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Madame Malkin's (Graphics & Art)Come on into to the mad workshop where SS's finest avvy and siggy makers are hard at work! Make requests here. Also includes SS's art work and portfolios.
Welcome to all SSers with an interest in graphics to Madam Malkin's very own Tutorial centre! Keeping with the Madam Malkins theme, we have decided to name the thread Sewing Lessons.
The objective of this thread is to share. It is for anyone with any background or knowledge of making graphics to give tutorials, tips and certain "cheats" that will help each other as well as anyone who is interested in giving this addictive hobby a try.
It is completely voluntary, that is to say that anyone and everyone is allowed to post a tutorial here. ALSO, we welcome requests from fellow makers who wish to know how to use a function, or to create a certain effect, or simply anything to do with making graphics.
Our purpose? To make sure we're all lookin' spiffy with our snazzy graphics! lol
Rules:
For requesters:
1. Do not post graphics or graphics requests here. We don't make siggies or avvies, we only teach how to make siggies or avvies.
2. Be patient. If you've asked a question, just wait until someone who knows the answer comes along and answers. We don't know everything, but hopefully the accumulated knowledge should be enough.
3. The main thing you should know is that we are here to answer questions starting with "How can I make..." and not "Where can I find...".
4. Before posting, read and make sure your question hasn't already been answered.
5. If you want to duplicate an effect you saw in a certain graphic... ask the maker of that graphic!
For tutors:
1. Try to be CLEAR with your instructions. Make it so that everyone knows what you're talking about.
2. State what program you are using.
3. Name your resources (textures, brushes, fonts, patterns, etc.).
4. Try to post your tutorials in proper English.
We are here to:
- Share tips and tricks of the trade (trade... except we're not making moolah!)
- Learn how to use graphic design programs.
- Tutor and answer.
We sure aren't here to:
- Share icons or banners.
- Share resources (like textures or brushes you may have made).
- Make requests.
- Give feedback on what you may have done.
- Advertise your own graphics thread.
After sales service (lol):
- When using a specific effect taught by someone, be sure to (if not credit) at least give some recognition to the person you learned the technique from.
- This thread is only for posting tutorial requests and tutorials. Comments should be PMed to the specific Tutor.
Ama!Nabs IS NAMED MINHO & Is SO Black Panther Right Now
Re-posting an old tutorial by potterxfan04
Hilary Duff Tutorial :: PSP 9
1. This is your base. I cropped it to 160x160 and re-sized it to 98x98.
2. Duplicate the base twice.
3. Now, click onto your base (background) and go to Effects >> Artistic Effects >> Chrome. Flaws is set to 1 and Brightness is set to 0. Click "Use original color" so that it's checked.
4. Set the first duplicated base to "Hard Light."
5. Set the second (the topmost layer) duplicated base to "Soft Light."
6. Make a new exclusion layer and flood-fill this with #00103c (flood-fill settings: exclusion 100 opacity).
7. Copy this image and paste it in as a new layer (Ctrl + l). [That's L in lower-case.] Set this layer to Multiply, opacity 50.
8. Make a new Soft Light layer. Flood-fill (flood-fill settings: exclusion at 100 opacity) it with this by CrumblingWalls (at LJ.com). (I rotated the gradient 229 degrees.)
9. Make a new Soft Light layer and flood-fill (settings: normal at 100 opacity) it with #ffffff.
10. Copy this image and paste it in as a new layer (Ctrl + l). Set this layer to Soft Light, opacity 50.
11. Now, we're editing the topmost layer. Erase only the parts on Hilary's face, neck, etc. (Avoid that strand of hair on her forehead, the shadow under her chin, and the top part of her white shirt at the bottom.)
12. Make a new Hue (legacy) layer. Flood-fill (flood-fill settings: overlay at 100 opacity) it with this by CrumblingWalls. (I rotated the gradient 229 degrees.)
13. Merge all layers. Go to Image >> Add Borders and add a 1px border in black (making your icon 100x100).
I probably had a lot of unnecessarily steps in this, because I was just doing random things. Ignore the fact that I used a Hilary picture, I just felt like doing a tutorial and picked a random picture in my computer files.
Other icons I did using this same tutorial (with the exception of step 11):
(For people in your icon, I think it'd be best to use really bright/light pictures. It doesn't come out the same all the time, it depends on the skin tones.)
__________________
you left behind the world again. be a tourist, hear the call and you've been saving your money you can spend it all and you can come away with me today; free from all you're meant to be; .
come on baby, jump right in, 'cause tonight we can be right here where we wanna be; come away
come away, get away. all your life you've been running from dreams; from the blue, red and orange
Ama!Nabs IS NAMED MINHO & Is SO Black Panther Right Now
Tutorial originally by Mikaela:
Disney's Beauty & the Beast Icon Tutorial
(Made with PS Elements 3.0)
This takes a basic knowledge of PS. I hope everything's located at the right place :s
This technique can be inversed so the picture is in colour but there are hits of black and white.
1. Start with a picture, any picture. Make sure that there's a bright colour you can work with somewhere in the picture. You can sharpen it before you start.
2. Go to your lasso tool. Make sure "Add to selection" is selected, or the second button from the left.
3. Zoom in. Outline the part of the image which you want to keep colourized. Keep in mind that if the colour part is against white (like the second example icon, on the man's shirt) or black, you can be a little sloppy because it'll stay white anyway.
4. Now go Shift+Ctrl+I or Select > Inverse.
Now do EITHER 5 OR 6:
5. Right-click the selection. Select Layer via Copy.
-or-
6. Do Ctrl+C (or Edit > Copy) and then Ctrl+V (or Edit > Paste)
7. Now your new layer is everything that's going to become grayscale. Call that one Black and White or something.
8. Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color
9. Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels. I consider this one of my most important tips. Always adjust levels to bring out the contrast. A black-and-white picture needs a different amount of darkness and lightness than a colour picture, in order to look well-defined.
10. As a final touch, I like to blur the background. I use my blur tool on a soft round brush at 50-75% opacity and just go over the background.
11. You now can add text and/or a border.
I'm comfortable enough with this that instead of making a new layer (like in steps 5 and 6), I just remove the colour from my original base layer. Also, remember that if you missed a spot when selecting your colour, you can go back and adjust it because it's on Add to Selection.
Also keep in mind that if you hit Ctrl+U and adjust your saturation, you can make the colour pop out more.
__________________
you left behind the world again. be a tourist, hear the call and you've been saving your money you can spend it all and you can come away with me today; free from all you're meant to be; .
come on baby, jump right in, 'cause tonight we can be right here where we wanna be; come away
come away, get away. all your life you've been running from dreams; from the blue, red and orange
Magical Menagerie Mod Madame Malkins Mod SS 100 Triumphant NLFC Mod
Basilisk
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So lately a lot of people have become a fan of the circular image within an image technique, something I myself have been in love with for a while now Anyways I thought I would share the way that I make those little circles inside siggies and such, in case anyone else wanted to give it a shot This isn't the only way to do it, I'm sure, since there are numerous ways to do almost anything on Photoshop, this is just the easiest way that I have found when making graphics
Oh, translatable to any graphics program that lets you work with layers, by the way. I didn't mess with any coloring at all in this tut
I also apologize for the quality of the pics--because I saved the pics in a rather large size I had to lower the quality when I saved so they're not the best, but it really doesn't matter in the long run
So first off, select your base and all that jazz Mess around with the coloring and stuff as much as you want, since I usually save this step till the very last. But for the purposes of this tutorial we're just going to leave the base the way it is
To start the circle forming process, take a smaller version of the image you'd like to use in the circle and paste it on a new layer. I almost always use a smaller version of my base image but you can always go with something else, of course Move the smaller image around until you have it in the general area you'd like your final circle image to be and then drag this layer below all your other layers. Since it's now your bottom layer, you shouldn't be able to see your small pic and the base should look totally unchanged.
There's a cap of what your layers should look like at this point Ignore the fact that I have the visibility unchecked on the top layer, I dunno WHAT I was doing but you need it VISIBLE for the next step
Now lower the opacity of your base image so that it is semi-transparent. It doesn't have to be a set opacity, just anything below 90% or so works pretty well. So here is what your image should look like:
So now you can see your tiny pic layer on the bottom ( I believe I lowered the opacity to 75% here)
What I do now is take my Eraser tool and take a round brush with CRISP edges (not BLURRED) and erase a hole on my base layer over the tiny pic, therefore exposing my bottom layer. Usually just one click should do it (just make sure your opacity for your eraser tool is at 100% ) and set the opacity of your base layer back to 100%
Viola! You've created a circle within your picture!
This is what your layers should look like--keep in mind that if you have layers above your base that effect things such as coloring and stuff like that, you may need to erase on those layers as well.
To make it stand out, I usually desaturate the bottom layer and make the tiny picture black and white. I then turn on the Drop Shadow effect on my base layer (click the tiny F within a circle button at the bottom of your layer palette) to make the circle have a bit more definition, so it isn't just blending right in with the pic.
And that's pretty much it This is just the basic way to create this effect, you can definitely go above and beyond and get really creative with your circles by playing around with effects and coloring, whatever you prefer I hope I helped and go have fun kiddos
__________________
This is my family. It's little and broken, but still good.
you live your life just once, so don't forget about a thing called love.
Christian Bale Icon Tutorial;
So, I thought I'd make a little tutorial for some icons that I recently made. It's not complicated and is translatable. It was originally made in PSE6 and works on pretttty much anything. Or that's what I think. It's up to you to prove it.
SPOILER!!: The Steps
Step 1: Pick an image that you would like to work with. Anyone will do just so long as it has a head, torso, and maybe legs. Head and torso are the big two though.
Photos!: Pretty Bale photo. <3
Step 2: Outline your person. Don’t freak out if it’s not like, colossally perfect, because you’re honestly not going to notice little imperfections later. If you absolutely half to, copy and paste your person into a new document and erase all the little tidbits that may be annoying the life out of you. And then outline your final and copy it again.
Step 3: Create a 100x100 size canvas. Paste your person onto the canvas and resize until you get it to a desired small size. Don’t make it excessively small though; make it small enough that there’s about a centimeter or so between the person’s head and the top of the canvas.
Step 4: Paste the base image again and place behind the little person on the palette and on the canvas. Resize so that this doesn’t consume the whole canvas, but is big enough to act like a shadow. Then choose what part of the big person you want to show: the head? The torso? Do whatever you like. Set to NORMAL at 30%,
Step 5: Duplicate you little person twice and set the FIRST to OVERLAY at 100% and then the second one to LUMINOSITY at 100%.
>> >>
Step 6: In between the Overlay mini-man and the Luminosity mini man, you’re going to put three layers:
First: a solid colour layer - #050c46, set to EXCLUSION at 100%
Second: a solid colour layer - #f7b0b0, set to SOFT LIGHT at 100%
Third: a Hue/Saturation layer – leave HUE alone, set SATURATION to 25.
>> >> >>
Step 7: So, I’m thinking, the background looks a little plain, right? Let’s put a texture behind there. Now, you can put anything you feel like putting, but I decided to go with a grunge style texture. (Now, I don’t remember where I got it from… >.< If you know, could you please let me know? <3) I decided to go with this:
Step 8: Place you texture all the way at the start of the layers in the palette. It’s base for the image. DUPLICATE the texture and set it to HARD LIGHT at 100%.
>>
Step 9: This part is optional, but to me, the icon looks too light to me. I want to bring out features of the base more and add a bit more colour to it all in general. SO, after the second texture layer, add a SOLID COLOUR LAYER - #470707 and set it to SOFT LIGHT at 100%.
The red colour really brings out the little blood splatters on the texture well. =D
Step 10: You’re more than welcome to stop there, but if you want, you can add text to and all. I’m not going to go through the steps because there are a multitude of things you type and do and any font works well.
JUST A NOTE: if you use white coloured text, outline your text with a shade of grey (I used #848484) and set it to LUMINOSITY. Then blur the outline with GAUSSIAN BLUR at 10.0. Place the outline behind the FIRST little person layer you have. Not only can you now see your text, but it adds a nice little something to your icon.
You can also further your texting by creating a text layer under your text outline. Give it a grey colour and set it to COLOUR BURN. It’s has a nice little fade effect and just looks cool.
>> >>
FINAL PRODUCT:
Order of layers (from base to top layer)
White Background
Texture – normal (100%)
Texture – hard light (100%)
Solid colour layer – soft light (100%)
Large man – normal (30%)
Mini man – normal (100%)
Mini man – overlay (100%)
Solid colour layer - #050c46, exclusion (100%)
Solid colour layer - #f7b0b0, soft light (100%)
Hue/Saturation layer – hue: 0; saturation: 25
Mini man – luminosity (100%)
Mix it up, don’t do what I do exactly. There are lots of things that can be played around with, so don’t be afraid to. Good luck and have fun!
Thumper asked me how I coloured Daniel Radcliffe's eyes in this banner. So here's a little Coloured Contacts tutorial, made using Photoshop CS3, extended version, but is easily translatable to other Photoshop and also PSP software ::
First pick the image you want to edit, always best to have a high-res image as the details will be that much better. It's not as nice to colour the eyes in small images, but the technique is the same no matter what size.
2. Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) tool, select the area of the eye that you wish to colour. Click here to see a screencap of which parts I selected.
3. Create a new layer on top of the background image, set the blending mode to COLOR and then fill it with the colour you want to change it to (in this case, I used #327037). And that's it, the image should look like this:
EXTRA STEPS:
Usually, this extra step is only needed when trying to change from a dark to a light colour. With the Dan Radcliffe image, only 3 steps are needed as his eyes are quite light to begin with. To go from THIS image of Skandar Keynes (who has dark brown eyes), to this image of my Hogwarts RP character Garret Crocker (who has bright blue eyes), just follow the first 3 steps above and add these steps:
4. Duplicate the layer which you created before (in this case, the colour I used was #005b7f), and drag it under the COLOR layer. Set this layer to COLOR DODGE at 50% opacity (this will bring the colour out, as the darker colour of the background will likely drown out the colour layer).
5. Because the coloured area is now so unnaturally bright, it doesn't even up with the rest of the image (see?), so I added a Brightness/Contrast mask layer, set at 20 Br and 10 Ctr (screencap). At this point, the image should look like this.
6. Then to match the brightness of the image to the coloured eyes, duplicate the background layer, drag the copy above the Brightness/Contrast mask layer and set it to SOFT LIGHT at 100% opacity (screencap). Then it's finally complete, just merge all the layers and do with it what you will!
Tip: Always save the colour code you used to colour the eyes for future reference. I like to save the colour in the swatches so it's easy for me to pick from them the next time I need to colour.
Okay.. so I've decided to try and make a tutorial about how I extract an image from it's background. I'm not sure if this is the quickest, or the easiest method, but this way works just fine with me. So here goes:
The program I'm using is Photoshop CS4 extended version, and to be honest, I'm not ENTIRELY sure if it's translatable. I'll be using the pen tool, so as long as your program has that. ^^
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
So first, you need your image. I've chose this one for the tutorial. This method is easier to use on images that have... neat lines to follow? XD If that makes sense.. *is useless at explaining* You'll see.
So as I said up there, we'll be using the pen tool to extract our image, and the settings should be set as follows:
Now we can start drawing our path! I find it's easier if you zoom a little. Simply choose a place to start, and left click to place a point there. To draw a curve, just left click and HOLD it down as you move the cursor to fit the path around the curve. It might take a little practicing, but it's easy to get the hang of. It should look something like this:
Now, while holding the Alt key, we need to left click on the second point we made. This'll delete it and leave us to carry on from there, like so:
Now, you need to carry on with that method until you've created a path around the image that it is you want to extract, and when you're done, it'll look omething like this:
YAAY! Nearly done! Now you're ready to convert that path into a selection! It's easy peasy.
With your pen tool still selected you need to right click and choose the option 'make selection.' A toolbox will appear. Make sure the option 'Anti-Aliased' is checked. So I normally have the feather radius set to 1 pixel, but it's entirely up to you.
When you click OK, the path will convert itself into a selection!
Now using the move tool , we can move just the part that has been selected, therefore separating our image from it's background and even placing it onto an even funkier background.
So yeah, that's how I personally prefer to take images from their backgrounds. I hope I didn't confuse you all TOO much. XD
Roro requested a tutorial on transparent backgrounds. To have your icon always match the background of the SS layout, no matter what colour, for example:
Program used: Photoshop CS3, extended version, but is definitely translatable.
Example icon:
Whatever icon you're making, if you're using an image or text or brushes, if you want to have a transparent background, you simply do not create a background layer with a colour. Leave it blank, when you merge layers you should merge them as "visible" and not to "flatten" them as this will give you a coloured background.
Your layers should look like this:
Photos!: layers
And when you save them, a JPEG or GIF image will give you an automatic background, so you must always save as a PNG-24 and check the Transparency option, like so:
Defy Gravity | ★♀ | Hunger Games ❤ | Mrs. Criss | I ❤ NY
Tutorial: Photoshop fog
by Laura
Recently, I've been adding a foggy/misty effect to my graphics and it's a really nice way to make a plain background look more interesting. It's worked especially well on my current signature:
Which looks like this without the "fog" :
I think it gives it a little more depth instead of being just solid colour.
I'm using Photoshop CS4 but this technique is definitely translatable to other Photoshops. Maybe other graphics programs if there are similar functions (cloud, blur, blending options.)
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
Photos!: Original image
OK, first off, do everything you want to do to your image: crop, resize, colour, etc.
Make a NEW LAYER and then go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds. It fills your new layer with, err, clouds.
Photos!: Example
Next, we're going to blur it, so it doesn't end up looking like the image went out on a stormy day. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion blur and set the Angle to -45 degrees and the Distance to 10 pixels.
Photos!: Example
So now we have a blurry, foggy-ish looking canvas and an image hiding underneath. Now, on CS4, go to the bottom of the layers palette and click the little button that has "FX" on it and click Blending Options.
Photos!: Example
Alternatively, go to Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options.
Go down to the bottom where it says "Blend If," making sure it is set to "Gray."
Notice that the sliders have a triangle at each end (black and white). We only need the black slider, so don’t worry about the white slider. You’ll also notice that the triangle shape has a small white area in the middle of the slider; this is to split the slider, which we are going to do now. Hold down the alt key and put your cursor to the right of the white area then click and drag the slider, it should now have split into a half triangle.
Move both of halves of the slider about until you have achieved your desired look.
I always use different values depending on the image, but here's what I put this time.
Photos!: Example
Now you're pretty well done! The only thing left to do is perhaps delete some of the fog over the main part of the image, or make it less opaque. This is what mine looked like after using a combination of the eraser tool and smudge tool to clear it up a little:
Photos!: Example
I hope you like this. It's a nice effect to use, I think. As always, PM me if you have any questions/queries. And drop me a PM if you use the technique!
Laura xx
__________________
with patience and faith
we remain unafraid
i'm home ❤
Last edited by InTheirBadnessReign; 03-08-2009 at 03:15 AM.
Professor Pink | Mrs. Bruce Wayne | I'm on a Goat | Glitterpuff | Evil Twin | #DancingQueen | W³
Alright, I've never done a tutorial before, so be please patient when reading my ridiculously detailed instructions.
If you do have the time to read through them all, you might just find out some extremely useful photoshopping tips, like a shortcut on how to resize things, a way to cut things out and make them look good, and, of course, how to get transparent backgrounds.
For reference, I have to thank Nabs' tutorial here because I took this tut and eloped with it.
And here we go. I'll be using Photoshop CS3 but it should be compatible with any graphic program if it has a few tools.
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
1. First, take your picture, and color it/touch it up however you want. Make it black and white if you'd like. Starting image.
3. Cut all around your picture. Go slow with this, because the little paths might not always pick up on what you want. And hold down "control" and click where you want to end the path/cutout if it doesn't match up in the end.
4. "Copy merged" onto a new canvas with a transparent background. Make the new canvas just a little bit larger than what you're copying.
6. Now I like to clean up the little nicks/bumps/imperfections left over from when I cut the pic out. Here, for example, I'm cleaning up a bit of the blue background I missed.
7. And to be able to see things better, it helps if you put a solid color layer behind the cutout so that you can more easily see where the little nicks and bumps are. To do this, just click "new layer" and then use the paint bucket to fill it in with a contrasting color. You should also drag that layer under your cutout layer so you can see the cutout better.
8. Now do you see all the ugly nicks rough edges and stufffff? Go clean those up with your eraser and blur tools.
9. Once it's as clean as you want, delete the color layer (or just make it invisible by clicking the eye there) and copy your cutout man into a new 100 x 100 canvas.
10. Eeep I can't see the Baleman eeep he must need resizing! No fear, Roro's here. ;D My easy trick for resizing requires you to do two things: hold down the shift key to keep your image proportional and drag from one of the corners to make it smaller. If you're holding shift correctly, you should see the little arrow pop up and you're going to drag from that. Also, if you normally see a dashed rectangle around your image, it should now be a solid line.
11. Don't worry if, as you're dragging it smaller, the box's outline moves off the canvas. Just click somewhere in the center of the image and move it back up; keep doing this til you can fit your little cutout on the canvas and it looks about right.
12. Once you've shrunk your cutout down to a size appropriate for the canvas, click on any tool and a box should pop up, asking if you want to apply this transformation. If you've accidentally stretched him or you think he should be smaller, click "Don't apply." Otherwise, if he looks good, click "Apply."
13. You should know by now that I like those little color fill layers in the background because they're like SS' avatar box and they'll show you if your drop shadow will be cut off later. So I add another color layer behind the cutout, with paint tool and stuff just like earlier.
15. I usually make the stroke white and set it at 3 px.
16. Also, I like to make a drop shadow around the person but you can experiment with this. I usually keep it at Multiply, with opacity at 100% although I might change the angle to 180 or 0 or whatever. The default is set at 120 degrees. You can also mess around with the drop shadow's distance from the object and size of the shadow and stuff.
17. Move your cutout person around until you like his spot on the avvy. Allow space between the edge of the drop shadow and the edge of your 100 x 100 canvas, because otherwise it can get cut off and look squareish in the end. This is another reason I like the color background because you can see what you're doing easier.
18. Now make whatever text you want in whatever color you want (I usually use the color picker tool to take one from the cutout's clothing or whatever). It should be looking like this, which I'm sure it is because this tutorial is awesome, right?
19. With that done, it's just a matter of copying the layer style of your cutout and pasting that style onto the text so that it matches.
20. Feel free to move it around wherever you want it and once you're all done, time to save. First make sure your color layer isn't visible or is deleted. Then go to File >> Save For Web & Devices and pick PNG-24. The file is usually small enough for use on SS, although .gifs can preserve transparency too though they aren't as pretty in my opinion.
And see how you can experiment with profile pictures and the drop shadows and such?
That's it, peeps! Simple, right? If my 30ish screencaps aren't enough to help you out, feel free to PM me with any questions. And, of course, holla at me if you use this technique.
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Fancy a little excitement in your life? Then spice it up and join Level Two today.
Your new Department Head will be watching waiting. ;]
Last edited by BanaBatGirl; 04-24-2009 at 10:23 PM.
Reason: =D
Alright so Roro asked me to do a tutorial for my most recent set of icons over at The Snake Pit Version 2.0 so here it is.
Program Used: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Difficulty: Easyish. Involves a curves & color balance layer. Translatable? YES!
SPOILER!!: clicky click!
Alright so we're gonna start out with our image. I chose a picture of Megan Fox from the Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen press conference. Crop your image and do whatever else you need to do to it. I didn't need to do anything to it.
01. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves
RGB:
Input - 125
Output - 145
This has the same effect as a Screen layer but it looks a lot better in my opinion. This'll brighten up our base a wee bit.
02. Layer -> New Fill Layer
Okay now we're gonna fill this layer with a light brown color. I chose #d6bfaa. We're gonna set this color fill layer to soft light at around 45% opacity. I would play with your settings so it fits your icon needs.
Megan's getting a wee bit darker now.
03. Layer -> New Fill Layer
For this step we're gonna fill this with a very dark brown color. I chose #390507. Set this layer to Exclusion at around 50% opacity.
Bigger difference now.
04. Layer -> New Fill Layer
Alright now we're gonna fill this layer with a Slytherin Green color. I chose #5d6f5e. We're gonna set this layer to Exclusion. Don't freak out! Lower your opacity to around 20%.
Oh hai Megan. You're looking darker.
05. Layer -> New Fill Layer
For this layer, we're gonna fill it with a burnt orange color. I chose #dc793a. This layer's gonna be set to Color Burn. Again don't freak out if your icon looks weird! Lower the opacity to around 20%.
Now that we've basically made Megan pretty dark, let's lighten up this icon!
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Color Balance
PLAY WITH THESE SETTINGS. They don't always work!
Shadows: 25, 2, -16
Highlights: -35, 0, 50
& here's our final result! Notice how this tutorial gave a nice coloring without using Selective Coloring.
If you use my tutorial, lemme see your results! PM me them. I love seeing what other people do with my tuts.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not copy my tutorial exactly. I'll cry.
Defy Gravity | ★♀ | Hunger Games ❤ | Mrs. Criss | I ❤ NY
Tutorial: Emma Watson Icon
(colouring)
by Laura
Right, Roro asked me to do a tutorial on my most recent grab bag in my shop. I didn't save any psd files for the icons, so this may look a tiny bit different, but it's the same method.
Program Used: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Difficulty: Depending on how well you know PS, easy to moderate. Translatable? Only to other Photoshops.
We'll be going from this to this .
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
[1]
Crop, resize, sharped image etc.
[2]
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Color Balance
Midtones +12, -2, -16
[3]
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Colouring
REDS
cyan -100
magenta +100
yellow +100
black 0
YELLOWS
cyan -100
magenta +100
yellow -100
black 0
WHITES
cyan -50
magenta -50
yellow -50
black -50
Looks a bit gaudy.
[4]
Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves
RGB
input 255
output 277
Et voila!
Now, the thing with this is all the levels described above are specific to that picture. Depending on whichever picture you use, you're going to have to faff around a bit. For example, sometimes adding the curve layer makes the icon look too dark, so I leave it out, like in these icons:
Other examples made using this technique:
Please don't copy the tutorial exactly. It's silly. Any questions, PM me. Enjoy!
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Last edited by InTheirBadnessReign; 06-15-2009 at 12:35 PM.
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Tilted Graphic Tutorial
So recently I've been playing around with borders or something, and I guess I stumbled upon something cool. Anna asked me how I've been making my graphics appear tilted, so here's a tutorial on just how to achieve this effect! (Note: This is, by no means, the only way. I'm sure you can also incorporate the transparent graphic tutorial to help you do this so it appears tilted on ANY background, but mine only works on white backgrounds).
SPOILER!!: Tilted Graphic Tutorial
Program Used: Photoshop CS4 Difficulty: Easy Translatable: Probably
1. Make your graphic however you want it to look. Right now, mine looks like this:
2. Create a new layer ON TOP of everything. This is what my layers pallet looks like:
3. Change your color to white and select the line tool. In this screen cap, the line tool has been selected. If you do not have the line tool where it should be, the tool is actually a shape tool, that I have set to draw lines instead of rectangles or ellipses or whatever. If this is the case, change it so it draws lines. Change the thickness of the line to whatever you want it to be in the "weight" option at the top of the screen. I have mine set to 10 px.
4. On your new layer, draw a line. You do this by clicking in one spot and dragging your mouse to determine the length and angle of the line. This is the tricky part. In order to make your graphic appear tilted, you need to make sure that your line is thicker at one end of the graphic.
This is what it should look like when you have one line drawn:
5. Continue this process all the way around, making sure to keep the thicker part of the line at the same end of each line. Eventually, your graphic will look like this, and you're done!
Okay so Angie and Dot have asked me to post a tutorial on using Actions in Photoshop. This tutorial requires a little bit of knowledge and patience of your program and I hope you find it useful.
Program: Adobe Photoshop Difficulty: Easyish Translatable: I think you can do this in Elements but I'm not sure.
SPOILER!!: ACTION!
01. Okay first off we need to locate our Actions window. If you don't see it, go to Window then click on Actions.
Well lookit there! There we have our Actions menu. Now there are a few things you can do here. Photoshop has it's own preset actions loaded into the program already. An action is basically a set of pre-recorded steps used in image editing. I like to use them for coloring since I always forget to save psd files. I use an action when I want to make a lot of icons at one time. Now let's make an action.
02. Now what I like to do is sort my actions by what their use is. I have my own Actions set for colorings. For tutorial sake I'm going to create an Action set as an example. To create a set, click on the folder icon on the Actions menu and name it whatever you want.
03. Okay now we've got our set created, let's create our action. To create an action, click on the icon next to the folder. I'm not sure what it is. It kinda looks like paper or whatever. Name the action whatever you want. For this, I'm gonna name it T01.
04. Alright now that we've got our action named and stuff, let's focus on the little red circle in the image above. This is called the record button and from now on, anything you do in Photoshop will be recorded. If you don't want something recorded to the action, you press the stop button. Now would be the time where you start making your icon and stuff. If you want to undo something, you press the delete button. When you are done with your icon, you press the Stop button. I usually press stop after merging my layers.
TIPS:
- When you're doing fill layers, make sure you set your colors while the action is recording. If you don't set your colors, it'll use whatever the foreground color is right now and your icon can come out wonky.
- If you're switching back and forth between photoshop windows while an action is recording, the action WILL RECORD you switching back and forth between photoshop windows. PRESS STOP IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT A PSD FILE. It'll make your life easier. However actions will not record you switching back and forth from Photoshop to firefox or msn or whatever so you're safe there. :]
- Actions, like everything else in Photoshop, take a little bit to master. Sometimes actions won't work and they won't come out right. Don't get discouraged! Just delete the action and record it again. :]
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T U T O R I A L: Coffee Prince Coloring
Program Used: Photoshop CS3 Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. Must know how to use fill layers and Selective Coloring. Translatable: Only to other Photoshops. The ever evil SC is my friend. I'm sorry?
YOU (yes YOU) will be going from this to this
Photos!: tutorial
STEP 1: Choose your base of choice. A base is an unedited/unaltered 100x100 icon; usually. Before you begin working on the coloring you should analyze your base. If it's too dark or too bright. Whether the cool (blue and greens) colors are more dominant than the warm (red and yellows) colors. This is VERY important when it comes to Selective Coloring, especially this tutorial. This probably won't work too well on images with excessive red or images that are too blue. If it has too much red it's going to end up making your subjects skin look--like they've been out in the sun for WAY TOO LONG. Unless, you're into that then you can just ignore this bit of info. If there is too much blue--it's going to just diffuse the edges of the blue and make everything pixelated. TRUST ME. You don't want pixely icons.
This is my base. Usually what I do with dark bases I just use the "Auto Contrast" button. It adds depth to the bases which is a good thing when you're going to brightening things up but don't want to wash it out too much. To do this you can go to "Image" > "Adjustments" > "Auto Contrast"
You can also choose whether you want to sharpen your image--but I rarely do that. It'll make the pixels that more obvious in a really bright coloring.
STEP 2: Duplicate your base layer and set to SCREEN.
You should have something like this now:
Still not bright enough for me.
STEP 3: Duplicate your base layer again. Set it on the top. Set to SCREEN.
>> See? Now it's bright enough. Maybe a little washed out so we're going to add some DEPTH some UMPH to those colors. Okay? Okay.
STEP 4: Create a new FILL LAYER using #ac8334. Set this to soft light at 23% opacity. THAT opacity is what works for THIS image. You can up it or reduce it depending to your image and your preferences. What this color does is add depth to the yellow and orange like colors. It may not be obvious now but trust me, it makes a difference once you start tinkering in SC.
>
STEP 5: Create another FILL LAYER using #5a8756. Set this to soft light as well at a 32% opacity.
>> The green is good for adding a smooth like color to the skin and other beige colors.
STEP 6: Now, it's bright but blanched out, no? Let's add some all around depth without resorting to color burn (which can be sooo ugly sometimes if not done right lol) and without using adjustment layers like brightness/contrast. Let's make YET ANOTHER FILL LAYER. This time using #527195. You could also use any other dark blue. =] But I liked this color at the time. Set it to SOFT LIGHT at 53% opacity.
>>
As you can see, some of the red has gone but we still have more intense colors than we had when it was just the screen layers. Let's make those orange and red colors in the background more rich.
STEP 7: Create one last SOFT LIGHT fill layer with #a24b6e. Set the opacity to 12%. We want red but not TOO much. The Selective Coloring will take care of the rest.
>>
STEP 8: Here weee go. Onwards to Selective Coloring. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Coloring. Put the following stats/numbers in their proper window. NOTE: Again, remember to tinker around depending on your image. The most important tabs to keep an eye on are the REDS, BLUES and NEUTRAL. The REDS are, as the name states in charge of the red colors. To keep from getting burnt skin I suggest putting very small numbers in the Black option of the REDS tab as well as the Magenta tag. If there's too much orange and you want a softer pinkish color use negative numbers Yellow option. Want more orange? Use positive. =] Juuuust a tip HEY LET'S KEEP GOING.
Now, you can leave it as is, but I usually like to combine TWO selective coloring layers. One to give the overall coloring, as in if I want an orange theme coloring, a pink kind of soft coloring, etc. And the second layer is what I call the "enhancer" layer. It's just a tweak here in there to make the colors pop out more to my liking. So, if you like you may continue or you make skip straight to step
STEP 8: Create another SELECTIVE COLORING layer and put in the following numbers:
Can you see the difference? The blues and reds are slightly more vibrant and there's a certain depth to the shadows that wasn't there before. It's always nice to have bright images but I also like to still keep a contrast in there.
STEP 9: Another layer that I add because--I am picky. But you don't have to. I STILL want more contrast so I create a BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST layer.
Brightness: -5
Contrast: +35
>>
STEP 10: I am...still unsatisfied. So I duplicate the BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST layer but lower the opacity 25%.
>>
STEP 11: I always, asides from a BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST layer add a HUE/SATURATION layer. So, please if you may, create a HUE/SATURATION LAYER:
MASTER:
0
+12
0
>>
STEP 12: Because I am reaaally bent on burning your retinas, duplicate that HUE/SATURATION layer. Opacity to 100%
>>
STEP 13: I always, well yes always hehe add an exclusion layer. I don't always use the same color but depending on the image. This time I chose a nice chocolate red color like #733621. Set to EXCLUSION at 30% opacity.
>>
Now the bright colors are still there but there's a certain softness that doesn't make you want to rip your eyeballs out from the ZOMG YOU HAVE ABUSED THE SC ONCE MORE WOMAN!...moment. Thing. And voila! you're done.
Other Icons using the same coloring:
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
-- At the risk of sounding redundant, tutorials do NOT work the same for every image. This particular tutorial works for DARK images that have a lot of yellow and orange.
-- I do not suggest using this tutorial for up close icons. Even though I included samples of such because--it doesn't always work and you'll end up with super bright red skin AGAIN--it is all down to preference. You do it as you like. (But I don't recommend it, aight.)
-- PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. You need to experiment and poke and prod in order to learn. Consider this more as a guide instead of a "How TO", okay?
Helpful Ama Hint!
If you do happen to get a bad case of cooked lobster epidermis on your icons, a good way to do this is to desaturate one or more of your screen layers. You can then "fade desaturation" if you find the colors too grayish. It helps bleach out the orange from the skin. The trick is to make the top layer B&W while keeping the base and another screen layer on the bottom STILL IN COLOR. Otherwise, yeah, it's going to be ugly gray dull and...what's the point of that?
THE END.
-- I love you. Heh.
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come on baby, jump right in, 'cause tonight we can be right here where we wanna be; come away
come away, get away. all your life you've been running from dreams; from the blue, red and orange
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Tutorial: Basic Photoshop animation
by Laura
Right! Roro asked me to do a Photoshop animation tutorial, so here I am!
Program Used: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Difficulty: Depending on how well you know PS, easy to moderate. Translatable? No idea. It's definitely translatable to other photoshops, but I'm not sure if other programs use the same system.
We shall be making this beautiful lol graphic today!
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
This tutorial will be the same whether you're animating pictures or text. First, prepare your base, as I have done below.
Photos!: Base
Next, open up the Animation toolbar thing by going to Window and checking "Animation."
Photos!: Opening Animation
Your screen will now look like this:
Photos!: Screen
Photoshop animation works with layers and frames. What appears in each frame depends on which layers are selected to be visible within the frame.
In this animation, I'm animating the sentance "flowers are very pretty and SHINEH!" I want one word of the sentance per frame, so I create 5 new frames, making 6 frames, one for each word.
Photos!: Frames
Next, we need our text. Write each word as a seperate layer, and place it where you want it to be on the animation. It doesn't matter if they overlap or it looks like an explosion. As long as each word is a different layer and each layer is placed where you want, it should be fine.
Photos!: Adding text
Because we only want one word per frame, we need to make sure that only one word can be seen in each frame.
Select frame 1, and go to the layers palette. Because we only want the word "flowers" to appear in this frame, make all the other text frames invisible by unchecking the little eye symbol next to them.
Photos!: Text in frames
Next, go to layer two, uncheck "flowers" and check "are" and so on until only one word appears when each frame is clicked upon.
Photos!: Frames
Next, select all your frames by pressing Control and clicking them all. Then, with all the frames selected, click the little black arrow at the bottom of the last frame and choose "1 second." This will be how long each frame is shown.
Photos!: Time
Now you're done! Go to file, save for web and devices and choose .gif. To lessen the file size, reduce the number of colours in the image. The finished product is shown at the top.
It's so hard to explain! I'm sorry if I've been incredibly confusing, and please PM me or poke me on msn (my address is in my profile) if you have any questions!
Laura xx
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Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Difficulty: Intermediate Translateable: Sorry, but no. There's two selective color layers. :[
Alrighty then, so Laura has kindly asked me to post a tutorial of the general coloring that I use when I make my graphics. This tutorial may seem a wee bit lazy to some, but I swear this is HONESTLY what I do when I make graphics.
We're gonna be going from to
SPOILER!!: click click click!
Aight so we're gonna start out with our base obviously. Do any type of sharpening or whatever that you need to do to it. Personally I don't EVER sharpen my bases unless they're really just....not great bases. For this tutorial, I've chosen this base obviously:
It's such a pretty base is it not? Now let's start making this an icon!
01. Layer -> Duplicate Layer
Set the layer to Screen. This setting will depend greatly on your base of choice, but since this base was already pretty bright, I lowered the opacity to 60%
Now isn't that nice and bright now? Okay so we're gonna get into some FUN stuff now. Who loves Selective Coloring!? I DO I DO!
02. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Coloring
NOTE: Selective Coloring is a fickle thing. Mess with the settings since not every coloring works with every image. You'll get better results if you MESS WITH THE SETTINGS GUYS.
Now isn't that nice? Let's add ANOTHER SELECTIVE COLORING LAYER!
03. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Selective Coloring
Now Channel Mixer is one of my favorite things to use in iconing. It brings interesting effects if it's used properly. DO NOT freak out if your percentage ends up a little over 100%. It's fine. Seriously play around with Channel Mixer. Once you master it, you will love it and consider it one of your best friends in Photoshop.
MMM look at how nice and bright and stuff it is! Let's do a WEEEE bit more to it.
05. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness/Contrast
Brightness: 9
Contrast: 0
Bright enough for you now? I think it's too bright for me. Let's tone it down a bit!
06. Layer -> New Layer
Alright since I want to darken it a little bit, I've chosen a grey color to do this. The color I chose was #959592. I set this layer to Multiply. Adjust the opacity accordingly. I set mine to 26%.
& now you're done!
NOTES:
01. I would NOT use this tutorial on an icon that has a lot of dark browns in it. It can turn out NASTY:
02. Please please please PLEASE DO NOT COPY THIS EXACTLY! Like I said it doesn't work for EVERYTHING. You will have different results for the images you use. This coloring is one I tend to use in a lot of my icons. It yields different results in each icon I make.
I've been going crazy for the whole Scrapbook look lately, so I've been messing about on Photoshop, trying to create a torn edge look for my wallpapers and stuff. I managed to come up with something that I'm quite happy with! So as usual, I'm here to share.
Tutorial: Torn Edges Effect Software: Photoshop CS3 Extended [Might be translatable, I'm not sure]
Open a new file, create a new layer and fill it with the colour of your choice.
Create a new layer, which will be the torn edge layer.
Using a rough edged brush (I'm using Photoshop preset brush Thick Heavy Brushes, Rough Round Bristle set at size 20-ish), draw in your torn edge.
Photos!: this is how it should look
Then on the "torn edge" that you drew in step 3, apply an inner bevel and texture.
Bevel: Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss... [I set the bevel to size 0 with the direction facing Up, you may choose to change it to Down]
Texture: Filter > Texture > Texturizer... [I like the Canvas texture, set to 60% Scaling, and 1 Relief]
Photos!: this is how it should look
Then, using the Magic Wand selection tool, select the areas outside the torn edge (which is the unwanted section of the paper), Expand the selected area by 5px (or a minimum of 2, maximum of 5) and then delete the portion of the paper (the first layer) that you don't want.
Drag the Torn Edge layer under the paper layer and arrange it so that it peeks out from behind the paper as you want it to be.
Photos!: this is how it should look
Then apply a bevel and texture (the same as earlier) to the paper texture so that it matches the torn edges.
Photos!: this is how it should look
Using your eraser tool (set at the same brush as the one used for the torn edge), set at 10%-30% opacity, erase the edges of the paper layer to blend it with the torn edge layer. This will result in the blending looking more natural.
Photos!: this is how it should look
You may add on a shadow effect if you want to, and you're done!
Easy difficulty, but it may be intermediate if you're not very experienced with coloring tools
SPOILER!!: It is HERE
1. First, choose your base. This tutorial is going to be heavy on the reds/whites, so any images with those colors should turn out nicely. However I've been using it on a lot of different icons as well and some of them have turned out really nice, so you'll just have to tweek the settings to fit the icon that you're working with That is just the ideal base
As you can see we are using a cropped pic of Megan, and it's slightly dull, but since this tut is going to brighten up the icon a LOT it should turn out nicely and not TOO oversaturated. We don't want her looking like a lobster
2. Duplicate your base and set the duplicated layer to SCREEN. For this icon we're going to set it to 60% opacity, but it really depends on your base. I was using a range of 30-100% depending on the icon. If you get to the end of this tut and find that your icon is too dark (and therefore the colors are too saturated and it looks like a mess) you can amp up the opacity on this layer to try and fix it
3. She looks really washed out, so let's give her some color. Make a new Hue/Saturation layer by going to Layer-->New Adjustment Layer-->Hue/Saturation. Bump up the Master saturation to +20 to make the icon a bit more colorful.
4. Now time for the selective coloring Some of the awesome graphic makers in here have already given awesome definitions of this popular tool, and this is how I personally remember it--it essentially picks out the colors in your image and tweeks THAT specific color, increasing the amount of cyans, yellows, magentas and blacks mixed into that color and changing the look of your entire icon.
Create a new selective coloring layer by going to Layer-->New Adjustment Layer-->Selective Coloring and input the following settings on the following levels:
REDS
-100
0
+100
+100
WHITES
+100
0
-100
+100
This tweeked around the reds and the whites in our image so now we have an icon that looks like this:
5. Now I personally wanted the reds a bit darker, so I created another selective coloring layer and used these settings:
REDS
-18
0
-19
+26
So we ended up with an icon looking like THIS:
And VIOLA! Tis the finished project
Now, some icons may not need that final selective coloring layer. Because this icon wasn't heavy on reds to begin with, the last selective coloring layer didn't make her look gross and sunburnt. Take, for example, this icon:
I used the same settings as above and clearly this icon is WAY too saturated with the reds. It looks gross and makes her look a bit like vampire in my opinion However I went back and deleted the final selective coloring layer and tweeked the settings on my first one a bit and came up with an icon that looked similar to this (since they're from the same photoshoot )
So, moral of the story--don't follow my settings EXACTLY! If you icon comes out looking like a vampire or a lobster go back and fix the settings to your content. Or--maybe you like lobsters? It's all up to you, I guess
Also, be careful with those WHITE settings--some icons turn out really bluish when you use those settings. I like it because it gives the icon a bit of a shimmery blue glow sometimes, but other times it just turns out a mess, so watch those carefully as well
Other examples (with slight variations on steps 2 and 5):
If you make something with this tut, lemme know! I'd love to see what you make with it
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Last edited by Lissy Longbottom; 08-23-2009 at 07:34 PM.
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How to Install Brushes on Photoshop
(originally requested by cedricdiggory)
OK sooooooo brushes are lots of fun to use and are awesome additions to any graphic, but sometimes figuring out how to install them and download them can be tricky.
Even though I use CS2, I do believe that the process for installing and using brushes is the same for all Photoshop versions
First, find a site you want to download brushes off of. I recommend deviantart.com since that is where I get the majority of my textures and my brushes. All you need to type in the search box is "Photoshop brushes" or get more specific, like "Butterfly photoshop brushes" and it will search for you and hopefully you'll find something you like
If you ARE using deviantart, just click on the brushes you want to view and it should take you to a page where there is a download link on the left side of the page. Download the brushes and save them somewhere where you can easily access them, like your desktop or a file folder.
Then, when you open photoshop, go to your Brush tool and look at the top toolbar. There should be an arrow next to the brush that looks like this:
SPOILER!!: Even though it's teeeeny
Click that, and click the NEXT arrow you see to the right:
SPOILER!!: Clickie
And then you should get a drop down menu that looks like THIS:
SPOILER!!: Longgg screencap
Click on "Load Brushes" and simply find the brush pack you saved on your desktop or elsewhere and open it. It should be as simple as that!
NOTE that "brush packs" are ABR files that look like this:
SPOILER!!: Click
And sometimes, some graphic makers make brushes that are simply picture files, like your typical GIF or JPEG format. These brushes simply just need to be opened as a file in Photoshop, and then pasted over your image and set to a different setting (like Screen or Soft Light) and used that way Much like a texture.
Hope I helped! Lemme know if you have any questions or whatnot
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How do you add a picture layer? Like the first tutorial says to add the grange texture layer and I don't know how. Help!?
Ama: What editing program are you using? I use Photoshop CS3. To add a texture you to go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Pattern. Then use the pattern/texture of choice. If you're using an image as a texture you go to File > Open and browse the folder where you saved the image. When you open it, it will open in its own canvas. Simply copy and paste the image in a new layer in the graphic you are working on.
I have a question! How do we get it on snitchseeker from photoshop?
Ama: You have to save your graphic/image first. Then you can use an image hosting site like Photobucket or ImageShack to upload and host your image. For more information on that that please refer to this post and this one if your question is actually regarding signatures.
Ama!Nabs IS NAMED MINHO & Is SO Black Panther Right Now
Soft and Pink Icon Tutorial
Program Used: Photoshop CS3 Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. Must have basic knowledge of fill layers and selective coloring Translatable: To other Photoshops because of Selective Coloring
We're starting with this image and ending up with something like this:
Text Cut: Tutorial
STEP 1: Choose the image you want to work with. Take a good look at the image I started with. Quality is very important when working with Selective Coloring as it tends to pixelate images of poor quality. Pictures that have pink and blue work best with this coloring. Crop your image to the size you desire. This is where you sharpen your image if you want. I very rarely sharpen my bases. If anything, I make ample use of the "auto contras" tool.
This is my base: Take a look at the predominant colors. Your chosen base must have the similar colors.
STEP 2: Duplicate your base layer and DESATURATE. To DESATURATE go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
You should have something like this now:
STEP 3: Now on that very same layer go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use a Radius of about 3 - 4. Play around a bit with that. Sometimes a little less looks better than a little more. After blurring set this layer to soft light at 25%.
Now you should have this:
STEP 4: Create a new FILL LAYER using #ada481. Set this to soft light at 26% opacity. You can tinker the opacity depending on your image and your preferences.
>
STEP 5: Create another FILL LAYER using #7092a1. Set this to soft light as well at a 100% opacity.
>>
STEP 6: Let's make one more FILL LAYER. This time using #af85bb. Set this purple to 15% opacity or so. It's just a bit to add a bit of liveliness to the cheeks.
>>
STEP 7: We're going to add one last FILL LAYER. Use a sort of salmon/pink/coral kind of color. I used #de7d96. Set this one at a low opacity too. I used 12%. It's like the purple. We're just trying to add slight hints of color to her skin.
STEP 8: We're going to start up with Selective Coloring. To make a Selective Coloring layer go to Layers > Adjustment Layers > Selective Coloring. I used to following settings but please remember that you CAN tinker with them. Whatever works for your chosen base/image.
REDS
-100
+50
+50
+10
YELLOWS
+100
-100
-100
+100
MAGENTAS:
+100
+100
-100
+100
NEUTRALS
+12
-14
-20
+10
>>
Pretty, right? You could leave it as is. However, I have a habit of always having two layers of selective coloring. You can move on with me if you like or stop here. ALSO, notice, I didn't use all of the tabs in selective coloring just the colors I wanted to tinker with. You can do your own experimenting. I encourage it.
STEP 9: Create another SELECTIVE COLORING layer and put in the following numbers:
REDS:
-100
+10
+15
+10
YELLOWS:
+100
-100
+100
+100
MAGENTAS:
+100
+20
+50
+10
NEUTRALS:
+5
-5
-5
-5
>>
What I did was add a little more OOMPH. A little more vibrancy. But now her skin is a bit....mm jaundice looking if you catch my drift. Let's try to fix that.
STEP 10: Let's add a BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST layer.
Brightness: +15
Contrast: +10
>> I know...it's still jaundice-y looking. >__> Just stay with me. I promise to fix it.
STEP 11: Becaaauuuuse I seriously like bright colors man, let's add a HUE/SATURATION layer. Saturation +10 OK?
>>
Soooo much color. G__G If you like it like this you may leave it but I want to tone it down a little. The name of the tutorial is Pink and SOFT. There's not a lot of soft going on, if you ask me. And definitely not pink enough. *pink freak*
STEP 12: Add one more FILL LAYER. I used a hot pink color like #ff49b8. Set this bright baby to multiply at 5% opacity. OR something low like that. Maybe 10% opacity maximum. I don't recommend more than that.
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STEP 13: Alright, our last step. Add a sort of...burnt sienna color. Ha. I don't know. I used this one right here: #9a5a0e. Set that honey to Exclusion at 20-26% opacity and you should end up with something like the following:
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Now it's soft, right? **On occassion you might need to add a screen layer between the base and the blurred and desaturated layer and an extra contrast layer.
Remember, tutorials are meant to be guides for you experiment. It is to learn and better ones graphic editing skills with. =D If you make anything pretty with it or if the coloring inspires an EXPERIMENTATION FRENZY of your own and you end up with something cool pleaaase show me. I like seeing the pretty.
Pet, Nuzzle, Bite. Mherrfph. | Paris, Roma, Home Again | Possible Lovegood
Jennifer Garner Coloring Tutorial
So, since I'm one of those people who can't use Photoshop for those fancy coloring techniques because of selective coloring (it's a shame really), here's a tutorial on how to do some simple tweaking without SC.
Anyway, you'll start off with this, and ending up with something like this.
Program used: Corel Paint Shop Pro X 10.10
Translatable: Yep. To, heck, pretty much any version of PSP or Photoshop.
SPOILER!!: Tutorial
(1) Find your base. Make sure it's something nice and bright. Anything with a nice number of browns or beiges will turn out pretty.
(2) Crop your image into the desired size, sharpen, etc.
(3) Duplicate the base and set the copy to Overlay. This will brighten the image a whole lot!
(4) Add a Raster layer and flood fill the new layer with a darkish blue color. I used #1d196d. Set this layer to Exclusion 100%.
(5) Next, we'll add some more color to the mix by creating another Raster layer. This time, flood fill with a pink and set to Soft Light 100%. I used #db8baf.
(6) Now, Jen looks a little washed out, so we'll add a Hue/Saturation/Lightness layer. Set the saturation to 25, and leave the other settings alone.
(7) Final step. We want to get rid of the muted effect on Jen. Everything looks too yellow. So, duplicate your base one more time and bring the layer all the way to the top. Set this to Luminance 75%. All in all, this technique really makes her skin glow and brings out the blue of her clothing.
There you have it! The finished product! Feel free to use this tutorial. Just give proper credit, and remember I'd love to see how you do with it.
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Last edited by Poisonedbyyou; 03-15-2010 at 11:59 PM.
Sewing Lessons (Tutorials) 
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x9
Anyways I thought I would share the way that I make those little circles inside siggies and such, in case anyone else wanted to give it a shot 
This isn't the only way to do it, I'm sure, since there are numerous ways to do almost anything on Photoshop, this is just the easiest way that I have found when making graphics 
) and set the opacity of your base layer back to 100%
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x1
So as I said up there, we'll be using the pen tool to extract our image, and the settings should be set as follows:
, we can move just the part that has been selected, therefore separating our image from it's background and even placing it onto an even funkier background. 
to this 
.
to this 
See? Now it's bright enough. Maybe a little washed out so we're going to add some DEPTH some UMPH to those colors. Okay? Okay.
The green is good for adding a smooth like color to the skin and other beige colors.
Set it to SOFT LIGHT at 53% opacity.
So here I am!
to 
Some of the awesome graphic makers in here have already given awesome definitions of this popular tool, and this is how I personally remember it--it essentially picks out the colors in your image and tweeks THAT specific color, increasing the amount of cyans, yellows, magentas and blacks mixed into that color and changing the look of your entire icon.
Take a look at the predominant colors. Your chosen base must have the similar colors.
I know...it's still jaundice-y looking. >__> Just stay with me. I promise to fix it.
