colouring tutorial: benjamin linus (lost)
program: photoshop cs2 (requires selective colour layers)
level: medium (i'll try to explain my reasoning with regards to selective colour)
*there is no PSD so please don't ask!*
01. start with your base cropped to 100x100px. for this tutorial (and other examples i've made which are at the bottom of the page) i've only used lost screencaps. ideally, this coloring works best with images that have a lot of green hues in them. i could be wrong though so feel free to experiment.
02. i duplicated my base and set it to screen @ 70% opacity. i then sharpened this screen layer (filter>sharpen>sharpen) to give it a little more detail. depending on your base you may not need to sharpen at all. use your own judgement because sometimes the oversharpened look just kills the icon.
03. create a selective colour layer (layer>new adjustment layer>selective colour) and fill in the following values:
reds: -2, 0, +10, +10
i took the cyan down a little in order to make my base appear a little bit redder. it's not a big difference but i usually do this on most of my icons... i find it makes them a little warmer in the end. since there's a lot of red in ben's face, i decided to up the yellow (which is going to tie in well with the coloring of the background later) and black. by upping the black value, all the red hues become a little darker and have a greater contrast. i love to up the black because i find it adds a lot of depth to certain icons.
greens: -100, 0, +40, 0
i've already stated that this coloring works best with greenish bases so here you go, lol. by taking the cyan down to -100, it takes the bluish tinge off of the grass and makes it look a lot warmer. i also increased the yellow to coincide with the reds in ben's face. basically, i want the green background to look warm and reddish/yellowish instead of bluish/greenish.
blacks: 0, 0, 0, +8
one of my icon secret weapons. increasing the black adds another layer of depth and really makes certain areas 'pop'. in this icon, it makes ben's hair and the shading of the grass stand out.
04. create another selective colour layer.
whites: 0, 0, -100, 0
by decreasing the amount of yellow, you get a 'shiny' effect on ben's skin, noticeable on this neck and cheeks. i find this effect can work really well with certain screencaps.
05. create another selective colour layer. (this could be combined with step 04...)
whites: -70, 0, 0, 0
decreasing the cyan makes ben's shirt look crisper and warmer, fitting in with the general feel of the icon.
06. duplicate your base, drag it on top and set it to soft light @ 100% opacity. once again, this adds more depth and darkness to the icon. without the soft light layer i find it looks too washed out.
07. i took this texture (made by rhcp_csi and set it to overlay @ 17% opacity. i find this texture brightens up ben's face and makes it a little easier to see.
08. finally, i took this texture (also made by rhcp_csi), rotated it 90 degrees to the right, and set it to screen @ 27% opacity. this texture lightens up ben's hair a little bit as it had gotten a little bit too dark for my liking, while still leaving his face sharp and defined.
other examples:
