Challenge 2x12 Results

[kerravonsen]

The results of Challenge #2x12, Blues are:

Embodiment of style
First: (a three-way tie!)
by stripped
by pensnest
by kerravonsen

Second:
by kerravonsen

Third: (another three-way tie!)
by nimmy
by watersword
by birgitriddle

I Just Like It
First:
by stripped

Second: (a tie)
by pensnest
by pensnest

Third:
by kerravonsen

Mod's choice
by pensnest


Thank you, everyone!

I've also revealed the entries in the challenge entry post.

Now, discuss! How did you make your icons? Techniques, tips, difficulties?

Comments

[birgitriddle]

I think I'm still trying to figure out how I placed third (even if it was a three-way tie) in an icon contest. x.x

Wasn't expecting it, especially that it was easily made. I think I cropped the original source picture (can be found at Ohtori.nu) and overlaid it with a blue gradient texture and changed the texture's opacity. I did this in GIMP, though I am just learning the program.

[pensnest]

Hi! Thanks for the votes, and congratulations to the other winners.

Icons were made in Photoshop, I can remember whether it was CS3 or CS5, but I don't think it makes any difference. My waterlily icon was cropped from a picture by naturlovr which I found on StockXchge.

The basic move was to add a gradient map (I love gradient maps) using colours 223046/e9fbfc, a dark and a pale blue. I did a merge layer, set to Hard Light, then duplicated this layer and did an Unsharp Mask filter (program defaults). I duplicated this last layer again and added a Gaussian Blur at 6.0, masked out the lily, and set this to Hard Light. I like the way it comes out looking more like an illustration than a photo!

The 'Facepalm' icon also involves a Gradient Map, using 384f72/e9fbfc. I think Gradient Maps are a great way of changing the basic colours of an icon. I set this to Color, then duplicated it and set the duplicate layer to Soft Light. Then a Curves layer, setting the RGB line to a shallow S-shape to increase the contrasts.

I added a texture I made a while back, set to soft light, which really brings out the statue's face, then the text is Lithos Pro, font size 14, AV 50.

[kerravonsen]

Thank you for your votes!

All work was done with GIMP version 2.6.

The "whenever I feel blue" icon had a lot of tweaking in it.

The text was done in a font called "Adelaide", but not until I'd tried a lot of other fonts first. The whole phrase was done in white text, then I made another text layer with just the word "blue" done in the colour blue, and I moved it with the arrow keys until it was exactly over the "blue" in the white text layer.
I then made a drop-shadow by making a path of the white text, and then going path-to-selection (I think this makes a more accurate selection for small text); then a new transparent layer; a bucket-fill black; select none; gaussian blur; then move layer with arrow keys so that it is 2 pixels down and 2 pixels to the right.

The background was made up of four layers:
1. (Bottom) linear gradient at 45 degrees of a gradient called "Blues", which was a few different shades of blue.
2. Linear gradient at 90 degrees of another blue gradient called "BlueSky" which had some paler blues and white. Set layer to Multiply.
3. Transparent layer with an animated circles brush which was set to use the "Blues" gradient. This layer had a HUGE amount of tweaking done to it, I was trying different brushes and doing and undoing this one a LOT.
4. Layer bucket fill with a black-and-white pattern (texture) (this texture, actually). Set layer to Soft Light and 50% transparency. Again, I was trying a lot of different patterns/modes/transparency before I settled on that one.

Additional tweaking: did a colour-pick of one of the darker shades in the bottom layer, and changed the text-shadow layer to that colour.

[nimmy]

damn! that was over a week ago and you expect me to remember???

I currently use Paint Shop Pro so I can't be sure how that translates to Photoshop (which I now have but am still learning)

I started by changing the 'temperature' of the crop, dragging it down to cool/blue then I made a brush from the AAR logo and used it three times, each time making the brush smaller and harder/less transparent (sorry I can't remember the exact steps) first step I used white, 2nd step blue then white again for the last. It looks like I have only changed the size slightly between the first 2 uses of the brush. The original photo was blurred at the edges.

[stripped]

Ooh, thank you!!!! The love icon was a happy accident of brushes and textures coming together. I made it in Photoshop CS4 on a Mac.

I started off with a crop of a texture (and I forgot to note which one, so I'm not sure :( ).



Then I stamped on a brush from Mutsie's brushes in dark blue, and set it to a blend mode of overlay and gave it a drop shadow.



I have an image of a moon and clouds that I found somewhere online that I've used before, so I grabbed that and set it with a blend mode of overlay. Then I used Cmd-Shift-Alt-E to create a new layer with an amalgam of all the layers and blurred it (I don't remember which blur I did and I forgot to note it) for a new base.



The text is a brush from Mutsie's brushes (did I mention the luck?) which I got positioned correctly and set to a blend mode of difference and gave it a drop shadow to help it pop a little.



Of course, now the whole thing isn't BLUE, so I did a gradient map. The color is the first blue of the simple color choices given with Photoshop, reversed, and set to a blend mode of color.



It looked like it was missing something so I went through some trial and error with my heart brushes to find the right one to stamp on top of it all, over the moon.



And that's it!