Thank you for the votes! (Closet Highlander fans?)
How I did the Methos icon: 1) Pick a nifty image (grin), crop it, and shrink it. 2) Tweak the image (brighten, contrast, selective gaussian blur). I actually duplicated the layer each time I made a major change, so I had four layers, each one brighter than the next. However, I didn't make as much use of that difference as I thought I would. 3) The black 4-panel "frame". 3a) New transparent layer. 3b) 3-pixel border (select all, shrink selection, invert selection, bucket fill) 3c) The interior lines - added guides at 25, 50 and 75%, drew 1-pixel lines at those points (snap-to-guides helped with that). Then I had to remove the guides, because snap-to-guides wouldn't let me draw another 1-pixel line next to the existing lines. 4) For each of the four Methos-layers: 4a) add a layer mask (white) 4b) do a fuzzy select inside one panel of the 4-panel frame 4c) back to the layer mask, bucket fill (black) 4d) invert the layer mask. (Sure I could have done a black, fully transparent layer mask and done a bucket fill with white, but I stuck with the defaults) 5) Then I found I wanted more difference between the four panels, so I added colour washes to three of them. 5a) Transparent layer above the desired layer. 5b) Bucket fill (or gradient fill) on layer. 5c) Change mode to "overlay" 5d) Add layer mask. 5e) Copy the layer mask of the layer below, and copy it into the layer mask of the colour-wash layer. 6) The text. I did a lot of tweaking with this, trying to figure out a good caption. I can't remember at what point I decided I'd make the text perpendicular. 6a) Write the text and position it at the centre bottom of the image 6b) Layer to image size 6c) Rotate the layer 90 degrees.
For the Frodo icon: 1) The image was rectangular to start with, so all I had to do was shrink it, rather than crop it first. Paste into icon image. 2) New layer, black. Move below the Frodo layer if it isn't. 3) New transparent layer, make "fake fire" at the bottom. Unfortunately, I've lost the link to the tutorial which explained how to do this. Basically you get (or make) a fire-shaded gradient which is transparent at one end, and apply it. Then use the IWarp distortion to make it into fire shapes by (1) moving up and down (2) spirals in one direction (3) smaller opposite-turning spirals in the other direction. I had to do it a couple of times before I got one I liked. 4) Repeat step 3 (in a new layer), except making fake fire in the other direction, at the top of the image. 5) New transparent layer. Painstakingly draw single-pixel parallel black lines above the fire bits. 6) I then tweaked the black background a bit, using the color-picker to make a dark-red to black gradient, selecting the bottom half, applying the gradient, and then selecting the top half and applying the gradient in the opposite direction. 7) Text. Always hard to figure out a good caption. 8) Text outline. New transparent layer below the text layer. Make the text layer active, alpha-to-selection. Then make the layer below the active layer. Grow selection by 1 or 2 pixels (I can't remember). Bucket fill with black.
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Date: 2009-07-22 10:24 am (UTC)How I did the Methos icon:
1) Pick a nifty image (grin), crop it, and shrink it.
2) Tweak the image (brighten, contrast, selective gaussian blur). I actually duplicated the layer each time I made a major change, so I had four layers, each one brighter than the next. However, I didn't make as much use of that difference as I thought I would.
3) The black 4-panel "frame".
3a) New transparent layer.
3b) 3-pixel border (select all, shrink selection, invert selection, bucket fill)
3c) The interior lines - added guides at 25, 50 and 75%, drew 1-pixel lines at those points (snap-to-guides helped with that). Then I had to remove the guides, because snap-to-guides wouldn't let me draw another 1-pixel line next to the existing lines.
4) For each of the four Methos-layers:
4a) add a layer mask (white)
4b) do a fuzzy select inside one panel of the 4-panel frame
4c) back to the layer mask, bucket fill (black)
4d) invert the layer mask. (Sure I could have done a black, fully transparent layer mask and done a bucket fill with white, but I stuck with the defaults)
5) Then I found I wanted more difference between the four panels, so I added colour washes to three of them.
5a) Transparent layer above the desired layer.
5b) Bucket fill (or gradient fill) on layer.
5c) Change mode to "overlay"
5d) Add layer mask.
5e) Copy the layer mask of the layer below, and copy it into the layer mask of the colour-wash layer.
6) The text. I did a lot of tweaking with this, trying to figure out a good caption. I can't remember at what point I decided I'd make the text perpendicular.
6a) Write the text and position it at the centre bottom of the image
6b) Layer to image size
6c) Rotate the layer 90 degrees.
For the Frodo icon:
1) The image was rectangular to start with, so all I had to do was shrink it, rather than crop it first. Paste into icon image.
2) New layer, black. Move below the Frodo layer if it isn't.
3) New transparent layer, make "fake fire" at the bottom. Unfortunately, I've lost the link to the tutorial which explained how to do this. Basically you get (or make) a fire-shaded gradient which is transparent at one end, and apply it. Then use the IWarp distortion to make it into fire shapes by (1) moving up and down (2) spirals in one direction (3) smaller opposite-turning spirals in the other direction. I had to do it a couple of times before I got one I liked.
4) Repeat step 3 (in a new layer), except making fake fire in the other direction, at the top of the image.
5) New transparent layer. Painstakingly draw single-pixel parallel black lines above the fire bits.
6) I then tweaked the black background a bit, using the color-picker to make a dark-red to black gradient, selecting the bottom half, applying the gradient, and then selecting the top half and applying the gradient in the opposite direction.
7) Text. Always hard to figure out a good caption.
8) Text outline. New transparent layer below the text layer. Make the text layer active, alpha-to-selection. Then make the layer below the active layer. Grow selection by 1 or 2 pixels (I can't remember). Bucket fill with black.