Harry Poster tutorial
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Ok, I was asked by immortal_media to make a tutorial for this icon:
...which I posted in my most recent batch in my icon journal. I didn't save the .psd file, though, so this tutorial is going to be as close as I can get it. Time will tell how close that will be.
This is actually a super easy icon, because the image I am working from was really, really good quality. So I didn't have to do much to it. Anyway, let's begin!
I start with this image, one of the posters from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I resize it and crop it until I get this:
Then I duplicate the layer and set it to Soft Light. I desaturate the top duplicate. The icon now looks like this:
Add a Screen layer in between the two layers. Set it to 60% opacity. The icon now looks like this:
Add a new layer above the top, Soft Light layer. Fill it with a flesh tone colour (I chose #F8E5D9). Set it to Multiply:
Add a texture in a new layer, above the Multiply layer. I chose this one by inxsomniax:
Set it to Soft Light. Duplicate it. If needed, decrease the opacity slightly of the top Texture layer. I decrease mine to 75% opacity. We now have this:
We're getting there!
Beneath the Soft Light Harry layer, use the rectangle tool to add a white rectangle across the top of the image, thus:
(it is white, the Multiply layer and the Texture layer have just changed its colour). Make a new layer beneath the rectangle, and merge the rectangle with the new layer (click on the rectangle layer, then go to Layer --> Merge Down). This makes the layer easier to edit, if you need to.
Set it to Soft Light. Using the eraser tool, erase any part of the rectangle that falls over Harry, so it looks as though it is behind him. It should now look like this:
Do the same thing again, below the white rectangle layer, but this time with a thinner, black rectangle. Again, erase any part of the rectangle that falls over Harry, and set it to Soft Light.
I think the background is lacking something, so I go back to my original Harry image. For the purposes of this tutorial, I resized the image, but the original was actually 1077x2174px (huuuge). For the main part of this icon, I resized it to 248x500px. For this part, I go back to the originally sized image, and resize it to 495x1000 - so it's double the size of the image I used for my icon.
I drag the image over to the window my icon is in, in Photoshop. I set the Blend Mode to Soft Light immediately, so I can see what the main icon looks like behind it. I move the larger Harry image around until I think it looks good:
I think the larger image is detracting focus slightly, so I move it down a few layers until it's beneath the two rectangle layers. I also use the eraser brush to delete any part of the larger image that falls over Harry's face, as I think it's giving him an odd look.
We're pretty much done! All that's left to do is add some tiny text. I write 'everything will change' (from the movie posters) in lowercase Times New Roman, 2.5px, tracking 500, black, and set it over the bottom of the white rectangle.
And we're done!
And I'm sure you're dying to see how closely I recreated the icon. Well, here's the original, and the one from the tutorial together. See? Almost identical.
-->
Please, please, please don't go away and make an exact copy of this icon. That completely defeats the purpose of a tutorial. Use these techniques to come up with something new. Use a new texture! Use a new image! Change it all around! That's what tutorials are for. By all means recreate this icon for learning purposes, but don't then post it and claim it as your own - it's not your own, is it? It's mine. Sorry, but I've had tutorials recreated to the letter before, and it's really annoying. Don't do it.
You can see the rest of my tutorials here.
x-posted to icon_tutorial, iconschool
to
Ok, I was asked by immortal_media to make a tutorial for this icon:
...which I posted in my most recent batch in my icon journal. I didn't save the .psd file, though, so this tutorial is going to be as close as I can get it. Time will tell how close that will be.
This is actually a super easy icon, because the image I am working from was really, really good quality. So I didn't have to do much to it. Anyway, let's begin!
I start with this image, one of the posters from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I resize it and crop it until I get this:
Then I duplicate the layer and set it to Soft Light. I desaturate the top duplicate. The icon now looks like this:
Add a Screen layer in between the two layers. Set it to 60% opacity. The icon now looks like this:
Add a new layer above the top, Soft Light layer. Fill it with a flesh tone colour (I chose #F8E5D9). Set it to Multiply:
Add a texture in a new layer, above the Multiply layer. I chose this one by inxsomniax:
Set it to Soft Light. Duplicate it. If needed, decrease the opacity slightly of the top Texture layer. I decrease mine to 75% opacity. We now have this:
We're getting there!
Beneath the Soft Light Harry layer, use the rectangle tool to add a white rectangle across the top of the image, thus:
(it is white, the Multiply layer and the Texture layer have just changed its colour). Make a new layer beneath the rectangle, and merge the rectangle with the new layer (click on the rectangle layer, then go to Layer --> Merge Down). This makes the layer easier to edit, if you need to.
Set it to Soft Light. Using the eraser tool, erase any part of the rectangle that falls over Harry, so it looks as though it is behind him. It should now look like this:
Do the same thing again, below the white rectangle layer, but this time with a thinner, black rectangle. Again, erase any part of the rectangle that falls over Harry, and set it to Soft Light.
I think the background is lacking something, so I go back to my original Harry image. For the purposes of this tutorial, I resized the image, but the original was actually 1077x2174px (huuuge). For the main part of this icon, I resized it to 248x500px. For this part, I go back to the originally sized image, and resize it to 495x1000 - so it's double the size of the image I used for my icon.
I drag the image over to the window my icon is in, in Photoshop. I set the Blend Mode to Soft Light immediately, so I can see what the main icon looks like behind it. I move the larger Harry image around until I think it looks good:
I think the larger image is detracting focus slightly, so I move it down a few layers until it's beneath the two rectangle layers. I also use the eraser brush to delete any part of the larger image that falls over Harry's face, as I think it's giving him an odd look.
We're pretty much done! All that's left to do is add some tiny text. I write 'everything will change' (from the movie posters) in lowercase Times New Roman, 2.5px, tracking 500, black, and set it over the bottom of the white rectangle.
And we're done!
And I'm sure you're dying to see how closely I recreated the icon. Well, here's the original, and the one from the tutorial together. See? Almost identical.
-->
Please, please, please don't go away and make an exact copy of this icon. That completely defeats the purpose of a tutorial. Use these techniques to come up with something new. Use a new texture! Use a new image! Change it all around! That's what tutorials are for. By all means recreate this icon for learning purposes, but don't then post it and claim it as your own - it's not your own, is it? It's mine. Sorry, but I've had tutorials recreated to the letter before, and it's really annoying. Don't do it.
You can see the rest of my tutorials here.
x-posted to icon_tutorial, iconschool