Entry tags:

stock, tutorials

Stock tutorial
Stock tutorial from this batch, requested by november86 and several others

Both icons are made in Photoshop CS.
The first result uses Selective Coloring, the second one was made without Selective Coloring and uses only Color Balance, Curves and fill layers.

-> or



With Selective Coloring

1. I want this icon to be a warm red, so I'm toning some of the green down and add some yellow with a new Color Balance Layer.

Midtones: 0 0 -40

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2. I usually use a lot of layers for my coloring and textures. This often darkens the icon, so my first step is to brighten it with a Curves layer. It looks really bright after this step, but that will change.
I'll also enhance all colors and add a first touch of red by especially increasing Red.

RGB: I: 106 O: 131
Red: I: 120 O: 188
Green: I: 118 O: 159
Blue: I: 132 O: 164

->


3. A bit too bright and washed out. Fix it with a Brightness/Contrast layer.

Brightness: -17
Contrast: +12

->


4. I'll go for a little muted look, for that add a fill layer with #05052e, set to Exclusion 100%

->


5. Now we're starting to increase the Red with a Selective Color layer. When I increase Red with SC, I always work on the Reds and Yellows, never on Neutrals. Lower cyan and increase magenta in the Reds. Also increase yellow if you want a warm red. If this makes the whole icon too yellow, fix it by lowering yellow in Yellows.
To get rid of the green, also lower cyan in the Yellows (green = yellow + cyan, less cyan -> less green).

Reds
Cyan: -100
Magenta: +100
Yellow: +42

Yellows
Cyan: -100
Magenta: 0
Yellow: -29
Black: +100

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6. To further increase red, keep what I said in the last step in mind. Add a new Selective Layer. Since the last step gave us an already pretty heavy red, in this step the alteration will be less intensive and more about getting the right shade, so the alterations don't have to be so drastic. This means, don't put the magenta slider in Reds to +100 if you want subtle changes,

it'll only get neon that way.

Reds
Cyan: 0
Magenta: +19
Yellow: +91

Yellows
Cyan: -30
Magenta: 12
Yellow: -46
Black: +18

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7. Now that we have the basic coloring, on to get a more muted look. Add this texture by urbanstrokes and set it to Multiply 42% and drag it between the two Selective Color layers.

+ ->


8. Above the texture from step 7 add a dusty grey texture (by ?) and set it to Multiply 8%

+ ->


9. For more contrast add a fill layer with #bad2d6, set to Color Burn 100%, above the grey textures (still under the second Selective Color layer).

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10. For a bit more contrast add a new Levels layer. We're working now again on top of the second Selective Color layer.

Input: 12/1,11/255

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11. For decoration I took a grey texture by xswaniconsx, used Autolevels on it and set it to Multiply 100%.
Then I took a light texture from one of my recent posts and set it to Screen 100%. I thought it was a bit too harsh, so I put it between the textures from step 7 and and 8. Then I duplicated it, dragged it on top and erased everything except for a few tiny dots over the black part on top.

+ + ->



My layers.



Without Selective Coloring

You can't get the same coloring without Selective Color, mainly because you can't tinker with the yellows. But it's possible to get something similar, that will hopefully useful for PSP users.

1. Duplicate your base and set it to Screen 40%.
I dedcided against adding Yellow here like in the SC version, since I won't be able to change them as much as with Selective Coloring.

->


2. I usually use a lot of layers for my coloring and textures. This often darkens the icon, so my first step is to brighten it with a Curves layer. It loks really bright after this step, but that will change.
I'll also enhance all colors and add a first touch of red by especially increasing Red.

RGB: I: 106 O: 131
Red: I: 120 O: 188
Green: I: 118 O: 159
Blue: I: 132 O: 164

->


3. Now we're starting to increase the Red with a Color Balance layer. Basically the rules I explained in step 5 above apply here as well.

Shadows: +80 -10 -5
Midtones: +38 -48 +78
Highlights: +6 +5 +7

->


4. A bit too bright and washed out. Fix it with a Brightness/Contrast layer.

Brightness: -17
Contrast: +12

->


5. I'll go for a little muted look, for that add a fill layer with #05052e, set to Exclusion 100%

->


6. Now that we have the basic coloring, on to get a more muted look. Add this texture by urbanstrokes and set it to Multiply 48%.

+ ->


7. Add a fill layer with #a3e6f3 set to Color Burn. This is mainly to achieve the pale greenish-yellow of the snail's body. It darkens the rest, so that will have to be fixed later.

->


8. To further enhance the muted look, add a fill layer with #2e0505 and set to Exclusion 100%. Duplicate this layer and set it to 50%.

->


9. The next few step will bring back most of the red. First add a new Curves layer under the first Exclusion layer.

Red: First point I: 137 O: 182
Second point I: 83 O: 83
Green: I: 146 O: 153

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10. Then add a new Hue/Saturation layer between the first Exclusion layer and the Curves layer. Increase red, and take away some yellow.

Master: Lightness -5
Reds: Saturation +41
Yellows: Saturation -77, Lightness -10
Greens: Saturation +8

->


11. For decoration I took a grey texture by xswaniconsx, used Autolevels on it and set it to Multiplay 100%.
Then I took a light texture from one of my recent posts and set it to Screen 100%. I though it was a bit too harsh, so I put it between the textures from step 7 and and 8. Then I duplicated it, dragged it on top and erased everything except for a few tiny dots over the black part.

+ + ->


12. To get rid of the pinkish tint to the right of the snail and above the small snail, go the layer mask of the Color Balance layer from step 3 and paint over those in #828282 with a soft round brush.

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Please do me a favour and don't try this coloring on people, ok? ;)





[x] Credit is not required
[x] Comments are appreciated.
[x] friend ownthesunshine