Photoshop Icon Tutorial
From 
to 
or 
Made with PS CS5
Uses curves, gradient maps, levels, auto tone and blending modes
PSD - yes
This whole thing uses a lot of steps to add contrast, because my monitor tends to wash colors out. If you try this, you might not need all those steps.
1. First I got a cap from http://www.fishsticktheatre.com/index.htm. It was sort of gray so I used Auto tone (Image > Auto Tone) to remove the color cast.
2. That brought me to this
which is sort of dull and flat. I duplicated it and set the copy to soft light.
Result:
3. It has more contrast, but I wanted it to be brighter so I created a curves adjustment layer (layer > new adjustment layer), then I clipped the adjustment layer to the soft light layer, so it would only lighten that layer (to clip a layer: layer > create clipping mask). Since I only wanted to lighten the layer, I dragged the curves line up, until the icon was bright enough ( to output 270 input 130).
Result:
4. Then I added a screen layer set at 57% opacity to brighten things more
Result
5. Then to replace some of the contrast the screen layer removed, I created a black and white gradient map adjustment layer (layer > new adjustment layer > gradient map) and set it to soft light, 25% opacity.
6. To darken the midtones and shadows more, I created a levels adjustment layer and moved the shadows slider over to "5" and the midtones slider to 0.86. The highlights weren't touched.
And that is it for Result #1, not including sharpening, smoothing etc.
For result 2
7. I created a black and red gradient map, using #c20d0d for the red color. There was no thought process behind this. It's a remnant of something I decided not to do, but I kept the step.
result:
8. Then I used this texture
to give the icon a swirly painted effect set to the vivid light blending mode. That mode lightened the icon and allowed the people to be visible through the texture.
Result:
9. So, the people were visible, but barely. I went back to the auto toned base and made a copy, then dragged it to the top. Then I created a black and white gradient map to desaturate the new auto tone layer and merged the new auto tone layer with the gradient map. I set that new black and white layer to soft light, then duplicated it and set it to soft light 30 % opacity. The reason for all that was to add contrast to the people without adding any of the original base colors back into the icon.
Result:
10. I didn't care for the color so I made two new black and white gradient map adjustment layers. The first set to normal and the second set to soft light (to darken it).
Result:
11. Then I added this light texture
on hard light 80% opacity to add color to the icon
12. To darken the midtones and make the people stand out more, I made a new levels adjustment layer with the settings 0, 70, 255
13. For more contrast, I made a curves adjustment layer added one point and dragged it downward to output 124 input 153.
This gives you result 2
PSD http://www.mediafire.com/file/kjia34efimo3wad/Untitled-21.psd
to Made with PS CS5
Uses curves, gradient maps, levels, auto tone and blending modes
PSD - yes
This whole thing uses a lot of steps to add contrast, because my monitor tends to wash colors out. If you try this, you might not need all those steps.
1. First I got a cap
from http://www.fishsticktheatre.com/index.htm. It was sort of gray so I used Auto tone (Image > Auto Tone) to remove the color cast.2. That brought me to this
which is sort of dull and flat. I duplicated it and set the copy to soft light. Result:
3. It has more contrast, but I wanted it to be brighter so I created a curves adjustment layer (layer > new adjustment layer), then I clipped the adjustment layer to the soft light layer, so it would only lighten that layer (to clip a layer: layer > create clipping mask). Since I only wanted to lighten the layer, I dragged the curves line up, until the icon was bright enough ( to output 270 input 130).
Result:
4. Then I added a screen layer set at 57% opacity to brighten things more
Result
5. Then to replace some of the contrast the screen layer removed, I created a black and white gradient map adjustment layer (layer > new adjustment layer > gradient map) and set it to soft light, 25% opacity.
6. To darken the midtones and shadows more, I created a levels adjustment layer and moved the shadows slider over to "5" and the midtones slider to 0.86. The highlights weren't touched.
And that is it for Result #1, not including sharpening, smoothing etc.
For result 2
7. I created a black and red gradient map, using #c20d0d for the red color. There was no thought process behind this. It's a remnant of something I decided not to do, but I kept the step.
result:
8. Then I used this texture
to give the icon a swirly painted effect set to the vivid light blending mode. That mode lightened the icon and allowed the people to be visible through the texture.Result:
9. So, the people were visible, but barely. I went back to the auto toned base and made a copy, then dragged it to the top. Then I created a black and white gradient map to desaturate the new auto tone layer and merged the new auto tone layer with the gradient map. I set that new black and white layer to soft light, then duplicated it and set it to soft light 30 % opacity. The reason for all that was to add contrast to the people without adding any of the original base colors back into the icon.
Result:
10. I didn't care for the color so I made two new black and white gradient map adjustment layers. The first set to normal and the second set to soft light (to darken it).
Result:
11. Then I added this light texture
on hard light 80% opacity to add color to the icon12. To darken the midtones and make the people stand out more, I made a new levels adjustment layer with the settings 0, 70, 255
13. For more contrast, I made a curves adjustment layer added one point and dragged it downward to output 124 input 153.
This gives you result 2
PSD http://www.mediafire.com/file/kjia34efimo3wad/Untitled-21.psd