[Tutorial #10] Painted Taeyeon

[aurora_amethyst]

Going from this: to this:

Requested by tinny @ Ask the Maker 2023 @ icontalking


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I prepped the background first since I knew that I was going to make a red icon for the Spice It Up round at monthlyinspo. I started out with this texture by innocent_lexys



Next, I added this texture by unknown, and set it to soft light, 100% opacity.



Then I pasted this cutout of Taeyeon.



I wanted to tone down the red on Taeyeon, so I added a gradient map layer (261127 to e21232), masked out the background, and set it to saturation, 100% opacity. Notice how the reds are toned down to more of a pinkish shade.



I wanted to add some highlights, so I added a gradient map layer (fff33b at 0%, fcc60e at 28%, f49040 at 67%, ed693c at 89%, and ea3e3a at 100%), masked out everything except for the highlights over her hair, left side of her neck and face, and the right side of her nose and mouth, and set it to overlay, 50% opacity.



The icon was still looking a little dull, so I added a vibrance layer (vibrance: 100, saturation: 0) and set it to normal, 100% opacity.



But I wanted to darken the icon a bit and add some more red, so I added this texture by tinebrella, and set it to multiply, 30% opacity.



To add a little brightness, I added a gradient fill layer (bdcf0a to cc0045) with the following settings: style: linear, angle: 52.59. I set it to soft light, 40% opacity.



Next, I added this texture by lookslikerain, inverted it, and set it to soft light, 10% opacity. I originally added to give the icon a "paint-y" look, but it just ended up brightening Taeyeon's face a little. ^^



I decided that I wanted to add some yellows into the icon, so I added a gradient map layer (bfb977 at 7%, f9ed64 at 40%, ce9a35 at 70%, and c0cb84 at 87%) and set it to soft light, 100% opacity.



I duplicated the texture by tinebrella, brought it to the top, and blurred it (Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur) at 6.0. Then I set the layer to soft light, 100% opacity.



The icon was still a little blah, so I added this texture by unknown. I think it was maybe a clock or a map of the stars/planets or something.



Next, I wanted to sharpen the icon, so I went with my favorite technique: paint daubs. so I copy-merged and pasted the layer into the icon (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E or CTRL+SHIFT+CMD+E). Then I used the following settings for the paint daubs filter (Filter>Filter Gallery>Artistic>Paint Daubs): Brush Size: 1, Sharpness 1. Then I set the layer to normal, 60% opacity.



Next, I added a gradient map layer (000000 at 0 %, ff7800 at 17%, ffc000 at 58%, and 6c0000 at 100%), masked out everything but the edges, and set it to soft light, 100% opacity. This gives the icons a little more texture.



Lastly, I added a layer of cc1611 and pasted a piece of texture into the mask.



Voila!

There you have it!

.psd

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Comments

[tinny]

This is the hardest of the tutorials for me, because it's so dark for most of the time. I admire the patience it takes to slowly work on the look before working on the brightness. I always make everything bright bright bright first and then do the rest.

I love the result, it looks amazing.

Thank you again for going above and beyond with these tutorials! <3<3

[aurora_amethyst]

You're very welcome! I've always enjoyed writing tutorials and talking about my process.

I guess I do approach the brightness aspect slowly. The tutorials don't really show the full extent of trial and error that I go through before I get the final result, lol! ^^ I think I prefer subtle changes that focus on specific areas rather than using something like curves, levels, or brightness/contrast to drastically increase the brightness. Back when I first started iconning. I tended to use multiple layers on screen or white layers on screen to brighten my icons, so I've definitely come a long way! ^^

[facethestrange]

Beautiful coloring, and the clock/map texture is such a great touch! ♡