#145 - A Guiding Tutorial
An important note going in: If I specify a fill but not an opacity, or vice versa, it means it remains at 100%.
lover_of_narnia asked about the textures I used in 2 icons, and dark_x_huntress asked about 2 icons, one of which is the same. There is one thing they all have in common, and it's the painting layers. So I'm going to do 2 general tutorials about making something look painterly and using textures/paint layers. In particular:
These next two will be vague about the coloring specifics and focus more on blending the painterly textures and extra paint layers on.
First of all--I'm so pleased you think I did well! I was on the fence about this one. Anyway, I'm going to give a little walk through/thought process explanation for this one.
So I used a cap that was requested, because I love me some Aurora, but sometimes I really hated how the shots were framed I decided early on to get rid of the background. I associate the color purple with her, so I wanted to have a light lavender undertone to the overall coloring.
Base:
That much decided, sometimes I use the eyedropper tool to pick out a color from the background and then change it to a slightly closer color to what I want. This time, since there is quite a bit of reddish highlights, I chose a reddish-purple paint it over with a soft light brush. I find that doing 100% Opacity doesn't always look right, even if you want the entire background out so I build it up. I usually don't lower it below 60%.
My next few layers are about getting the highlights up, and evening out the reds and yellows.
However, you'll notice that the soft brush I used went over her hair a bit. So I copy and pasted the base, set it to Softlight and masked out the background. It adds some contrast and also redefines her hair a bit.
Now, I want more purple damnit! This time I used a gradient, a darker purple on one side, translucent on the other. Setting it so it's mostly on the left side and masking out anything that covered her face. I did lower the Opacity, it's about 75%. I want this to feel more natural, and I find doing it that way helps.
Base on Softlight Gradient
At this point I want to even out the shadows a bit and get rid of some of that yellow, so I used another gradient layer, white on one side with dark blue on the other. Set if to Softlight.
After adding some more light (curves layer), going over some of her hair with a tiny brush I and adding in more blues to the coloring. Then it was time to get back to the background.
First I added this texture, set to Softlight and lowered the Opacity to about 50%. I brushed out everything except the background.
Another gradient layer (bright purple to black) and a Balance Layer later, I added some more layers of fine brushing over her hair. Then added the next texture. Masking out her face completely, I kept some of it over her hair and set it to Screen with an Opacity in the 50-60% range.
Gradient & Coloring Texture
While I wanted to keep up the pinks/purples I didn't want to lose every other color so after playing with some Selective Color layers, a Hue/Sat, Color Balance and a few more painted layers of hair I added one last texture. I think part of what lover_of_narnia liked was that I kept the fineness of her hair with the background. If I am correct, that was done within the layers of painting in her hair. While you can add colors to icons by brushing over things like hair, it is also a nice way to softly blend the image with a background. So lastly I used this twice, once on Screen (lowering the Opacity) and one on Softlight, again both in the 50-65% range. Sharpened a tiny bit and that's it!
We're gonna start off with this cap of my darling Natasha. I love her hair and how the surrounding darkness brings out her pale skin. But I want to bring more life to it, and bring out her gorgeous hair.
So after fiddling with the crop, I added 2 gradient map layers. One copper one (Screen; Fill & Opacity at 30%), I duplicated it, reversed it and set it to Softlight (Opacity 100%; Fill 30-45%). I erased a bit of the second one around the right side of her, it seemed a little too dark there.
base gradients
Next I used a Selective Color layer to lighten up her hair and uniform (focusing on the reds & cyans) as with my previous tutorials, I lowered the opacity because it was too much as is. Kept it in the 50-65% range.
Now I felt that she was getting too washed out so I opened up a new layer and picked out a color from her face in the base (#b5a085) and painted it over her skin. I find that in cases like this, one layer isn't enough so I duplicate it. Setting the first one to Color with a low Fill (30-50) and the second to Multiply with another low Fill (35-45). I find the second layer adds more depth.
Painted layer Painted layers w/ settings
Depending on my mood is how I add brightness, that day I used another gradient map (black & white) set to Screen with a low fill (30-45%). The brightness of her hair on the left side was too much so I brushed it off. After that I feel like it needs to be blended a bit more with an over all contrast so I duplicated the gradient map and set it to Softlight, removing the brushed out mask.
Gradient #1 Both Gradients
Time to bring some more color in with a Color Balance layer. I rarely use the Highlights, but since that's most of her face, I did!
Next 2 layers are gonna seem silly, but they come in handy. I want what little bit of the background is visible to be more than just blackness. So opening a new layer I painted over the black with #222360, setting it to Screen and lowering the Fill into the 50s. Duplicate it, brush a little more over her hair and set to Softlight.
#1 #1+#2
Next we're gonna add a texture from gallicka that will add some lightness and color. Set to Screen and keep both the Opacity & Fill low, both in the 35%-45% range.
Now we're gonna add some more color AND start in on the painterly thing. Once more we're using one of my favorite textures that I used in the Bucky tutorial: here. Set to Softlight at 100%. A small step is next, open up a layer and lightly paint over some of her hair in white that you want highlighted. I find that doing this helps keep things bright and focused.
Next I'm gonna use a texture by the amazing and talented fuuurs. Duplicate it! On the first one, set it to Softlight, lower the Fill to 50% and I masked out her face, and lightly masked out everything except the highlights of hair. The second one I desaturated (Image >> Adjustments >> Desaturate). Masked out her face kept everything at 100%
After that I want to bring in more yellow, this time I used a Selective Color layer to do so.
Another texture, this one is actually one I used in the above tutorial of Aurora too. Add a mask, and brush out the right corner completely. I lightly brushed off some of her hair and neck too. Keep the Opacity to 50-65%.
Next two layers will bring out the pinks & purples in the top corner, 2 selective color layers will take care of that. Both layers used just the magentas!
This next texture I use constantly but I have no clue who made it! If it looks familiar tell me so I can credit the correct person. Anyway, I lowered the Fill to 50%.
When I started off this icon I wanted to bring out her hair and I feel that it's gotten a bit lost at this point. So I opened up another Selective Color layer, using only the tiniest bit of the reds, all the yellows and magentas.
Yep, you guessed it--another Selective color layer! This is a bit more subtle, adding more yellow to the icon.
Once again, another texture20 that I've no idea who made it. This time, set to Screen with a low Opacity (20-35%). I brushed out a little bit of the lower left corner a bit.
Next open up a new layer. I chose a color from her hair (#a74626) and painted over some of her hair with a teeny tiny brush. This22 is what it looks like, I put it on a white background so it's more visible.
Almost done! I find that when I don't know what to do, I add a gradient map in black & white. So I did. Lowered the Fill to the 25-40% range.
Second to last Selective Color layer, this one is just to kick up the magents and make the top corner a more purple.
Gradients are awesome. Using a black to translucent gradient, I set it to add some a little bit of darkness to her hair and the purple corner. Brushed out everything I didn't like.
Last layer! Just wanted to bring a tiny bit of yellow back to her face. So I used a Selective Color layer using mostly the yellows with a tiny bit of red. Sharpen and done!
I'm working on a post which will be up shortly! And a tutorial for the following icon:
