icon blog!!

cleaning caps

having clean/hq caps is important! but not always readily available, so when i do have low quality caps i just clean them very quick and simply. if you already have a clean image GR8 SKIP TO MAKING THE ICON. 

step 1! paste and or open your raw in photoshop. some people crop right here, but since the majority of times i'm working with djs i just do the whole image and crop multiple times later, less work. 

we'll start with this image! pretty low quality, and i totally recommend starting with a clean image but if this is all you have, then: 

it looks pretty dingy, so in general i want to make it as crisp as possible. to do this, i simply right click on the layer → duplicate layer → set the duplicate layer to screen. 

it now looks like this. i want the black to be darker and for the contrast to amp up, so i duplicate the base layer again → drag the second duplicate above the screen layer, and then → set to soft light. 

it still could use a bit of help in my opinion, so i do the following:

layer → new adjustment layer → brightness/contrast. these are my settings.

brightness 24 | contrast 36. remember that you can fiddle around with this! you can also go back and change the opacity of the previous layers, see what works out for you since all raws/scans are different quality. 

finally, i'm still wanting it to be a bit darker with the black, so i add a levels layer. 

layer → new adjustment layer → levels. 

these is what i chose for my settings. 

i simply change the middle value ( you can do so by sliding the middle triangle back and forth, or changing the center middle number). like i said, fiddle to see what works best for your cap!

and cleaning done! here is the psd and here is the action.

make the icon. 

as a side note: i really really recommend making an action for an icon if you're going to do a set from the same source. it's simpler, keeps things uniform and you'll save so much time and effort.

if you want to skip that, just ignore whenever i tell you to use an action or mention it. 

even if you're not happy with how it looks once the action runs through on a certain image, you can always just go back to the layers and fiddle around with it to make it work. 

as another side note: when i personally crop, i use the selection tool rather than the crop tool. simply select → copy → new image → paste. i'm probably a dumb but i do feel like i can more accurately crop/see what i'm doing. the crop tool does show you the rule of thirds or the golden ratio, though! just do whatever's most comfortable for you. 

making the icon!

crop your image into a square, it doesn't have to be 100x100 pixels just yet. here's mine from above:

i did do a slight brightening layer then merged all, because like i said before! fiddle to see what you think is most aesthetically pleasing. 

once you have your square image, simply do the following. 

layer → new fill layer → solid color. pick a light color. my icons personally use #f1f1f1. since i have found that grey to be slightly different from white but not so very white. 

once you have done this, simply set that layer to multiply over your base. it now looks like this: 

next! layer → new fill layer → solid color. pick a dark color. my icons personally use #141414. this is simply so the black isn't as harsh as it can be with any icon. it now looks like this:

next! layer → new fill layer → gradient. click on the gradient and then choose the third one ( black and white ).

you change the style from the default linear to radial and then check on the reverse box. here are what my settings look like:

once you do this, it should look like this on your screen:

of course, you could try to get this effect with the brush tool or simply copy and paste the above image into your photoshop, but if you're doing an action i feel like this is the best and most uniform way. you can also use the gradient tool in different ways. fiddle with it, seriously. if you change the scale and angle it'll change where the gradient is located. 

set the gradient fill layer to → screen. remember that there are a lot of different gradient options, you could use this part to add a splash of color or whatever you want. because this gradient is white, though, i choose screen. for color you might want multiply or whatever you think looks best. 

i then change the opacity or fill to something i feel i'm comfortable with. my fill is at 41%. here is how my layers look:

and finally: image → image size → your preferred icon size.  I choose 100x100 pixels. some people prefer 120x120 px or 150x150 px.

and we're done! this is what it looks like. remember that  your icons will always look nicer with high quality caps. 

if you are making an action, you may want to go ahead and merge your layers before you stop recording. that way when you press play and have your icon, when you go to save it'll automatically save to .png rather than .psd and you having to choose png. 

here is the psd and here is the action. 

and here are some more icons simply cropped and with pressing play on the same action: