#144
Ask the Maker is going on once more and dark_x_huntress, monstersinyou and adriftingsea asked about this particular icon. I do have the PSD(s), but the files got a little corrupted, so not all the info is 100%.
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Okay, we're starting off with the this heart-wrenching screencap. First step for me is to duplicate and auto contrast. Duplicate and auto color, duplicate and auto tone. After playing around with the cropping, I ended up with this:
Copy merge and paste, set to Screen. Paste again, set to Soft Light, lower fill to 50%.
Okay, first a word. Two other icons that were requested used the a lot of the same textures. When adding colors there are certain texture I like to use, depending on the contrast & color are the settings I use. First texture: here if you recognize it--let me know! Set it to Hard Light.
Second texture. I want to get rid of the black and add more color, but the blue/purple isn't doing it for me. So I smudged and used the eyedropper tool to pick out the red, and painted over it. My end result.
It was a bit much on 100% Screen, so I lowered it to somewhere between 50-60%.
Next, the first of many Selective Color layers. When it comes to making something look more painterly looking, I find that Selective Color layers are perfect. That being said, sometimes each layer focuses on certain colors in the graphic but not always the entire icon. So usually I mask out parts of it.
This first one is going to bring back a more natural look to Bucky’s skin.
Reds: 29, -20, 9, -10
Magentas: 20, 56, 100, 100
Next Selective Color! We’re gonna make the pinks a little more yellowish-orange. Okay, a note here. I find that sometimes it’s easier to amp up something in a layer and then lower the opacity.
Reds: 46, -38, 27, 20
So yeah, it’s a bit much as is, no? Paint over his face, using a brush at 100% on the mask and lower the opacity to 80%.
This one is super subtle, so you can ignore it if you want. We’re gonna bring out a bit more of the yellow and pink. Open up another Selective Color.
Yellows: -54, -30, 10, 12
Magentas: 31, 35, 15, -40
It was a little too much so I masked out his face lightly (a brush at a lower opacity) and lowered the layer opacity to 50%.
Another Selective Color layer! Yaaaay! Again, subtle--but this will kick up the blues and magentas.
Blues: -45, -18, 11, 16
Magentas: -3, -19, -37, 21
Whites: -15, 1, -10, -21
Another texture! Okay, so I have this tendency to use textures from other PSDs and tutorials and this is the case here. It’s by the maker, but I didn’t save the maker’s name! So if you recognize it please tell me! Duplicate it and set one copy aside. The yellow didn’t work for me, so I went to Images >> Adjustments >> Hue/Sat and made it a pinkish-magenta color. Set it to Screen lower the Fill to 20% and the Opacity to 50%. This lightens up the shadow and adds some more subtle color.
8-texture
Another Selective Color, time to add more shadows and depth.
Reds: 51, 6, 28, 24
Yellows: -30, -6, -9, 24
Greens: -100, 100, -94, 8
Cyans: 100, 94, 100, 100
Blues: 58, 74, 28, 30
Magentas: -88, 65, 83, 100
It’s a bit much on 100% Opacity. Play around with it, keep it between 30-50%.
Another texture, same as before, I have no fucking clue! Set it to Softlight and mask out the top left corner. It adds a little more rough painterly texture and also gives some more depth to Bucky.
Another Selective color! I want to bring up the yellow a bit, so again, I amp it up and play with the masking and Opacity & Fill of the layer.
Reds: -47, -34, -4, 7
Yellows: -30, -47, -19, 6
At 100%. Both Opacity & Fill are below 50%. The lower left corner is masked out too, I like the slight pinkish red there.
Okay, now I really like the blueish magenta highlights on his nose and lips so to give it a bit of a kick, I used a Color Balance Layer.
Midtones: -5, 0, 13
So, please don’t hate me---but there’s more Selective Color layers. I can’t explain how helpful they can be to work on individual colors at a time.
First will just use the Magentas: 11, -3, 26, -11
Now, this next one is so very very subtle so you can skip if you want. It works with the Red in the black area to add a little color to the dark area. The fill is suuuuper low (10-20%)
Reds: 3, -13, 15, 6
Magentas: 100, 100, -100, 100
This next one will add some red to the yellows and make things a little orange (for that one streak below his left eye). Opacity in the 30-50% range.
Yellows: -71, -23, 74, 76
So this is what those last 3 will look like:
Magentas Reds/Blacks Orange
Really subtle, I know. Now, more textures! Gonna use this one, bring a little blue back into the mix. I set it so the light blue was one the right side of his face, withe a little bit of the navy peaking on the left. Set it to Screen, keep the Fill low (20-35%) and the Opacity 90-100%.
Okay, I lied, kinda. One more Selective Color layer. This one is to bring out the blues & magentas in the dark upper corner. And keep the side a little more pinkish-red instead of yellow.
Reds: 62, 29, -31, 8
Yellows: -60, -20, 33, -13
Magentas: 85, 37, -6, -11
It’s a little too much at 100%, so I lowered the Fill in the 30-40% range.
Remember that yellow painty texture? Yeah, drag that thing up! With this sort of texture I play with the settings, usually Lighten, Screen and Softlight are usually what I use. In this case I chose Screen, but I didn’t want it to be an all over yellow. Some of my favorite paintings are the kinds where there are layers and layers of thick paint, where you can see the mixture of it. So I added a mask and painted out his eyes, a little of his lips and some of his hair. This is what it looks like on 100% & normal.
So I lowered the Opacity when I set it to Screen, 20-35% or so.
Next texture20-texture, set to Softlight, lowered fill to 20-35%. I liked how the lighter part hit his eyes, but not the darker bits of his hair so I brushed that out. I like how the darkness brings out his scruff and his neck, emphasizing the shadows. (Yes, this is me attempting to give reasons for why I do things. Truth is I liked it.)
Another texture! This one by midnight_road. I adore this texture. Okay, so setting to Softlight I played with the settings of the Opacity & Fill. I set both in the 40-60% range and brushed out the upper left corner cause I wasn’t feeling it.
100% 40-60%
Okay, so I’m really liking the light coming from the lower left corner so I use a texture by 12feethigh set to Screen and lowered both the Fill & Opacity to 35-45%.
At this point I’m feeling like it’s becoming a little to much blue/magenta. So, yes, I’m sorry--another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -30, -16, -8, 12
Yellows: -84, -57, -2, 29
While this brings up the reds & yellows, I feel like it looses too much of the blues and magentas so I lowered the Opacity to about 50%.
Another texturewhich I have no idea where it came from. When making a more painterly looking icon using larger paint textures are so helpful. I’ve made a few just using one that I used different parts of or rotated. In this case I liked this crop. Set it to Screen, Opacity about 80 and Fill in the 40-50%. I masked out the area around his eyes and nose.
Last texture! Again, this is a crop of this. So I liked that it highlighted his eyes, but I wanted to keep the shadows around his eyes so I did a little masking before setting the Opacity in the 50-60% range.
.
Okay, so I wanted to keep the shadows around his eyes dark, so I opened a new layer and painted some black over the area and set it to Softlight.
Okay, so I feel like I’ve lost some of the natural high and low lights so I opened up a Levels and hit Auto. I liked what it gave me, but it was a wee bit too much so I lowered the fill.
100% 25-35%
Last few steps! This next Selective Color layer I used to bring out more of the magentas. I kept the Opacity pretty high, at about 80%.
Cyans: -73, 0, 85, -2
Blues: 31, -14, -8, 3
Magentas: -48, 14, -13, 10
Next, we’re gonna bring back a little more yellow. The fill is somewhere in the 35-50% area.
Yellows: -71, -43, 14, 31
LAST SELECTIVE COLOR LAYER!! WHOO WHOO! I don’t know how to describe exactly what I did/what this layer does. It makes it more intense I guess? Anyway the Opacity is in the 50-65%, and I masked out right side because it was a little too red much
Reds: -13, 25, 12, -3
Magentas: 100, 100, 100, 100
Okay, next I sharpened it. There are a few ways I do this, but this time I decided to copy & paste and use Smart Sharpen (Filter >> Adjustments >> Sharpen >> Smart Sharpen)
Amount: 100
Radius: 1.0
I lowered the Opacity to 50-65%.
Since there aren’t enough Bucky icons with his heart breaking line, I thought I’d make one myself. When it comes to picking text I try to pick the font based on the feeling I want to portray. I feel that Smudger LET gives a sad sort of haste and child like quality.
but i & him: 12pt, #f5c572,
KNEW: 18pt, #ee9ba1
Spacing on both is 100.
I find that using colors already present in the icon to best, the light pink coming from the highlights on his nose and the yellow from between his eyebrows.
Merge them down into one layer and duplicate it. The original layer’s Fill is 75%. The second is sharpened once and the Fill is lowered to 60%.
Done!
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Starting off with this cap from the first episode of Agent Carter. Cropping it down I wanted to focus on her face but still see the rest of her. So I ended up cropping it like so:
I duplicate it and go to auto contrast. I keep that on 100% and duplicate it again. This time auto color & tone. The second one adds a little red so I keep it on 40% Opacity.
Now, I want the focus on Peggy, so using the eyedropper tool I chose a color on the right side of the background (#33170f), opened a new layer and brushed over that corner with a soft light brush. I opened another layer and chose a color from the left side (#2f6275) and brushed over the background there. Both layers I lowered the Opacity of both layers to about 70%. I find that doing so makes a more natural build of colors and looks better.
I found that I wanted the teal on her left side to be a bit stronger so I used a gradient (#2f6275 - transparent), keeping the angle low (-24.78) and brushed over Peggy with a soft brush. Again, I didn't keep it at 100%, lowering the Fill to 45%.
Next I want to bring up more of the details of her hair so I'm using a Levels Layer. I think I hit Auto then mucked around with it.
RGB: 0, 1.14, 255
Reds: 7, 1.00, 178
Greens: 11, 1.00, 182
Blues: 3, 1.00, 192
Next, I want to bring out yellow highlights of her hair. I used a Color Balance layer for it.
Midtones: 0, 0, -16
At this point, it's looking a little too yellow. So we're going to use Selective Color layer. It's a bit much at 100%, so 50% on the Fill.
Reds: 65, -31, -19, -13
Open up a Gradient Map, just the black & white one. Set to Softlight, lower the Fill to 35%.
Select all and copy & paste onto a new layer. Set the layer to Gaussian Blur, 4.0. Set it to Softlight, lowering the Fill to 60%. I find that it adds a little intensity and depth to the colors. Add a masking layer, taking a soft brush and brushing out the highlights of her hair and a little off her face too.
I want to bring out her hair so, open up a new layer, with a small brush I painted on white over. Set to Softlight. On another layer, take a soft brush brushes and lightly brushed over the area again. On new layer, take a 1px brush (#66512c) over some of her hair. Set on Screen, fill at 50% and Opacity at 35%. Another new layer, using (#2e1d0e) brush over another part of her air. Keep it set at Normal and lower Opacity to 50%. Another new layer, using #39352c, I brushed over the darker whisps of her hair on the left hand side.
Layer #1 Layer #2
Layer #3 Layer #4 Layer #5
Annnnd more! Another new layer, using #39352c I brushed over her hair some more.
Next, on a new layer, take a larger soft brush and using (#381913) brush over the top right corner. Set it to Screen.
Another new layer, use a soft brush and paint over those strands of hair and set to Screen.
New Selective Color layer!
Reds: 1, -26, -16, -8
Yellows: -62, -20, 47, 2
It's too much as is, so lower the Opacity to 50% and mask out her skin and the top corner.
Another Selective Color layer--try to contain your excitement! Brush out her face though--it's too much red otherwise!
Reds: -39, 24, 36, -3
The reds are looking a little too yellow for my liking so I used a Color Balance layer to help out the situation. It doesn't work on everything, so I masked out everything except her skin. The Fill is lowered 50%.
Midtones: 4, -11, 6
Highlights: 0, -6, 0
Something about her skintone is still bothering me. So opening up a new layer I painted over all her exposed skin with #f1d4bb. Set the layer to Color, with the Fill at 60%.
Original Paint Set to Color
It's another Selective Color! This will neutralize the yellows some.
Reds: -11, -24, -33, 6
I want to make the reds a little more pink/purple. I decided to use a Hue/Sat layer for this. However, we don't want her skin to be so purple so mask out her skin.
Reds: -36, 0, 0
Now we're gonna bring back some of the yellow with another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -45, -24, -33, 39
Yellows: -35, -38, 50, -4
Another Selective Color layer, to bring out the Magenta.
Magentas: 100, 100, 0, 0
Yes, another one, sorry! This one will lighten and brighten up the pinks.
Reds: -23, -10, -3, 1
Magentas: -37, 31, -29, -36
Another one to give the yellows a boost.
Yellows: -36, -18, 13, 14
I want to keep the teal bright & vibrant so I opened a new layer and brushed over the left side with #5bb5c2. Set it to Hard Light and lower the Fill to 55%.
Open another new layer and using a soft white brush I went over the lighter parts of her hair again. This is what I did:
21
Set it to Softlight.
I really want more magenta in it. So another selective color layer.
Reds: -40, -8, -27, 21
Yellows: -36, 15, 4, -15
Magentas: -43, 42, 72, 77
The teal is looking too green, so to make it more blue it's going to be another Color Balance layer. Again, not a fan of what it does to her skin so I masked it out.
Shadows: 2, -2, 2
Midtones: 0, -18, 0
Highlights: -9, -13, 6
I want to lighten up the reds and yellows, so yet another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -34, -27, -34, 13
Yellows: -71, -37, 23, -14
I'm going to be honest here. Sometimes when I'm not sure what I want to do but I want to do something so I copy & paste the layer, gaussian blur it and set it on Softlight. This was one of times. I lowered the Fill to 50%.
Second to last Selective Color layer!! Yaaay! Okay, so we're amping up the magenta some more.
Reds: -10, 7, -21, 24
It was too much on her hair though, so I took a soft brush on less than full Opacity and brushed it out.
Now it's texture time! We're going to duplicate it set the first one to Screen, Fill lowered to 40%. Set the second one to Softlight but add a mask. The right side is too dark for my liking so I used a soft brush to mask it off her face and hair.
Make a new layer, with a large soft brush paint the top two corners and a little of the background down using #2232e8. Set to Softlight.
Another texture! Again, no idea who made this but it's awesome. Duplicate it. Set the first one to Screen, Opacity to 40% and Fill to 30%. Second one set to Softlight with the Opacity set to 40%. I wasn't crazy about how the 2nd one looked on her face and hair so I added a mask and painted them out.
This time, we're cropping this texture down to this. Set it to Softlight. Again, wasn't crazy about what it did to her hair so I masked it out.
Almost done, I promise! Okay, so Vibrance layer. Kick that Vibrance up to +43.
One last Selective Color layer! I want her dress to be more yellow so it's time for that last Selective Color layer!
Reds: 91, -39, -17, 6
Last step! The black is a little too dark for my liking. So I opened up a color fill #270339, set to Lighten. Set the Fill to 45%.
Copy merge onto a new layer and go to sharpen, and smart sharpen, amount 100. I don't like it all over so I took a soft brush and brushed out the parts I didn't like. And ta da!
I do have a new post in the works, as well as a few other icons that were requested, but if anyone else has any other questions on other works let me know! And as always, if you have questions about what I posted let me know! Happy creating!
Hey guys, I doubt anyone has any questions, but if you do here's a link to my thread!
Ask The Maker 2015 || My Thread
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Okay, we're starting off with the this heart-wrenching screencap. First step for me is to duplicate and auto contrast. Duplicate and auto color, duplicate and auto tone. After playing around with the cropping, I ended up with this:
Copy merge and paste, set to Screen. Paste again, set to Soft Light, lower fill to 50%.
Okay, first a word. Two other icons that were requested used the a lot of the same textures. When adding colors there are certain texture I like to use, depending on the contrast & color are the settings I use. First texture: here if you recognize it--let me know! Set it to Hard Light.
Second texture. I want to get rid of the black and add more color, but the blue/purple isn't doing it for me. So I smudged and used the eyedropper tool to pick out the red, and painted over it. My end result.
It was a bit much on 100% Screen, so I lowered it to somewhere between 50-60%.
Next, the first of many Selective Color layers. When it comes to making something look more painterly looking, I find that Selective Color layers are perfect. That being said, sometimes each layer focuses on certain colors in the graphic but not always the entire icon. So usually I mask out parts of it.
This first one is going to bring back a more natural look to Bucky’s skin.
Reds: 29, -20, 9, -10
Magentas: 20, 56, 100, 100
Next Selective Color! We’re gonna make the pinks a little more yellowish-orange. Okay, a note here. I find that sometimes it’s easier to amp up something in a layer and then lower the opacity.
Reds: 46, -38, 27, 20
So yeah, it’s a bit much as is, no? Paint over his face, using a brush at 100% on the mask and lower the opacity to 80%.
This one is super subtle, so you can ignore it if you want. We’re gonna bring out a bit more of the yellow and pink. Open up another Selective Color.
Yellows: -54, -30, 10, 12
Magentas: 31, 35, 15, -40
It was a little too much so I masked out his face lightly (a brush at a lower opacity) and lowered the layer opacity to 50%.
Another Selective Color layer! Yaaaay! Again, subtle--but this will kick up the blues and magentas.
Blues: -45, -18, 11, 16
Magentas: -3, -19, -37, 21
Whites: -15, 1, -10, -21
Another texture! Okay, so I have this tendency to use textures from other PSDs and tutorials and this is the case here. It’s by the maker, but I didn’t save the maker’s name! So if you recognize it please tell me! Duplicate it and set one copy aside. The yellow didn’t work for me, so I went to Images >> Adjustments >> Hue/Sat and made it a pinkish-magenta color. Set it to Screen lower the Fill to 20% and the Opacity to 50%. This lightens up the shadow and adds some more subtle color.
8-texture
Another Selective Color, time to add more shadows and depth.
Reds: 51, 6, 28, 24
Yellows: -30, -6, -9, 24
Greens: -100, 100, -94, 8
Cyans: 100, 94, 100, 100
Blues: 58, 74, 28, 30
Magentas: -88, 65, 83, 100
It’s a bit much on 100% Opacity. Play around with it, keep it between 30-50%.
Another texture, same as before, I have no fucking clue! Set it to Softlight and mask out the top left corner. It adds a little more rough painterly texture and also gives some more depth to Bucky.
Another Selective color! I want to bring up the yellow a bit, so again, I amp it up and play with the masking and Opacity & Fill of the layer.
Reds: -47, -34, -4, 7
Yellows: -30, -47, -19, 6
At 100%. Both Opacity & Fill are below 50%. The lower left corner is masked out too, I like the slight pinkish red there.
Okay, now I really like the blueish magenta highlights on his nose and lips so to give it a bit of a kick, I used a Color Balance Layer.
Midtones: -5, 0, 13
So, please don’t hate me---but there’s more Selective Color layers. I can’t explain how helpful they can be to work on individual colors at a time.
First will just use the Magentas: 11, -3, 26, -11
Now, this next one is so very very subtle so you can skip if you want. It works with the Red in the black area to add a little color to the dark area. The fill is suuuuper low (10-20%)
Reds: 3, -13, 15, 6
Magentas: 100, 100, -100, 100
This next one will add some red to the yellows and make things a little orange (for that one streak below his left eye). Opacity in the 30-50% range.
Yellows: -71, -23, 74, 76
So this is what those last 3 will look like:
Magentas Reds/Blacks Orange
Really subtle, I know. Now, more textures! Gonna use this one, bring a little blue back into the mix. I set it so the light blue was one the right side of his face, withe a little bit of the navy peaking on the left. Set it to Screen, keep the Fill low (20-35%) and the Opacity 90-100%.
Okay, I lied, kinda. One more Selective Color layer. This one is to bring out the blues & magentas in the dark upper corner. And keep the side a little more pinkish-red instead of yellow.
Reds: 62, 29, -31, 8
Yellows: -60, -20, 33, -13
Magentas: 85, 37, -6, -11
It’s a little too much at 100%, so I lowered the Fill in the 30-40% range.
Remember that yellow painty texture? Yeah, drag that thing up! With this sort of texture I play with the settings, usually Lighten, Screen and Softlight are usually what I use. In this case I chose Screen, but I didn’t want it to be an all over yellow. Some of my favorite paintings are the kinds where there are layers and layers of thick paint, where you can see the mixture of it. So I added a mask and painted out his eyes, a little of his lips and some of his hair. This is what it looks like on 100% & normal.
So I lowered the Opacity when I set it to Screen, 20-35% or so.
Next texture20-texture, set to Softlight, lowered fill to 20-35%. I liked how the lighter part hit his eyes, but not the darker bits of his hair so I brushed that out. I like how the darkness brings out his scruff and his neck, emphasizing the shadows. (Yes, this is me attempting to give reasons for why I do things. Truth is I liked it.)
Another texture! This one by midnight_road. I adore this texture. Okay, so setting to Softlight I played with the settings of the Opacity & Fill. I set both in the 40-60% range and brushed out the upper left corner cause I wasn’t feeling it.
100% 40-60%
Okay, so I’m really liking the light coming from the lower left corner so I use a texture by 12feethigh set to Screen and lowered both the Fill & Opacity to 35-45%.
At this point I’m feeling like it’s becoming a little to much blue/magenta. So, yes, I’m sorry--another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -30, -16, -8, 12
Yellows: -84, -57, -2, 29
While this brings up the reds & yellows, I feel like it looses too much of the blues and magentas so I lowered the Opacity to about 50%.
Another texturewhich I have no idea where it came from. When making a more painterly looking icon using larger paint textures are so helpful. I’ve made a few just using one that I used different parts of or rotated. In this case I liked this crop. Set it to Screen, Opacity about 80 and Fill in the 40-50%. I masked out the area around his eyes and nose.
Last texture! Again, this is a crop of this. So I liked that it highlighted his eyes, but I wanted to keep the shadows around his eyes so I did a little masking before setting the Opacity in the 50-60% range.
.
Okay, so I wanted to keep the shadows around his eyes dark, so I opened a new layer and painted some black over the area and set it to Softlight.
Okay, so I feel like I’ve lost some of the natural high and low lights so I opened up a Levels and hit Auto. I liked what it gave me, but it was a wee bit too much so I lowered the fill.
100% 25-35%
Last few steps! This next Selective Color layer I used to bring out more of the magentas. I kept the Opacity pretty high, at about 80%.
Cyans: -73, 0, 85, -2
Blues: 31, -14, -8, 3
Magentas: -48, 14, -13, 10
Next, we’re gonna bring back a little more yellow. The fill is somewhere in the 35-50% area.
Yellows: -71, -43, 14, 31
LAST SELECTIVE COLOR LAYER!! WHOO WHOO! I don’t know how to describe exactly what I did/what this layer does. It makes it more intense I guess? Anyway the Opacity is in the 50-65%, and I masked out right side because it was a little too red much
Reds: -13, 25, 12, -3
Magentas: 100, 100, 100, 100
Okay, next I sharpened it. There are a few ways I do this, but this time I decided to copy & paste and use Smart Sharpen (Filter >> Adjustments >> Sharpen >> Smart Sharpen)
Amount: 100
Radius: 1.0
I lowered the Opacity to 50-65%.
Since there aren’t enough Bucky icons with his heart breaking line, I thought I’d make one myself. When it comes to picking text I try to pick the font based on the feeling I want to portray. I feel that Smudger LET gives a sad sort of haste and child like quality.
but i & him: 12pt, #f5c572,
KNEW: 18pt, #ee9ba1
Spacing on both is 100.
I find that using colors already present in the icon to best, the light pink coming from the highlights on his nose and the yellow from between his eyebrows.
Merge them down into one layer and duplicate it. The original layer’s Fill is 75%. The second is sharpened once and the Fill is lowered to 60%.
Done!
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Starting off with this cap from the first episode of Agent Carter. Cropping it down I wanted to focus on her face but still see the rest of her. So I ended up cropping it like so:
I duplicate it and go to auto contrast. I keep that on 100% and duplicate it again. This time auto color & tone. The second one adds a little red so I keep it on 40% Opacity.
Now, I want the focus on Peggy, so using the eyedropper tool I chose a color on the right side of the background (#33170f), opened a new layer and brushed over that corner with a soft light brush. I opened another layer and chose a color from the left side (#2f6275) and brushed over the background there. Both layers I lowered the Opacity of both layers to about 70%. I find that doing so makes a more natural build of colors and looks better.
I found that I wanted the teal on her left side to be a bit stronger so I used a gradient (#2f6275 - transparent), keeping the angle low (-24.78) and brushed over Peggy with a soft brush. Again, I didn't keep it at 100%, lowering the Fill to 45%.
Next I want to bring up more of the details of her hair so I'm using a Levels Layer. I think I hit Auto then mucked around with it.
RGB: 0, 1.14, 255
Reds: 7, 1.00, 178
Greens: 11, 1.00, 182
Blues: 3, 1.00, 192
Next, I want to bring out yellow highlights of her hair. I used a Color Balance layer for it.
Midtones: 0, 0, -16
At this point, it's looking a little too yellow. So we're going to use Selective Color layer. It's a bit much at 100%, so 50% on the Fill.
Reds: 65, -31, -19, -13
Open up a Gradient Map, just the black & white one. Set to Softlight, lower the Fill to 35%.
Select all and copy & paste onto a new layer. Set the layer to Gaussian Blur, 4.0. Set it to Softlight, lowering the Fill to 60%. I find that it adds a little intensity and depth to the colors. Add a masking layer, taking a soft brush and brushing out the highlights of her hair and a little off her face too.
I want to bring out her hair so, open up a new layer, with a small brush I painted on white over. Set to Softlight. On another layer, take a soft brush brushes and lightly brushed over the area again. On new layer, take a 1px brush (#66512c) over some of her hair. Set on Screen, fill at 50% and Opacity at 35%. Another new layer, using (#2e1d0e) brush over another part of her air. Keep it set at Normal and lower Opacity to 50%. Another new layer, using #39352c, I brushed over the darker whisps of her hair on the left hand side.
Layer #1 Layer #2
Layer #3 Layer #4 Layer #5
Annnnd more! Another new layer, using #39352c I brushed over her hair some more.
Next, on a new layer, take a larger soft brush and using (#381913) brush over the top right corner. Set it to Screen.
Another new layer, use a soft brush and paint over those strands of hair and set to Screen.
New Selective Color layer!
Reds: 1, -26, -16, -8
Yellows: -62, -20, 47, 2
It's too much as is, so lower the Opacity to 50% and mask out her skin and the top corner.
Another Selective Color layer--try to contain your excitement! Brush out her face though--it's too much red otherwise!
Reds: -39, 24, 36, -3
The reds are looking a little too yellow for my liking so I used a Color Balance layer to help out the situation. It doesn't work on everything, so I masked out everything except her skin. The Fill is lowered 50%.
Midtones: 4, -11, 6
Highlights: 0, -6, 0
Something about her skintone is still bothering me. So opening up a new layer I painted over all her exposed skin with #f1d4bb. Set the layer to Color, with the Fill at 60%.
Original Paint Set to Color
It's another Selective Color! This will neutralize the yellows some.
Reds: -11, -24, -33, 6
I want to make the reds a little more pink/purple. I decided to use a Hue/Sat layer for this. However, we don't want her skin to be so purple so mask out her skin.
Reds: -36, 0, 0
Now we're gonna bring back some of the yellow with another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -45, -24, -33, 39
Yellows: -35, -38, 50, -4
Another Selective Color layer, to bring out the Magenta.
Magentas: 100, 100, 0, 0
Yes, another one, sorry! This one will lighten and brighten up the pinks.
Reds: -23, -10, -3, 1
Magentas: -37, 31, -29, -36
Another one to give the yellows a boost.
Yellows: -36, -18, 13, 14
I want to keep the teal bright & vibrant so I opened a new layer and brushed over the left side with #5bb5c2. Set it to Hard Light and lower the Fill to 55%.
Open another new layer and using a soft white brush I went over the lighter parts of her hair again. This is what I did:
21
Set it to Softlight.
I really want more magenta in it. So another selective color layer.
Reds: -40, -8, -27, 21
Yellows: -36, 15, 4, -15
Magentas: -43, 42, 72, 77
The teal is looking too green, so to make it more blue it's going to be another Color Balance layer. Again, not a fan of what it does to her skin so I masked it out.
Shadows: 2, -2, 2
Midtones: 0, -18, 0
Highlights: -9, -13, 6
I want to lighten up the reds and yellows, so yet another Selective Color layer.
Reds: -34, -27, -34, 13
Yellows: -71, -37, 23, -14
I'm going to be honest here. Sometimes when I'm not sure what I want to do but I want to do something so I copy & paste the layer, gaussian blur it and set it on Softlight. This was one of times. I lowered the Fill to 50%.
Second to last Selective Color layer!! Yaaay! Okay, so we're amping up the magenta some more.
Reds: -10, 7, -21, 24
It was too much on her hair though, so I took a soft brush on less than full Opacity and brushed it out.
Now it's texture time! We're going to duplicate it set the first one to Screen, Fill lowered to 40%. Set the second one to Softlight but add a mask. The right side is too dark for my liking so I used a soft brush to mask it off her face and hair.
Make a new layer, with a large soft brush paint the top two corners and a little of the background down using #2232e8. Set to Softlight.
Another texture! Again, no idea who made this but it's awesome. Duplicate it. Set the first one to Screen, Opacity to 40% and Fill to 30%. Second one set to Softlight with the Opacity set to 40%. I wasn't crazy about how the 2nd one looked on her face and hair so I added a mask and painted them out.
This time, we're cropping this texture down to this. Set it to Softlight. Again, wasn't crazy about what it did to her hair so I masked it out.
Almost done, I promise! Okay, so Vibrance layer. Kick that Vibrance up to +43.
One last Selective Color layer! I want her dress to be more yellow so it's time for that last Selective Color layer!
Reds: 91, -39, -17, 6
Last step! The black is a little too dark for my liking. So I opened up a color fill #270339, set to Lighten. Set the Fill to 45%.
Copy merge onto a new layer and go to sharpen, and smart sharpen, amount 100. I don't like it all over so I took a soft brush and brushed out the parts I didn't like. And ta da!
I do have a new post in the works, as well as a few other icons that were requested, but if anyone else has any other questions on other works let me know! And as always, if you have questions about what I posted let me know! Happy creating!
Hey guys, I doubt anyone has any questions, but if you do here's a link to my thread!
Ask The Maker 2015 || My Thread