Tutorial: Making Summer icon
Program(s)+version: Photoshop of any version
Involves: work with layers properties, Adjustment Layers
Translatable: guess yes
Steps: 9
Difficulty: easy
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or
(without Selective Coloring)
Intro. My base pic is already cropped and sharpened. But if you have bigger base, I'll tell you how to prepare it.
Choose a base and crop it with Crop Tool (C). For this tool I always use fixed width and height parameters (100 х 100).
Sharpen the image a bit: Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen...
I set Radius about 0.5-1 px, & Amount about 50%.
You can also use Sharpen -> Sharpen, but I like the 1st most. Sometimes I use Sharpen Tool (R) to adjust sharpen strength in the parts of an image.
Step 1. My base is too dark, so I lighten it in a time-proved way: I duplicate the base layer and set it to Screen 100%. I don't like though that the bottom part of the pic is now too bright, so I erase the pool part:
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Step 2. I want to make the straw roof of the sunshade more bright and clear. So I make the pic more lighten once again: duplicate the base and set it to Screen 100%. Then I erase all except the roof:
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Step 3. I want my pic to change tint a bit, so I start playing with textures. I take one of the lookslikerain textures and set to Pin Light 25%. Generally, choosing the layer parameters is very individual. For me, I just experiment with the layer properties till I like the hue. Then I can decrease opacity, if the effect is too intense. E.g., if I set my layer to Soft Light, my colors would be more saturated. But I liked the effect of sunburnt solors more.
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Step 4. Now I add new Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Color... Now iconmakers often complain that everyone's gone mad about SC, and there's a lack of good tuts without it. But I use SC very gently, for adjusting hue in a slight way only. In my case, I wanted to add more cyan to my pic. If you don't touch SC at all, the pic will stay blue.
My values are (in %, it's important):
Reds: -96, 0, +6, +8
Cyans: +85, -39, -36, +24
Blues: +65, -9, -46, -16
Neutrals: -19, -8, +7, +10
Step 5. Now I add one more Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness / Contrast... The values are: B -4, C +7. It will make the pic more contrast:
Step 6. I start working with light textures. I take one from g_ivy_ar and set ot to Screen 100%. Then move it to place the light where I like it, and erase parts of texture that are excess. So I get:
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Step 7. To imitate sun rays, there are a few methods. I use the easy one: take texture that looks like rays of light (from catchx22 ) and set to Screen 100%:
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Step 8. The pic is almost done, but I want to add acent to it. I take this brush (simple frame and tiny-text combination) and use it in white on a new layer:
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Step 9. But even that's not enough: I want to make the part of the pic inside te frame more bright. So I select that part of the pic and add new Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness / Contrast... The values are: B -36, C +27.
-->
That's all!
Involves: work with layers properties, Adjustment Layers
Translatable: guess yes
Steps: 9
Difficulty: easy
-->
or
(without Selective Coloring)
Intro. My base pic is already cropped and sharpened. But if you have bigger base, I'll tell you how to prepare it.
Choose a base and crop it with Crop Tool (C). For this tool I always use fixed width and height parameters (100 х 100).
Sharpen the image a bit: Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen...
I set Radius about 0.5-1 px, & Amount about 50%.
You can also use Sharpen -> Sharpen, but I like the 1st most. Sometimes I use Sharpen Tool (R) to adjust sharpen strength in the parts of an image.
Step 1. My base is too dark, so I lighten it in a time-proved way: I duplicate the base layer and set it to Screen 100%. I don't like though that the bottom part of the pic is now too bright, so I erase the pool part:
-->
Step 2. I want to make the straw roof of the sunshade more bright and clear. So I make the pic more lighten once again: duplicate the base and set it to Screen 100%. Then I erase all except the roof:
-->
Step 3. I want my pic to change tint a bit, so I start playing with textures. I take one of the lookslikerain textures and set to Pin Light 25%. Generally, choosing the layer parameters is very individual. For me, I just experiment with the layer properties till I like the hue. Then I can decrease opacity, if the effect is too intense. E.g., if I set my layer to Soft Light, my colors would be more saturated. But I liked the effect of sunburnt solors more.
-->
Step 4. Now I add new Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Color... Now iconmakers often complain that everyone's gone mad about SC, and there's a lack of good tuts without it. But I use SC very gently, for adjusting hue in a slight way only. In my case, I wanted to add more cyan to my pic. If you don't touch SC at all, the pic will stay blue.
My values are (in %, it's important):
Reds: -96, 0, +6, +8
Cyans: +85, -39, -36, +24
Blues: +65, -9, -46, -16
Neutrals: -19, -8, +7, +10
Step 5. Now I add one more Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness / Contrast... The values are: B -4, C +7. It will make the pic more contrast:
Step 6. I start working with light textures. I take one from g_ivy_ar and set ot to Screen 100%. Then move it to place the light where I like it, and erase parts of texture that are excess. So I get:
-->
-->
Step 7. To imitate sun rays, there are a few methods. I use the easy one: take texture that looks like rays of light (from catchx22 ) and set to Screen 100%:
-->
Step 8. The pic is almost done, but I want to add acent to it. I take this brush (simple frame and tiny-text combination) and use it in white on a new layer:
-->
Step 9. But even that's not enough: I want to make the part of the pic inside te frame more bright. So I select that part of the pic and add new Adjustment Layer: Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness / Contrast... The values are: B -36, C +27.
-->
That's all!