• Mood: accomplished
• Music: Guilty; Gravity Kills

Icon Tutorial o2: Mirage

Hola! Today we'll be making this icon:



[x] Program: Photoshop CS [but, it can be transferred to any other program]
[x] Difficulty: easy
[x] Basic lessons: prepping, cropping, using light textures, brightening, smooth skin
[x] Feedback is much appreciated




Since I talked waaaay too much on the other tutorial, this one I decided to just go straight to the point. Plus, I'm lazy ;D


Step o1: Image

Photo found here

Result:

Step o2: Cropping and preparing base

a.) Crop the image to 100 by 100 [Note: Make sure Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions, and Resample Image: Bicubic is checked off; we don't want our image looking squished.>

b.) Go to Filter--> Sharpen --> Sharpen. Be careful when sharpening your image. If it looks slightly edgy/pixelized, then I suggest you quickly go to Edit---> Fade Sharpen to decrease the effect. Next, using the zoom tool [], zoom in as much as possible in order to smooth out the skin, which is the next thing. Now using the blur tool []{Size 6 brush, Mode: Normal, Strength: 50%}, I went over the model's skin a bit just to smooth out some wrinkly stuff, etc. Do not go over defining lines, eyes, lips, or face edges.

Result:



Step o3: Levels

a.) I wanted to darken the image in a few places to I went to Image--> Adjustments--> Levels. Here are the numbers:



Result:

Step o4: Darkening it more

a.) Duplicate the image now. Go to Layer--> Duplicate layer

b.) I changed the blend mode in this one and reduced the opacity:

Blend mode: Soft Light
Opacity: 67%

Result:

Step o5: Insert light texture

Inster this light texture:

Light texture: by colorfilter
Blend mode: Screen, 100%

Result:

Step o6: Text and finishing up

a.) Tool:
Text: CAC Pinafore, found here
Word: mirage
Size: 20.35
Colour: white (#FFFFFF)

Result:

b.) Now to add border

Border brush: by crumblingwalls

Stamp it on and you are done!

End result:

Other icons done with this tutorial (and added a few things):

o1 o2 o3 o4

More can be found HERE, at my icon journal.


Please try to remix at your own discretion. Icons are up for grab. Credit is not needed, but it's a lovely thought. Don't claim as your own, though! Have fun~

PS evalization [icon journal]= evalize [personal journal]= l_angelblood