Tutorial: Supernatural Icon
Tutorial Requested by morgentau
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OR
Made using Photoshop CS4.
My layer palette
1
Crop the image.
The interesting part of this cap for me is the kiss, Mary's golden hair, and John's blissful expression. I decided I wanted a very simple composition (actually, that might define all of my icons, yes?) that would highlight those points. To do that, I added negative space at the top for the crop. I've added the border here just to show you what the cropped image looks like. The black line isn't part of the crop.
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2
Add a little bit of hair to the top of John's head.
If you look closely at the cap, you can see that all of John's hair is present. Alas, the top of his hair looks a little horizontal. Once it's cropped, reduced, & the original background removed, it's going to look as if the top of his hair has been cropped off. People expect rounder head shapes so I added some hair. My preferred way of doing this is to use the rectangular marquee tool to copy a portion of the hair, pasting to a new layer, and masking it. I feel like this perfectly catches the color and highlights for minimal fuss. Hopefully, there's enough hair present that you can even shift the copied section ever so slightly so that the highlights aren't an obvious repeat.
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3
Sharpen.
This doesn't get preserved in the layers palette so I'm guessing but it's likely that I used an unsharp mask with settings of approximately 20%, 1.0 pixels, and 0.
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4
Brighten the image.
After constructing my base image, my next step is to brighten it. I do this in two stages: curves and levels. I generally use curves to brighten an image and levels to re-establish the contrast & address any issues with the blacks/whites as needed. Sometimes I get fancy with the curves but most often, I click the center of the line and tug it upwards until I can see detail without blowing out the highlights. This is not the final brightening; I'm bringing out the details sufficiently so that I can easily see them.
Curves Adjustment Layer (Input/Output = 110/153)
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5
Fix the contrast.
The image is flat and boring at this point. I want to make the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. For highlights, I generally drag the slider until it's at the edge of the histogram. Going much further tends to blow out details. There's a little more wiggle room in the shadows and I tend to be slightly more aggressive with those because I like true blacks. I play with the middle (gamma) value as well. It's typical in screencaps that it can stand a little brightening to bring out details without blowing out the details. Regardless of the source, I typically end up moving the midpoint towards the center of the histogram.
Levels Adjustment Layer (17 / 1.09 / 218)
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6
Preliminary coloring.
When I made this icon, I was experimenting with skin tones that were less red than is my wont. I found a couple of tutorials that helped me prep images to bring out cooler colors. I CANNOT take credit for this step because I lifted and ever so slightly altered the coloring to work best for this image from steps 2-7 of a tutorial written by ohfreckle. Go and read her tutorial as she's a master at explaining. I couldn't possibly explain it better.
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7
Brighten the image.
I like the effect but think it needs more brightening. That means more curves; grab the center point and tug upwards. In this case, I was keeping an eye on the detail of Mary's hair and John's face. I wanted it clearly visible. I ended up with:
Curves Adjustment Layer (I/O = 117/143)
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8
Boost the color.
Looking at what I have, it's desaturated. The colors seem wishy washy. Mary is completely pale, her hair is almost white, John's looking a little washed out, their clothes (her dress & his t-shirt) lack oomph. This can be fixed with a selective color layer.
I warmed the reds with both red and magenta. I like to add a touch of magenta when upping reds to keep them from going neon. In the yellows, all I did was up the yellow value (that is, removed any blue that might be there) to make Mary's hair more a pure blonde. If I'd added reds and even a little magenta, she would seem more like a strawberry blonde. For their clothes, I upped the cyans in the cyans and the blues in the blues. Everything else I left alone. That yields the following settings:
Reds = -76, +22, 0, 0
Yellows = 0, 0, +100, 0
Cyans = +100, 0, 0, 0
Blues = 0, 0, -100, 0
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9
Replace background.
Merge Visible in a new layer (ctrl + alt + shift + e in Windows // command + shift + alt + e on a Mac). Mask it and carefully mask off the white area and the remaining background from the cap. I used this texture:
by lemonpunch
as the new background UNDER the merged Mary & John layer because the colors complimented the subject and the saturation and luminence/brightness were a good match. I love lemonpunch's textures. They tend to have a lovely luminance range and I can use them mostly As Is, without modifying too much. She has made SO many gorgeous textures.
If you look at the layer palette, you'll see that after I mask a layer, I copy it. I then turn off the original masked layer and use the copy. That's a trick I use so that I'll always have an original available in case I change my mind about masking, later realize I over masked, or whatever. With the copy, I apply the mask and use that in positioning. It's a minor point and is just the workflow I like to use. I developed the habit back when I was first learning to cut out images and wasn't very good at it.
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10
Strengthen the black.
I'm reasonably happy with the image now. Time to nitpick. In the coloring steps, the darker shadows have been lightened. It's especially problematic in Mary's hair where I want more definition and in the folds of John's t-shirt. I don't want to affect anything but the density of the blacks, though, so I use a selective color layer. Also? I don't want to affect the background layer so I clipped the selective color to the layer of Mary & John. To clip an adjustment layer in Photoshop prior to (CS4, I think), you have to create the layer using menu commands to bring up the dialogue box option.
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Color : Check the option box, "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask"
With CS4, it's easier as you can toggle it in the adjustments panel. (This alone was worth the upgrade fees as before I didn't know about this feature at all and was laboriously masking everything.) Just toggle it on and off by clicking on the little icon in the lower left hand corner of the adjustment layer's panel:
Blacks = 0, 0, 0, +14
Additionally, I wasn't happy with the outline of John's hair so I took the smudge tool (very small brush of ~3 px) set to 11% strength and ran it over the margins of his hair& extended the front a little so it wasn't so sharp looking. This is an exercise in patience more than skill.
-->
11
Looking at it now, I kind of like it here but at the time I was making it, I obviously didn't so I kept futzing with it to bring out more detail.
I liked the blacks but the dark part of the image is too dark. I liked the rest of the image, though, so I placed a point in the middle of the line to anchor it and then a second point to pull up the dark end of the line. I slid the point down the curve until I liked the result. I ended up with a point at:
Curves Adjustment Layer, (I/O = 13/23; I/O = 137/138)
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12
Punch up the color.
The colors are too washed out so I added a Vibrance layer. I think that's a new feature in CS4. If you don't have Vibrance, you can use Saturation with a mask to reduce or eliminate any portions that are oversaturated. Vibrance is a more sophisticated version of saturation, meant to protect skin tones. It differentially saturates to prevent oversaturation of skin tones relative to others. It's my favorite way to polish off an icon.
Vibrance Adjustment Layer, V = +28
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13
Increase contrast.
I like the way the background's looking but Mary & John need more contrast to emphasize the detail. I copied the masked layer, dragged it to the top of the layer stack, and set it to soft light. Probably should have done that from the start of the nitpicking. ;-)
Copy of Mary & John Layer, Soft Light 44%
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14
At this point, I'm pretty happy but I can't resist warming it up ever so slightly. Mary's still awfully pale and, well, I'm drawn to reds and there's a lack of reds in the icon. I set a pale pink layer to color burn. Normally, I'd NEVER use a color layer at 100% because they tend to obscure detail but with such a light color and the color burn blend mode, I can get away with it.
Pale Pink Color Fill Adjustment Layer(#fff7f2), Color Burn 100%
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DONE!
15
If you want the image in black and white, there are many ways to go about it. A b/w gradient map set to normal 100%. The desaturate command (though I think it's a bad choice as you have no control). A black/white adjustment layer with its fine controls. A black fill layer set to blend mode Color 100%. A white fill layer set to blend mode Color 100%. I tend to use a b/w gradient map as it's what I first learned. I do sometimes use the b/w adjustment layer but often, I'm happiest with the results I get from the easier method. Your mileage may vary.
-->
My layer palette. If I didn't explain something completely, please feel free to ask questions. Hope this helps!
-->
OR
Made using Photoshop CS4.
My layer palette
1
Crop the image.
The interesting part of this cap for me is the kiss, Mary's golden hair, and John's blissful expression. I decided I wanted a very simple composition (actually, that might define all of my icons, yes?) that would highlight those points. To do that, I added negative space at the top for the crop. I've added the border here just to show you what the cropped image looks like. The black line isn't part of the crop.
-->
2
Add a little bit of hair to the top of John's head.
If you look closely at the cap, you can see that all of John's hair is present. Alas, the top of his hair looks a little horizontal. Once it's cropped, reduced, & the original background removed, it's going to look as if the top of his hair has been cropped off. People expect rounder head shapes so I added some hair. My preferred way of doing this is to use the rectangular marquee tool to copy a portion of the hair, pasting to a new layer, and masking it. I feel like this perfectly catches the color and highlights for minimal fuss. Hopefully, there's enough hair present that you can even shift the copied section ever so slightly so that the highlights aren't an obvious repeat.
-->
3
Sharpen.
This doesn't get preserved in the layers palette so I'm guessing but it's likely that I used an unsharp mask with settings of approximately 20%, 1.0 pixels, and 0.
-->
4
Brighten the image.
After constructing my base image, my next step is to brighten it. I do this in two stages: curves and levels. I generally use curves to brighten an image and levels to re-establish the contrast & address any issues with the blacks/whites as needed. Sometimes I get fancy with the curves but most often, I click the center of the line and tug it upwards until I can see detail without blowing out the highlights. This is not the final brightening; I'm bringing out the details sufficiently so that I can easily see them.
Curves Adjustment Layer (Input/Output = 110/153)
-->
5
Fix the contrast.
The image is flat and boring at this point. I want to make the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. For highlights, I generally drag the slider until it's at the edge of the histogram. Going much further tends to blow out details. There's a little more wiggle room in the shadows and I tend to be slightly more aggressive with those because I like true blacks. I play with the middle (gamma) value as well. It's typical in screencaps that it can stand a little brightening to bring out details without blowing out the details. Regardless of the source, I typically end up moving the midpoint towards the center of the histogram.
Levels Adjustment Layer (17 / 1.09 / 218)
-->
6
Preliminary coloring.
When I made this icon, I was experimenting with skin tones that were less red than is my wont. I found a couple of tutorials that helped me prep images to bring out cooler colors. I CANNOT take credit for this step because I lifted and ever so slightly altered the coloring to work best for this image from steps 2-7 of a tutorial written by ohfreckle. Go and read her tutorial as she's a master at explaining. I couldn't possibly explain it better.
-->
7
Brighten the image.
I like the effect but think it needs more brightening. That means more curves; grab the center point and tug upwards. In this case, I was keeping an eye on the detail of Mary's hair and John's face. I wanted it clearly visible. I ended up with:
Curves Adjustment Layer (I/O = 117/143)
-->
8
Boost the color.
Looking at what I have, it's desaturated. The colors seem wishy washy. Mary is completely pale, her hair is almost white, John's looking a little washed out, their clothes (her dress & his t-shirt) lack oomph. This can be fixed with a selective color layer.
I warmed the reds with both red and magenta. I like to add a touch of magenta when upping reds to keep them from going neon. In the yellows, all I did was up the yellow value (that is, removed any blue that might be there) to make Mary's hair more a pure blonde. If I'd added reds and even a little magenta, she would seem more like a strawberry blonde. For their clothes, I upped the cyans in the cyans and the blues in the blues. Everything else I left alone. That yields the following settings:
Reds = -76, +22, 0, 0
Yellows = 0, 0, +100, 0
Cyans = +100, 0, 0, 0
Blues = 0, 0, -100, 0
-->
9
Replace background.
Merge Visible in a new layer (ctrl + alt + shift + e in Windows // command + shift + alt + e on a Mac). Mask it and carefully mask off the white area and the remaining background from the cap. I used this texture:
by lemonpunch
as the new background UNDER the merged Mary & John layer because the colors complimented the subject and the saturation and luminence/brightness were a good match. I love lemonpunch's textures. They tend to have a lovely luminance range and I can use them mostly As Is, without modifying too much. She has made SO many gorgeous textures.
If you look at the layer palette, you'll see that after I mask a layer, I copy it. I then turn off the original masked layer and use the copy. That's a trick I use so that I'll always have an original available in case I change my mind about masking, later realize I over masked, or whatever. With the copy, I apply the mask and use that in positioning. It's a minor point and is just the workflow I like to use. I developed the habit back when I was first learning to cut out images and wasn't very good at it.
-->
10
Strengthen the black.
I'm reasonably happy with the image now. Time to nitpick. In the coloring steps, the darker shadows have been lightened. It's especially problematic in Mary's hair where I want more definition and in the folds of John's t-shirt. I don't want to affect anything but the density of the blacks, though, so I use a selective color layer. Also? I don't want to affect the background layer so I clipped the selective color to the layer of Mary & John. To clip an adjustment layer in Photoshop prior to (CS4, I think), you have to create the layer using menu commands to bring up the dialogue box option.
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Color : Check the option box, "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask"
With CS4, it's easier as you can toggle it in the adjustments panel. (This alone was worth the upgrade fees as before I didn't know about this feature at all and was laboriously masking everything.) Just toggle it on and off by clicking on the little icon in the lower left hand corner of the adjustment layer's panel:
Blacks = 0, 0, 0, +14
Additionally, I wasn't happy with the outline of John's hair so I took the smudge tool (very small brush of ~3 px) set to 11% strength and ran it over the margins of his hair& extended the front a little so it wasn't so sharp looking. This is an exercise in patience more than skill.
-->
11
Looking at it now, I kind of like it here but at the time I was making it, I obviously didn't so I kept futzing with it to bring out more detail.
I liked the blacks but the dark part of the image is too dark. I liked the rest of the image, though, so I placed a point in the middle of the line to anchor it and then a second point to pull up the dark end of the line. I slid the point down the curve until I liked the result. I ended up with a point at:
Curves Adjustment Layer, (I/O = 13/23; I/O = 137/138)
-->
12
Punch up the color.
The colors are too washed out so I added a Vibrance layer. I think that's a new feature in CS4. If you don't have Vibrance, you can use Saturation with a mask to reduce or eliminate any portions that are oversaturated. Vibrance is a more sophisticated version of saturation, meant to protect skin tones. It differentially saturates to prevent oversaturation of skin tones relative to others. It's my favorite way to polish off an icon.
Vibrance Adjustment Layer, V = +28
-->
13
Increase contrast.
I like the way the background's looking but Mary & John need more contrast to emphasize the detail. I copied the masked layer, dragged it to the top of the layer stack, and set it to soft light. Probably should have done that from the start of the nitpicking. ;-)
Copy of Mary & John Layer, Soft Light 44%
-->
14
At this point, I'm pretty happy but I can't resist warming it up ever so slightly. Mary's still awfully pale and, well, I'm drawn to reds and there's a lack of reds in the icon. I set a pale pink layer to color burn. Normally, I'd NEVER use a color layer at 100% because they tend to obscure detail but with such a light color and the color burn blend mode, I can get away with it.
Pale Pink Color Fill Adjustment Layer(#fff7f2), Color Burn 100%
-->
DONE!
15
If you want the image in black and white, there are many ways to go about it. A b/w gradient map set to normal 100%. The desaturate command (though I think it's a bad choice as you have no control). A black/white adjustment layer with its fine controls. A black fill layer set to blend mode Color 100%. A white fill layer set to blend mode Color 100%. I tend to use a b/w gradient map as it's what I first learned. I do sometimes use the b/w adjustment layer but often, I'm happiest with the results I get from the easier method. Your mileage may vary.
-->
My layer palette. If I didn't explain something completely, please feel free to ask questions. Hope this helps!