Full Icon Tutorial - Guenivere - Photoshop 7
Ah huh. Well, I had a bit of spare time on my hands, so I thought I'd write up a tutorial for this icon:
So, if you're interested, follow me under the cut!
For those who want to follow this tutorial along, I've linked to the screencap that I used...Right Here. I'm going to assume you know how to do basic functions in Photoshop (or whichever program you are using), such as cropping, using gradients, and using layers. If you need any particular help, comment and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Ok. So after opening the cap in your program, we want to crop it to a 100px x 100px square.
We then have something that looks a little something like this:
Now, that picture is fairly dark, so what we want to do is lighten it. There are many ways to do this, so feel free to do it in whichever way you like, or you could do the same as I do...mind you, this is filched from many other icon makers, and is a fairly common practice.
What you need to do is duplicate your layer and change the blending mode on the layer palette to screen. Then do that again. Then again, but this time, change the blending mode to soft light. Your layer palette should look a little something like this at this stage:
And your icon a little something like this:
Now, that has some serious fluoro green vibes happening, so we have to do something about that. To remedy fluoro green in this case we are going to desaturate the base layer and the second screen layer. To desaturate, select the layer and go Image --> Adjustments --> Desaturate or select the layer and press Shift+Ctrl+U. Good? Good.
So now our icon should have more of a subtle green tinge, rather than knock-your-eyes-out green.
Like this:
That's all well and good, but it's really not what we are after, so we have to do a little colour tweaking.
Create a new layer and flood fill with #421F4E, a dark purple colour. Change the blend mode to exclusion at 100%.
Create another new layer and flood fill this one with #CEC596, a creamy beige. Change the blend mode to colour at about 50%, give or take.
Merge visible layers and sharpen the image.
We should now have a lovely muted colour sharpened Guenivere upon which to work our magic. She should look something like this:
Ok. The next step will give her a little of the pretty reddy yellow colouring.
New Layer:
Choose the dark red colour #572218, and make a colour to transparent gradient from the bottom right corner. Blending mode: Multiply.
New Layer:
Choose a nice tan colour, like #C38E63, and make a colour to transparent gradient from the top left corner. Blending mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Select a splodgy sort of brush: I used one by vered, which you can find here. With the same tan colour, create a bit of contrast at the bottom. Blending Mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Select a screen brush: I used one by Booster Rocket, which you can find here. With a lighter colour, like #C39F81, use the brush lightly. Blending Mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Choose the following gradient from your gradient list (it is PS default - called steel bar), or copy this picture and paste it on top of your icon as a new layer. Blending mode: Overlay.
Now, hasn't she started looking pretty?
New Layer:
Select your pencil tool, with the 19px circular brush. Colour #D2BD98. Line your brush up with the bottom of the icon press shift, to keep the line straight, and create a nice thick line - making sure the edge is straight, especially near the corners. Repeat for the top of the icon. Blending Mode: Screen.
Duplicate Layer:
Opacity: 50% give or take.
New Layer:
Select a nice orangey colour like #F6A769, and with a scribble brush (I used one from vered again) scribble over the edges of the lines that we just made, making the scribbles thick in some places, thin in others. Use your imagination. Blend Mode: Colour Burn.
New Layer:
Select a grungy screen brush, I used one by Calixa, which you can find here. With a dark red, like #602920, apply the brush. With your eraser tool, erase all parts of the brush that are on the main image. Blending mode: Linear Burn.
New Layer:
Using the same red colour, choose a splatter brush. I used brushes by
inxsomniax and teh_indy, but there are lots of splatter brushes out there. Apply the brush(es) where you think it will look good. Blending mode: Multiply.
New Layer:
Using that red colour again, use the same scribble brush as you did with the orange and use the same technique, only this time, make the red lines thinner, and make sure you can still see some of the orange through it. Blending mode: Linear Burn.
New Layer:
Okay, last effect. Select the orangey colour again #F6A769, and create a reflected transparent to colour gradient across the image, in the opposite direction to the gradient that you did before. Blending Mode: Linear Dodge. Erase the gradient off her face with a large soft eged eraser.
Text Layer:
Now, I'm really bad at text at times, and this happened to be one of those times. With the dark red colour from the other layers, I wrote 'Guenivere' in Georgia, all caps, at 4pt, sharp antialias. Blending Mode: Normal. I put it at the bottom of the arrow. So, whatever, do what you want with text, because I am teh suxors.
And viola! With the text added, we have our completed icon. Isn't she pretty?
I hope this tutorial helped someone. I'd love to see anything that you guys made from it. Also, if you need any clarification on any of the steps, just let me know by commenting, and I'll help you out.
Feel free to share this icon, with credit of course.
So, if you're interested, follow me under the cut!
For those who want to follow this tutorial along, I've linked to the screencap that I used...Right Here. I'm going to assume you know how to do basic functions in Photoshop (or whichever program you are using), such as cropping, using gradients, and using layers. If you need any particular help, comment and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Ok. So after opening the cap in your program, we want to crop it to a 100px x 100px square.
We then have something that looks a little something like this:
Now, that picture is fairly dark, so what we want to do is lighten it. There are many ways to do this, so feel free to do it in whichever way you like, or you could do the same as I do...mind you, this is filched from many other icon makers, and is a fairly common practice.
What you need to do is duplicate your layer and change the blending mode on the layer palette to screen. Then do that again. Then again, but this time, change the blending mode to soft light. Your layer palette should look a little something like this at this stage:
And your icon a little something like this:
Now, that has some serious fluoro green vibes happening, so we have to do something about that. To remedy fluoro green in this case we are going to desaturate the base layer and the second screen layer. To desaturate, select the layer and go Image --> Adjustments --> Desaturate or select the layer and press Shift+Ctrl+U. Good? Good.
So now our icon should have more of a subtle green tinge, rather than knock-your-eyes-out green.
Like this:
That's all well and good, but it's really not what we are after, so we have to do a little colour tweaking.
Create a new layer and flood fill with #421F4E, a dark purple colour. Change the blend mode to exclusion at 100%.
Create another new layer and flood fill this one with #CEC596, a creamy beige. Change the blend mode to colour at about 50%, give or take.
Merge visible layers and sharpen the image.
We should now have a lovely muted colour sharpened Guenivere upon which to work our magic. She should look something like this:
Ok. The next step will give her a little of the pretty reddy yellow colouring.
New Layer:
Choose the dark red colour #572218, and make a colour to transparent gradient from the bottom right corner. Blending mode: Multiply.
New Layer:
Choose a nice tan colour, like #C38E63, and make a colour to transparent gradient from the top left corner. Blending mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Select a splodgy sort of brush: I used one by vered, which you can find here. With the same tan colour, create a bit of contrast at the bottom. Blending Mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Select a screen brush: I used one by Booster Rocket, which you can find here. With a lighter colour, like #C39F81, use the brush lightly. Blending Mode: Overlay.
New Layer:
Choose the following gradient from your gradient list (it is PS default - called steel bar), or copy this picture and paste it on top of your icon as a new layer. Blending mode: Overlay.
Now, hasn't she started looking pretty?
New Layer:
Select your pencil tool, with the 19px circular brush. Colour #D2BD98. Line your brush up with the bottom of the icon press shift, to keep the line straight, and create a nice thick line - making sure the edge is straight, especially near the corners. Repeat for the top of the icon. Blending Mode: Screen.
Duplicate Layer:
Opacity: 50% give or take.
New Layer:
Select a nice orangey colour like #F6A769, and with a scribble brush (I used one from vered again) scribble over the edges of the lines that we just made, making the scribbles thick in some places, thin in others. Use your imagination. Blend Mode: Colour Burn.
New Layer:
Select a grungy screen brush, I used one by Calixa, which you can find here. With a dark red, like #602920, apply the brush. With your eraser tool, erase all parts of the brush that are on the main image. Blending mode: Linear Burn.
New Layer:
Using the same red colour, choose a splatter brush. I used brushes by
inxsomniax and teh_indy, but there are lots of splatter brushes out there. Apply the brush(es) where you think it will look good. Blending mode: Multiply.New Layer:
Using that red colour again, use the same scribble brush as you did with the orange and use the same technique, only this time, make the red lines thinner, and make sure you can still see some of the orange through it. Blending mode: Linear Burn.
New Layer:
Okay, last effect. Select the orangey colour again #F6A769, and create a reflected transparent to colour gradient across the image, in the opposite direction to the gradient that you did before. Blending Mode: Linear Dodge. Erase the gradient off her face with a large soft eged eraser.
Text Layer:
Now, I'm really bad at text at times, and this happened to be one of those times. With the dark red colour from the other layers, I wrote 'Guenivere' in Georgia, all caps, at 4pt, sharp antialias. Blending Mode: Normal. I put it at the bottom of the arrow. So, whatever, do what you want with text, because I am teh suxors.
And viola! With the text added, we have our completed icon. Isn't she pretty?
I hope this tutorial helped someone. I'd love to see anything that you guys made from it. Also, if you need any clarification on any of the steps, just let me know by commenting, and I'll help you out.
Feel free to share this icon, with credit of course.