Red colouring // PhotoshopCS
I was playing around in photoshop, and I came up with this. It doesn't work with a lot of icons; it's pretty selective. Involves some curves, and possibly selective colour as an option. You need Photoshop. So here we go.
Background
Open up your picture full size. If it's about 600-700px in width, sharpen it once or so. Then crop it down to 100x100.
Background Copy
Duplicate your base and set it to screen at 40%. This is a subtle difference, but I just wanted to brighten the image a little.
Background Copy 2
Duplicate the screen layer, but change the blend mode to soft light. Set the opacity to 51%. To make the icon a little softer, go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur >> 0.7. Click OK.
Layer 1
Make a new layer and fill it with #CC33CC, or a pink/purple colour. Set this to soft light at 47%.
Layer 2
Make another new layer and fill it with #E4CC00, or a gold yellow. Set this to soft light at 61%.
Layer 3
There was a lot of yellow, so I wanted to bring back some of the pink and reds. Again, make a new layer. Fill it with #C3B9E7 (lavender), and set this to colour burn at 61%.
Layer 4
To make the icon a little more blue, I added a new layer and filled it with #0099CC, or a bright blue. Set this to soft light at 55%.
Curves 1
To brighten up the image without contrasting it, I used a curves layer. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.
=================== » Curves1.jpg
On RGB Setting:
-- 1st Point - I: 200, O: 210
-- 2nd point - I: 53, O: 76
===================
Curves 2
Then I increased the reds and brightened the icon more. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.
=================== » Curves2.jpg
On RED Setting:
-- 1st point - I: 200, O: 193
-- 2nd point - I: 52, O: 100
===================
Set this layer to screen at 46%.
Curves 2 Copy
Duplicate the 2nd curves layer and set it to soft light at 78%.
Layer 5
Make a new layer above everything and fill it with #D6DBE2. Set this to Colour Burn at 100%.
Color Balance 1
I don't really know what I was doing, I was just playing around. But go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Color Balance.
===================
On SHADOWS Setting:
-- cyan/red: +30
-- magenta/green: +14
-- yellow/blue: +17
===================
And there you go. :]
There's one more thing I want to show you. When you're using a cap for this method, and it's dark, you'll need to duplicate the first screen layer maybe once more or twice more.. Whatever's good for you. Also, if the base has too much red in it before you start the tutorial, I would suggest making a new selective colour layer (Layer >> New Adjustment layer >> Selective Color). On the RED channel, set Cyan to +100 and yellow to about +20. Then you can go to the NEUTRALS channel, and play with that more. Or just using colour balance to make the base more blue/cyan would work. :] I did that with the first two examples below.
Examples of this colouring:
» »
If you need any additional help, just ask.
Background
Open up your picture full size. If it's about 600-700px in width, sharpen it once or so. Then crop it down to 100x100.
Background Copy
Duplicate your base and set it to screen at 40%. This is a subtle difference, but I just wanted to brighten the image a little.
Background Copy 2
Duplicate the screen layer, but change the blend mode to soft light. Set the opacity to 51%. To make the icon a little softer, go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur >> 0.7. Click OK.
Layer 1
Make a new layer and fill it with #CC33CC, or a pink/purple colour. Set this to soft light at 47%.
Layer 2
Make another new layer and fill it with #E4CC00, or a gold yellow. Set this to soft light at 61%.
Layer 3
There was a lot of yellow, so I wanted to bring back some of the pink and reds. Again, make a new layer. Fill it with #C3B9E7 (lavender), and set this to colour burn at 61%.
Layer 4
To make the icon a little more blue, I added a new layer and filled it with #0099CC, or a bright blue. Set this to soft light at 55%.
Curves 1
To brighten up the image without contrasting it, I used a curves layer. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.
=================== » Curves1.jpg
On RGB Setting:
-- 1st Point - I: 200, O: 210
-- 2nd point - I: 53, O: 76
===================
Curves 2
Then I increased the reds and brightened the icon more. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.
=================== » Curves2.jpg
On RED Setting:
-- 1st point - I: 200, O: 193
-- 2nd point - I: 52, O: 100
===================
Set this layer to screen at 46%.
Curves 2 Copy
Duplicate the 2nd curves layer and set it to soft light at 78%.
Layer 5
Make a new layer above everything and fill it with #D6DBE2. Set this to Colour Burn at 100%.
Color Balance 1
I don't really know what I was doing, I was just playing around. But go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Color Balance.
===================
On SHADOWS Setting:
-- cyan/red: +30
-- magenta/green: +14
-- yellow/blue: +17
===================
And there you go. :]
There's one more thing I want to show you. When you're using a cap for this method, and it's dark, you'll need to duplicate the first screen layer maybe once more or twice more.. Whatever's good for you. Also, if the base has too much red in it before you start the tutorial, I would suggest making a new selective colour layer (Layer >> New Adjustment layer >> Selective Color). On the RED channel, set Cyan to +100 and yellow to about +20. Then you can go to the NEUTRALS channel, and play with that more. Or just using colour balance to make the base more blue/cyan would work. :] I did that with the first two examples below.
Examples of this colouring:
» »
If you need any additional help, just ask.