009. Ask the Maker Stuff.
Ask The Maker
I just want to preface this with I KINDA, TOTALLY FAKE MY WAY THROUGH ICON MAKING SO I'M SORRY FOR WHAT A DISASTER I AM.
ANYWAY, question time!
"Can you talk about Inara's face your pastel coloring? It's so gorgeous!"
and "You do this sort of muted but still eyecatching colouring like in your recent rogue palette so wonderfully, so it would be great if you could create a guide on how to achieve it?"
fromrocketgirl2 & twistedbones
I basically have the same answer to them so I AM ANSWERING THEM TOGETHER.
Okay, I feel like this answer is a total cop-out, but I am like... the laziest icon maker ever and I work best with my THREE SKILLZ so HERE'S PROOF THAT I'M A HACK. I never really set out to make pastel/lighter icons. My icon preference is really BRIGHT, OBNOXIOUS COLORS. SO... I do everything like I normally would do and then I desaturate it.
I start with my usual routine.
[from A → B]I duplicate the base twice, set the first duplicate to screen, set the second to soft light, mess around with the opacities until they look good. Then I merge all the layers into one layer on top (ctrl + alt + shift + e). I set that layer on soft light and gaussian blur at around 25. Liberally add vibrance layers. TA-DA! A really bright cap is born~
After my usual ~treatment, I desaturate one of two ways:
→ Using two gradient maps
I generally (... always) use these two gradients.
[ Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map ]
The tan/purple one is set on screen at around 35% opacity.
The green one is set on Soft Light at around 85% opacity.
I'll add a color fill layer (#f9f4d3 in this case) set to Multiply.
→ Literally lowering the saturation
Lower the Saturation (in this case to about -35).
Add Lightness if needed (+25 here).
Then I use a Color Balance or Vibrance layer to bring back some of the colors lost.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. I should work on just getting from point A to C directly, but I don't really know how and I AM SET IN MY LAZY WAYS OKAY ;____;
"I'm very interested in all your negative space secrets plz how you work with negative space and how you give your icons that awesome minimalistic look (like the lin icon i'm using)."
spiderlin
ALL MY SEKRITS.
#1: Pick caps that already have negative space going for them. Why work harder than you need to, right?
#2: Pick caps that have an easily extendable background. Minimal effort required! Just quickly smudge the background and done!
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#3: Missing head? No problem! Don't let things like missing tops of heads deter you. Just smudge them back into existence and while you're at it, smudge the background too! Smudging stuff is fun! I usually use the tool at about 20 - 40% strength.
→
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This cap already has an ~easily extendable background and all the workings for negative space!
#4: Extreme negative space hides your flaws! Shrink stuff down even further so it's harder to see your mistakes!
I let laziness dictate my icon making process. Can you tell?
As for the minimalistic look... I think that's just all I've got going for me? I'm pretty terrified of textures and text. So minimalistic isn't really a choice? It's what I'm stuck with!
I MEAN, DON'T ADD TEXT OR TEXTURES. That is my ~secret. I do it on purpose, shhh.
"some tips on how you work with light would be wonderful."
yoxi
This is the only way I know how to work with light, basically~
the ~method
After you've done all your coloring and whatnot, merge all your layers into one (ctrl + alt + shift + e).
Make that layer black and white. (My preferred method is setting a B&W gradient on top of it and then merging the two.)
Set the layer to Soft Light.
BLUR! (I usually use Gaussian Blur.)
You can duplicate the layer for added ~lighting.
You can always mask out problem areas, play with opacity, etc.
But that's basically it!
I hope this ~guide thing was somewhat helpful? If you need anything clarified, feel free to ask :D
All caps are from the lovely people at thepicturepool