Tutorial PS7
in photoshop7
involves selective coloring...sorry :(
other examples:
curves: reason of this at the end
rgb;
1st point: 106, 128
2nd point: 137, 156
color balance: shadows is MY best friend, unlike many others, i make it RED-abnormal so i can fix it later myself to MY liking.
midtones; 57, 8, 10
shadows; 18, 1, -14
[[if the icon is tooo red, you can also set this layer on lighten/darker; depends on your icon]]
curves: now its time to fix it
red;
1st point: 117, 100
2nd point: 170, 167
green;
1st point: 105, 118
2nd point: 196, 214
selective coloring: sorry psp users, i didn't feel like working around it :(
reds: -71, 15, 47, 0 [i didn't want to go too crazy with the reds]
yellows: -10, 4, -14, 0 [&the same with the yellows]
[[EVEN WITH THIS LOW COLORING, IT COULD MAKE YOUR ICON REALLY RED, TO "FIX" IT, JUST SET THIS LAYER ON lighten, OR EVEN darken. IT USUALLY HELPS]]
color balance:
midtones; -21, -5, 4
shadows; 6, -1, 1
selective coloring:
neutrals; 8, -12, -16,0 [while i made this the 8 used to be a higher number, but looking at the finished product it was way too blue, so...don't be shy and changing/editing numbers. it doesn't hurt!]
brightness/contrast:
0, 7
going back to the beginning:
to go along with looking at final product, i also noticed that the icon was wayy to dark, so i went back to my base and produced that first curves layer seen in step one---which is technically the last. make sure that this layer is on top of the base and while you find that point of brightness you want, keep looking at your icon in its "final" stage, and adjust to your liking.
making final touches:
now just do the basics of sharpening, flattening &saving!
more examples!:
this tutorial works well with nick &norah trailer, and also GREAT with cartoons! i'd love to see what you come up with!