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Brustin icon tutorial!
I conducted a poll recently on my journal where I asked my flist to vote for what icon they'd want me to do a tutorial of. In the end, it was a three way tie, allowing me to choose one, so I chose the one that I felt had the most merit as a technique, rather than just as a specific icon. So! This is my first tutorial, I hope it's helpful at least in some small way :)
We're going to be going from THIS to this:
Step 1
Crop the image down to 100x100.
Step 2
Sharpen once.
Step 3
Duplicate the base layer and set this copy to Screen at 76% opacity.
Step 4
Duplicate the Screen layer and leave the settings. Now, you need to use a combination of the magnetic lasso and the lasso tools to carefully select the outline of the two boys. It's helpful to zoom in a lot, to distinguish where they end and the pillow begins. Also remove the area between them, under Brian's chin, from the selection, so only the boys are selected. Now, with this area selected, go to Layer->Add Layer Mask->Reveal selection. The pillows should darken as that part of the layer is masked.
Step 5
Duplicate the masked layer so that you now have two Screened layers with the mask. Brian and Justin should stand out from the background. Don't worry if the lines around them look a little sharp, we'll fix that with some colors on top of them.
Step 6
Now there are two ways to do this step. They're both equally easy, so I'll just tell you the one I used. create a new layer (Shift+ctrl+N or go to Layer->New->Layer) and fill it with black (color #000000). Right click on the mask of the previous layer and choose "Set Selection to Layer Mask". Now you can either create another mask the same way as we did before, or simply press the del key on your keyboard (with the black layer active) to remove the black from over the boys. Set the layer to Color at 100%.
--> 
Step 7
Now we want to dull down that intense orange color that the boys are. The complementary color of orange is blue, so let's true blue, shall we? (I didn't think about that when I did it, I don't think, but I think that's why it works ^_^) click the little black and white circle in the layers window and choose "Gradient...". Make the gradient a black to blue fade, the blue being #62788D. In the gradient fill layer, set the angle to -135, or whatever puts the blue in the same corner as the boys. Set this layer to Color at 45% opacity.
--> 
Step 8
I need a color layer to pull the whole icon together, so I fiddled with different colors and ended up with a dark green. Go to the black and white circle again, select "Solid Color...", and choose #114900, a dark green. Set this layer to Soft Light at 69% opacity.
--> 
Step 9
Now for some decoration. I started with a border brush by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daughterofsnape. Use the brush in a white color on a new layer on top of everything else. Then use an eraser to erase the part of the border that is on top of the boys, so now it looks like its going under them. Set the layer to Difference at 100% opacity.
--> 
Step 10
Another brush by_joni. Again apply this one in white to another new layer. Erase the part on the left until only the leaf... thing... remains. Set the layer to Linear Dodge at 39% opacity.
--> 
Step 11
For the large text, the font is Sylfaen. The first row is size 9, text "this is" and the second row is size 10, "M A G I C" Then I just added two lines of tiny text, Sylfaen, size 1, spacing 3 pt. And you have your final product!
Please do not copy this tutorial directly. Learn from my techniques and use them to create your own unique work. Please feel free to tell me what you think, and I'd love to see what you do with this! Enjoy :)
We're going to be going from THIS to this:
Step 1
Crop the image down to 100x100.
Step 2
Sharpen once.
Step 3
Duplicate the base layer and set this copy to Screen at 76% opacity.
Step 4
Duplicate the Screen layer and leave the settings. Now, you need to use a combination of the magnetic lasso and the lasso tools to carefully select the outline of the two boys. It's helpful to zoom in a lot, to distinguish where they end and the pillow begins. Also remove the area between them, under Brian's chin, from the selection, so only the boys are selected. Now, with this area selected, go to Layer->Add Layer Mask->Reveal selection. The pillows should darken as that part of the layer is masked.
Step 5
Duplicate the masked layer so that you now have two Screened layers with the mask. Brian and Justin should stand out from the background. Don't worry if the lines around them look a little sharp, we'll fix that with some colors on top of them.
Step 6
Now there are two ways to do this step. They're both equally easy, so I'll just tell you the one I used. create a new layer (Shift+ctrl+N or go to Layer->New->Layer) and fill it with black (color #000000). Right click on the mask of the previous layer and choose "Set Selection to Layer Mask". Now you can either create another mask the same way as we did before, or simply press the del key on your keyboard (with the black layer active) to remove the black from over the boys. Set the layer to Color at 100%.
--> Step 7
Now we want to dull down that intense orange color that the boys are. The complementary color of orange is blue, so let's true blue, shall we? (I didn't think about that when I did it, I don't think, but I think that's why it works ^_^) click the little black and white circle in the layers window and choose "Gradient...". Make the gradient a black to blue fade, the blue being #62788D. In the gradient fill layer, set the angle to -135, or whatever puts the blue in the same corner as the boys. Set this layer to Color at 45% opacity.
--> Step 8
I need a color layer to pull the whole icon together, so I fiddled with different colors and ended up with a dark green. Go to the black and white circle again, select "Solid Color...", and choose #114900, a dark green. Set this layer to Soft Light at 69% opacity.
--> Step 9
Now for some decoration. I started with a border brush by
daughterofsnape. Use the brush in a white color on a new layer on top of everything else. Then use an eraser to erase the part of the border that is on top of the boys, so now it looks like its going under them. Set the layer to Difference at 100% opacity. --> Step 10
Another brush by
_joni. Again apply this one in white to another new layer. Erase the part on the left until only the leaf... thing... remains. Set the layer to Linear Dodge at 39% opacity. --> Step 11
For the large text, the font is Sylfaen. The first row is size 9, text "this is" and the second row is size 10, "M A G I C" Then I just added two lines of tiny text, Sylfaen, size 1, spacing 3 pt. And you have your final product!
Please do not copy this tutorial directly. Learn from my techniques and use them to create your own unique work. Please feel free to tell me what you think, and I'd love to see what you do with this! Enjoy :)
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For some reason in my head I thought 'Rough Boys' by Pete Townshend played there. Ah well!
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Although have any Tori Amos songs been played in QaF at all?
(And is that a VG fangirl I see as well? Am I the only one who thinks it's weird one member of placebo is in a different band in that film to the others?)
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I am a major VG fangirl. I've given four years of my life to studying that movie, lol, which sounds even worse now that I state that. Aww I know, why did they put Stef with the Polly Small band. I mean I understand that at first Brian was the only one cast, but it would have been nicer if they kept them all together.
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I didn't know Brian was the only one cast at first...
(Sidenote, that makes a third Brian I adore. Argh that name!! Brian Slade, Brian Kinney and Brian Molko. I wonder if there are any more...)
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Hey, I've been on 12 hours, so you aren't too bad.
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Ah, but is it 4am there? lol. I'm terrible. :)
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Its 11:03pm.
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And ahhh, that comm makes me want to make things with Brisexual all over them, colour bars, uicon, graphics...
ahhhhh
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God, that community was most likely rougevelvet's brainchild. She runs the suckerlove community and site as well, and they are off having pervy VG/Placebo discussion in a chatroom...which makes me wonder why I'm not there....
::Watches the QAF Goodbye Special:: Oh yeah...
Make graphics and share wealth, lol.
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And of course! *friending back*
Aw, the Special was nice. I like Thea's hair in it (amongst other things, but still).
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I'm glad when I can fandom hop. Hehe, its nice to know there are other people out there with the same interests, even if they live over the Atlantic Ocean, hehe. And there is something about the name Brian....they usually just come out looking all hot and....mmmmmm Brian-y.
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lol.I guess there's an exception to everything! :)
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....Wow. Indeed that is a major exception.
I hope he didn't break anything of yours. :-/ As a Smiths fan I've got to say.....he's crazy.
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Right, I'm off to sleep as it's nearly 5am, ttyt!!
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Oooh! Lancaster is nice and country-esque. May I ask what you are majoring in? I'll be going to Penn State Delaware County before I go to the main campus, so I'll still be right where I am now.
Should you need to know anything about the PA area, don't hesitate to ask either. I'll help out the best I can. I'm in love with Philadelphia (most likely because I was born there). Despite its bad neighborhoods, it has so much to offer. And the Art Museum...::Dies::
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I'm going to Franklin & Marshall, and I think I'm majoring in Biochemistry. Not certain yet, but it's likely.
And thanks :) I'll probably be dropping in on Philadelphia at some point, I mean it's so close, why not? Maybe we could even meet up some time, I'd love to talk to someone else who's into the same things as me :) I've been to Philadelphia once, 2 years ago, to visit UPenn with my class, and... I'm not an urban person at all, so that kinda turned me off of the school itself, but I rather liked it. It's kinda a blur though. I'd appreciate some insider tips ^_^
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It would be fun to meet up. Though I created a VG group, I only know of one other person who likes Queer as Folk. Its kind of...blah in the Philly suburbs. UPenn and Swarthmore always interested me, but I had to think about my parents money since they are putting three girls of close age into college. Penn State (despite the main campus being called a party school) is also respected, so it could be worse. :-P. Besides, what the hell will I do with an English degree anyway?
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*shrugs* I've always had a scientific bent. I enjoy it immensely, and the thought of like, working in a lab discovering things for my career is just so exciting ^_^ But that doesn't make me smarter, just.. I dont know! :P
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Good job getting the scholarship. We'll ALL be in debt after college. ::cringe:: I won a rather small scholarship for being respectful and polite, somehow... someone really doesn't know me well. But I thank their checkbook. And oops, I just realized I never thanked the organization. So much for being respectful.
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I did write a sequel script for a class in school, though. It even included acceptable levels of homoeroticism. My teacher loved it, despite being the son of a Minister. He gets points for giving me wonderful marks on it. :-P