Going from this to this.

I use photoshop CS3 so this is probally non-translatable.

( Click for tutorial. )

I'm composing a list of tutorials and textures for harbourlight to look at, because she's getting back into arting and she needs a couple of tips/textures/tutorials to get a kick-start and I figured this might be something that other people may want to see.

letsey_x - this is the best tutorial you'll ever read. You have to read it about 20 times to get the full impact, though. It has never failed to inspire me.


schmiss - here and here
I don't like these icons particularly, and the tutorials are a bit all of the place, but schmiss is someone you definitely want to learn from when it comes to colouring/texturing.


meivocis - is brilliant and uses textures in a way previously unknown to mankind. I'm not entirely sure how realiable these tutorials are, but if nothing else they'll make you think differently about iconing.
one
two
three
oh, and I can't believe this but I just noticed she relocated to infectedframe, I think I prefer the icons over at iconfilth though. I'm not sure... perhaps I just need to re-adjust.

nightcomes - is just rediculous with close-cropping and skintone colouring. In the tutorial here, I think the blacks are a bit too black, but... whatever. :D

I was (and still am) completely in love with this old orangey colouring style. It had a tendancy to get too bright, though. I actually forgot about this tutorial, so I can't wait to check it out for myself :D


miz_thang88 - works wonders with colouring, light splodges and text and these are a general idea of how she does it :D
one
two
three
four

tihana - does absolutely absurd things with colouring. Just ridiculous. She posted a .psd here which I actually have yet to look at myself (although it's bound to be mind-boggling)

drankmywar - uses saturation and contrast like nobodys business. I don't particularly like the icon this is a tutorial for, but it gives you some interesting insight into what's going on in that brilliant noggin' of hers

mouthfullofdust has been making absolutely amazing icons for yonks and yonks, but she hasn't made a tutorial (that I can find) but her icons are most definitely worth checking out for inspiration.


and finally, my colouring/iconing tips:

DISCLAIMER: 99% of this was stolen from other people and you'll find it in the tutorials above, but I think is worth repeating because they're tips that I actually use

-don't be afraid to use masks. If one effect makes one part of the piece look awesome but another terrible, just mask away the terrible.

-a high-passed layer with a large radius set on soft light makes for a good substitute to a regular layer on soft light and makes light splodges less noticeable and intense

-make your art big, blend it onto a new layer and then resize it down so that it doesn't end up being grainy or oversharpened

-don't worry if your text is readable, just use it to emphasize the colourscheme or mood of the piece

-use a brightness/contrast layer at the end of the piece to make it brighter and more contrasty, because photoshop makes stuff look brighter than it is for some reason...

-taking away the reds from an icon can make it look surprisingly classier. Just use selectice colouring to add cyan, or subtract magenta and and a bit of yellow. Be sure to compensate and add reds into the yellows. And while you're there add a little white to your blacks, just to make them less intense. Obviously you don't HAVE to do either of these things, but I find it makes icons feel classier.


texture-finding places: (for a couple of these you'll have to backtrack a bit to find the good stuff, but there is most definitely awesomeness in all of these) ... (probably :P)
elli
soaked
dearest
backstage_art
77words
disclosure
ewanism
hgx
ownthesunshine
wash_when_dirty
zinzibar
freshmakers is a better version of texturise but sometimes awesome texturemakers fall through the cracks so I watch both just in case.
or hey, why not check out my textures?

Preview:

Im going on holiday tomorrow :[
To shitty Scotland, yet again!
Woohoo </sarcasm>

Anywho, I wont have Internet access all week, so today I spent a few hours on LimeWire, I downloaded a billion Queen and Abba songs. And I have a new found love for Pat Benatar...
I cant stop singing Shadows Of The Night! Haha...

So...

I really dont wanna go :[

 
 

Amber Heard
Candice Swanepoel
Megan Fox
Delta Goodrem
Stock icons
Tara Summers
Lauren Conrad
Supernatural
Miranda Kerr
Elisha Cuthbert

* cannot be used as bases
* comment if take
* credit if use










 

FUCKING EPIC MASTERPIECE

'Nuff said.

Right now I don't know whether to laugh, cry, jump for joy...

Maybe, just maybe, since it is 4:00 am (and I've been awake since 10:30 this morning and I did work for 8 hours and then stand in line at the theatre for another 3 hours almost immediately after work) I should go to bed.

Yea. Bed is good.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Something a bit coherent later in the afternoon perhaps??

Oh yea, and can I just say -

( Not really spoilerish, but under a cut anyway, just in case )

Title: Manipulation
Author: Kelly, kellysaysrawrrx
Disclaimer: This didn't happen, however much I wish it did.
Author’s notes: 430 words.


( Manipulation )

Dr. Horrible's sing-along-blog = GENIUS!! Its so hilarious, and its filled with awesome one-liners. I recommend it.

*points at icon* Ali is SO my hero!

If you haven't gone to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog yet ... WTF?!?! GO. NOW. Act II went live today!

http://www.drhorrible.com

You're gonna love it, even if you don't love Joss or Neil or Nathan. I promise. It's just THAT good. You SHOULD enjoy musicals, though ;]

*****

And if you haven't seen the second Twilight trailer, still SORELY lacking in Emmett (though he's supposedly the one who lands on the truck?):



*by phyncke @ juicy_grapes

Do you like it?
I believe it's the first one I have put up for this journal. I think it looks cool 'cause it looks like Frank is looking down on my page. I've been thinking of posting some headers/friends only banners before the next big icon post. And maybe some wallpapers/desktops.

I know people want more My Chemical Romance graphics and the next post will definitely be enough for a while, ha ha.
The big graphics post will be posted Sunday in the latest, but I shouldn't plan shit 'cause it always falls through.

I needed a new Ugly Betty icon and this was the best I could do on an empty brain.

best scene ever! Go watch it right now! Why? Because if you don't -to quote Neil Patrick Harris- "you're gonna die" :D

Holy frick, this routine knocked my flippin' socks off. Amazing amazing amazing.

EDIT: for those of us who don't want to have our eyes burned out by my crazy usage of red.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
im oh so soo sleepy
need sleep, but cant sleep.
@#$%^&* project!!

1. letsey_x friended me which is just... :o ... I have no words for the awesome. I wish I knew what inspired this seemingly random friending, but hey, I ain't complaining. Hello letsey_x!

Now all I need is mouthfullofdust and tihana watching me and my icon idol collection will be complete! MWAHAHA!

...

*looks around shiftily*

2. I watched Doctor Horrible. I liked act 1, I didn't love it. Act 2 however... made me jump for joy! It was so damn incredible! And it gave me hope for the future of Dollhouse, too. I have been really scared for a while now that Joss had lost his edge, but this gave me hope! :D Now all I need is act 3 and for the caps for 2 and 3 to be up at inadream_caps

3. Dad bought a wii out of the blue which was awesome and brought forth such hilarious phrases as: "I'm gonna wii like I've never wii-ed before" and "I can't wait to get home and wii, I'm gonna wii like crazy :D". *chuckles at the potential for mis-interpretation*

He also got 'Wii Fit' with it and I've been playing it all day, I love it. For a while now I've been intending to head off to the gym, but this is WAY better :D

4. I'm currently watching Wenesday's episode of sytycd and ( here are some of my thoughts )

5. We had a really... uhh... "interesting" ant infestation a couple of days ago. They were all over the floor, just wandering around aimlessly. And when I say all over the floor I mean all over the floor, you could barely step without killing a handful of them. It was like they had a crazy ant party and they were all drunk :P Oh and THEN they disappeared even quicker than they arrived! Crazyness!

6. My mp3 is broken. It's incredibly sad, because I've got about 2 weeks worth of Hamish and Andy podcasts I'm desperate to catch up on, I've got pieces from the Doctor Who soundtrack I'm desperate to listen to and of course the new Doctor Horrible songs. :(
Of course I can listen to them on my computer, but then what am I gonna do when I'm walking to and from work or catching the bus? And then when will I find the time to watch my shows?

7. icons!

this scene is so awesome, my icon doesn't do it justice I don't think. I was trying to go for something sly and cool, but it just ended up very flat and boring. That thing happened again where it looked awesome in Photoshop and then rubbish outside of it.

this one I think is pretty cool. I don't think it deserved to win at iconstant, though. So I'm not broken up about that.

I made this for my battle at icon_battle with lime_and_salt. I like it. It's bright, it's colourful. I just wish I knew which scene it was from...

this reminds me a LOT of by drankmywar. Except hers is better.