sciosophia wrote in icon_tutorial


In this tutorial you’ll learn to make this icon

 



This tutorial is for Photoshop 6. 



So, I start off with an image that I found on Google. I crop the selection that I want from my picture using the rectangular marquee tool (press shift when you make your selection and it will stay a square) and then copy and paste it as a new image in a new document (ctrl+c, ctrl+n, enter, crtl+v).

 

Now I have this



This is too big for what I want, so resize it to 100x100 pixels (image>image size>100x100)




So, now it’s the right size, but I don’t think its light enough so I duplicate the layer twice (layer>duplicate layer) and set both to screen (layer>layer style>blending options>screen). Now some of the lighter details are lost so duplicate it twice again and set both to soft light, then duplicate once again and set to multiply.

 

 

It’s a bit too orange now, so I duplicate the layer once more and set it to colour. This is better, but now it’s a bit dark so I duplicate it once again and set it to screen. Lower the opacity of the screen layer to 44%. You should get something like this.

 

 
 

This is much better, but I’m still not overly happy with all the peachy tones, so I create a new layer and flood fill it with Pastel Cyan Blue using the Paint Bucket tool.

 
 

 

I set this layer to overlay at 77%

 

(You don’t have to do any of this step if you’re happy with the peachier look of the icon without it, but I usually put a layer of this colour in all of my icons with some sort of blending option applied.) 

 

 

 

Now I’ve got this. Next I use a texture from Tre-Textures.com and crop a 100x100 square from it to get this
 

 

 

I paste this as new layer on my icon. Because I want the most textured part to be over the background rather than her face I then flip it horizontally (edit>transform>flip horizontal)
 

 

 

Next, I set the layer to screen and I get this

 

 

  

This is good, but I want her face to be more visible, so I get my eraser, set the opacity to around 55% and use my 20 pixel soft round brush to erase out the part of the layer that’s over her face and body. 

 

 

  

That’s much better. If you’re going to add text, that’s the next step - I decide to simply put ‘Kelly’. The font I used is JaneAusten from dafont.com at point 14 (although I wouldn’t trust my point sizes if I were you because they don’t seem to conform to normal rules on my computer and like to change depending on which document’s open) and the colour is a dark brown I selected from the background using the eyedropper tool.

 

 

  

Now I’ve got this, but I’m not sure if the font is visible enough, so I create a new layer (layer>new>layer) underneath the text, run my eyedropper tool over the picture until I spot a colour I like (in this case a sort of mint-green I actually found in her hair), get my Chalk 17 Pixels brush (this comes with my version of Photoshop but I’m sure something similar will be easily available from somewhere)


 

 

And run a simple line beneath the text in a technique that I pinched from the lovely bofbanoff, so that I’m left with this

 


Hallelujah! The finished product!

 
I hope this tutorial was helpful and be sure to let me know! 

xx

LJ Video