ask the maker - tutorial #2
So setentpet asked me for a tutorial of one of the icons I am most proud of and thank goodness I saved the .psd because making it was just a whole lot of luck lol
TUTORIAL #2
#1 - So I begin by choosing my cap, opening up PS, duplicate the screencap onto a 200x200 canvas and find my crop. I find that with this cap it's best to go for negative space and so, taking inspiration from my last tutorial's icon, I want to go for a floral background. (Since the .psd was saved at reduced size, all icons are 100x100px but I usually work at 200x200px but that is personal preference. So I apply a layer mask to the cap and mask out the background of the cap, working closely to the edges of Jess and then apply a Gaussian Blur to the mask so make her more blendable
#2 - I choose a background colour that matches within the colour palette of the icon so I work from the shadows of Jess's hair and work with #572327, a burgundy colour
#3 - Next, I choose my floral texture, which is this one and I'm sorry but I can't remember who made it! It's one of my 'loose' textures (not in a folder). I resize the texture, set it Vivid Light and set to 40% opacity
#4 - Now to stamp the layers to create the base of the icon. I go through my usual steps of Duplicate->Screen (100%) and Duplicate->Soft Light (Gaussian Blur 0.5)(65%)
->
->
#5 - Next, a Curves layer to brighten up the image and bring out the whites
#6 - To bring more light and shadows to the icon, I add a Gradient of light beige, coming from the upper left corner and set to Hard Light. Then, add a Gradient of dark brown from the lower right corner set to Overlay.
->
#7 - Next, a Colour Balance layer to bring out the reds, magenta and yellows in the midtones and shadows, in particular the reds.
#8 - Gradient Map (the preset blue and orange) set to Soft Light (50%)
#9 - Selective Colour to help bring out the reds and yellows. I'm not giving specific numbers because every screencap is different but if you want the specific numbers, just ask
#10 - Another Curves layer to bring out the brightness and whites of the icon
#11 - Stamp the layers together to make a new layer, set to Gaussian Blue (5.0) and set to Soft Light (34%) for added contrast and saturation
#12 - Another Curves layer to brighten up the icon and bring out the whites once again!
#13 - Lastly, I stamp the layers once again and do a Surface Blue filter on the layer, duplicate and sharpen, fade sharpen and mask areas that are too sharp and then resize and SAVE!
And that's that! This tutorial marlarky is so much better with a saved .psd I can tell ya! Luckily for my next ones they will be more like colouring and cropping guides but I hope this has been useful for you and if you have any questions about specific values, just ask but like I said, every cap is different :)
TUTORIAL #2
#1 - So I begin by choosing my cap, opening up PS, duplicate the screencap onto a 200x200 canvas and find my crop. I find that with this cap it's best to go for negative space and so, taking inspiration from my last tutorial's icon, I want to go for a floral background. (Since the .psd was saved at reduced size, all icons are 100x100px but I usually work at 200x200px but that is personal preference. So I apply a layer mask to the cap and mask out the background of the cap, working closely to the edges of Jess and then apply a Gaussian Blur to the mask so make her more blendable
#2 - I choose a background colour that matches within the colour palette of the icon so I work from the shadows of Jess's hair and work with #572327, a burgundy colour
#3 - Next, I choose my floral texture, which is this one and I'm sorry but I can't remember who made it! It's one of my 'loose' textures (not in a folder). I resize the texture, set it Vivid Light and set to 40% opacity
#4 - Now to stamp the layers to create the base of the icon. I go through my usual steps of Duplicate->Screen (100%) and Duplicate->Soft Light (Gaussian Blur 0.5)(65%)
->
->
#5 - Next, a Curves layer to brighten up the image and bring out the whites
#6 - To bring more light and shadows to the icon, I add a Gradient of light beige, coming from the upper left corner and set to Hard Light. Then, add a Gradient of dark brown from the lower right corner set to Overlay.
->
#7 - Next, a Colour Balance layer to bring out the reds, magenta and yellows in the midtones and shadows, in particular the reds.
#8 - Gradient Map (the preset blue and orange) set to Soft Light (50%)
#9 - Selective Colour to help bring out the reds and yellows. I'm not giving specific numbers because every screencap is different but if you want the specific numbers, just ask
#10 - Another Curves layer to bring out the brightness and whites of the icon
#11 - Stamp the layers together to make a new layer, set to Gaussian Blue (5.0) and set to Soft Light (34%) for added contrast and saturation
#12 - Another Curves layer to brighten up the icon and bring out the whites once again!
#13 - Lastly, I stamp the layers once again and do a Surface Blue filter on the layer, duplicate and sharpen, fade sharpen and mask areas that are too sharp and then resize and SAVE!
And that's that! This tutorial marlarky is so much better with a saved .psd I can tell ya! Luckily for my next ones they will be more like colouring and cropping guides but I hope this has been useful for you and if you have any questions about specific values, just ask but like I said, every cap is different :)