Simple coloured base tutorial.
Starting with this screencap by 
peacefully, of Claire Danes in the 1996 Romeo + Juliet film, I'm going to make a simple base icon. In short, this:
>> 
I use Paint Shop Pro 8, but this should be easy enough to transfer to other programs. This tut doesn't include any really complex tricks, but I'm going to assume that you know your way around your graphics program.
*******
1.
Okay, we've got our cap cropped and resized (in PSP, make sure you use the 'Smart Size' option when doing this, otherwise it looks too pixelated). Normally I'd make the focus more off-center to make room for text
(like this -
or 
)
but with this one I just wanted to hone in on her face.
2. Anyway, what's wrong with this original picture? Far too dark when scaled down for a start, but that's easy to fix. Right click on your background in your layers palette and duplicate it. Change the top layer's blend mode to 'Screen', et voilà!
Much lighter, cleaner base, yes? Now the madness begins. Merge your two layers, then duplicate the result again and change the top one to 'Luminance (Legacy)'. Doesn't look any diferent, I know, but it'll mute the colours once we stick another layer in there.
3.
This is your friend. Create a new raster layer between your two layers and set it to 'Exclusion'. Flood fill it with any shade of dark blue you want. Here I'm using #283C5E.
4. It's muted, sure, but still too dark for the mood I want. Reduplicate your bottom layer, drag it to the top and set it to 'Screen'.
5. Hmm. Too muted. How about bringing out some - okay, a lot - more of the colour? Duplicate your screen layer again, bring it to the top and set it to overlay. If you play around with the top two you'll see that they balance each other out nicely, without having to muck around with the opacity.
Zing! We have our vivid colours, but they don't fit the mood. Here Juliet's relaxed and daydreaming about her new husband, so we want something not so in-your-face.
6. I could pick a new blue to bring down the colours again, but why bother? There's a perfectly good blue already in your palette. Duplicate it, pull it to the top and set it to screen.
7. Nice. We could finish here, but I think the colours are too constant and a bit tedious. Time for a gradient, again in blue. PSP8 users should be able to find this in their default gradients; if not, here:
Stick it in as a new layer over everything else, and set it to 'Multiply'.
8. That's better. Now for a final touch to step up the colours a bit.
Copy Merged your whole thing, and paste the result at the top. Click on 'Effects', 'Texture Effects' then 'Blinds'. Your menu should look something like this:
**NOTE: Non-PSP-users can use this brush, applied at 100% opacity in black over your top layer.
**
9. ...Ew. Far too dark. Does changing the blend mode on these blinds to something more subtle - soft light - help?
10. It does, but it's still too obvious. Bring your opacity way down - I settled at 40%, though you might want to go higher or lower depending on your image.
11. And the final touch - a border. There are plenty of brushes for this, but in keeping with the icon's simplicity I'm sticking with a one pixel black one.
There are multiple ways to do this. One is adding a new black layer to the top and erasing all but the needed lines (you can do this quickly by setting your eraser to square, size 98 and 100 hardness). There's also a selection trick that's already in
icon_tutorial's memories somewhere.
Or you could just use this brush, to be really convenient. Put it in a new layer, set to normal and 100%, over everything.
12. Done! Here's the finished base plus the two alternatively cropped ones:
Any questions and/or feedback?
peacefully, of Claire Danes in the 1996 Romeo + Juliet film, I'm going to make a simple base icon. In short, this: >> I use Paint Shop Pro 8, but this should be easy enough to transfer to other programs. This tut doesn't include any really complex tricks, but I'm going to assume that you know your way around your graphics program.
*******
1.
Okay, we've got our cap cropped and resized (in PSP, make sure you use the 'Smart Size' option when doing this, otherwise it looks too pixelated). Normally I'd make the focus more off-center to make room for text
(like this -
or )but with this one I just wanted to hone in on her face.
2. Anyway, what's wrong with this original picture? Far too dark when scaled down for a start, but that's easy to fix. Right click on your background in your layers palette and duplicate it. Change the top layer's blend mode to 'Screen', et voilà!
Much lighter, cleaner base, yes? Now the madness begins. Merge your two layers, then duplicate the result again and change the top one to 'Luminance (Legacy)'. Doesn't look any diferent, I know, but it'll mute the colours once we stick another layer in there.
3.
This is your friend. Create a new raster layer between your two layers and set it to 'Exclusion'. Flood fill it with any shade of dark blue you want. Here I'm using #283C5E.
4. It's muted, sure, but still too dark for the mood I want. Reduplicate your bottom layer, drag it to the top and set it to 'Screen'.
5. Hmm. Too muted. How about bringing out some - okay, a lot - more of the colour? Duplicate your screen layer again, bring it to the top and set it to overlay. If you play around with the top two you'll see that they balance each other out nicely, without having to muck around with the opacity.
Zing! We have our vivid colours, but they don't fit the mood. Here Juliet's relaxed and daydreaming about her new husband, so we want something not so in-your-face.
6. I could pick a new blue to bring down the colours again, but why bother? There's a perfectly good blue already in your palette. Duplicate it, pull it to the top and set it to screen.
7. Nice. We could finish here, but I think the colours are too constant and a bit tedious. Time for a gradient, again in blue. PSP8 users should be able to find this in their default gradients; if not, here:
Stick it in as a new layer over everything else, and set it to 'Multiply'.
8. That's better. Now for a final touch to step up the colours a bit.
Copy Merged your whole thing, and paste the result at the top. Click on 'Effects', 'Texture Effects' then 'Blinds'. Your menu should look something like this:
**NOTE: Non-PSP-users can use this brush, applied at 100% opacity in black over your top layer.
**9. ...Ew. Far too dark. Does changing the blend mode on these blinds to something more subtle - soft light - help?
10. It does, but it's still too obvious. Bring your opacity way down - I settled at 40%, though you might want to go higher or lower depending on your image.
11. And the final touch - a border. There are plenty of brushes for this, but in keeping with the icon's simplicity I'm sticking with a one pixel black one.
There are multiple ways to do this. One is adding a new black layer to the top and erasing all but the needed lines (you can do this quickly by setting your eraser to square, size 98 and 100 hardness). There's also a selection trick that's already in
icon_tutorial's memories somewhere.Or you could just use this brush, to be really convenient. Put it in a new layer, set to normal and 100%, over everything.
12. Done! Here's the finished base plus the two alternatively cropped ones:
Any questions and/or feedback?