tutorial 03
A tutorial at the request of mikka_svu for Photoshop.
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Here's our base, a House screencap done by selfishlywarm which you can here. I've shrunken the image by 50% for the sake of space, but you should leave yours as is.
The first thing we're going to do is to create a new Levels layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. A little pop-up will come up, so just leave everything as is and click 'OK'. Set your Input Levels at the following: 0, 1.57, 137.
As you can see, our image is a good deal lighter, if not a bit washed out.
Next, create a new Color Balance layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance). You'll get the little pop-up again, so click 'OK' like you did before. Enter in the following values: Midtones: 70, 2, 17; Highlights: 21, 4, 0. Leave Shadows as is, and make sure to uncheck the 'Preserve Luminosity' checkbox; hit 'OK'.
Our image looks the same as it was before, only now it has a reddish-pink tint to it, which makes sense being that we just used Color Balance, heh. Now create a new layer, flood it with #000428, and set it to Exclusion.
The result is very subtle as of the moment, but it does make a significant difference in the long run.
Create a new layer, flood it with #46D4BB, and set it to Color Burn.
Hey, now we're actually getting somewhere! Now duplicate the base, drag it up to the top, and set it at Soft Light with an opacity of 45%.
Okie dokie, so now it's a bit darker with more contrast. Time to add some color. We're going to create a new Hue/Saturation layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation), and up the saturation to +40.
Woohoo, look at all of that color. Create another Color Balance layer, and enter in the following values: Shadows: -15, 0, 0; Highlights: +25, 0, 0. Again, uncheck 'Preserve Luminosity', and leave Midtones as is.
Okay, so it's not much of a difference, but I included this step to as I find that it brings out the warm colors of the image. That's it in terms of alterations, so create a new blank layer and create a Visible Stamp by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. If you didn't already know, this basically makes a copy of everything we've already done without having to merge all of the layers together. I find this to be more convenient as it's not permanent, so you can go back to editing if you feel the need.
What I like to do at this point (and you may not, which is fine) is create a new 100x100 file. Then I drag the duplicate layer from our original file to our new file, and resize it to my tastes. I do this because whenever I have an image and adjust the image size of the document, it leaves a slight, but annoying nonetheless, border on the image. Starting with a new document that's already the appropriate size and then dragging your image into it eliminates this border.
There we are, what we call a standard icon. But I'm actually not done yet, as I find the lights by Cameron and Forman's heads to be a bit distracting, so I will simply remove them using the Clone Stamp Tool.
Much better. And your result is a pretty ducklings icon. Yippee!
I hope the instructions were understandable; if you're lost at any point, or have any other questions or comments, feel free to comment below.
*
Here's our base, a House screencap done by selfishlywarm which you can here. I've shrunken the image by 50% for the sake of space, but you should leave yours as is.
The first thing we're going to do is to create a new Levels layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. A little pop-up will come up, so just leave everything as is and click 'OK'. Set your Input Levels at the following: 0, 1.57, 137.
As you can see, our image is a good deal lighter, if not a bit washed out.
Next, create a new Color Balance layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance). You'll get the little pop-up again, so click 'OK' like you did before. Enter in the following values: Midtones: 70, 2, 17; Highlights: 21, 4, 0. Leave Shadows as is, and make sure to uncheck the 'Preserve Luminosity' checkbox; hit 'OK'.
Our image looks the same as it was before, only now it has a reddish-pink tint to it, which makes sense being that we just used Color Balance, heh. Now create a new layer, flood it with #000428, and set it to Exclusion.
The result is very subtle as of the moment, but it does make a significant difference in the long run.
Create a new layer, flood it with #46D4BB, and set it to Color Burn.
Hey, now we're actually getting somewhere! Now duplicate the base, drag it up to the top, and set it at Soft Light with an opacity of 45%.
Okie dokie, so now it's a bit darker with more contrast. Time to add some color. We're going to create a new Hue/Saturation layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation), and up the saturation to +40.
Woohoo, look at all of that color. Create another Color Balance layer, and enter in the following values: Shadows: -15, 0, 0; Highlights: +25, 0, 0. Again, uncheck 'Preserve Luminosity', and leave Midtones as is.
Okay, so it's not much of a difference, but I included this step to as I find that it brings out the warm colors of the image. That's it in terms of alterations, so create a new blank layer and create a Visible Stamp by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. If you didn't already know, this basically makes a copy of everything we've already done without having to merge all of the layers together. I find this to be more convenient as it's not permanent, so you can go back to editing if you feel the need.
What I like to do at this point (and you may not, which is fine) is create a new 100x100 file. Then I drag the duplicate layer from our original file to our new file, and resize it to my tastes. I do this because whenever I have an image and adjust the image size of the document, it leaves a slight, but annoying nonetheless, border on the image. Starting with a new document that's already the appropriate size and then dragging your image into it eliminates this border.
There we are, what we call a standard icon. But I'm actually not done yet, as I find the lights by Cameron and Forman's heads to be a bit distracting, so I will simply remove them using the Clone Stamp Tool.
Much better. And your result is a pretty ducklings icon. Yippee!
I hope the instructions were understandable; if you're lost at any point, or have any other questions or comments, feel free to comment below.