(no subject)

[green_queen]

Okay, and for our last icon we're taking this Michelle Rodriguez image and turning into this:



I started with this:



Cropped it, duplicated three times, sharpened each new layer, set to multiply, screen and soft light:



Then I made a new layer, filled it with CEC2A2 and set it to Color:



I erased that color layer from the ocean behind Michelle because it was a pretty colour:



Then I took this light texture by awmp:



I rotated it and picked a colour from the background using the eyedropper tool, then painted over the lights I didn't want:



I copy/pasted that and set it to Hard Light over the icon:



Then I added text (Times New Roman):



I took another couchoune tiny text brush:



I flipped it and erased the parts I didn't want:



then I used that next to "laughter":



One last couchoune brush:



I picked a colour from the lights and used the brush:



I hope you enjoyed the tutorials. In case you were wondering, I was trying to emulate these icons:



EDIT: I have some quick tips for you, I originally added them to this post but now they're here.

Thanks for playing along.
Green Queen

Comments

[kilted.livejournal.com]

Awesome tutorial, my dear! Thank you so much!
*saves to memories!*

[apple-pi.livejournal.com]

Do you have your other icon tutorials saved/catalogued anywhere? These were really awesome. :-) I always love your icons, and I am lusting for some of your brushes.

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

Erm, I only ever made one before this. I don't remember when I did it, either. If there are any more tutorials you'd like please let me know and I'll be happy to do them.

[rosamundeb.livejournal.com]

Especially surprised to hear about the sharpening... that explains why my icons don't jump out the way I'd like them to.

Thank you again!!!!

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

I added a heap of extra information & tricks to this post if you get a chance to look at them.

[flamingo-killer.livejournal.com]

I just have a random question:
How do you decide what color to put in a color/soft light/exclusion/etc. layer? Exclusion seems to tend to be blue, but how do you pick? Is it from another color in the icon?

Great tutorial, again. I'll spare you comments on the other two and just tell you how helpful they are and how much I appreciate the details!

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

With exclusion layers I'm not too picky. You'll notice that lighter blues give a stronger pink colour, while darker blues give less colour, and slightly purpler blues make your icon more yellow. It depends on what you think looks nice on your icon. Pairing a blue exclusion layer with a very light brown multiply layer looks really nice, too.

I tend to just use soft light with either duplicated base layers or textures/bases. The colour layer is easy - you fill it with whatever colour you want the icon to be.

Eyedropping colours from inside the icon is a nice way to make sure it all matches up.

[flamingo-killer.livejournal.com]

Ahh, thanks for explaining that all! You're so much help--hopefully this will all help me improve :)

[little---hobbit.livejournal.com]

lovely, will try that out too :)

[rosamundeb.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[summerinabaddon.livejournal.com]

amazing tutorial!!! thank you! :)

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

No worries, hope you find it helpful!

[rebelforgod2.livejournal.com]

You are amazing! This tutorial is SO BEAUTIFUL!! I'm going to use it forever...haha, thank you!

Abby

[rissa-jennings.livejournal.com]

Your tutorials are awesome, and I've been experimenting with some of the techniques you used. <3 Saving this to memories and will credit in my icon journal, mono_borracho, whenever I use them. Thanks!

[svartabaskern.livejournal.com]

This one was a bit tricky (for a newbie with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0)! I decided to not include the lightbrown layer, because it didn't go well with the light texture (the lights didn't get so soft in my picture). And how to make the last brush into another colour, that was beyond my understanding. :) But here it is:
http://pics.livejournal.com/svartabaskern/pic/0002pd5r

[zonikita.livejournal.com]

I just love how yours turned out. Mine:

(http://pics.livejournal.com/zonikita/pic/001px5g8/) (http://pics.livejournal.com/zonikita/pic/001pykd1/)