• Mood: drunk
• Music: Bush - Out of This World

Supernatural Coloring Tutorial

justfreefallin requested a quick tutorial for an icon of my last icon post.

Now, I don't know how quick it'll be, but I hope you find it usefull nevertheless.

1. I started out with the above of my screen caps from Simon Said, copied it on a new 100x100 canvas and moved it around so that I got my base

2. from to We’re on the base layer. Go to Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight I used the following settings: Shadows Amount: 12% Tonal Width: 100% Radius: 92% Adjustments Color Correction: +26 Midtone Contrast: +14 Black Clip: 0% White Clip: 0% Those settings, of course, need to be adapted to each icon individually for every base is different!

3. from to From your tools bar, choose the blur tool with a round brush of about 5pixels in size. Mode: normal and Strength: 19%. It should look like this: Go over those parts of his face with the brush which you want to smooth out a little. This is really a matter of personal preference but it does make subtle differences in the end product ;)

4. from to We will sharpen the image now. Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen check basic Amount: 13% Radius: 27.3 pixels Remove: lens blur Angle: 0° check more accurate

5. from to We'll be adding a curves layer now. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves We only make alterations on the RGB level so as to increase brightness in the brighter parts of the image and to lower brightness in the darker parts of the image. Your settings should look like this: Lower point: Input: 82 Output: 83 Upper point: Input: 175 Output: 202 Leave the layer mode at normal and the opacity at 100%.

6. from to Time to add a selective colors layer. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Colors The following values are the result of countless arbitrary editing and don't follow any reason. Reds Cyan: -51 Magenta: -13 Yellow: +81 Yellows Cyan: -79 Magenta: -13 Yellow: -83 Neutrals Magenta: -21 Yellow: -15 Reduce the opacity of this layer to 50%.

7. from to We add yet another selective colors layer. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Colors Reds Cyan: -100 Yellow: -40 Yellows Black: -28 Greens Yellow: -100 Neutrals Cyan: +28 Magenta: +3 Yellow: -12 Black: +4

8. from to Copy this nifty gradient (by wonderland__, I think) on top of your layers, set the layer mode to overlay and the opacity to 30%.

9. from to Now, we want to make some other small changes and add another curves layer. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves This time we make changes on the RGB and Blue level. Your settings for RGB should look like this: Lower point: Input: 27 Output: 14 Upper point: Input: 194 Output: 197 Your settings for Blue should look like this: Lower point: Input: 20 Output: 24 Upper point: Input: 209 Output: 216 Leave the layer mode at normal and reduce opacity to 30%.

10. from to Now, the icon needs some more contrast. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast Up the contrast to +7.

11. from to To top the icon off I added a few scratches/abrasions. I used this texture by lovelamp copied it atop all layers and set the layer mode to screen. Drag and rotate this texture to your liking. Erase the scratches from parts of his face with the help of the erase tool from your tools bar.

And you’re done! I hope you all enjoyed. The layer palette for this icon looks like this. Other icons made using this technique: Comments and criticism much appreciated!