Tutorial 6 - Veronica Mars
Requested by harvardbarbie for this icon.
I wasn't able to remake it exactly, but it's generally the same.
From this to
Made in Photoshop CS3.
Translatable.
Kind of image-heavy.
#01: What's the first thing you have to do before making an icon? Find an image of course! We are going to cut out a person out of the image, so we have to find an image in which that can be made possible. An image in which the person is central and an image which is not too busy. For example this screencap of the show Veronica Mars. Credit for the cap goes to homeofthenutty
As you can see Veronica is central in the image. The image is quite busy but not impossible-to-cut-out busy, so I call it perfect! :)
#02: Cutting time! Since I personally think the Magnetic Lasso Tool is the easiest one to cut things out with, I'm going with that one, but do whatever you like. When you can't find that tool, then right click on the Lasso Tool or Polygonal Lasso Tool and select that option.
Then go around the person you want to cut out (in this case Veronica). It doesn't have to be perfect, but just remember that cutting too much is worse than not cutting enough. Leaving a bit of the background in it isn't a catastrophe.
As you can see, the bottom isn't very well cut out, but as we don't need that, it isn't bad.
#03: So now our image is cut out, it's time to bring it to icon format. Go to Edit > Copy to copy the object you just cut out and press CTRL + N to open a new layer. In the screen that pops up now you will see that the width and and height is automatically the size of the object you cut out. Press OK.
Your new layer has now opened. Press now CTRL + V or Edit > Paste to paste the object in the new layer.
#04: Somewhere around her ponytail you can see there's still a bit of the background. But as I said, it's not bad to leave a bit of the background in it. Just zoom in around 800% and use the Eraser Tool to delete it.
The red circle is just there to let you know what exactly is deleted.
#05: Time to small it down. Go to Image > Image Size and change the Width (or Height, it just depends on what's the smallest) to 100.
#06: Now make a new document by pressing CTRL + N with these settings:
The two 100's are there to make it icon-size and also make sure it's set on Transparent.
#07: Drag the object now to the icon-sized document. You will notice that the object is too big for it, so smallen it down by pressing CTRL + T and holding the shift key while smalling it.
When you think it has the right size, press the little birdie thing above. Now you should have something like this:
#08: Boring now, isn't it? Let's add a background to make it a bit more colorful. I choose for a solid color, but if you want to add a texture, go ahead! No one is going to stop you!
To add a solid color as the background, you select the bottom layer (under the one with the object) and you go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color and select a color of which you think matches the image. I thought a light brown fitted it really well.
#09: But somehow, I think this looks empty. And I also think the white sides of her hair draw too much attention, so I thought I'd change that. Above the color layer, but under the object layer, I added a white blob with the Brush tool, size 100 px.
#10: Then I added the coloring. It's not necessary to add it just now, you could've added it earlier, but for me personally, it's easier to work with it if the color gets added at the end.
I won't go into specifics about the coloring, because it was done really quick and this was mostly about the technique after all.
*wipes sweat off*
Done! Feel free to do all you want with it!
Comments always rock, and don't claim as your own. :)
I wasn't able to remake it exactly, but it's generally the same.
From this to
Made in Photoshop CS3.
Translatable.
Kind of image-heavy.
#01: What's the first thing you have to do before making an icon? Find an image of course! We are going to cut out a person out of the image, so we have to find an image in which that can be made possible. An image in which the person is central and an image which is not too busy. For example this screencap of the show Veronica Mars. Credit for the cap goes to homeofthenutty
As you can see Veronica is central in the image. The image is quite busy but not impossible-to-cut-out busy, so I call it perfect! :)
#02: Cutting time! Since I personally think the Magnetic Lasso Tool is the easiest one to cut things out with, I'm going with that one, but do whatever you like. When you can't find that tool, then right click on the Lasso Tool or Polygonal Lasso Tool and select that option.
Then go around the person you want to cut out (in this case Veronica). It doesn't have to be perfect, but just remember that cutting too much is worse than not cutting enough. Leaving a bit of the background in it isn't a catastrophe.
As you can see, the bottom isn't very well cut out, but as we don't need that, it isn't bad.
#03: So now our image is cut out, it's time to bring it to icon format. Go to Edit > Copy to copy the object you just cut out and press CTRL + N to open a new layer. In the screen that pops up now you will see that the width and and height is automatically the size of the object you cut out. Press OK.
Your new layer has now opened. Press now CTRL + V or Edit > Paste to paste the object in the new layer.
#04: Somewhere around her ponytail you can see there's still a bit of the background. But as I said, it's not bad to leave a bit of the background in it. Just zoom in around 800% and use the Eraser Tool to delete it.
The red circle is just there to let you know what exactly is deleted.
#05: Time to small it down. Go to Image > Image Size and change the Width (or Height, it just depends on what's the smallest) to 100.
#06: Now make a new document by pressing CTRL + N with these settings:
The two 100's are there to make it icon-size and also make sure it's set on Transparent.
#07: Drag the object now to the icon-sized document. You will notice that the object is too big for it, so smallen it down by pressing CTRL + T and holding the shift key while smalling it.
When you think it has the right size, press the little birdie thing above. Now you should have something like this:
#08: Boring now, isn't it? Let's add a background to make it a bit more colorful. I choose for a solid color, but if you want to add a texture, go ahead! No one is going to stop you!
To add a solid color as the background, you select the bottom layer (under the one with the object) and you go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color and select a color of which you think matches the image. I thought a light brown fitted it really well.
#09: But somehow, I think this looks empty. And I also think the white sides of her hair draw too much attention, so I thought I'd change that. Above the color layer, but under the object layer, I added a white blob with the Brush tool, size 100 px.
#10: Then I added the coloring. It's not necessary to add it just now, you could've added it earlier, but for me personally, it's easier to work with it if the color gets added at the end.
I won't go into specifics about the coloring, because it was done really quick and this was mostly about the technique after all.
*wipes sweat off*
Done! Feel free to do all you want with it!
Comments always rock, and don't claim as your own. :)