PS7 Icon Tutorial
This is my first tutorial. Hopefully it will be helpful to some of you. The picture I am using is of Tibby from the new movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". I made this icon on Photoshop v. 7.0., using MacOS X. If you are at a more skilled level of icon-making and do not have PS7, hopefull you will be able to translate the steps into your own graphics program.
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11 steps, (VERY detailed)
It looks like a lot, but if you already know how to do most of this stuff, it won't seem like so many steps :)
XOXO,
~Liz
Step 1:
I am using the following picture from Yahoo:
Copy it onto a new PS7 document, (document size at 100x100). Go to the top menu, under "Edit", drag mouse over "Transform", then select "Scale". (Shortcut: command+t). Using your mouse, hold down the shift button and drag the corner of the picture until it is resized how you want it. Double-click the picture to apply transformation. Cropped picture should look something like this:
Step 2:
Keeping this layer selected, go to the top menu under "Layer" and select "Duplicate Layer". (Shortcut: Drag base layer onto the folded paper icon at the bottom of the layer window). In your layer window, you will see a scroll box that says "Normal". Click and drag down, then select "Sreen". Set "Opacity" at 40%. (You may have to go higher or lower depending on how dark your picture already was.) The icon should now look something like this:
Step 3:
Make a new layer by going to the top menu, clicking "Layer", dragging mouse over "New", and selecting "Layer". (Shortcut: Click on the folded paper icon at the bottom of the layer window.) Define color by clicking the top colored box on the side tool bar. In the pop-up that should appear, type E78AA5 in the box at the bottom with the # symbol. Select "Okay".
Select the paintbrush button on the side tool bar. I used a default PS7 graffiti brush at 17 px. I made a random line at the bottom of the layer. This is what is looks like without the picture in the background:
With this layer, I changed the Opacity" to 82%. With the picture in the background, the icon now looks like this:
Step 4:
Next, I made a 3 px. rectangle. Create a new layer and select the rectangle tool on the side tool bar- (it looks like a box.) Click and drag from the top of your canvas to the bottom, moving your mouse around until you achieve approximately a 3 px. rectangle. To change the color of the rectange to white, double-click the colored box on the layer. The same pop-up should appear, and type FFFFFF in the box. Click "Okay". Move rectangle if need be by selecting the arrow button on the side tool bar, and clicking/dragging the rectangle. Adjust "Opacity" to 100%. As of now, the icon is this:
Step 5:
I decided to add a smaller picture to this icon to make it more interesting. I used this picture, also from Yahoo:
Copy the picture onto the document, resize like before until you reach the desired size. Select the rectangular marquee button on the side tool bar- (it's the box with the dotted border.) Click and drag on the new layer until you reach the size you want the smaller picture to be. (Hint: Make the picture a little bigger than you think you'll need for it to be.) When you are at this point, let go of the mouse, then copy or cut. (Shortcut: command+c ...or... command+x.) Delete the new layer by dragging it into the trashcan button at the bottom of the layer window. Then paste the selected picture you just copied onto a new layer. Move around using the arrow tool until you have positioned it where you want. Mine now looks like this:
Step 6:
The next step is to add a border around the small picture. Staying on the newest layer, go to the top menu and click on "Layer". Go under "Layer Style", then find and select "Stroke". (Shortcut: Click the black circle icon at the bottom of the layer window, and select "Stroke".) In the window that pops up, go under the "Position" menu, and click "Inside". Change the color of the border by double-clicking the box labeled "Color". As before, find the # box, and type/select FEBDAB. Click "Okay". Icon at this step looks like this:
Step 7:
I added a color "overlay" at this point. To do this, click and drag the half black/white circle icon at the bottom of the layer window, and select "Solid Color". When the window pops up, type 9C5F56 in the # box, and click "Okay". At the top of the layer window, find the box that says "Normal", and drag to select "Pin Light". Keep/adjust "Opacity" to 100%. Icon is now like this:
Step 8:
Make a new layer, and select the "T" text button on the side tool bar. Type 2 or 3 lines of text at around 2 or 3 pt. Move around using the arrow button/keys until you reach the desired position. I set mine right here:
Step 9:
Next, I added a 2 px. border around the whole icon using a brush I made:
Make a new layer, select the paintbrush tool on the side tool bar, and change the color of the brush to FEBDAB. Set "Opacity" to 100%. Icon with border should look like this:
Step 10:
Next, I added a brush from
100x100_brushes:
Make a new layer, using this brush by selecting the paintbrush tool, setting the color to FFFFFF. Go under the "Normal" box in the layer window, select "Overlay", then set "Opacity" at 100%. This is what it should look like:
Step 11:
Last step! Whoot! Make a new layer and select the text tool. Using "Asenine", downloaded from DaFont, type a lowercase "t" at 60 pt. -(color is white.) Position in the lower left corner, and...
Yay! It's done!
From:
To:
In:
11 steps, (VERY detailed)
It looks like a lot, but if you already know how to do most of this stuff, it won't seem like so many steps :)
XOXO,
~Liz
Step 1:
I am using the following picture from Yahoo:
Copy it onto a new PS7 document, (document size at 100x100). Go to the top menu, under "Edit", drag mouse over "Transform", then select "Scale". (Shortcut: command+t). Using your mouse, hold down the shift button and drag the corner of the picture until it is resized how you want it. Double-click the picture to apply transformation. Cropped picture should look something like this:
Step 2:
Keeping this layer selected, go to the top menu under "Layer" and select "Duplicate Layer". (Shortcut: Drag base layer onto the folded paper icon at the bottom of the layer window). In your layer window, you will see a scroll box that says "Normal". Click and drag down, then select "Sreen". Set "Opacity" at 40%. (You may have to go higher or lower depending on how dark your picture already was.) The icon should now look something like this:
Step 3:
Make a new layer by going to the top menu, clicking "Layer", dragging mouse over "New", and selecting "Layer". (Shortcut: Click on the folded paper icon at the bottom of the layer window.) Define color by clicking the top colored box on the side tool bar. In the pop-up that should appear, type E78AA5 in the box at the bottom with the # symbol. Select "Okay".
Select the paintbrush button on the side tool bar. I used a default PS7 graffiti brush at 17 px. I made a random line at the bottom of the layer. This is what is looks like without the picture in the background:
With this layer, I changed the Opacity" to 82%. With the picture in the background, the icon now looks like this:
Step 4:
Next, I made a 3 px. rectangle. Create a new layer and select the rectangle tool on the side tool bar- (it looks like a box.) Click and drag from the top of your canvas to the bottom, moving your mouse around until you achieve approximately a 3 px. rectangle. To change the color of the rectange to white, double-click the colored box on the layer. The same pop-up should appear, and type FFFFFF in the box. Click "Okay". Move rectangle if need be by selecting the arrow button on the side tool bar, and clicking/dragging the rectangle. Adjust "Opacity" to 100%. As of now, the icon is this:
Step 5:
I decided to add a smaller picture to this icon to make it more interesting. I used this picture, also from Yahoo:
Copy the picture onto the document, resize like before until you reach the desired size. Select the rectangular marquee button on the side tool bar- (it's the box with the dotted border.) Click and drag on the new layer until you reach the size you want the smaller picture to be. (Hint: Make the picture a little bigger than you think you'll need for it to be.) When you are at this point, let go of the mouse, then copy or cut. (Shortcut: command+c ...or... command+x.) Delete the new layer by dragging it into the trashcan button at the bottom of the layer window. Then paste the selected picture you just copied onto a new layer. Move around using the arrow tool until you have positioned it where you want. Mine now looks like this:
Step 6:
The next step is to add a border around the small picture. Staying on the newest layer, go to the top menu and click on "Layer". Go under "Layer Style", then find and select "Stroke". (Shortcut: Click the black circle icon at the bottom of the layer window, and select "Stroke".) In the window that pops up, go under the "Position" menu, and click "Inside". Change the color of the border by double-clicking the box labeled "Color". As before, find the # box, and type/select FEBDAB. Click "Okay". Icon at this step looks like this:
Step 7:
I added a color "overlay" at this point. To do this, click and drag the half black/white circle icon at the bottom of the layer window, and select "Solid Color". When the window pops up, type 9C5F56 in the # box, and click "Okay". At the top of the layer window, find the box that says "Normal", and drag to select "Pin Light". Keep/adjust "Opacity" to 100%. Icon is now like this:
Step 8:
Make a new layer, and select the "T" text button on the side tool bar. Type 2 or 3 lines of text at around 2 or 3 pt. Move around using the arrow button/keys until you reach the desired position. I set mine right here:
Step 9:
Next, I added a 2 px. border around the whole icon using a brush I made:
Make a new layer, select the paintbrush tool on the side tool bar, and change the color of the brush to FEBDAB. Set "Opacity" to 100%. Icon with border should look like this:
Step 10:
Next, I added a brush from
100x100_brushes:Make a new layer, using this brush by selecting the paintbrush tool, setting the color to FFFFFF. Go under the "Normal" box in the layer window, select "Overlay", then set "Opacity" at 100%. This is what it should look like:
Step 11:
Last step! Whoot! Make a new layer and select the text tool. Using "Asenine", downloaded from DaFont, type a lowercase "t" at 60 pt. -(color is white.) Position in the lower left corner, and...
Yay! It's done!