Icon Tutorial 01 - Netherfield Ball

[blancwene.livejournal.com]

[NOTE – This is my first attempt at writing a tutorial, so any suggestions as to how I can better explain things would be greatly appreciated. J And I use Corel Photopaint for my icons, so some of the terms may be different from PSP or Photoshop – for instance, my program offers some layer options, like Red / Green / Blue which I don’t think PSP includes? If this tutorial causes some confusion, I apologize and will try to remedy that problem in future tutorials.]



1. Original base by gender. I liked the subtle floral patterns in this base, but wasn’t too crazy about the colours. I thought the blue was too distinct and the orange a bit too harsh. While I admire (and use) much of gender’s work that she provides for other icon artists, I usually end up tweaking/outright changing the colours in some way.


2. Using one of inishmaan’s screencaps from the trailer of P&P 2005, I resized the cap so Lizzy almost completely fit in my 100px box. Next, I sharpened the image at 75% using an option that CPP has – Directional Sharpen. I’ve found that it focuses the image without making it look really pixilated. Finally, I was lazy and used the Auto Equalize option to tweak the contrast and tones of the cap just a tad.


3. Screencap set to “Screen” over base.


4. Everything except for Lizzy erased. At first I thought I’d just make the background very transparent, but I wanted to emphasize Lizzy and just decided to erase everything outright. As eraser, I used various small-sized brushes with 100% feathered edges – the other brushes tend to erase more than I wanted whenever I use them.


5. Adjustments made to the base so odd colours didn’t appear in Lizzy’s head.


6. Gradient added – it’s a custom one I’ve made, which goes from purple-pink to yellow. I call it the ‘Tonks gradient,’ because for some reason it reminds me of her character.


7. Gradient layer set to “Red, Opacity 50%” over previous layers. This helped to get rid of the blue in the top left corner of the icon, and I thought it lent everything a more pleasantly warm look.


8. Further adjustments made, so Lizzy appeared more like the focus of the icon – aka, I finally fixed the crappy erasing job that I’d done in step #4.


9. Previous Lizzy layer duplicated and added to other layers, then set to “Overlay, Opacity 75%.” I really wanted to emphasize Lizzy in this icon, and overlaying a duplicate of my previous image made her profile more vivid and striking.


10. Part of a base by disappearicons added. I liked the tiny text and the little flowery part, and thought it would create more visual interest in the icon . . . ? Yeah. Actually, I just thought it’d be pretty – most of my icon decisions are not very intellectual, and it’s only until afterwards that I invent reasons for the effects I used. :p


11. Base layer set to “Overlay, Opacity 75%” over previous layers. This created a nice gradual effect – at full opacity, the base just popped out of nowhere and didn’t blend into the icon as well.


12. Texture brush added to everything except for Lizzy, and set to Opacity 50%. I like using screen textures because they help to break up the smoothness of the box. And since I applied it to everything except for Lizzy, it helps to further emphasis her.


13. Brush by gender added. CPP only lets you save a certain amount of brushes, so most of the brushes I’ve downloaded are stored in different files, and I add them as a brush then remove them as soon as I’ve finished with the icon. I wanted more swirlies, so I dug through my folders and found this brush.


14. Twirly brush layer set to Multiply, Opacity 25% - that way, the swirlies would be visible but slightly subtle.


15. Thin border brush added. While I like having a border on my icons, I don’t like big / obnoxious / obvious ones. So mostly I use small, 1px borders like the one in this icon.


16. Border brush layer set to Opacity 50%. Again, I wanted the border to be present but for it to not jump out at you.


17. Text added – beveled effect on large text and set to Opacity 90%; tiny text says “Yo, Darcy, you are a twithead.”

“superior” is Lucida Sans Typewriter, 7 px, tracking at 100.
“WIT” is Harrington, all capitals, 14px.
Tiny text is Quadaptor, 2px.



Postscript: Best Star Wars books of all time = the X-wing novels by Aaron Allston. In the little Wraith Squad trilogy, there’s one character named Ton Phanon, who was known for his caustic, sarcastic nature. At one point, he called himself a “superior intellect and wit.” I’ve always liked that phrase, and I just HAD to use it for Lizzy Bennet.