Tutorial #117 - This: to this: using Gimp. Translatable.

Open and prep image/base. I created my base by cropping the same image twice (close-up and distance), then flipping the close-up horizontally and setting it on Screen. I then erased the right hand side of my smaller crop so the two blended together.
> > >

I flattened my image, then added a fill layer of #ffffff and set it to Soft Light at 100% to brighten it up.
I also darkened the bottom edge of the icon by setting this on Soft Light at 100%.

Now that I had my base ready, it was time to work on the coloring. My image was already very blue, so I decided to work with that color scheme since it fit the mood of the icon.

The first thing I did was enhance the overall color with some Saturation (Colors>Hue-Saturation).

Master Saturation: +75.

Next I opened the Channel Mixer (Colors>Components>Channel Mixer), and entered the following:

This was way out of my usual comfort zone, but I kinda liked it, so I went with it.

I followed that up with some Color Balance:
Shadows: +25, +5, +35.
Highlights: 0, 0, -10.
Preserve Luminosity: off.

I added this: and set it to Soft Light at 65%. Merge it down.

I then fiddled with the exposure by using Brightness-Contrast: +35, +25.

Texture time!

This: set to Screen at 75%.
This: set to Screen at 50%.
This: set to Screen at 100%.

Flatten. These lightened the icon a bit and added some texture. It also made the overall coloring less harsh.

I wanted to darken it just a bit more again, so I used Brightness-Contrast again: -15, +15.

As the final steps, I added a couple more textures.

This: set to Screen at 35%. (This made the shadows at the bottom of the image blue instead of black.)
This: set to Soft Light at 35%. (I just liked how this looked.)

There were some reddish tones near the top of the icon that I didn't like very much, so I added a transparent layer and painted over them with color #3a89b7, and then set the layer on Soft Light at 75%.

After some flattening and sharpening, I ended up with this:

It's a lot different from what I would normally make, but I'm kinda pleased with it. I added a text texture I found somewhere, and I was done!

PM me if you have any questions.
Please do not copy exactly.

--- flambeau

Tutorial #118 - This: to this: using Gimp. Translatable.

Open and prep image/base. Mine was a bit dark and rather blue, so I decided to lighten it up and give it a more natural yellow-y color since I've been overusing bluish coloring lately.

-I added two fill layers of color #ffffff and set them both to Soft Light at 100%. This brightened my base up quite a bit.
-I added a fill layer of color #caa37d and set it to Hard Light at 25%. This added a bit of brown to the image.
-I duplicated my base layer, brought it to the top of the stack and set it to Soft Light at 100%. This gave my image more contrast since the fill layers had made it bit washed out.

-I added two fill layers of color #caa37d and set them both to Soft Light at 100%. This added more of a brown tone and brightened the image up some more.
-I added a fill layer of color #f0c88e and set it to Burn at 100%.

I flattened my image.

I added this: set to Screen at 75%. This added some light blobs and kept the lighting from being flat.
I also added this: set to Soft Light at 35%.

And flattened my image again.

I used the Levels tool (Colors>Levels) to add some red/magenta tones and keep it from being overly yellow.

I then duplicated my base layer, set it to Saturation at 100%, went to Colors>Components>Channel Mixer, and entered the following coordinates...


(Note: the previous step might not always work)

I flattened my image, went to Filters>Artistic>Soft Glow and entered the following coordinates...
Glow Radius: 10
Brightness: 0.25
Sharpness: 0.85

(I like the way this lightens images.)

And then, I did a little Hue-Saturation because the coloring was looking flat...
Master: 1 (hue), 3 (lightness), 10 (saturation)

At this point, I flattened my image and decided to work on the design. I had liked my layout initially, but now I decided that it was too unbalanced since all of the focus was on the left side of the icon.

Step 1: I duplicated my base, rotated it 90 degrees to the left and positioned it at the bottom of my image. It gave an interesting texture-type look that I liked.

Step 2: I duplicated my base layer and brought it to the top before desaturating it (Colors>Desaturate) and moving it to the right side of the image. This covered the negative space on the right side and helped to balance the icon.

Step 3: I flattened my base, duplicated it, and then scaled the top layer down to 75x75 pixels.

Step 4: I selected the background layer (behind the scaled top layer), and rotated it 180 degrees like so...

I like that a lot more now!

As a final step, I added a slight light texture, did a bit of Hue-Saturation again to enhance the coloring, and sharpened it.

That's it!

PM me if you have any questions.
Please do not copy exactly.

--- flambeau

Tutorial #119 - This: to this: using Gimp. I think it's translatable.
Requested by Ithilwen.

I had this icon saved as a project so I was able to recreate it exactly; woohoo!!

Open and prep image/base. I chose a shot of Reese and Finch from one of my many favorite scenes and decided to lighten it up and enhance the coloring.
I duplicated the base layer three times and set the duplicates to Screen, Soft Light, and Screen all at 100%. The Soft Light layer should be in the middle of the stack.

Flatten the image.

I then extended the sky up by adding a fill layer in the same color as the sky and blending it with the skyline at the top of the image.

Flatten.

I sort of got the idea for this next step from a tutorial on Livejournal. I duplicated the base and opened up the Filter Pack (Colors>Filter Pack). Under the Midtones>Hue section, I clicked once on Yellow and once on Red, and then under Midtones>Value, I clicked once on Lighter.

I liked that it's brighter, but there's not a lot of color variation and Reese and Finch are a bit too yellow-y brownish for my tastes. I decided to experiment some more...

I duplicated the base and brought it to the top and used that exact same Filter Pack setting on it, with the addition of upping the Saturation once under Midtones.

Okay, more color now but Reese and Finch also look a bit radioactive, so I lowered the opacity of that layer to 50% to combine the two Filter Pack(ed) layer colorings together...

Much better!

Time for textures!

This: set to Darken Only at 10%. This added a bit of color to the sky.
This: Lighten Only at 65%. (*shrug* I wanted to.)
This: set to Soft Light at 100%. This added more blue to the sky and darkened it even more.
This: set to Soft Light at 100%. This darkened the overall image and I liked the color tone.
This: set to Soft Light at 75%. This brought more blue back into the image.

I flattened the image, duplicated the base layer and went to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the blur radius on 4. I then set that layer on Soft Light at 35%. This added some contrast back into the image, and the slight blurring helped keep it from being over-sharp.

I then flattened the image again and sharpened it (Filters>Enhance>Sharpen), and used the Blur/Sharpen tool to selectively blur their faces.

As a final step, I decided that I wanted some more negative space at the top of the icon, so I scooched it down a little bit and smudged the sky up to get this...

That's all!

PM me if you have any questions!
Please do not copy exactly.

--- flambeau

Tutorial #120 - This: to this: using Gimp. Translatable.
Requested by Ithilwen.

Open and prep image/base. I was making a POI icon again, and for this one I was using a wide shot of Reese as he oh-so-epically walks away from the wrecked car in the Pilot episode. *rubs hands together gleefully* I began by resizing the image, scaling it, and then removing the car and the CBS logo because I found them distracting and I wanted the focus to be on just him.

*nods* I approve of this. Onward!

Like my previous tutorial, I had this icon saved as a project, but unlike my previous tutorial I really have no idea what coloring I did on my first step. I'm not even sure what coloring tool I used, although it was likely Color Balance or Levels but I didn't find a matching preset saved in either one so I really don't know.
The good news is that this step is probably not essential to the final product of your icon, and I'm not even sure why I did it on mine because I had completely undone it by the time I was finished. *shrug* At any rate, I shall bypass this coloring step and show you what I did afterwards.

After my unknown first step, I boosted the coloring by going to Colors>Hue Saturation and raising the Master Saturation to +50.

I added this: set to Multiply at 100%.
I then duplicated the base layer, brought it to the top, set it on Screen at 100% and then flattened my image.

The Screen layer brightened the image up, and the blue texture beneath it kept the sky from being completely washed out.

I wanted to add some more blue tones, so I opened up Colors>Levels...
Value: 0, 1, 250. | 10, 255.

I opened Colors>Brightness-Contrast: -15, +10.
I then boosted the coloring again by using Hue-Saturation and setting the Master Saturation on +10.
I sharpened the image a bit (Filters>Enhance>Sharpen).

I'm not sure why, but I did some Channel Mixer here because apparently I thought it needed to be even more vibrant.

I flattened my image and used the Blur/Sharpen tool to blur out any pixely spots that I didn't like in the sky. (Nit-picky icon maker, here!)

I added this: set to Soft Light at 65%. This darkened the top of the image.
I added this: set to Screen at 100%.

And I ended up with this:

That's all, folks.

PM me if you have any questions!
Please do not copy exactly.

----------------------------

Tutorial #121 - This: to this: recreating this: using Gimp. Translatable.
Requested by Ithilwen.

Open and prep image/base. My base was pretty dark, so I started out by brightening it up with some Curves...
Value: x: 51, y: 106. | x: 117, y: 228.

I added this: set to Soft Light at 100%.
I added this: set to Soft Light at 100%.

I flattened my image.

I opened up Colors>Levels and used one of my favorite presets to add a bit more of a bluish-red tone.
Value: 0, 1, 250. | 10, 255.

I added this: set to Soft Light at 100%, and then flattened my image.

I duplicated my base layer, went to Filters>Blur>Guassian Blur and blurred the duplicated layer with a blur radius of 5. I set the blurred layer on Soft Light at 25%.

I flattened my image and then sharpened it a bit as a final step.

That's all. It's not a perfect recreation, but it's pretty close.

(recreation)
(original)

PM me if you have any questions!
Please do not copy exactly.

--- flambeau

Tutorial #1 "Thrive" Daisy avatar by AslansChild
(Using GIMP)
Requested by Ithilwen

How to turn this:

Into this: (or this)

Please note that I've only just recently learned (thanks to Ithilwen ) about the ability in GIMP to view your history on past works. I didn't know that when I made this specific avatar, I simply made it to my liking and saved it as a ".png". Due to that fact, I do NOT in fact have the history for this particular avatar and had to try to re-create it. Because of this, it's not identical, but I feel it's fairly close. Also, all textures where taken from NW forums, I'm not sure who made all of them, if you'd like that person (or yourself) recognized, feel free to PM me the information and I'll add it in. Danke.

Now...on to the tutorial!

_____________________________________________________________________
First, open and prep image: crop, scale, etc. (After I did this, I went to Colors>Levels and made the "Value" Input levels : 5,1.00,243 . I also went to Colors>Brightness-Contrast and made it 0 Brightness and 10 Contrast. & I went to Colors>Hue-Saturation and made it 0,0,30.

Next, I added these layers (listed from bottom to top)

< Set to Overlay 100%
< Overlay 40%
< Overlay 100%
(Again, I know) and set it to Overlay 22%
< Overlay 100%
< Overlay 100%
< Overlay 76%
< Overlay 5%
< Overlay 5%

Then I take the "THRIVE" texture from this set (by flambeau):

And set the texture to Screen. Bring that layer to the top. I scaled it down a bit and put it right next to the daisy.Now, go to the base layer. With your Paintbrush Tool, and using the color "1d1313" paint "over" the "THRIVE" texture. I use the term "over" because since you're painting the bottom layer, it'll actually be under the "THRIVE" texture...I do this to simply fill in all the little white spots on the texture with color, to make the word stand out more.

THEN, I take this texture:

and set it to Lighten Only 100% This fills in all the dark areas of the avatar with the gray from the texture, rather than a heavy-er black. Flatten image and save.

And...you're done! As I said, it's not the original, but I feel it's pretty close. If you look at the lower left corner of the original, you can see it looks a wee bit darker on the edges. You can also see there's a more vibrant ray of colors on the upper right plank of wood above the "THRIVE".

Enjoy!
& Feel free to PM for any questions or requests.

AslansChild