Muted colouring (Tutorial #01)
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Some people have requested a tutorial for the colouring, I used in this icon, so I thought I would write one. I had to recreate this colouring, so it might not look 100% like the original icon, but I think it still turned out fine.
STEP 1
The first thing we need is the picture, of course. I used a picture of Kim Hyuna from the MV "Troublemaker". You can use whatever pic you like, just make sure that it's HQ or at least MQ.
Personally I think that this colouring works best on pics that already have a "darker look" (the person on the pic should have darker hair and should wear darker clothes).
STEP 2
After you have chosen the pic you want to work with, open it in PS (I work with PS CS5) and arrange it as you want.
My icon looks like this now:
I can't work with this, so I select the smudge tool and fill in the white space with the background colour of the icon.
This is my result:
STEP 3
Now I duplicate my base once, set this layer to soft light (opacity 25%). Then I go to filter - gaussian blur (5 pixel). Afterwards I duplicate my base layer once again, drag it to the top and set it to screen (opacity 40%).
My icon looks like this now:
STEP 4
I feel that the icon is a bit to dark, so I add this texture:
I set it to soft light (opacity 55%). This texture does not only brighten up the icon a bit, but it also gives it a slight pinkish touch and I think that looks quite nice.
STEP 5
Now I want more colour, so I add a curves layer with these settings:
RGB 141 / 127
red 149 / 137
green 135 / 126
blue 128 / 135
I set the opacity to 65%.
STEP 6
I add a brightness/contrast layer to brighten up Hyuna's face and hair.
Brightness: 12
Contrast: -21
I set the opacity for this layer to 60%.
STEP 7
To give her skin and hair a more brownish touch, I add this texture (soft light - opacity 35%):
STEP 8
To brighten up the whole icon, I duplicate my base layer, drag it to the top and set it to screen (opacity 45%).
STEP 9
I think the colouring looks okay like this, but the background is white and boring. Therefore I use this texture and set it to multiply.
Now the icon looks like this:
We can't leave it at that, of course, because we want a more muted (and less greenish) colouring.
STEP 10
The next thing I do is adding this texture (soft light - opacity 50%) to give the icon a brownish touch again:
STEP 11
Because the whole icon looks a bit too dark now, I add one more texture (screen):
STEP 12
My icon looks like this now:
At any other time I would leave the colouring at this, but because we are going for a more muted colouring, I add another brightness/contrast layer:
Brightness: -2
Contrast: -17
This is how the (almost) finished icon looks:
STEP 13
I like it, when my icons have a softer look, so after I'm finally satisfied with an icon, I save it and open it again in PS. Then I duplicate the layer, set it to soft light, go to gaussian blur and play around with the settings (normally I use a blur between 5-7 pixels, but it really depends on the icon). I also sharpen the base layer, so that the icon doesn't look so blurry. This is the result after soft light/gaussian blur and the sharpening:
There is not a a lot of difference between the icon in STEP 12 and this one, but I still never skip this step, because other icons will look much more vibrant and nice after another soft light/gaussian blur layer!
The next step is completely optional!
STEP 14
While I like how my icon looks, I still think it's a bit empty, so I simply cut out part of the image and place it on top of the icon.
And that's finally my finished icon:
This was my first tutorial ever and I hope you liked it. Thank you everybody for reading! ♥
If you have any questions, plesae don't hesitate to ask. And concrit on how I can make my next tutorial better (and less confusing! XDD) is always welcome.
*all textures used in this tutorial were made by me
*psd is available; just ask if my explanations were too confusing