Photoshop CS Tutorial: Brad+Angelina!

mandy0x asked about this icon, so I wrote up a quick tutorial about it.


Hey again!
I decided to write another tutorial after mandy0x asked me how I got the effects. Also, I'm writing this tutorial long after I created the icon, so this end product wont be an exact copy of the one I've already created. Unlike my last tutorial, this one has a few more images, to show you what I used and how I used them.

I will be showing how to go from to starring the deviously adorable Brad+Angelina.

While I do encourage you to follow along, please dont copy the tutorial exactly. This happens to be one of my favorite icons, so I dont want to see any copy-cats... not that I would expect that from you, but you know what I mean! I'll try to be as thorough as possible. It wasnt too terribly hard to make, so it should be easy if you have basic knowledge of Photoshop CS. I'd love to hear feedback about this tutorial, and I'd definitely like to see what you come up with! Also, I have no idea who to credit for the brushes that I use, so if you know, please inform me! I like to give credit where credit is due. Here we go!

1. First, crop your base and sharpen it once. When cropping, consider something a little different. I chose to leave some space along the left side as well as below Angelina's arm. This allows room for your screened images.

2. I wanted to make the picture look as vibrant as possible. This will require some tweaking on your part, so play with the brightness/contrast until you are satisfied. You may want to consider duplicating your layer (layer>>duplicate layer) and setting it soft light. This will make the colors stand out.

3. Go ahead and merge the layers. I personally hate having tons of layers because I have a tendency to get them mixed up. If this isnt a problem for you, skip this step and move along.

4. Take and rotate it. You can rotate by going to Image>>Rotate canvas>>90 Degrees CW. You'll want the light to be shining from the left part of the icon. Set this to screen. The picture should still be visible, but have the glowing effect as well.

5. Next, take and rotate it so that the larger part is at the bottom. You made need to stretch it a bit. I pulled it slightly off the canvas so that more of the picture was showing. Set it to screen, and you should see the white curls on top of the glowing corner. This was originally a brush, but I decided to use the picture and screen it. You may also want to consider duplicating your base layer and setting it to soft light and dragging it to the top. The final product involves this step, but it is not necessary.

6. In my original icon, I took a brush with tiny text and took a color from Angelina's dress and stamped the brush in the upper left part of the corner, on top of all the whiteness. I suggest making a new layer if you decide to add a brush or text. For this tutorial, I decided not to add any text and to leave that up to you. When you're finished, merge all layers!

Again, sorry the tutorial's icon didnt turn out quite like my original (as seen in the userpic). Hopefully, it gave you an idea as to how I achieved the effects. As I said before, I dont know who to credit for the brush and the glowing image that I used. Please let me know if they are yours, or you know who they belong to. I definitely want to credit the makers!

I cant wait to see what you all create! Please let me know if this tutorial helped you!