tutorial: Emma (created for coloring_help)
Originally written for 
whoopsallgone (and camelot_queen and twistedlaletz) who wanted to know how to achieve the colouring of this icon. This was my result:
We're going from
to 
Made in Photoshop CS 4. Difficulty level is easy-medium I'd say, a few Fill + Adjustment Layers and Masking.
(colouring seems to be transferable to other, similar lighted, images)
01. Crop your image. I prefer working on 100x100 pixels (makes it easier for me to imagine the ending result), but if you'd rather work on a bigger canvas which you will resize eventually, go ahead.
Don't forget, negative space is your friend.
02. Duplicate this layer twice. Set the first one to screen at 46% opacity / 100% fill and the second one to soft light (o: 100% / f: 100%). This will brighten the image and bring out the contrast.
03. Three Fill Layers will follow to play with the colours:
a. to brighten the image and bring out the colours of Emma's dress, the tree and the ground. Fill Layer: #e2aaaa (pink-reddish) on soft light (o: 63% / f: 58%)
b. a good trick to bring out more white and contrast to an image, is to use layers in overlay. Add another Fill Layer with
#d8ebc2 (light green) on soft light (o: 20% / f: 100%)
c. To darken the image, add a neutral light grey (#e1e1e1) as colour burn (o: 100% / f: 24%).
04. The next step I had to do to create the original light effect on the face of the Flash Forward icon. You can skip this, but it also works for this image.
Use a soft round brush (I always go with this one byinxsomniax which is the best brush ever btw) with a lowish opacity if it's too overpowering (#ffffff) and paint lightly over right side of the image. Set it to soft light (o+f: 100%). Now use a same brush and a yellow-ish colour (#d1c68a), also set to soft light (o+f: 100%).
+ 
= 
(see, it looks a bit like the sun is shining through the trees now ♥)
05. 3 Adjustment Layers, so the colours become a bit washed out. Also, image is too yellow/red which I will fix with this step.
a. Curve: input: 76, output: 44 - set to multiply (o: 21% / f: 100%)
b. Hue/Saturation on normal: -4, -2, +12 (note: if you're not in CS 4, you have to add the Brightness (12) with the Brightness/Contrast adjustment)
c. Selective Colouring (relative: checked) to bring out the green and tune down the reds (alternately replace this with fill layers which you have to mask):
reds: -2 +25 +45 -46
yellow: -10 -17 +15 +9
white: +3 0 +1 -9
grey: +9 -2 -7 +7
black: 0 0 0 +17
06. Because masking is fun, the next fill layers have to masks. To bring the contrast back, first add a fill layer with #fcc5b6 (rosé) on colour burn (o+f: 100%). And this will burn everything with a red colour which simply looks horrible. Add a layer mask, choose the brush from step 4 and click onto the mask. Now change the forefront colour to black. Paint over the areas that are too red. I left most of the middle part, but got rid off the red colour on the tree and ground. Use the smudge tool or change the colour to grey so it won't look too neat.
Now add another grey layer on top set to colour burn and mask it again. This is for areas that are too bright now (e.g. the edges of the image).
+
=
07. Add another white brush layer on top on normal (o: 36% / f: 100%). Frank Churchill is still too dark. I don't know why I care, I don't even like him xD
08. Now I stamped my image visible (Mac: cmd+alt+shift+e, it's similar in PC, but I forgot) or select all + copy merged + paste. Sharpen your copy. Turn the opacity down until it looks not over sharpened. I used 21% opacity. You can also go to Edit > Fade or use the Unsharpen Mask, there are so many possibilities.
09. Two more Adjustment Layers and we're done. These are just for adding a tiny bit of brightness and yellow.
a. Brightness/Contrast: -5 +8
b. Selective Colouring:
yellow: -1 +22 +14 -5
And here's my result:
Comments are love ♥ I hope this made sense. If you want to show me your results, go ahead ♥
Second tutorial for
coloring_help will follow asap.
If you like what you see, please consider watching my icon community.
whoopsallgone (and camelot_queen and twistedlaletz) who wanted to know how to achieve the colouring of this icon. This was my result:We're going from
Made in Photoshop CS 4. Difficulty level is easy-medium I'd say, a few Fill + Adjustment Layers and Masking.
(colouring seems to be transferable to other, similar lighted, images)
01. Crop your image. I prefer working on 100x100 pixels (makes it easier for me to imagine the ending result), but if you'd rather work on a bigger canvas which you will resize eventually, go ahead.
Don't forget, negative space is your friend.
02. Duplicate this layer twice. Set the first one to screen at 46% opacity / 100% fill and the second one to soft light (o: 100% / f: 100%). This will brighten the image and bring out the contrast.
03. Three Fill Layers will follow to play with the colours:
a. to brighten the image and bring out the colours of Emma's dress, the tree and the ground. Fill Layer: #e2aaaa (pink-reddish) on soft light (o: 63% / f: 58%)
b. a good trick to bring out more white and contrast to an image, is to use layers in overlay. Add another Fill Layer with
#d8ebc2 (light green) on soft light (o: 20% / f: 100%)
c. To darken the image, add a neutral light grey (#e1e1e1) as colour burn (o: 100% / f: 24%).
04. The next step I had to do to create the original light effect on the face of the Flash Forward icon. You can skip this, but it also works for this image.
Use a soft round brush (I always go with this one by
inxsomniax which is the best brush ever btw) with a lowish opacity if it's too overpowering (#ffffff) and paint lightly over right side of the image. Set it to soft light (o+f: 100%). Now use a same brush and a yellow-ish colour (#d1c68a), also set to soft light (o+f: 100%).(see, it looks a bit like the sun is shining through the trees now ♥)
05. 3 Adjustment Layers, so the colours become a bit washed out. Also, image is too yellow/red which I will fix with this step.
a. Curve: input: 76, output: 44 - set to multiply (o: 21% / f: 100%)
b. Hue/Saturation on normal: -4, -2, +12 (note: if you're not in CS 4, you have to add the Brightness (12) with the Brightness/Contrast adjustment)
c. Selective Colouring (relative: checked) to bring out the green and tune down the reds (alternately replace this with fill layers which you have to mask):
reds: -2 +25 +45 -46
yellow: -10 -17 +15 +9
white: +3 0 +1 -9
grey: +9 -2 -7 +7
black: 0 0 0 +17
06. Because masking is fun, the next fill layers have to masks. To bring the contrast back, first add a fill layer with #fcc5b6 (rosé) on colour burn (o+f: 100%). And this will burn everything with a red colour which simply looks horrible. Add a layer mask, choose the brush from step 4 and click onto the mask. Now change the forefront colour to black. Paint over the areas that are too red. I left most of the middle part, but got rid off the red colour on the tree and ground. Use the smudge tool or change the colour to grey so it won't look too neat.
Now add another grey layer on top set to colour burn and mask it again. This is for areas that are too bright now (e.g. the edges of the image).
+
=
07. Add another white brush layer on top on normal (o: 36% / f: 100%). Frank Churchill is still too dark. I don't know why I care, I don't even like him xD
08. Now I stamped my image visible (Mac: cmd+alt+shift+e, it's similar in PC, but I forgot) or select all + copy merged + paste. Sharpen your copy. Turn the opacity down until it looks not over sharpened. I used 21% opacity. You can also go to Edit > Fade or use the Unsharpen Mask, there are so many possibilities.
09. Two more Adjustment Layers and we're done. These are just for adding a tiny bit of brightness and yellow.
a. Brightness/Contrast: -5 +8
b. Selective Colouring:
yellow: -1 +22 +14 -5
And here's my result:
Comments are love ♥ I hope this made sense. If you want to show me your results, go ahead ♥
Second tutorial for
coloring_help will follow asap.If you like what you see, please consider watching my icon community.