Tutorial 01: Loveless
Go from 
to
or
with Photoshop.
is A and
is B
1. Prep your base. I chose this picture from Ritsuka (Loveless) with these nice flowers and rain, because I wanted to submit it to an icontest for the theme 'Nature'. For now, A and B follow the same steps.
2. It's waaaay to dark and needs more color! Make a Selective Color... adjustment layer with these settings on 50% opacity:
Reds: -60 0 60 60
Yellows: 0 0 -75 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: 0 -30 -50 0
3. Better, but not enough. Take another Selective Color... adjustment layer with these settings (again on 50% opacity):
Reds: -100 0 100 100
Neutrals: 60 0 0 -30
4. I want more blue, so one last Selective Color... adjustment layer on 100% opacity this time to finish up the coloring <3:
Reds: -100 20 100 0
Yellows: -20 30 100 -25
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Blues: 100 0 0 0
Neutrals: -15 -10 -28 -14
5. I got the blue I wanted, but it's too washed out now! Fix it with a duplicate of your base on Soft Light, 100%.
6. Look what vivid colors the image has now compared to the original base. :D Now it's finally time for textures! As I mentioned above, I wanted it to turn out rainy-blue, but for some reason I chose a yellow-pink texture to work with. xD Don't know what I was thinking, but I suggest taking a pinkish texture as well if you want to have the same color effect. For this icon, I chose this one by dearest. A and B go different ways now, for A set the new texture layer to Color, 76%.
B shall keep more of the blue colors, so set the texture to Multiply, 50% for it. I erased the part covering Ritsuka's face a bit, which leaves us:
7. We're getting there, A is almost finished~. For the rainy atmosphere, I wanted more shinies that let the air look kind of wet, so I decided on this texture by elanordh on Screen, 100%. I flipped it horizontally and moved it a bit to the left. The same was done for B, but with the opacity changed to 69%:
8. One last step for A: put another Soft Light duplicate of the base on top with an opacity of 80%, and it's finished! Add text if you want, I left it as is. B has a few more steps to go, like another texture for the rainy shinies~. I erased so much of it that I can't really tell which one I chose, but it was something similar to this by miyasan, on Screen, 100%. Erase some parts if needed.
9. Sparkling as expected, but it lost contrast in the whole process. No problem though, do the same as in the last step for A and put a Soft Light, 70% duplicate of the base on top!
10. One final texture for some nice light effects, this one by hellodarliing, rotated on Screen, 63%. I erased some parts that were covering Ritsukas face.
11. This step is optional; you can leave the icons as is or - in contrast to A - reduce the pinkness slightly with this Color Balance... adjustment layer:
Midtones: -15 7 -15
Shadows: -8 0 0
12. Add some text if you want! I went for 'Pure Rain' and used the font LainieDaySH for the first letters and Times New Roman for the rest. And finished! :D
Other examples:
Be creative and experiment however you want, and please show me your results! I'm curious what you come up with. :D
More tutorials coming soon, friend soleil_icons for future updates.
to
or
with Photoshop.
is A and
is B
1. Prep your base. I chose this picture from Ritsuka (Loveless) with these nice flowers and rain, because I wanted to submit it to an icontest for the theme 'Nature'. For now, A and B follow the same steps.
2. It's waaaay to dark and needs more color! Make a Selective Color... adjustment layer with these settings on 50% opacity:
Reds: -60 0 60 60
Yellows: 0 0 -75 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: 0 -30 -50 0
3. Better, but not enough. Take another Selective Color... adjustment layer with these settings (again on 50% opacity):
Reds: -100 0 100 100
Neutrals: 60 0 0 -30
4. I want more blue, so one last Selective Color... adjustment layer on 100% opacity this time to finish up the coloring <3:
Reds: -100 20 100 0
Yellows: -20 30 100 -25
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Blues: 100 0 0 0
Neutrals: -15 -10 -28 -14
5. I got the blue I wanted, but it's too washed out now! Fix it with a duplicate of your base on Soft Light, 100%.
6. Look what vivid colors the image has now compared to the original base. :D Now it's finally time for textures! As I mentioned above, I wanted it to turn out rainy-blue, but for some reason I chose a yellow-pink texture to work with. xD Don't know what I was thinking, but I suggest taking a pinkish texture as well if you want to have the same color effect. For this icon, I chose this one by dearest. A and B go different ways now, for A set the new texture layer to Color, 76%.
B shall keep more of the blue colors, so set the texture to Multiply, 50% for it. I erased the part covering Ritsuka's face a bit, which leaves us:
7. We're getting there, A is almost finished~. For the rainy atmosphere, I wanted more shinies that let the air look kind of wet, so I decided on this texture by elanordh on Screen, 100%. I flipped it horizontally and moved it a bit to the left. The same was done for B, but with the opacity changed to 69%:
8. One last step for A: put another Soft Light duplicate of the base on top with an opacity of 80%, and it's finished! Add text if you want, I left it as is. B has a few more steps to go, like another texture for the rainy shinies~. I erased so much of it that I can't really tell which one I chose, but it was something similar to this by miyasan, on Screen, 100%. Erase some parts if needed.
9. Sparkling as expected, but it lost contrast in the whole process. No problem though, do the same as in the last step for A and put a Soft Light, 70% duplicate of the base on top!
10. One final texture for some nice light effects, this one by hellodarliing, rotated on Screen, 63%. I erased some parts that were covering Ritsukas face.
11. This step is optional; you can leave the icons as is or - in contrast to A - reduce the pinkness slightly with this Color Balance... adjustment layer:
Midtones: -15 7 -15
Shadows: -8 0 0
12. Add some text if you want! I went for 'Pure Rain' and used the font LainieDaySH for the first letters and Times New Roman for the rest. And finished! :D
Other examples:
Be creative and experiment however you want, and please show me your results! I'm curious what you come up with. :D
More tutorials coming soon, friend soleil_icons for future updates.