Icon tutorial #3
I won at severalplums again, so you'll get another tut :)
The icon was made with GIMP 2.6.4 on Windows Vista and the tut should be translatable if your graphics programme has layers :D
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OK, I had a plan about what to do from the beginning but halfway through I changed my mind somewhat. That's the reason one step will be a bit unnecessary. Otherwise this was a pretty simple icon.
Step #1 - cropping.
I wanted to keep all the cats so I ended up with:
Step #2 - Filling the background.
This is the somewhat unnecessary step because I wanted to keep some of the bush initially but then decided otherwise. I used the clone tool (circle brush 19) to fill the rest of the icon with green leaves from the original picture. Technichally I stamped the leaves onto a new layer and then merged it with the cats layer. That's how I usually use the clone tool. In case I make a mistake it's easier to undo it. (The empty background has to be filled with something dark or you'll be able to see the edge of the original picture later on, so maybe a solid green would have worked as well).
Step #3 - colouring.
I wanted to brighten the colours and get more contrast, especially for the red cat on the left. Duplicate the layer and set it to 50% screen; duplicate the layer again and set it to 100% hard light:
Step #4 - sky background and colouring.
The thing I wanted to do from the beginning was to put sky over the cats. I chose a sky texture by iconographer (this one is actually already flipped vertically) and put it on top. Then I added a layer mask and used a WHITE TO BLACK gradient on it (white on top, black on the bottom). Finally I painted the rest of the cats with black onto the mask to erase the clouds over them.
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Now you can still see some of the original background and the sky is pretty dark. I added another sky texture by iconographer, once again added a layer mask and used the same gradient as before. Then I painted over the cats' faces again to erase the rest of the texture.
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Finally I though the left cat could use a bit of red again, so I added a texture by erniemay and set it to 100% screen. That added a bit of red to the cat and a bit of light to the top of the icon.
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And that's it already.
My layers palette
The icon was made with GIMP 2.6.4 on Windows Vista and the tut should be translatable if your graphics programme has layers :D
-->
OK, I had a plan about what to do from the beginning but halfway through I changed my mind somewhat. That's the reason one step will be a bit unnecessary. Otherwise this was a pretty simple icon.
Step #1 - cropping.
I wanted to keep all the cats so I ended up with:
Step #2 - Filling the background.
This is the somewhat unnecessary step because I wanted to keep some of the bush initially but then decided otherwise. I used the clone tool (circle brush 19) to fill the rest of the icon with green leaves from the original picture. Technichally I stamped the leaves onto a new layer and then merged it with the cats layer. That's how I usually use the clone tool. In case I make a mistake it's easier to undo it. (The empty background has to be filled with something dark or you'll be able to see the edge of the original picture later on, so maybe a solid green would have worked as well).
Step #3 - colouring.
I wanted to brighten the colours and get more contrast, especially for the red cat on the left. Duplicate the layer and set it to 50% screen; duplicate the layer again and set it to 100% hard light:
Step #4 - sky background and colouring.
The thing I wanted to do from the beginning was to put sky over the cats. I chose a sky texture by iconographer (this one is actually already flipped vertically) and put it on top. Then I added a layer mask and used a WHITE TO BLACK gradient on it (white on top, black on the bottom). Finally I painted the rest of the cats with black onto the mask to erase the clouds over them.
-->
Now you can still see some of the original background and the sky is pretty dark. I added another sky texture by iconographer, once again added a layer mask and used the same gradient as before. Then I painted over the cats' faces again to erase the rest of the texture.
-->
Finally I though the left cat could use a bit of red again, so I added a texture by erniemay and set it to 100% screen. That added a bit of red to the cat and a bit of light to the top of the icon.
-->
And that's it already.
My layers palette
