Tutorial #11 - Harry Potter
We're going from
to 
Program(s)+version: PhotoShop CS2
Involves: Selective Color, Curves, Channel Mixer, Fill Layers
Translatable: To programs that have Selective Color, Curves, and Channel Mixer
Steps: 13
Difficulty: Easy.
I was doing my requests and I came upon this picture. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it, but when I did, I just had to share. NOTE: Always remember that this whole tutorial can look amazing or catastrophic depending on your base, so adjusting is your best friend. Now, onto the tutorial.
1) First things first. DO NOT CROP YOUR IMAGE. This is crucial because we're going to be adding extra space to the otherwise lacking image, and cropping would make things a bit harder. With that settled, open up a Curves layer and click on "Auto". This will eradicate the green tint and give it a cleaner look. If your image does not clear up, try to play around with a Color Balance layer to even out the colors.
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Curves
Click "Auto" on the right-hand side
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Color Balance
2) Now we have something to work with. Set the first one to Screen at 50% Opacity and the second one to Soft Light at 100% Opacity. We do this because we want to give the image more depth and brightness; enhancing it, basically, but with nothing too drastic.
CTRL + J to duplicate
3) Okay, we have to add more color now. What we want to do here is up the reds and a tiny bit of the yellows so the base doesn't look dull. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Selective Color
REDS: -30/+10/+15/+10
YELLOWS: +25/+10/+15/+10
4) It looks like nothing happened, but trust me, it made all the difference. What we have to do now is to duplicate the Selective Color layer twice to bring out the redness of his clothes.
CTRL + J to duplicate
5) Alright, now we're getting somewhere. Next in our agenda is to further enhance the entire picture now, not just Harry, and to do that, we're going to have to open a Channel Mixer layer. Play around with the REDs and the BLUEs, making sure that their polars are neutral. For example, if you increase the reds in the REDs, you have to decrease the greens to even the colors out. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Channel Mixer
RED: +140/-30/0/0
BLUE: -20/+15/0/0
6) Now, it's all blue and pretty-like. Just what we want. Now, to enhance it just a bit, we have to duplicate the base, drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 50% Opacity.
CTRL + J to duplicate
7) Alright, now for some dirty work. Flatten your image and take your brush tool, making sure that the primary color is set to white. Begin brushing the black lines at the top and bottom so that only Harry and the sky are left (I went a little overboard with the erasing, so please don't mind the lack of sky).
Right-click on the topmost image in the "Layers" table and select "Flatten Image"
8) Now it's time to crop the image to your liking.
9) Don't give up, we're almost done! Alright, now, duplicate your base. Now you have two layers on your "Layer" table, one marked "Layer 1" and the other "Background". Right-click on the "Background" and choose "Delete". This will allow us to move the base wherever we want. Now, move it down so that the bottom is cut off.
CTRL + J to duplicate
10) Alright, now let's see what we have here. See that empty space with the little blocks? Yeah, it's ugly, isn't it? But don't worry, there's an easy way to cover that up, with the help of a cloudy texture. Take your texture (mine is by
tralala_icons) and, using a color similar to the color of the sky (I used #91c7d0), open up a new color layer and set it to softlight at 100% opacity. Then duplicate the fill layer three times.
Layer ► New Fill Layer ► Solid Color; CTRL + J to duplicate
11) Now, take your modified texture and place it on top of your base and set it to Darken at 100% opacity. This way, we can still see Harry without being too overpowered by the texture's grunginess.
CTRL + A to copy the texture; CTRL + V to paste the texture; From the dropdown menu on the "Layer" table, choose "Darken"
+ = 
12) Alright, we're almost there! Just hold on for a bit more! Duplicate your base, drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 100% Opacity. Then take your eraser and erase some of the parts that don't belong. This will give depth to Harry while keeping the consistency of his background.
CTRL + J to duplicate
13) Yay, you made it to the last step! Now this step is just as easy as the first, and practically the same. Open up a Curves layer and drag a point to the left. This will brighten up the icon. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Curves
INPUT: 95
OUTPUT: 115
And there you go! Please do not copy the inputs as they are. They are only there for reference if you do not know how much to increase or decrease something. And even though it says it's the last step, that doesn't mean you can't give it your own enhancements. You can give it more textures, slap text on it; the sky's your limit.
Other examples:
No PSD, please don't ask.
to Program(s)+version: PhotoShop CS2
Involves: Selective Color, Curves, Channel Mixer, Fill Layers
Translatable: To programs that have Selective Color, Curves, and Channel Mixer
Steps: 13
Difficulty: Easy.
I was doing my requests and I came upon this picture. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it, but when I did, I just had to share. NOTE: Always remember that this whole tutorial can look amazing or catastrophic depending on your base, so adjusting is your best friend. Now, onto the tutorial.
1) First things first. DO NOT CROP YOUR IMAGE. This is crucial because we're going to be adding extra space to the otherwise lacking image, and cropping would make things a bit harder. With that settled, open up a Curves layer and click on "Auto". This will eradicate the green tint and give it a cleaner look. If your image does not clear up, try to play around with a Color Balance layer to even out the colors.
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Curves
Click "Auto" on the right-hand side
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Color Balance
2) Now we have something to work with. Set the first one to Screen at 50% Opacity and the second one to Soft Light at 100% Opacity. We do this because we want to give the image more depth and brightness; enhancing it, basically, but with nothing too drastic.
CTRL + J to duplicate
3) Okay, we have to add more color now. What we want to do here is up the reds and a tiny bit of the yellows so the base doesn't look dull. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Selective Color
REDS: -30/+10/+15/+10
YELLOWS: +25/+10/+15/+10
4) It looks like nothing happened, but trust me, it made all the difference. What we have to do now is to duplicate the Selective Color layer twice to bring out the redness of his clothes.
CTRL + J to duplicate
5) Alright, now we're getting somewhere. Next in our agenda is to further enhance the entire picture now, not just Harry, and to do that, we're going to have to open a Channel Mixer layer. Play around with the REDs and the BLUEs, making sure that their polars are neutral. For example, if you increase the reds in the REDs, you have to decrease the greens to even the colors out. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Channel Mixer
RED: +140/-30/0/0
BLUE: -20/+15/0/0
6) Now, it's all blue and pretty-like. Just what we want. Now, to enhance it just a bit, we have to duplicate the base, drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 50% Opacity.
CTRL + J to duplicate
7) Alright, now for some dirty work. Flatten your image and take your brush tool, making sure that the primary color is set to white. Begin brushing the black lines at the top and bottom so that only Harry and the sky are left (I went a little overboard with the erasing, so please don't mind the lack of sky).
Right-click on the topmost image in the "Layers" table and select "Flatten Image"
8) Now it's time to crop the image to your liking.
9) Don't give up, we're almost done! Alright, now, duplicate your base. Now you have two layers on your "Layer" table, one marked "Layer 1" and the other "Background". Right-click on the "Background" and choose "Delete". This will allow us to move the base wherever we want. Now, move it down so that the bottom is cut off.
CTRL + J to duplicate
10) Alright, now let's see what we have here. See that empty space with the little blocks? Yeah, it's ugly, isn't it? But don't worry, there's an easy way to cover that up, with the help of a cloudy texture. Take your texture (mine is by
tralala_icons) and, using a color similar to the color of the sky (I used #91c7d0), open up a new color layer and set it to softlight at 100% opacity. Then duplicate the fill layer three times.Layer ► New Fill Layer ► Solid Color; CTRL + J to duplicate
11) Now, take your modified texture and place it on top of your base and set it to Darken at 100% opacity. This way, we can still see Harry without being too overpowered by the texture's grunginess.
CTRL + A to copy the texture; CTRL + V to paste the texture; From the dropdown menu on the "Layer" table, choose "Darken"
+ = 12) Alright, we're almost there! Just hold on for a bit more! Duplicate your base, drag it to the top, and set it to Soft Light at 100% Opacity. Then take your eraser and erase some of the parts that don't belong. This will give depth to Harry while keeping the consistency of his background.
CTRL + J to duplicate
13) Yay, you made it to the last step! Now this step is just as easy as the first, and practically the same. Open up a Curves layer and drag a point to the left. This will brighten up the icon. Here are my inputs:
Layer ► New Adjustment Layer ► Curves
INPUT: 95
OUTPUT: 115
And there you go! Please do not copy the inputs as they are. They are only there for reference if you do not know how much to increase or decrease something. And even though it says it's the last step, that doesn't mean you can't give it your own enhancements. You can give it more textures, slap text on it; the sky's your limit.
Other examples:
No PSD, please don't ask.