Icon tutorial
How to make eight icons in less than 20 steps. [Featuring Marcia Cross]
01. Start with a blank canvas of 100x100 pixels.
02. I start by making a nice crop from this picture.
Looks okay, doesn't it? I find that interesting cropping is the key to making good icons.
03. I make a copy of the layer (CTRL+SHIFT+A) and paste it (CTRL+V). Then I do auto-contrast (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+L) on that level. I could do auto-levels, but I find that that often changes the colours drastically and makes things slightly green/blue.
The auto-contrast makes the image slightly lighter. Yay.
04. I duplicate layer 2, and set it on soft light. Woah, red. Yet I do like the extra contrast it gives.
05. I create a new layer between layer 2 and the copy of layer 2. I fill it with black, and set it on Color. That looks nice, but a little too muted, so I drop the opacity down to 75%.
If you like this colouring, stop here. If not, move on to the next step.
06. I create another layer between layer 3 and layer 2 copy. I fill it with #BFAA88. I then set this layer (layer 4) onto Darken mode.
If you like how this looks, stop here. If not... move on!
07. I then decide to see what it would look like with my top layer blurred. I could do this in two ways.
07a. I try Gaussian Blur on the top layer.
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That looks nice, but let's try another method too.
07b. I try Smart Blur on the top layer.
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I think I prefer the second method; I like how it makes her hair look on her shoulder. And, as before, if you like this look, you can stop here.
08. I select the colour #8B442E, and draw a circle of it. To draw a circle, select the ellipse tool, and hold down shift while dragging the shape. I then filled it in.
09. I position my circle somewhere that makes me happy (ahem!) and set that layer on Screen.
10. That looks quite nice, but the circle does look a little silly. So I open the text tool, and add some text. (The font is Monika, size 20, in #F5E0C7.)
And then I decide that the circle + text thing looks silly. So I scrap those two layers, and try something new.
11. I choose the colour #5F054B, and paint a bit of that on, using a 200pt brush. I set it on Lighten.
That's nice.
12. I decide to shove a little light texture on there. What's that, you say? Light textures are so 2005? Who cares?! So, I pick my favourite light texture, by angry_kangaroo, and set it on Lighten.
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That's pretty cool. We could stick around with that. But... one last idea!
13. I create a new 100x100 canvas.
14. I create a new 80x80 canvas. I choose a good colour - #6B3B2C. I select the blank canvas (CTRL+A), and go to the Stroke tool - it's under Edit.
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15. I copy and paste the 80x80 square into the 100x100 square.
16. I go back to my original icon. Ooh, it's still pretty.
17. I take out the purple layer, because it looks a bit too... purple. No duh. Hey, that could easily be an icon too.
18. I resize the icon to be 74x74 pixels. Aww, it's a baby. *buys it some bootees*
19. I select the entire icon (CTRL+SHIFT+C), and paste it into the pretty 100x100 containing 80x80 square.
And that'll do too.
So, there you have it. Numerous icons, in less than 20 steps!
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
01. Start with a blank canvas of 100x100 pixels.
02. I start by making a nice crop from this picture.
Looks okay, doesn't it? I find that interesting cropping is the key to making good icons.
03. I make a copy of the layer (CTRL+SHIFT+A) and paste it (CTRL+V). Then I do auto-contrast (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+L) on that level. I could do auto-levels, but I find that that often changes the colours drastically and makes things slightly green/blue.
The auto-contrast makes the image slightly lighter. Yay.
04. I duplicate layer 2, and set it on soft light. Woah, red. Yet I do like the extra contrast it gives.
05. I create a new layer between layer 2 and the copy of layer 2. I fill it with black, and set it on Color. That looks nice, but a little too muted, so I drop the opacity down to 75%.
If you like this colouring, stop here. If not, move on to the next step.
06. I create another layer between layer 3 and layer 2 copy. I fill it with #BFAA88. I then set this layer (layer 4) onto Darken mode.
If you like how this looks, stop here. If not... move on!
07. I then decide to see what it would look like with my top layer blurred. I could do this in two ways.
07a. I try Gaussian Blur on the top layer.
=
That looks nice, but let's try another method too.
07b. I try Smart Blur on the top layer.
=
I think I prefer the second method; I like how it makes her hair look on her shoulder. And, as before, if you like this look, you can stop here.
08. I select the colour #8B442E, and draw a circle of it. To draw a circle, select the ellipse tool, and hold down shift while dragging the shape. I then filled it in.
09. I position my circle somewhere that makes me happy (ahem!) and set that layer on Screen.
10. That looks quite nice, but the circle does look a little silly. So I open the text tool, and add some text. (The font is Monika, size 20, in #F5E0C7.)
And then I decide that the circle + text thing looks silly. So I scrap those two layers, and try something new.
11. I choose the colour #5F054B, and paint a bit of that on, using a 200pt brush. I set it on Lighten.
That's nice.
12. I decide to shove a little light texture on there. What's that, you say? Light textures are so 2005? Who cares?! So, I pick my favourite light texture, by angry_kangaroo, and set it on Lighten.
=
That's pretty cool. We could stick around with that. But... one last idea!
13. I create a new 100x100 canvas.
14. I create a new 80x80 canvas. I choose a good colour - #6B3B2C. I select the blank canvas (CTRL+A), and go to the Stroke tool - it's under Edit.
=
15. I copy and paste the 80x80 square into the 100x100 square.
16. I go back to my original icon. Ooh, it's still pretty.
17. I take out the purple layer, because it looks a bit too... purple. No duh. Hey, that could easily be an icon too.
18. I resize the icon to be 74x74 pixels. Aww, it's a baby. *buys it some bootees*
19. I select the entire icon (CTRL+SHIFT+C), and paste it into the pretty 100x100 containing 80x80 square.
And that'll do too.
So, there you have it. Numerous icons, in less than 20 steps!
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.