2012 - guide: coltures - combining colours and textures
(or the blind leading the...)
Requested in parts by mm3butterfly, rocketgirl2, cassi0pei4 & fuuurs.
With a surprise tutorial appearance for sarisafari and before_water.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THIS: I am apologising in advance for the rambles I tend to go on, and for the fact the original questions asked are hidden in disguise amongst a mass of words. Somehow it turned into this, and I didn't know how to get it back. I AM SORRY.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I'm referencing Photoshop CS5. Some tools may be unavailable to you if you are using an earlier edition of Photoshop or another graphics program.
Let it be known that there is no one way of colouring/adding textures to an icon. And more to the point, the way I tend to colour and texture icons uses multiple combinations of the techniques I'm going to be discussing. When I'm feeling lazy there's approximately 20 layers to an icon. When I'm feeling adventurous, there's 20 layers to an icon and another 35 to go to the cap in which I've coloured the icon.
I move between processes, between colouring/texturing a cap first and then cropping it down, and having a tendency to crop the cap first. I also move between the size of the canvas I'm creating the icon on as well. The smallest it will be while colouring is 200x200 though. I like the clarity that a larger size canvas offers. Re-sizing also allows some of the blemishes to be hidden, so there's an added bonus.
What I've attempted to do here is discuss each element in it's own right, without overlapping too much. Of course, there will always be an overlap (discussed at length previously) but I wanted to try and show how each idea can work separately.
TOOLS
(Or where you can begin your colouring)
There are several places I frequent in order to introduce colouring into an icon, that veer into the less... discussed placed... especially for colouring.
Auto Tone / Auto Color / Auto Contrast: Image > Adjustments
I've never been quite sure of how to explain the role of these, but thankfully google (and adobe help) are around when I need them.
Auto Tone automatically adjusts the black point and white point in an image.
Auto Color adjusts the contrast and color of an image by searching the image to identify shadows, midtones, and highlights.
Auto Contrast adjusts image contrast automatically.
Basically, AUTOS ARE YOUR FRIEND. You can play with them as I do, copy a merged layer, stick it on top, click one, two, three and then play with the opacity of the layer or you can explore different ways. Below is an example of the small difference the Auto levels can make on an image. Of course, there are more extreme examples (which I'm sure you'll discover for yourself).
BASE LAYER | AUTO LAYER
Variations: Image > Adjustments > Variations
These are pretty nifty when you want to add a certain colour (or colour combination) into the icon. This is what the variations option looks like. When you are adding colours into your icon, make sure you click ORIGINAL to highlight the image you want to use. If you leave it at CURRENT PICK, it will keep the settings you've used before.
BASE LAYER | LIGHTER + CYAN + BLUE + MAGENTA + LIGHTER | RED + YELLOW + LIGHTER
HDR Toning: Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning
HDR toning is something I discovered recently, and doesn't always work. Again, google and Adobe Help provided me with the words to attempt to explain (although I still don't fully understand) the role this tool plays.
Wikipedia tells me: HDR is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods.
Adobe Help tells me: HDR Toning lets you apply the full range of HDR contrast and exposure settings to individual images.
My examples elaborate on what I've learned about HDR toning. Except for the fact that it required layers to be flattened, so I generally work with HDR toning by copying a merged layer, pasting it into a new canvas and seeing where it takes me. If I like the result, it goes back on and I play with the opacity of the layer. If I hate the result, it gets deleted and I go back to my original canvas.
BASE LAYER | WHEN HRD GOES BAD
BASE LAYER | WHEN HRD LOOKS ALRIGHT
Adjustments: Image > Adjustments or Layer > New Adjustment Layer
You have your handy dandy adjustments section, with a variety of colouring tools at your beck and call. I'm not going to go into detail about how I use these to colour, because there are guides for just about everything all over the place (or in a lovely little collection at good_tutorial). Just know that I have a tendency to use Brightness/Contrast for adding contrast into an icon, and curves with the RGB section only. Beyond that, I use color balance, channel mixer, vibrance (too much) and selective colour to generally touch up aspects of the colour.
COLOUR COMBINATIONS
(Or how I decide my colours)
Randomly. HONESTLY. There's no really fixed way on how I decide to colour an icon. It kind of happens during the process. That being said, I do have preferential colours regarding some fandoms (Glee/Quinn + Yellow, Sucker Punch + Blue/Cyan & Yellow, Doctor Who + Blue) but this predisposition is generally because within the caps themselves, there is a tendency to see/find that colour during the colouring process. I know once I start getting in to iconing Pan Am, blue will probably make a recurring appearance because SO MUCH BLUE. I also think Once Upon a Time will result in green. I have an absolute reliance on colour being IN the screencap, because when it's not (MISFITS, SUPERNATURAL), colouring for me doesn't work. It's not that I dislike putting colour into a cap (okay maybe it is) but I find taking already existing colours and playing with those can be so much more fun.
LIGHTING
(Or those damn paint blobs)
I work with lighting in ... well, three-ish ways.
1. Light in the image: example | example.
These are fun, because LENS FLAIRS AND BRIGHT LIGHTS and yeah. Generally I don't touch the lights here, just work to emphasise them by using adjustment tools to bring in colour and shade and contrast. And maybe use a light blob or two to go back and make sure that the lights are still prominent.
2. Light with textures: killcolor | motorized | shoqolad.
Light textures are amazing fun to play with. Not only can they be used the way they came, but they can be manipulated, shifted, inverted and just about every other option on the planet. Basically, they are like gradient maps but only cooler, because there's generally little bits and pieces of different/varied colours or shapes that sometimes really work well in an icon. This is an example using the three textures linked above, showing how each can add their own different level of light to the icon. All are set to screen at 100%, and screen is generally the layer setting you'll use when playing with light textures.
3. Light with colour blobs: tutorial | tutorial.
Light blobs are a superficial way of adding colours into the icon for me. I sometimes use it to give a little bit more lightness to a shadow, but generally speaking they are employed when I want to make colours oh so shiny. Basically, I pick colours from the area I want to highlight (or a bright yellow if it's Quinn/Babydoll's shiny locks) and go from there. Using a brush (hard or soft, it doesn't really matter because they all get blurred in the end), I brush the colours on. I have a tendency to use a smaller radius brush so it blurs more evenly across the board, without interrupting other parts of the image, but this is again entirely up to you. I picked a blue from Quinn's shirt, two tones of yellow (one darker and one lighter) for her hair, set them to screen (duplicated a couple of times), added a hue/saturation level (because Samantha doesn't use vibrance and she might be reading this) and ta-da. Of course, if this were for an actual icon, I'd work on masking away some of the other areas, and add in some crazy textures... but that comes later.
Now for something a little more detailed. fuuurs asked about the light blobs in this icon, and sarisafari asked me about this sort of colouring which is sort of a go-to for me with Sucker Punch caps. There's yellow and hints of cyan in a lot of those screencaps, so drawing them out using light blobs is probably the most effective way to put colour into them. This is in no way how I achieved the original colours (that PSD is a crazy mess) but it is one way you can consider using light blobs to add colour to an icon.
This is our original screencap.
We're beginning with our base. I've screened the image 3 times (all at 100% opacity) and set the top layer to soft light at 50%.
The first thing I want to do is change the background (or begin to hide it completely), so I take the eye dropper tool and pick out one of the greens from the image: #3c7d65. I paint around the background with a medium sized hard brush. It's not really neat, but it doesn't really have to be, because I box blurr the layer once or twice to smooth out the edges and set the layer to screen at 100% opacity.
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I'm not really happy with it, so I pick out a light blue (#2894cc), paint the background in a similar style. Box Blur and then set the layer to screen at 100% opacity.
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Fairly happy with that result, and although it could be a little brighter (with some contrast) I'm going to leave it for now, because it will be fixed eventually. Now we're moving on to the yellow tones. To begin with, I'm picking two different yellow (#aeaa34 and #f1d307) and using those to paint over her hair. The size for this brush is going to be smaller (about 5 pixels), because the details are finer and need take a little more care. I box blur the layer, then set one layer to normal (25% opacity), a copied layer to soft light (100% opacity) and a final layer to screen (75% opacity). Basically, this isn't rich enough for me, so I duplicate the soft light layer, and it seems to be more golden, and I'm therefore content.
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It's all a little flat though. So now we're going to branch off into other colouring techniques, starting with a Hue/Saturation layer (because I'm still avoiding vibrance). My saturation level is +30, my Hue is +5 and my Lightness is +5. It put some oomph into the image, but not enough.
CHANNEL MIXER GUYS. Embrace the channel mixer. I played with the Blue channel (-5, -15, +115) and then added a touch of Green channel (0, +105 0). And I think I like where this is headed. It's a little lighter now, and the bold colours are coming out to play.
Adding more lightness into the image might be a sin, but whatever. I whip out a brightness/contrast layer, putting the Brightness at 20 and the Contrast at 20. Only now I'm not really so fussed on the green tones of her skin, so I decide to go the color balance route. I push the red midtones to +20, and the magenta midtones to -35, and I'm pretty content with the result. It's given shadows in the right places but not overwhelmed them.
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Last little bit of colouring, because I want to bring a little touch of darkness in. I copy the merged image (Shift + Ctrl + C), meaning everything that is visible will be copied, and paste it on top. I then whack out my Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Stokes. My settings are - Direction Balance: 50, Stroke Length: 50, Sharpness: 0) and hit okay. I set this layer to Soft Light at 50% opacity. I like the effect, but there's one more touch left to add. Paste the previous merged layer on top of this, and go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Crosshatch. My settings are - Stroke Length: 50, Sharpness: 0, Strength: 3. I set this layer to Soft Light at 50% opacity as well.
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OKAY. For now, we have reached the end of the lighting road. Thank god, I hear you whispering. And I concur. Now we're moving into more interesting (albeit odd) territory.
TEXTURES
(the muted, muddy, grainy kind or avoiding the black kind)
This is my confession: I have 4 textures that I use and abuse like NO OTHER on icons these days. They are a heavy part of my colouring process, and I believe are the basis for the muted, muddy look that mm3butterfly, rocketgirl2 and fuuurs all mentioned. They are by the amazingly brilliant elli, and if they were taken away from me, Idk what I would do.
Texture 01 | Texture 02 | Texture 03 | Texture 04
The thing about these textures is that they are so incredible versatile. I flip them and invert them and use them on so many different settings with the opacity moving up and down and back up that it's just insane. But the most kind of fun insane. Borderline reliance, in that it's freaking hard to icon without them. First we have a little demonstration of the many, many ways I work with the textures (and how it looks by itself). I'm using the finished products from the two light blob screencaps we coloured, because it will give you a true sense of how this way of colouring actually works.
TEXTURE 01
Set to: Screen | Soft Light
Inverted: Screen | Soft Light
TEXTURE 02
Set to: Soft Light | Inverted Soft Light
TEXTURE 03
Set to: Subtract | Exclusion
TEXTURE 04
Set to: Screen | Soft Light
Inverted: Screen | Soft Light
Brief introductions aside, these textures are so much fun to play with, especially when you throw them all in together and go a little texture crazy. Using the two small images, here are two possible combinations (out of a multitude of combinations) in which the textures can be used to add the muddy/faded/almost gritty sort of look to the icon.
Texture 01: Inverted Screen 100% opacity | Texture 02: Inverted Soft Light 100% opacity
Texture 03: Exclusion 100% opacity > Subtract 100% opacity | Texture 04: Inverted Soft Light 100% opacity
Texture 01: Soft light 100% opacity | Texture 02: Inverted Soft Light 100% opacity
Texture 03: Exclusion 100% opacity | Texture 04: Soft Light 100% opacity > Screen 50% opacity
Of course, you run the risk of loosing contrast when playing with these textures as well, and while normally I'd suggest playing with the opacity of the texture layers, I'm going to show you how I use Brightness/Contrast and Curves to deal with that as well. It's really simple to get your contrast back while keeping the colours/textured feel you've given your image. For the Quinn picture, I used a brightness/contrast layer then a RGB curves layer to bring some of the brightness back into the image. For the Sucker Punch picture, a brightness/contrast layer did the trick.
If I was working on an icon-sized version right now (I will be later, but it's impractical right now), in order to get some grain in there, I'm delving into my own texture store. While making textures for the texture battle hosted by innocent_lexys, I discovered a love for grainy textures and the way they can give icons a grain. The examples given ( 01, 02, 03 & 04) use a combination of the following textures:
I'm going to look at favourite textures/texture makers in a Q&A, and in that I'm planning to look more at these sorts of textures by other makers as well. Because I really do love the grainy sharpness that they bring out in icons.
THAT PAINTED LOOK
(Or how textures and filters work wonders)
I wish this was the end but there's a couple more steps involved in getting the complete look. The first step relates to this beast of a texture by blueymcphluey, and a mixture of random filter layers. For a huge, intimidating texture, it has some AWESOME fun areas to play with. What I've been doing recently is cutting our parts and re-sizing them to 200x200, then putting various filters on them and using the texture on screen.
The same could probably be said for any other 'painty' texture. I'm fond of this because of the yellow and blue combo, but blueymcphluey has heaps of others that would just as well depending on the colours you are after. And clearly, the painted texture doesn't have to solely come from blueymcphluey. In essence, it's the technique of editing the texture that really impacts the way it looks on the icon.
Similarly these cropped down textured work as light blobs as well. You just have to situate them over the right colour and let it go crazy. My current default is a testament to how it can work out.
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Filter > Artistic > Paint Daubs: brush size - 25, sharpness - 0, brush type - wide blurry.
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Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Stokes: direction Balance - 50, stroke length - 50, Sharpness - 0
Beyond that? My painted secret right now is the Crosshatch filter, which we've looked at previously in this guide. In line with that I'm also beginning to explore the Angled Strokes filter. These two filters set to any opacity of soft light have a tendency to give a wonderfully painted look to an icon.
To follow on (and finally complete these really dodgy examples of icons): we have final results. On both images I've combined the two example painty textures (set to screen or soft light) to show you how it can work. I've also added a couple of other layers (hue/saturation, channel mixer on the Sucker Punch image, and crosshatch) before resizing. They are by no means perfect, but they shouldn't have to be. Hopefully they've been more useful in doing their job and providing you with visuals of ideas to take from this guide.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
(Or how everything mixes together)
before_water requested a tutorial for this, however I felt ridiculously bad because there really isn't a lot to it. Playing around with the techniques used in this guide, I came up with this recreation, which will hopefully suffice. It's less like a tutorial and more like a quick run though, because really - there's not a lot to it.
+ Duplicate base layer twice: set one to screen at 100% opacity and the next to screen at 50% opacity.
+ Copy merged (Shift + Ctrl + C) your layers, paste on top. Hit auto level, auto color and auto contrast. Set this layer to 20% opacity.
+ Image > Adjustments > Variations: fiddle with the yellows and greens as well as darker. Set this layer to 50% opacity.
+ New canvas > Image > Adjustment > HDR Toning. Copy this layer, paste it on top of the original canvas and set the layer to 20% opacity.
+ Vibrance > +100
+ Curves > RGB > one point to bring some lightness into the icon.
+ elli texture 01: soft light 50% opacity.
+ elli texture 02: inverted soft light 100% opacity.
+ elli texture 02: inverted soft light 50% opacity.
+ elli texture 03: exclusion 30% opacity.
+ elli texture 04: screen 70% opacity.
+ elli texture 04: inverted soft light 70% opacity.
+ Copy merged (Ctrl + Shift + C) > Filter > Brush Strokes > Crosshatch. Stroke Length: 50, Sharpness: 0, Strength: 3. Set this layer to soft light 100% opacity.
+ Layers > New Adjustments Layer > Black & White > Green Filter. Set this layer to soft light at 50% opacity.
+ Curves layer, to bring in a little bit of shadows into the icon.
+ Copy merged (Ctrl + Shift + C) > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Lower this opacity to 10/20%.
IN SUMMARY
(Or what I missed)
AVOIDING THE BLACKS
I don't know when it happened (I think it might have been a comment made by absolutelybatty some time last year) but I have somehow decidedly decided I dislike blacks in icons. I love shadows, but coloured shadows. So any manner of techniques discussed here (especially textures and lighting) will work to remove blacks from the icons. Set something to screen to give the blacks a light, shiny look, set something to soft light to give the blacks a dark colour, but a colour none-the-less.
THE END RESULT
DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE THEY'VE JUST RUN A MARATHON?
The end result indeed. What this guide aims to be apparently is a heavy mixture of just about everything I do to an icon. I honestly meant this to be a simple colouring tutorial, but the only problem is simple and I don't really mix at all, especially when textures are involved. I sincerely hope I've answered some (or most) of the questions that were posed in a reasonable manner. And logically. And if this guide has raised more questions than answers, please feel free to ask them here (or at the meme where these questions originated) and I will be more than happy to answer them.