First Ever Tutorial
I was asked ever-so-politely by 
anathem to do this tutorial, so here it is. It's my first ever tutorial, so please be gentle. ;)
We will be making this:
from this.
Thirteen steps, PS7, should be translatable.
Warning: Somewhat image-heavy.
Okay, so we'll be using a pic of NASCAR driver (and 2007 Daytona 500 winner) Kevin Harvick for this tut. (Photo from kevinharvick.com).
Take this picture:
And we'll crop it like this:
Note: This tutorial works best with darkish backgrounds, or at least photos without a lot of white or light colors in the background.
Next, resize to 100x100 and sharpen once (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen).
Use the blur tool, set the opacity to around 70-75% and pick a soft, fairly small brush (9px is good to start with). Carefully use the brush over the skin only, smoothing it out until it looks very smooth.
Note: If you’re using a picture from a photo shoot, you won’t need the blur setting so high because the skin will likely have already been somewhat airbrushed. This high setting applies to pictures that, like the example, were not airbrushed previously.
Pick a smaller brush, probably around 5px, turn the blur setting down to somewhere around 25% and go over the skin with some finer detail: i.e. closer to the eyes and around the lips. Also, if the subject has stubble, use a lower blur setting to smooth it out without losing too much detail.
Next, select the sharpen tool, set it to 90% and use a hard brush at 1px. Zoom close to the eyes and carefully use the sharpen tool on the eyes. Make sure you stick to the whites and pupils of the eyes and don’t get the skin around the eyes. You can do this until you’re satisfied with the sharpness of the eyes.
Duplicate the background layer and desaturate it. Set the desaturate layer to screen.
Duplicate the desaturated layer and set the duplicate layer to overlay.
Duplicate the overlay layer and set opacity to 73%.
Hint: For some photos, a duplicate of the screen layer may be required to make the image bright enough, while others may require playing around the opacities of one of the overlay layers. Each image is different and you should experiment to get the right look.
Use this texture:
(from a now-defunct site, ofthesky.com) and set to overlay, opacity 60%.
Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N). Fill the layer with #C69D63 and set to Multiply at 10%.
Create another new layer. Fill the layer with #151753 and set to Exclusion at 24%.
Use this texture:
(from ofthesky.com) and set to color burn, opacity 30%.
Take this texture:
(from rather grungy #1 by 77words) and set to soft light, opacity 28%.
Flatten your image and add a border (if you want) and you’re done. :)
Final Image:
Other icons made with this technique:
anathem to do this tutorial, so here it is. It's my first ever tutorial, so please be gentle. ;)We will be making this:
from this.
Thirteen steps, PS7, should be translatable.
Warning: Somewhat image-heavy.
Okay, so we'll be using a pic of NASCAR driver (and 2007 Daytona 500 winner) Kevin Harvick for this tut. (Photo from kevinharvick.com).
Take this picture:
And we'll crop it like this:
Note: This tutorial works best with darkish backgrounds, or at least photos without a lot of white or light colors in the background.
Next, resize to 100x100 and sharpen once (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen).
Use the blur tool, set the opacity to around 70-75% and pick a soft, fairly small brush (9px is good to start with). Carefully use the brush over the skin only, smoothing it out until it looks very smooth.
Note: If you’re using a picture from a photo shoot, you won’t need the blur setting so high because the skin will likely have already been somewhat airbrushed. This high setting applies to pictures that, like the example, were not airbrushed previously.
Pick a smaller brush, probably around 5px, turn the blur setting down to somewhere around 25% and go over the skin with some finer detail: i.e. closer to the eyes and around the lips. Also, if the subject has stubble, use a lower blur setting to smooth it out without losing too much detail.
Next, select the sharpen tool, set it to 90% and use a hard brush at 1px. Zoom close to the eyes and carefully use the sharpen tool on the eyes. Make sure you stick to the whites and pupils of the eyes and don’t get the skin around the eyes. You can do this until you’re satisfied with the sharpness of the eyes.
Duplicate the background layer and desaturate it. Set the desaturate layer to screen.
Duplicate the desaturated layer and set the duplicate layer to overlay.
Duplicate the overlay layer and set opacity to 73%.
Hint: For some photos, a duplicate of the screen layer may be required to make the image bright enough, while others may require playing around the opacities of one of the overlay layers. Each image is different and you should experiment to get the right look.
Use this texture:
(from a now-defunct site, ofthesky.com) and set to overlay, opacity 60%. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N). Fill the layer with #C69D63 and set to Multiply at 10%.
Create another new layer. Fill the layer with #151753 and set to Exclusion at 24%.
Use this texture:
(from ofthesky.com) and set to color burn, opacity 30%. Take this texture:
(from rather grungy #1 by 77words) and set to soft light, opacity 28%. Flatten your image and add a border (if you want) and you’re done. :)
Final Image:
Other icons made with this technique: