tutorial: coloring guide for yellow + green
margerydaw_s2 asked for a coloring guide, with specific interest in greens and yellows. I wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing this. I've done icon tutorials and texture guides, but never a guide on coloring. But looking through some PSDs from this year from yellow/green icons did find some similarities with how I color certain things. Because of that, this could moreso be considered a tutorial for a bunch of different green and yellow icons. I hope this still answers what you wanted to know, though, and if not please say something and I can fix whatever. ♥
My coloring, despite what colors I'm working with, tend to be a lot of the same things:
• Most often, I'll try to work with the colors that are already in the base icon. It makes things easier and smoother, I think.
• Screen/Soft Light layers. Especially if they're blurred. It's a great way to not only soften an image but to up the colors. Some 98% of my icons have these and at least 70% abuse them without fail.
• Color Balance. I love Color Balance. A lot. It's my go-to for changing colors in an icon. However, I still don't know what I'm doing with it. Most times I'll just play around until I find what looks nice, so no actual guide on how to use it, sorry! But if you've not used it I definitely suggest checking it out. :D
• I don't often use textures. I have a ton of them taking up space on my computer, definitely, but I don't often use them. A lot of the time I like how things look without them. I use them more with live-action subjects, though - rarely ever with Disney. When I do use textures they're for depth or decoration. I envy people who can use them for coloring.
• Auto contrast is amazing. To a lesser extent, auto tone and auto color as well. Especially in the last few months auto contrast has COMPLETELY replaced my old way of prepping an icon (base, screen layer, soft light layer). It's quick and simple, and I like quick and simple.
Please note: These, like many of my icons, use Vibrance. Vibrance can be replaced by a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, but I'm not positive how that works and I don't use Hue/Saturation enough to figure out how. Also, basically all m icons use layer masks. I'm not the greatest at explaining using layer masks so I've not done so here. There are plenty of great tutorials on how to use masks, though I don't know any offhand. If you would like me to explain them I can definitely try but I have a feeling I'd just end up confusing you more, tbh.
Upping Greens [where greens already exist]
These are usually nature scenes, as you can see with the examples. All three of these are mostly the natural colors coming out. Something I nearly always do in this situation is Color Balance (where I up the greens and yellows). I'll occasionally use Selective Coloring as well, most often under Neutral. Screen and Soft Light (especially blurred Soft Light) takes a part in these - as well as nearly all of my icons.
Base already prepped: auto contrast
1. Vibrance +100, layer mode set to Color.
2. Color Balance, layer mode set to Color.
Midtones: +3 Cyan/Red, +9 Magenta/Green, -41 Yellow/Blue
3. this gradient set to Soft Light 100%
4. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer x2.
First C/M layer: Gaussian blur (radius 4px). Certain parts erased using Layer Masks (layer mask). Set to Soft Light and duplicate the layer for more brightness/softness. Lower the opacity on the duplicate to 30%.
Second C/M layer: Soft Light 100%
5. To up the greens and shadows more, Selective Coloring somes into play.
Greens: Cyan +62, Magenta 0, Yellow +35, Black 0
Neutrals: Cyan 0, Magenta +12, Yellow -8, Black +4
6. Copy/Merge all, sharpen (I used regular Sharpen here then lowered the layer's opacity to 20%). At this point I also lowered the image down a bit since I didn't like the crop, but that doesn't have to do with coloring. :D
At this point the icon could be finished (with some Soft Light layers because Soft Light is the Best Light that's a lie, it's Nia ♥) but if you want to see how the rest of the icon was done, it's under the spoiler warning to keep this all neat and tidy. :D
[Spoiler (click to open)]
7. Textures! With greens I tend to like two different colors for textures. Greens (to up what's already there) and purples/red (because I think it adds balance). For this I used 3 textures:
Texture #1: this by fprintmoon with this layer mask, set to Screen.
Texture #2: this by deny1984 with this layer mask, set to Soft Light 30%.
Texture #3: this also by deny1984 with this layer mask, set to Screen - and then duplicated to be a fourth texture layer (set to Overlay to make the yellows pop).
8. The colors are a little dull at this point, so I go to the final steps that everyone and their cat probably uses. I Copy/Merge everything and paste as a new layer. Gaussian blur (radius 4px). Throw on some light blobs (the layer ends up looking like this) and set to Soft Light.
9. Copy/Merge all and paste as another new layer. Sharpen (still just standard Sharpen tool) and turn to Opacity to 20%.
Base already prepped: auto contrast
In this icon the greens are very dull - but the characters are outside so I KNOW THE GREENS EXIST.
1. Vibrance layer (+100), set to Screen.
2. Vibrance layer (+100), set to Color.
3. This right here was enough to really pop all the colors but it's still very flat. I Copy/Merge all and paste as 3 new layers. I set the new layers to the following:
C/M#1: Gaussian blur (radius 4px), Screen.
C/M#2: Gaussian blur (radius 4px), Screen, this layer mask.
C/M#3: Soft Light
4. Copy/Merge all and use auto contrast and auto tone.
5. Color Balance, layer mode set to Color.
Cyan/Red +2, Magenta/Green +20, Yellow/Blue -29
6. Copy/Merge all, Gaussian blur (radius 4x) with this layer mask, set to Soft Light.
7. Copy/Merge all, Sharpen (sharpen tool), layer opacity 40%.
8. Copy/Merge all, white blobs, Gaussian blur (radius 8px) to where the layer looks like this. Soft Light with this layer mask
Of these three icons, this is the only one I had in my head already how I wanted the coloring to go. I knew I wanted more of a yellow/green overall, and used color fill layers to help me achieve that.
Base not prepped
1. Vibrance (+100) set to Screen with 40% opacity
2. Color Fill layer #93bb11, Screen with 10% opacity
3. Color Fill layer #f7f54c, Overlay with 20% opacity
4. Color Balance, layer mode set to Color
Cyan/Red -16, Magenta/Green +1, Yellow/Blue -40
5. This gradient set to Screen with 40% opacity
6. This gradient set to Soft Light
7. Selective Coloring with 60% opacity
Neutrals: Cyan -4, Magenta -3, Yellow +10, Black -1
Blacks: Cyan 0, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black +8
8. Copy/Merge all, paste as two new layers.
C/M#1: Gaussian blur (radius 4px) with this layer mask, set to Screen
C/M#2: Soft Light with 40% opacity
9. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer, use auto tone.
10. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer, Sharpen, layer set to 20% opacity.
11. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer, Gaussian blur (radius 4px) with this layer mask set to Screen.
Adding Greens [where greens don't exist or aren't very visible]
These can be fun but also frustrating if it's not going right. I've mostly had luck with images where there's browns/oranges/yellows - such as icons 2 and 3 here. Darker screencaps work well when you're playing around with Color Balance. Lighter screencaps (such as the one of Sansa) can work with just selective coloring (with concentration on changing the color of shadows using Neutrals and Blacks) and color fill layers. Something that also helps with darker images is to built the brightness up along with the color without worrying about how vivid the colors are - and then knock out any weird pixels or dull coloring with soft light layers (and maybe selective coloring) in the final stages.
Base is not prepped
Base prep -- duplicate base layer twice. First duplicate to Screen 70%. Second duplicate to Soft Light.
1. Color Balance layer
Cyan/Red -13, Magenta/Green +47, Yellow/Blue +22
2. Set this gradient to Soft Light 70%
3. Brightness/Contrast layer, up Brightness 30
4. Vibrance layer (Vibrance +60, Saturation +10)
5. Using #0f5645 and #366431 create color blobs along his shoulders. The blob layer itself looks like this, though for the benefit of this tutorial, this is what it looks like with stronger blobs so you can see where the colors went. Duplicate the layer so there's two layers with the color blobs.
Blobs#1: Screen 40%
Blobs#2: Soft Light 100%
6. Set this texture by deny1984 to Screen 60%
7. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Gaussian blur (radius 6px). Set layer to Soft Light
8. Selective Coloring layer
Neutrals: Cyan +9, Magenta 0, Yellow +8, Black +9
Blacks: Cyan 0, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black +2
9. Set this texture (a combination of these two textures, can't remember who they're by - please lmk if you know!) to Screen 80%
10. Vibrance layer (Vibrance +40)
11. Set this gradient to Soft Light at 30%
12. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Use Unsharp Mask (Amount 20%, Radius 3.7px, Threshold 0) followed by Sharpen, and use this layer mask.
Base prepped - auto contrast
1. Vibrance layer (Vibrance +100) set to Screen 50%
2. Vibrance layer (Vibrance +100) set to Color
3. New layer filled with #514312, set to Screen 70%
4. Previous layer duplicated, set to Soft Light 50%
5. Copy/Merge layer, auto contrast
6. Selective Color layer
Neutrals: Cyan +100, Magenta -10, Yellow -23, Black +12
Blacks: Cyan 0, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black +25
7. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Gaussian blur (radius 4px). Set layer to Soft Light 40%.
8. Copy/Merge all, Sharpen
9. New layer filled with #ffcb1d, set to Soft Light 10%
Base not prepped
1. Curves layer
RGB: Output 245, Input 135
2. Set this gradient to Soft Light
3. Color Balance layer
Cyan/Red -20, Magenta/Green +13, Yellow/Blue -2
4. Copy/Merge all and paste as 4 new layers.
C/M#1: set to Screen
C/M#2: set to Screen 40%
C/M#3: set to Soft Light with this layer mask
C/M#4: set to Soft Light
5. Selective Color layer
Neutrals: Cyan +13, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black 0
Blacks: Cyan +25, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black 0
6. Vibrance layer (Vibrance -13)
7. Set this texture by deny1984 with this layer mask to Screen
8. Set this texture by pandavirus with this layer mask to Soft Light
9. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Sharpen and set opacity to 40%.
10. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Use Filter > Distort > Diffuse Glow (Graininess 0, Glow Amount 18, Clear Amount 20) - making sure you're on the default black/white foreground/background colors. Gaussian blur (radius 4px) and set to Soft Light with this layer mask.
Working with Yellow [three different situations]
I tend to only use yellow for three reasons, ever. Don't get me wrong, I love the color, but for some reason I just don't use it that often. When I do use yellow, I tend to keep things more on the simple side - very few textures and rarely do I use color adjustment layers. Yellow is, for some reason, the only color I don't try to manipulate. Because of that these are all very boring so I'm sorry. XD
REASON 1:
IF THE ICON'S BACKGROUND IS WHITE AFTER PREPPING
I don't do this often - in fact this icon was the only example I could find in all my PSDs since January of this year - because I usually avoid screencaps where the background will be white. It's boring and I'd just rather not deal with it. But it does work nicely!
So far, all that's been done with this icon is I've taken this base and used two Vibrance layers with vibrance +100. The bottom is set to Screen and the top left at Normal. After that I just did some quick blocking.
1. Take your yellow (or really you can use any color, it'd probably work just as well with some adjustments - but for the sake of this, yellow XD), in this case #ffcb1d and create 3 new layers with this color flooded in it:
Color layer #1: Multiply 50%
Color layer #2: Screen 20%
Color layer #3: Soft Light 50%
Obviously, as with everything, adjust these depending on your screencap and color.
2. Not related to coloring: I used the line tool to create white borders between the blocks to define the space.
3. I then created a new layer filled with #ffcb1d and set it to Saturation.
4. To bump of the blacks, Selective Coloring.
Neutrals: Cyan 0, Magenta 0, Yellow 0, Black +80
5. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer, and sharpen as you like.
REASON 2:
I WANT TO MAKE A CUTOUT HAVE A YELLOW BACKGROUND
I do this one a lot more often, lol. I love making cut-outs. XD For the sake of making this tutorial NOT super long, I'll not include the actual cutting out process. The base above is just that: a base. All I've done is remove the background and replace it with that orange and used auto contrast. When I know I want to make an cutout icon where the background is yellow I always start with an orange background.** Depending on how you go about making icons this may not work for you. I just know I'll be brightening this up A LOT before I'm done.
1. Duplicate the base twice.
Duplicate #1: Gaussian blur (radius 4px), set to Screen with this layer mask
Duplicate #2: Gaussian blur (radius 4px again), set to Soft Light
2. Set this gradient to Soft Light
3. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Use Sharpen and set the layer to 60%
4. Create a Levels layer
RGB: 8, 1.33, 225
5. Set this texture by silentevocation on Screen 40% with this layer mask
6. Set this texture by lookslikerain on Soft Light 50% with this layer mask
7. Make two new layers of this gradient
Gradient #1: set to Multiply 40%
Gradient #2: set to Soft Light 40%
8. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Use Auto Color and set to 60%
9. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Use Auto Contrast
10. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Place white light blobs and use Gaussian blur (radius 4px). The layer looks like this. Set to Soft Light 70%.
11. I wanted brighter so I took a yellow from the background and created some color blobs with a soft round brush (lowered opacity) on a new layer. The layer looks like this. I set the layer to Soft Light.
12. Duplicate the color blobs layer and set to Screen 30%
** A couple more examples of background at start vs. background at finished under the spoiler cut:
[Spoiler (click to open)]
REASON 3:
THE BASE IS ALREADY YELLOW/BROWN/ORANGE.
& I WANT TO WORK IT TO MY ADVANTAGE OR THE BACKGROUND ISN'T UGLY/BORING ENOUGH FOR ME TO CUT-OUT - OR I'M JUST TOO LAZY TO DO SO
This really is the lazy way, lol. It's mostly all Soft Light layers but it's really fun. However, since not a lot of things I icon have icons that I'll work with that are yellow I don't end up actually using this all that often.
Base has been prepped: auto contrast
1. Create new Vibrance layer (vibrance +100), set to Screen
2. Create a second Vibrance layer (vibrance +50), set to Color
3. Copy/Merge all, paste as three new layers:
C/M#1: Gaussian blur (4px - my favorite setting~), set to Screen with this layer mask
C/M#2: Gaussian blur (4px), set to Soft Light
C/M#3: white light blobs and Gaussian blur (4px again), set to Soft Light (the layer looks like this)
4. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Sharpen and set opacity to 60%.
5. Copy/Merge all, paste against as three new layers.
C/M#1: Gaussian blur and set to Screen with this layer mask
C/M#2: same as #1, but with opacity at 30%
C/M#3: Gaussian blur and set to Soft Light with opacity at 50%
6. Set this gradient on Soft Light with this layer mask
7. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Set to Soft Light with opacity at 30%
At this point the icon could be finished but if you want to see how the rest of the icon was done, it's under the spoiler warning to keep this all neat and tidy.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
8. Set this texture by me as a new layer. Set it as invisible and Copy/Merge all other layers and paste as a layer on top of the texture. Make the texture visible again.
9. On the layer you copy/merged/pasted create a circle using the Elliptical Marquis Tool. With the selection highlighted, create a layer mask. In viewing the layers from that part, you can see I moved Barristan Selmy down a bit so he'd be more centered. This step needs to be done before the layer mask is created.
10. Set this texture> by mm3butterfly to Screen with this layer mask.
11. Set this texture> also by mm3butterfly to Screen with this layer mask
12. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Gaussian blur (4px again!), set to Soft Light 40%.
13. Set this texture by me on Screen with this layer mask. Duplicate this layer.
14. Copy/Merge all, paste as new layer. Gaussian blur, set to Soft Light with 50% opacity
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