Tutorial #3 → "Rukia Fade" Icon

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:27:02 GMT

I finally got round to writing this up. Requested by deria_hime, I hope you find it useful! (Icon made using Adobe Photoshop CS2).

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To start with, I cropped and resized this image to fit the icon dimensions. I then removed the colour between the panels and the bottom panel using the eraser tool to look like this:

Next, I used Selective Coloring to brighten things up a bit. The values for this particular image are as follows:
Reds → Cyan: -42, Magenta: +49, Yellow: +30;
Yellow → Cyan: -45, Magenta: +39, Yellow: +42;
Cyans → Cyan: +56, Magenta: -50, Yellow: +90;
Blues → Cyan: +50, Magenta: +34, Yellow: +58;

You can get better results if you play around with the values depending on the image you use. The picture now looked like this:

You can't really tell the difference here that much, but the colours are more vibrant now, I promise. ^_^

Next, I made a new layer on top of the image and filled it with white. With the eraser set to Soft Round 65px, I deleted some of the white over the area of the image I wanted to expose.

I repeated this with two more layers to get a look I was satisfied with; you can see the addition of the layers below:

For the next step, I took this paper texture by dustymemories, and pasted it on top of everything, set to Multiply.

Another texture I added was this glowy dots one by lazypenguine, and set it to Screen.

Lastly, the text I added is written in font Times New Roman, size 6.5, and in the color grey.

I also added some tiny text to break up the space below.

And that's it! I hope I didn't leave anything out, but if you have any questions/comments, plz feel free to leave a reply.

...hmmm...I should make some icons again soon.

Various Game and Bleach Icons

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:04:05 GMT

As is traditional for icon-makers it seems, I made some icons while I should have been doing my work. The funny thing is, in my last post, I said the next post would be "soon". If you check the dates, you'll see that this isn't quite how it turned out...yeah. Anyways, I hope you like them. ♥

→[10] Tomb Raider: Underworld (no spoilers unless you haven't seen any promo art)
→[15] Mirror's Edge
→[10] Final Fantasy XIII (Lightning)
→[9] Bleach

TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD

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MIRROR'S EDGE

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FINAL FANTASY XIII

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BLEACH

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You are welcome to leave comments/ask questions/make corrections/whatever as you wish to.

X-posted in tr_icons, ff13_icons, bleach_icons and game_icons. Many apologies for spamming up your F-list.

Naruto Icons

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:02:29 GMT

Hey all! Another icon post, Naruto this time. Most of them are new but there are some older ones in there too that I never got round to posting before. Should be updating again pretty soon.

♥ 34 Naruto icons

Comments & credits = ♥

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Cross posted @ chuunin and naruto_icons.

Bleach Icons

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:21:51 GMT

Hey there! Some more Bleach icons to share with you guys. Also, my journal will be quiet for a while whilst I'm away, but I will answer any comments/questions when I get back. Until then, have a nice summer, and here are the icons...

♥ 26 Bleach icons

Comments and credit is very much appreciated! ♥

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Cross posted @ bleach_icons and all_for_bleach.

Tutorial #2 → "karakura hero" Icon

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:27:35 GMT

Okay, second tutorial, as promised. Then it's back to making icons again. Written on the request of senbonzakura77.

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Firstly, I chose this image of Ichigo, and cropped it down to fit my icon.

I then used the Polygonal Lasso tool to go around the edges of the image and cut it out from the background. In my opinion, the image at this point was too light, so I duplicated it, setting the new layer to Multiply, at Opacity 37%. I dunno, but I think it looks a bit better this way.

I then used the same image again in the background, leaving it a little larger this time and desaturating it. I also lowered its Opacity to 34%.

Behind the background image, I first placed this grainy texture (by toybirds), set to Soft Light, and then this grunge texture (by xonlyashesx), with Opacity lowered to 55%.

To soften things up a little, I added another grain texture on top of everything (ie. above the image of Ichigo too). This one is also by toybirds.

The next thing I did was to add the coloured lines around Ichigo using the Pen Tool. To do this, select the Pen Tool, and make sure it is on these settings:

Then, make a new layer, and roughly go round the edges of the image you're using. For anyone who doesn't know, clicking will leave anchor points that are automatically joined together for you. Just don't drag because that does something else. Pressing Delete will get rid of the last anchor you put if you make a mistake.

Once you've gone round the whole image, it'll look something like this:

Now, you must choose the colour you want (I just took random colours off of Ichigo's clothes). Also, make sure your Brush is set to Hard Round, size 1. Now, with the Pen Tool selected, right-click on the layer, and select Stroke Path, and then Ok. Then right-click again, and select Delete Path.

You icon should look something like the one above. With the same method, you can add some more lines in different colours like I did. Make the path of the second line a bit different to the first one to make it show more.

In this way you can build up the lines, using as many as you see fit. I find that three is usually good enough for me. Also, put each line on a different layer so that you can move them around freely if you need to.

Finally, I added some text to the icon, using the Violation font I also mentioned in the previous tutorial, size 12 and colour blue. I rotated it again to fill the grey space to the left of Ichigo. (NOTE: you can't really see it, but the text says "Karakura town hero", hence the title of this post. Just so you know ^^).

And that's it. Again, if I've confused in any way or if you want to ask something else, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

They take long, but I kinda like making tutorials, lol.

Tutorial #1 → "love Rukia" Icon

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:41:51 GMT

My first tutorial, whooo! I've always wanted to make one of these, so here goes... Tutorial was requested by senbonzakura77, hope you like it ♥!

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The first thing to do is to choose an image (duh, no kidding), and to resize it to fit your icon. Everyone seems to have a different process for this, but I make it just small enough to fit the icon at this stage.

The colours were a bit bland, so I brightened them up by using Selective Colouring. The values vary between pictures, but for this particular image, I used:

Reds → Cyan: -99, Magenta: +44, Yellow: 0, Black: 0;
Yellows → Cyan: -63, Magenta: +30, Yellow: +48, Black: 0;

Now that I was happy with the image itself, I cropped it down to the size it is in the final icon. TIP: before you crop, copy the image on to another layer; this means you can always go back later on if you want to.

The icon now looked like this:

To give a slight faded photograph effect, I added this grainy texture, by toybirds, setting it to Darken. As you can see, I cropped this down as well, but left it slightly larger so that it also acts as a border to the image. Next, I merged the image of Rukia, the Selective Coloring layer, and the grain texture all together.

Behind this layer, I placed a this paper texture, by dusty_memories. Next I rotated the image a little bit, and added a Drop Shadow to make it stand out against the background. You can do this by right-clicking on the layer and selecting Blending Options.

On top on all this I added another texture, a scratch one this time, again by toybirds, setting it to Screen, and lowering the Opacity to 70%.

Nearly there! Just to keep going with the 'paper' theme, I cutout the paperclip in this texture by automaticxheart. I had to adjust it a bit to make it fit the proportions of the icon.

I'm a complete sucker for splatter brushes, so I couldn't help but add some here too, lol. The brush I used is actually 'Blood Splatters' by ewansim, but here I tried to make it look like ink.

I placed the splatters on new layers (makes it easier to resize) and used black, lowering the Opacity to 70%. I changed the position a few times, but went with this in the end.

With the image on top, it looked like this:

Finally, I put in some text! I used Violation (which you can get from Da Font), size 10 and color black, again reducing the Opacity to 70% to match the splatters. You don't have to, but I rotated the text a little to the angle of the image.

As a finishing touch, I added a heart brush (by ewanism again), to fill up space.

And there you have it! I hope I didn't confuse or bore you! Feel free to ask if you have any further questions.

Another tutorial to follow shortly...

Bleach & Final Fantasy 13 Icons

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:41:36 GMT

Wow, it's been way too long since my last post! Now, I could go into details about how and why I wasn't around, but that would be boring and no one cares, so let's just get straight to the point!

♥ 37 Bleach icons
♥ 8 Final Fantasy 13 icons

As ever, comments are much loved, and credit is much appreciated!

BLEACH

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FINAL FANTASY 13

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Cross posted @ bleach_icons and all_for_bleach. EDIT: Now also posted @ ff13_icons

10 Variations Challenge// Rikku

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:07:05 GMT

Username: aclara
Category: Video Games
Sub-category: Final Fantasy X-2
Subject: Rikku
Original: theif!
Set of rules used: Second

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Alternative Variations:

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Enjoy!

X-posted at 10variations, quitethecouple, and ffx_2.

Old Naruto Icons

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:55:13 GMT

Just reposting some old Naruto icons. Links in communities will be redirected to this post.

♥ 47 x naruto icons

TEASERS

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X-posted @ chuunin & naruto_icons

Icontest Awards and Stuff

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:57:50 GMT

Just some icontest banners I somehow won, lol. It's only a small and modest collection, but hey, I'm kinda proud of it anyway. Will be updated as required.

I tried to arrange it so that the banners are in a rough chronological order. Really rough. Also, there are a few in there by my old username, sharingan_fire, just so you know ^^.

10 Variations

Uchiha Stills

Sasuke Icontest

Naruto Awards

Shinobi Awards

Ino Icontest

Akatsuki Awards

Final Fantasy X & X-2 Awards

Bleach Chorus

Like I said above, I'll update this post as (if) I get anymore banners.

Resources

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:37:41 GMT

Because let's face it, no one's icons would be as nice if someone didn't help somewhere along the way...Here's a listing of all the resources I use, and the places/people I get them from.

Brushes

77words
ewanism
cdg
creamuts
wizardlaura
Neko-Zuki @ deviantART
Hoshii @ deviantART
Calafair @ deviantART
Meldir @ deviantART
Miss69 @ deviantART

Textures

cdg
silverqe
77words
restlessdreamz
dustymemories
spiritcoda
toybirds
xonlyashesx
samuraiblues
automaticxheart
bombottosa
chaoticfae
ennife
ewanism
lazypenguine
mayleann
mullally
sanasun
tove91
tresminx
gfxgurl
djalina
caesyrian
sherry_g
panicyo
artphilia
shadedcolor
bourniio
querita
tropicalsundae
expose42
kakapum
backstage_art
chocoaka
aube_des_arts
mellowmint
tearjerkericons
kyoshitsu
allkindsofpills
made4gravity
icons_by_mea
velvetb0x
jounins
Simple And Clean @ Shatter Heart

Fonts

Da Fonts

Layouts & Coding

minty_peach
passing_girl
reversecollide

Images

One Manga ~ Manga
Bleach Exile ~ Manga
Anime Stocks ~ General anime
Anime Paper ~ General anime
Final Fantasy Shrine ~ Final Fantasy
Creative Uncut ~ Final Fantasy
Lara Croft ~ Tomb Raider

I'll be updating this list over time as required. Also, if you think that I left you out, leave a comment and I'll see to it ^^.

First Post...Again!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:11:02 GMT

Welcome to my new (new) journal. My LJ name from now on will be aclara (formally cerulesphere, formally sharingan_fire). There will be NO MORE name changes. That is a promise. Entries from previous journals can now be found here, and information on this journal can be found in the User Info.

That's all. :)

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{{♥ aclara ♥}}