tutorials: rose and supernatural

[longerthanwedo.livejournal.com]

requested by midnightisclose 

Alright, so the original icon that was requested is this:



Which is clearly very different from the reproduction I managed to make, but this icon was impossible to remake. I don't even know why, because it's not overly complicated, but I just couldn't get it. So I did my best, which isn't exact, but it's similar at least and lol I might even like it better. Okay, so this is the base:

Nice, warm colors, but not much light or contrast to speak of. Duplicate the base three times, setting all those layers to "screen" at 100% opacity. Duplicate it one more time and set it to "soft light" with 36% opacity. Normally I'd leave the "soft light" layer at 100% as well, but this cap just looks strange with too much soft light. Now it's bright and kind of washed out:

I like the pinks in this image already, but I know I want more. Add a gradient map layer set to "soft light" 100% going from #e65ea5 to #feddc7. Which. Actually makes the icon lighter, but now there are more pinkish colors to work with:

Now to start bringing the shadows back and intensifying some of the darker places and yellow shades. Take this texture (by me):

 

Set the texture to “soft light” at 100%, and then it looks like this, giving some depth to the icon:

Then there’s another texture – this one (also by me):

Set to “soft light” 100%. Now there’s some added movement with the lines to the icon, but it’s still way too light, so stamp all your layers in a new one at the top by pressing ctrl+shift+e and set the new layer to “multiply” at 70% to bring the lost tones back:

Lol now that I’ve got my shadows back I want some highlights, so I take this texture (maker unknown):



And set it to screen at 100%, so now there’s a nice glow on the top and bottom:

But that’s too much highlight now, so I stamp all the layers again and set it to “multiply” at 52%:



That’s almost done, and all I want now is a tad more brightness, so add a brightness/contrast layer with +9 brightness and +14 contrast. And that’s the finished icon:



Which yeah isn’t like the original, but that’s… how I did that one anyway, sorry I don’t save PSDs of anything the first time around, ahahaha.

requested by evangelin1202 

This is kind of a weird, obscure cap, but it just caught my eye when I saw it and I had to do something with it. This is the base:



But I don’t want that white strip at the top, so I extend the background using the smudge tool to move the greys upward until it looks like this:



Because this is a Supernatural cap it needs quite a bit of color and light correction. Start with the usual, two “screen” layers and a “soft light” one, all at 100% opacity:



Now I don’t like that bright light to the right of Dean and Tessa, so I make a new layer and paint over the area in various shades of gray found in the background with soft round brushes somewhere between 10 and 20 px diameter. It doesn’t need to be seamless because the colors and textures will cover it up, so now the icon looks like this:



The colors are nothing special right now, so I take this gradient texture:



And paste it over the other layers, setting it to “screen” at 20% opacity, erasing the texture where it overlaps Dean and Tessa:



Paste the texture again, setting it to “soft light” at 100%, this time not erasing anything, and the icon is starting to take on a pink and green hue, which still isn’t perfect, but it’s a start:



Next is this texture:



Set to “screen” at 100%, but erasing the lines where they come down over Tessa’s face and Dean’s shoulder, so that it only covers part of the back of her head:



Next is a gradient map layer set to “soft light” 100% that goes from #9d1c32 to #eacbcd, to intensify the pink tone:



Now I add just a little more brightness with a brightness/contrast layer with +7 brightness:



I want a little more cool color in there now, so I add a selective coloring layer with the following settings:
Reds: -15 yellow, +10 black
Blacks: -5 yellow



The last step is the text; “in my time of dying”, all in Times New Roman regular, the top line at 8pt and “dying” at 12 (or 14?). I used white for the top line, and just picked a yellow from the texture for the bottom line:



And that’s the finished icon!
 
If you have any questions about any of that, feel free to ask, otherwise four down five to go, tutorial-wise xD