★ ☆ 015. icon tutorial #3 (ask the maker 3.0) ☆ ★

This is from the episode 6x09 Night Terrors. I love the way Amy's hair falls in this scene so it was definitely hard to resist cropping it in its entirety.

Next I duplicate the base and set it to Screen. Then I duplicate that layer and set it to Soft Light. I blur the Soft Light layer using Gaussian Blur on a radius of 1.5 pixels.

After that I stamp the layers using Command + Option + Shift + E (I use a Mac but for a PC, it would be Control + Alt + Shift + E) and apply Smart Sharpen to the stamped layers on these settings: 

The icon should now look like this: 

Next I create a new Color Fill layer. I fill it with the color #a26200 and mask the layer until the color fill only affects the area around Amy's hair. Depending on how lazy/industrious (I'm lazy) you are, you should have something resembling this: 

Great! So now I take this texture from lumsx, I clip it to the Color Fill layer, and set it to Screen. 

Then I take this texture from rebel, I clip it to the same Color Fill layer but above the last texture, and set that to Soft Light. 

The icon now looks like this: 

After that, I draw some vertical lines on a new layer in #000000/black and various shades of grey and I clip it to the Color Fill layer above both texture layers. I set that layer to Soft Light. The icon now looks like this: 

After that I take this texture (honestly I don't know who made it) and clip it to the Color Fill layer above all of the previous clipped layers and set it to Soft Light on 47% opacity and 100% fill. 

Next I paint white blobs over Amy's face in a new layer set to Overlay on 78% opacity and 100% fill. I also paint some around the edges of her hair. The icon now looks like this: 

After this I make a new Color Fill layer of #262020 set to Screen on 100% opacity and fill. Then I stamp the layers and set that layer to Soft Light on 53% opacity and 100% fill. Next I create a new Gradient Map layer of #000000/black to #ffffff/white and set that to Soft Light. I clip that gradient map layer to the stamped layer and set the gradient map layer to 52% opacity and 100% fill. My icon now looks like this: 

Next I create a new Photo Filter layer of the color #ec8a00, on a density of 25%, and with Preserve Luminosity checked. This adds more warmth to Amy's skin and takes away some of the yellow to bring more of a peachiness to her complexion. 

The icon now looks like this: 

Now I take this texture (I don't know for sure who made it) and add it as a new layer and set it to Screen. 

Then I make a new Levels layer and set it to these settings: 

RGB: 0, 1.00, 255
Red: 49, 1.00, 255
Green: 30, 1.00, 253
Blue: 22, 1.00, 248

The icon now looks like this: 

Next I make a new Vibrance layer and adjust the settings to Vibrance +33 (I don't adjust Saturation) and I set the layer's mode to Color. 

Then I make a new Levels layer and set the RGB levels on these settings: 

RGB: 0, 0.73, 255

The icon now looks like this: 

After this I draw some strands with a hard, small, white brush to eccentuate Amy's hair and I add some white blobs to her clothes and face to make them a bit brighter. I do this all on layers set to Overlay on various opacities and fills, depending on how I want them to look. 

Then I add black blobs to the top of the icon around Amy's head to make it a bit darker. I set those to Soft Light. 

My icon looks like this: 

Finally, I just basically stamp all of the layers and arrange them on a new canvas in some strange arrangement that counts as blocking (I submitted this for the blocking round at who-rumble) and I decide I'm done! No secrets here! I do believe that I may have duplicated it and put it on a soft light layer in my final final product though. 

The finished product? 

Please please please let me know if this was confusing or helpful or anything in between! I want to know if you have any questions. :3