Midsummer Wind

Downloads: Textures: Green/Red + Swirls, Downloads: Gradients: 51-120

2008-07-05T06:02:51Z

RULES
Special thanks to nitanitachan for being this community's biggest supporter. :)
01 Comment & credit midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 20 textures. 02 300 x 300 pixels.
Preview

Download
Summary
01 20 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels.
Preview

Download
Summary
01 70 gradients. 02 Photoshop CS3
Preview
preview all gradients
Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures. + See other gradients.

Downloads: Textures: Solid Colors

2008-06-30T06:13:26Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 17 textures. 02 417 x 417 pixels.
Preview

Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures.

Downloads: Textures: Halftone, Blur, Clouds

2008-06-24T23:52:41Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 30 textures. 02 500 x 500 pixels.
Preview

Download
Summary
01 25 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels.
Preview

Download
Summary
01 20 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels.
Preview

Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures.

Downloads: Textures: Stars

2008-06-22T07:14:15Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 15 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels.
Preview

Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures.

Downloads: Textures: Green

2008-06-21T07:29:07Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 20 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels. 03 No large texture.
Preview

Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures.

Downloads: Brushes: Doodles

2008-06-20T07:49:01Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 Photoshop CS3. 02 17 brushes. 03 Very LARGE brushes. Note: some of the brushes are huge, so when you choose them in your brushes palette, they might not show on your screen. Just make them smaller by choosing a smaller size on your brushes palette and you'll see the outline of the brush on your screen.
Preview

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Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other brushes.

Downloads: Textures: Pastel

2008-06-17T06:50:06Z

RULES
01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 20 textures. 02 100 x 100 pixels. 03 Large texture available.
Preview

Download
Extras
+ Watch community for more updates. + See other textures.

Large Texture

Downloads: Brushes: Curly, Decorative Text

2008-06-09T06:44:20Z

RULES
Please follow the rules. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 Photoshop CS3. 02 9 brushes. 03 100 x 100 pixels. 04 No image pack for this set. 05 dafont
Preview

Download
Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the brushes, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

Downloads: Textures: Gradients

2008-06-07T06:41:53Z

RULES
Please follow the rules. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 100 x 100 pixels. 02 20 .jpgs. 03 Gradient images.
Preview

Download
Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the gradients/images, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

Downloads: Gradients: 1-50

2008-06-06T03:35:53Z

RULES
Please follow the rules. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 Photoshop CS3. 02 50 gradients. 03 No image pack for this set.
Preview

Download
Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the gradients, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

Downloads: Brushes: Dots, Lines, & Flowers

2008-06-05T03:24:27Z

RULES
Please follow the rules. I made these from scratch and I don't like it when others show total disregard for me and my work. They are very simple and easy to follow. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 Photoshop CS3. 02 9 brushes. 03 About 400 pixels. 04 No image pack for this set. Occasionally I do offer image packs, but usually only when the brushes make good textures as well.
Preview

Download
Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the brushes, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

Downloads: Brushes: Flowers

2008-06-01T23:07:57Z

Some hand-drawn flower brushes. Feel free to watch this community.

01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind
02 Photoshop CS3.
03 8 brushes.

Download .zip

Screencaptures: Band of Brothers: Day of Days

2008-05-30T21:15:53Z

Screencaps for Band of Brothers: Day of Days (episode 2). I forgot to put these into a folder before I zipped them up, so when you unzip them, remember to unzip to a new folder or create a new folder and unzip them into it. Sorry for that.

01 Comment please.
02 Credit is not necessary, but others would appreciate it if they can find out where to get the caps.
03 1504 x 844 pixels.
04 997 images.
05 All bad caps have been deleted.

Examples

Download
01 (30 MB), 02 (58 MB), 03 (64 MB)

Icons: Band of Brothers

2008-05-29T05:07:20Z

I haven't made icons in more than a year or two, so I've been experimenting and failed almost miserably trying to create ones that I like. I like these enough to post them, but I don't know if they're that good.

RULES
Please follow the rules. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 27 icons. 02 Textures: ownthesunshine, elanordh, tove_91, vol4itca, & skybound2. 03 Screencaps.
Preview

Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the brushes, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

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Created with angelamaria's Icon Table Generator @ Bauble

Screencaptures: Band of Brothers: Currahee

2008-05-20T09:13:00Z

Screencaps for the first episode of Band of Brothers: Currahee.

01 Comment please.
02 Credit is not necessary, but others would appreciate it if they can find out where to get the caps.
03 1504 x 844 pixels.
04 1607 images.
05 All bad caps have been deleted.

Examples

Download
01 02 03 04

Downloads: Brushes & Textures

2008-05-14T05:13:34Z

RULES
Please follow the rules. I made these from scratch and it took a very long time. The rules are very simple and easy to follow. Only the first rule requires you to actually do something. 01 Comment & credit dark_soul_lost or midsummer_wind. 02 Do not hotlink. 03 Do not redistribute. 04 Do not claim as your own.
Summary
01 Photoshop CS3. 02 9 brushes. 03 About 400 pixels. 04 Imagepack/texture available.
Preview Brushes

Download Brushes
Preview Textures

Download Textures
Extras
Watch community for more updates. I'd love to see what you've done with the brushes, so please don't hesitate to show me your art work.

Tutorials: Icons: Improve a Screencapture

2008-05-14T05:08:47Z

I know a lot of icon-makers already are well aware of how to improve an image/cap, but for those who don't, I'd like to share a few of my personal steps. These are the steps that I ALWAYS apply on each and every one of my icons even before I add textures/brushes/gradients/etc. Here you will learn how to take a really bad cap and turn it into something [I think] probably ten times better.

This tutorial is for Photoshop 8. There are a few things on here I'm not sure will translate to other programs, as PS is the only program I've ever had. [ edit ] Thanks to julia_thorne13 for informing me that it can be translated to PSP, thanks![ //end edit ]

Take this cap. It has only been cropped -->

And we'll learn how to make it into this -->

As you can see, the first image is really ugly. It's not sharp, and dark, among other things.

01 Start with this.

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02 Sharpen it by going to Image > Sharpen > Sharpen.

-->
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03 Take the smudge tool (under the eraser tool indicated by a hand with a pointing index finger) mode: normal, strength: 10%. Zoom in to about 500%, using a round, soft edged brush about 4-9 px in diameter, smudge the cheeks, foreheads, necks, noses, clothes, etc, of Olivia & Elliot. Only avoid the eyes and lips. Try to smudge the background more than the people. That will make the background more blurred, which makes the people stand out.

-->
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04 Then sharpen the image again. Sometimes sharpening it again is too much. If that is the case, go to Edit > Fade Sharpen and adjust the percentage to your liking. If you are using a program that does not have a fade sharpen, then you can duplicate the layer and then sharpen the duplicated layer. Afterwards, you can adjust the opacity of your sharpened layer (duplicated layer) to your liking.

-->
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05 Now here is the part where I'm not sure if other programs will have it or not. I learned this nifty nifty trick in my advanced Photoshop class. Go to Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight. The default setting should be shadow: 50%, highlight: 0%. I left it at the default setting and clicked OK. You can adjust the shadow* to your liking, but I wouldn't mess with the highlight.
*This tool removes the shadows in a picture. It's really useful for taking away the shadow on a person's face, as well as brightening the picture.

-->

Note: This only works for PS CS. For lower PS, go to Image > Adjustments > Variations and choose lighter once or twice, or thrice. That will brighten the image. The colors will be flatter than if you use shadow/highlight. But don't worry, cause you can crank up the contrast in step 6 to give it more color.

Here is the result if you use shadow/highlight.

Here is the result if you use variations.
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06 Nifty eh?? But *yawns* the colors are dull, boring, flat, bleh. Hmph. We'll fix that. Now, add a new adjustment layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast . . . Crank up the contrast to about 30, or whatever suits your icon.

-->
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07 I thought the faces were too yellowish (because of the high contrast). So add another adjustment layer Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. First, in the edit box, choose reds and decrease the saturation to -10. Second, choose yellows in the edit box, saturation: -10. And lastly, choose magentas in the edit box and also decrease the saturation to -10.

-->
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08 Now for the last step. Add another adjustment layer Layer > New Adjustments Layer > Selective Color. In the colors box, choose blacks, then go down to the slider for black and increase that to 10%.
*This darkens only the blacks in an image. It's great for darkening hair and eyebrows to make them stand out more. It's like applying make up, only not really.

-->

And you're done! Now you have a really nice base for you icons. Add gradients, brushes, creativity, and you've got yourself an awesome icon!

Before: After:

Tutorials: Icons: Use Brushes and Gradients

2008-05-14T05:05:50Z

I figured I should write a few more tutorials for my site. Just to have something to update. So here goes.

Tutorials for these two L&O:SVU icons.

How to make this icon
How to make this icon using gradients and a few brushes. This tutorial is for Photoshop 7 or Photoshop CS (8). It's a really simple icon, but it's not for beginners.

01 I started with this base. This has been cropped, resized, and smoothed out. In other words, this image has been fixed. If you're unsure how I created this base, please refer to my cropping and smudging tutorials for beginners.

02 Create a new layer and add a brush by goth_clark in a light pink color #FFE6E6. Note: the brush is put on a black background so it can easily be seen because of such a light pink.
...
03 Now choose another brush by the same person, with the same color #FFE6E6 and put it on a new layer. Then take a round brush about 65 pixels in diameter and erase the parts with Olivia and Elliot.
...
04 Create a new layer and use a brush from elli in light pink, #FFE6E6 again.
...
05 Looks ugly. So make a new layer. Set blending mode to screen. Then add a gradient. If you're using Photoshop, it's one of the default gradients, in the Pastels set. If you're using some other programs, the five colors for the gradients are (in order): Yellow: #FAE5B0 Pinkish-orange: #F4BEB2 Pink: #EE95AC Lighter purple: #B67DAD Darker purple: #836AAF
...
06 Duplicate the base twice and drag both of them to the very top, on top of all the brushes and the gradient layers. Desaturate both Image > Adjustments > Desaturate and set them to soft light.
...
07 Now, on top of all the layers, create a new layer. Choose a default round, soft-edge brush, in white #FFFFFF, about 35 pixels and brush down the middle of the icon, between Olivia and Elliot. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose about 3 px. Adjust the opacity to 90%, or however you like it.
...
08 Now add another layer and choose a heart brush by jeweledicecream. Using the same color as the other brushes #FFE6E6, add it in between Olivia and Elliot.
...
And there you have it. A finished icon. Phew. This table took too much coding.

This is my Layers Pallette after I finished the icon. You can use it for reference.

Another one, using pretty much the same style.

How to make this icon

01 I started with this base. This has been cropped, resized, and smoothed out. The quality of the screencap was awful.

02 This tutorial is very much like the last one because I made them at the same time. Create a new layer and use a brush from disorderedmind with the color #FFE6E6. Use the erase tool to erase the part with Olivia in it.
...
03 Create another layer and use the same color, with a brush from _joni.
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04 Getting better. Make a new layer. Add another brush by _joni in the same color.
...
05 Next up, a gradient, blending mode screen. This one is from crumblingwalls. The colors are #60517C and #81506D.
...
06 Duplicate the base twice. Drag both to the very top. Desaturate both of them Image > Adjustments > Desaturate and set them to soft light.
...
07 Shiny. Create a new layer, using the color white and a brush from _joni, I added the brush to the right side of the icon. You can pretty much use any brush here, since all you really want is white border on the right. So just pick any square or rectangular brush you have in your brush palette and use it. No need to be picky.
...
08 Using the same brush, I brushed it three times on a new layer and then sharpened it once.
...
09 Next, choose a white, round, soft-edge brush about 24 px and apply it to the bottom right corner of the icon. Gaussian blur it about 5 px.
...
10 Now for text. Text: Sweet Font: Another Typewriter (dafont) Blending Options Gradient Overlay: #FFFFFF & #671D66 (see blend settings)
...
11 Then add another layer, using the same font, but a black color this time, and tiny font size, type in anything. It can't be read anyways. That's the point. Just for decoration.
...
And you're done. Phew. That took more steps than I remembered.

This is my Layers Palette after I finished the icon. You can use it for reference.

Questions? Comments?

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