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tutorial // general
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01. Get the screencap you want to use (my original looks like this and it was from homeofthenutty). When thinking about what screencaps to use, I always think about what crop I will use with the screencap and then the colouring comes second. I chose this cap to icon because I like the action feel to it and thought that it gave me a number of options with the colouring. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a straight 100x100 crop out of it and fit everyone in so that it looks nice. So I have to crop outside of the screencap itself. To do this, I do the following...
02. I set my crop tool to 100x100 which you can do by clikcing on the crop tool on your toolbar and finding the settings on the top left-hand corner of your screen, like so.
I then crop the image how I want it and drag the cropped area upwards to create some negative space on the image. Once I've cropped, I resize to 400x400 and I left with this:
03. Now I need to do something with the negative space I've created. I've decided to use the smudge tool in this instance. The smudge tool doesn't always work (some of my other icons are a good example of this, lol) but I was confident it would here due to how the ceiling looked in the Shrieking Shack. I also knew that I had some textures that would help cover up any dodgy looking parts.
So I selct a soft brush, size 89px and I basically follow the lines of the ceiling in the cap diagonally to look like it continues on. The right side of the image is pretty much just black anyway so that makes my life a lot easier. After I have smudged in the rest of the space, I am left with an image that looks like this:
04. So I've now completely prepped my cap and I'm ready for the fun bit: COLOURING! The first thing I do is duplicate the base layer three times, set the first two to Screen and the top one to Soft Light. This lightens the cap and also gives it more contrast. I prefer to lighten the caps as much as I can and the use the colours to darken them. My image now looks like this:
05. I then add some warm colours to the cap - something I do with pretty much every cap ever. I do this adding a Colour Balance layer.
06. I then add a Vibrance/Saturation layer which helps me see what colours I can pick out and work with. I set Vibrance to +100 and Saturation to +10 and this is what I am left with:
Lots of greens, blues and yellows, which is great because I love working with these colours.
07. I then create another Colour Balance (this is probably my most used layer EVER) and start to make all of these colours stronger. This time I use the Shadows tone as well, like so...
And now my image looks like this:
08. Now I want to lighten it a little. To do this I add a Curves layer. I always have a play around with these to see what they can add to the icon. In the end the composition of the layer looks like this:
I then add a Gradient layer. Remember how I said I new the right texture to use to cover up the smudgy looking ceiling? Well this layer is going to help me with this. I almost always always use the same gradient. Depending on the cap I often play around with it so that no one looks too saturated or to light. With this cap, I've basically flipped it so the dark half of the layer is on top and the lighter half is at the bottom.
I set the layer to Soft Light and my image now looks like this.
09. Now I need to think about getting the image down to icon size! So, I merge all my layers and sharpen the image. Then I resize to 200x200 to have a look at it. I do this to get a better idea of the colour. I'm not that unhappy with it but I add another Colour Balance layer to add some more blue and red (it looks way to green for my liking at the moment) flatten and size down to 100x100. It now looks like this:
10. So now it's texture time. Textures make or break an icon, I'm sure you know. For this icon I add three textures and set them all to Soft Light.
(Credit unknown)
(colourvary and
(Credit unknown).
11. This is my final icon:
And OK, it doesn't look exactly like the one I posted originally but it's there or there abouts. I hope you find the tutorial useful. I make all of my icons in pretty much a similar way and colour them the same way. Don't copy my instructions exactly. I used to try doing that and it really doesn't work. Play about with the layers until you find a colour you like. Check out different texture makers to see what can help you with your colouring.
→
01. Get the screencap you want to use (my original looks like this and it was from homeofthenutty). When thinking about what screencaps to use, I always think about what crop I will use with the screencap and then the colouring comes second. I chose this cap to icon because I like the action feel to it and thought that it gave me a number of options with the colouring. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a straight 100x100 crop out of it and fit everyone in so that it looks nice. So I have to crop outside of the screencap itself. To do this, I do the following...
02. I set my crop tool to 100x100 which you can do by clikcing on the crop tool on your toolbar and finding the settings on the top left-hand corner of your screen, like so.
I then crop the image how I want it and drag the cropped area upwards to create some negative space on the image. Once I've cropped, I resize to 400x400 and I left with this:
03. Now I need to do something with the negative space I've created. I've decided to use the smudge tool in this instance. The smudge tool doesn't always work (some of my other icons are a good example of this, lol) but I was confident it would here due to how the ceiling looked in the Shrieking Shack. I also knew that I had some textures that would help cover up any dodgy looking parts.
So I selct a soft brush, size 89px and I basically follow the lines of the ceiling in the cap diagonally to look like it continues on. The right side of the image is pretty much just black anyway so that makes my life a lot easier. After I have smudged in the rest of the space, I am left with an image that looks like this:
04. So I've now completely prepped my cap and I'm ready for the fun bit: COLOURING! The first thing I do is duplicate the base layer three times, set the first two to Screen and the top one to Soft Light. This lightens the cap and also gives it more contrast. I prefer to lighten the caps as much as I can and the use the colours to darken them. My image now looks like this:
05. I then add some warm colours to the cap - something I do with pretty much every cap ever. I do this adding a Colour Balance layer.
06. I then add a Vibrance/Saturation layer which helps me see what colours I can pick out and work with. I set Vibrance to +100 and Saturation to +10 and this is what I am left with:
Lots of greens, blues and yellows, which is great because I love working with these colours.
07. I then create another Colour Balance (this is probably my most used layer EVER) and start to make all of these colours stronger. This time I use the Shadows tone as well, like so...
And now my image looks like this:
08. Now I want to lighten it a little. To do this I add a Curves layer. I always have a play around with these to see what they can add to the icon. In the end the composition of the layer looks like this:
I then add a Gradient layer. Remember how I said I new the right texture to use to cover up the smudgy looking ceiling? Well this layer is going to help me with this. I almost always always use the same gradient. Depending on the cap I often play around with it so that no one looks too saturated or to light. With this cap, I've basically flipped it so the dark half of the layer is on top and the lighter half is at the bottom.
I set the layer to Soft Light and my image now looks like this.
09. Now I need to think about getting the image down to icon size! So, I merge all my layers and sharpen the image. Then I resize to 200x200 to have a look at it. I do this to get a better idea of the colour. I'm not that unhappy with it but I add another Colour Balance layer to add some more blue and red (it looks way to green for my liking at the moment) flatten and size down to 100x100. It now looks like this:
10. So now it's texture time. Textures make or break an icon, I'm sure you know. For this icon I add three textures and set them all to Soft Light.
(Credit unknown)
(colourvary and
(Credit unknown).
11. This is my final icon:
And OK, it doesn't look exactly like the one I posted originally but it's there or there abouts. I hope you find the tutorial useful. I make all of my icons in pretty much a similar way and colour them the same way. Don't copy my instructions exactly. I used to try doing that and it really doesn't work. Play about with the layers until you find a colour you like. Check out different texture makers to see what can help you with your colouring.