Tutorial 17: Yuuko
It's been some time since we had a tutorial featuring Yuuko, isn't it?
And with this one I've finally finished the first batch of tut requests, means I can now move on to the october batch.
Requested by sagittariastar.
How to go from
to
with Photoshop. Uses Selective Coloring, so probably not translatable.
Today we'll be using a lot of adjustment layers which - I know - takes a while. So I just want to remember you that Photoshop has that nice option to save settings for some adj. layers, and I really encourage you to do so. The second icon will be made much faster then. ♥
1. Prep your base, I'll be using this pretty xxxHolic image this time.
2. If your image isn't as sharp as mine, you should start with a Soft Light, 100% duplicate of your base. I did that for the other example icons, but not for this one since the contrast was already very sharp and clear.
Now for the 'real' step 2, which is a bit complicated: I decided to make a soft black border on the right side and created three new layers and brushed them all differently, like this:
1st new layer: fill it with #ffffff, then take a big soft brush (45px or bigger), draw a wide black border and lower the brush's opacity when you're going further to the middle, so that it looks somewhat like a curvy b/w gradient (for example, mine looks like this). Set that layer to Multiply, 100% for this.
2nd new layer: Do the same, but fill the layer with #000000 and use a smaller soft brush (35px) with a low brush opacity (50~70%) in white instead of black. I didn't went as far to the middle as with the first layer and and set it to Screen, 70% for this.
3rd new layer: the same as with the 1st, but again make the border smaller or just do only a part. I brushed mainly the bottom right corner.
It's important to lower the brush's opacity so that you don't have only black, but also gray areas because we'll need that for the coloring effect later. :D
3. Next is coloring~ make a Curves... adj. layer with the following settings and set the layer to Normal, 55%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
Red: [I 61, O 55], [I 184, O 185]
Green: [I 67, O 81], [I 184, O 179]
Blue: [I 76, O 78], [I 168, O 191]
4. And another Curves... adj. layer to make the image brighter with these settings on Normal, 50%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
RGB: [I 68, O 82], [I 181, O 195]
Red: [I 59, O 78], [I 199, O 198]
Green: [I 62, O 62], [I 177, O 177]
Blue: [I 100, O 92], [I 200, O 191]
5. Nice, but let's change the direction a little bit: create a new layer and fill it with #BDC0A1, set to Multiply, 35%:
6. Looks slightly yellowish and I like that, so let's go for even more yellowness with another Curves... adj. layer (it's the last one, I swear! Don't know why I was playing around so much with the curves that day D:) again on Normal, 50%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
RGB: [I 79, O 79], [I 200, O 230]
Red: [I 59, O 65], [I 200, O 220]
Green: [I 28, O 40], [I 186, O 195]
Blue: [I 100, O 90], [I 206, O 179]
7. We shall abuse more adjustment layers for the coloring! :D Next open a Channel Mixer... adj. layer and put in these settings, set to Normal, 50%:
Red: 90 -16 14
Green: -12 46 62
Blue: -46 82 50
8. All these layers gave the image more depth, but it's gotten pretty dark. Brighten it up with a Color Balance... adj. layer like this:
Midtones: 26 4 -18
Highlights: -50 -3 19
Depending on your image, you might need to play around with the opacity. I set this layer to Normal, 30%, for the other example icons it was a lot higher or I even skipped this step.
9. Now the b/w gradients from step 2 will come into usage. :D Make a Selective Color... adj. layer and put in these settings on Normal, 50%:
Reds: -65 20 16 -4
Whites: 5 0 0 -6
Neutrals: -2 -10 -14 4
10. MOAR! Make yet another Selective Color... adj. layer for more blues (leave it on 100% this time):
Reds: -4 10 23 -2
Cyans: 100 -55 -37 23
Blues: 100 0 -100 75
Neutrals: -7 -16 -20 10
11. Nice! :D To add a little interest to the black part, take a scratch texture like this one by ennife on Screen, 70%. I erased parts I didn't like and moved it around.
12. If your image still lacks a bit color and you want to give it more blue, duplicate the Selective Color layer from step 10 and drag it to the top! (If your image lost contrast due to all that coloring, make another Soft Light, 100% duplicate of your base at this point. I did that for the other example icons.)
13. To finish up things make a Brightness/Contrast... adj. layer with brightness 8 and contrast 4. Add text if you want and that's it! Longest tutorial ever took me almost two hours to write D:
Questions? Just ask! :D
Other examples:
Be creative and experiment however you want, and I'd love to see your results! I'm curious what you come up with. :D
I'll leave this post open for tutorial requests, but please note that I probably won't get it done before late December since the request list has gotten pretty long already.
Like what you see? Friend soleil_icons for future updates. More tutorials are here, and these will be coming next.
And with this one I've finally finished the first batch of tut requests, means I can now move on to the october batch.
Requested by sagittariastar.
How to go from
to
with Photoshop. Uses Selective Coloring, so probably not translatable.
Today we'll be using a lot of adjustment layers which - I know - takes a while. So I just want to remember you that Photoshop has that nice option to save settings for some adj. layers, and I really encourage you to do so. The second icon will be made much faster then. ♥
1. Prep your base, I'll be using this pretty xxxHolic image this time.
2. If your image isn't as sharp as mine, you should start with a Soft Light, 100% duplicate of your base. I did that for the other example icons, but not for this one since the contrast was already very sharp and clear.
Now for the 'real' step 2, which is a bit complicated: I decided to make a soft black border on the right side and created three new layers and brushed them all differently, like this:
1st new layer: fill it with #ffffff, then take a big soft brush (45px or bigger), draw a wide black border and lower the brush's opacity when you're going further to the middle, so that it looks somewhat like a curvy b/w gradient (for example, mine looks like this). Set that layer to Multiply, 100% for this.
2nd new layer: Do the same, but fill the layer with #000000 and use a smaller soft brush (35px) with a low brush opacity (50~70%) in white instead of black. I didn't went as far to the middle as with the first layer and and set it to Screen, 70% for this.
3rd new layer: the same as with the 1st, but again make the border smaller or just do only a part. I brushed mainly the bottom right corner.
It's important to lower the brush's opacity so that you don't have only black, but also gray areas because we'll need that for the coloring effect later. :D
3. Next is coloring~ make a Curves... adj. layer with the following settings and set the layer to Normal, 55%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
Red: [I 61, O 55], [I 184, O 185]
Green: [I 67, O 81], [I 184, O 179]
Blue: [I 76, O 78], [I 168, O 191]
4. And another Curves... adj. layer to make the image brighter with these settings on Normal, 50%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
RGB: [I 68, O 82], [I 181, O 195]
Red: [I 59, O 78], [I 199, O 198]
Green: [I 62, O 62], [I 177, O 177]
Blue: [I 100, O 92], [I 200, O 191]
5. Nice, but let's change the direction a little bit: create a new layer and fill it with #BDC0A1, set to Multiply, 35%:
6. Looks slightly yellowish and I like that, so let's go for even more yellowness with another Curves... adj. layer (it's the last one, I swear! Don't know why I was playing around so much with the curves that day D:) again on Normal, 50%:
[I = Input, O = Output]
RGB: [I 79, O 79], [I 200, O 230]
Red: [I 59, O 65], [I 200, O 220]
Green: [I 28, O 40], [I 186, O 195]
Blue: [I 100, O 90], [I 206, O 179]
7. We shall abuse more adjustment layers for the coloring! :D Next open a Channel Mixer... adj. layer and put in these settings, set to Normal, 50%:
Red: 90 -16 14
Green: -12 46 62
Blue: -46 82 50
8. All these layers gave the image more depth, but it's gotten pretty dark. Brighten it up with a Color Balance... adj. layer like this:
Midtones: 26 4 -18
Highlights: -50 -3 19
Depending on your image, you might need to play around with the opacity. I set this layer to Normal, 30%, for the other example icons it was a lot higher or I even skipped this step.
9. Now the b/w gradients from step 2 will come into usage. :D Make a Selective Color... adj. layer and put in these settings on Normal, 50%:
Reds: -65 20 16 -4
Whites: 5 0 0 -6
Neutrals: -2 -10 -14 4
10. MOAR! Make yet another Selective Color... adj. layer for more blues (leave it on 100% this time):
Reds: -4 10 23 -2
Cyans: 100 -55 -37 23
Blues: 100 0 -100 75
Neutrals: -7 -16 -20 10
11. Nice! :D To add a little interest to the black part, take a scratch texture like this one by ennife on Screen, 70%. I erased parts I didn't like and moved it around.
12. If your image still lacks a bit color and you want to give it more blue, duplicate the Selective Color layer from step 10 and drag it to the top! (If your image lost contrast due to all that coloring, make another Soft Light, 100% duplicate of your base at this point. I did that for the other example icons.)
13. To finish up things make a Brightness/Contrast... adj. layer with brightness 8 and contrast 4. Add text if you want and that's it! Longest tutorial ever took me almost two hours to write D:
Questions? Just ask! :D
Other examples:
Be creative and experiment however you want, and I'd love to see your results! I'm curious what you come up with. :D
I'll leave this post open for tutorial requests, but please note that I probably won't get it done before late December since the request list has gotten pretty long already.
Like what you see? Friend soleil_icons for future updates. More tutorials are here, and these will be coming next.