Tutorial beneath the cut! I want to transform this account into more than just an art account - I love making aesthetics, roleplay icons, etc. So the first thing I’m going to upload is a tutorial on how to make a lot of icons really quickly using free software! I know not everyone has access to Photoshop, I figured I could help the community by offering a tutorial in how to batch icons using freeware. This will work together nicely with a few icon packs I’ll be releasing soon, including a Pokemon resource pack with hand-pixelled mini icons. I will be doing a more advanced Photoshop tutorial later on!
Step 1: Download BIMP
BIMP can be found here - https://alessandrofrancesconi.it/projects/bimp/
It is a batch processing plugin that you’ll need to install to get batch processing in GIMP. Thankfully, it comes with an installer, so all you need to do is run the installer!
Step 2: Crop screenshots and artwork for icons
Create a new image file that is the desired size of your icons. I use 100x100. Paste screenshots and artwork of your character into the frame, exporting each one as a .png with a different name. This is just how I would suggest doing it, however. If you have a preferred method of cropping icons, feel free to do it however you prefer. Just make sure the icons are square, or whichever shape you intend on using. Batch processing can resize them. Unfortunately, even with a program as powerful as Photoshop or GIMP, this is the tedious part.
Step 3: Create a template
Create a new canvas the size of your icons. This is going to be your template. Go ahead and paste one of your icons into it to test your adjustments. Add a new layer. This will be your border layer. I suggest making a border by selecting over the whole image and using the “stroke selection” option under “edit”
This brings up the option to add a stroke around the image. You can experiment with dots and dashes and full lines until you reach something you like.
I ended up adding a white screentone and changing the border to white.
Once you decide you like your border (go ahead and make it as fancy or as simple as you like!) you can hide the icon layer so you have just your border! BE SURE TO EXPORT IT AS A .PNG. The border works with transparency, so you NEED it to save it as a .PNG. .JPEG doesn’t support transparency.
It should look like this
I decided to save it as “watermark.png” but give it any name you’ll remember.
Step 4: Batch Process!
First of all, here’s where you can find the batch process option in GIMP. Go ahead and open that up.
You’ll see a screen that looks like this
Go ahead and add all your images under “input files and options.” This is especially easy if you saved them all to a folder, in which case you can add the whole folder. Under “Manipulation set” is where you will be adding all of your batch processing. First of all, add “Add a watermark”
Make sure to select “Image watermark” and select position to center. Then select the folder icon to find your border. This is your watermark! Go ahead and add any other adjustments you’d like to the manipulation set. You can make color corrections and convert your image to black and white or resize them from there. Be sure to save everything to a new folder within your icon folder for maximum efficiency in finding them!
Result!
I hope this helped anyone wanting to make icons but not knowing how to do so efficiently!
Unfortunately, GIMP doesn’t support adjustment layers or script recording, so you can’t batch process things as complicated as Photoshop can handle, but this is perfectly sufficient for the needs of most roleplayers!
