I haven't forgotten, I promise! :D I come with one previously requested tutorial and two others for funsies. I'm contemplating taking a semi-haitus. I feel like I'm making icons to please others and that's not as it should be, you know? Anyway, besides posting tutorials and the icon battle stuff, I think I may be taking sometime off. I'll keep you posted.
The first tutorial is more like 3 that are used to make 1 icon--so it's long. Be aware! ;D
We'll start off with Kahlan. When we're done, she'll look like:
Okay, so this time we're taking these two photos (
one &
two) in order to recreate this:
.
This tutorial is an intense one with lots of steps--so be ready for it. ;D
In this case I started off with each image and cropped it down, did the primary coloring then added the two together, before adding more. So it's more like 3 tutorials. For the final, it'll be more of a general thing, because to be honest, I did a hell of a lot and I don't know why or how I got a few things but I'll do my best.
To begin this whole thing, I wanted to have Kahlan & Richard to have different colors being more promiant for each, but to still have some connecting colors. I knew I wanted Kahlan to be more purplish blue, and Richard more yellow green. So I kept that in mind while coloring.
This is what I cropped the base down to:
First I added a Curves Layer.
RGB: O-141, I-120
Red: O-206 , I-186
Blue: O-191 , I- 158
She's definitely redder, and she's got a hint of purple but I want more, so I added a Color Balance Layer.
Midtones: -16, 0, 26
Okay, next I made a Selective Color Layer with the following settings:
Reds: 100, -50, 100, 100
Yellows: 83, 96, 100, 100
Magentas: 0, 0, -17, 100
Whites: -20, -17, -32, 18
Now, I know you're all thinking I'm crazy, and you're right, I am. However, this works. To be honest I didn't have the full PSD so I just tried to match what I had and this is how I got closest. Now, I opened up another Color Balance Layer.
Midtones: 0, 0, -21
Shadows: 0, 13, 0
5
Now, I wanted the yellow-green of the shrubbery, but not on her, so I brushed Kahlan out.
5-2
She's still got a purple glow/tint in her skin which is what we want. So next I popped open a Hue/Saturation Level.
Master: Hue= -4, Saturation= 46
Much better, don't you think?! Anyway, almost finished. Copy merge what you've got onto a new layer, then go to Variations (Image>>Adjustments>>Variations) and click on More Blue once. I then lowered the Opacity to 50% and set it to Softlight.
Next I added a Vibrance Layer, for those of you without, have no fear--I've got something similar for you too!
Vibrance: 30
OR
Hue/Saturation: Master: 5
Okay, 2 more steps and she's set. I added one final Curves Layer, like so.
RGB: O-204 , I-178
Now, I'm thinking she's looking a little too purple, so I opened a new Layer and selected a nice bright yellow (d9d657) and with a medium sized brush painted over her lightly before setting the layer to Color Burn, lowering the Opacity to 45%.
(lowered opacity, still on Normal)
Then I set her aside and worked on Richard.
Here's a preview of what Richard will look like when we're done:
Alrighty, so I cropped the image and flipped it horizontally, as to balance out the other side of the icon once he and Kahlan are together (TOGETHER FOREVVVVVAAAARRR).
As with the Kahlan image, I started off with a Curves Layer.
RGB: O- 141, I- 105
Now I wanted to add some contrast but make it crisp--I find that sometimes Brightness/Contrast isn't quite what I want, so I'll use Levels.
RGB: 11, .81, 246
Blue: 9, .83, 236
I want to get more green in there so I decided to play with a Selective Color Layer.
Reds: -19, 36, -31, -7
Yellows: 58, 8, 30, 9
Greens: 100, 100, 100, -20
Magentas: -100, 0, 0, 0
Whites: -35, -17, -3, 100
Neutrals: 12, 1, 2, -1
Better, but I'm still not satisfied, so I opened up a Color Balance Layer.
Midtones: -16, 0, -4
Shadows: 13, 11, 6
Okay, so copy merge the image and paste it onto a new layer. Then go to Variations and click More Cyan then More Yellow. I then lowered the Opacity to 55%.
Now I opened up a new Color Balance Layer and settled on the following settings.
Midtones: -16, 0, 33
Shadows: 8, 0, -15
Now he's looking too dark and I want to bring out some of the other colors in the image, so I opened up another Curves Layer.
RGB: O- 158, I-123
Red: O-176 , I-155
Blue: O- 201 , I- 191
Second to last step! Here, I opened up one final Selective Color Layer.
Reds: 69, 81, 35, 16
Yellows: 14, 23, 3, 2
Greens: 54, 7, -59, 93
Cyans: 100, 19, 0, 0
Whites: 8, 3, 51, 28
Neutrals: 7, 6, -10, 6
Final step! Copy merge the image once more, paste onto a new layer and go to Variations and click Yellow twice, then lower the Opacity to 45% and you're done!
Okay so I copy merged both Richard and Kahlan onto a new image. Eventually I ended up with the following, lowering Kahlan and moving Richard up, then masking out the excess. Copy merge this and put it aside for a few steps.
Next I added the following
texture and set it to Screen. I think I know who made it, but I'm not 100%, so if anyone knows please tell me. Same goes for all the ones used in this tutorial--it'a an older one, so I forgot to write in the makers! Anyway, I lowered the Opacity to 50% and the Fill to 35%.
Next we're adding
this texture, set to Screen.
Now, move the layer you copy merged previously to the top. I moved the layer down so Kahlan is cut out and Richard is on the bottom. Duplicate the layer and move it so Kahlan is on top then merge the two.
I then shrunk it down, making sure to have Kahlan line up with Richard.
Now, copy merge the image onto a new layer and go to Variations, and click More Yellow then More Cyan. Lower the Opacity to 50%.
Now it's looking a little flat and one dimensional, so I opened a Brightness/Contrast Layer.
Brightness: -4
Contrast: 37
Now time to add another texture, I took
this texture from
this larger one, set to Color Burn and lowered the fill to 45%. I also selected the small version, and masked it out, since it made it too dark.
I added another texture,
this one, set to Color Burn and the fill lowered to 50%.
Next I added
this texture and set to Screen.
I wanted to keep the overall background in the blue family so I opened up a Color Balance Layer and after playing around with the settings, this is what I ended up with.
Midtones: -19, -48, 21
Shadows: -33,11, 19
I brushed out Richard, as I wanted to keep him more yellow, so this is what it looked like:
However, I thought it too blue so I lowered both the fill & the opacity to 50%.
Getting close! Okay, so copy merge the image onto a new layer and go to Variations once again. This time click More Red, More Magenta, then More Blue. I lowered the opacity to 45%, and Kahlan’s face was too blueish-pink so I added a mask layer and brushed out her face.
Next, I added a Gradient Map in Black & White, masking out all but the smaller image in the center.
Second to last step! I wanted to add a bit more of even coloring to Richard so I added another Selective Color Layer.
Reds: -24, 3, 11, 20
Yellows: -15, 27, -4, 15
Greens: -17, -84, 100, 97
Cyans: 35, -6, 9, -1
Blues: 0, 0, 0, 4
Whites: 0, 0, 0, -19
Neutrals: 0, 0, 0, -13
Now, we're going to make one of my favorite icons, my current default icon. I've been trying to pay more attention to my cropping and from the feedback I've gotten from it--it's working so I'll give you some reasoning behind it.
First off, I started with the following
image of Emilia Fox as Daenerys Targaryen. I, like so many people, love her face. I wanted to focus on her face but I didn't want to limit myself too much with getting too close. I wanted the crop to show emotion subtly, much like she does in the image itself. I wanted to be sure to keep at least one eye in it, as well as her hair. This is what I came up with:
Next I duplicated the layer and went to auto contrast, auto color, then auto tone. A note for how I work: I'll try out all three on one layer, and if I like a specific layer, I'll go back and duplicate it. Sometimes I'll auto everything, but prefer it only with auto contrast and auto color. Obviously, not every image gives you that much of a difference with each so it's a taste thing. Anyway, I autoed everything but it was too dark and too blue so I lowered the Opacity to 45% and the Fill to 65%.
>>>
The first thing we need to do is lighten her up, so I opened a Curves Layer.
RGB:
O:227 I: 166
O: 66 I: 31
Now I wanted to play with the contrast and brightness but also the colors of the highlights and shadows, so next I used a Levels Layer.
RGB: 15, 1.20, 250
Blue: 9, 1.10, 238
Now she's got more of a soft blueness going on but I want to kick up the yellow so I opened up a Selective Color Layer.
Reds: -19, -14, 26, 27
Yellows: -80, -4, 21, 27
Greens: -51, 59, 17, 51
Magentas: 0, 0, 0, 100
Whites: -28, -27, 16, -37
Neutrals: 2, -2, 4, 2
I wanted to bring out the green in her eye so I opened a new layer and took a color from the eye dropper that was in her eye already but made it lighter, and ended up with a olive green [726740] and brushed it over her eye. Then set it to Color with the Fill lowered to 50%.
She seems a little flat so I copy merged onto a new layer, set it to Softlight and lowered the Fill to 50%.
Now here's where I experimented quite a bit. I opened up a new Selective Color layer to add some more natural looking darkness to the image.
Reds: 45, -11, -24, 1
Yellows: 3, 13, 20, 31
As I mentioned previously I wanted to include her hair and I thought it was looking a little drab so I took a color from her hair [c4b05b] and opened a new layer. With a soft medium sized brush I colored over her hair lightly, not a solid block of color. I then set the layer to Color.
She's still too dark so I copy merged the image onto a new layer and set it to Screen. Then, I lowered the Fill to 40%.
I am really liking how her hair color seems to reflect on her face but I want it to be brighter so I add a Vibrance Layer.
Vibrance: 87
OR
Hue/Saturation:
RGB: Hue: +1 // Saturation: +21
Yellows: Sat: +2 // Lightness: +14
Next I copy merged what I had onto a new layer and went to Variations and clicked More Cyan then More Blue, then lowered the Fill to 55%.
I wanted her features to be a little more defined so once again I copy merged the image onto a new layer and then went to High Pass, set it to 1.0 then lowered the Fill to 50%.
Almost finished! I wanted her eye to be a bit brighter and clearer so I opened up a Hue/Saturation Layer next. We're only paying attention to the eye.
Hue/Saturation:
Yellows: +50
Greens: +13
She's way too yellow so I brushed out everything except her eye.
Now I copy merged the image onto a new layer one final time, going to filter, Gaussian Blur and set it to 5. After playing with the layer settings I decided on Overlay with both the Opacity and Fill set to 50%.
Last steps! I opened a new layer and used the eye dropper tool to pick out a green from her eye again, this time 79681e. I lightly brushed it over her eye and set it to Softlight. I then opened another layer and with the eye dropper tool picked out a color from her lips, dd9f91. I once again used a soft brush and colored her lips lightly, setting the layer to Softlight but lowering the Fill to 45%. Then you're done!
In this tutorial we'll be taking
this image from Becoming Jane and turning it into the following icon.
As I said in the previously tutorial, I wanted to focus on cropping. I tried to make it more dramatic, and I like the the shape of the negative space. First I wanted to make the image a little clearer so I duplicated the layer and went to High Pass on 1.0 and set the layer to Softlight.
>>>
Copy merge the image onto a new layer and went to auto contrast duplicated the layer and went it to auto color and auto contrast before setting the Fill layer to 40%.
Now, copy merge and past onto a new layer, then duplicate that layer twice. Set both aside for now, we'll come back to them.
Time to lighten her up, to vary it up I used a Levels Layer.
RGB: 12, 1.37, 238
It wasn't quite what I want so I added a Curves Layer.
RGB: O: 142, I: 129
Now, take that layer you set aside previously and move it to the top setting it to Softlight.
Here I wanted to bring in some blue so I added a fill layer with 1a5066 and set it to Softlight.
Next I added a black and white Gradient Fill (Layer>>New Fill Layer>> Gradient Fill) set to Softlight.
Now, remember those three layers we put aside earlier? Bring that last one to the top, I set it to Screen with the Fill at 50%.
Now I added another Gradient Fill in black & white, but changed the angle to 135 degrees, set it to Multiply and lowered the Fill to 30%.
I added another (it's the last one!) Gradient Fill, still black & white, set to Softlight the Fill at 45%.
Now bring up that last duplicated layer and set it to Softlight.
Better, but I want there to be more of a difference between the top and the bottom, lightness and dark. So I opened up a new Curves Layer.
RGB:
O: 211 I: 215, O: 51 I: 81
Reds:
O: 229 I: 235, O: 48 I: 46
Blues:
O: 172 I: 182 , O: 77 I: 56
Don't ask me why I added another Curves Layer, but I did. *shrugs* Sorry, don't have much reasoning behind this one guys.
RGB:
O: 66 I: 49
Final step!! Levels Layer to finish her up.
RGB: 11, 1.00, 249
Blues: 0, 0.91, 255
You're done!