drained
--> 
Just imagine! You could get colouring like this!!
I use Photoshop CS2, but I don't think that it would be very hard at all to translate into any program
Okay, as mentioned earlier, this is my firt tutorial ever. I have seen many, MANY done before, and I've always wondered why people never explain WHY they do the things they do.
Step 1: Get your original picture and put it onto the 100x100 px canvas
Step 2: Duplicate and NOW crop. Why did I do this? Because now if you want to remake this icon you have the original, untainted image to work with. Of course, this would only be relevant if your saved your icon as a .psd as well as a .gif
Step 3: If you have a closeup of someone's face, where you can possibly see details (something like this
) then you should duplicate your cropped layer, and then use a 3 pixel brush to get those annoying chunky bits sharpening makes, and then put this layer to 50% opacity.If the picture is one where you can't see any face details (like so
) then DO NOT duplicate or sharpen. Leave as is.Step 4: CURVES- Just change the RGB so that it is light and bright. These were my exact settings...
Of course every single picture is different, and quite often I make my pictures a lot brighter.
Step 5: Merge all of what you have onto a new layer. (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C) I can assure you, this layer becomes rather necessary later.
Step 6: SELECTIVE COLOUR
Reds- put in enough red and yellow to make the reds bright. In this particular picture I had 100% yellow only, because it already is pretty red.
Yellow- I usually have 100% cyan, and -100% yellow. It makes the yellows look cool (temperature wise) and a little nonexistant. I hate yellow. lol, although in this picture I only had the yellows to -50%, because the picture wasn't very yellow, and I wanted to keep a little of it.
Neutrals- 80% cyan, -20% yellows. Again, we're just making the picture coolish.
Blacks- add Magenta and Cyan, but just enough so that the dark bits are blue. Usually 50% cyan and 5% magenta is good.
Step 7: ANOTHER SELECTIVE COLOUR
Reds- about -20% cyan and 20% yellows, we just want the reds a little redder.
Yellows- Same as the reds, because of the above mentioned reason.
Cyans- add in a little cyan and white if you want to, but I don't necessarily recommend it in ever icons case.
Step 8: Duplicate the 2nd selective colour layer, again, not necessarily recommended.
Step 9: HUE/SATURATION
Using the dropdown list at the top, add just enough of each colour so that it is bright, but not 'I think my eyes are going to pop out' bright.
Step 10: Get the layer above the curves layer and bring it to the top. Set it to 20% opacity and Luminosity.
Step 11: Merge all of this onto a new layer. Sharpen and then opacity 10-20%
Hoorah! Just tell me if you want to tell me ANYTHING. Any questions or comments...
