Tutorial #06: Q&a
I use Photoshop CS5 (portable version). Keep in mind all the things I say here about coloring and the type of caps for example are according to my way of coloring icons. Each maker use different tools and a bad cap for me doesn't mean a bad cap for everyone. I hope there are not too many typos, I checked but who knows?
If you have any questions, ask, I'll be happy to answer!! And good luck on reading everything :p (I babble too much, I know)
Be sure to credit the right person if you snag anything. Don't hotlink.
01. What is your procedure of cropping? How do you decide how to crop a picture?
First, the caps. You need good quality caps to work on. That means HQ or blu-ray. There are always some exceptions though like Prince Of Persia or Battlestar Galactica which are grainy even in HQ. I download .zip for my caps because it is easier to me to sort out some interesting shots. I need to be inspired when I see the cap.
The cap is also important. For example, this one is perfect for a close up because you have mutliple size possible and many angles. This one is good too but you don't have that much of angle choices so it is not the best cap because you can't play the card of originality. All the icons coming from that picture will more or less have the same crop. This one is bad because you see the character from too far away and the result will be grainy.
If you work with a cap that has already a very close crop (like this one), I resize the cap with a height of 120pixels or around. If I work on a cap like this one, I resize with a height of 150-200pixels. Then, I create my base of 100*100 pixels, drag the resize cap in it and play around with the cap until I'm happy with the result. I can resize/drag many times or find it the first time around.
I always use the resize tool to keep the aspect ratio. (Image -> Image size, or ALT+Ctrl+I)
02. Are your icons mostly with or without texture?
I'd say a texture 90% of the time. An icon looking clean doesn't mean an icon without textures. For example, this icon has a texture on it.
->
->
The texture is set to screen, 100% of opacity and then I duplicate the base of the icon and set it to soft light at the top of the layers. It gives the icon more light without exagerating the contrasts and the brightness.
03. How do you know what colouring the icon needs?
I use the atmosphere of the cap and of the scene. I usually icon only stuff I know so I try to respect the way the show/movie was shot. For example, Doctor Who is full of vibrant colors, Matrix is a very green movie, Prince Of Persia is yellow, Somersault is blue,... Other are all about contrasts in color like Misfits. By contrast in colors I mean that opposite colors are used in the same scene. Like an orange outfit in a very blue atmosphere ( example).
The point is that if directors choose a certain way to shoot, there's a reason and if you work a bit on this reason, you'll find a way to create a meaning and by that finding the coloring the icon needs. I don't work thinking "I want this icon to be blue or green", I work with the colors the cap has.
Sometimes, there's no particular coloring. In those cases, you're free to do whatever you want. I keep a coloring that fits the scene or the emotion of the cap I chose. For example, this icon is a mistake:
The coloring doesn't fit at all the feeling you got from the cap so it doesn't fit.
This one works fine:
The coloring is neutral which fits Aurora expression perfectly in that cap.
04. What color schemes do you like the most and how do you achieve it?
I use the most yellow, blue and purple (purple seems new). For the yellow, I use the color balance tool (midtones and highlights). For the blue, the channel mixer (using the output channel on blue) and for the purple both. I have the purple with a light blue of the channel mixer and then post blue/magenta with the color balance (midtones and shadows).
I don't go into details about those tools because there's a question about them later on.
05. What are you top ten textures?
by ohfreckle
by lemonpunch
I work 99% of the time with lemonpunch and ohfreckle textures. Their sets are full of different type of textures and it is awesome. The ones posted here are the one I used the most those days, I didn't have time to try the colorful textures of the last batches they did.
I really advise everyone to go and snag all the texture sets at lemonpunch, ownthesunshine & coffeeforcloser.
06. Who are your favorite makers? Are any of them your inspirations for making graphics or certain styles that you've tried out?
I love many makers on LJ. I post here only those who makes me squee when I see an entry of them on my friend page.
The flawless ones:
poshing @ a_darkdesign
takethewords @ iwantchips
darlingbones @ ohbambi
burymyregret @ watered_faith
emily_reich @ icon_reich
motorized @ imotorized
lostcointoss @ upongravity
00mina @ evercouldbe
ohfreckle @ coffeeforcloser
lemonpunch
navras_rheya
The ones I wanted to add to the list but couldn't post samples because the post would have been HUGE. Check my userpics for samples.
- gigglemonster @ lensflair_inc
- vermili @ iphoenix
- library_of_sex @ sexy_mood_music
- talipuu @ mirrorskies
- flatlined @ nextlives
- everythingshiny @ sinequaicon
- basta_tragedy @ 1067
- acolorfulguy @ colorvary
- imaginary-lives @ wicked_signs
- xmaidelx @ sinequaicon
- theotherayn
- makarosh @ boom_badaboom
- bam_87 @ mental_ability
- feel_the_fire @ brightestbuzz
- absolutelybatty @ reflexive_verb
- blue_emotion @ thatgoldenrule
- hopeitallaway @ nachtgeister
They all inspire me. Coloring, textures, choice of caps. Style wise, they all inspire me. I do my best to not copy but I'm pretty sure that even if I try, I fail. For example, since I'm a maker at magicmachine, my colors are much more vibrant than they used to be. My biggest fear is to copy someone so I do my best to try to not. It happens often I don't post an icon because I think I've already seen a similar one somewhere so I rather not post than posting an icon looking like someone's else.
07. Are there any techniques or styles that you want to try out but haven't yet/aren't able to?
Text and composition hate me. I don't manage to use text properly. I have no idea but every time I tried, I ended by deleting the text and post the textless version. It is te same for composition. By composition I mean complexed icons with multiple different caps or a fantastic use of texture like motorized does for example.
08. Any tips about general composition?
It is a very vast question. I'll take a bad icon and give some concrit on it hoping it will help. The bad and ugly icon:
The most important thing to me in an icon is the balance. Here, there's no balance. The texture makes the icon looking too busy. There is no light, no contrast and the coloring is everything but beautiful and balanced (yes balanced is TEH word xd).
The first thing when you do icons is to know on what you want to focus on. Regarding how what texture I used, I probably wanted to focus on her look but using this precise texture overwhelmed the character. It is so distracting you first look at the texture and then to the character.
The red of the texture and the yellow of her hair and the face are just ugly together.
The icon looks grainy and it would have been resolved by more contrast. But, you must be careful with contrast in order to avoid the too contrasted icons (which result in too much brightness which, guess what.. break the balance.)
In my opinion, textures must help to focus on what you're trying to show in the icon. And actually, you need textures for that. You are working on caps, you can simply use them as textures. Examples:
There's no texture in the meaning of "texture set" in those icons. It is something I do quite a lot.
- First icon: It is simply the same cap ( take a look) but in different size. The hugest size is set to "lighten" and hide the part of the icon that was looking ugly with the coloring. See the brightest hair on Dastan's head, near his eye? It is coming from the hugest size I used as a texture.
- Second icon: It is actually the same picture ( take a look). Donna and Ten are side by side. I begun by using a negative space around them and changed my mind because I wanted something more original. So I duplicate the base and put Ten on the top right (set to lighten) and erase him near Donna. It looks like they are looking at each others whereas on the original cap they are next to each others looking far away. The white/blue around ten is simply the result of the eraser on the background on Donna's icon part (remember, I did the negative space as a first part)
- Third icon: It is composed by the same cap. I worked on a 100*100pixels icon but the result was weird so I reduced the size and instead of using negative space, I duplicate a few times the tiniest size and play around with it until I was satisfied by the result.
Coloring wise, those icons are well balanced. If you compared with the ugly one, everything fits. For that, I used the vibrance tool and the color balance a lot. (see the last question for more about those tools) The brightness isn't too bright and the contrasts are well balanced. You can check if those 2 are well balanced simply by the fact that your result looks quite natural (not the coloring but the contrast and light) and you don't lose any details over the picture.
Oh and another word than balance to keep in mind: SHARPEN. But not too much. When you are done with your icon, go to filter -> sharpen. Then go to Edit -> edit sharpen. It will give a more beautiful result.
09. What fandoms do you make icons for most?
The fandom I use the most is Doctor Who, mainly the 10th and 11th Doctors' eras. Then comes movies, and shows (mainly science fiction) and music in general (okay, I'm lying, 30 Seconds To Mars and Muse). I'm quite multi fandom actually so it is hard to tell. I used to do a lot of Supernatural icons but stopped. I have no idea why.
10. What puts you into the mood for making icons?
Exciting stuff. By that I mean a new movie trailer or a new song or a rewatch of a show or simply someone in my flist talking about something I've heard of or saw before and it bring back memories so the excitement about it is back. I watch a caps community so just the fact HQ/blu-ray caps are available and you'll see some icons of it.
11. What will you never make an icon of?
I have no idea. I would say fandoms I don't like like Twilight or Legend Of The Seeker for example but it may happen if someone for a charity ask me icons of them, then I'll do them (it is a charity so I make effort :p)
12. What icon do you think is your best, and which one is your worst? Why?
This is the hardest question I had. I think my worst is
because I did it a few days ago and it looks like someone who opens PS for the first time did it. The texture is overwhelming, you can barely see what's happening and it is too bright in the highlights.
For the best, I can't really tell. I think the one I'm the most proud of is
because Battlestar Galactica always have been very hard for me to color and I'm proud of the result I had. Others I am proud of:
I love those icons because of the colors and the details I managed to maintain but also because of the meaning they have (well at least to me). For example, #2 is not a close up on Dominic Howard pretty face but represents the feeling I have when I listen to Bliss (the pic comes from the video). #5 is the representation of the relationship between Deckhard and Rachel. The lack of colors at the top of #4 is a way to show that Owen's screaming so much in depsair it breaks everything around him. #6 is when Apollo shoots The Olympic Carrier in 33 and Kara is closing her eyes to not see what is happening. It somehow shows it is hard to keep the humanity you have in yourself when survival is at stake. #9 sure represents the character but the yellow color (warm color) is here to reminds he saved Maximus's soul in a way, in helping him to find his path and being his friend.
I understand this will sound totally weird and people will surely laugh at this but that's how I see my icons and even those of others, I always try to have a meaning in them. This is probably why I hate red carpet pictures so much, they are empty to me.
13. How long does it to make Icons, Caps?
- Icons: It really depends on the icon and how hard to please I am. Some icons can be made in only 5 minutes and others can take 1 or 2 hours. If it is an important cap for me (because I love the scene or this particular shot), it can last hours. I never reuse a .PSD so I always begun from nothing for each icon.
- Caps: I use the auto-capping mode on the KMPlayer so it takes the time the movie/trailer/music video lasts. The longest is to upload the files. But as I always do something else (while capping and uploading), I can't really tell. I'd say the uploading takes between one hour (for trailers and music videos) and 2 or 3 hours for movies. It takes a day for blu-ray caps.
14. Which tools do you use the most?
All those tools are in Layer -> Adjustments layers.
- Color Balance: This tool is very useful to control the shadows, midtones and highlights. I won't advise to work a lot on the highlights though because the result can look weird very easily. This tool is very useful to color shadows too and as you have the main 3 primary colors, it is perfect if you are a control freak coloring wise. It is not for nothing that it is called "color balance"
- Channel Mixer: I use this one when I want the colors to pimp in blue a bit. I open the blue output channel and play around with it. Be careful to not lose...the balance (you hate that word now don't you?) If you stay in the blue output and play a bit with all the colors in it and then open a color balance layer you'll see that your colors will pop a bit more than before.
- Vibrance: The vibrance tool allows you to play with the saturation and the vibrance. It is perfect to find out what are the main colors of the cap and to color a cap that first seem to be very pale. Though, be careful. Increasing the saturation too much can also make you lose some quality as it increase the colors in the shadows. So increase slowly the saturation and the vibrance in the same time. The main result is that you'll have vibrant colors.
- Gradient & exposure: I use the gradient for only one thing: the black and white. I love black and white when they are very deep and really black and white, no grey. For that, I use a black and white gradient and immediatly after the exposure tool. The exposure tool allows you to play with the gamma, offset and the exposure. I increase the gamma correction until I get deep blacks. Then, I use a brightness/contrast layer to increase the light. I never touch the exposure. NEVER. It increases the brightness a way too much for my taste. I prefer the control a brightness/contrast layer gives me.
- Brightness/contrast: This tool allows you to play with the brightness and the contrast. Use it wisely though because, as you have understood by now, too bright is not good and too contrasted isn't good either because of the (if you thought balance than it means I did my job properly and you're a great student) balance.
Those are not tools but way to set the layers and it can be really useful:
- Soft light: Duplicate the base and set it to soft light at the top of the layers can be an awesome way to increase the colors and the contrast and decrease the effect of a texture.
- Screen: Nearly all my textures are used in this mode. I do that because I use them to bring some light in the icon so the screen mode is the best for that. But after you use a texture set to screen, be sure you work on the light, contrast and colors a bit afterwards. Most of the time, I duplicate the base and set it to soft light to be sure the icon won't look blurry or too pale. You can also use "screen" at the beginning to make your base looking brighter in duplicating it and set it to screen but be careful, the more you screen a base, the more it looks grainy.
- Lighten: The best way to blend pictures. As I said earlier, it is useful to compose an icon when you're using the same cap but it can also be very useful to blend to cap together like here:
I simply resize a cap from Misfits to keep the close crop over Alisha's face Then, I resize in tinier a cap of Ten and put it on "lighten" over Alisha. Keep in mind the lightest parts will appear on the darkest parts
DONE! Woa, if you read everyting, you're a hero. If you understood something in all this mess, you're Einstein's lost child.
Please don' t hotlink, be sure to credit the right person and if you have questions, ASK!