Icon Tutorial - Joe Jonas
Going from this: 
to this: 
Hey this is a little Joe Jonas icon that I made and thought I would share with you guys. The techniques used to make it are really simple, so everybody should be able to follow along without difficulty. I thought that the style of the icon is a really versatile one that could be used for heaps of different photographs and thats why I decided to create this tutorial!
I did this on PS CS3, but i think it should definitely be translatable to any of the other programs.
So lets get started,
If you want to use your own pic that is awesome, but if you want to follow along with my Joe pic, then that's sweet too, and here is the original photograph i used (got it from www.joe-jonas.com)
Firstly, crop your icon to what you want. (I personally chose Joe, but you can opt for either of the other brothers if you like)
I cropped it to this:
Now that that is taken care of, we can begin to make this icon look cool
Step One:
Duplicate the background image and set it at softlight 100% opacity
Step Two:
Duplicate the softlight layer again, and then set this layer at any opacity between 50% - 100%, you should be able to see what looks best. Personally I set mine at 65%
Step Three:
Now click back on the original background, and duplicate it, then drag it to be the top layer (over the softlight ones) - set this to screen at 100%.
Then go to Layer - Layer mask - reveal all
And once you've got the layer mask, use the eraser tool and erase Joe, so that only the background is left.
Once you have erased Joe, go to Layer - Layer mask - apply
Step Four:
Duplicate the screen layer and set it to 82% opacity
Step Five:
Apply this gradient
Then set the gradient to Soft Light at 100% opacity
Next do the same thing as you did for the screen layer, by going to Layer - layer mask - reveal all
then erase over Joe. Once you've erased the gradient covering Joe, go Layer - layer mask - apply
You can leave your icon at this stage, but feel free to add any text or brushes you want! Personally i used this tiny text with x's brush:
I applied it in white, just at the bottom of the icon.
So then this was my final icon:
I hope you guys like this tutorial, i think its easy, but still makes an effective icon in the end! I'd love to see your own creations using this tutorial!
Thanks
to this: 
Hey this is a little Joe Jonas icon that I made and thought I would share with you guys. The techniques used to make it are really simple, so everybody should be able to follow along without difficulty. I thought that the style of the icon is a really versatile one that could be used for heaps of different photographs and thats why I decided to create this tutorial!
I did this on PS CS3, but i think it should definitely be translatable to any of the other programs.
So lets get started,
If you want to use your own pic that is awesome, but if you want to follow along with my Joe pic, then that's sweet too, and here is the original photograph i used (got it from www.joe-jonas.com)
Firstly, crop your icon to what you want. (I personally chose Joe, but you can opt for either of the other brothers if you like)
I cropped it to this:
Now that that is taken care of, we can begin to make this icon look cool
Step One:
Duplicate the background image and set it at softlight 100% opacity
Step Two:
Duplicate the softlight layer again, and then set this layer at any opacity between 50% - 100%, you should be able to see what looks best. Personally I set mine at 65%
Step Three:
Now click back on the original background, and duplicate it, then drag it to be the top layer (over the softlight ones) - set this to screen at 100%.
Then go to Layer - Layer mask - reveal all
And once you've got the layer mask, use the eraser tool and erase Joe, so that only the background is left.
Once you have erased Joe, go to Layer - Layer mask - apply
Step Four:
Duplicate the screen layer and set it to 82% opacity
Step Five:
Apply this gradient
Then set the gradient to Soft Light at 100% opacity
Next do the same thing as you did for the screen layer, by going to Layer - layer mask - reveal all
then erase over Joe. Once you've erased the gradient covering Joe, go Layer - layer mask - apply
You can leave your icon at this stage, but feel free to add any text or brushes you want! Personally i used this tiny text with x's brush:
I applied it in white, just at the bottom of the icon.
So then this was my final icon:
I hope you guys like this tutorial, i think its easy, but still makes an effective icon in the end! I'd love to see your own creations using this tutorial!
Thanks