Icon Tutorial #7
This icon was made in Photoshop CS2 but it should work in newer versions as well. The base images used in this tutorial are not mine. They have been credited and are allowed to be modified under a Creative Commons license. If you found this tutorial useful, credit would be appreciated.
This tutorial gives a similar effect to icon tutorial #6, a warm vintage effect, but does very well in lightening dark sections, like dark clothing, and dark hair. I have used examples with photographs of four girls with dark hair, dark skin and a dark scarf.
Credit for images: Ko_An, Scarleth White, Naezmi, Corrie…
I like the effect of the girl in the last photograph so I’ll be using that in this tutorial. Please note that you can do this activity with large images as well.
Start by pasting your image onto your canvas, after cropping and resizing. Then create a new layer. You can go to Layer > New > Layer then click OK, or press Ctrl + Shift + N.
Use the fill tool and fill the new layer with the colour #C69C6D and set the blending options to Soft Light at 100% opacity. You can do this by double-clicking the layer preview in the side panel, or going to Layer > Layer Style > Blending options.
As you can see, the hair colour and general surroundings are lightened.
Now create a new layer. Use the fill tool to fill it with #FFF799 and set the blending options to Multiply at 100% opacity. You can already see an “aged” vintage look, as the image is mildly darkened.
Make a new layer again, filling it with the grey #B7B7B7, Overlay at 100% opacity. This brightens the image, keeping the vintage tinge of yellow.
For the next step, fill a new layer with #754C23, Screen at 100% opacity. This makes everything a little harshly bright, but the next step will fix that up.
The next step balances out the colour. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. All we’re changing is the Midtones, so look at this screenshot to see what you should do:
| Cyan: -64 Magenta: -33 Yellow: +90 |
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Save without merging your layers.
