#icon making tutorial

Photopea is a free alternative to Photoshop and GIMP. The program runs via their website so there is nothing to install !

I used to take a copy / pasted screencap from this:

To this:

Tutorial below !

Hey guys! In this lesson, we’ll be moving onto some slightly more complex options and steps you can take to make your icon a little more unique! If you aren’t sure what’s going on, please go read the first lesson! The link is below in the Table of Contents.

As always, things you will need:

Photoshop

Base icons without borders

Table of Contents:

First Lesson

Advanced Steps

Batch Icon Making

Now, let’s move onto your next lesson!

Step 1: Find an image you like and copy it

Step 2: Paste the image into whatever paint document you have. We’ll use basic Paint for this tutorial. Then, using the select button highlight the area you want as an icon.

Step 3: Reposition the icon to the corner. Then click somewhere else on the picture to save the positioning of the icon.

Step 4: Take the corner of the image and pull it up until you get to your icon, then stop.

Step 5: Resize the icon to whatever value you need it, until it’s at the right size. Not too big and not too small.

Step 6: If you want to watermark the icon with your URL, this is what you do. Choose the text and a place where to put your watermark. Then choose the color, font, and size of the watermark. Type your URL initials. Then the last step is to press save.

I could either make them for you if you provide me a source, or I'd be happy to teach you! 

Tutorial: Start!

First, I pick a photo of a character (for the sake of the tutorial, I'll be using this)

and then I upload it to sherv. It should then look like this:

you want to have the default "Display Picture/Avatar" setting checked. Then, just drag the box's handles and size it the way you want, saving it when you're finished, and wal-ah! You have an icon in the rough. 

After that, open the icon up in Photoshop (or something similar that has the same editing options). The first thing you'll need to do is sharpen the image, and you can do that by using the following steps or something slightly different, since I have an older version:

depending on the quality of the image, you may have to select "sharpen more" if "sharpen" doesn't cut it. (haha see the pun i made there) 

Your icon should then look a bit more defined, like mine (you can even compare the before/after). 

Before:

After:

Next, go to:

Make sort of a loose S-Shape with the grid, keeping it to the side so you can see how your icon will look and adjusting it accordingly. 

Now, your icon should look something like this: 

If you're happy with this result, then that's great! But if you'd like to continue further, then you might want to play around with more Image>Adjustment options, such as Saturation, Color, Brightness, and Contrast. I've done a few of these for an example of a more complex icon. 

In this finished product, I altered the Color Levels and Brightness/Contrast. If you'd like to add a bit more than that, you can even add lens flares, which add a nice touch (but only in certain cases, as a lens flare in this icon would look a little out of place, ie):