0,3-1,5 - just play around :D).
And we are done. This is what my final layer palette looks like (in case I confused you with my duplicate, merge, paste blah blah :D).
I usually approach my icons like this, so I hope this is helpful for you as a guide - because I doubt that these exact settings will work on a lot of other pictures.
Please don't hesitate to ask if there's something unclear. And of course I'd love to know if this was helpful to you. If you have made something with this, I'd love to see it. :D