Heart The Pretty

Tutorial Indexes...

2009-02-16T22:28:22Z

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted! Place looks a bit dusty and could use some cleaning up. Out with the old and in with some new and all of that.

I am currently cleaning up my tutorial indexes a little bit, for a couple of reasons. Several people over at liveinternet.ru have copied and pasted all of my code in my tutorial indexes and thus are hotlinking all the tutorial images from ME. I've said it several times; hotlinking from me is a huge no-no unless you consent to pay the bandwidth bills for the site that hosts my images. Not to mention, I think it's just completely rude and lazy to copy and paste entire posts from MY journal into your own. I don't care if your tutorial list has all of the same tutorials as mine, but for God's sake, make your own bloody page and host the images yourself. [/ranty mcrantypants]

Another reason I'm cleaning up the tutorials is that some of the tutorials have been moved, privacy locked, or deleted, or the images in the tutorials no longer exist. I'm purging my lists of these unavailable and broken tutorials. I don't think there's any sense in linking to something that won't be of any help, and I don't feel like joining 52 million communities just to see a tutorial when, if I do enough digging, I can find the same tutorial elsewhere and won't need to join. Sorry if that's too bitchy, but I just don't have time for all of this "I'm a speshul snowflake and so are my tutorials, I have to protect them!" business.

So, if the tutorial index pages look a mess, it's because they're in repair. I may even set them to private until the work on them is done, I don't know yet, depends on how bad they get.

I DO have a new resource that I'd like to get uploaded here soon, they are very large photos that will make neat light textures. I'm debating on whether to crop them down, recolor them, or just post them large and let y'all recolor/crop them down as you see fit.

Anyway, so that's what's going on around here, just thought I'd drop in and let you know! :)

Photoshop Linkspam

2008-04-24T03:59:03Z

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've had an update. Life never slows down, it just gets busier.

I've obtained a copy of Photoshop CS3 and have been spending a little time dabbling with it here and there. I've been looking for tutorials and resources outside of LJ and thought I'd share what I've found. A few of these links are okayfor PSP users, or users of other programs, too.

Pioneer Woman Photography: Actions, tutorials, tricks, and more.
Free Texture Sets on Flickr: BeaPierce, Ground*Floor Volume 1, Ground*Floor Volume 2
Action Central - Free Photoshop Actions
Layers Magazine - Tutorials
Michelle Black - Free Actions, Textures, etc. Read through the discussion threads for Freebies, get the free tryout actions on the flickr group's front page.
Pixelmana - Tutorials for how to make a few special effects & textures.
Martin's Blog - Tutorial: Cross processing effect with photoshop
Luciferous-glow at DA - Transparent watermarks tutorial, Astral Flora Brushes
Flasheezy - Free flash files and tutorials.
Vecteezy - Free vectors.
Brusheezy - Free photoshop brushes and patterns.

Where did you learn your favorite tips for photoshop, and what are they? Share in the comments!

Light Textures: Size 1024x768, 2 sets

2007-12-20T05:29:50Z

I have 20 wallpaper sized light textures for you today, divided up into two zip files of 10 light textures each for easier downloading. These light textures were made from my own photography, so credit/comments for these sets would be really nice. I will make icon-sized light textures out of these soon, so do not redistribute these textures yourself. Thanks.

The previews do not show the textures at full size, obviously. The actual size of each texture is 1024x768 pixels. They have been cropped and resized much smaller than they actually are for the preview. I do still have the original photos, so if you need larger size textures, let me know.

Click the image previews to begin the downloads.

Hey, look at that, I'm STILL not dead! Whee!

2007-09-08T18:54:32Z

Okay, I've made some updates. I had a bunch of stuff that I had saved in my faves that I had to do some stuff with, so here's what I've done:

1 - Updated my Resources/Credits page.
2 - Updated the Great Big List of Tutorial Indexes. (The list at resourcelove is the same as the one at icon_tutorial, by the way.)
3 - Updated my own Tutorial Indexes: added a couple of tuts to the Icon Tut Index and cleaned up my index of larger graphics etc, which means I deleted a few dead tut links, added some new tuts, posted thumbnails of the larger images and created new thumbnails for some of the very small images, and separated the wallpaper tuts from the banners and headers. Personally I don't think the last one is that big of a deal, because you can use banner tutorials for wallpapers and vice versa, and you can also use icon tuts for larger images as well, but, you know, OCD and all that. That page still isn't quite as nice as I'd like, but I think I'm done playing with it for now.

Now that all of that's done, I'd like to make a creative update of some sort, some wallpapers or brushes or something, I just haven't figured out what to make yet. But now that things are a little bit cleaned up and caught up, maybe it will be easier for me to relax a little.

Icons: 33 Emma Watson

2007-07-17T02:28:16Z

She's grown up so pretty, I just had to make some icons. Some of the icons in this batch have a kind of dreamy quality that I love.

NO HOTLINKING. If you don't know what that means, ask me and I'll explain it to you. If you hotlink from me I WILL know and I'll substitute a really nasty image instead, so don't say you weren't warned.

Preview:

Comments are love, credit is nice but not required.
NO SPOILERS.
Enjoy!

My computer must be infested with nargles...yeah, that's it.

2007-07-15T04:03:55Z

So Harry Potter 5 was AWESOME, right? Right. I loved it. I've seen it twice already.

Recent journal updates: I've added a LOT of tutorials to my tutorial lists, mostly icon tuts, but a few header/wallpaper tuts as well. I've also been updating the Great Big List of Tutorial Indexes, as well. If you're looking for new ideas or inspiration, check them out.

I've also been working on some wallpapers of the tv show "The 4400," and I've saved them but don't think they're all that great, so I don't know whether I'll be uploading them or not. I have other ideas for a different style from what I've already done, we'll see if that turns out any better.

Maybe I'll just do some brush sets next, those are pretty hard to mess up.

Anyway, I've seen a warning that there are some serious HP Book 7 spoilers hitting LJ, some of them seem to be popping up in journals that I visit, so I think I might stay away from LJ until after I've read the book. It's only a week away now, yay! :D

Just letting y'all know...

2007-07-04T03:09:41Z

that if I don't get back to comments or anything right away, it's because I'm very afraid of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Spoilers. I see news articles, I see blog posts, all trying to give out Book 7 Information and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW. I would rather read the book and find out for myself.

So I just wanted you to know that if I don't get back to your comment right away, it's probably because I'm hiding from Potential Potter Plot Bunnies. I am not ignoring you, I have not forgotten you, I WILL get back to you at some point, I promise. :)

Icon Textures/Bases: Fractals, Brush Set: Large Butterflies

2007-06-24T18:03:27Z

Two updates in two days? What is wrong with me? Oh, well, more goodies for you, right? :) Comments/credit nice but not needed. NO HOTLINKING, thanks.

One icon texture pack today - 118 fractal textures saved as .png files. Click the image preview to download.

26 Big Butterfly Brushes. These are 500px wide - much larger than they appear in the preview - and were made in PSP 9, so the brushes are .jbr format, but for users of other programs there is an image pack. Click the link below the preview image for the download you prefer.

Download: .jbr | image pack

Up next: More brushes, I think, or maybe some graphics for The 4400.

Enjoy! :)

Icon Textures/Bases: Lights, Glitter, Blobby Colors, Sparkles

2007-06-23T18:39:16Z

What happens when I don't feel well? Sometimes, I can sleep it off in my bed. Other times, I stay up all night FINALLY making textures from all the stock images just sitting and taking up space on my hard drive. Guess which one happened last night? As I said, these are all made from stock photos. No credit to me is needed, all I did was crop and resize. Comments are awesome, though, so I know what's useful. All of the textures have been saved as .png files except for one wallpaper sized texture in one of the glitter packs - that one is a .jpg. Click the image preview to download the zip files.

More textures and brushes coming. Enjoy! :)

Brushes: Flower Set 01

2007-06-10T20:37:07Z

This brush set, like my others, is made from a font. There are 44 brushes in the set and they are large - 500px, but I think most programs allow you to resize so these should be okay for icons, too. Brushes were made using PSP 9. PSP users can download the .jbr files, and for users of other programs there is an image pack available.

The brushes are larger than they appear in the preview.

Comments are lovely and credit is nice but not required, just send people my way when they ask where you got that brush, mmkay?
NO HOTLINKING.

Download: .jbr files | Download: image pack

When I say NO HOTLINKING, I mean NO HOTLINKING! - UPDATED

2007-05-08T17:03:06Z

I do not allow any hotlinking to any of my images for any reason by anyone other than myself. I pay money for the website that hosts all of my graphics. I don't ask people to donate money to me or anything like that, I simply ask that if you use my graphics online, you Right-Click on the graphic, and select "Save As..." to put the graphic on your own local disk drive, then upload it to your own image host, such as photobucket, image shack, flickr, wherever. There are a million free image hosts out there for your use, so go get one and stop stealing from me.

Yes, hotlinking is stealing. It's the exact same thing as me coming over to your house, and plugging in all of my electronic devices for me to use. YOU would get a very large electric bill, and I would still be using all of my electronics for free, making YOU pay for it. That is stealing. That is illegal.

If you do not know how to use graphics without hotlinking, or you're still confused about what hotlinking is, leave a comment and I will help you to use a graphic without hotlinking.

Update - 6/10/07: All entries are once again open to the public. Anyone who hotlinks my images will get a different, nasty image substituted instead. You've been warned.

Harry Potter Fandom Icons

2007-05-05T23:17:26Z

Comments would be nice, if you're going to use them.

DO NOT HOTLINK. (I'm looking at YOU, Xanga and MySpace users, for starters.)

These are my older icons. Some are quite nice I think, some should probably be scrapped but I don't want to do that, yet.

Image heavy, so give the page a little time to load.

Harry Potter/Dan Radcliffe






Hermione Granger/Emma Watson




Ron Weasley/Rupert Grint





The Trio (How can I only have two Trio icons? I need to work on this.)

Draco Malfoy/Tom Felton


Ginny Weasley/Bonnie Wright




Fred and George Weasley/James and Oliver Phelps







More Weasleys


Hogwarts Castle/House Pride



Cho Chang/Katie Leung



Cedric Diggory/Robert Pattinson



Fleur Delacour/Clemence Poesy


Viktor Krum/Stanislav Ianevski


Misc Gryffindor Students


JK Rowling


Miscellaneous





Oliver Wood/Sean Biggerstaff


Miscellaneous Slytherin Characters

Icon Tutorial Request: Hermione OotP

2007-05-05T19:16:44Z

Requested by pixiegirl131415.
Sorry this one took so long! (Note to self - save .psd files for EVERYthing.)
This one is easier than my previous tutorial. :)
This tut uses PSP9 but should be transferable.

So we're going from this: to this:

One:
Okay, got your base? I'm starting with this one which has been cropped, resized, and sharpened, from the domestic Order of the Phoenix poster:

Two:
This step might be optional, it depends on your base.
As much as I love Neville, I just want a plain background for this icon. So, create a new Raster Layer. On your base image, choose the darkest color in the background, which for my base is black, #000000. Select your paintbrush and use the round shape at Size = 10, Hardness = 50, the rest of the settings at default. I reduced the hardness of the brush because it will do a nicer job, and be easier, going around Hermione's hair. So, now that your paint brush is set, make sure to select the raster layer, then paint over what you don't want in the background.
You could do this directly on your base, but I personally prefer to do it on its own layer. That way if I mess up too much, I can just delete that raster layer, create a new one, and start over.
So. My painting is done. I merge the two layers, and now I've got this:

Three:
My base is pretty dark, so let's start to fix that now. I duplicate the base and set it to Blend Mode: Screen, Opacity: 54%. I don't use a higher Opacity because I'm going to add layers later that will help brighten things up a little, too.
Let's make a few adjustments to this layer.
A. The first thing we'll do is desaturate it. Go to Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Colorize. Set both the Hue and Saturation to 0, and now this layer is black and white.
B. Next, let's help brighten it a little more. Go to Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Clarify. Set the Strength of Effect to 5.
C. This one is optional, it depends on your base: Despite my base coming from a good quality image, her skin is just a little bit splotchy/speckly looking to me. So, keeping this layer selected, I go to Enhance Photo > Edge Preserving Smooth, and set the Amount of Smoothing to 2.
So, after all of those adjustments, my icon now looks like this:

Four:
Create a new Raster Layer and set it to Blend Mode: Burn, Opacity: 24%. Flood fill it with a bright pale green, #C1FFDB, which looks like this:

Which makes my icon look like this:

Five:
Create a new Raster Layer, set it to Blend Mode: Burn, Opacity 22%. Flood fill it with a bright aqua blue, #C1FDFF, which looks like this:

So now my icon looks like this:

Six:
Create a new Raster Layer, set it to Blend Mode: Burn, Opacity: 54%. Flood fill with a light tan, #FAE7D0, which looks like this:

My icon now:

Seven:
Okay, my icon's dark, it's time to lighten it up. Create a new Raster Layer, set it to Blend Mode: Soft Light, Opacity: 46%. Flood fill it with a fuschia sort of color, #FF80FF, which looks like this:

And my icon now:

Eight:
Duplicate your tan layer from step six and drag it to the top. Set it to Blend Mode: Soft Light, Opacity: 88%.
My icon now:

Nine:
Duplicate the tan layer again, and drag it to the top again. Set this layer to Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 34%.
My icon now:

Ten:
Duplicate your base, drag it to the top of the layer palette. Set it to Blend Mode: Soft Light, Opacity: 42%.
My icon now:

Eleven:
Light texture! I take this texture by sensi_incanto:

I flip, rotate, crop, and resize it until I've got this:

I paste this image as a new layer and set it to Blend Mode: Lighten, Opacity: 100%. I erase the little bit that crosses over the top of her head. Merge all layers and there's your icon!

My layer palette:

Confused? Any questions? Let me know! :)

Icon Tutorial Request: Ginny OotP

2007-05-01T21:37:24Z

Requested by weazel05.

This tutorial is a combination of elements from this tutorial by cristal_graphix, this tutorial by likedejavu, and some bits of my own. There are a lot of layers to this icon, and some adjustment layers, but don't be scared! Just try it, and if you have any questions, if you're confused, or if something in the tut is not clear, please don't hesitate to ask. I try to make the tuts as beginner friendly as possible, but it helps if you know the basics, like how to duplicate a layer, where to find the Adjustment Layer Menu, things like that.

So, from this: to this:

Step one:
Got your base? Okay. Unless it's exceptionally blurry, don't sharpen it, we're going to keep this icon nice and soft. So I'm starting with this:


Step two:
Optional. Duplicate the base and leave it set to normal. You don't have to do this, I've just started doing it myself because I like having a spare, unaltered copy of the base if something goes wonky. If your base is a little dark, you may want to duplicate this layer and set it to Blend Mode = Screen, Opacity = whatever your icon needs.

Step three:
Duplicate your base again, bring it to the top of the layer palette, and set it to Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 100%. So now we've got this:

Step four:
Create a new Raster Layer and set it to Blend Mode = Multiply, Opacity = 100%. Flood fill it with color #CA8863, which looks like this:

So now we've got this:

Step five:
Duplicate your base again, drag it to the top, and set it to Blend Mode = Screen, Opacity = 84%. Now we've got this:

Step six:
Create a new Raster Layer and set it to Blend Mode = Burn, Opacity = 70%. Flood fill it with color #9EE0E8, which looks like this:

Now my icon looks like this:


Step seven:
Create a new Raster Layer and set it to Blend Mode = Soft light, Opacity = 18%. Flood fill it with color #FF80FF, which looks like this:

Now my icon looks like this:

Step eight:
Create a new Raster Layer and set it to Blend Mode = Exclusion, Opacity = 100%. Flood fill it with color #000040, which looks like this:

At this point, here's how my icon looks:

Step nine:
Create another new Raster Layer, set it to Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 100%. Flood fill it with color #D7F3F7, which looks like this:

Now my icon looks like this:

Step ten:
Create yet another new Raster Layer, set it to Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 30%. Flood fill it with color #FAE7D0, which looks like this:

And now my icon looks like this:

Okay, we're temporarily done with the Raster Layers. It's time to move on to Adjustment Layers. Not as frightening as they seem, I swear. :) Some of them don't make a big difference, but the difference is there, honestly.

Step ten:
Okay. In your Layers Menu, select New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Make sure the Channel is set to RGB, then enter 123 for the Input, and 81 for the Output. It should look like this:

Click OK, and leave this layer set to Blend Mode = Normal, Opacity = 100% in your layer palette. My icon looks like this:

Step eleven:
Go again to the Layers menu, and select New Adjustment Layers > Levels. On the RGB Channel, set your Input Levels to 0, 2, 255. Don't change the Output levels. Then, go to the Red Channel, and make the Input levels the same as before: 0, 2, 255.

After setting the numbers for the RGB Channel AND the Red Channel, you can click OK. In your Layer Palette, set this layer to Blend Mode = Burn, Opacity = 20%. And my icon now:

Step twelve:
Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. In the Tone Balance section at the bottom, make sure that "Preserve Luminance" is checked. Now, select Shadows, and input the numbers -40, 0, and 20 in the Color Levels boxes at the top, like so:
Then, select "Midtones" and input the numbers 0, 10, and 0 in those boxes across the top. Then make sure the color levels on "Highlights" are all set to 0. Click "OK," and in your layer palette, leave this layer set to Blend Mode = Normal, Opacity = 100%. My icon now:

Step thirteen:
Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness. Set Master Saturation to 20, like so:

Then, select "Blues" in the drop down box, and set the Saturation to 17. Click "OK," and again, in your layer palette, leave this set to Normal at 100%. My icon now:

Step fourteen:
We're going to lighten up a little bit. Go back to your Levels layer, duplicate it, bring it to the top, and set it to Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 50%. And my icon now:

Step fifteen:
One more adjustment layer. Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. Leave the Brightness set to 0, set the Contrast to 6. This makes a small difference, as you can see in my icon now:


Step sixteen:
Okay. In your layer palette, go to your exclusion layer, duplicate it, bring it to the top. Leave the Blend Mode set to Exclusion, but drop your Opacity down to 28%. Now I've got this:

Step seventeen:
Fun time! Time to put in some light textures.
Create a new raster layer and flood fill it with the following texture by fightstarr :

Set it to Blend Mode = Lighten, Opacity = 100%. Flip it around so it suits your base. I erase the parts covering her hair and face, and now I've got this:

Step eighteen:
Create a new Raster Layer, and flood fill it with the following texture by offbeat_upbeat :

Again, set this to Blend Mode = Lighten, Opacity = 100%. Flip it around so it suits your base, erase what you don't need/want. Again, I pretty much erase whatever covers her face and hair. So now I've got this:


Step nineteen: One more light texture. Create another new Raster Layer, flood fill with this texture by 77words :

Again: Blend Mode = Lighten, Opacity = 100%. Erase what you don't need/want. I erased a bit that was covering her hair. Now I've got this:

Step twenty: Okay, the textures are done, but the icon is a bit dull. Go all the way down to your base, duplicate it, bring it all the way up to the top, and set it to Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 100%. I've got this now:

But I think it needs just a wee bit more, so I duplicate that last layer, keep the Blend Mode on Soft Light, but take the Opacity down to 30%, and I finish up with this:

I know this is a long tut with a lot of steps, and might be a bit confusing, so here is my Layer Palette:

Questions, comments? If you try it, I'd love to see what you make! :)!

Finally, Some OOTP Icons

2007-04-26T04:12:34Z

I'm quite sure no one's been making any icons with these images, so I thought I'd fill the gap.

Har har.

My next post will be all of my older HP icons, so I won't cross-post it anywhere. I'll probably put it up tomorrow. In the meantime, here are my new OOTP icons - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Cho, and Luna. Comments are awesome - DO NOT HOTLINK.

Thanks. :)

OH. Also, I have saved the PSD files for a few of these icons, so you may request a tutorial if you'd like, but ONLY request it for an icon in this post. Unless you're desperate and would like to see a tut for a wallpaper in one of these three posts, then I could maybe help you out with those as well, but please, no other kinds of requests at this time. Thanks. :)

Preview:

8 OOTP Wallpapers

2007-04-25T04:08:25Z

I hope to start getting back into making icons soon, but I've just been in a wallpaper mood lately, I dunno why. Maybe I just like the bigger space to work with or something. Oh well, that means big goodies for y'all.
Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Luna. 7 in all, and each is available in 1024x768px and 800x600px. Comments are nice. DO. NOT. HOTLINK. Thanks. :)

Previews - and don't forget they look better at full size:

Harry - 1024x768 or 800x600
Cho - 1024x768 or 800x600
Luna 1 - 1024x768 or 800x600
Luna 2 - 1024x768 or 800x600
Hermione - 1024x768 or 800x600
Ron - 1024x768 or 800x600
Ginny - 1024x768 or 800x600

Edited to Add - By Request:
Harry 2 - 1280x800

Edited to add a requested wallpaper by __skanks. 05/05/07

Order of the Phoenix Wallpapers - Hermione, Cho, and Ginny

2007-04-09T01:09:27Z

I'm in a HP wallpapery mood. 5 Ginny desktop wallpapers, 1 of Cho, and 1 of Hermione. All available in 1024x768 px and 800x600 px. Let me know if you need a different size and I'll whip something up as quick as I can.

Credit is not necessary, comments are lovely but not required.
THOU SHALT NOT HOTLINK.

Preview: (Remember, they look better full sized, not jagged as they are in the preview images.)

Ginny:
.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

1024x768px or 800x600px

Cho:

1024x768px or 800x600px

Hermione:

1024x768px or 800x600px

Enjoy! :)

Order of the Phoenix DA Wallpapers

2007-04-08T01:49:09Z

I've made some desktop wallpapers for some members of Dumbledore's Army. I still have to make Ginny and Cho, and hopefully we'll get a nice hi-res image of Neville so I can make one for him as well. Right now I've got Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Luna. There are 4 wallpapers each for Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and there are 5 wallpapers for Luna (the 5th one is a repost).

Credit is not necessary, comments are lovely but not required.
THOU SHALT NOT HOTLINK.

These are available in 1024x768 and 800x600px, but if you need another size, let me know and I'll whip something up as quick as I can.

Previews: (And of course they all look better at full size, they're not as jagged as they appear in the preview.)

Harry:
.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

Hermione:
.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

Ron:
.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

Luna:
.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

.....
1024x768px or 800x600px.....1024x768px or 800x600px

1024x768px or 800x600px

OMG! Update!

2007-02-02T21:53:16Z

Three brush sets! I know, I said textures and bases before, didn't I? Those are still on my to do list, I'm just happy to be making an update with any kind of goodies!

So, as I said, three brush sets. I made these brushes from fonts. They can of course be used for icons, but I tried to make them a little larger - the fleur-de-lis brushes are about 300 px in height, the circle things are 500px by 500px, and the hearts range from 250px wide to 500px wide. Paint Shop Pro doesn't let me make them any larger than 500px, sorry. :(

Each brush set is available in .jbr format for PSP users and .png files in image packs for everyone else.

Comments are awesome, credit is not required. On with the brushes!

Download: .jbr files   Download: image pack

Download: .jbr files   Download: image pack

Download: .jbr files   Download: image pack

Don't forget - all the brushes are larger than they appear in the previews!
Enjoy! :)

Very Useful Link Lists

2006-10-01T14:18:45Z

I've written up a few helpful lists that are posted in resourcelove, and I'm linking them here because I consider these lists part of my resources. People seem to find these lists pretty helpful, and compiling lists seems to be what I am best at. I update these lists whenever I come across something new, so take a peek if you're interested.

LJ Layout Communities and Override Help
Free Stock Photo Sites
LJ Graphic Tutorial Communities
Tutorial Indexes

If anyone can think of another resource type of list they'd like me to make, perhaps for things that they're having trouble finding, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.

New Light Textures

2006-10-01T00:05:54Z

All made from stock photographs. Click the preview to download .png images.
Comments are love. Credit is not required.
DO NOT HOTLINK.
I don't know why anyone would hotlink a preview image, but for those of you that are thinking about it, don't do it.

The file size for the Wallpaper Light textures is 18,000 KB...please be patient when downloading.
Enjoy!

Christina Aguilera Icons 02

2006-09-25T18:55:45Z

Credit/comments are love but not required.
ABSOLUTELY NO HOTLINKING, plzkthnx.
(If you don't know what that means leave a comment and I'll help you.)
Preview:

Christina Aguilera Icons 01

Tutorial: Sean Biggerstaff in "Cashback"

2006-09-23T19:21:42Z

Step right up, one and all. Today I'm using PSP9 for today's tutorial.
We're going from to two different ways.
The first tutorial uses a Curve layer to lighten and brighten the base image. The second tutorial shows you how to lighten and brighten the base image by duplicating the base layer a few times and setting each to a different blend mode.

With Curves

Step1.
Got your image? Okay, crop it, sharpen it, however you like to prep it.
I've done my prep and I'm starting with this:

Step 2.
This image came from a screen cap, and generally speaking I find screencaps tend to be a bit dull and dark. When I make icons using images from screencaps, this is how I use Curves to lighten and brighten them up a bit.
In PSP 9 go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Curves.
Here is the box that comes up:

For Input, enter 117. For Output, enter 136. (Don't hit "Okay" yet, we have more to do.) Now the box looks like this (except for the red box around the RGB, I put that there for the next bit):

Now, see the drop down menu that I've outlined in red? Where it says RGB - hit the drop down menu and select Red. Enter the same numbers you did before. Enter 117 for Input, and 136 for Output.
Go to the drop down menu again and select Green and enter those same numbers. Go to the drop down menu one more time and select Blue. Enter those same numbers for your Input and Output.
Now you can hit "Okay" and the Curves box will close.
Set the Curves layer to Blend Mode: Overlay, Opacity: 100%.
Now my icon looks like this:

Step 3.
A bit too icy and blah now, time to start warming it up a little bit.
New Raster Layer. Flood fill with this gradient by ???:

Set it to Blend Mode: Soft Light, Opacity: 100%.
Now I've got this:

Step 4.
New Raster Layer.
Flood fill with this texture by 77words:

Set this layer to Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 36%. You'll want to adjust the opacity depending on what looks good for your own icon.
Now I've got this:

Step 5.
This is where we brighten up and intensify some of the colors a little bit.
New Raster Layer.
Flood fill with this texture by damnicons:

Set this layer to Blend Mode: Saturation (L) [aka Saturation (Legacy)]. Set the Opacity to 30%, or whatever works best for your icon.
Now I've got this:

Step 6.
On a new layer, add text or a brush if you want to. Merge all layers and voila!

Here is my layer palette for this method:

Without Curves

Step1.
Got your image? Okay, crop it, sharpen it, however you like to prep it.
I've done my prep and I'm starting with this:

Step 2.
Duplicate your base three times.
Set the first duplicated layer to Blend Mode: Multiply.
Set the second duplicated layer to Blend Mode: Soft Light.
Set the third duplicated layer to Blend Mode: Screen. (Confused? Layer palette is at the bottom of this tutorial.)
Leave all opacitites at 100%.
Now I've got this:

Follow Steps 3-6 in the tutorial above.
Here's my finished icon following this tutorial:

And here's my layer palette for this method:

With Curves > = < Without Curves

Yes, you may snag the finished icon. You can find more Sean Biggerstaff/"Cashback" icons in this icon post. Credit/Comments are love but not required.
ABSOLUTELY NO HOTLINKING ANY IMAGE IN THIS POST, PLEASE. If you do not know what hotlinking is, please leave a comment and ask, I'll be glad to help you. Thanks.

Scots are sexy.

2006-09-12T03:26:39Z

11 Sean Biggerstaff icons from the Cashback Short Film.
Credit/comments are love but not required.
ABSOLUTELY NO HOTLINKING. Thanks. :)
Preview:

Tutorial Index Pt 2: Currently Under Reconstruction

2006-09-03T02:51:54Z

All of the graphics and tutorials in this post were created by other people. Click on the image to take you to the tutorial by the original creator. I have resized and saved the images to my own server, so no one has been hotlinked. Please don't hotlink me, either.
If you see your graphic here and would prefer I take it down, please let me know and I will do so promptly.

Wallpapers
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Headers and Banners
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Effects and How To

Create patterned tiles in PSP

Color a black and white image

Tint vintage photographs

Improve Black and White Images

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Colorings

Vignette effect

Make an image look like a colored pencil sketch

Use channels to help select fine details, remove background

Age Stuff

Outline in PSP9

Using curves

Old photograph look

Links
An icon making guide by ofthe_sky .
Icon Session Thread by ignited in tigannie_con .
Curves, The Wonder of Photoshop by herdestiny in prettylondon .
PSP9 Curves Tutorial by ninepointfivemm in howveinareyou .
Here is a post I wrote in resourcelove containing a nice list of tutorial communities.
Here is a post by neke in resourcelove containing links to tutorials and resources for making light textures.
Here is a guide to using text in icons by ktastic_icons.

*Updated: 2/25/09*
Go to Tutorial Index 1: Icon tutorials by myself and others.