Clay

Icon Tutorial; For Dark Pink Images

2008-06-09T10:08:36Z

this to this

Made In: Photoshop CS3
Steps: 7
Difficulty: easy
Translatable: mostly*

*It contains Selective Coloring, but the outcome will only be slightly more pink without it.

Step 1

Crop your base. Blur/Sharpen if it needs it. I blurred my base slightly (with the Blur Tool and a soft round brush), because I was going for a blended/subdued look.

Step 2

The image is way darker than I wanted it to be, so I duplicated my base and set the duplicate to screen and set the opacity to 75%. Screen is very good for brightening, but it can make the image too bright/dilute the shadows too much, so you'll have to play around with the opacity of the layer depending on your image.

Step 3

Create a new layer and fill it with a bright yellow (I used #f3ed63). Set the layer to soft light and set the opacity to 20%. The yellow is used to tone down the pink in the image. Try using different shades of yellow and setting the layer to different opacities depending on how much pink is in your image.

Step 4

Create a new adjustment layer: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer. These are the numbers I used; if the colors in your image are a lot like mine you'll probably use numbers that are very close. You'll have to experiment, though. Constant stays at 0 for all, and monochrome should be unchecked.

Red
Red: +86, Green: +10, Blue: -43
Green
Red: +2, Green: +93, Blue: +7
Blue
Red: -1, Green: -2, Blue: +94

Step 5

Create a new adjustment layer: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Here are the numers I used. Once again, alike colors = close numbers.

Master
Hue: 0, Saturation: -10, Lightness: 0.

The reason I lowered the saturation is because, like I said above, I wanted the colors to feel blended and subdued. I felt it was slightly too bright/pink, but YMMV.

Step 6

Create a new adjustment layer: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Coloring. This layer isn't completely necessary; as you can see from how the icon looks in the previous step compared to this one, the SC is used mostly to make the image more yellow/less pink. As always, close colors = close numbers. Experiment!

Reds
-30, -18, +4, 0
Yellows
-45, 0, +5, 0
Neutrals
+23, -8, +1, 0

Step 7

Create a new adjustment layer: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. The settings you use depend entirely on how light/dark your image is. Top right is lightness adjustment (left=more, down=less), bottom left is shadows (up=less, right=more). Your line should have a drawn out 's' (meaning slight and gradual).

Icon Tutorial; Coloring For Dark, Dull Images

2008-03-24T00:42:22Z

this to this

Made in: GIMP
Steps: 7 (2 optional)
Difficulty: Easy
Works on: Dark, dull images.

Merge= merge all layers. Can be done by right-clicking the top layer and selecting Merge Down, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M.
Duplicate= duplicate the layer.

1. Duplicate. Set the top layer to screen. Merge.
why: The screen layer will make the image lighter but "washed out".

2. Duplicate. Set the top layer to overlay and the opacity to 50%. Merge.
why: The overlay layer will make the colors more vibrant and the contrast deeper. You can simply leave the opacity at 100% and skip step three and get similar (very similar) results, but using step three will get you a slightly brighter image.

3. Duplicate. Set the top layer to overlay. Merge.
why: The overlay layer will make the colors more vibrant and the contrast deeper.

4. Duplicate. Desaturate the top layer. In Gimp: Color > Desaturate. I didn't see much of a difference between the three settings, but I believe I used Luminosity. Set the layer to Divide and the opacity to 25%. Merge.
why: Setting the desaturated layer to divide makes the colors in the image brighter: dark blue to light blue, orange to yellowish-orange.

5. Duplicate. Set the top layer to overlay.
why: The overlay layer will, once again, make the colors deeper and the contrast more pronounced.

OPTIONAL

6.Sharpen: right-click > filters > enhance > sharpen (or however you sharpen in the program you're using). I believe I set the sharpness to 45.
note: How much you sharpen it (or if you do at all) really depends upon the image used and the look you're going for.

7. I used curves to make the icon brighter and the colors a bit more vibrant.

This is my first tutorial, so comments (positive and negative) are more than welcome. This tutorial involves using layer modes and opacity, and an optional last step that uses curves. I've tried to explain why I used the steps that I did, but if I wasn't clear enough please let me know and I'll try to explain it more in-depth.

This tutorial works best for inanimate objects, although it can be used to brighten images of people if you skip steps 3&5 (using steps 3&5 turns people a weird orange/red color). Using images brighter than the one I used tends to make the image too bright, but some turn out well if you use one or two multiply layers on top.

Resources

2007-10-12T06:20:04Z

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last updated: 03-01-08

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