Tutorial #1
Ooh, my first ever tutorial! It's a fairly easy one to start with. We're gonna be going from
to
in PS CS (though it can be adapted. The steps are easy)
Layer 1: We'll start off with this picture. It's a great shot, but the quality is horrible, which is a real shame.
Layer 2: To fix the blurriness a bit, duplicate the layer once, then sharpen it once (Filter-Sharpen-Sharpen).
Layer 3: Duplicate the sharpened layer, then take your smudge tool (I used a soft, round brush at size 5) and go over the background areas to make the foreground stand out more. I went over everything behind River, plus the side.
Layer 4: Duplicate the smudged layer, and desaturate it (Image-Adjustments-Desaturate).
Layer 5: Now duplicate that layer, and blur it. I used Gaussian Blur (Filter-Blur-Gaussian) set at 1.9.
Set your blurred black and white layer to 'Overlay' at 100%. While it's kinda interesting as it is, especially if you want something dramatic and striking, I felt it needed something more.
Layer 6: Go back to your sharpened colored layer, and cut out the swingset (or whatever item you'd like to use). Copy and paste that item above your blurred black and white layer.
Also, kinda interesting, but it needs a bit of text.
Layer 9: Using Courier TT, size 6, I type "let it burn" and angle it, which makes it look crooked and dirty.
Layer 8: The "burn" is a bit hard to see, so on a new layer right beneath it I cut out around the text with the lasso tool and fill it with white.
Layer 7: Add the lyrics from "Walk Through the Fire" (from Buffy: Once More With Feeling), set at Courier TT size 3, on the layer beneath your little strip of white. Set the opacity to 17%, and you're done!
Please note, this isn't here so you can go and make an exact duplicate of this icon. But if you do try these techniques on your own, I'd love to see it!
to
in PS CS (though it can be adapted. The steps are easy)
Layer 1: We'll start off with this picture. It's a great shot, but the quality is horrible, which is a real shame.
Layer 2: To fix the blurriness a bit, duplicate the layer once, then sharpen it once (Filter-Sharpen-Sharpen).
Layer 3: Duplicate the sharpened layer, then take your smudge tool (I used a soft, round brush at size 5) and go over the background areas to make the foreground stand out more. I went over everything behind River, plus the side.
Layer 4: Duplicate the smudged layer, and desaturate it (Image-Adjustments-Desaturate).
Layer 5: Now duplicate that layer, and blur it. I used Gaussian Blur (Filter-Blur-Gaussian) set at 1.9.
Set your blurred black and white layer to 'Overlay' at 100%. While it's kinda interesting as it is, especially if you want something dramatic and striking, I felt it needed something more.
Layer 6: Go back to your sharpened colored layer, and cut out the swingset (or whatever item you'd like to use). Copy and paste that item above your blurred black and white layer.
Also, kinda interesting, but it needs a bit of text.
Layer 9: Using Courier TT, size 6, I type "let it burn" and angle it, which makes it look crooked and dirty.
Layer 8: The "burn" is a bit hard to see, so on a new layer right beneath it I cut out around the text with the lasso tool and fill it with white.
Layer 7: Add the lyrics from "Walk Through the Fire" (from Buffy: Once More With Feeling), set at Courier TT size 3, on the layer beneath your little strip of white. Set the opacity to 17%, and you're done!
Please note, this isn't here so you can go and make an exact duplicate of this icon. But if you do try these techniques on your own, I'd love to see it!