GRADIENT TEXT TUTORIAL WITH 3+ COLOURS + MOBILE SUPPORT
Hi!! I know a lot of people have been struggling with adding gradient text to captions with more than two colours and getting it to show on mobile so I made an image heavy tutorial for that! Everything is under cut!
this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, and these tutorials works better if you edit your gifs from scratch, no base psds, etc
all the “hthaigtct” tutorials here
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want! gif settings are there and about sharpening, check this out
i’ll use an action to speed up the process because i’ve been making gifs for a long time, and i am lazy, so it will not be a detailed step by step tutorial, but the action will make your life easier i’m sure
my coloring tutorials:
two parts tutorial
hthaigtct tutorials, small ones from scratch no base psd
useful links:
download the action
download the psd
crop sizes (new dimensions)
text settings
save for web & devices (gif settings)
my ko-fi <3
notes:
i’m using photoshop cs5 and this action works better on this one. but if you’re using cs6+ you can use this action, won’t have the second settings i use for low quality videos but follows the same steps as mine and have lots of versions you can pick
i’m using kmplayer to take my screens, but if you use any other program the result is the same, but you’ll have to look for the best settings
this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, and these tutorials works better if you edit your gifs from scratch, no base psds, etc
all the “hthaigtct” tutorials here
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want! gif settings are there and about sharpening, check this out
this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, and these tutorials works better if you edit your gifs from scratch, no base psds, etc
all the “hthaigtct” tutorials here
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want! gif sharpen and gif settings are also there
this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, and these tutorials works better if you edit your gifs from scratch, no base psds, etc
all the “hthaigtct” tutorials here
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want! gif sharpen and gif settings are also there
this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, and these tutorials works better if you edit your gifs from scratch, no base psds, etc
all the “hthaigtct” tutorials here
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want! gif sharpen and gif settings are also there
changed one or two things about how i color my gifs, as always, so here it is another tutorial. but this is meant to be quicker and with fewer layers, so let’s do it!
references & download
i mentioned other tutorials that does pretty much what i’ll do it here on my previous complete coloring tutorial in two parts, check out here if you want!
gif sharpen and gif settings also in the previous tutorial link
hiya anon! thanks for the question!! this is probably longer than it needs to be so it’s going under a cut
choosing an image
so to start, pick the image you want to use! the higher quality the better and if the lighting is really dark it may be hard to work with. and just for personal preference, i like to have both shoulders clearly visible (and sometimes the tops of heads are cut off. i try to avoid those too)
this is the one i’m choosing! as you can see, it’s pretty well lit and there’s plenty of room around margret. also she’s making a cute expression which i always think makes icons more fun!
base coloring
i like to apply the “lighting” before cutting it out. the first thing i do is increase the blacks using a selective color layer, these are my settings:
then, to brighten it up i add some curves like so:
i follow that with some levels. and as you can see, because the blacks were added earlier, i only touch the mid-tones which i move to the left to brighten the whole thing:
then more brightness and some contrast:
and a bit of exposure:
right now your layers should look like this
and this is how my image looks now:
as you can see, it’s much brighter so we’re gonna start adding the colors. to start, i add some vibrance:
then you’re going to go all the way to the bottom and right above that first selective color layer add a color balance. the layers should look like this now:
i usually adjust mid-tones, highlights, and shadows. these are my settings here:
the most important part of color balance is to make sure the skin tone looks good. this is how mine looks so far:
now go back to the top of your layers and create a new selective color layer. this will be used to change the neutrals, whites, and blacks which will work to even out some of the colors as well as create more contrast. these are my settings: (note: make sure you have relative and not absolute clicked)
if you are working with characters of color be very careful when making the follow selective color adjustment. use the neutrals very limitedly or not at all. while they work nicely on white characters they can wash out the skin of darker skinned characters. if you have questions about how i adjust my settings for characters of color, please let me know. whitewashing is very easy to do on accident and i work hard to try and ensure that i don’t do it. (also if someone notices me whitewashing characters in anything i make, please let me know so i can make sure to not do it going forward.)
next create a second selective color layer. this one will be used to brighten the reds and yellows and add more color to margret’s skin. these are the settings i used:
then i’m going to add a second color balance, this time only mid-tones and highlights. you can skip this tbh it doesn’t do much but i think it adds a little bit more flush to her skin.
next is gonna be some hue and saturation to add color and brighten up the skin. these are my settings:
and now one final selective color. again, be careful here when dealing with characters of color and make sure you don’t lighten the skin.
for organizational purposes, i like to now stick all of these layers in a folder.
this is what the screencap looks like with the finished lighting:
cutting out the character
start by putting a bright solid color fill layer underneath your screencap. this will make it easier to see what you’re doing later on
i like to use the pen tool to do this but i’m not really going to go over that because then we’ll never be done with this. if you need help with that, don’t hesitate to message me!
first things first, i’m gonna crop it into a square so i can get a sense of how it’s gonna be framed. this is how i chose to do mine, as you can see there’s a space at the top where i extend past the original image but that’s okay
then i’m gonna use the pen tool to select the outline of margret and right click the selection and click on make selection
there should now be the “dancing ants around your selection”. click on the white box with the circle in it to make a mask on the screencap layer. it looks like this:
after doing so this is what your screencap should look like:
and the layers should look like, with the white part being the outline of your character:
if you hold option/alt and click on the clipping mask thumbnail it should switch to the black and white view of the mask. select all and copy/paste it into the lighting folder above it. then create a new folder and paste it there as well. this is what your layers should look like now, with the topmost folder being empty still:
coloring
now select a solid color layer and set it inside the topmost folder. pick a color for the hair. because margret is blonde, i’m choosing a yellowish color. #ecd495 in this case. set the layer to color and erase everything but the hair. it should look something like this now, so only the hair has been painted over:
now duplicate the color layer and set it to overlay. adjust the opacity settings for both as you like it. here i set them to 70% but it’s relative and depends on your personal preference.
do the same for the shirt and the lips/cheeks if you want and any other things like hats or jewelry that may be included. here i have the shirt as #408e11 on 100% and the lips at #ec3379 on 50%. this is what it looks like:
note: unless changing the color of the shirt, i usually only put the color layer on the hair. and never on the face at all.
the coloring is now done!!
background
at this point, it’s almost done! what i’m going to do now is make a new layer under the screencap but above the solid color layer and i’m going to create a gradient. i usually want the gradient to be the same color as the clothing so i use the eyedropper tool to pick a color from her shirt.
a rule of thumb when creating the gradient background, the lighter color should start at the side of the image that has the light source (in the case of my image, this is the left). here’s what mine looks like so far:
sizing
it’s almost done! except it’s really big. i usually make my icons 250x250, so we have to resize it.
you could stop it here but i like to sharpen it a bit first. to do this i first want to merge all my layers together. you can do this by selecting every layer together and right clicking. there should be an option that says merge.
this should now be all you see in layers:
i have two layers of sharpen. this is the first:
and the second:
and ta da!! all done! i hope this wasn’t too long/confusing! if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask, i’ll do my best to answer and i promise it won’t be disturbing me! ♡
this is it unsharpened:
and sharpened:
it’s entirely up to you what to do with this but i like sharpening it bc i think it looks better when small!
hello! i’ve been asked by genuinely surprising number of people to walk through how i gif, so here i am with something that’s less a tutorial and more a collection of tips, tricks, and useful links. i hope it helps! ✨