Icon tutorial (with texture)
-For Photoshop CS (or previous)
-Basic to no previous photoshop knowledge needed.
-If you have any comments or doubts, please bring them to
inconformista for faster answer, or leave a comment on this entry and i'll get back to you as soon as possible~
So we are going from THIS IMAGE (Nao-Bassist of Kagrra,) to this icon:
Please note that my photoshop version isn't in english, it's in spanish. So i had to guess how things are named after in english if i couldn't remember lol.
What you need:
-Photoshop CS, although this will totally work on previous versions.
-A texture that we are going to put as a background, kinda. So chose one of your liking or take the one i'm using.
1.Cropping and placing the image
Ok, so first we are going to open the image into photoshop (archive > open).
Then we will create a new document (archive > new). It will be a 100x100 document because we are making an icon, and we will set the background as white.
Now, we will select the move tool (the one that's just like a cursor) from the tool menu on the left, and we will literally drag the Nao pic into the 100x100 document. Now the image is inside the document~
Then, we will crop the image a bit. Go to edit > transform > scale, and change the numbers from the very top of the screen. Lower numbers make the image smaller, higher numbers make the image bigger. Be sure both numbers, for height and width, are the same (for example: 50% - 50%), or else the image will look odd...
So you will scale down the image, try to make it look like this:.
Then all you need to do is align it to the left and you are done with cropping and placing!
2.Background texture
Now, chose a texture you think that matches the concept of the icon, or just take this one, which i used on mine:
Open it on photoshop and drag it into the icon we are making. Then on the layers window (usually to your right), where all layers are stocked, click on the texture you just added and drag it on top of all layers.
3.Making a round selection and taking a piece of texture out
Select the rectangular marquee selector thingie from the left menu and make a selection while having the texture layer selected. Be sure to select the correct place, so that Nao's face show's up once we chomp it out.
Once you selected the area you want to show up, go to the menu on top of the screen (selection > modify > and click the second option from the dropdown menu). Then put 8 pixels as the value. This will make the edges of your selection rounded :3. And NOW we are going to do right click into the selected area and chose (layer via cut // something like that. It's the option that allows you to cut the area and set it as a new layer automatically).
BE CAREFUL!! Don't delete the layer we just cut.
4.Setting the selected area blending mode as soft light.
So we aren't going to literally chomp off the selected area of the texture, we are going now to the layers box. You will see a dropdown menu with multiple options, those are blending modes, very useful when makign graphics. Chose soft light while having the correct layer (the rounded selection) selected.
This will result in two things:
-Having Nao's face show up through a rounded hole of the texture.
-Having Nao's face look lighter and better.
Now, on the layers box, select the Nao pic layer by clicking on it, and sharpen it if you would like to (filter > sharpen / sharpen edges).
We are almost done~!!
5.Setting a text, styling it and saving the icon
If you don't want to put any text on your icon you don't have to, so keep reading :3
I wrote "Smile" on it because that's the first word that comes to my mind when talking about Nao lol. So yeah, basically, i took the text tool from the left menu and wrote Smile. The font i used is Pristina, which i believe can be downloaded at dafont.com.
Then, you can change the colour to match better the icon, put a coloured stroke around the word if you would like (layer > layer style > stroke > i recommend 1 or 2 pixels for the stroke), and you are done!!!
All you need to do after this is be sure the text layer shows up (it must be on top of all other layers) and that the icon looks good~
Saving your icon is easy, just go to archive/file > save as > and save it as .PNG
Why? Graphics simply look a lot better in .png format than .jpg format, they also take soem more space when you save them, but not much.
E N D
More Examples:
Was this helpful? Have you done anything with this tutorial? Be sure to show me in a comment!
-Basic to no previous photoshop knowledge needed.
-If you have any comments or doubts, please bring them to
inconformista for faster answer, or leave a comment on this entry and i'll get back to you as soon as possible~So we are going from THIS IMAGE (Nao-Bassist of Kagrra,) to this icon:
Please note that my photoshop version isn't in english, it's in spanish. So i had to guess how things are named after in english if i couldn't remember lol.
What you need:
-Photoshop CS, although this will totally work on previous versions.
-A texture that we are going to put as a background, kinda. So chose one of your liking or take the one i'm using.
1.Cropping and placing the image
Ok, so first we are going to open the image into photoshop (archive > open).
Then we will create a new document (archive > new). It will be a 100x100 document because we are making an icon, and we will set the background as white.
Now, we will select the move tool (the one that's just like a cursor) from the tool menu on the left, and we will literally drag the Nao pic into the 100x100 document. Now the image is inside the document~
Then, we will crop the image a bit. Go to edit > transform > scale, and change the numbers from the very top of the screen. Lower numbers make the image smaller, higher numbers make the image bigger. Be sure both numbers, for height and width, are the same (for example: 50% - 50%), or else the image will look odd...
So you will scale down the image, try to make it look like this:
.Then all you need to do is align it to the left and you are done with cropping and placing!
2.Background texture
Now, chose a texture you think that matches the concept of the icon, or just take this one, which i used on mine:
Open it on photoshop and drag it into the icon we are making. Then on the layers window (usually to your right), where all layers are stocked, click on the texture you just added and drag it on top of all layers.
3.Making a round selection and taking a piece of texture out
Select the rectangular marquee selector thingie from the left menu and make a selection while having the texture layer selected. Be sure to select the correct place, so that Nao's face show's up once we chomp it out.
Once you selected the area you want to show up, go to the menu on top of the screen (selection > modify > and click the second option from the dropdown menu). Then put 8 pixels as the value. This will make the edges of your selection rounded :3. And NOW we are going to do right click into the selected area and chose (layer via cut // something like that. It's the option that allows you to cut the area and set it as a new layer automatically).
BE CAREFUL!! Don't delete the layer we just cut.
4.Setting the selected area blending mode as soft light.
So we aren't going to literally chomp off the selected area of the texture, we are going now to the layers box. You will see a dropdown menu with multiple options, those are blending modes, very useful when makign graphics. Chose soft light while having the correct layer (the rounded selection) selected.
This will result in two things:
-Having Nao's face show up through a rounded hole of the texture.
-Having Nao's face look lighter and better.
Now, on the layers box, select the Nao pic layer by clicking on it, and sharpen it if you would like to (filter > sharpen / sharpen edges).
We are almost done~!!
5.Setting a text, styling it and saving the icon
If you don't want to put any text on your icon you don't have to, so keep reading :3
I wrote "Smile" on it because that's the first word that comes to my mind when talking about Nao lol. So yeah, basically, i took the text tool from the left menu and wrote Smile. The font i used is Pristina, which i believe can be downloaded at dafont.com.
Then, you can change the colour to match better the icon, put a coloured stroke around the word if you would like (layer > layer style > stroke > i recommend 1 or 2 pixels for the stroke), and you are done!!!
All you need to do after this is be sure the text layer shows up (it must be on top of all other layers) and that the icon looks good~
Saving your icon is easy, just go to archive/file > save as > and save it as .PNG
Why? Graphics simply look a lot better in .png format than .jpg format, they also take soem more space when you save them, but not much.
E N D
More Examples:
Was this helpful? Have you done anything with this tutorial? Be sure to show me in a comment!