Icon Tutorial

Here is the icon that I have created a tutorial for. Granted, there are tons of better ones out there :) This tutorial was made for Adobe Photoshop Elements, so you should be able to do this in Photoshop.





To start off we want the base image. This is from Thalassa's SG1 DVD Captures. Our subject is Lieutent Jennifer Hailey. Here is your base image if you wish to follow along.



Now I have cropped it down to this one, but have not resized it yet.




I. Duplicate the image twice. You will have a background, background copy, and background copy 1

II. On background copy (this should be between Background and Background Copy 1):
Guassian Blur at a 2.4 || Motion Blur at an angle of 0 and 27 in strength

III. Click on Background Copy 1 and go Filter > Sharpen >> Sharpen More, and you get the below image




I. Create a new layer ontop of Background Copy 1 and use the Gradient Tool. Set it to Reflected Gradient. Use colors #FFF6EO for the lighter color and #C2DCA3 for the darker. Make a diagnal fill.

II. Go to Enhance > Color >> Hue/Saturation and change the Hue to -77



III. Set the Gradient Layer to "Hard Light" and lower Opacity to 60%. Now go back to Hue/Saturation and change it's Saturation down to (-22).
Here is the newest version now:



Now open the image of the Stargate Worm Hole traveling thing. (See here). Copy this image.

I. Paste image on top of the Gradient Layer, moving it so the bright line runs across Lieuntent Hailey's neck. Set the Layer Opacity to 45% and place on "Overlay".



RESIZE THE IMAGE TO 100X100



Now create 2 New layers on top of your Stargate Worm Hole layer.

I. On Layer one, use the following border using the color #A6757E, and then set the layer to "Multiply"



II. On Layer Two, use the following border using the color #A6757E, and then set the layer to "Screen" m



Here is our image so far:



Using the text Arial Black, write "adventure", no capitals.
Below that, using Copperplate Gothic Light, write "AWAITS". It will automatically be in CAPS without holding down Shift/Caps Lock.
Make sure that the font size is set t 8 for "adventure" and 11 for "AWAITS".
For the color of the font, use #FFE4DD.
Drop Shadow both txt layers using "LOW"

Create a new layer under the borders and use color #DC89A6 to make a box with the Marquee tool underneath your font.
Now use the Lasso tool and adjust the box to fit the text.

Here is our image:


Now set the box to "Hard Light". Set the text both to "Screen".



I went back and added a small star brush at a white-yellow and hit OVERLAY, and changed the opacity to 32%. Here's our finished Icon!