Tutorial: Full icon tutorial using stock photo and colour effects
Okay, I have been requested to make a tutorial for this icon here:
PLEASE NOTE: This tutorial is not intended for you to just go and make an exact replica of my icon with a new picture. The point of this tutorial is for you to gain an insight into new techniques and effects and the way that other icon makers create their work. By all means, you may go through this tutorial for the first time and make an icon in exactly the same way to get a feel for all the steps but when making your own icons please only use these steps as a starting point. After all there are so many variations on what I have done below and you would want your icons to have your own style.
Made in Photoshop CS but should be translatable to any program. Slightly lengthy and assumes a basic knowledge of Photoshop tools.
The icon in question was actually cropped from a header I had made and since I generally use a lot more layers and such in headers rather than icons this may seem like a lot of steps for just one icon but hopefully this will give you some inspiration to some new techniques or effects.
1) First, I started with this image of the trio and changed the colours of their clothing by using ‘colour’ and ‘multiply’ blending modes on new layers filled with a new colour. I also used the clone tool to get rid of Scabbers and added the image of a phoenix to Harry’s shirt by setting the black and white image to ‘multiply’ and gently erasing the edges of the phoenix picture so it blends in. (Note: that because this image originally started out as a header, this image was bigger and the details clearer to see)
2) I then used an area of a stock photo of a seaside beach (link: here from Freeimages.co.uk) as a base and pasted the trio image over the top. I then applied a mask over the trio image that I created by filling thin lines underneath the black area with increasingly lighter greys to get a soft edge look on the trio image. Of course, this effect can also be accomplished by using a soft edge brush.
3) Now I started playing around with stock photos and colour effects. Firstly, to get the colour more uniform I flood filled a new layer with a tan colour and set that to a ‘colour’ blend at 50% opacity. I also duplicated the trio image, placed it underneath the ‘colour’ layer, desaturated it, set the opacity to 50% and the blend mode to 'screen'. I then duplicated that layer again, placed it above the ‘colour’ layer, raised the opacity back up to 100% and set the blend mode to ‘soft light’.
4) Now since the icon was looking a little too light and washed out, I duplicated the base layer of the stock photo of the seaside beach, set the blend mode to ‘overlay’ and placed it third from the bottom so the layer was above the base and the initial trio picture yet below the layers created in step three. I also created a new layer underneath the ‘multiply’ layer and pasted in a stock photo of a nebulae (link: here from Freeimages.co.uk), blurred it and set the blend mode to ‘pin light’.
5) Because the red from the nebulae stock photo was a little too prominent for what I wanted, I flood filled a new layer with the same colour used before, placed it above all the other layers and set the blend mode to ‘saturate’. After that the icon was still slightly too pale so on top of the ‘saturate’ layer I added a gradient (one of the standard ones that come with Photoshop), set the blend to ‘linear burn’ and lowered the opacity to 7%.
6) I then added the text (font: book antiqua, colour: I simply used the Eyedropper tool to select a light colour from the icon itself) and set it to ‘soft light’. I also drew two lines near the bottom of the icon, one a dark green, the other a lighter colour, both colurs selected from the icon itself, added a mask to them made by using a speckled brush that comes with Photoshop and set that layer at 60%
7) I then flattened the entire icon, duplicated it and set the new layer with a blend of ‘soft light’ ot 30% opacity. I then flattened the icon again, duplicated the layer again, sharpened it and lowered the opacity down to 20% and then I was finished!
Again note that this tutorial didn’t really showcase any specific technique but showed how stock photos and colours can be used to get a wide range of effects. There are also many, many other effects besides the ones shown above and there are probably even different ways to get the same final effect that I did. However the only way to achieve those effects is by continually playing around in your graphics program of choice and experimenting with different tools and techniques.
I hope that was informative but if you have any questions about anything at all please don’t hesitate to ask.
PLEASE NOTE: This tutorial is not intended for you to just go and make an exact replica of my icon with a new picture. The point of this tutorial is for you to gain an insight into new techniques and effects and the way that other icon makers create their work. By all means, you may go through this tutorial for the first time and make an icon in exactly the same way to get a feel for all the steps but when making your own icons please only use these steps as a starting point. After all there are so many variations on what I have done below and you would want your icons to have your own style.
Made in Photoshop CS but should be translatable to any program. Slightly lengthy and assumes a basic knowledge of Photoshop tools.
The icon in question was actually cropped from a header I had made and since I generally use a lot more layers and such in headers rather than icons this may seem like a lot of steps for just one icon but hopefully this will give you some inspiration to some new techniques or effects.
1) First, I started with this image of the trio and changed the colours of their clothing by using ‘colour’ and ‘multiply’ blending modes on new layers filled with a new colour. I also used the clone tool to get rid of Scabbers and added the image of a phoenix to Harry’s shirt by setting the black and white image to ‘multiply’ and gently erasing the edges of the phoenix picture so it blends in. (Note: that because this image originally started out as a header, this image was bigger and the details clearer to see)
2) I then used an area of a stock photo of a seaside beach (link: here from Freeimages.co.uk) as a base and pasted the trio image over the top. I then applied a mask over the trio image that I created by filling thin lines underneath the black area with increasingly lighter greys to get a soft edge look on the trio image. Of course, this effect can also be accomplished by using a soft edge brush.
3) Now I started playing around with stock photos and colour effects. Firstly, to get the colour more uniform I flood filled a new layer with a tan colour and set that to a ‘colour’ blend at 50% opacity. I also duplicated the trio image, placed it underneath the ‘colour’ layer, desaturated it, set the opacity to 50% and the blend mode to 'screen'. I then duplicated that layer again, placed it above the ‘colour’ layer, raised the opacity back up to 100% and set the blend mode to ‘soft light’.
4) Now since the icon was looking a little too light and washed out, I duplicated the base layer of the stock photo of the seaside beach, set the blend mode to ‘overlay’ and placed it third from the bottom so the layer was above the base and the initial trio picture yet below the layers created in step three. I also created a new layer underneath the ‘multiply’ layer and pasted in a stock photo of a nebulae (link: here from Freeimages.co.uk), blurred it and set the blend mode to ‘pin light’.
5) Because the red from the nebulae stock photo was a little too prominent for what I wanted, I flood filled a new layer with the same colour used before, placed it above all the other layers and set the blend mode to ‘saturate’. After that the icon was still slightly too pale so on top of the ‘saturate’ layer I added a gradient (one of the standard ones that come with Photoshop), set the blend to ‘linear burn’ and lowered the opacity to 7%.
6) I then added the text (font: book antiqua, colour: I simply used the Eyedropper tool to select a light colour from the icon itself) and set it to ‘soft light’. I also drew two lines near the bottom of the icon, one a dark green, the other a lighter colour, both colurs selected from the icon itself, added a mask to them made by using a speckled brush that comes with Photoshop and set that layer at 60%
7) I then flattened the entire icon, duplicated it and set the new layer with a blend of ‘soft light’ ot 30% opacity. I then flattened the icon again, duplicated the layer again, sharpened it and lowered the opacity down to 20% and then I was finished!
Again note that this tutorial didn’t really showcase any specific technique but showed how stock photos and colours can be used to get a wide range of effects. There are also many, many other effects besides the ones shown above and there are probably even different ways to get the same final effect that I did. However the only way to achieve those effects is by continually playing around in your graphics program of choice and experimenting with different tools and techniques.
I hope that was informative but if you have any questions about anything at all please don’t hesitate to ask.