tut: #001
I had couple friends asking me to make a tutorial, so I thought I share some of my iconing techniques with you all.
from
to
Made with Photoshop CS2
Involving Selective colouring, texture slapping, layer masking & doodling :D
It looks rather complicated but it's actually really simple. I'll explain each step in details, so don't worry :D
best with I'll say, picture with plain background..
--
Grab your favourite scan. I'll be using this lovely image of Ueda Tatsuya :D
First step: Fixing image quality
1. Crop and positioned the image to your liking. this is what I came up with..
2. Duplicate then desaturate the duplicated layer. Set them to colorburn @ 14%
3. Duplicate the base and put them over the desaturated layer. Setting them to softlight @ 100%
4. The image still looks rather dark. So I duplicate the base again and set them to screen @ 17%
It looks a little better now
But.. if you look closely, Ueda looks a little fuzzy and granny. So lets fix him up =D
5. Take a blur tool (below the eraser tool), zoom in & blur away at 50% strength, the fuzzy bit on his face and neck.
Phew, his skin is nice and smooth now =D
Second step: Manipulate color & applying texture
1. I think the image looks a little dull and brown. It could use a little red..
so, make a new Selective color under layer -> New Adjustment layer
enter as follow
Red: -70,0,+69, 0
yel: -63, 0,-39,0
2. Better but still a little too brown for my taste..
so, make a new Hue & Saturation adjustment under layer -> New Adjustment layer
and enter these on the Saturation part only
Master: +12
Red: +10
Yel: -48
He looks nice and pretty now with that red peachy lips =D
3. I want it to look a bit blue
so, make another Selective color under layer -> New Adjustment layer
white: 100,-67,-40,0
4. Ok, now we're ready for some texture!! :D
I took this one
from 77words
and set them to multiply
and therefore gave me this..
now this is where most icon artist goes wrong. Whenever they use Multiply layer, their image would often go dark or they have their texture over their face without fixing it.
My secret is to go apply a vector mask
vector mask works a bit like eraser, but it's not permanent. So incase you change your mind you can always fix it and start over again, without redoing the whole thing..
and then start painting the part that covers Ueda's face with a brush on black (remember Black is to erase and white is to paint it back to the way it was)
This is what I came up with after I apply a vector mask and "paint" stuff covering Ueda's face in black
His face looks a little lighter without those multiply layer covering it
But I think the background looks a little dull, so I duplicate that multiply texture layer and set them to softlight 100%
It looks better now =D
By the way, this is what my layer window looks like incase I went too fast for you =/
5. Next I took this one
from 77words
and again set them to Multiply 100%, erased some bits covering his face with vector mask..
then duplicate and set them to Softlight 100 %. Gave me this..
Oh, I forgot to tell you, I've rotated the texture so that the green part is in the background :]
6. Next grab this one
by colorfilter since I think it could use a bit of red..
and again set them to Multiply 100%, erased some bits covering his face with vector mask..
then duplicate and set them to Softlight 100 % (getting bored yet? XD)
gave me this..
7. It looks really nice background wise now... but I think it would look better if it a bit lighter... so make a Curve layer under layer -> New Adjustment layer
and enter..
RBG 183 201
Red 181 203
Green 197 202
Blue 190 193
and tada..
Most of the time I would just stop here, add text, brushes and call it finish.. but since I'm feeling creative tonight lets take it up a notch =D
Third step: Final steps decorating..
1. Make a new layer and press CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E to copy all visible layer. Then make all other layers invisible to focus on this layer from now on..
2. Scale them: Edit -> transform -> scale and make it around 75%
3. Duplicate that layer and then scale them again Edit -> transform -> scale to something like 75 or 50% so you have smaller variety
4. then move it around with your hover tool, rotate (Edit -> transform -> rotate), etc..
5. Next I grabbed this
from ownthesunshine
move it down a layer below my two pics, rotate and use it as a base
6. I wanted the paper texture to look a little more vintage so I made a layer above it and fill it with #3010e52 and set it to Exlusion 74%
But it's turns out a little more yellow than I thougt so duplicate the paper texture layer, put it above the exclusion layer and set it to softlight 100%
7. I think it would be better to make one of the photo slightly different in colour so I make a Selective layer under layer -> New Adjustment layer on one of the picture.
DON'T FORGET to click the "create clipping mask" option, so that it won't apply any effect to the rest of the layer!
Neutral: 40 -6 -38 0
You're nearly done =D
Last step, apply text and random brushes to decorate. If the final product too dark for your taste make a new softlight layer (of the Merge all layer) and tone it down. And it's always fun to fiddle around with Selective color again to give you different colour
I'm not going to go into details sorry XD It's late now and I'm rather tired..
This is my final result after some text, brushes, doodle and a tiny softlight layer and selective color tweaking..
Feel free to use the icon if you want, but don't forget to credit it to kokified @ cotton_cookie :D
PSD up for grab - mind you my working file is really messy XD
If you have any questions do ask! and if you made something I'd like to see it too :]
from
to
Made with Photoshop CS2
Involving Selective colouring, texture slapping, layer masking & doodling :D
It looks rather complicated but it's actually really simple. I'll explain each step in details, so don't worry :D
best with I'll say, picture with plain background..
--
Grab your favourite scan. I'll be using this lovely image of Ueda Tatsuya :D
First step: Fixing image quality
1. Crop and positioned the image to your liking. this is what I came up with..
2. Duplicate then desaturate the duplicated layer. Set them to colorburn @ 14%
3. Duplicate the base and put them over the desaturated layer. Setting them to softlight @ 100%
4. The image still looks rather dark. So I duplicate the base again and set them to screen @ 17%
It looks a little better now
But.. if you look closely, Ueda looks a little fuzzy and granny. So lets fix him up =D
5. Take a blur tool (below the eraser tool), zoom in & blur away at 50% strength, the fuzzy bit on his face and neck.
Phew, his skin is nice and smooth now =D
Second step: Manipulate color & applying texture
1. I think the image looks a little dull and brown. It could use a little red..
so, make a new Selective color under layer -> New Adjustment layer
enter as follow
Red: -70,0,+69, 0
yel: -63, 0,-39,0
2. Better but still a little too brown for my taste..
so, make a new Hue & Saturation adjustment under layer -> New Adjustment layer
and enter these on the Saturation part only
Master: +12
Red: +10
Yel: -48
He looks nice and pretty now with that red peachy lips =D
3. I want it to look a bit blue
so, make another Selective color under layer -> New Adjustment layer
white: 100,-67,-40,0
4. Ok, now we're ready for some texture!! :D
I took this one
from 77words
and set them to multiply
and therefore gave me this..
now this is where most icon artist goes wrong. Whenever they use Multiply layer, their image would often go dark or they have their texture over their face without fixing it.
My secret is to go apply a vector mask
vector mask works a bit like eraser, but it's not permanent. So incase you change your mind you can always fix it and start over again, without redoing the whole thing..
and then start painting the part that covers Ueda's face with a brush on black (remember Black is to erase and white is to paint it back to the way it was)
This is what I came up with after I apply a vector mask and "paint" stuff covering Ueda's face in black
His face looks a little lighter without those multiply layer covering it
But I think the background looks a little dull, so I duplicate that multiply texture layer and set them to softlight 100%
It looks better now =D
By the way, this is what my layer window looks like incase I went too fast for you =/
5. Next I took this one
from 77words
and again set them to Multiply 100%, erased some bits covering his face with vector mask..
then duplicate and set them to Softlight 100 %. Gave me this..
Oh, I forgot to tell you, I've rotated the texture so that the green part is in the background :]
6. Next grab this one
by colorfilter since I think it could use a bit of red..
and again set them to Multiply 100%, erased some bits covering his face with vector mask..
then duplicate and set them to Softlight 100 % (getting bored yet? XD)
gave me this..
7. It looks really nice background wise now... but I think it would look better if it a bit lighter... so make a Curve layer under layer -> New Adjustment layer
and enter..
RBG 183 201
Red 181 203
Green 197 202
Blue 190 193
and tada..
Most of the time I would just stop here, add text, brushes and call it finish.. but since I'm feeling creative tonight lets take it up a notch =D
Third step: Final steps decorating..
1. Make a new layer and press CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E to copy all visible layer. Then make all other layers invisible to focus on this layer from now on..
2. Scale them: Edit -> transform -> scale and make it around 75%
3. Duplicate that layer and then scale them again Edit -> transform -> scale to something like 75 or 50% so you have smaller variety
4. then move it around with your hover tool, rotate (Edit -> transform -> rotate), etc..
5. Next I grabbed this
from ownthesunshine
move it down a layer below my two pics, rotate and use it as a base
6. I wanted the paper texture to look a little more vintage so I made a layer above it and fill it with #3010e52 and set it to Exlusion 74%
But it's turns out a little more yellow than I thougt so duplicate the paper texture layer, put it above the exclusion layer and set it to softlight 100%
7. I think it would be better to make one of the photo slightly different in colour so I make a Selective layer under layer -> New Adjustment layer on one of the picture.
DON'T FORGET to click the "create clipping mask" option, so that it won't apply any effect to the rest of the layer!
Neutral: 40 -6 -38 0
You're nearly done =D
Last step, apply text and random brushes to decorate. If the final product too dark for your taste make a new softlight layer (of the Merge all layer) and tone it down. And it's always fun to fiddle around with Selective color again to give you different colour
I'm not going to go into details sorry XD It's late now and I'm rather tired..
This is my final result after some text, brushes, doodle and a tiny softlight layer and selective color tweaking..
Feel free to use the icon if you want, but don't forget to credit it to kokified @ cotton_cookie :D
PSD up for grab - mind you my working file is really messy XD
If you have any questions do ask! and if you made something I'd like to see it too :]