The Lost Boys – Pale but Contrasty Images – Tutorial by thestalkycop

From this: to this: or this:
This tutorial assumes you are comfortable with making new layers and changing their properties (to screen or exclusion, for example).

	I started by cropping my cap from The Lost Boys to 100×100. I sharpened it twice but did nothing to clean it up or brighten it up.
	I duplicated the layer, desaturated it and set it to Soft Light at 100% opacity. This is how you desaturate: Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness with these settings: Edit: Master Hue: 0 Saturation: -100 Lightness: 0 (or click this link to see what you’re supposed to be looking at).
	I duplicated the original base again (the colour one, not the desaturated one) and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.
	I duplicated the layer again and set it to Screen at 100% opacity, this layer was desaturated. If that seems a bit confusing, your layers should look like this: Copy of Base – Desaturated, Screen Copy of Base – Colour, Screen Copy of Base – Desaturated, Soft Light Base
	Now, I merged everything and used the soften brush on the skin to smooth things out a bit. I also blurred out the background just a little.
	Next I made a new layer and flooded it with a deep blue (#000040) set to Exclusion.
	I made another new layer and flooded it with this gradient (you can either copy and paste the one to the side, or make it yourself: #181C39 to #6F2E2A). I set this layer to Saturation (Legacy), again set to 90%.
	This is the result. Merge.
Adding Text
	I added text (“All is right”) in black, font Harting at 8pt, set to Burn. You can barely read it, but that’s fine, we’ll get to that.
	Use the Magic Wand tool and click anywhere on the icon away from the text (but on the text layer) and you should get the “marching ants” look.
	Invert the selection (Selections > Invert) Then expand the selection by 1 pixel (Selections > Modify > Expand).
	Create a new layer and flood fill the selection with white. Select None (Selections > Select None)
	Drag the white layer below the text. Set it to 54% opacity Use a Gaussian Blur of 2.00 (Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur > 2.00)
	The text is still not quite readable, so I duplicated the text layer, once again, set it to Burn at 100% opacity.
	I made a border by making a new layer, and selecting all (Ctrl + A), then contracting the selection by 1 pixel (Selections > Modify > Contract) then inverting (Selections > Invert) then flood-filling with black set to Burn at 58% opacity. You’re done! Go you.

Icon Tutorial – Harsh Contrasty Icons (Jared Rushton)

Go from to

I’m using Paint Shop Pro 7, but this is fairly simple and will probably translate well.

Well, first I started with the above base (I love Jared Rushton).

Naturally it looks all dark and ugly because I’ve reduced it in size from a screen cap to 100×100. I sharpened three times (this is a contrasty icon, there will be no softening or blurring in this tutorial).

Then I duplicated the layer and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.

Next up, I did a “Copy Merged” (Edit > Copy Merged) and pasted it on top. Feel free to merge what you have, I just always try to keep separate layers because sometimes I come back to an icon after a few months and wonder how I got that nice effect.

Desaturate your new layer. Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness with these settings:
Edit: Master
Hue: 0
Saturation: -100
Lightness: 0
(or click this link to see what you’re supposed to be looking at).

Now, set that layer to Hard Light at 100% opacity. Ooooh, contrasty.

Merge everything now. (Or do a merge visible and paste the new layer on top, if you have the same kind of “How did I do that?” mentality as me. The above picture is now your base layer.

Next up, paste this texture on top (it’s by disappearicons and it’s one of my favourites, I use it again and again and again. I fear change. Set it to Multiply at 100% opacity.

And this is what you get. Way too dark.

Duplicate your base layer and paste it on top. Set it to Soft Light at 100% opacity.

Merge everything again, and duplicate what you have twice.

Desaturate the first one and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.

Set the second one to Screen at 45% opacity (this one is not desaturated).

Finally, I added a one pixel border on all sides, colour #432623 set to Hard Light at 67% opacity.

You’re done!

Just a side note, I know I’m the only person in the world who knows who Jared Rushton is, but even so, this icon is not up for grabs, so please don’t take it.

Just a tip about textures
I just thought I’d share this, because I’ve been getting frustrated for quite awhile and I’ve just figured out the simple way out of my frustration.

I’m a big fan of using textures on my icons (as you can see from the one I’m using). I’m also a fan of keeping my pictures in separate folders based on what they are pictures of (eg. Guns N’ Roses, with sub-folders for each band member, etc).

When making this icon, I started with a texture (Stock Images > Textures > texture-maker’s-name) and used a picture of Stephanie Seymour (Guns N’ Roses > Axl > Stephanie) and played about with an overlay from a music vid (Guns N’ Roses > Videos > November Rain) (I eventually canned that idea), then I wanted another texture on top (Stock Images > Textures > texture-maker’s-name). Lot’s of messing around with different folders.

Now I have simplified the whole thing. All of my textures have now been installed in my C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\Patterns folder.

I used IrfanView 3.95 to batch-convert all of the jpgs into bitmaps and put them in that folder. Now I just create a new layer and flood fill with them, rather than searching through loads of folders for the right one. I’ve kept the textures in their separate folders arranged by the maker’s name, but now they all come up in one place.

I am a genius.

Well, nerd actually – especially given my exceptionally anal filing system for my pictures – but that’s not the point. I have saved myself valuable seconds of hunting-time when it comes to textures. *grin*

Hope this idea works for a few other people.

Note: With Paint Shop Pro 9, you can just save the pictures, in any format, in your My PSP Files > Patterns folder, which lives in My Documents.

(PS: Please tell me I’m not the only one this obsessive about keeping my pictures in order!)

Axl and Stephanie – Tutorial by thestalkycop

From this: to this: using psp7, though it should translate fairly simply.

	First I started with this cap of Axl and Stephanie (or Mayne and Elizabeth, if you want to be pedantic) from the November Rain video.
	I cropped and resized it to 100×100 and sharpened it twice.
	I then smoothed out the skin on Steph and Axl’s faces with the soften tool, and I ended up with this. When softening I tend to make lots of little clicks rather than sweeping motions with the brush, it takes longer but makes the end result a little better. You probably won’t see much difference in the two pictures, but I skipped this step first time around and the end result was a little pixely. Now, merge everything, and duplicate what you have.
Desaturate your new layer. Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness with these settings: Edit: Master Hue: 0 Saturation: -100 Lightness: 0 (or click this link to see what you’re supposed to be looking at).
	Set the layer to Hard Light at 88% opacity and you should end up with this:
	Repeat the process, (duplicate the layer and desaturate) and set this one to Screen at 71% opacity.
	Make a new raster layer, set it to Burn at 54% opacity and flood it with this lovely gradient from here
	And you get this.

So as a quick recap, your layer settings should look like this:

Add text if you want.
I made a tutorial about the glowing text effect a few months ago, it can be found here – I also posted it to this community, but couldn’t find it.

I hope that this tutorial was of help to you guys.

Glowing Text Tutorial for psp7 (though it should translate pretty simply)
(by the way, the font used is “Champignon” from DaFont.

I’ve just found a really easy way to create the glowing text effect without too much faffing around – or the hassle of downloading filters and such-like. Originally I used floating text, filters, and various other (sometimes accidental) effects for a less-appealing look.

I’m starting of with an ugly example – I know it looks bad, but I couldn’t find any icons that needed the effect, and I thought the colours would be nice and dark to show the effect. Ok, I’m lying, I just adore text that is absolutely unreadable in a very ugly colour scheme.

The text is Anti-alias, because it gives a smoother, prettier effect. I resent that if I want to outline my text I have to turn this off otherwise the outline looks clunky. Anyway, put your text on your image, and check Anti-alias if you want.

Now choose the Magic Wand tool and click anywhere on the background. You should get the “marching ants” effect around your text like this…

(Zoomed in so you can actually see it).

Go to Selections > Invert then
Selections > Modify > Expand

I chose 1 pixel, but it’s up to you.

Now create a new raster layer (Layers > New Raster Layer) – don’t de-select anything.

Flood-fill the new layer with the colour of your choice. I like white best, darker colours tend to look murky and messy – but then, that might work on the graphic you’re currently working on.

Now, move the new layer below the text layer (Layers > Arrange > Move Down).

Looks horrible, but the last step takes care of that! Now you get to play with Guassian Blur. Effects > Blur > Guassian Blur

This is at 2.00
This is at 4.00

You can also use a motion blur (usually 90 degrees works well) for a background line rather than a blur. An example of this can be found here (at the bottom of the page, the final effect of the tutorial).

This is a motion blur set to 90 degrees at a strength of 25.

Pretty cool, huh?

(Feedback is appreciated – such as did I even make sense?)

From this: to this: or this:

This tutorial assumes you are comfortable with making new layers and changing their properties (to screen or exclusion, for example).

	I started by cropping my cap of Julie to 100×100
	I sharpened it twice, then cleaned up the skin using the soften brush.
	I duplicated the layer and set it to Soft Light at 100% opacity.
	I duplicated the layer again and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.
	Next I made a new layer and flooded it with a deep blue (#050C3F) set to Exclusion.
	Next I made another new layer, set it so 20% opacity and flooded it with #DCC7A6.
	I made another new layer and flooded it with the same colour #DCC7A6, again set to 20%, this time I used Dodge as the layer property.
	Then I merged the layers and sharpened them once. Once again, I softened the skin where needed.
	Then I made a new layer and flooded it with my sexy gradient set to Screen at 100% opacity. (You can make it yourself, have white at both edges, then #C29C98 at 20%, #656281 at 50%, #C29C98 at 80%. If that doesn’t make sense, just right-click the gradient, copy it, and then paste it as a new layer on to your icon.
	Merge.
	Next I adjusted the Brightness and Contrast to Brightness -47 and Contrast 45 (Colours > Adjust > Brightness & Contrast).
	<— Believe it or not, that’s a texture. I’ve outlined it and made it huge to show you. The real one is here –> Make a new image 4×4px in size with a transparent background. Fill the top two pixels with #EBAA83 and leave the other half transparent. Go back to your icon. Create a new layer, set it to Burn at 30% opacity. Go to Fill, and choose Pattern, you should be able to select the little “texture” you’ve just made. Set it at an angle of 45 degrees and flood fill.
	You should end up with this. You can skip that step if you preferred the second version of the icon.
	I realised that if I wanted my text to be readable, I’d have to switch a few things around. I selected the background layer (the picture of Julie) and went to Image > Mirror.
	Use this brush, on #EBAA83 set to Soft Light
	This is the result.
	Next up, the text I used Violation (from dafont.com) size 12, colour #78598D set to burn. It says “to show the world”, you can duplicate the layer if you think the text isn’t strong enough.
	I made a border by making a new layer, and selecting all (Ctrl + A), then contracting the selection by 2 pixels (Selections > Modify > Contract) then inverting (Selections > Invert) then flood-filling with #78598D set to Burn. Or you can just copy the one here and paste it in!
	And to give it the final touch, I blurred the Border layer, using Gaussian Blur (Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur) set to 2.00.
	If you skipped the step with the “texture”, then you’ll have this.

And that’s it.

To Recap:
#050C3F – Exclusion
#DCC7A6 – 20%
#DCC7A6 – 20% – Dodge
Merge layers. Sharpen.
Gradient – Screen
Texture – #EBAA83 – 30% – Burn
Brush – #EBAA83 – 30% – Soft Light
Text – #78598D – Burn – Violation Size 12
Border – #78598D – Burn – Gaussian Blur 2.00

Whew! That was harder than making the icon. Was it clear, or was it crap?