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hello everyone! someone sent me a message asking me to share how I make my icons so I’ve attempted to make a tutorial going through my steps and I hope it helps. remember, please reblog if you use and find this tutorial useful.

For this tutorial you will need:

Photoshop (I use PS 2021 for Mac but any PS will work)

Some basic knowledge of photoshop and the tools

that should be everything. I have included images/screenshots in the tutorial as well and you can read it below the cut.

i. screencaps/photos

So the first thing you need to create your icon is an image. Most of the icons I make are fandom icons and so I would need a screencap, but if you are making a celebrity icon then you can just use the image you want. I wouldn’t say there are any rules per say but I do generally stick to these suggestions:

Always use the highest quality picture possible. I generally create my own screencaps and I only ever use 1080p or 720p, but you can find some good quality screencaps here, here and here. If you are using a celebrity picture I recommend HQ appearances or photoshoots.

Try to pick an image that is easy to work with when it comes to cutting so no complicated hair styles, accessories etc. I always make sure the subject of the icon is in the foreground of the image and I try to make sure that no body parts are cut because then you can end up with a weird looking icon.

an example of a good image is:

an example of a bad image is:

with the alexis screencap you can see her full face and most of her body whereas with the mickey screencap a lot of his arm and head has been chopped off. you can see below how this effects the overall icon:

ii. cutting/removing the background

okay, so now that we have our screencap/image picked out then it is time to start removing the background. I personally like to remove the full background before I crop or resize my icon but I know a lot of people crop their image down first. Anyway, open up your screencap in photoshop.

Once I have opened up my screencap I duplicate the background image twice. Then I delete the initial background layer and make layer two invisible. Layer two is just a backup layer in case something goes wrong with my main layer.

Now onto the cutting. There are several ways to cut the background off an image and I know people have their preferred ways so if you find another way easier then please feel free to use that way. For me, I like to use the Quick Selection Tool

The settings for my quick selection are as below:

I normally do my cutting in two stages, doing one half of the image first and then the other half. So using the quick selection I draw around the body of the person I am making the icon of. I normally have to zoom in and out of the image and use both the + and the - to adjust the selection and make sure I am not chopping of chunks of the person but eventually I should have a selection like this:

I then cut the part of the selection to remove the background and then repeat the process with the other half of the image. You should be left with just the subject and no background:

Now that I have removed the background, it is time to start cropping my image. I like to make my icons 250x250 as they can then be used on more platforms. However you can make them whatever size you want, the tumblr recommended size is 128x128. When making my icons I like to try and get enough of the subject but also leaving space so you can see the background. I normally crop just above or below the waist as I find this is the perfect place to crop. As you can see below.

Once I have cropped my image into the square I then resize the image so it is 250x250 and then it’s time to finally start the fun stuff.

iii. colouring and adding a background

This is definitely my favourite part of making an icon. I always enjoy making the colouring and thinking about backgrounds etc.

So when it comes to colouring I always start with some brightness but not too much brightness as I don’t want the icon looking too exposed. I always start with a curves layer as that is my favourite way to brighten up an image and I love working with curves and adjusting them to fit the image. Along with curves, I also like to add some brightness and contrast as I like to make my icons as bright and vibrant as possible. I don’t normally use levels, I have never really got a good grasp on using levels properly so I avoid them if I can. When adding brightness to your icon there are some key things to remember:

Do not use too many brightness layers. it is nice to have a bright vibrant icon but do not overdo it as the icon will end up looking to overexposed. it always depends on the subject(s) of the icon and also the initial brightness of the icon. for example I often find I don’t need to add as many brightness levels when i’m working with a sitcom screencap compared to a drama show.

Always make sure you never whitewash any person of colour in your icon. Brightness layers can be great but they can also make someone look very pale which we do not want to do. The simple way to ensure you don’t whitewash is to use layer masks, that way you can adjust the brightness of clothing etc. and erase the brightness from the persons skin.

Once you have finished adjusting the brightness we can move onto the colours. I like to try and make my icons have a slight pink/red/yellow tint to the people. To make these adjustments I tend to stick with selective colour, vibrance and colour balance.

Here is what my icon and layers looks like now that I have added the colouring:

Once I am happy with the colouring and how my icon looks, I merge all the layers together and then I sharpen my icon. These are the sharpen settings I use for my icons, nice and simple:

Now, it’s time to think about my background.

When I am making icons I usually make the same icon with three different colours. I try to think about the background colours that will look good with the screencap so I try to match it up with elements like clothing, hair etc. For this icon the first colour I am going to use is yellow.

With my background I always like to make it a gradient, I think it adds some dimension to the icon and makes it look really good.

The first thing I am going to do is pick a yellow foreground colour while leaving the background colour white:

Once I have picked my foreground colour, I go to layer > new fill layer > gradient and click ok. I then proceed to make my gradient using the yellow foreground and then a lighter version of the foreground:

and there we go, that is my basic background colour. To change things up a little I sometimes change the direction of the gradient so instead of top to bottom it might go left to right like this:

or I might make it a radial gradient. If I am using a radial gradient I always make sure the lighter colour is in the centre and then I normally make the scale bigger so it’s a softer more subtle gradient like this:

this was achieved by upping the scale to 155.

now you can either stop there or you can add another level. for me when I am sharing icons I have made for a pack, I try to make three different designs and that is when the next part comes in.

iv. textures and doodles

for me, I love textures on an icon as I think it gives it a little something else. I use all sorts of textures and have spent a long time collecting them over the years. some good places to find textures are:

@peytonsawyers

@argetnallison

@hisources

@allresources

deviantart

unsplash

I like all sorts of textures for my icons, but I mainly use nature, grunge or paint textures as they always look nice in the background. From my experience I find black and white textures work best when it comes to getting them to settle into the gradient as I don’t like the texture to stand out too much and it also means I don’t have to look into adjusting layers etc so that it fits with the background colour. So if the texture I like is colour, I then simply put a black and white gradient over the top.

Once I have picked out the texture I like, I paste it onto my background and then adjust the blending mode and opacity. I normally go for soft light but it all depends on the icon and the texture. With icons that have a lighter background you might need to adjust the blending mode, and it can also depend on the b&w ratio on the texture. Here you can see the difference just the background can make, the texture is set to soft light with 100% opacity in both yet the texture is more prominent in the second icon.

Alongside textures, I also like to use doodles just as an added little design feature so the icons look different. I don’t really like huge doodles, just small simple ones that fill up some space on icons, doodles such as crowns, hearts etc.

I normally just use doodle brushes set to white, and I’ve found these by simply searching for them around tumblr and deviantart. I’m pretty sure the resources blogs listed above also have doodles.

and that is it. my tutorial is officially done. I hope it covers everything and helps you with your own icons. It is pretty long and has a lot of detail so feel free to send me a message if you have anymore questions.

and finally, please remember too reblog if you found this useful. it would be really appreciated.

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