#5 - ask the maker 2015 || tutorial #1 + tutorial #2
Let me start by apologizing in advance for any possible grammar mistakes since english is not my first language. Also I apologize if not all the textures have credits but I often edit them while making the icon, so I struggled to recognize them all (hover over them for the credits; click for the original).
And I warn you! The making of my icons doesn't happen in an orderly fashion, far from it LOL
One more thing I prefer explain now just once so later I can refer to it as "merge layers on top" or something like that; I'm talking about flattening the layers without actually doing it, this way I can keep all my previous layers so I can still go back to them later if I need. This trick is just one keyboard shortcut away! With the top layer selected you just need to press ⌘+ ⌥ + ⇧ + e (mac) ctrl+alt+shift+e (pc) and Photoshop will merge all of the layers into one new layer and place it at the top of your layers stack leaving all of the layers below alone.
Also if you have any questions or if something is not clear etc. just leave a comment :)
That being said, let's start!
#1 - EMMA
For this first icon I used this screencap of Emma:
I put the screencap on a 100*100px canvas, then as usual I did some steps to prepare the screencap (almost always the same ones); resized it and positioned it to my liking.
I duplicated the layer four times:
- on the first I added gaussian blur with 0,3px radius, on multiply, 90%
- screen, 100%
- screen, 100%
- screen, 10%
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I put all these layers in a group, then I cut out the subject using the quick selection tool and the quick mask mode for the details and adding a layer mask to the group. Next I put a new solid color layer at the bottom to start with the background.
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Still working on the background, I created a new layer, added a little white with a soft brush and set it on soft light, 80%
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Next I added a bunch of textures:
- soft light, 30%
- screen, 50%
- soft light, 80%
- soft light, 45%
- normal, 20%
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I really didn't like the hair that way so I added a black/white gradient map (normal, 15%) and a new solid color layer with a yellow (multiply, 55%) just on the hair.
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Then I added a texture on top of everything; it was red so I changed the hue and set it on screen, 25%
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Next I created two new layers, one set on normal and the other set on soft light, and added some color and lights with a soft brush.
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Still not satisfied with the lighting, I added another texture (I edited this as well) and using a layer mask I hid the parts I didn't like.
- screen, 85%
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Then I worked on the coloring using some adjustment layers:
- brightness/contrast for some light
- color balance for the overall colors
- selective colors to adjust the ones that I didn't like
- levels to enhance the lighting
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Once again I added a couple of more textures hiding some parts with the layer masks.
- screen, 50%
- soft light, 70%
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Next I added a vibrance layer (+40, +3), since I love bright colors.
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Usually when I think that the icon is finished, I go ahead and do some final steps for good measure. Depending on when the icon was made, this steps may vary a little since I tend to do the same things for a while and then slowly change the routine over time.
In this case what I did was:
- merge everything on top, gaussian blur 0,3px, set on multiply, 13%
- merge again and set on screen, 5%
- merge and set on soft light, 5%
- merge one last time and add some Topaz just on some parts to smooth a little
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Next I created two new layers for some additional lighting, one with only b/w strokes and the other with some colored ones, both set on soft light, 55%
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Finally I sharpened the icon (filter-sharpen-sharpen) adding also a layer mask; normal, 44%
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At the last moment I noticed some ugly dark edges at both sides of her hair, so I created a new layer and painted over them with a hard brush, picking the color from the background.
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That’s it!
#2 - REGINA
The grey parts throughout the tutorial, are just meant to make it easy to see some elements, they're not part of the icon.
This is the screencap I started with:
I put the screencap on a 100*100px canvas, then as usual I did some steps to prepare the screencap (almost always the same ones); resized it and positioned it to my liking.
This time I duplicated the layer three times:
- on the first I added gaussian blur with 0,3px radius, on multiply, 80%
- screen, 100%
- screen, 45%
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With the crop I ended up choosing, I was missing the bottom part of the image, so I merged everything on top and quickly stretched it with the smudge tool dragging it down (don't remember the exact settings, but it's not important); then I added a layer mask to erase the blur from the face.
- normal, 100%
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And here's the base, at last! At this point I knew I wanted to have two different colors for each side of her face, so on a new layer I painted yellowish/orange the left side and blueish/violet the right side. I don't recall which brush I used, I'm guessing it was chalk at different opacities and sizes with the pen pressure controls.
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I didn't really like those colors, so I changed the hue (image-adjustments-hue/saturation). I don't know the exact value for the "hue" field, I'm thinking something like +20/25. Also I added a gaussian blur, maybe with ~5/6px radius.
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I duplicated this layer and set it on overlay, 33%
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On a new layer I smoothed some parts of the face by painting over with a soft brush at 20% opacity, picking the colors directly from the image. Then I created a new layer, set it on soft light 100%, and painted with some more green/violet on the sides, a little bit of red on the lips, and some black and white strokes for lights and shadows; like on the face to brighten it a bit.
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Next I used some textures to enhance the colors some more; I edited them as usual to fit my needs.
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- both set on screen, 50%
- screen, 50%
- screen, 30%
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Then I started working on the coloring using some adjustment layers:
- vibrance (+34, +19) everywhere except on the face
- hue/saturation to selectively set the saturation for each color
- brightness/contrast for some light
- levels to improve the lighting
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At this point I used another texture to add a grainy vibe; using the layer mask I avoided covering the face.
- soft light, 100%
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Again a couple more textures. I don't know why, but for the first one I didn't use the usual layer mask, instead I used directly the eraser tool (no biggie). Also, since I didn't want the texture to be completely white, on a new layer I added a clipping mask and painted it with the colors I wanted and set it on multiply, so that it affected only the white parts of the texture.
- screen, 50%
- multiply, 100%
- soft light, 100%
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Now, time for the final touches!
I merged everything on top and used the auto contrast and auto tone (image-auto contrast, image-auto tone) and played with the opacity. I merged all on top again and added a gaussian blur with 1,0px radius and set it on soft light, 44% erasing some parts using the layer mask. Then I added some more adjustment levels to make it more bright and vibrant.
Also I added a hint of Topaz here and there to smooth things. Next I created another layer for some additional lighting and painted with b/w strokes and some colored ones as well.
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Finally I sharpened the icon (filter-sharpen-sharpen) adding also a layer mask; normal, 33%
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Now, I don't remember the exact steps for the edges, but roughly it goes like this:
- merge all the layers on top
- select a column of 4/5px from one edge
- new layer via copy (ctrl+J)
- place it on the opposite edge and rotate it a bit and stretch it if needed
- if it's too sharp, add a little of gaussian blur with 0,3/0,4px radius
- repeat for the other!
And it’s done!