Children of Humanity Return and All the Jazz...
- Before we start:
*Basic cap extension tutorial Here
*Extension involving diagonal lines and vanishing points Here
This is just a little trickier cap extension. It would look weird if you just tried to smudge it out.
Step 1:
So I got my coloring and brightness before I started: This picture just so happens to be in black and white, but I imagine it would work the same with a cap that had color. If it doesn't though, then just make your icon black and white. Black and White is a lot more forgiving than color.
Moving on...
Step 2:
Copy and paste the original image onto the canvas and reduce the size. I didn't do it to the exact same size as the layer from step one, but you could do that if you wanted. (or you could just duplicate your layer and move it over, it just depends on the cap) I chose to copy and paste the original again and go with a different size since I really just want the clouds to look somewhat like they belong there. I also decided not to worry about the ground b/c that is all one color and it runs along a horizontal line, so extending that will be easy with the smudge tool.
So I get something like this after I'm done reducing my second layer:
then move that to the bottom so the smaller image is on top:
and b/c I'm a complete asshole, I just kinda rotate that top image a little bit:
Step 3:
and then I do the blending.
What I did was smudged the upper left hand part of the top layer and the area that is the ground of the top layer. I also smudged around the bottom part of the top layer. I erased the cloud part of the top layer to get it to blend. I got this:
You could stop there, but I decided i want it to be a little more contrasty and add some more layers to cover up that part off to the right above the ground section. It's just like...a box looking thingy. It looks fine but I figured if I add some more texture it might fit in a little better with the rest of the icon.
Step 4:
Disclaimer: I get all my textures at www.deviantart.com, and I'm not sure who made the two textures that I used here, but I'd be happy to credit you if you come across this tutorial. If not, you still make good textures. HAPPIES!
So this texture thing is just...whatever. Find textures that look good and use them. Change them around, erase them do whatever. The textures that I chose for this particular icon won't work on all other icons. One b/c they are in black and white, so you might want to do the same with with color textures if your icon...has colors.
OK!
So I got this texture:
Changed it to Hard Light, set it to 80%
and then erased until I liked what I saw:
so that part I didn't like is a little more blendy and happy. BUT I want more contrast b/c I'm a tool about dark darks in B&W icons so I keep going...
I took this texture:
Set it to color burn:
Reduced it to 30%:
and then I rotated it:
I did that last rotation b/c that texture happened created a line in the icon at the exact place in the icon I was trying to remove a vertical line.
You can keep on keeping on with the textures or stop there. Whatever usually works.