Tutorial #1
I'm getting started on the Ask the Maker stuff in kind of a random order so I'm not skipping requests, just literally using random.org to make my decisions. :P
Requested by john_scorpy.
Request a tutorial/guide/etc. here.
01.
This is the original cap of Will Graham from Hannibal. I almost always start my icons with cropping and I also almost always work in 100x100. This crop is a really basic center crop. You could crop more interestingly if you went closer but I liked the three colors and the natural texture in the background (the blue of the sky, the brown of the plants, the white of the snow) and I also wanted to keep the context of the scene in the icon.
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02.
Next up is brightening the image. In this case, I used a curves adjustment layer. (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) To brighten the image, I click the line around the middle and then pull up the dot towards the upper left corner, watching the image of the icon as I adjust it to my liking. Sometimes, depending on the image, I also might adjust the dot in the bottom left corner and pull it to the right a bit to makes the dark parts of the image darker or I pull it up a bit to get rid of some contrast. Similarly, if you move the dot in the top right corner towards the left, you'll make the white things whiter. I usually don't mess with curves on anything but the RGB option.
So for this icon, my curves look like this and that dot that I manipulated is at Output: 161 and Input: 95.
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03.
This icon was for the muted coloring challenge at elite_inspired so I needed to decrease the vibrancy. I used a new vibrance adjustment layer with the vibrance at -61. I didn't change the saturation setting.
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04.
Next, I stamp the merged layers (shift+ctrl+alt+e) then I use Gaussian Blur. (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.) I don't recall exactly what value I used but it looks like this and I'd guess that it's around 8 or 9. I set this layer to Soft Light, 100% opacity. This step is to add contrast but it gets a bit blurry as a result sometimes.
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05.
Next up is something I picked up from endearest in Tips & Tricks. I do another stamped layer and then use Topaz Clean, a plug-in you have to buy if you want to use it. I use it on very low levels using a preset I made based on that post I linked to above. I set this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 30%. This adds contrast like the previous layer but it's sharper. So sometimes I use the Stamped Blur Soft Light layer thing and other times I use the Topaz Soft Light layer and sometimes I use both in the same icon.
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06.
All this work with contrast made the icon a bit too colorful so I used another vibrance adjustment layer, this time setting the vibrance to -36.
➾
07.
Next I sharpen the icon. There are lots of ways to sharpen but in this case I simply made another stamped layer, used the regular sharpen filter (filter > sharpen > sharpen) and then I lowered the opacity of the layer to my liking at 25%.
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08.
This is where things get kind of weird. I wanted something a bit more interesting so I decided to make another stamped layer. I select the Move Tool and make sure "Show Transform Controls" is checked at the top. Then I hold the shift button to maintain the aspect ratio of the image and I rotate the image around then move it so the layer breaks up the boringness of this crop and adds a touch of color to the bottom of the icon.
How I do this is kind of hard to explain and when I printscreen the cursor disappears and it's kind of important for describing this.
As you move your mouse around the edges of the image, you'll see two cursors. One is a vertical line with arrow points at both ends. If you move towards the corners, you'll see a rounded right angle line with arrow points on both ends. When your cursor looks like the latter, you can rotate the image. (If you hold shift, your cursor should always look like the curved arrow unless you're hovering over one of the transform dots.) If you end up with something you don't like, click the ⊘ at the top and start over. When you've rotated to your heart's content, click the ✓. Then you can move the layer around to arrange the blocking however you'd like. You can also hold shift and pull the transform dots to make the image in the layer bigger or smaller quickly.
This is how much my layer was rotated.
➾
09.
Finally, I add a texture from this set by me. I have the set also saved with inverted color and desaturated and I use them often. This one looks like this. I tend to mess with textures and this is rotated 90° and then I stretched the aspect ratio a bit using the Move Tool described above. The layer is set to Screen at 100% and then I duplicated the layer to make the texture more visible. That second layer is set to Screen at 25%.
And that's it!
➾
Requested by john_scorpy.
Request a tutorial/guide/etc. here.
01.
This is the original cap of Will Graham from Hannibal. I almost always start my icons with cropping and I also almost always work in 100x100. This crop is a really basic center crop. You could crop more interestingly if you went closer but I liked the three colors and the natural texture in the background (the blue of the sky, the brown of the plants, the white of the snow) and I also wanted to keep the context of the scene in the icon.
➾
02.
Next up is brightening the image. In this case, I used a curves adjustment layer. (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) To brighten the image, I click the line around the middle and then pull up the dot towards the upper left corner, watching the image of the icon as I adjust it to my liking. Sometimes, depending on the image, I also might adjust the dot in the bottom left corner and pull it to the right a bit to makes the dark parts of the image darker or I pull it up a bit to get rid of some contrast. Similarly, if you move the dot in the top right corner towards the left, you'll make the white things whiter. I usually don't mess with curves on anything but the RGB option.
So for this icon, my curves look like this and that dot that I manipulated is at Output: 161 and Input: 95.
➾
03.
This icon was for the muted coloring challenge at elite_inspired so I needed to decrease the vibrancy. I used a new vibrance adjustment layer with the vibrance at -61. I didn't change the saturation setting.
➾
04.
Next, I stamp the merged layers (shift+ctrl+alt+e) then I use Gaussian Blur. (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.) I don't recall exactly what value I used but it looks like this and I'd guess that it's around 8 or 9. I set this layer to Soft Light, 100% opacity. This step is to add contrast but it gets a bit blurry as a result sometimes.
➾
05.
Next up is something I picked up from endearest in Tips & Tricks. I do another stamped layer and then use Topaz Clean, a plug-in you have to buy if you want to use it. I use it on very low levels using a preset I made based on that post I linked to above. I set this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 30%. This adds contrast like the previous layer but it's sharper. So sometimes I use the Stamped Blur Soft Light layer thing and other times I use the Topaz Soft Light layer and sometimes I use both in the same icon.
➾
06.
All this work with contrast made the icon a bit too colorful so I used another vibrance adjustment layer, this time setting the vibrance to -36.
➾
07.
Next I sharpen the icon. There are lots of ways to sharpen but in this case I simply made another stamped layer, used the regular sharpen filter (filter > sharpen > sharpen) and then I lowered the opacity of the layer to my liking at 25%.
➾
08.
This is where things get kind of weird. I wanted something a bit more interesting so I decided to make another stamped layer. I select the Move Tool and make sure "Show Transform Controls" is checked at the top. Then I hold the shift button to maintain the aspect ratio of the image and I rotate the image around then move it so the layer breaks up the boringness of this crop and adds a touch of color to the bottom of the icon.
How I do this is kind of hard to explain and when I printscreen the cursor disappears and it's kind of important for describing this.
As you move your mouse around the edges of the image, you'll see two cursors. One is a vertical line with arrow points at both ends. If you move towards the corners, you'll see a rounded right angle line with arrow points on both ends. When your cursor looks like the latter, you can rotate the image. (If you hold shift, your cursor should always look like the curved arrow unless you're hovering over one of the transform dots.) If you end up with something you don't like, click the ⊘ at the top and start over. When you've rotated to your heart's content, click the ✓. Then you can move the layer around to arrange the blocking however you'd like. You can also hold shift and pull the transform dots to make the image in the layer bigger or smaller quickly.
This is how much my layer was rotated.
➾
09.
Finally, I add a texture from this set by me. I have the set also saved with inverted color and desaturated and I use them often. This one looks like this. I tend to mess with textures and this is rotated 90° and then I stretched the aspect ratio a bit using the Move Tool described above. The layer is set to Screen at 100% and then I duplicated the layer to make the texture more visible. That second layer is set to Screen at 25%.
And that's it!
➾