Using Gaussian Blur in icons. For PS CS.

Woot! Another tutorial from meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *cough*

I was making Kaoru icons for abc_icons and this one turned out really nice and I decided to share the 'making of' part of it ;) hehe

So, we'll be going from this pic of Kaoru to

Oh, btw, I use PS CS. But this can be done with older versions of Photoshop, too. ;)

1. Choose your pic. Crop to 100x100, sharpen once and duplicate twice.

2. Delete the bottom layer (to get rid of the lock)

Now you have two layers.


3. Set the top layer to soft light, opacity = 100%

4. Click on the bottom layer, then go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur. Radius = 2.0

We have this:


5. Type the word 'Yearn' (or whatever word you want ;)).
Color = white (#FFFFFF)
Font = Monika (from Da Font)
Font size = 18 pt

6. Rasterize the font layer.
Right click on the layer (in the layer pallette), and choose 'Rasterize layer'. Then duplicate it.

7. Set the top one to soft light, and use Gaussian Blur on the bottom one (same parameters as step #4)

Now we have this:


8. Create a new layer on the top of all the other layers. Select all (Ctrl + A). Then go to: Edit >> Stroke. I used these parameters:
Width: 4 px
Color: white (#FFFFFF)
Location: Center
Blending mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

Click OK.

9. Set that layer to Soft Light, at 100% opacity and duplicate if needed (I duplicated mine once.

The final result:


SQUEE!!

Enjoy! \m/^_^