|tutorial: uhura
As requested by skydawnjade.
How to create something similar to this:
to
Made in Photoshop CS3
Uses Selective Color, so may not be translatable
I chose this image with a specific composition in mind, to extend the background for some nice negative space. I just love the expression on Uhura's face in this image, which is why I made a couple of icons out of this one screencap. *g*
Pasted my image into a 200x200 square and using Free-Transform shrank it down so that there was a large amount of blank space at the top for me to extend the background.
Resized my base to 100x100. Using the color picker tool =>
, I picked a color from the background of the image (which ended up being #262650). I created a new layer on my palette above my base and flooded the layer with the color I'd picked from the background. I moved the color layer up so it wasn't covering the entire icon.
I pressed CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E. This function merges all of your existing layers and pastes them at the top of your palette. It's easier than merging down and allows for more flexibility with editing. I duplicated the new base two times and set them both to Screen. This brightens up the picture nicely, but I still think it needs more brightening to allow the color layer I added earlier to blend more into the background of the icon. It will also make it easier when we do more extensive blending later on. So, I added a Curves layer above my two Screen layers.
My curves layer, and the result so far.
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. I duplicated the new base once and then grabbed the Smudge brush for blending in the background. I used a small soft round brush at @ 4-5px. I zoomed in pretty closely and began to smudge the colors of the background together. The goal is to achieve a nice smooth uniform looking background with no streaks or flaws, or as close as you can get to that. *g* I actually didn't want to futz with the background too much because it was actually really pretty, so my smudging was pretty minimal. Try to get it as smooth as you can around her head, no one likes smushed streaky looking heads. :)
I thought that it looked pretty good here, so now it was time for coloring. I did CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E for a new base, and then added a Selective Coloring layer, making my adjustments on the Red channel in Cyans and Blacks.
I added this texture by drankmywar and set it to Soft Light, erasing the parts that didn't look good. I duplicated the texture, flipped it vertically and then erased again.
I added this texture by lookslikerain and set it to Soft Light, erasing what didn't work. I use this texture a lot in my icons. It gives a sense of movement to the background and also produces a very pretty coloring. And our result so far.
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E, again. I blurred the new base with Gaussian Blur at @ a 10px radius and then set the layer to Soft Light @ 20%. CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. Filter => Sharpen => Sharpen. I faded the Sharpen to @ 30%.
I created a new layer and painted on it with a grid brush in the color white. I then inverted (CTRL+I) the brush so it was black instead of white (unnecessary step? I don't know, LOL) and set the layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity. CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. Image => Adjustments => Hue/Saturation. I adjusted Saturation to @ +4.
And our final result.
(my layers palette)
Credits
Star Trek reboot screencaps ~ here
ohfreckle for her amazing tutorial on backgrounds ~ here
Please use this as a guide. I do not provide PSD's with my tutorials. Thank you! :)
How to create something similar to this:
to
Made in Photoshop CS3
Uses Selective Color, so may not be translatable
I chose this image with a specific composition in mind, to extend the background for some nice negative space. I just love the expression on Uhura's face in this image, which is why I made a couple of icons out of this one screencap. *g*
Pasted my image into a 200x200 square and using Free-Transform shrank it down so that there was a large amount of blank space at the top for me to extend the background.
Resized my base to 100x100. Using the color picker tool =>
, I picked a color from the background of the image (which ended up being #262650). I created a new layer on my palette above my base and flooded the layer with the color I'd picked from the background. I moved the color layer up so it wasn't covering the entire icon.
I pressed CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E. This function merges all of your existing layers and pastes them at the top of your palette. It's easier than merging down and allows for more flexibility with editing. I duplicated the new base two times and set them both to Screen. This brightens up the picture nicely, but I still think it needs more brightening to allow the color layer I added earlier to blend more into the background of the icon. It will also make it easier when we do more extensive blending later on. So, I added a Curves layer above my two Screen layers.
My curves layer, and the result so far.
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. I duplicated the new base once and then grabbed the Smudge brush for blending in the background. I used a small soft round brush at @ 4-5px. I zoomed in pretty closely and began to smudge the colors of the background together. The goal is to achieve a nice smooth uniform looking background with no streaks or flaws, or as close as you can get to that. *g* I actually didn't want to futz with the background too much because it was actually really pretty, so my smudging was pretty minimal. Try to get it as smooth as you can around her head, no one likes smushed streaky looking heads. :)
I thought that it looked pretty good here, so now it was time for coloring. I did CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E for a new base, and then added a Selective Coloring layer, making my adjustments on the Red channel in Cyans and Blacks.
I added this texture by drankmywar and set it to Soft Light, erasing the parts that didn't look good. I duplicated the texture, flipped it vertically and then erased again.
I added this texture by lookslikerain and set it to Soft Light, erasing what didn't work. I use this texture a lot in my icons. It gives a sense of movement to the background and also produces a very pretty coloring. And our result so far.
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E, again. I blurred the new base with Gaussian Blur at @ a 10px radius and then set the layer to Soft Light @ 20%. CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. Filter => Sharpen => Sharpen. I faded the Sharpen to @ 30%.
I created a new layer and painted on it with a grid brush in the color white. I then inverted (CTRL+I) the brush so it was black instead of white (unnecessary step? I don't know, LOL) and set the layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity. CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E again. Image => Adjustments => Hue/Saturation. I adjusted Saturation to @ +4.
And our final result.
(my layers palette)
Credits
Star Trek reboot screencaps ~ here
ohfreckle for her amazing tutorial on backgrounds ~ here
Please use this as a guide. I do not provide PSD's with my tutorials. Thank you! :)