Ah, I really enjoyed making this icon. It was great fun. I also amde this for a 20in20 icontest on LJ, for the theme air, so you'll find a lot of little vibrance and later strong vibrance in this icon.
So, shall we begin?
The original screencap:
Of course, wewe first have to crop your image. I wanted to go with her eyes and neck first, but that didn't work out well, so I only cropped it above her lips.
Like I said, I made this for an 'air' theme, so what I had in mind was not a very bright coloured picture, yet not a b&w one, either. So, of course, I used a vibrance layer.
Vibrance: 0, Saturarion: -49.
To dull it up even more, I used a color balance layer. The only thing I changed was the first slider in midtones. I set it to -9.
I guess here I decided to go for a different technique and pumped up the saturation. I did that kwa making a new Hue/Sat layer and setting the saturation to +23.
Then, to bring out her neck, I created a brightness/contrast layer and set the contrast to +41.
I then used one of my inayopendelewa adjustment layers, color balance. I upendo it because it can bring out colours of the colours that wewe want. I prefer it to colour balance layers because it's way zaidi precise, but I don't back down from colour balance, either.
Anyways, I selected the 'yellows' preset and set the magenta to +19 and yellow to +29. Next, I added a vibrance layer.
Vibrance: +54, Saturation: +15.
A brightness/contrast layer.
Contrast: 28.
A gradient map.
First colour: #5357a4 sekunde colour: #adcde4.
A levels layer:
8, 1.62, 255
I masked (or erased, if wewe prefer) it away from her neck and only kept it on her hair.
And here comes the fun part; painting.
I first made a new layer, then selected a dark brown colour (#1f0808) and painted it on the left side of her face and neck.
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves here. The settings of the layer are the same for every one. (soft light, 51 % opacity). Each colour has a different layer.
Another really fun part: variations. Stamp the layers again and go to Image > Adjustments > Variations. Click on 'original', then on cyan, magenta, green, blue in that order. Make sure it's set on midtones and the slider is exactly in the middle.
Afterwards, I used another texture of these pretty little wings, set it on screen and 86% opacity, and moved it near her necklace.
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v
I guess the reason I did that was because I couldn't get the colors I wanted into the ikoni for it to fit 'air', but when I did this I also realized the ikoni didn't look exactly good. So I came to textures for help, and these little guys helped me.
First, I used this texture.
Then this one (I resized it to fit my canvas: 100x100)
And that's it.
OPTIONAL
When I looked at the ikoni again earlier, the sharpening above her mouth couldn't stop bugging me, so I sharpened it again. wewe do the same if wewe are having this problem.
Stamp the layers, go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen, and set whatever wewe prefer as long as the 'reduce noise' slider is high, this makes the ikoni seem sharpened and soft all at once. I just upendo this feature.
However, it does not always help completely. This is where the smudge tool is useful. For those of wewe who don't know, the smudge tool is on the left toolbar of photoshop. Below the bucket tool is the blur tool. Right click that and choose 'smudge tool' from the menu that pops up.
Then, stamp the layers again, zoom in really well to the part wewe want to get rid of, set the size to about 6px, strength to 50%, and begin smudging kwa simply painting on it like with a brush. Don't smudge too much, though, it will distort your icon. Don't smudge the same place zaidi than once. If you've made a mistake, go back and do it all over again. Don't attempt to fix it kwa smudging it more.
The End.
If wewe have any questions, do ask me.
So, shall we begin?
The original screencap:
Of course, wewe first have to crop your image. I wanted to go with her eyes and neck first, but that didn't work out well, so I only cropped it above her lips.
Like I said, I made this for an 'air' theme, so what I had in mind was not a very bright coloured picture, yet not a b&w one, either. So, of course, I used a vibrance layer.
Vibrance: 0, Saturarion: -49.
To dull it up even more, I used a color balance layer. The only thing I changed was the first slider in midtones. I set it to -9.
I guess here I decided to go for a different technique and pumped up the saturation. I did that kwa making a new Hue/Sat layer and setting the saturation to +23.
Then, to bring out her neck, I created a brightness/contrast layer and set the contrast to +41.
I then used one of my inayopendelewa adjustment layers, color balance. I upendo it because it can bring out colours of the colours that wewe want. I prefer it to colour balance layers because it's way zaidi precise, but I don't back down from colour balance, either.
Anyways, I selected the 'yellows' preset and set the magenta to +19 and yellow to +29. Next, I added a vibrance layer.
Vibrance: +54, Saturation: +15.
A brightness/contrast layer.
Contrast: 28.
A gradient map.
First colour: #5357a4 sekunde colour: #adcde4.
A levels layer:
8, 1.62, 255
I masked (or erased, if wewe prefer) it away from her neck and only kept it on her hair.
And here comes the fun part; painting.
I first made a new layer, then selected a dark brown colour (#1f0808) and painted it on the left side of her face and neck.
I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves here. The settings of the layer are the same for every one. (soft light, 51 % opacity). Each colour has a different layer.
Another really fun part: variations. Stamp the layers again and go to Image > Adjustments > Variations. Click on 'original', then on cyan, magenta, green, blue in that order. Make sure it's set on midtones and the slider is exactly in the middle.
Afterwards, I used another texture of these pretty little wings, set it on screen and 86% opacity, and moved it near her necklace.
|
v
I guess the reason I did that was because I couldn't get the colors I wanted into the ikoni for it to fit 'air', but when I did this I also realized the ikoni didn't look exactly good. So I came to textures for help, and these little guys helped me.
First, I used this texture.
Then this one (I resized it to fit my canvas: 100x100)
And that's it.
OPTIONAL
When I looked at the ikoni again earlier, the sharpening above her mouth couldn't stop bugging me, so I sharpened it again. wewe do the same if wewe are having this problem.
Stamp the layers, go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen, and set whatever wewe prefer as long as the 'reduce noise' slider is high, this makes the ikoni seem sharpened and soft all at once. I just upendo this feature.
However, it does not always help completely. This is where the smudge tool is useful. For those of wewe who don't know, the smudge tool is on the left toolbar of photoshop. Below the bucket tool is the blur tool. Right click that and choose 'smudge tool' from the menu that pops up.
Then, stamp the layers again, zoom in really well to the part wewe want to get rid of, set the size to about 6px, strength to 50%, and begin smudging kwa simply painting on it like with a brush. Don't smudge too much, though, it will distort your icon. Don't smudge the same place zaidi than once. If you've made a mistake, go back and do it all over again. Don't attempt to fix it kwa smudging it more.
The End.
If wewe have any questions, do ask me.