[Tutorial #18] Dark

[aurora_amethyst]

Going from this: to this:

Requested by chocolatefrogs

I actually started out with a black layer to build up the background. I did have my subject already added to the icon so I could test how the icon looked, but for the purposes of this tutorial, we'll add her later.



First, I added a grunge texture by lookslikerain from her Got the Exits Covered set, turned it upside down (180 degrees), and set it to normal, 30% opacity. The texture was a little on the bright side so I lowered the opacity to give it just enough grunge.



I knew I wanted to add some color, and red usually goes pretty well with black and white. I found another texture by lookslikerain from her Ungracious in Defeat set, and set it to screen, 100% opacity.



Next, I added some text to give it a little more red. I think the theme was dark so I added it as the text in the Eclipse Demo font at 24pt in 9e0b0f. I used the color dropper tool to get the right shade of red from the background.



Now for the subject. I pasted in my subject (I usually cutout my subjects in a different file, paste them into my "icon" file, and then resize them).



But my subject was blending too much into the background so I added a gray and white gradient map (676363, 0%; ffffff, 33%; b9b9b9, 66%) and set it to normal, 30% opacity.



Now, my subject lost some definition, so I duplicated the subject layer, brought it to the top, and set it to multiply, 40% opacity



But I still wanted a little more grunge so I added another grunge layer by lookslikerain from her Run Laps inside My Head set, and set it to screen, 12% opacity



Copy-merged (or merge visible and duplicate the layer) and sharpened the icon (paint daubs, simple, 1, 1), setting the layer to normal, 30% opacity.



Voila!

There you have it!

.psd