I haven't been able to figure out how to get the Topaz plug-ins for PS so I have a bit of a weird workaround for getting the same effect on LQ caps than some of the tutorials teaotter linked you, but I've had a fair amount of luck with it so I figure I'd share it with you.
The first thing I do is I take the cap and then go: Filters > Stylize > Diffuse > make sure diffuse is set to Anisotropic. (You can zoom out within the preview to see what the icon will look at a smaller size.) Then Smart Sharpen (500%, 0.4px you can fiddle with that a bit but I was suggested those settings by a friend and they've mostly worked well so far.)
Which gives you these, which aren't the loveliest I agree.
But, once you resize it to 100x100 and colour, can look like this:
I've also used this technique to get a smoother/painted look and I suppose I generally try to mimic what Topaz does with it. It all depends at which size the cap is when you decide to use the technique. Sometimes sharpen, then diffuse, then sharpen again works better. Play around with it! I used this technique in both of these icons:
As for #4, I think what could have fixed the icon is if the "always" of the quote was smaller so as to still have her neck and the top of her shoulders visible. The fact that she is just peering over top of the text makes it look cramped and busy. Repositioning it away from from her neck would make it feel like the text is the focus of the icon, which I believe is what you were going for, rather than like the text is overpowering and almost strangling her.
Thank you for the beautiful concrit! I really like the coloring method that you took with the first icon instead of cutting out the bg. And, since I have the PSD for #4, I will try to make the text smaller.
The first thing I do is I take the cap and then go:
Filters > Stylize > Diffuse > make sure diffuse is set to Anisotropic. (You can zoom out within the preview to see what the icon will look at a smaller size.)
Then Smart Sharpen (500%, 0.4px you can fiddle with that a bit but I was suggested those settings by a friend and they've mostly worked well so far.)
Which gives you these, which aren't the loveliest I agree.
But, once you resize it to 100x100 and colour, can look like this:
I've also used this technique to get a smoother/painted look and I suppose I generally try to mimic what Topaz does with it. It all depends at which size the cap is when you decide to use the technique. Sometimes sharpen, then diffuse, then sharpen again works better. Play around with it!
I used this technique in both of these icons:
As for #4, I think what could have fixed the icon is if the "always" of the quote was smaller so as to still have her neck and the top of her shoulders visible. The fact that she is just peering over top of the text makes it look cramped and busy. Repositioning it away from from her neck would make it feel like the text is the focus of the icon, which I believe is what you were going for, rather than like the text is overpowering and almost strangling her.
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