My first tutorial.

Here it is, my first tutorial, I hope you find it [somewhat] useful. I
myself use Photoshop 7, but I'm pretty sure it's translateable for use
in other programs.




I will be making this: from this.

The Tutorial:  01. First, find yourself a picture. I have chosen this lovely screencap of my favorite pseudo-couple, House and Cameron, from House, M.D. 02. Resize the picture to 100x100 03. Since it's looking dark and a little blurry, I duplicate the picture once. Then, use Filter>Sharpen once, and set the blend mode of the duplicate to Screen, 100%. If you haven't achieved the desired brightness, do it again and fiddle with the opacity. If it's bright enough already, skip this step. Anyway, it should look something like this: 04. Now for the [almost obligatory] blue exclusion effect. Make a new layer, and fill it with a dark blue (#080035). Set the blend mode to exclusion, 100%. 05. Now add a light texture by ashke_icons 06. Next, I add a brush by </span>dearest07. Add text. I thought a simple "OTP" would suffice, but again, add whatever you wish. Note for those who want to know: The font I used here is called CAC Leslie. </span> 08. Merge all your layers down. Then, make a square selection that looks something like this: 09. Go to Select>Modify>Smooth, and enter 5 pixels into the field. The corners of your selection should become more rounded. Then, press Shift>Ctrl>I (in that order). If you did it correctly, your selection should look like: 10. Press delete. That particular selection should now be gone. Make a new layer underneath the picture. A background layer, if you will, and fill it with #774655. 11. Click on your topmost layer (the graphic). Then Ctrl>Click on it to make a selection. Create a new layer, which will be your border. Go to Edit>Stroke, and create a 1px wide white border [Location: Center]. 12. The white border appears to be a little harsh, or maybe it's just me, so blur it once. Filter>Blur>Blur, to make it seem a little less sharp. And VOILA! After countless hours (or a few short minutes, whichever way you want to look at it) of work, we're done. </span> Note: Remember that not all settings/blend modes will work well for every picture you choose. Feel free to experiment,  as this is merely a guideline, it's not written in stone. Hope you liked, this was my first tutorial, so please be gentle!

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