erinae
in
solaristic
30.Icon tutorial
A good long while ago,the lovely kayable and liesmiths asked for a coloring guide on animanga from my Ask The Maker thread.I thought it was about time I do it,or else I'd completely forget.
So let's get down to business.The business of bad tips and lazy tricks.
excuse the messy and hideous banner.I was really sleepy.
I picked a random image from my folder, and bless bc it's a perfect image;there're so many ways you can choose to color it. Giving it a simple & boring center crop, now I'll share a few of my favorite ways to color.
Soft Light.
When you feel the original image's colors are already sufficient and only needs a little bit of saturation and contrast, I suggest Duplicating the base and setting it on Soft Light. It's quite a basic move but the colors are much livelier now.
Boost up the Vibrancy.
What was life before I learned of the Vibrancy tool?It enhances all the colors, but unlike Saturation, it doesn't give you as much of a rainbow vomit if you accidentally go too far. Work both Vibrancy and Saturation together right and you get the best colors.I honestly use Vibrancy in as much layers of an icon as possible, and it's always one of my finishing steps.
Gradient maps
Gradient map is a 2-in-1 magic wonder. Not only does it add color, it also adds lighting.Personally my gradient map is always a combo of light + dark color, with setting on Soft Light, but that's definitely not the only way to work gradient map! You are encouraged to try different settings and color combos to fit with your own iconing methods!
Tone down the Vibrancy.
Pumping the colors to max isn't the only way to use Vibrancy. Sometimes less is more. Try going the opposite direction in Vibrancy to achieve a faded and muted look. In case it turns out to be too flat, gives the icon a boost with some gradient maps.
Selective Coloring.
You never know what you truly like until you've tried them all!And Selective Coloring allows you to do that.Lean the icon towards blue, purple, green... whatever you fancy, and see how it looks. Selective coloring also lets you bring out specific colors only instead of the whole thing, so if the icon has areas that are too vibrant or flat, you can fix it here.
Monochrome.
If you know me you know I love a good monochrome icon. Just add a gradient map on Normal with a color combo of your choice. The challenge of monochrome is to not make the whole icon fall flat, and you can do that with a combination of the tools above, or slap on a few life-saving textures!
I didn't go in-depth or show step-by-step to achieve a coloring because I want you to play and experiment with these methods on your own, so you can learn your own preferences and ways to color. I hope this post hasn't been as useless as I feared, and has given you some actual tips.
So let's get down to business.The business of bad tips and lazy tricks.
excuse the messy and hideous banner.I was really sleepy.
I picked a random image from my folder, and bless bc it's a perfect image;there're so many ways you can choose to color it. Giving it a simple & boring center crop, now I'll share a few of my favorite ways to color.
Soft Light.
When you feel the original image's colors are already sufficient and only needs a little bit of saturation and contrast, I suggest Duplicating the base and setting it on Soft Light. It's quite a basic move but the colors are much livelier now.
Boost up the Vibrancy.
What was life before I learned of the Vibrancy tool?It enhances all the colors, but unlike Saturation, it doesn't give you as much of a rainbow vomit if you accidentally go too far. Work both Vibrancy and Saturation together right and you get the best colors.I honestly use Vibrancy in as much layers of an icon as possible, and it's always one of my finishing steps.
Gradient maps
Gradient map is a 2-in-1 magic wonder. Not only does it add color, it also adds lighting.Personally my gradient map is always a combo of light + dark color, with setting on Soft Light, but that's definitely not the only way to work gradient map! You are encouraged to try different settings and color combos to fit with your own iconing methods!
Tone down the Vibrancy.
Pumping the colors to max isn't the only way to use Vibrancy. Sometimes less is more. Try going the opposite direction in Vibrancy to achieve a faded and muted look. In case it turns out to be too flat, gives the icon a boost with some gradient maps.
Selective Coloring.
You never know what you truly like until you've tried them all!And Selective Coloring allows you to do that.Lean the icon towards blue, purple, green... whatever you fancy, and see how it looks. Selective coloring also lets you bring out specific colors only instead of the whole thing, so if the icon has areas that are too vibrant or flat, you can fix it here.
Monochrome.
If you know me you know I love a good monochrome icon. Just add a gradient map on Normal with a color combo of your choice. The challenge of monochrome is to not make the whole icon fall flat, and you can do that with a combination of the tools above, or slap on a few life-saving textures!
I didn't go in-depth or show step-by-step to achieve a coloring because I want you to play and experiment with these methods on your own, so you can learn your own preferences and ways to color. I hope this post hasn't been as useless as I feared, and has given you some actual tips.