Icon Tutorial #7 by vands88
( previous tutorials here)
sinchrolove requested a tutorial for one of my A Cinderella Story icons, and I've had several questions about my colouring lately so here's a quick tutorial on how to achieve the colouring used mainly in this batch.
From this:
To this:
Other examples:
>
/////
>
Program used: Photoshop CS2
Uses selective colour and curves.
1. Okay folks, crop your picture but DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH YOUR BASE. It should look something like this:
2. Now we're going to have a curves layer to make it a little brighter.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer---> Curves (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
We only want one point in the RGB channel so just type in Input: 80 & Output: 143 and click 'ok'.
Depending on the darkness of your base, you will need to adjust the opacity of this layer. If in doubt, keep it at 100% and change if necessary later. In this case, the curves layer is at 65% opacity.
3. Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Hue/Saturation (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
Master:
Saturation 24
Depending on the colour balance in your icon, you may wish to increase/decrease the saturation for certain colours. In this case...
Reds:
Saturation -8
Cyans:
Saturation -10
Blues:
Saturation -38
Magentas:
Saturation -12
4. Another curves layer.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer---> Curves (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
This time we have 3 points in the RGB channel:
Point 1:
Input 71
Output 71
Point 2:
Input 131
Output 137
Point 3:
Input 234
Output 234
Keep opacity at 100%.
5. Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Selective Color (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
NOTE: I know selective colour is a pain and it takes ages and it looks all complicated and icky but this is what I call the MAGIC layer. Why is it magic? Because it gives your icon a beautiful naturalistic bright colouring straight away which is why I tend to use this layer on most of my artwork. Plus, you only have to do this once; if you want to use it again, just drag this layer onto another icon.
Reds:
Cyan -65
Magenta 0
Yellow +12
Black 0
Yellows:
Cyan -40
Magenta 0
Yellow +35
Black 0
Greens:
Cyan 0
Magenta 0
Yellow 0
Black +50
Cyans:
Cyan +55
Magenta 0
Yellow 0
Black 0
Blues:
Cyan +55
Magenta 0
Yellow -30
Black 0
Magentas:
Cyan -70
Magenta -15
Yellow +10
Black -20
(feel free to adjust the balance on this layer so it suits your icon)
OPTIONAL FINISHING POINT.
6. Some icons may need a color balance layer.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Color Balance (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
Simply play around (mainly with the midtones) until you are happy with the colourisation of your icon. In this case...
Midtones: -12, +5, +8
Because I thought the yellows & reds were a little too harsh.
7. To finish off, I added this texture...
(maker unknown)
and flipped it horizontally so the dark corner was in the top right (ie. you want your subject to stand out, so try to avoid placing the dark bit of the icon where you want the focus to be)
Set this to Multiply at 10% opacity.
8. Depending on your result, you may want to change the opacity of your first curves layer, add a screen layer, adapt your colour balance layer, add another hue/sat layer or change the opacity of the last layer.
And we're done! Let me know if you found this useful, and I'd love to see any work you have produced using this tutorial. :-)
sinchrolove requested a tutorial for one of my A Cinderella Story icons, and I've had several questions about my colouring lately so here's a quick tutorial on how to achieve the colouring used mainly in this batch.
From this:
To this:
Other examples:
>
/////
>
Program used: Photoshop CS2
Uses selective colour and curves.
1. Okay folks, crop your picture but DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH YOUR BASE. It should look something like this:
2. Now we're going to have a curves layer to make it a little brighter.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer---> Curves (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
We only want one point in the RGB channel so just type in Input: 80 & Output: 143 and click 'ok'.
Depending on the darkness of your base, you will need to adjust the opacity of this layer. If in doubt, keep it at 100% and change if necessary later. In this case, the curves layer is at 65% opacity.
3. Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Hue/Saturation (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
Master:
Saturation 24
Depending on the colour balance in your icon, you may wish to increase/decrease the saturation for certain colours. In this case...
Reds:
Saturation -8
Cyans:
Saturation -10
Blues:
Saturation -38
Magentas:
Saturation -12
4. Another curves layer.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer---> Curves (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
This time we have 3 points in the RGB channel:
Point 1:
Input 71
Output 71
Point 2:
Input 131
Output 137
Point 3:
Input 234
Output 234
Keep opacity at 100%.
5. Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Selective Color (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
NOTE: I know selective colour is a pain and it takes ages and it looks all complicated and icky but this is what I call the MAGIC layer. Why is it magic? Because it gives your icon a beautiful naturalistic bright colouring straight away which is why I tend to use this layer on most of my artwork. Plus, you only have to do this once; if you want to use it again, just drag this layer onto another icon.
Reds:
Cyan -65
Magenta 0
Yellow +12
Black 0
Yellows:
Cyan -40
Magenta 0
Yellow +35
Black 0
Greens:
Cyan 0
Magenta 0
Yellow 0
Black +50
Cyans:
Cyan +55
Magenta 0
Yellow 0
Black 0
Blues:
Cyan +55
Magenta 0
Yellow -30
Black 0
Magentas:
Cyan -70
Magenta -15
Yellow +10
Black -20
(feel free to adjust the balance on this layer so it suits your icon)
OPTIONAL FINISHING POINT.
6. Some icons may need a color balance layer.
Layer--->New Adjustment Layer--->Color Balance (make sure it's in normal mode and click 'ok')
Simply play around (mainly with the midtones) until you are happy with the colourisation of your icon. In this case...
Midtones: -12, +5, +8
Because I thought the yellows & reds were a little too harsh.
7. To finish off, I added this texture...
(maker unknown)
and flipped it horizontally so the dark corner was in the top right (ie. you want your subject to stand out, so try to avoid placing the dark bit of the icon where you want the focus to be)
Set this to Multiply at 10% opacity.
8. Depending on your result, you may want to change the opacity of your first curves layer, add a screen layer, adapt your colour balance layer, add another hue/sat layer or change the opacity of the last layer.
And we're done! Let me know if you found this useful, and I'd love to see any work you have produced using this tutorial. :-)