Icon Tutorial Using the GIMP
Hi all I made a great icon for a friend and thought i would do a little tutorial on how i made it....
Go from THIS to
Program Used: the GIMP
Basic knowledge of layering and coloring is needed
Basic knowledge of feathering is needed
Yea so i am not the best cropper and resizer so none of that was used in making this icon..
First open your program and go FILE>NEW Set the dimensions 100x100px
Now go FILE>OPEN AS LAYER Locate the image and open it.
It's going to be really big so grab your MOVE Tool and move it till it's within the box where you want it.
Now go TOOLS>COLORS TOOLS>COLORIZE
EXAMPLE HERE
Desaturate the image..Set the lightness to where you want it...
Once that's finished you can merge the layers
IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS
This should leave just the 100x100 desaturated image.
Okay now for the fun stuff....
Go LAYERS>NEW LAYER Leve this layer transparent..This layer will be on top of your base
Okay so now you have your transparent layer on top and base layer under it....We are going to color her eyes first... KUDOS TO
jovi_diva FOR TEACHING ME THIS
Select the tranparent layer...Now with your PAINT Brush tool select a color i used green..And select the smallest size brush you have and slowly and carefully color in her eyes..Don't be afraid to use the zoom feature here.
VIEW>ZOOM>ZOOM IN to back out of that mode go back to VIEW>ZOOM>ZOOM IN Seclect 1:1 (100%)
Yes it looks funky so with the tranparent layer still selected set it to either SOFT LIGHT OR OVERLAY play around to get the best effect...
Fun yes???? okay now her lips...For this i selected 2 colors i liked FOREGROUND & BACKGROUND colors and then in the main GIMP window selected USE COLOR FROM GRADIENT
EXAMPLE HERE
Now in the layers box make sure your transparent background is selected and with the brush you used for the eyes carefully color in her lips...Again ustalize the zoom here it's handy...Remember using a gradient to do it all in one contiuious motion to get the color blending effect...
Now she is colored... Go </b>IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS</b> YAY Onto the hair.For this go FILE>OPENAS LAYER Locate the original image of Stevie or whoever your using and open it. Grab your MOVE Tool in the layers box select the new layer and set it to screen so you can see the desaturated image under it and move the new layer into place..make sure you place it directly over the other image..
EXAMPLE HERE
Now in the layers box select the desaturated layer and duplicate it once. Move the duplicated layer above the colored layer..
The layers box should look like so:
Desaturated copy
Colored layer
Desaturated Base
Using the ERASER tool carefully erase her hair...The colored portion will show through..Again zoom is your friend....
EXAMPLE HERE
Okay now save that image and put it where you can find it...
Go FILE>OPEN and open a texture you like...
I used this
By missymw88icons
The i went FILE>OPEN AS LAYER located the image i just saved and opened it on it.
Now in your main GIMP windo select the LASSO TOOL Carefully draw around the image. Once you have a selected region go up to SELECT>FEATHER leave the feather set at 5.00 once you feathered hit CTRL+I Then hit CTRL+K To clear it and keep doing that step untill it's blended where you like it...then go SELECT>NONE
EXAMPLE HERE
now you can set the top layer to screen or hard light if you'd like a bit more background blending...i personally liked Darken Only...Play with this to get the best for your image..
Once dont go IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS
Now you can add embeleshments..And text..How i added the text sideways was i rotated the image typed my text and outlined it..then rotated my image back...when i did this i found that in the process of rotation it cut some off the sides what i did to correct this was i opened a new layer and used the same texture as before then the blur brush to blend it in...
You can have fun with it and play around...
My finished result:
A tutorial on how to outline text can be found HERE
Any questions feel free to ask
Go from THIS to
Program Used: the GIMP
Basic knowledge of layering and coloring is needed
Basic knowledge of feathering is needed
Yea so i am not the best cropper and resizer so none of that was used in making this icon..
First open your program and go FILE>NEW Set the dimensions 100x100px
Now go FILE>OPEN AS LAYER Locate the image and open it.
It's going to be really big so grab your MOVE Tool and move it till it's within the box where you want it.
Now go TOOLS>COLORS TOOLS>COLORIZE
EXAMPLE HERE
Desaturate the image..Set the lightness to where you want it...
Once that's finished you can merge the layers
IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS
This should leave just the 100x100 desaturated image.
Okay now for the fun stuff....
Go LAYERS>NEW LAYER Leve this layer transparent..This layer will be on top of your base
Okay so now you have your transparent layer on top and base layer under it....We are going to color her eyes first... KUDOS TO
jovi_diva FOR TEACHING ME THIS Select the tranparent layer...Now with your PAINT Brush tool select a color i used green..And select the smallest size brush you have and slowly and carefully color in her eyes..Don't be afraid to use the zoom feature here.
VIEW>ZOOM>ZOOM IN to back out of that mode go back to VIEW>ZOOM>ZOOM IN Seclect 1:1 (100%)
Yes it looks funky so with the tranparent layer still selected set it to either SOFT LIGHT OR OVERLAY play around to get the best effect...
Fun yes???? okay now her lips...For this i selected 2 colors i liked FOREGROUND & BACKGROUND colors and then in the main GIMP window selected USE COLOR FROM GRADIENT
EXAMPLE HERE
Now in the layers box make sure your transparent background is selected and with the brush you used for the eyes carefully color in her lips...Again ustalize the zoom here it's handy...Remember using a gradient to do it all in one contiuious motion to get the color blending effect...
Now she is colored... Go </b>IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS</b> YAY Onto the hair.For this go FILE>OPENAS LAYER Locate the original image of Stevie or whoever your using and open it. Grab your MOVE Tool in the layers box select the new layer and set it to screen so you can see the desaturated image under it and move the new layer into place..make sure you place it directly over the other image..
EXAMPLE HERE
Now in the layers box select the desaturated layer and duplicate it once. Move the duplicated layer above the colored layer..
The layers box should look like so:
Desaturated copy
Colored layer
Desaturated Base
Using the ERASER tool carefully erase her hair...The colored portion will show through..Again zoom is your friend....
EXAMPLE HERE
Okay now save that image and put it where you can find it...
Go FILE>OPEN and open a texture you like...
I used this
By missymw88iconsThe i went FILE>OPEN AS LAYER located the image i just saved and opened it on it.
Now in your main GIMP windo select the LASSO TOOL Carefully draw around the image. Once you have a selected region go up to SELECT>FEATHER leave the feather set at 5.00 once you feathered hit CTRL+I Then hit CTRL+K To clear it and keep doing that step untill it's blended where you like it...then go SELECT>NONE
EXAMPLE HERE
now you can set the top layer to screen or hard light if you'd like a bit more background blending...i personally liked Darken Only...Play with this to get the best for your image..
Once dont go IMAGE>MERGE VISIBLE LAYERS
Now you can add embeleshments..And text..How i added the text sideways was i rotated the image typed my text and outlined it..then rotated my image back...when i did this i found that in the process of rotation it cut some off the sides what i did to correct this was i opened a new layer and used the same texture as before then the blur brush to blend it in...
You can have fun with it and play around...
My finished result:
A tutorial on how to outline text can be found HERE
Any questions feel free to ask