| tutorial: teen wolf
to
program: photoshop cs5
translatable? uses vibrance, so maybe not. you could easily use hue/saturation and play around though.
fandom: teen wolf
OVERVIEW
Tutorial requested by chosenfire28 as part of ask the maker at icon_talk. I made this as an interest icon for crystalchain from the show Teen Wolf. I'm not in this fandom, but I was excited to make icons for it because the show is ridiculously pretty! I chose the cap because I was pretty sure I could get a decent crop and color out of it. Not a whole lot went into the thought process for making it. It was a pretty simple straight up icon from start to finish.
I. CAP SELECTION
I found this cap from Teen Wolf 2.01 Omega at Home of the Nutty, courtesy of the 'most viewed' section in the gallery. The 'most viewed' and 'random files' sections of galleries are my favorite sources to get caps. I find that I get the most unique and different images every time and it's the only way I choose my caps these days. A few things I keep in mind when I choose a cap:
a. overall image quality (not too dark or indistinguishable and never grainy or blurry images)
b. always hq images. ALWAYS. i usually stick with 1280x720 sized images
c. can i do anything with this image? (i.e. decent crop, color and/or composition)
This screencap is PERFECTION. Just look:
It hits all the marks: perfectly lit, lots of colors to work with and potential for a good crop. On that note, it's time to crop this thing.
II. CROPPING
I don't really mess around with the original image before cropping it, unless I'm planning to blend or do some blocking. My steps for cropping are outlined below:
a. copy image
b. file >> new
c. in the dialogue box I change the values to 100 for width and height (make sure your resolution stays at 72px)
d. paste
e. CTRL+T to bring up the free-transform tool.
Now, you'll notice I don't use the crop tool. I never use the crop tool. Ever. The only way I crop is with free-transform. I find that free-transform allows for more flexibility when cropping images. I know you can do the some of the same things with the crop tool, but I've been using free-transform for a long time and it's what I'm used to and what I'm most comfortable with. If you are more suited to the crop tool than that's fine. Go with what you know!
Ok, so now that we've brought up the free-transform tool (i usually hit the control key and the (-) minus key to zoom out a couple times), you should have a bounding box around the image like so:
click for screenshot
You'll notice there are little handles around the bounding box surrounding the image. These are your most important elements in cropping with free-transform!
click for screenshot (the 'handle' is indicated by the red arrow in the screenshot)
Time to get to the actual cropping. Steps are as follows:
a. edit >> free-transform (or CTRL+T)
b. zoom out a couple of times by hitting control key & the (-) minus key
c. hover your mouse over one of the handles on the bounding box (top left usually works best to start for me)
d. HOLD DOWN YOUR SHIFT KEY AND YOUR MOUSE BUTTON AT THE SAME TIME. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR GOOD ASPECT RATIO.
e. Shrink the image down using the handles. always keep your 'shift' key held down while you are shrinking and/or moving the image around the canvas.
And this is the new base after free-transform:
I really like how part of her eye is kind of cut off, it's one of my favorite ways to crop. ;)
On to the coloring and lighting for this image.
III. BASE PREP & COLORING
Coloring was pretty basic for this image. I didn't want to go to strongly on the colors and overwhelm the entire thing so I kept it simple. Steps are as follows:
a. duplicate base.
b. image -> auto contrast
c. CTRL+SHIFT+E
d. layer -> new adjustment layer -> vibrance (+100, 0)
e. set to screen and adjust fill to around 60-70%. don't touch opacity.
result so far:
And that's the extent of my base prep when I make icons. Nothing to it, really. Pretty sure I picked this up from a tutorial somewhere, but I can't place it right now.
The image is still a little under-contrasted and slightly washed out, so I move on to add more colors. Steps are below:
a. layer -> new adjustment layer -> color balance (mid: -8, -26, -50)
b. set the blend mode of the color balance layer to color
c. select all -> copy-merge -> paste
d. set this copy to soft light at 50% fill not opacity
e. filter -> blur -> gaussian blur -> radius: 4.0
result so far:
now the contrast is better and the colors slightly more vivid. the gaussian blur softens the icon a bit to take the edge off the contrasty-ness of the soft light layer. soft light tends to add good contrast, but it also makes things slightly harsh and sharp looking which i don't want. i also added a brownish-green gradient (courtesy of a psd file by erszebet, I think). of course, i altered the colors to suit my own needs. the colors are: #a7965d & #4e462c. i set the gradient to soft light around 20-30%.
result:
more coloring steps:
a. copy-merge & paste again
b. image -> auto tone & reduce fill to around 30-50%
c. added a black and white grainy texture set to screen 100% opacity for a slight grunge look
d. copy-merge again
e. image -> auto color & reduce fill to around 15-20%
result:
again, i think i picked these steps up from erszebet. her coloring is brilliant, what can i say? ;) of course, i always alter things to suit the needs of the image i'm working with.
final coloring steps:
a. copy-merge, but don't paste yet
b. new layer
c. added some light blobs (around her hair mostly) in white using a 100px soft round brush with opacity of the brush lowered to around 30-60%
d. paste the copy-merged layer from above and set to soft light 100% opacity. i think i might have added a slight gaussian blur again, but i can't remember, lol.
result:
pretty, right? I think so. I love how soft light just brings out every single color in an image. it's my fave for everything.
time for finishing touches:
a. copy-merge and paste.
b. CTRL+SHIFT+U to desaturate the image.
c. set blending mode to hard light with fill at around 10-20%, depending on how much contrast you want.
d. copy-merge and paste again.
e. layer -> new adjustment layer -> brightness/contrast (+10, +5)
f. copy-merge and paste again.
g. layer -> new adjustment layer -> vibrance (+100, 0) and set blending mode to color with fill at around 20%
h. copy-merge and paste again.
i. filter -> other -> high pass with radius at 0.4, set the layer to hard light with fill at around 5-10% to sharpen the image.
final result:
compared to the original:
And a screenshot of my layer palette:
layers
IV. NOTES | CREDITS
+ some steps were taken from coloring tuts and a psd by erszebet at songburst.
+ cap credit: home of the nutty.
+ questions? feel free to ask.