LOST Tutorial
Requested by angieswenson.
How to go from
to
(Created in Photoshop CS3. Translatable, I believe; uses Curves, Color Balance, and Variations; no Selective Color. Tutorial is image-heavy.)
First, I cropped and resized my screencap:
Then I duplicated the layer and used the Smudge tool to extend the sky upwards. I can't remember how big my brush was, but I usually use something fuzzy and around 20-25 px.
-->
-->
The cap is pretty dark, so I duplicated the top layer twice, setting the first duplicated layer to Screen, 100% opacity and the second to Screen, 50% opacity.
To create some contrast, I duplicated the layer again, setting it to Soft light, 100% opacity.
To brighten up the icon and the colors, I created a Curves layer:
RGB - Input: 117, Output: 147
Red - Input: 117, Output: 142
Green - Input: 127, Output: 136
Blue - Input: 126, Output: 130
For a little bit more contrast, I duplicated the soft light layer from before the curves layer, dragged it up to the top, and set it to 25% opacity.
To enhance the colors, I created a Color balance layer:
Midtones: +25 +17 +18
Shadows: -27 -21 -24
Highlights: +13 +12 +10
Make sure "Preserve Luminosity" is checked.
The icon looks a bit too red, and I wanted to add some yellow. First, I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), and then duplicated the merged layer. Then I create a Variations layer (Image >> Adjustments >> Variations @ the very bottom), choosing the "More Yellow" variation:
-->
If I had made this icon last week as opposed to way back in July, I probably would've kept it like that. I actually kind of like it better the way it is, but for some reason when I made the icon originally, I lowered the opacity of the variations layer to 30% opacity:
The sky looks really light, and I wanted to make it darker and pinker. So I merged everything down again (Ctrl + Shift + E) and duplicated the merged layer, setting it to Multiply, 100% opacity.
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts of the layer that I didn't want to be darker.
-->
I duplicated the the layer and erased more of the parts that I didn't want to be darker.
-->
To make the icon brighter and enhance the yellows, I created another Color balance layer:
Midtones: +33 +26 +17
Shadows: +20 +19 +11
Highlights: +14 +13 +12
Make sure "Preserve Luminosity" is checked.
Next, I used some textures to work on the lighting of the icon. Some of them don't make that much of a difference, so you can skip them. I first pasted the following texture, setting it to Soft light, 20% opacity:
-->
I then added another texture at Soft light, 10% opacity:
-->
To brighten up the icon some more, I used the following texture at Soft light, 20% opacity:
-->
I still wanted some more contrast, so I merged everything down again (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer, and set it to Soft light, 30% opacity.
The icon is still too red, so I used Variations again. I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer (Image >> Adjustments >> Variations), and selected the "More Cyan" variation.
-->
I lowered the opacity of the variations layer to 30%.
I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E) and sharpened it (Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen).
Now I still wanted the sky to be darker, so I used a large fuzzy brush, selected a pink (FAA4CB), and painted over the sky:
-->
I set this painted layer to Color burn, 50% opacity.
I wanted a streak of light over Shannon's shoulder, so I used a white blob at Screen, 40% opacity:
-->
So the icon is mostly done now. But I wanted to make it more creative, composition-wise. So I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E) -- this layer will from now on be called the "original merged layer." I duplicated the original merged layer, and moved it so it looks like this:
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts that are covering Shannon in the bottom layer:
-->
I duplicated the original merged layer, cropping and resizing it like so:
I positioned it on top like this:
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts I didn't want.
-->
I wanted to add a bit of softness to the icon. So, again, I duplicated the original merged layer, cropping and resizing it like so:
I positioned it over the icon like so:
I lowered the opacity to 50%:
This makes a super confusing icon, ha. Anyway, then I used Layer mask again to remove the parts I didn't want.
-->
Finally, I duplicated the original merged layer one last time, dragging it up to the top and using a Layer mask to erase the parts I didn't want.
-->
Being picky, I nudged the layer over a little to the left:
Now there's this portion in the top-right corner that has a texture I didn't like:
So I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer, and smudged the corner to smooth it out.
And that's it!
I hope that wasn't too confusing, especially around the end, with all the merging and duplicating. Please let me know if there are any mistakes or problems, thank you! :D
You can now request tutorials here (members only).
Cross-posted to icon_tutorial. If my Photobucket bandwidth expires, you can still view the tutorial at icon_tutorial, where the images are up on Tinypic. Original icon can be found here. Please feel free to join/watch my icon community.
How to go from
to
(Created in Photoshop CS3. Translatable, I believe; uses Curves, Color Balance, and Variations; no Selective Color. Tutorial is image-heavy.)
First, I cropped and resized my screencap:
Then I duplicated the layer and used the Smudge tool to extend the sky upwards. I can't remember how big my brush was, but I usually use something fuzzy and around 20-25 px.
-->
-->
The cap is pretty dark, so I duplicated the top layer twice, setting the first duplicated layer to Screen, 100% opacity and the second to Screen, 50% opacity.
To create some contrast, I duplicated the layer again, setting it to Soft light, 100% opacity.
To brighten up the icon and the colors, I created a Curves layer:
RGB - Input: 117, Output: 147
Red - Input: 117, Output: 142
Green - Input: 127, Output: 136
Blue - Input: 126, Output: 130
For a little bit more contrast, I duplicated the soft light layer from before the curves layer, dragged it up to the top, and set it to 25% opacity.
To enhance the colors, I created a Color balance layer:
Midtones: +25 +17 +18
Shadows: -27 -21 -24
Highlights: +13 +12 +10
Make sure "Preserve Luminosity" is checked.
The icon looks a bit too red, and I wanted to add some yellow. First, I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), and then duplicated the merged layer. Then I create a Variations layer (Image >> Adjustments >> Variations @ the very bottom), choosing the "More Yellow" variation:
-->
If I had made this icon last week as opposed to way back in July, I probably would've kept it like that. I actually kind of like it better the way it is, but for some reason when I made the icon originally, I lowered the opacity of the variations layer to 30% opacity:
The sky looks really light, and I wanted to make it darker and pinker. So I merged everything down again (Ctrl + Shift + E) and duplicated the merged layer, setting it to Multiply, 100% opacity.
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts of the layer that I didn't want to be darker.
-->
I duplicated the the layer and erased more of the parts that I didn't want to be darker.
-->
To make the icon brighter and enhance the yellows, I created another Color balance layer:
Midtones: +33 +26 +17
Shadows: +20 +19 +11
Highlights: +14 +13 +12
Make sure "Preserve Luminosity" is checked.
Next, I used some textures to work on the lighting of the icon. Some of them don't make that much of a difference, so you can skip them. I first pasted the following texture, setting it to Soft light, 20% opacity:
-->
I then added another texture at Soft light, 10% opacity:
-->
To brighten up the icon some more, I used the following texture at Soft light, 20% opacity:
-->
I still wanted some more contrast, so I merged everything down again (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer, and set it to Soft light, 30% opacity.
The icon is still too red, so I used Variations again. I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer (Image >> Adjustments >> Variations), and selected the "More Cyan" variation.
-->
I lowered the opacity of the variations layer to 30%.
I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E) and sharpened it (Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen).
Now I still wanted the sky to be darker, so I used a large fuzzy brush, selected a pink (FAA4CB), and painted over the sky:
-->
I set this painted layer to Color burn, 50% opacity.
I wanted a streak of light over Shannon's shoulder, so I used a white blob at Screen, 40% opacity:
-->
So the icon is mostly done now. But I wanted to make it more creative, composition-wise. So I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E) -- this layer will from now on be called the "original merged layer." I duplicated the original merged layer, and moved it so it looks like this:
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts that are covering Shannon in the bottom layer:
-->
I duplicated the original merged layer, cropping and resizing it like so:
I positioned it on top like this:
I used a Layer mask to erase the parts I didn't want.
-->
I wanted to add a bit of softness to the icon. So, again, I duplicated the original merged layer, cropping and resizing it like so:
I positioned it over the icon like so:
I lowered the opacity to 50%:
This makes a super confusing icon, ha. Anyway, then I used Layer mask again to remove the parts I didn't want.
-->
Finally, I duplicated the original merged layer one last time, dragging it up to the top and using a Layer mask to erase the parts I didn't want.
-->
Being picky, I nudged the layer over a little to the left:
Now there's this portion in the top-right corner that has a texture I didn't like:
So I merged everything down (Ctrl + Shift + E), duplicated the merged layer, and smudged the corner to smooth it out.
And that's it!
I hope that wasn't too confusing, especially around the end, with all the merging and duplicating. Please let me know if there are any mistakes or problems, thank you! :D
You can now request tutorials here (members only).
Cross-posted to icon_tutorial. If my Photobucket bandwidth expires, you can still view the tutorial at icon_tutorial, where the images are up on Tinypic. Original icon can be found here. Please feel free to join/watch my icon community.