GIMP Tutorial: using the "Oilify" function
There's a trend these days to use very sharp, crisp bases and colorfully enchance them, but sometimes it's fun to go in the opposite direction and make a crisp photograph or screencap look a bit more like a painting. Enter the "Oilify" function.
I created this tutorial using GIMP 2.4, but you should be able to carry the basic ideas across programs if you understand my reasoning. Please ask questions if you aren't clear about why I did something!
We're going to go from this:
To this:
Start with your basic screencap:
I got this screencap from Lost Media Gallery.
Crop and resize to 100 x 100. I find that an interesting off-center crop will set off any text or brushes or textures you may choose later on.
Sharpen the image fairly severely – how much will depend on the picture, but more than you ordinarily would. This is because when we add the Oilify effect later on, it will blur the image considerably. So the sharpening here is less about achieving crisp lines than about clearly delineating where one color ends and another begins.
Duplicate the base twice and set both layers to screen, just because her face is in shadow here. Use the Screen function at your own discretion – if you started with a lighter or brighter image than I did, then you won't want a 200% screen effect!
Create a new layer of solid #8bbeed:
. . . and set it to Burn 100. This brings out the glinting of the sun in her hair by giving it its own color. You can use another color to do this with, too, but blue is a popular one because it enhances shadows and contrast without increasing the amount of red in the icon.
Now go to Edit > Copy Visible, and paste as a new layer set to Normal 100, so you can manipulate the image you see without having to do the same thing to every layer individually.
Go to Colors > Levels and adjust the active layer with the following settings:
Value: 25 2.49 227
This washes the picture out a bit, while enhancing the bright points of color. This will make our final Oilified image more defined and less smudgy.
Entirely desaturate the red channel on that layer (if you like a more orange-tint in your icons, then go ahead and skip this step. I personally don't like the orange and blue look of so many icons these days.)
Duplicate the #8bbeed color layer and set it to Burn 100.
Again, Copy Visible and paste as a new layer. Go to Filters > Artistic > Oilify . . . with the following settings:
mask size 3, exponent 1, check intensity algorithm but not the other two checkboxes (I believe this is the default setting)
This is the actual effect we've been building to. It makes the image look less like a perfect, high-res photo and more like an artist's rendition of the character.
Duplicate and set to Overlay 100. This emphasizes the contrasts and heightens the colors, which fade a bit in the Oilification process.
I added this texture from Shatterheart as a new layer:
Take the texture layer and Color to Alpha, choosing white (#ffffff) as the transparency color. Leave the layer on Normal 100. I don't want to just set it to screen or overlay, because I like the color balance I've already achieved with my icon, and this would mess it up.
I added the text "kate" in white (#ffffff) in font "striiikerr" (from dafont.com). I rotated the text +2 degrees, so it lined up with the diagonal lines in the texture, slightly overlapping her face in order to unify the image and the texture a bit more.
Add a drop shadow to the text with the following settings:
drop shadow: offset X: 1, Y: 1, blur radius: 2, color: #78b6d2. Do not allow resizing, and set to opacity of 100.
Duplicate the drop shadow.
We're almost done, but we need a border to make it look really finished. Create a new layer of color #d6e2fa. Go to Select > Select All, then Select > Shrink. Shrink by 1 pixel, then delete the interior, leaving you with a 1 pixel border. Set the border layer on Hard Light 100, if you want it to reflect the colors and shapes beneath it instead of just being a solid color.
The final product!
I hope you find this helpful and enjoyable, and I'd love to see what everyone comes up with!
I created this tutorial using GIMP 2.4, but you should be able to carry the basic ideas across programs if you understand my reasoning. Please ask questions if you aren't clear about why I did something!
We're going to go from this:
To this:
Start with your basic screencap:
I got this screencap from Lost Media Gallery.
Crop and resize to 100 x 100. I find that an interesting off-center crop will set off any text or brushes or textures you may choose later on.
Sharpen the image fairly severely – how much will depend on the picture, but more than you ordinarily would. This is because when we add the Oilify effect later on, it will blur the image considerably. So the sharpening here is less about achieving crisp lines than about clearly delineating where one color ends and another begins.
Duplicate the base twice and set both layers to screen, just because her face is in shadow here. Use the Screen function at your own discretion – if you started with a lighter or brighter image than I did, then you won't want a 200% screen effect!
Create a new layer of solid #8bbeed:
. . . and set it to Burn 100. This brings out the glinting of the sun in her hair by giving it its own color. You can use another color to do this with, too, but blue is a popular one because it enhances shadows and contrast without increasing the amount of red in the icon.
Now go to Edit > Copy Visible, and paste as a new layer set to Normal 100, so you can manipulate the image you see without having to do the same thing to every layer individually.
Go to Colors > Levels and adjust the active layer with the following settings:
Value: 25 2.49 227
This washes the picture out a bit, while enhancing the bright points of color. This will make our final Oilified image more defined and less smudgy.
Entirely desaturate the red channel on that layer (if you like a more orange-tint in your icons, then go ahead and skip this step. I personally don't like the orange and blue look of so many icons these days.)
Duplicate the #8bbeed color layer and set it to Burn 100.
Again, Copy Visible and paste as a new layer. Go to Filters > Artistic > Oilify . . . with the following settings:
mask size 3, exponent 1, check intensity algorithm but not the other two checkboxes (I believe this is the default setting)
This is the actual effect we've been building to. It makes the image look less like a perfect, high-res photo and more like an artist's rendition of the character.
Duplicate and set to Overlay 100. This emphasizes the contrasts and heightens the colors, which fade a bit in the Oilification process.
I added this texture from Shatterheart as a new layer:
Take the texture layer and Color to Alpha, choosing white (#ffffff) as the transparency color. Leave the layer on Normal 100. I don't want to just set it to screen or overlay, because I like the color balance I've already achieved with my icon, and this would mess it up.
I added the text "kate" in white (#ffffff) in font "striiikerr" (from dafont.com). I rotated the text +2 degrees, so it lined up with the diagonal lines in the texture, slightly overlapping her face in order to unify the image and the texture a bit more.
Add a drop shadow to the text with the following settings:
drop shadow: offset X: 1, Y: 1, blur radius: 2, color: #78b6d2. Do not allow resizing, and set to opacity of 100.
Duplicate the drop shadow.
We're almost done, but we need a border to make it look really finished. Create a new layer of color #d6e2fa. Go to Select > Select All, then Select > Shrink. Shrink by 1 pixel, then delete the interior, leaving you with a 1 pixel border. Set the border layer on Hard Light 100, if you want it to reflect the colors and shapes beneath it instead of just being a solid color.
The final product!
I hope you find this helpful and enjoyable, and I'd love to see what everyone comes up with!