I created this icon using the following steps and one of the icon-sized brushes I made today. There are two other icons including, one from Buffy, one from Firefly, using other brushes I made (also included). And the "best" part, if you ask me, is that you can do this with almost any version of Photoshop -- I use 5.
Started with the image of Wesley and Fred, I set my crop tool to a Fixed Size of 100x100.
Then I cropped it to encorporate mostly Fred, with part of Wesley's face and his arms around her.
After this, I applied the Sharpen filter (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen). Then I started playing with the Variations (Image>Adjust>Variation). I think I went Lighter, More Yellow, More Red, Lighter, More Yellow, to get this effect.
I then duplicated the image, and applied a Threshold adjustment to the top layer (Image>Adjust>Threshold). Typically, I leave it at the default 128 in the Threshold window. I set that layer to Overlay at 20%.
I created a new adjustment layer, choosing "selective color" from the drop-down menu (Layer>Adjustment Layer). I upped all the colors to 25%, though ideally, you only adjust one of the colors, I think. I don't know, play around.
I created a new layer, and selected the Paint Bucket tool. I set that tool to fill at 60%, and selected a yellow color from Wesley's face.
I then filled in that new layer, and set it at Hard Light, 60%, and duplicated that layer.
I copy merged the whole thing and pasted it into a new window. Then I cropped that new image so that it focused mostly on Fred's face. I copied the cropped image and pasted it onto the original, then moved it to the side.
I created a brush of my own for the border of this icon. I wanted a clear deliniation between the images but I didn't want to fiddle with layer masks, so I just made a brush.
Then I rotated the image to the right 90 degrees, so I could add text. I don't know of anything in particular that prompted this quote, but I'm sure there's something. Using a different shade of yellow from Fred's face, I wrote "Hold me close" in Arial Black, 10pt. I added "Don't ever let me go" in same font, 7 pt. I added a Drop Shadow effect in black to the text. I kind of liked it on it's side, so I just left it as that.
So this is a tutorial featuring only one brush, made by myself. Two others I made today:
Two other icons I made today, using my own brushes:
All icons and brushes are shareable, just please credit me if you use any of them. Thanks!
← Ctrl ← Alt
Ctrl → Alt →
← Ctrl ← Alt
Ctrl → Alt →