hi! i love your icons, i was wondering if you could do a tutorial on how you remove the backgrounds? the lil hair details you have is so good idk how to word it 😭🩷
thank you rachel i'm glad you like them 😊
removing the backgrounds is a pretty simple process, but depending on the shot you choose, it can take a bit more work. i'm a visual learner, and tend to over-explain, so there's a lot of images
make sure to sharpen your image first, but don't resize/crop, or at least not too much, i find it easier to work with a large canvas. also, add a solid fill layer underneath your image layers, set it to a bright colour, we'll use that later.
Option A
if you've a got a shot with good contrast between the character/hair/clothes and the background, we have the quick option
copy your image layer, we're gonna work with the top one first
the image already has good contrast, but to make step 4 easier, we're gonna add a brightness layer, crank the brightness way up, and add a little contrast. then i also added a curves layer and just played around with the lines till i felt the contrast was enough
as you can see, she's ugly. but that's okay cause we're gonna get rid of that colouring later
3. select the two adjustment layers, and any other adjustment you added, and also select the top copy of the image, the merge those layers layer/ merge layers (that is not your default merge layer shortcut, don't use it, i don't remember what it originally does)
4. take the magic wand tool, and with the now merged layer selected, choose "select subject" from the top toolbar
your image should now look like this, with the person outlined. if the outline isn't completely perfect don't worry about it right now
5. now select the bottom copy of the image, click create folder, and with the new folder selected click "add layer mask"
now delete the top merged copy, and you should be left with this
very dark
6. right click on the layer mask and select "disable layer mask" and you'll be left with the the original image.
7. you can now do all your base colouring for the icon. make sure the adjustment layers are inside the group you just made, so when you make your background underneath the group, your adjustment layers don't affect it.
colouring tips: toggle the layer mask on and off as you colour, because sometimes colouring that looks good in the scene doesn't look so good without the background. i tend to make the colouring brighter on icons than on gifs, so the character stands out more against the background.
now she looks pretty good, ready to be cropped and have a background added. but maybe the character outline wasn't perfect. the solid fill layer is to help see any errors in the outline. if there is we move on to step 4 of Option 2 and fix them
Option B
if the image you've chosen is darker or has little to no contrast, do steps 1-3 from option A first
4. add a blank layer mask to your merged layers (if you're coming from option A, use the layer mask you've already made) and select the paintbrush. for most of the image you'll want to use a brush between 20px and 50px, with a hardness of 50%. and now the not so fun part, paint over the background. toggle the layer mask off and on as needed to check what's background and what's character. make sure the layer mask is selected before you paint
painting tips:
-paint the outline first, then you can use a much large brush to quickly cover the rest of the background.
-move slowly, but smoothly.
-work in sections; don't try and paint the entire background with one mouse click, because if you mess up and use undo, you lose all the work.
-sometimes you should paint over parts of the character/clothes/hair to make it more cohesive. in the above image, the shirt juts out oddly on her left arm, and can pull focus without the original background, so i would paint over it to make it look more like her right arm
-for hair, use a smaller brush around any loose bits you want to keep. remember that the canvas you're working on is much larger than how the icon will appear when used, so you only need to paint over the parts where the background is very obvious. zoom out if necessary to see how it will look
5. when finished painting, right click on the layer mask and select "add mask to selection", then continue with step 5 of Option A. you can always adjust the layer mask after the final colouring if things don't look quite right.
and that's how you remove backgrounds for icons! probably made it seem more complicated than it is, but i'd rather tell you something you already know than assume you know it when you don't and leave you without crucial information. come back if you have any more questions
