I laugh in the face of Selective Color

Tutorial #3 - John Winchester

2007-12-11T08:12:47Z

I can't believe it's been over two years since I last posted a tutorial. Huh.

Anyway we're going from this: to this:

I don't know if it's translatable because I haven't had PSP for years, but there's no selective color so I assume it is.

So, I took a cap from Supernatural ep. 1x22 'Devils Trap'. This cap is from marishna, come to think of it all my SPN caps are by her. Check her out.

Blah, blah, cropped it, blah, blah, shrunk it to 100x100.

And since it's SPN season one I don't have to tell you that it's dark.

See?

My favorite new trick for darkish caps is to add a black and white gradient map adjustment layer and set that to screen.

Now I have this:

Then I added a hue/saturation adjustment layer and in the master setting I upped the saturation. I usually up it anywhere from 45% - 55% depending on the cap. I tend to go for more a bit more saturated than I think I'll need because I can always lower the opacity of the layer to kill some of the saturation.

So at that point I have this:

Now I'm telling you this, it isn't much different than the old 'duplicate the base, set to screen' method, but I think this preserves the quality. The difference is slight, but I prefer it. If the cap needs further lightening I've found that if I merge the base and the gradient map set to screen layer, duplicate that and set the duplicate to screen then do the hue/sat layer it gives me a cleaner result than two duplicated base layers set to screen. Clear as mud? Cool. Moving on.

Next I added a new layer and flood filled it with a dark red with a hint of brown, set to exclusion, this icon used color code #170902.

Giving me this:

Not quite what I was going for, so I duplicated the exclusion layer.

Here's what I'm lookin' at:

Lately I have been loving the channel mixer adjustment layer. If you're not familiar with it it looks like this:

I'm not going to give exact settings because it depends on the cap and your taste. For this icon I have the Red Output Channel at apprx. +125, -10, -10, then in the drop down I changed from red to blue and set the Blue Output Channel at apprx. -15, -10, +135. I didn't pull down the green, I left the Green Output Channel alone. Again, these are not exact, fiddle with it.

If you have absolutely no idea what the Channel Mixer does, this tutorial is a good place to learn the basics, in my opinion.

After fiddling I have this:

Subtle, but nice, it's richer, the blue is bluer, but not overly so.

Next, I made a Levels adjustment layer.

If you're unfamiliar with it, Levels looks like this:

Now in Levels you'll default with RGB, which is what I usually use unless I want to mess with the colors more, but for his icon I only want to control the contrast.

Ok, see the box with the squiggly equalizer looking stuff? That's the Input Levels. Now see those three little triangles? If you move them to the left you'll get brighter, but lose contrast, if you move to the right you'll get more depth/contrast, but you'll lose brightness.

Again, fiddle with them, til you've got what you like. For this icon I moved the far right triangle to the left a bit, then moved the middle triangle to the the left, then moved the far left to the right a bit.

I realize that is one mess of a sentence, so, for visual reference, what I used was more or less this:

Which left me with this:

And that's it.

Question/comments welcome, unfortunately, the icon is not sharable.

Thanks for reading.

Tutorial #2 - Michelle Trachtenberg (whitewashed)

2005-08-28T20:52:01Z

On this lazy Sunday afternoon we will be going from
this: to this:

#1. Sharpen once, then use the Sharpen Tool set to apprx. 10% and carefully go over her hair to enhance the texture, then soften the skin of her face by using a combo of the Blur Tool set to apprx. 20% for large areas and the Smudge Tool set to apprx. 10% for small areas. For a bit more detail on how I do this see step #2 of this tutorial. I then used the Smudge Tool (same strength)to add extra smudge to her eyeliner and to 'wing it out' at the outer corner of her eye.

#2. Duplicate the layer. On the top image adjust the brightness/contrast to -23(brightness) and +16(contrast), set to Soft light.
She should look like this:

#3. Duplicate the base. Erase everything except the iris (colored part) of her eye, set to Linear Dodge.
Now she looks like this:

#4. *drumroll* That's right, y'all know what's coming: on a new blank/transparent layer flood fill with #062E50, set to Exclusion 70%.

#5. Duplicate the base layer, drag it to the top and set to Overlay 100%. I then duplicated that layer, desaturated it (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or Shift+Ctrl+U), fade the desaturation (Edit > Fade or Shift+Ctrl+F) to 45% and set the layer to Color 80%

#6. Then I added a new blank/transparent layer, flood filled with white (#FFFFFF) and set that to Color 18%
We now have this:

Layer Review:
: Color 18%(only has a border so it would show up)
: Color 80%
: Overlay 100%
: Exclusion 70%
: Liner Dodge 100% (on white background and framed only for visual purposes, as layer it should be transparent other than MT's eyeball)
Soft Light 100%
: Normal 100% (Background)

I loathe doing text, so I just used the dropper tool to pick up the color from her lips and added her name (I forgot the fonts, sizes, blending mode and kerning used). If you have any questions, shoot 'em at me.

Finished icon is sharable. Please comment and credit if taking/using.

Tutorial #1 - Justin Taylor (muted like whoa)

2005-08-21T06:48:40Z

I've noticed a lot of black 'n white icons with one brightly colored accented focal point popping up. I really like them... but, I have a thing for the muted. The following will be showing how to make a muted colored icon with a stand out, yet also muted, focal point. I'm also of fan of simple subtly. So, tonight we'll be going from
this: to this:

Ok, the base:

#1. I duplicated the layer and sharpened the top layer once, which left me with:

Blergh! I didn't like it... except that it made the pattern of the collar of the button down shirt under his sweater stand out (omgbuttondownshirt!kink) so I erased everything from the top layer except the visible collar and merged down, leaving me with:

Subtle, but necessary. (Note: as we know erasing can kill the eyes, what I like to do is duplicate the bottom layer again, desaturate it and stick it in between the original layer and the layer I'll be erasing bits from. The color contrast is helpful and then I delete the desat. layer before merging)

#2. I set an oval brush to apprx. 10px, set it to the Sharpen Tool at strength 15% and carefully ran it over Randy's hair to help the texture stand out. I then use the Blur Tool (also using an oval brush set to apprx. 7px, strength 20%) and blurred out his skin. Careful on the nose! And avoid the area around the eyes and lips. I don't use the Smudge Tool to do large areas of skin, because I feel it gives an artificial look, however for the area around the lips and eyes I tend to use the Smudge Tool set to strength 10% and carefully smooth those areas. The result is a soft, porcelainy skin look without the risk of blurring out the eyes/lips with the Blur Tool. (I hope that made sense). So that leaves us with our base:

Again, it's all very subtle, but enhances the quality nicely IMO.

#3. Next I added this gradient:
to a new blank/transparent layer, erased everything except the visible parts of the collar (again) and set it to Hue 81%; giving me this:
(again, v.v. subtle, I know.)

#4. I then added this gradient:
to a new blank/transparent layer and set it to Vivid light, 68%.

#5. Then, of course, I added everyone's very best friend: the exclusion layer. For this icon I used #072952, set to 82%

#6. I then moved the collar only layer (from step #3) above the layers from steps #4 and #5. I then duplicated the base layer twice. On the first layer I adjusted the brightness/contrast to 7 and 33 respectively. I set that layer to Luminosity 90%.
Looks like this:

I desaturated the second duped layer and set it to Color 37%

#7. I added a new blank/transparent layer, filled it with straight up white (#FFFFFF), set it to Color 45%

Review: Your layers should look vaguely like this:
Color 45% (only has a border so it would show up)
Color 37%
Luminosity 90%
Hue 81% (on white background and framed only for visual purposes, as layer it should be transparent other than the blue collar-y part)
Exculsion 82%>
Vivid Light 68%

Final base:

This was a coloring tut. so the icon itself is unfinished.

I hope some of this was helpful to someone in some way. I forgot where I got the cap and I believe the gradients are by crumblingwalls, but I'm not 100% sure on that.