Tutorial #4: Kate Beckinsale

And here's the first tutorial of the week, (which is actually the fourth one of the journal), for sadako_chan. Within the next two days, I'll be following it up by doing a two-for-one deal kindly requested by stormwind. See? You request and you get your name mentioned. Spiffy. *nods*

Two catches. One: I assure you, this icon came out of pure luck. The key was using an extremely hi-res picture, which...I'll be hunting down in a minute and then supplying the size of the picture and a link to the site so you can see just how hi-res it actually is. The second catch but one that probably won't matter is that I'm stuck in the Stone Age using PSP7. But it's the 'anniversary edition'. Oooooh. *eyeroll*

Also! This tutorial takes into account that you already know how to do the basic steps using your program: please don't be asking me how to create new layers or anything like that. I do have a life outside this journal, contrary to popular belief.

Anyway, we are making this icon:

Step 1: Choosing a Picture/Cropping

Right, well, we all know how this works. Browse a gallery, 'ooh, pretty picture', manuever the picture into whatever program you're working with, and crop. Granted, sexy picture, there's a lot that could be worked with, but I'm focusing on part of her hair and face; because she always has gorgeous hair and I'm quite envious of that fact:


(Also, note picture has been sharpened.)

Step 2: Making the Base

You have your picture, all cropped and sharpened, and the work begins. Copy the base image five times: set the bottom layer to multiply, the next three layers to screen, and the top one (which would be on top and farthest away from the Multiplied layer), to Overlay. Leave all at 100%:

Step 3: Gradient Fun

Ohhhh yeah, that's just stunning. Now to get the icon to where it's tolerable to look at. I, personally, am addicted to Saturation. And, of course, Saturation the hard way: by not using levels. Instead, I use one of crumblingwalls' gradients. Then, I use...I think it's a PSP default gradient, or I came up with it all on my lonesome. Either way, I may also have stretched it a bit. (If it looks familiar, feel free to send a name and a link my way, if possible. Credit given where credit due and all that.) Either way, first gradient set to Saturation 100%, and second gradient to Overlay 100%. (It's also supposed to be transparent.) Oh, and put each gradient on a new layer; it's easier in the long run.

G1: G2: Finished Product:

Step 4: Brushes

Finally, the finish line is in sight! Yay. For this, I used just one brush, by booster_rocket, and it's mainly used to enhance the red of the wall behind Kate. I...have no clue what color I used, except it looks to be a grey, set on Overlay, and since I also erased the parts of it on Kate, I don't know exactly which brush I used. But, I can tell you the color seems to be in the #5E332B range. Umm...an after, if you can tell the difference:

Step 5: Text

Text isn't mandatory. The icon's basically done, except for a final layer of texture (the one I chose was made by inxsomniax, who is basically a genius for all things artsy). But, I was listening to Peter Gabriel at the time, and 'Sledgehammer' was playing.

Using the Georgia font: 'Sledgehammer' in size 8; 'I kicked the habit' in size 3, and 'been feelin the rhythm' in size 2, in what I'm assuming is a shade from her face. A yellow shade, probably.

Toss on a texture layer in black, left at Normal with the texture over her face erased, and voila. There be the icon at the top of the page:

And I promised picture dimensions? The picture itself is from KBeckinsale.net, the GQ:UK gallery (don't overseas magazines have the best pictures?), and the dimensions are: 1502x2050x16 million, and equals 8.8MB. Very hi-res indeed.

As usual, any questions, comments...disparaging remarks, go ahead and leave a comment and I'll answer it as best I can, although I'm far from an expert on how to use the program.