General Icon Tutorial #2 (requested elsewhere, xposting)
Icon tutorial #2 for Jen!! Again, this is done in PaintShopPro 6 but the basic theory applies up the versions. Any questions, let me know :)
I've been scouring the internet for pictures of Los Angeles and LA related items for a while now (I'm homesick) so I just found a nice picture of palms and cropped it thusly:
Except... it's kinda light, right? A little wishy-washy and no one likes wishy-washy. So I duplicated the background and set it to a blend mode of Multiply to get a darker effect:
Now, there's a great deal of pictures of Los Angeles that don't need any effects - the sunsets, the clear blue skies - they're perfect. But as pretty as the blue is, it needs a lil something something. So I cruised my Gradients folder and came up with a pretty little number that's been called Gradient 246... unfortunately no artist credit at the end, I'm sorry :(
+ 
on Screen = 
I set that as the toppy top most layer so far. We've only really got the palms, the duplicate and the gradient, from the bottom up.
The icon right now almost looks like something you'd see as you were, oh, say, driving through the streets of LA and looking up out the windshield in amazement. So let's say we add a little "inside" effect with some lens flares. I'm big on lens flares lately and
colorfilter has two sets that rock my socks, both of which you can find right here.
+ 
on Overlay = 
I scooched it under my gradient, and set it to Overlay, and it really does look like you're looking through a windshield! But I wanted it more more more, something more sunshine-y-er so I grabbed a second frame of hers and did it again:
+ 
on Soft Light = 
As you can see it gives another bit of glow down in the corner as well as providing another bit of streaks and it also, set on Soft Light and slid under the gradient layer, adds darkness again to the blues of the sky. So our order is still the gradient on top, followed by the light smears, the light flare, the duplicate background and then the background.
Still with me? Last thing is text. My friend Kryssi wanted lyrics she'd heard on a commercial, which ended up being from Cinderella - So this is love. She's visited Los Angeles several times and wants to move there, I had just unwillingly left Los Angeles, the lyrics are perfect.
I'd like to tell you what I used and what font size? But I can't. Because I play and play and delete and play some more. I CAN tell you that while text is still floating, I hit CTRL C to copy it, then I deselect it and do either Blur or Blur More... then I hit CTRL E to paste the text as a new selection on top. I find it adds depth, plus I usually do a Drop Shadow (20% opacity, blur of 2, offsets of 1 and 1) either once or twice.
+ 
= 
I slid the text under the gradient layer, once again, and then under the diagonal light beams just for fun.
And to recap the order and blends on the layers, from the top DOWN, we have:
Gradient layer = screen mode
Light shafts layer = soft light mode
Text layer = normal mode
Lens flare layer = overlay mode
Copy of background = multiply mode
Background = totally normal
In closing, I thought I'd share something that I found online that has really been a lifesaver when it comes to icons and fonts. It's an application, free, called The Font Thing by Sue Fisher. In addition to being able to type in the text you want to see demo'd and scrolling through your hundreds of fonts, you can sort them by categories - handwritten, scripts, girly, bitmaps, grunge, etc. So if you know that you want a script font, for this icon in particular, you open your Font Thing, click on "Categories" and boom, you can see every script font exampled in the text you want. Of course, it takes some time to categorize your fonts, but it's well worth it (and easy, you just right click on the font and "Add to Category" and select which category!).
So there's that. :)
I've been scouring the internet for pictures of Los Angeles and LA related items for a while now (I'm homesick) so I just found a nice picture of palms and cropped it thusly:
Except... it's kinda light, right? A little wishy-washy and no one likes wishy-washy. So I duplicated the background and set it to a blend mode of Multiply to get a darker effect:
Now, there's a great deal of pictures of Los Angeles that don't need any effects - the sunsets, the clear blue skies - they're perfect. But as pretty as the blue is, it needs a lil something something. So I cruised my Gradients folder and came up with a pretty little number that's been called Gradient 246... unfortunately no artist credit at the end, I'm sorry :(
I set that as the toppy top most layer so far. We've only really got the palms, the duplicate and the gradient, from the bottom up.
The icon right now almost looks like something you'd see as you were, oh, say, driving through the streets of LA and looking up out the windshield in amazement. So let's say we add a little "inside" effect with some lens flares. I'm big on lens flares lately and
colorfilter has two sets that rock my socks, both of which you can find right here. I scooched it under my gradient, and set it to Overlay, and it really does look like you're looking through a windshield! But I wanted it more more more, something more sunshine-y-er so I grabbed a second frame of hers and did it again:
As you can see it gives another bit of glow down in the corner as well as providing another bit of streaks and it also, set on Soft Light and slid under the gradient layer, adds darkness again to the blues of the sky. So our order is still the gradient on top, followed by the light smears, the light flare, the duplicate background and then the background.
Still with me? Last thing is text. My friend Kryssi wanted lyrics she'd heard on a commercial, which ended up being from Cinderella - So this is love. She's visited Los Angeles several times and wants to move there, I had just unwillingly left Los Angeles, the lyrics are perfect.
I'd like to tell you what I used and what font size? But I can't. Because I play and play and delete and play some more. I CAN tell you that while text is still floating, I hit CTRL C to copy it, then I deselect it and do either Blur or Blur More... then I hit CTRL E to paste the text as a new selection on top. I find it adds depth, plus I usually do a Drop Shadow (20% opacity, blur of 2, offsets of 1 and 1) either once or twice.
I slid the text under the gradient layer, once again, and then under the diagonal light beams just for fun.
And to recap the order and blends on the layers, from the top DOWN, we have:
Gradient layer = screen mode
Light shafts layer = soft light mode
Text layer = normal mode
Lens flare layer = overlay mode
Copy of background = multiply mode
Background = totally normal
In closing, I thought I'd share something that I found online that has really been a lifesaver when it comes to icons and fonts. It's an application, free, called The Font Thing by Sue Fisher. In addition to being able to type in the text you want to see demo'd and scrolling through your hundreds of fonts, you can sort them by categories - handwritten, scripts, girly, bitmaps, grunge, etc. So if you know that you want a script font, for this icon in particular, you open your Font Thing, click on "Categories" and boom, you can see every script font exampled in the text you want. Of course, it takes some time to categorize your fonts, but it's well worth it (and easy, you just right click on the font and "Add to Category" and select which category!).
So there's that. :)