Rita Skeeter tutorial
Go from this to 
. I used GIMP, but it's easily translated.
1.) First I took this texture (
) by
aconite and rotated it 90 degrees CCW so that the yellow stripe ran across the bottom.
2.) Then I duplicated the layer and moved it up until there was a 100x17 space at the bottom.
3.) I took another texture (
) by the same person and moved it up until there was a 100x52 space at the bottom. Then I set the layer to screen, 100%.
4.) I took the image of Rita Skeeter and cropped it so that only her eyes and glasses showed, then I resized it to 100x37. I moved it to the bottom of the image so it filled up that gap between the yellow stripe and the bottom. (Layer mode: Normal, 100%)
5.) Now for the coloring! New 100x37 layer, move it so it covers up Rita, and fill it with a dark green (#006132). Layer Mode Screen, 49.8%.
6.) New 100x37 layer, move so it covers up Rita, and fill with a light-ish purple (#9295c1). Layer Mode Saturation, 100%.
7.) Then I cropped Rita's head out of the original picture and resized it so it would fit the box on the top right of the icon. (Edges are feathered.) Layer mode normal, 100%.
8.) I added in a few lines of tiny text to fit the part of the box on the top left of the icon. I used the same forest green color that I did for the screen layer (#006132). Layer mode normal, 100%.
9.) Then I stamped a brush I made, still using the same green (and everyone is welcome to use the brush, considering I didn't draw the image myself, just converted it to a brush) and resized it to fit the area. Then I rotated it and placed it to make it look like it was Rita's Quick-Quotes Quill writing things all on its own. Layer mode normal, 100%.
Brush:
Current Icon:
10.) Using the forest-green color and size 24 TW Cen MT Condensed, I typed "JOURNALIST" into the yellow-green strip across the middle. (Anti-aliasing, hinting, and force auto hinter were all checked).
Now it's finished. =)
. I used GIMP, but it's easily translated.
1.) First I took this texture (
) by
aconite and rotated it 90 degrees CCW so that the yellow stripe ran across the bottom.
2.) Then I duplicated the layer and moved it up until there was a 100x17 space at the bottom.
3.) I took another texture (
) by the same person and moved it up until there was a 100x52 space at the bottom. Then I set the layer to screen, 100%.
4.) I took the image of Rita Skeeter and cropped it so that only her eyes and glasses showed, then I resized it to 100x37. I moved it to the bottom of the image so it filled up that gap between the yellow stripe and the bottom. (Layer mode: Normal, 100%)
5.) Now for the coloring! New 100x37 layer, move it so it covers up Rita, and fill it with a dark green (#006132). Layer Mode Screen, 49.8%.
6.) New 100x37 layer, move so it covers up Rita, and fill with a light-ish purple (#9295c1). Layer Mode Saturation, 100%.
7.) Then I cropped Rita's head out of the original picture and resized it so it would fit the box on the top right of the icon. (Edges are feathered.) Layer mode normal, 100%.
8.) I added in a few lines of tiny text to fit the part of the box on the top left of the icon. I used the same forest green color that I did for the screen layer (#006132). Layer mode normal, 100%.
9.) Then I stamped a brush I made, still using the same green (and everyone is welcome to use the brush, considering I didn't draw the image myself, just converted it to a brush) and resized it to fit the area. Then I rotated it and placed it to make it look like it was Rita's Quick-Quotes Quill writing things all on its own. Layer mode normal, 100%.
Brush:
Current Icon:
10.) Using the forest-green color and size 24 TW Cen MT Condensed, I typed "JOURNALIST" into the yellow-green strip across the middle. (Anti-aliasing, hinting, and force auto hinter were all checked).
Now it's finished. =)