Tutorial

Click on thumbnailed images to enlarge

NOTE: I have Photoshop CS. It should work with CS and up

Alright have you ever wondered how to create something like this:

THIS WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

1. Firstly, open up your pic in Photoshop. I will be using one of the gorgeous Chris Evans.


2. Next, using your crop tool obs., AND HOLDING THE SHIFT BUTTON, crop your image. You can crop it centered if you like, but to get a truly awesome icon, EXPERIMENT! with different angles.


3. Okay, now that you've cropped your image... RESIZE, RESIZE, RESIZE! You can't have it at that size. So, go to Image >> Image size. A window should pop up. Have it on these settings:

If it sets it at a weird size, like the width is 100 but the height is 79, UNCHECK Constrain Proportions.

4. Alright, now. Here comes the fun part: Getting the color and black and white. First, zoom in so it's pretty big. Now, on your newly resized image, hit ctrl+A to select it then do ctrl+C to copy it. And finally, do ctrl+V to paste it. You should have something like this:


5. Okay, now listen carefully. It can get slightly confusing here. WITH THE NEW LAYER SELECTED, the one you just created cause you pasted the image again, move it, until you get it into a position that you like. BUT YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE that the edge of the picture is visible:


6. Now, take your eraser tool and take a somewhat feathery tool, on 9 and, MAKING SURE THAT YOU'RE ON THE LAYER YOU JUST MOVED, and erase the edge of the photo:


7. Now, taking your rectangular marquee tool, make a somewhat skinny rectangle over the area you just erased then, with layer 1 selected, hit the backspace button. Click on the background layer and do the same thing:


8. Kay, here's how you get the color and black and white: With Layer 1 still selected, go to Image >> Adjustments >> Desaturate which gives you a result of:


9. Finally, hit ctrl+shift+E to merge all layers, then go to Filter >> Sharpen >> Sharpen.

And there you have it! Now, you could stop there if you want, or you can add some other fancy shmancy stuff and get a nicer result. Remember: Iconing is all about EXPERIMENTATION!

From this:


To this!:


Or this:


Or this!:



If at any point you got lost or have any questions, leave a comment or PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can :)

Next time, I'll show you how to make this:

Tutorial Comments

Showing latest 7 of 7 comments

This is amazing! :D

By DystopianGirl on Jan 30, 2009 9:08 pm

yay!!! got my first icon :D

By evansblack on May 30, 2008 2:30 pm

this is a little confusing. could you pls explain a little more ?

By fallendestinationxx on May 20, 2008 6:01 pm

eeew gross. he's hairyy.
oh well.

nicee tut.

By beholdingbeauty on Dec 19, 2007 1:17 pm

this is awesome. simple yet awesome.

By XxDanceToThisBeatxX on Dec 7, 2007 9:29 pm

so I have to download photoshop.
Are there any free photoshop?

By kelloveb0on on Dec 5, 2007 1:10 pm

omg!
i LOVE you for using Adam Levine!! he's so hott! ;)
oh & Chris Evans, too! :D
good job! :)

By manny-the-dino on Dec 3, 2007 6:54 pm

Tutorial Details

Author skywalkers View profile
Submitted on Dec 3, 2007
Page views 12,971
Favorites 64
Comments 7
Reviewer S-Majere View profile
Approved on Dec 3, 2007

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