Sound of Music icons tutorial
So iconsoleander asked me a while back on how the following icons were made:
And they are quite simple and straightforward. To be honest, composition wise I just usually go by gut feel most of the time, and experimentation, but I'll try to remember if there were anything interesting that I considered while making those two icons!
Program used: Photoshop CS4, on MacOS
Translatable: Somewhat, some techniques I use is specifically PS-related, however.
Complexity: Easy
Note that wherever I say ⌘, it's usually the equivalent of Control on Windows.
Sound of Music - Confidence icon
This is the original cap (click to enlarge, though I resized it to 50%):
1. SMART OBJECT + RESIZE
What I did first of all is paste this into a new layer on Photoshop, and then turn it into a Smart Object. I now do this for every base cap/image I use, because this way, if I need to redo the crop, make it bigger, etc I wouldn't have lost any of the details of the underlying cap.
If you don't have the ability to make Smart Objects, then ignore this step, and resize later.
Right click on layer + Convert to Smart Object
I knew I wanted to have her in full inside the icon, because it's a very dynamic "pose". Positioning wasn't an issue at this point, just basically making sure she's all inside so I can go back and forth on it. I resize by doing Transform (⌘+T), holding down Shift and dragging the corners to make sure the aspect ratio remains intact.
2. CUT OUT
Now it's time to cut out Maria from the background. Double click on the layer you just recently made into a Smart Object; if you haven't used Smart Objects before, there will be a popup telling you you're editing a Smart Object etc etc. If you don't have Smart Objects, then you shouldn't have resized the base cap yet. Always cut out from the biggest version of your base cap available even if you're going to make them teeny tiny afterward.
Anyway, as I was saying, double click on your Smart Object layer. You will "open" a new Photoshop "file" (named something like Layer 1.psb) and you'll see your huge cap in its original size.
I cut using Layer Masks, essentially just erasing the bits I don't want. I actually erase the subject (using a hard round brush at 100% opacity) and then invert the mask :P because I'm too lazy to erase the rest of the cap lol.
Eventually I end up with this:
3. MAKE IT CORAL-Y
This icon was for calendarsquares, so I knew what color I wanted the icon to be: Coral, #ff7d60. Now the color of the cap itself is not very Coral-y; it's fairly light but I wanted something slightly closer to the goal color so that it blends well with the rest of the icon and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, so I created a plain Coral layer filled with #ff7d60, and set it to Soft Light above my Maria cutout.
I ⌘+clicked on the layer mask to load the selection of my cutout, and applied a layer mask on the Coral layer to remove the Coral from the transparent sections of the cap.
See the difference:
Note: the above image is for illustration purposes only. The final Maria crop inside the PSD is just Corally Maria, all cut out from the background, the rest is transparent.
4. FURTHER RESIZING + BACKGROUND
Okay now Save your Smart Object PSB, and close it (⌘+W, or File > Close). I probably didn't need to add the shortcut for that. But never mind, I typed it in anyway. You should be brought back to your original PSD, and your icon should now be all cut out and slightly corally.
If you don't have Smart Objects, now would be the time to resize your subject, move them around the 100x100 canvas, that sort of thing. I usually still fiddle with the crop and do a bit of resizing at this point, and IT'S OKAY BECAUSE IT'S A SMART OBJECT YAY! \o/ Sorry. I had to let it out.
Also, it's best to get your coral background here outside too.
Now if you're wondering why I didn't just color the background coral inside the Smart Object, the answer is because in the interest of keeping things ordered and organized, I want the Smart Object to be just the subject, no changes to it, just the cutout, and...and I realized that I added the Soft Light coral layer in the Smart Object. OK NEVER MIND. BUT YOU SHOULD KEEP IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE INSIDE THE SMART OBJECT OK.
5. SUBJECT CONTRAST (A.K.A. MORE SUBJECT PREP)
Maria is looking nice and all, but the whole icon is a bit on the flat side. Maria herself, the Coral background, everything. So it's time to do a few highlights and shadows. But Maria needs to have a bit more depth.
I duplicated the Maria Smart Object layer, and set that to Soft Light directly on top.
Profit!
before / after
5. WHERE IS MY LIGHT SOURCE (A.K.A. MORE SUBJECT PREP BUT ALSO BACKGROUND NOW)
Now I want some light source. I mean, some more obvious light source; especially since Maria was cut out from the background, the light source is not as well defined. I want it a bit more ~dramatic~. So I take the Gradient Tool (G) (it's under the Paint Bucket Tool (G)), which for my is semi-permanently set to the following settings:
Gradient colors: Black, White (shuold be third from top left; first is Foreground to Background, second is Foreground to Transparent, third is Black to White)
Gradient type: Radial Gradient (second from left)
Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Reverse: checked
Dither: checked
Trasparency: checked
The last two are default settings, I think. I've never changed them. ANYWAY. So on a new Soft Light layer, I make a white-to-black round gradient by clicking and dragging and releasing. The longer the "line" you make, the larger the white section of the radial gradient. You can keep adjusting the radial gradient according to your icon; if your layer is set to Soft Light you can get dramatic shadows or soft ones depending on how long/short/where your white circle is placed.
before / actual gradient / gradient set on soft light
6. UM MORE DEPTH PLEASE (A.K.A. SOMETHING HAPPENED, MUST FIX)
So if you notice that black and white gradient washed out Maria some more. I really like the depth it gave the icon, but she's still lacking a few more shadows, contrast, something.
So I made a new layer, and set it to Soft Light. Are you tired of the Soft Light setting yet? With a soft round brush, I just added some black blobs of...black...where I want some shadows on Maria to be, and I set this layer to 68% Opacity to make the shadow softer. I know it's a weird number. I just randomly drag the opacity slider, I don't really type in anything specific, ooops.
Also, having the black shadows overlap the background made the coral a bit too "neon" for me. I don't need the shadows there, so I just masked it away. (⌘+click on the Maria Smart Object layer to load a selection according to that layer, and then apply the layer mask on the shadow layer.)
So see the result below, with the original un-shadowed Maria tacked on the end for comparison.
black blob / on soft light / masked to maria only / before for comparison
7. YAY TEXT
I don't know how to explain this section. During this particular time in my iconning life, I was obsessed with a few of these fonts, so I just wanted to use as many of them as I could. LOL I'M SORRY THAT'S NOT VERY HELPFUL. So I just randomly set the text and fonts together where they kind of fit in the background. I can probably go on about why I put the "i have" there or whatever, but that's kind of boring. IDK.
All the fonts were placed below the first Maria Layer. Alternatively you can place them above and mask it out, i.e. if you didn't cut Maria out of the background (or you placed the coral background inside the Smart Object...SEE THERE IS A REASON FOR NOT PUTTING IT THERE), but just putting it behind works here, so yay for being lazy?
Text color for all: #ffc4b4
"i have" font: Palatino, bold, 10pt, smooth, faux bold
"confidence" font: Lavanderia, sturdy, 24pt, strong
"in confidence" font: Palatino, bold, 10pt, smooth, 100 tracking
"alone" font: Abraham Lincoln, regular, 24pt, strong, 100 tracking, faux bold
Note: "tracking" is the distance between letters. If you know CSS, it's the letter-spacing property. JSYK.
8. FINAL PREP
Now I've started building the habit of trying to make sure there are no pixelly bits in the final icon. I usually do this by pressing my nose against my monitor coming a bit nearer and switching the background of Photoshop to black (by pressing F; I'm not sure if this is a universal shortcut, I just chanced upon it one fine day) because black backgrounds heighten details, contrast, color.
Doing that, I noticed that the base of the guitar is a bit sharp, as well as her leg looking a bit too...black. I don't know, there may be more. Actually right now I think the neck of the guitar is also sharp DDDD: but it's over and done and posted, so oh well.
To blur sections where needed, I usually stamp the visible layers of the icon (Shift+Alt+⌘+E), and then with the Blur Tool set on 5% Opacity, I run over the offending sections once. Or twice. It depends. Lots of zooming in and out and switching between grey and black and stuff ensues.
spot the difference!
9. NO FOOLED YA, THERE IS ONE MORE
I have a slightly grungy icon alternate for this one, to give the remaining area a bit of texture (ha!). I thought I'd just include it here anyway. So the final one can very well be the other. NEVER MIND. Basically I took the grunge texture by moderngoddess below, set it to screen, and then with a layer mask, removed the portion of the texture over Maria herself
by moderngoddess / on screen / texture partially removed from subject
10. YAY, THIS IS THE END, NO REALLY
Sound of Music - Fly icon
I used two different caps from the same scene for this icon (click to enlarge, though I resized both to 50%):
1. SMART OBJECT + RESIZE
What I said before up there! Actually, to tell you a secret, I probably didn't resize and crop to precisely the same size as what is shown in my screenshot below. I definitely fiddled with it after cutting them out. But yes. Anyway. Smart Object FTW!
2. CUT OUT
Hooray! Same thing as before. I told you it was very boring. However, in the interest of making this part a little more interesting, here's what I do to make cutting out easier: I actually "erase" the subject(s) first on the layer mask, and then invert (⌘+I) the mask. Usually the subject is a lot smaller than the background :P And I am very lazy and hate erasing all that background. I know, it's not a big deal but that's just me.
3. BASE PREP
I feel like I'm getting a bit boring/too talkative/shut up now ok/yadda yadda yadda so I'm just lumping this all together into one step! So below you see my subject cutout. For the yellow, I used the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick out a yellow from Maria's dress, and just testing out various degrees of, er, whiteness for the yellow. Then I duplicated the Smart Object Layer and set that to Screen, and then another duplicate of the same layer set to Soft Light. The Screen layer is set to like 77% Opacity.
base / with background / screen layer / soft light layer
4. BACKGROUND ENHANCEMENT
So, it's time to work on the background. You know how in love I am with the radial black and white gradient already, right?
actual gradient / set to soft light
I really liked both screencaps, which is why I wanted to use both here. And the light lemony yellow is lovely but yeah I wanted something a bit more...MORE. So I pasted the second cap below the cutout layer, changed it into a Smart Object, and then started fiddling with which crop would look best with my cutout. Once I decided on the crop and placement, I set it to Soft Light...and then it kind of disappeared :( so I just duplicated this same layer! But then it was too much, so I dialed down the opacity of the second soft light layer to 60%.
original crop / soft light / soft light x 2 (actually 1.6?)
5. TEXTURES TEXTURES I LOVE TEXTURES
I am running out of step titles. Can you tell? Anyway it's time for textures! I kind of try out a number of different ones, especially if they are colored textures, but for a while I was also in love with this particular texture by rhcp-csi. And it brought out lovely vibrant yellows.
by rhcp-csi / before / after
Yes, I know. It's like, WHO NOTICES THESE THINGS??? But that's that.
ANYWAY here comes another texture I am in love with, by miuwmiu. Now this texture I usually end up inverting, oftentimes also turning it straight black. Basically, when you invert it, since the background is kind of cream, it turns blue, not black, so it does affect the colors/hues of the icon. So what I do here, in the interest of ~going back later and fiddling with it~ (as I sometimes end up doing!), once I copy-paste the texture onto my icon, I turn it into a Smart Object again.
Now you might ask, why in the world would I Smart Objectify a 100x100 texture when I'm not even going to resize it omg. But I do it because I want to change the texture separate from the icon itself, but be able to change the modifications to the texture as well if I need to. For example, if I inverted the texture layer directly, well, obviously the texture itself is inverted irreparably. (Actually, I'm exaggerating, since I would just hit invert again to return it to the original color; inverting is not an issue usually. However, blurring, sharpening, etc can mess it up if you want to change it back or dial it down later.) But if I use the Invert Adjustment Layer, it will invert everything below it. Etc. SO TL;DR JUST DO THE SMART OBJECT OK.
So inside the Smart Object PSB I use an Invert Adjustment Layer, then a black and white Gradient Map Adjustment Layer to turn it pure black/white (and not blue/white).
I'M SORRY I'M TOO TALKATIVE. HERE HAVE SOME EXAMPLES.
by miuwmiu / inverted / with the rest of the icon / set to screen
6. FINAL PREP
So this is just a repeat of what I said above, the last step is just making sure that too-blurry things are not blurry and too-sharp things are not sharp. Because both icons have been resized much smaller (and hello, they're both facing away from us here!) I haven't felt the need to do any sharpening, but some sections are a bit sharp, to my eye. SO HERE IS ANOTHER SPOT THE DIFFERENCE.
7. YAY THAT WAS QUICK
That's all! :) Let me know if you see anything weird/etc or if you have any questions or I didn't explain myself well and stuff like that, I probably rambled on about silly inconsequential stuff but glazed over what's important, I don't know :( so please let me know if so and I'll correct it/etc!
Lastly though, everyone should go and participate:
Hosted @ wonderous_stuff. November 1st - December 1st
Schedule • Battle • Nominations • Fonts/Textures/Caps • Praise+Concrit