noldo ([info]ressie_noldo) wrote in [info]noldo_icons,
2005-07-22 19:16:00
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Tutorial 8 - Arwen

A tutorial to make from , as a lot of people asked for icon tutorials. (I picked one at random.)

This tutorial includes base fixing, blending, and a bit of masking and brushwork. Image heavy, and long.

A warning: while I've tried to make this tutorial as simple as possible, this was not an easy icon to make and I can't promise a completely beginner-friendly tutorial. However, feel free to give it a shot, and I'll certainly clarify if there's anything that needs explaining.

You will probably need to know how to make layer masks in your program, as I only have GIMP and can't explain. You'll also need to know how to crop, resize, and make new layers.

This tutorial was written for GIMP 2.2. It is, however, translatable.



I started with a cap from 'Arwen's Vision' in RotK, provided by Annon nan Galadh. I cropped it to my satisfaction and resized:



I duplicated the layer. Then, I opened the 'Levels' dialogue (Layers>>Colors>>Levels), and clicked 'Auto'. I got this:



I sharpened my image (Filters>>Enhance>>Sharpen):



Then, I used the Blur tool with a small round brush and fixed Arwen's skin a little:



It might not look like much now, but you'll see the difference it makes to the later stages, as some of the steps really emphasise even very fine lines. Eck.

I duplicated that layer and set it to Soft Light at 100:



I flood-filled a new layer with black (#000000) and set to Soft Light, 70 percent opacity:




That's the end of my base prep, so I merge and save. Now, I take this purple texture by (?):



I paste it in on a new layer, set to Normal.

I create another layer, and add this purple gradient by (?):



I set it to Multiply and get this:



Now, I duplicate the first purple texture and bring it to the top. Setting it to Soft Light, I get this:




New layer. I use a smallish round brush and doodle a bit in beige:



(The black is just there so that the beige will show up more clearly.)

Setting that to Normal at 100, this is what I get:



Time to bring Arwen back into the picture (literally). I create a new layer, and add a layer mask. Then I paste this into the mask:



Then, I bring my final base of Arwen (the one I get after all the layering) to the top, and resize a bit. I crop out the bits I don't need; I then duplicate and desaturate (Layers>>Colors>>Desaturate) to get this:



I set that to Multiply:



I now bring the coloured version up, and set it to Screen:



Duplicate that and set to Soft Light:



Duplicate the Soft Light layer again:



Now, I go back to my base and crop out a new part, like so:



I set that to Multiply:



Then add a couple of duplicates on Screen and Soft Light:



I add a brush in beige, set to Screen at 100:



Now, I took a lovely Evenstar base from [info]cassie2003, and pasted in a beige Multiply layer over it to colour it beige:



I set it to Screen:



Duplicated and set to Soft Light, after masking out the black:



Now, another crop of the base, this time with Arwen's eyes:



I masked it out, with my layer mask looking like this:



I set it to Soft Light. This was my icon:



I added this tinytext brush by [info]saihara:



My icon now looks like this (almost there...!)



A couple of bruses (by [info]_joni and [info]inxsomniax, I believe) later:



There, I'm done. If you have questions, feel free to fire away. You can also request other tutorials.


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[info]madelineanne

July 21 2005, 13:55:46 UTC 6 years ago

Very nifty! I'm going to try and play later! Thank you!

[info]dumbstruckk

July 21 2005, 14:15:45 UTC 6 years ago

lovely! adding to my memories! :D

[info]fynoda

April 2 2007, 03:26:15 UTC 5 years ago

Where's your icon from?

[info]dumbstruckk

5 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]doctorevel

July 21 2005, 14:16:40 UTC 6 years ago

Beautiful and takes a great deal of skill. Do you by any chance have the brush you used at the end to make the beige frame...

[info]violettfem

July 21 2005, 14:50:30 UTC 6 years ago

beautiful icon!
memoried...but i have a question....did you use a brush or the rectangle tool to make to borders?

[info]hot_radcliffe

July 21 2005, 14:47:54 UTC 6 years ago

added to memories! ♥ :)

Anonymous

August 12 2007, 18:10:45 UTC 4 years ago

I love your icon.
:)
(I agree.)

[info]i_______loveyou

July 21 2005, 15:00:21 UTC 6 years ago

added to memories!

[info]sweetest_potato

July 21 2005, 15:02:52 UTC 6 years ago

Oh beautiful. And wonderfully complicated. Adding to memories.

[info]eternalenigma

July 21 2005, 15:22:26 UTC 6 years ago

Gorgeous icon. Adding to memories.

[info]stormysanctuary

July 21 2005, 16:02:09 UTC 6 years ago

This is really great. I will be using it.

[info]darkavengr

July 21 2005, 16:12:34 UTC 6 years ago

beautiful icon. added to memories!

[info]twistedendings

July 21 2005, 16:22:05 UTC 6 years ago

Oooh, lovely.
adding this to memories, so I can try it later.

[info]mrsbellamy

July 21 2005, 16:40:37 UTC 6 years ago

Adding to memories :)

[info]elebriwicn

July 21 2005, 17:15:16 UTC 6 years ago

addded to memories, the icon looked beautyfull

[info]ex_snuddles368

July 21 2005, 17:44:46 UTC 6 years ago

Ooh, very neat icon and great tutorial. Will try a hand at it later. Linking this to my resource page.

[info]moriath

July 21 2005, 18:30:36 UTC 6 years ago

Yay for GIMP tutorials!!! ~memories for later use~

[info]kenaree

July 21 2005, 20:01:13 UTC 6 years ago

yes!!! Thanks for the tutorial!

[info]patzer_whacker

July 21 2005, 20:16:32 UTC 6 years ago

This was very detailed! Great job!! *memories*

[info]colormered_cons

July 21 2005, 20:45:16 UTC 6 years ago

I followed most of it.. but I didn't quite like how the pink looked with my image, so I changed a lot of things:

not as good as yours, but I tried. thanks:D

[info]webgoddess

February 4 2007, 22:50:13 UTC 5 years ago

I think yours came out great! I love it!

[info]quistrepe

July 21 2005, 22:35:37 UTC 6 years ago

lovely ^_^
+to mems

[info]jackzter

July 21 2005, 23:15:44 UTC 6 years ago

I added a blue tinge and got this

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

[info]crazy_clockwork

July 22 2005, 00:44:09 UTC 6 years ago

I got lost here:

"Time to bring Arwen back into the picture (literally). I create a new layer, and add a layer mask. Then I paste this into the mask:"

I can't make it look like yours...

[info]our_wreckage

July 22 2005, 08:54:58 UTC 6 years ago

That's hot.

[info]lossemare

July 22 2005, 10:29:21 UTC 6 years ago

great tutorial! i'll certainly be using it =)

[info]aaricia

July 22 2005, 17:51:54 UTC 6 years ago

Added :)

[info]julseykit

July 23 2005, 02:43:21 UTC 6 years ago

Excellent tutorial! Gives me some ideas. :) I added this to memories. ^_^ I use Ulead PhotoImpact, but I think I should be able to figure something out. :D

[info]angelicid

July 23 2005, 03:44:06 UTC 6 years ago

That is gorgeous. You were right, it is really complicated, but the end result is so amazing, all the work is worth it. I'm not nearly up to this level, but maybe someday! :)
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