why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

My very first icon tutorial. Because I want to feel special. :P VERY image-intensive. This tutorial is for PS7, but I'm sure it's translatable (I just haven't translated it...)

Because Donnie Darko is just the kickingest movie ever, and there are SO many great possibilites for icons... um... here is one. It's my first tutorial, so please let me know if there's anything unclear.

We start with this cap (from... I don't remember where):

I use the crop tool set at 100 x 100 pixels, to get this:

Now, that's a little dark, so I duplicate the layer, and set it to Screen at 100%, giving us this:

It's still a little dark for what we want to do with it, so let's duplicate the screened layer:

Okay, much better. Now, make a new layer and flood fill it with a dark blue color, such as #0E0061

Set that layer to Exclusion at 41% opacity. We get this:

Now, make a new layer, and fill it with a gradient that goes from #003366 to #A3A4FE (or just copy-paste this one)

Set the gradient to Screen at 54% opacity.

Okay, now this step might seem a little extraneous, but trust me - it really makes a difference. Make a new layer and flood fill it with #000000.

Set the layer to Color at 5% opacity. It's very subtle, but really helps give all the Screened layers depth.

Now make a new layer (SO many layers.... ), and flood-fill it with #FFFFFF. Then create a layer mask, and find a nice texture/blur brush to use. (But DON'T use the 'paintbrush' tool, use the 'eraser' tool) I used one that's credited to Ellicons. (I'm not sure of the LJ username... if anyone knows, please let me know so I can credit properly). Set that 18% opacity.

Another new layer!! This time, take another texture brush (again, I used a texture/blur brush from Ellicons), using #00000 for the color.

Set that to Soft Light at 54% opacity.

Now for the fancy stuff! Select everything (CTRL+A), and Copy Merged (CTRL+SHIFT+C). Paste onto a new layer on top of everything. Push it over until Donnie's face is off to the side, covering Frank (the bunny). Set it on Overlay at 90% opacity.

We end up with this:

It's a little hard to see Frank, so duplicate the screened layer again, and set it on Soft Light at 100% opacity. Now you can still see the second Donnie, but you also have the outline of Frank in there... that kind of ghost image.

Now with the Marquee Select tool, make a thin rectangle vertically between the second Donnie image and the main image. Make a new layer, and flood fill that selection with #000000. Set it to Soft Light at 100% opacity.