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Happy Easter!
mood: 
artistic
artisticmusic: Whoa---Paramore
Going from this:
to this: 
or this: 
Program used: Photoshop Elements 5.0.
Translatable: Extremely. Once again, I've never used programs like GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, or anything along those lines. I've only used Photoshop, but from what I've heard around LJ and other places, it sounds like a tut like this one should be pretty translatable to other programs.
Other icons made with this tutorial:
Before I go on, I want you to take note that on this tutorial that after about step three, you could stop just about anywhere throughout this tutorial and your icon will turn out to look gorgeous. Seriously. I've emphasized this since I created this community; ALWAYS personalize your icons. Don't copy them straight from a tutorial here on LJ. That's not how icon makers get their satisfaction. :] Moving on!
Step one: Find your base, crop it, sharpen it, the whole nine yards. Or ten. However far you like to go. :]
I'm using a base of the lovely/amazing/beautimus/extremely talanted Hayley Williams from the amazing band, Paramore, as seen here.
Step two: Duplicate your base once. Desaturate it. A shortcut I find handy for that is pressing ctrl-shift-u. Set the duplicated layer to Soft Light, 100%. [[Hint; If your base is pretty dark, duplicate your base twice. Desaturate both. Set the lower duplicate to Soft Light, 100%, then set the other one to Screen. Depending on how dark your base is, your opacity will change on the screen layer.]]
Step three: Make a new layer. Click on your precious paint bucket tool, because it's going to be a nice little paint bucket tool to you in this tutorial. Fill the layer with #11837c, then set it to Lighten, with the opacity somewhere around 35-50%. Once again, it all depends on your base.
Step four: Make another new layer and fill it with a dark blue, somewhere around #0b0a38. Now that I've typed in the words "dark blue," you can only guess what we're going to set this layer to...That's right...Exclusion, 100%! Because that's just what everybody loves. And it really is a great technique. You'll probably be seeing me do this a LOT around here since I love this technique so much...so don't be surprised when I pop up with the dark blue Exclusion layer, haha.
Step five: Once again, make another new layer. This time we're filling it in with #ffc7e9, a light pink color. Set it to Color Burn, 100%. Like I said earlier, you can stop pretty much anywhere, including right here, and this icon'll look great. But I like to take things a step farther, so I'm moving on.
Step six: Gradient time, people! Come on, now, what fun is a tutorial without a gradient here or there? Paste the following gradient into a new layer and set it to Soft Light, 75%.
[[Okay, I really have to say it. Hayley's too pretty for her own good, is she not?]]
[[OPTIONAL]] Step seven: Once more...make a new layer. This is the last one, I promise! Fill it with #392a40, then set it to Lighten, somewhere around 35-45%. This step sometimes doesn't need to be in the icon because depending on the base and the previous steps, it just doesn't show up or fit in....Which is why it's completely optional. But it does add a little zing when it's added into some icons. Not much, but a tiny pinch. Kinda like when you get a decaf mocha from Starbucks, but you can tell that there's a pinch of caffeine in there....If that made any sense at all, haha. :]
And that's it! Just add some brushes or text of your own to change it up a bit and voila, tada, it is finished!
But that's not all just yet, folks...
Remember this icon?:
There's a simple way to get that coloring if you've already done all the steps in the above tutorial. And by simple, I mean REALLY simple. You wanna know? You reaaaaaaally wanna know?!
Fine then, I guess I'll tell you, because I'm so nice...
:D
Now in your layers palette, the base you started out with, the one you cropped, sharpened, whatever you did to it, should be at the VERY BOTTOM. It should be all prettyful and barely touched. It should say something like 'background,' 'Layer 0,' 'base,' or whatever you renamed it if you prefer to rename your layers. Now all you've got to do to that bottommost layer to achieve this coloring is uncheck the visibility next to it. Here, I'll show you a screencap of what I mean, since I probably sucked at explaining that...
And that's it! You're done.
Once again, hope you all had a great Easter. Also hope you enjoyed the tutorials. :] Make sure to post what you came up with!
Much love,
xoxo, k
Step one: Find your base, crop it, sharpen it, the whole nine yards. Or ten. However far you like to go. :]
I'm using a base of the lovely/amazing/beautimus/extremely talanted Hayley Williams from the amazing band, Paramore, as seen here.
Step two: Duplicate your base once. Desaturate it. A shortcut I find handy for that is pressing ctrl-shift-u. Set the duplicated layer to Soft Light, 100%. [[Hint; If your base is pretty dark, duplicate your base twice. Desaturate both. Set the lower duplicate to Soft Light, 100%, then set the other one to Screen. Depending on how dark your base is, your opacity will change on the screen layer.]]
Step three: Make a new layer. Click on your precious paint bucket tool, because it's going to be a nice little paint bucket tool to you in this tutorial. Fill the layer with #11837c, then set it to Lighten, with the opacity somewhere around 35-50%. Once again, it all depends on your base.
Step four: Make another new layer and fill it with a dark blue, somewhere around #0b0a38. Now that I've typed in the words "dark blue," you can only guess what we're going to set this layer to...That's right...Exclusion, 100%! Because that's just what everybody loves. And it really is a great technique. You'll probably be seeing me do this a LOT around here since I love this technique so much...so don't be surprised when I pop up with the dark blue Exclusion layer, haha.
Step five: Once again, make another new layer. This time we're filling it in with #ffc7e9, a light pink color. Set it to Color Burn, 100%. Like I said earlier, you can stop pretty much anywhere, including right here, and this icon'll look great. But I like to take things a step farther, so I'm moving on.
Step six: Gradient time, people! Come on, now, what fun is a tutorial without a gradient here or there? Paste the following gradient into a new layer and set it to Soft Light, 75%.
[[Okay, I really have to say it. Hayley's too pretty for her own good, is she not?]]
[[OPTIONAL]] Step seven: Once more...make a new layer. This is the last one, I promise! Fill it with #392a40, then set it to Lighten, somewhere around 35-45%. This step sometimes doesn't need to be in the icon because depending on the base and the previous steps, it just doesn't show up or fit in....Which is why it's completely optional. But it does add a little zing when it's added into some icons. Not much, but a tiny pinch. Kinda like when you get a decaf mocha from Starbucks, but you can tell that there's a pinch of caffeine in there....If that made any sense at all, haha. :]
And that's it! Just add some brushes or text of your own to change it up a bit and voila, tada, it is finished!
But that's not all just yet, folks...
Remember this icon?:
There's a simple way to get that coloring if you've already done all the steps in the above tutorial. And by simple, I mean REALLY simple. You wanna know? You reaaaaaaally wanna know?!
Fine then, I guess I'll tell you, because I'm so nice...
:D
Now in your layers palette, the base you started out with, the one you cropped, sharpened, whatever you did to it, should be at the VERY BOTTOM. It should be all prettyful and barely touched. It should say something like 'background,' 'Layer 0,' 'base,' or whatever you renamed it if you prefer to rename your layers. Now all you've got to do to that bottommost layer to achieve this coloring is uncheck the visibility next to it. Here, I'll show you a screencap of what I mean, since I probably sucked at explaining that...
And that's it! You're done.
Once again, hope you all had a great Easter. Also hope you enjoyed the tutorials. :] Make sure to post what you came up with!
Much love,
xoxo, k
I added a desaturated copy of the base on top on a real low opacity just to dull the colours down a bit because they were canny bright but this is what I got:
and I put my own texture and text etc on but the colouring is soo nice. Thanks x