[Tutorial #16] Outline Yuna 2

[aurora_amethyst]

Going from this: to this:

Requested by themeparks

I started out with this base of Yuna.



For the background, I used this texture by blame from her Rainy Days (pink-purple) set. I duplicated the layer twice and set the first layer to Multiply, 100% opacity, and the second layer to Linear Burn, 100% opacity.



Next, I created out a cutout of Yuna a little larger than herself in 000000 and moved it to the left. I set the layer to Soft Light, 100% opacity.



Then I created another cutout of Yuna (same size as the previous one) in ffffff and moved it to the right. I set the layer to Soft Light, 100% opacity.



I brought my Yuna base back to the top.



Now the icon needs a little more color, so I added a Vibrance layer (vibrance: 100, saturation: 40).



But I wanted the Vibrance layer to have a cooler but brighter tone, so I added a curves layer. I used jaejunggim's Midnight curve setting from her Holiday Gift Set 2011 and clipped it to the Vibrance layer (in Photoshop press alt and click between the layers at the same time).



But the pinks weren't popping out enough, so I added this texture by drankmywar and set it to Soft Light, 40% opacity.



Then I added a layer and drew around Yuna in ff00c0 and another layer and drew around Yuna in ea52ff.



But there was still too much contrast between the darks and lights in Yuna's hair and face, so I added this texture by fuuurs and set it Lighten, 30% opacity.



I decided the icon needed a little more pizzazz, so I add this texture (possibly by 77words?) and set it to Screen, 100% opacity.



To give a little shine, I added another texture (not sure who it's by), gaussian blurred it at 6.0, and set it to Screen, 100% opacity.



Finally for the sharpening! 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.



Voila!

There you have it!

.psd

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Comments

[tinny]

Awesome! I especially like the drawing on the canvas, you made it look so playful!

I have one question (for the last tutorial as well) : "create a cutout a little larger than the subject" . That's the most important aspect of outlines, I think? How do you do that? I would probably just do the same as I always do and mask the subject, and then "Select / Modify /Expand" - but that always smooths out the selection edges a lot, and yours look crisp.

[aurora_amethyst]

D'awww! Thanks! It was actually my first time doing that sort of doodle, so I'm glad it turned out all right! ^^

Yes, I did do the select/modify/expand. What I do is I go to the cutout of my person and ctrl + click (cmd + click in Mac, I think?). It's one of the easiest ways to select the person, and then I do the modify/expand. Probably the reason why it came out so clean is because I always cut out my person in the original HQ image and then resize it (the person) in my icon. I usually do cutout on the mask of a color layer, that way I can make adjustments. Also, if the cutout is too sharp/pixelated, I usually take the blur tool and blur those parts.

[tinny]

Ah, okay, that makes sense! I also mask the subject at original size to get a cleaner mask. I'll just have to remember next time to modify the selection before resizing then, if I want to have a good outline!

Thank you! <3

[aurora_amethyst]

You're very welcome!

[littlemissnovella]

I love this guide, thank you for sharing!

[aurora_amethyst]

You're very welcome! ^^

[chocolatefrogs]

Tried it, just made it for a community challenge. I also tried the multiplied yuna as well and mixed them and went off on my own, was fun. Thank you for the tutorials!

[aurora_amethyst]

You're very welcome! Glad you found them helpful! ^^