Full tutorial - Simple PS7 icon and effect for beginners

Yes, you may take that icon if you credit... but much more importantly, if you see something about it you like, then click the link, because below it is a full, step-by-step, complete tutorial on how to create that icon, with pictures, and it's designed for someone who's figured out how to open an image in Photoshop (I use 7, but the ideas, if not the locations of the tools, are applicable to most versions) but not much else beyond that!



Before I start the tutorial proper, I thought a clearly labelled image of a Photoshop workspace was in order. Here are not only most of the tools you will need for this process, but also just the tools that I use all of the time and that will come in very useful to you if you're going to be an icon-maker. I may mention other things, but I'll describe them as I go. (Sorry for the scrunchiness but my desktop res is 1280x1024, and I wasn't saving it that large!)



Now you can see there, open and ready to work with, the Indiana Jones screencap I want to use. However, I don't want to modify the original file. So, for my own convenience: I take the RECTANGULAR MARQUEE TOOL, I use it to select a pretty big chunk of the picture, and I hit CTRL+C, for copy.

Then I close that picture. I go to FILE -- > NEW, and just click "ok" with the dimensions it puts in the fields for me. Then I hit CTRL+V, for paste. This should result in the part of the image I selected before being pasted into this file. All is well and good now, as this is the file I'll be working with.

Now I click on the CROP TOOL.



When you first click on the crop tool, before you apply it to the image, you can see that your toolbar will look like mine does, in that screenshot. Fill in the same values (100x100, 72 pixels per inch). There are other ways to crop images (especially when you're looking for different dimensions) but this is usually the easiest.



This is my original base, after I've cropped it. However, even though I'm making a simple icon, that doesn't suit me at all. It needs jazzing up.

For starters, I go over to the LAYERS MENU and right-click on the layer. Select "Duplicate layer," and leave the one on the bottom alone. That's a backup, just in case I do something stupid, or change my mind after a whole lot of steps.

Then on "Layer 1 copy," I go to FILTER --> SHARPEN --> SHARPEN, because my cap is fuzzy. Yes, that looks ugly at the moment, but let's hang on a second, shall we?

I go to IMAGE --> ADJUSTMENTS --> BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST and HUE/SATURATION and play with those values a little bit. Not a whole lot, but this image badly needs brightening.

After toying with those values for a while, I duplicate the layer and then toy with blending modes on the top layer, to create certain kinds of effects. As it turns out, with this particular image I don't like any of the blending modes, but most of my icons tend to have one applied, "soft light" more often than any one other.

I hit SHIFT+CTRL+N to create a new layer (you may have noticed by now that I find it massively simpler to navigate Photoshop using keyboard commands -- I use the mouse with my right hand, the keys with my left, and I generally feel that I've got the process pretty streamlined). Now, this is the fun part, where we're going to crete the effect.

I am going to take my new layer and use the PAINT BUCKET utility to paint it an obnoxious color that I can easily see. This is temporary and optional. I prefer to do it this way, because the extra step is really not any extra work to speak of, and I find that the high contrast helps me see what I'm doing in a moment. In today's case, I'll just use the same cyan I've been using for the tutorial. ;) Then, I'm going to my LAYERS MENU to put the painted layer underneath the finalized base layer:



The layers should be in that order. Now, in the layers menu, select the TOP layer ("Layer 1 copy," unless you named it something else).

Go to EDIT --> TRANSFORM --> ROTATE. Drag that layer around until you've got it at an angle you like. Hit Enter when you like it. In my case:



Isn't that perfectly hideous? Luckily, we're not leaving it that way. :) Using your EYEDROPPER tool, choose a color from in the image somewhere. Then re-paint bucket the paint-bucketed layer. If you don't like that color, pick another one. Mess with the color until that layer is a hue you're happy with. In my case, it took several tries before I came up with a vague tan that pleased me.



Now it's starting to look like an icon. I'm not fond of the sharpness between the end of the image and the start of its border, so I'm going to fuzz it up a little.

There are different ways to do this; I'm going to use one that I find quick, easy, and effective (and in the process, it will teach you utilities that you can find your own uses for later).

It's time to go back to the LAYERS MENU.



That bottom layer was just a safety and we're now past the point, if all has gone well, where it would be massively useful. So if you delete that and duplicate the top, you have three layers, two of which are the same. Select the middle one and go to FILTER --> BLUR --> GAUSSIAN BLUR. This is sneaky, but if you apply a high level (between 2 and 4 pixels, something you'd never use on a top layer) to the middle layer, you can create a very nice slight smudge effect n the border.

Here, I've temporarily moved the layers window to show clearly the relationship between cause and effect.



Now, I'm almost satsfied with that as a base, but I want to give it just one more tiny effect. I'm going to select the bottom, plain brown layer and go to FILTER --> NOISE --> ADD NOISE. Setting it to 3.00%, checking Gaussian, and checking Monochromatic produces an effect I'm happy with:



Now, because this is meant to be a simple icon, I don't want to apply any brushwork. As far as I'm concerned, the base is finished. It's time to add text!

In the first image, you can see I've pointed to the TEXT PALETTE. I find this to be a massively useful tool. If you don't have it visible, but you'd like to, you can get it by going to WINDOW and then checking off CHARACTER. I strongly recommend it, if you can make the room. And when I haven't had the room, I've been known to take out the Color/Swatches/Styles palette, because I use it about 2% as much as I use the Text Palette.

So anyway, that said, I choose my TEXT TOOL and then I write something. Hurrah! I've chosen a font called Marydale; it's available for download at dafont.com.



You can see here the settings I've chosen. That's all personal preference, but I like the total effect on this icon.

I find that once I've created a text layer, there are two good ways to move it around. If I'm going to use the mouse, then I select the MOVE TOOL (top right corner of the tools palette) and then I zoom in the image to 500% or more, because that way you get fine movement. However, lately I've been using the keyboard, in which case I still want the MOVE TOOL selected, but then I leave my image at it's native size and just use the left/right/up/down arrows to nudge it around until it's someplace I like it. Today, I like it over on the right.



We're getting close to done, now, it's time for just a few finishing touches.

Over in the Tools Palette, select your pencil tool (you can get this by clicking and holding down for a moment on the brush tool, or by right-clicking on the brush tool).

Now, go up to the bar across the screen. It'll say "Brush:" and then have a shape and a number, with a little down arrow attached. Click the little down arrow, and something somewhat like this should happen:



Choose "Square Brushes" (that's a default set that comes with Photoshop; as you can tell, I've got a reasonable number of custom brushes loaded). Pick the 1 pixel brush.

Now, this is the time to zoom in as far as you can on your icon. I recommend 600% or more if you can swing it, but less will do as long as you're careful.

We're going to Shift+CTRL+N to create a new layer again. This time, fill in a name so you don't get confused. I'm calling mine "lines," for a reason that will shortly be obvious.

Now. I'm going to pick a place where I want my line to start. I'm going to click it, then I'm going to HOLD DOWN THE SHIFT KEY. Now I'm going to click on the place where I want my line to end. Having done it twice, I get this image:



Holding down shift has allowed me to create straight lines, you see. Now, I could leave it here, but I don't like the brightness of those lines, so I'm going to mess 'em up a little.

Making sure I've selected my "lines" layer, I'm going to go to Filter --> ADD NOISE again, just like before. I'm using the Gaussian and monochromatic settings again, but this time I've upped it to 75% to make it show. If you try it, you'll understand what I mean. In this case, the best setting could be anywhere from 40% to 80%; pick one that works for you.

Now I like it better, but it's still not perfect as far as I'm concerned, so I'm going to do one more thing. In my LAYERS MENU, I'm going to double-click the "lines" layer. That brings up the LAYER STYLE settings.



Click on the TEXT that says "color overlay," not just the checkbox. That'll bring you to the color overlay settings. To change the color, click that red square. It'll bring up the standard color picker. When you've got the color picker open, anywhere else on screen you put your cursor, pretty much, it'll turn into an eyedropper. So just make sure you move the windows so that you can see your icon, and then pick the border color. In my case, that brown looks best on the lines with the overlay opacity set to 64%.

Now take a good long look at your icon. I like the simplicity of this one, and so I'm going to call it done.

Because it is an image with no transparencies, I can flatten it with no trouble. I go to LAYER --> FLATTEN IMAGE, then I go to FILE --> SAVE AS and save it as a *.jpg file, quality 10 or 11.

And here it is:



All told, making an icon like this takes me about ten minutes now, because I know how to use all the tools. And that's the key, really: Photoshop is a program of powerful tools and once you know how to use them, you can do anything. I hope this has helped some people learn something fun about Photoshop. If you follow the tutorial I'd love to see what icons you come up with!