PSP 7 Tutorial - Transferable
With a pretty big vote, this icon definitely won out :)
So we'll be going from
to 
.
This may be longer than my normal tutorials, just as a forewarning.
Obviously, you decide what picture you want to start with. I chose one of the trio from Harry Potter than I'm totally in love with(from Veritaserum. Resize the image to make the height 100 and sharpen it once.
-> 
Now for the placing of the image. Personally, placing it smack dab in the middle was too boring. It could make for an interesting icon, but nobodys being cut off, it's not any weird placings, and those are what typically make for the most interesting icons. So instead, I decided to move it up some and place Hermione right on the edge being partially cut off. Then I made the empty space below them white. Much better, personally.
<
Now I love bright, vibrant colors, so I duplicated my base image and set it to Hard Light. I've found later at the end it typically makes it easier to see the original image after all the gradients and other effects.
Let's do something different than normal. If you're always sticking to what you're used to, you'll probably never get any new results. So, lets take this gradient(by ?) and paste it in a new layer, set to multiply 100%.
-> 
Next, take this gradient(by ?) and paste it in a new layer and set it to Overlay 100%.
-> 
A bit hard to see them. Let's duplicate the base layer, drag it up to the top, and set it to Hard Light 79%. We want to be able to see them, but also see the gradients.
That space at the bottom looks a little odd now that it's all multi-colored and too empty. I decided to grab a part of their faces and put it at the bottom desaturated. The easiest way to do it is to duplicate the base layer, bring it to the top, desaturate it, and move it down to the bottom where you want their heads cut off. You get something like this:
That obviously doesn't look right, so erase the majority of what's above their heads. You can get rid of as much as you like, just make sure some of that multi-colored empty space shows through. I made mine cut off almost all of Ron's head, but that's alright.
Duplicate the desaturated-head-cut-off layer and set it to Hard Light 100%. I'm addicted to Hard Light.
Now to make a distinct seperation between the areas. I added a four pixel-wide black line to the top of the desaturated area, just to make it look really cool ;)
-> 
Next we might wanna light up that multi-colored empty area. It kinda bothers me and looks weird. So make a new layer, and fill that area with a solid white line, and set it to 72% opacity. That way it still has a hint of color.
Now for the fun extras part. Something definitely needs to go in that open space next to the trio, and I'm totally addicted to those fancy boxes with all the swirlys :). So I took one that I recently got(by ? I can't remember! >.<) and, making it white, added it on that side, cutting off part of the box. Then I also cut off the part that invaded the semi-white line and the desaturated area.
-> 
Last step! Add a small line of text(Arial, size one, rambling on about whatever you'd like ;) ) that invades the box but still shows out. And you're done! You can add other text if you'd like, personally this icon looks fine without additional text. It's all up to you, really!
I hope you liked it! I would totally LOVE to see what you've made from this, it's fun to see what other people can do from your tutorials. Hopefully more coming soon, I'm working on getting an icons livejournal so I can stop posting all of these on my personal journal and start actually showing some icons. More tutorials on their way!
So we'll be going from
to .This may be longer than my normal tutorials, just as a forewarning.
Obviously, you decide what picture you want to start with. I chose one of the trio from Harry Potter than I'm totally in love with(from Veritaserum. Resize the image to make the height 100 and sharpen it once.
-> Now for the placing of the image. Personally, placing it smack dab in the middle was too boring. It could make for an interesting icon, but nobodys being cut off, it's not any weird placings, and those are what typically make for the most interesting icons. So instead, I decided to move it up some and place Hermione right on the edge being partially cut off. Then I made the empty space below them white. Much better, personally.
< Now I love bright, vibrant colors, so I duplicated my base image and set it to Hard Light. I've found later at the end it typically makes it easier to see the original image after all the gradients and other effects.
Let's do something different than normal. If you're always sticking to what you're used to, you'll probably never get any new results. So, lets take this gradient(by ?) and paste it in a new layer, set to multiply 100%.
-> Next, take this gradient(by ?) and paste it in a new layer and set it to Overlay 100%.
-> A bit hard to see them. Let's duplicate the base layer, drag it up to the top, and set it to Hard Light 79%. We want to be able to see them, but also see the gradients.
That space at the bottom looks a little odd now that it's all multi-colored and too empty. I decided to grab a part of their faces and put it at the bottom desaturated. The easiest way to do it is to duplicate the base layer, bring it to the top, desaturate it, and move it down to the bottom where you want their heads cut off. You get something like this:
That obviously doesn't look right, so erase the majority of what's above their heads. You can get rid of as much as you like, just make sure some of that multi-colored empty space shows through. I made mine cut off almost all of Ron's head, but that's alright.
Duplicate the desaturated-head-cut-off layer and set it to Hard Light 100%. I'm addicted to Hard Light.
Now to make a distinct seperation between the areas. I added a four pixel-wide black line to the top of the desaturated area, just to make it look really cool ;)
-> Next we might wanna light up that multi-colored empty area. It kinda bothers me and looks weird. So make a new layer, and fill that area with a solid white line, and set it to 72% opacity. That way it still has a hint of color.
Now for the fun extras part. Something definitely needs to go in that open space next to the trio, and I'm totally addicted to those fancy boxes with all the swirlys :). So I took one that I recently got(by ? I can't remember! >.<) and, making it white, added it on that side, cutting off part of the box. Then I also cut off the part that invaded the semi-white line and the desaturated area.
-> Last step! Add a small line of text(Arial, size one, rambling on about whatever you'd like ;) ) that invades the box but still shows out. And you're done! You can add other text if you'd like, personally this icon looks fine without additional text. It's all up to you, really!
I hope you liked it! I would totally LOVE to see what you've made from this, it's fun to see what other people can do from your tutorials. Hopefully more coming soon, I'm working on getting an icons livejournal so I can stop posting all of these on my personal journal and start actually showing some icons. More tutorials on their way!