Icon Tutorial #3

This icon was made in Photoshop CS2 but it should work in newer versions as well. Resources in this tutorial have been credited on this page if they are not my own. If you found this tutorial useful, credit would be appreciated.

Disclaimer: The celebrity images used as resources are under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, meaning that they are allowed to be remixed and adapted. I originally created the icon using other images but these were under copyright and I chose not to use them in this tutorial for that reason.

I have used images by FutureBreed on Flickr. This includes a closeup image of Ben Jorgensen and an image of Ben Jorgensen and Anthony DiIonno. Both have been cropped appropriately and through this tutorial you will find out how to merge them into the final image. Although the icon may not look amazing, you should pick up some new techniques in this tutorial, including how to use a clipping mask.

Create a new canvas in Photoshop, 100 by 100 pixels. Keep the background white.

Download this flower brush. If you cannot install the brush visit this tutorial. You can also use any brush with a rough-cut flowery pattern.

Create a new layer, and with the colour black, stamp the brush once towards the top of the canvas.

Then paste this image of Anthony onto a new layer, on top of the brush layer. Then press Ctrl + G on your keyboard, or go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Click OK in the dialog box that opens.

A new dialog box should open with a grid. Using your mouse, drag the gradient of the grid a little bit upward, then key in the values 70 for Input and 135 for Output.

Click OK.

For the next step I have used a brush from 77words – Randomosity. I have used it on a new layer, like the brush previously used, and stamped it once in black.

Then paste this image of Ben onto a new layer, on top of the brush layer. Then press Ctrl + G on your keyboard, or go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. You should obtain a result like this.

Now we will create a new selective color layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Click OK in the dialog box that opens.

A new dialog box should open. Select Neutrals under “colors” and change to the following settings:

Cyan: +23 Magenta: +32 Yellow: 0 Black: 0

Click OK.

For final touches I have added text, and used the line tool to create thick white lines as the text background. I have run them a little into the white patch on the left to make it look better. I have included two final versions here – the only difference is that the base image of Anthony was cropped smaller.

     

Note that you can also experiment with the clipping mask and remove Anthony from the icon, which gives a bit of a nicer effect on the text and icon overall. Here is the result.