Sooo here I am! I actually made it! Hehe I was starting to get worried I’d never reopen splatterheart… but no you can’t keep me down! I am relentless~

So here are the fruits of my revamp. A nice layout! Whoaa! And lookie it runs on wordpress! Cutenews no more! Every page should work, but do not hesitate to tell me if you find any errors. As for actual additions I have quite a few avatars and avatar bases. Yeah I know it’s lame that I don’t have anything big like a new design on the reopen, but I’ve been pretty pushed lately. There’s also a new drawings section which I would love for everyone to look at. I’m going to ease in this becoming more portfolio less resource thing as I make my new content.

Let’s see as you can probably tell the new layout is Samurai Champloo. I designed it over 3 months ago but it took me 2 to code so yeah… I’ve been swamped and learning wordpress quirks slowed the process down. I think the finish is quite nice though and my personality really shines through this time. It’s bright, fun and unique.

Well I suppose that doesn’t leave me with much more to say, although I do appologize to my affiliates for being closed for so long. I hope they didn’t delete me… =/

Anyway with that said, here is the avatar teaser~

And an avatar base teaser!

: D <3

Hello dudes and dudettes! And welcome to my second icon tutorial! Today we’re going to learn how to make one of my favorite icons to date isn’t it beautiful? : D So anyway perk up and stay awake so we can get started.

Ok first I open the file with my icon base – - -> you can copy and paste it if you’d like. I believe I got this from Frozen Wings Designs but I couldn’t be sure. I think it’s beautiful, though you don’t have to use it. Use any base you want, or you can shrink a stock image down to 100px if you do not have a base (but please remember that it should go well with the color red for the tutorials sake.)

But anyway, moving on now… I right click my image layer and select “duplicate layer” than I go to my filters menu and select blur— > Gaussian Blur. Play around with the radius here. Your image should be quite a bit blurry but, as a general rule, you should be able to still see the outline of the characters eyes. My radius usually is between 0.9 and 1.5px. When you’re done select “ok”, then go to you’re layer menu (the one that’s right beside opacity) and select “overlay”. However, if that doesn’t look right, color burn or screen could be substituted.

****NOTE****
I’m not going to greatly in depth with this step because A) most people know how to do it… and B) I already gave an in depth explanation in Icon Tutorial I. If you’re totally lost, you should go read tutorial I.

Okay now we get to the texturing. With icon bases, what textures you use can make or break an icon. That said, I’m using this one from celestial star’s “colors” set – - -> I set it to overlay, which is done the same way we did the blur layer.

Next, I take this texture, again from Celestial Star, and set it to lighten. But this time I do something different. I’m going to erase the part that covers her face. But I WILL NOT use the eraser tool! Nope instead I will use the lasso tool and feather it by 15px. See below and I’ll show you how it’s done.

Click to see how you feather textures with the lasso tool!

Got that? Good! Now I will use an icon texture from Hybrid Genesis. Now HG has some awesome free resources but I will note something about their icon textures to those who have never used them. They’re HUGE for icon textures. This gives them two advantages, but one disadvantage. The pros are that you can move them around to get the lighting you want and they’re suitable for larger icon sizes, such as 120 x 120px. The one disadvantage is that you can’t be two places on the texture at once. So if you want two opposite points on the 200 x 200 texture to show on your 100 x 100 icon, you may need to shrink the texture or duplicate layers and blend. But anyway, I’ll save that for another tutorial. Here’s the texture:

center it how you wish and, if you’re like me you can set it to Lighter Color like I did. I also repeated the last step and erased some of the texture that was covering her face using the lasso tool set on 15px feather.

So the next thing we do is… yep MOAR TEXTURES!! Well, this is the last one. This one is also from Hybrid Genesis. *-icon texture IV-* All I do is center it how I want and set it to overlay. You should now have something like the sample below.

Now you might call that finished and if you prefer no text, swirls, or fancy borders than do not continue. But if you want to match my icon, then read on my friend! Ok so choose your text and a font you want. I have chosen to write “Flamboyant” on my icon because it’s a cool word and it fits with the hot colors I’m using. You may write whatever you please. I’ve chosen a font named “Plantagenet Cherokee” 11pt, sharp, and the color white. But the problem is, it doesn’t show in all places making it hard to read. So I’ll have to add an outline. To do this I right click my text layer and go to “Blending options…” I on the left side you should see a list. The last one on that list should say “stroke”. Check the box and than CLICK THE WORD. You’ll be taken to a menu as illustrated below. You’re preview will have a huge ugly red outline around it. Below I demonstrate how to change it as desired.

Click to learn how to use the stroke tool effectively!

I’m almost finished. I add some white low opacity text mesh brushes that I got from Aethereality.net and a dot like sub text brush I got from Ashikiyoko.net. Then, in another layer above my brush layer, I stamp on a really cool swirly boarder I got from Hybrid Genesis and call it a day. : )

I hope you found that helpful! If you did link back to us at http://splatterheart.skyefairy.net and show your support! Thank you!

Also: be absolutely sure to visit the credits page for the links to the websites where I got everything used in this tutorial! This icon would not be possible with out their resources!!

Hello one and all! Welcome to Jessi’s first icon tutorial! This tutorial will show you how to master the art of icon making Jessi style. Of coarse, this isn’t the only way I make icons. Just one of many, and namely, the one my friend Kyo asked about. :P This tutorial uses Photoshop CS3 but lower versions should work fine. A note before I begin: PLEASE DO NOT RIP MY STYLE. This should give you ideas about what tools to use and what makes an icon look good, but don’t make the same icon, and call it yours. Add a bit of you too it as well. That will make it better, trust me! Also, do not redistribute this tutorial, and if you’re a webmaster who found this helpful, please link Splatterheart on you’re credits page. : ) Another note: If you see an on-screen keyboard in the demonstrations, ignore it. I can’t find the Print Screen key on my laptop. >__>; With that, let us begin!

Ok first find an avatar base you would like to use. A base please, not a render/png. If you can’t find one, try animeartbooks.com, eccentric.soulchange.com, or poisonrace.awardspace.com all great places to find bases. (yay, rhyme!) I’m using one from Poison Race’s Kingdom Hearts II set. When you find one, save it and open it in photoshop. For the purpose of this tutorial, make sure the image is 100 x 100 pixels.

Ok first I upgrade the background layer, to layer 0 (assuming you opened the actual file in PS and did not copy and paste it from another file, if you did, this will not be necessary). And then I duplicate it you can do this by right clicking the layer with your mouse and selecting “duplicate layer”. It will ask you if you want to name your layer. Name it whatever you want, I’m naming mine layer 0 copy (which should be your default name if you’ve been following thus far.) When you’re done, everything should look something like the image below.

Click to see the first sample!

Next, go to filter — > blur — > Gaussian Blur. MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON THE COPIED LAYER. Now go to the drop down menu above the layers menu and select “overlay”. You’re image should look light, pretty and be exceptionally brighter. The use of overlay is relative though. Sometimes I use screen, lighten, or color burn. It depends on the image and the feel I want to achieve. But for now, let’s stick with overlay. If your image looks to bright, adjust the opacity or switch to color burn. I’m leaving mine at overlay at 100% opacity, and 100% fill because I believe it looks best this way. If you did that, you should have something like the image below.

Here’s sample B. ;) I hope you’re clicking these things, because some important info is kept on these images!

Ok next, I use an icon texture I got from Celestial-Star.net. It’s a very flexible texture and can be used on almost any icon. If you don’t like pink, don’t worry about it because we will change the color later. For now I set it on overlay with an opacity of 73% and a fill of 68%. But I strongly recommend playing around with different settings, opacity and fill levels to see what works best with the base you choose. Below are the texture I used and what my avatar currently looks like.

Here’s our next example. ;) Read and study well!

Now more texturing. Use very smooth and colorful textures for this step. I have used some more textures from celestial star. They are from the “peachy” and “colors” sets. You can find them below, but if you use them, credit CS. I set texture II to lighten, with an opacity of 60% and a fill of 87%. Again I stress that this exact formula may not work for your image. I set texture III to soft light, opacity 95%, fill 91%. And lastly texture IV is adjusted to darken, opacity 88% and fill 90%.

The next sample will show the result of our texturing! ^-^

Next I change the colors by using the selective color tool. This is my favorite part, because I get to breathe life into my image. This may not be right for all icons, but it’s something you want to at least try with everyone you make. So go one to Layer— > New Adjustment Layer— > and Selective Color. I won’t tell you the number values I used for each color, but I will tell you to try and adjust each one. The reds, the blues, magentas, whites, blacks, and neutrals had the most effect on my icon. Below, you’ll see that I’ve turned my icon from a reddish pink to a lavender color. Toy with selective color until you achieve something close to your mental vision!

Keep on going! You’re almost done. Click this sample to view my progress and learn some tips on selective color!

Now for the text, which is my second favorite part. First off think of something catchy that fit’s the feel of the image. And then choose a color and a font that is visible and matches the icon. I have chosen Perpetua, size 12px, in italics. You may choose whatever floats your boat. But the real trick to my icon text is that I space it by 200. I’m not sure what “200” is. It could be pixels, pt, or pickles. I’m not sure, but I demonstrate how to space the lettering below.

Click to learn how to space your text!

Ok if you get all of that great! Also, for those who did not read the image, I am strongly against using text in the corner of icons. Attention should be focused toward the figure, not to the negative space in the corner. It also makes you look like you’re not creative with text. This doesn’t mean place it on top of the character, it just means you should put it in a unique place so that the eyes are drawn to the character, if you catch my drift.

Now I’ll move on to the sub text or “tiny text” as some call it. Now, some people make there text size 2 and type random crap, but I prefer not to do that. Instead, I shall use a brush I believe I downloaded from Aetherreality.net. If I’m wrong, do correct me. I make it the same color as my text and sharpen it. Then I lower the opacity. Note, that I DID put it in a new layer. There’s no point in illustrating this so I’ll move on to the boarder.

For the boarder I make a layer underneath my text layers. I change my foreground color to white and slap on a brush from hybrid-genesis.com. They have lot’s of great brushes there so thank them! The finished icon is below!

{ Downloads}

{ Downloads}