Post by catalyst283 on Nov 15, 2006 22:57:35 GMT -5
Ok, well I was making one of my Yue 50 icons and was just about to flatten the image with all the layers, when I realized that this icon would work well for a tutorial on icon-making using layers, erasing, and other aspects that make a pretty icon.
Normally it takes me about a half an hour to make a quality icon; just because I mess with the layers and a bunch of other things with Photoshop.
This tutorial will help YOU to learn how to mess with the opacity and other aspects of layers, and make you a better icon-maker.
One note before we start is that layers work differently with different pictures; so some layers may look pretty with the image you’re using; some will look really crummy. It all depends on the different channels (colors) of the image and the layers, as well as the opacity of the layers and the layer mode.
In English; this tutorial will work with this image specifically, you will have to adjust it for your image. (You may want to work with this image first just to get used to the controls, messing with the layers and so forth; and then later use different images once you’re comfortable with this tutorial).
Oh and before I forget; this tutorial is for Photoshop (I use Photoshop CS, but it should work for most versions of Photoshop), so if you’re using GIMP or another program, you may have to modify the tutorial for your specific program.
So let’s begin.
We’re going from this image:
To this image:
The final product is so much lighter and prettier than original, right? Well, you too can achieve a similar outcome with this tutorial.
First off, we want crop the image. In your tool box, when placing your mouse (without clicking!) over a various tool, you should be told of the name of the tool. Do this over all the tools until you find the crop tool. (It looks like a picture frame thing with a diagonal line through it in Photoshop CS).
Highlight as much of the image as you want to be in your icon, the darkened parts being cropped. Hit the check mark when you have cropped your image to your liking. I cropped it so I got rid of the blasted Nick bubble as well as part of Sokka, so that Yue is the only one in the picture.
Ok, so now that we cropped it, we want to shrink it down to 100 x 100 pixels; the standard size for icons and for textures.
You can do this by going to “Image” in the menus on the very top of the screen (Below Adobe Photoshop) and then clicking on “Image size”. A window will come up, you want to enter 100 pixels for the height and 100 pixels for the width. (Make sure the drop-down menus to the side of the numbers are in pixels; change them to pixels if they are not). Click ok and your image should be resized.
But if your program is like mine; the original image was too big at 100%, so it brought it down to 66% or something like that. Bring the percent up to 100% on the little line thing in the navigation bar in the top right corner of Photoshop. (You can also enter 100% in the space with the percent too.)
Ah, much better. Your image should now look something like this:
We’re finally getting to the layers now.
Ok, so the first thing we want to do is duplicate the base layer. (Right click the base layer and click “Duplicate Layer” in the layers menu) You’ll do this a lot when you’re making icons; because it brings the original image back up to the top of the layers, and brings more of the original picture to the icon.
The opacity for the background layer copy should be 100% and the mode should be “Normal”.
Ok, so your image should look basically the same; though let me tell you, in the long run, it will help the image look better.
Next we’re going to add a pretty layer to the image. Take this layer:
And paste in into your image. (It’s as easy as right-clicking the texture here on the thread; clicking copy; then clicking “Edit” and “Paste under the main menus in Photoshop).
Oh no! What happened to the image? Don’t worry; it’s still there, you just need to change the mode of the layer. So under the drop-down menu under the layers menu where it says, “Normal”, change it to “Soft Light”. (Opacity is still 100%; we’ll mess with the opacity of layers later) Your image should look like this:
Not very different; but getting there. Next paste this texture into the image:
using the same steps as before. The image disappeared again, so we’re going to change the mode of the layer, this time setting it to “Hard Light”, Opacity still at 100%. Your image should now look like this:
To my trained eye; there are lines on Yue’s face. So we’re going to flip the image, using the “Move” tool. Make sure the “Bounding Box” checkbox is checked below the main menus in Photoshop. Move your cursor over to the side of the image until you get this little two-pointed arrow. Click, and you should see the layer moving.
Pretty cool, huh? So while still clicking on the side of the image; move your cursor around the image until the little degrees box under the main menus is around 90. Change it to exactly 90 degrees, so the layer is positioned nicely on the image. Click the check mark and the texture is well placed on Yue.
The image should look like this now:
Nice, huh? We could leave it like this; but I want my image to look lighter and less pink. So we’re going to paste in another texture, shown here:
Set this texture to “Lighten”, Opacity still at 100%, and you should get this:
Now her face is too dark, huh? (But we achieved the less pink look.) So we’re going to paste in yet another layer, shown here:
Set it to “Hard Light”, and this time we’re going to mess with the opacity, changing it to 50% because 100% makes the image too light.
You should have this image now:
The whole image of Yue is not really defined, and her face is too dark for the whole picture. We’re going to fix both of those.
First, we’re going to duplicate the base layer. That means duplicate your bottommost layer; the original copy of the picture of Yue. Click and drag that layer all the way to the top of all the layers.
Now you should be back to what you started with and we don’t want that, but we want the image of Yue defined. So we set this layer to “Soft Light” at an Opacity at 100%. Your image should look like this:
She looks really nice; but to me, her face is too light. So now we’re going to erase the parts of textures that cover her face. Not too many, or the original color of her face will come through, and we don’t want that.
So we’re going to grab a circular, defined edged (not blurry edged) brush that should be in your original set of brushes with Photoshop, with a size of 19 px. (Underneath the menu “Layer”, there should be a brush picture next to a tiny arrow; click on the arrow to get a drop down menu of all your brushes; find the circular, defined edge brush one of 19 px. and click on it; then click in the gray extra space of Photoshop to get out of the brush menu)
Under the layers menu, click on the bottommost texture you have; which happens to be this one:
And then erase the part of Yue’s face clicking your mouse on the image. (Not in the layers menu)
Now to me, her face is still not defined nicely, so we’re going to erase her face on another texture layer. Under the layers menu, click on this texture layer:
And erase the part of Yue’s face covered by the texture again, clicking your mouse on the image. And you should get this image; the final image:
She looks beautiful now, doesn’t she? All that’s left to do is flatten the image by going to “Layers” under the main menus at the top, then “Flatten Image” near the bottom of the drop down menu. Save your image and ta-da! You are done!
Congratulations, you finished this tutorial. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Comments and feedback in general is appreciated; thanks so much for your time! ;D
Normally it takes me about a half an hour to make a quality icon; just because I mess with the layers and a bunch of other things with Photoshop.
This tutorial will help YOU to learn how to mess with the opacity and other aspects of layers, and make you a better icon-maker.
One note before we start is that layers work differently with different pictures; so some layers may look pretty with the image you’re using; some will look really crummy. It all depends on the different channels (colors) of the image and the layers, as well as the opacity of the layers and the layer mode.
In English; this tutorial will work with this image specifically, you will have to adjust it for your image. (You may want to work with this image first just to get used to the controls, messing with the layers and so forth; and then later use different images once you’re comfortable with this tutorial).
Oh and before I forget; this tutorial is for Photoshop (I use Photoshop CS, but it should work for most versions of Photoshop), so if you’re using GIMP or another program, you may have to modify the tutorial for your specific program.
So let’s begin.
We’re going from this image:
To this image:
The final product is so much lighter and prettier than original, right? Well, you too can achieve a similar outcome with this tutorial.
First off, we want crop the image. In your tool box, when placing your mouse (without clicking!) over a various tool, you should be told of the name of the tool. Do this over all the tools until you find the crop tool. (It looks like a picture frame thing with a diagonal line through it in Photoshop CS).
Highlight as much of the image as you want to be in your icon, the darkened parts being cropped. Hit the check mark when you have cropped your image to your liking. I cropped it so I got rid of the blasted Nick bubble as well as part of Sokka, so that Yue is the only one in the picture.
Ok, so now that we cropped it, we want to shrink it down to 100 x 100 pixels; the standard size for icons and for textures.
You can do this by going to “Image” in the menus on the very top of the screen (Below Adobe Photoshop) and then clicking on “Image size”. A window will come up, you want to enter 100 pixels for the height and 100 pixels for the width. (Make sure the drop-down menus to the side of the numbers are in pixels; change them to pixels if they are not). Click ok and your image should be resized.
But if your program is like mine; the original image was too big at 100%, so it brought it down to 66% or something like that. Bring the percent up to 100% on the little line thing in the navigation bar in the top right corner of Photoshop. (You can also enter 100% in the space with the percent too.)
Ah, much better. Your image should now look something like this:
We’re finally getting to the layers now.
Ok, so the first thing we want to do is duplicate the base layer. (Right click the base layer and click “Duplicate Layer” in the layers menu) You’ll do this a lot when you’re making icons; because it brings the original image back up to the top of the layers, and brings more of the original picture to the icon.
The opacity for the background layer copy should be 100% and the mode should be “Normal”.
Ok, so your image should look basically the same; though let me tell you, in the long run, it will help the image look better.
Next we’re going to add a pretty layer to the image. Take this layer:
And paste in into your image. (It’s as easy as right-clicking the texture here on the thread; clicking copy; then clicking “Edit” and “Paste under the main menus in Photoshop).
Oh no! What happened to the image? Don’t worry; it’s still there, you just need to change the mode of the layer. So under the drop-down menu under the layers menu where it says, “Normal”, change it to “Soft Light”. (Opacity is still 100%; we’ll mess with the opacity of layers later) Your image should look like this:
Not very different; but getting there. Next paste this texture into the image:
using the same steps as before. The image disappeared again, so we’re going to change the mode of the layer, this time setting it to “Hard Light”, Opacity still at 100%. Your image should now look like this:
To my trained eye; there are lines on Yue’s face. So we’re going to flip the image, using the “Move” tool. Make sure the “Bounding Box” checkbox is checked below the main menus in Photoshop. Move your cursor over to the side of the image until you get this little two-pointed arrow. Click, and you should see the layer moving.
Pretty cool, huh? So while still clicking on the side of the image; move your cursor around the image until the little degrees box under the main menus is around 90. Change it to exactly 90 degrees, so the layer is positioned nicely on the image. Click the check mark and the texture is well placed on Yue.
The image should look like this now:
Nice, huh? We could leave it like this; but I want my image to look lighter and less pink. So we’re going to paste in another texture, shown here:
Set this texture to “Lighten”, Opacity still at 100%, and you should get this:
Now her face is too dark, huh? (But we achieved the less pink look.) So we’re going to paste in yet another layer, shown here:
Set it to “Hard Light”, and this time we’re going to mess with the opacity, changing it to 50% because 100% makes the image too light.
You should have this image now:
The whole image of Yue is not really defined, and her face is too dark for the whole picture. We’re going to fix both of those.
First, we’re going to duplicate the base layer. That means duplicate your bottommost layer; the original copy of the picture of Yue. Click and drag that layer all the way to the top of all the layers.
Now you should be back to what you started with and we don’t want that, but we want the image of Yue defined. So we set this layer to “Soft Light” at an Opacity at 100%. Your image should look like this:
She looks really nice; but to me, her face is too light. So now we’re going to erase the parts of textures that cover her face. Not too many, or the original color of her face will come through, and we don’t want that.
So we’re going to grab a circular, defined edged (not blurry edged) brush that should be in your original set of brushes with Photoshop, with a size of 19 px. (Underneath the menu “Layer”, there should be a brush picture next to a tiny arrow; click on the arrow to get a drop down menu of all your brushes; find the circular, defined edge brush one of 19 px. and click on it; then click in the gray extra space of Photoshop to get out of the brush menu)
Under the layers menu, click on the bottommost texture you have; which happens to be this one:
And then erase the part of Yue’s face clicking your mouse on the image. (Not in the layers menu)
Now to me, her face is still not defined nicely, so we’re going to erase her face on another texture layer. Under the layers menu, click on this texture layer:
And erase the part of Yue’s face covered by the texture again, clicking your mouse on the image. And you should get this image; the final image:
She looks beautiful now, doesn’t she? All that’s left to do is flatten the image by going to “Layers” under the main menus at the top, then “Flatten Image” near the bottom of the drop down menu. Save your image and ta-da! You are done!
Congratulations, you finished this tutorial. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Comments and feedback in general is appreciated; thanks so much for your time! ;D