big_blue_bin | Entries tagged with !tutorial

spud66cat

darlingbones requested a tutorial for this icon at the Ask the Maker meme at

icon_talk a while back.

Going from this:

to this:

Using Photoshop Elements 6

Let me preface this by saying that sometimes, when I make an icon, I have no idea what I'm doing and just try all sorts of random stuff that looks like crap until I tweak it a bit. Sometimes I stumble across something cool looking by accident. Sometimes the process I follow is a hot mess. This icon was one of those hot messes. It was also made about a year ago, so my memory is a bit rusty and some of the steps are going to differ from what I actually did, since I basically wrote this while deconstructing the PSD. I may have gone into too much detail, but I figure more is better for those less proficient in Photoshop.

( Tutorial under here )

Current Mood: embarrassed

spud66cat

I was asked to write tutorials for two of the icons from my recent batch. I've been pretty busy lately, so I decided to do the simpler one first. Of course, even though it was simple to make (from my perspective), it still ended up looking more complicated when I typed up the tutorial because I wanted to explain the process and why I did what I did. Because just listing what I did and the numbers I used in each adjustment layer isn't going to help you guys when you are working with different caps. It just won't look the same. So I took the opportunity to explain how I go about coloring icons (specifically how I use levels). I use Photoshop Elements, so I don't have Selective Coloring, Curves, Channel Mixer, and lots of other bells and whistles that your find in regular Photoshop.

So here it goes...

Going from this:

To this:

Using Photoshop Elements 6.

( Under the cut )

Current Mood: stressed

spud66cat

NOTE: I actually started writing this over several weeks ago, but RL stuff got in the way and I just got around to finishing this today, lol.

I was asked if I could make a tutorial on how I extend caps, but the approach I take varies depending on the nature of the cap, so I'll probably do more than one of these. I'm starting off with a simple one. Next one (when ever I get around to doing it) will be more complicated where I extend a cap that has a pattern or lines in the background. But for now....

How to go from: