good_tutorial — LiveJournal

19 March 2013 @ 02:53 pm

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4
Involves: No tools whatsoever - it's all about looking at text and composition
Translatable: Yes
Steps: Zero
Difficulty: Basic

Janie's Guide to Text - Part One

Hello everyone, welcome to my ~~guide to~~ monologue on text. Part One.

In my Guide to Negative Space, I mention that negative space is my favourite thing about icon making. But I'm happiest when my negative space lends itself to text use.

In this guide I will be talking about how I use text. I will talk about composition, making text fit with its background and, of course, my favourite fonts. The first part of this guide has to do with the ways of looking at text. How can we use it? In a later part, I will also spend time on how to make what you have in your head happen and share my favourite fonts with you. If this is something you are interested in, come on in!

Questions? Concerns? Thoughts? I'd love to hear them! :)

Tags: graphic program: all programs, guide: how to use text, tutorial includes: text

9 comments | Leave a comment

firstillusion

10 February 2013 @ 11:39 am

Basic guide to negative space

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4 (for Mac)
Involves: scale tool, smudge tool, clone tool
Translatable: it's mostly a guide that deals with composition, so yes
Steps: -
Difficulty: I'm not explaining the basic basics of how to crop an image etc., so Medium to be safe. :)

This is a reworked version of a guide I posted to

illusoir_icons after I had gotten questions about how I create my negative space icons. In this post, I talk about choosing your image, my take on the composition of negative space icons, and four different ways to create negative space when there is none. I use lots of example icons, so maybe there's a bit of inspiration as well?

So there you have it. I have no idea if that was helpful to anyone, but I suppose that's everything I have to say on the matter. Well, not really, because I could talk about this for hours, so if you want to discuss something negative space-related with me, please just leave a comment!

Questions? Concerns? Thoughts? I'd love to hear them! :)

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for graphic making, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: text, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: clone stamp tool, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial: extend background, tutorial: negative space

27 comments | Leave a comment

tinebrella

06 September 2012 @ 12:42 pm

How to soften things up

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: Curves, Blur tool, texture use, blobs, Blending Modes, Smudge tool, Filters.
Translatable: I think so.
Steps: ~13
Difficulty: Medium

I know, my icons don't look very soft - I prefer a bold contrast and a vivid coloring, not to mention a sharp quality that is probably the opposite of softness... but nevermind.
I know the theory. Sort of.
I didn't want things to sound too abstract, so I made an icon using all the techniques I know of and use to soften things up.
We're going from:

to:

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: brushes, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: filters, tutorial involves: smudge tool

3 comments | Leave a comment

kibethsbark

22 July 2012 @ 02:38 pm

Tips and Tricks for Black and White Icons

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: Curves, levels, brightness/contrast, textures.
Translatable: The concepts should be translatable to any program with curves, levels, and/or brightness and contrast adjustment layers.
Steps: It's a guide.
Difficulty: Easy.

This is a quick guide on how I do black and white icons. I talk a little bit about cap selection (the whys and hows of the caps I pick), my general process for black and white icons, what textures I tend towards when I'm doing a b&w icon, and some random tips and tricks/notes. This is by no means a complete guide, and there's definitely not a 'right' way to do B&W icons (this is just how I happen to think about it).

If you have any questions, please let me know! I'd be more than happy to answer them. :)

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for coloring, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: gradient map, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial: black and white

5 comments | Leave a comment

justmyb0nes

29 April 2012 @ 04:54 pm

Tips & Tricks for Black and White

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5 and CS6
Involves: gradient, color balance, exposure, brightness/contrast, textures, paint brush
Translatable: I don't know
Steps: /
Difficulty: medium

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for graphic making, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: brushes, tutorial includes: gradients, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: exposure, tutorial involves: gradient map, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial: black and white

Current Mood: numb

numb

4 comments | Leave a comment

firstillusion

08 January 2012 @ 10:13 am

Soft and glowing effect using gradients

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4 (for Mac)
Involves: Blending modes, gradients, curves, brightness/contrast, selective colouring, vibrance
Translatable: Partly.
Steps: 12
Difficulty: Medium, because I'm going to assume you already know your way around most of your programme.

Both

ohgollygeedamn and

likealight asked me about this colouring at the Ask the Maker Meme 2.0, so here it is!

With Photoshop CS4, we'll be doing this:

-->

&

Questions? Concerns? Thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

Tags: graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: gradients, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial involves: vibrance, tutorial: coloring

27 comments | Leave a comment

taxcha

30 October 2011 @ 12:09 pm

Multiple Animations in One Image

Program/Version : Photoshop CS4
Involves : Adding text to animated GIF
Difficulty : Moderate to Difficult (basic GIF making and Photoshop skill required)
Translatable : To Photoshop CS3 & CS5, yes
Steps : 5 (not including making GIF from scratch)

*I posted this at

icon_tutorial about 2 months ago, so I'm sorry if you've seen this before. But this one is improved version :)

Tags: animation tutorial: photoshop cs3, animation tutorial: photoshop cs4, animation tutorial: photoshop cs5, graphic type: animation/mini movie, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: text

5 comments | Leave a comment

liquidlights

30 June 2011 @ 04:25 pm

GIF TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNERS

Program(s): VLC Player (not required), PhotoShop CS4
Involves: Screen-capping and making and editing animated gifs
Translatable: Only from PS CS3 - PS CS5 i'm pretty sure.
Steps: 5-6. All steps are lengthy and discussed in detail. I have a more detailed list of what the tutorial will cover underneath.
Difficulty: (Hopefully) Easy to Medium. As long as you have the patience to read. I wrote this for beginners so I don't skimp on the detail.

Tags: animation tut: change file size ps cs3, animation tut: change file size ps cs4, animation tut: change file size ps cs5, animation tutorial: photoshop cs3, animation tutorial: photoshop cs4, animation tutorial: photoshop cs5, graphic program: photoshop cs3, graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: animation/mini movie, image type: screencaps, screen-capping, screen-capping program: vlc player

10 comments | Leave a comment

lil_art

14 June 2011 @ 03:23 pm

Using layer masks in Photoshop: a basic guide

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: Layer masks, lasso tool
Translatable: should work in all programs/versions that have layers and allow to create layer masks
Steps: about 6 for the example, the rest is a guide more than a step-by-step tutorial
Difficulty: Beginner

A little guide on how to do layer masks and an example on how to change the background of an image using them.

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: banner/header, guide: how to use layer masks, guide: how to use the lasso tool, tutorial involves: lasso tool, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial: remove background/object

26 comments | Leave a comment

firstillusion

12 June 2011 @ 04:43 pm

Icon tutorial: colour enhancement in 7 easy steps

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4
Involves: Auto Contrast, Curves, Smudge tool, brush work, texture use, Vibrance
Translatable: Not entirely, because it involves Variations. But you can work around them with Hue/Saturation.
Steps: 7
Difficulty: Easy, trust me

With Photoshop CS4, we'll be re-creating this icon:

>

shrimpy_19 and

ofraindrops asked me about this icon and I happen to love it - so here's a tutorial and an explanation of my thought process, as requested by

absolutelybatty.

I'm warning you: it's rather long. ;)

I hope this was helpful to any of you. As always, if you have a questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic type: icon, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: brushes, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: auto contrast, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial involves: vibrance, tutorial: coloring, tutorial: extend background

12 comments | Leave a comment

aida_rose

12 June 2011 @ 02:45 pm

MOD POST - "nominate" awesome tutorials/guides!

Hi

good_tutorial!

I guess you have all noticed that things have been very quite here lately, sadly not many people write actual tutorials these days. With this in mind I thought it was time to find a way to remedy this and bring some new blood into the community so to speak.

Now I want you to comment to this post with tutorials/guides you think would be a great addition to this community. Please make sure you check out the members list in the community profile page to see who's already members here. Also please make sure the tutorials you "nominate" follow the spirit of

good_tutorial, tutorials with explanations, not just lists of numbers or .PSD files.

I will then try to contact the makers you "nominate" and see if they would like to join here and share their tutorial(s).

You can post/"nominate" as many tutorials as you like :)

Comments will be screened.

Tags: !mod post

3 comments | Leave a comment

imaginary_lives

05 June 2011 @ 03:56 pm

icon q&a post: coloring, cropping, general

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: coloring, cropping, certain tools to achieve both of those
Translatable: for all Photoshop CS versions. Some settings in certain tools might not be translatable for other graphic software.
Steps: No steps, just general information
Difficulty: Easy (but with basic knowledge of Photoshop)

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, guide: how to crop and/or resize, image type: screencaps, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: hue/saturation, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial: coloring

10 comments | Leave a comment

liquidlights

12 May 2011 @ 10:00 pm

Cutting Out Images Tutorial

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4.
Involves: Different techniques for cutting things out and making selections.
Translatable: Should translate to all CS versions of PhotoShop.
Steps: 3-5 for each tool.
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic type: banner/header, guide: basic tips for graphic making, guide: how to use layer masks, guide: how to use the eraser tool, guide: how to use the lasso tool, guide: how to use the pen tool, image type: screencaps, tutorial involves: eraser tool, tutorial involves: lasso tool, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial involves: pen tool, tutorial: borders/edges/outlines, tutorial: remove background/object

18 comments | Leave a comment

enchantedteacup

28 March 2011 @ 06:24 pm

Coloring and blending tutorial

How to go from this and this to

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS3 (but most likely works with PS 7 and above too)
Involves: Curves, color balance, levels, layer masks, textures
Translatable: Mostly translatable; has a few selective coloring steps that are completely skippable
Steps: 57 (oh good lord)
Difficulty: Moderate/difficult -- I tried to make it clear where things are and how to find them, but the tut still assumes some basic knowledge of PS.

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs3, graphic type: icon, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: blending, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial: coloring

Current Mood: worried

worried

21 comments | Leave a comment

raiindust

03 March 2011 @ 09:41 am

Icon Tutuorial: Extending Background, Colouring & Texture Use

This to

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: Extending Background, Curves, Levels, Selective Colour, Colour Balance, Hue/Saturation, Filters & Texture Use
Translatable: To programs/versions that have selective color available.
Steps: 6 Steps | 39 Layers
Difficulty: Beginner - Intermediate

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: filters, tutorial involves: gradient map, tutorial involves: hue/saturation, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial: coloring, tutorial: extend background

2 comments | Leave a comment

ohfreckle

27 February 2011 @ 09:13 pm

icon tutorial: blending

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS4
Involves: textures, blending modes; blending several images
Translatable: yes
Steps: 20
Difficulty: Moderate

Learn how to make this icon:

This icon is a collage of several caps, blended together.
These are the caps we're going to need: 1 2 3

Made with Photoshop CS4. It's only using basic blending modes, so it should be translatable to all programs.

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic type: icon, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: blending, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial involves: smudge tool

8 comments | Leave a comment

talipuu

27 February 2011 @ 07:36 pm

General Icon Making Tips and Photoshop Instruction

Program(s): Photoshop (I use CS3 but certain parts will be translatable for earlier versions)
Involves: General icon making tips; including colouring, background extension, sharpening + more.
Translatable: Photoshop specific but certain parts are general enough for any program.
Steps: N/A
Difficulty: Beginner and upwards

Tags: graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs3, graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for coloring, guide: basic tips for graphic making, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: filters, tutorial involves: hue/saturation, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial: coloring, tutorial: extend background

10 comments | Leave a comment

raiindust

27 February 2011 @ 10:55 am

Icon Tutuorial: Coloring

From this to

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS5
Involves: Coloring an icon using: curves, levels, selective color, color balance, vibrance & filters available in Photoshop CS5
Translatable: To programs/versions that have selective color and vibrance available.
Steps: 4 Steps | 23 Layers
Difficulty: Easy

Tags: graphic program: photoshop cs4, graphic program: photoshop cs5, graphic type: icon, image type: screencaps, tutorial involves: brightness/contrast, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: filters, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial involves: vibrance, tutorial: coloring

10 comments | Leave a comment

ex_absolute

21 July 2010 @ 01:18 pm

How To: Create Backgrounds

Program(s)+version: Photoshop 7.0 (but it should translate over to all other versions of Photoshop, and is probably, at least in part, applicable to other programs)
Involves: How to create backgrounds (using the original screencap, textures, clouds, etc), using textures on icons, layer masks, the smudge tool, the Blur filters, general tips, and a little tiny bit of coloring using selective coloring, filters, and blending modes.
Translatable: Mostly, I think.
Steps: 4 parts with a variation of steps
Difficulty: Moderate difficulty, assumes a bit beyond basic knowledge of Photoshop (including: layer masks, blending modes, and a few other tools)

This tutorial is cut and pasted from a larger 'Ask the Icon Maker' post. I was invited to post it here, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to post the entire thing here, just the actual tutorial bits (warning: extremely colloquial). So if it seems a tad disjointed and/or overly personal, I apologize.

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop 7.0, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for coloring, guide: how to use textures, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: brushes, tutorial includes: textures, tutorial involves: filters, tutorial involves: high pass, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial involves: selective coloring, tutorial involves: smudge tool, tutorial involves: variations, tutorial: coloring, tutorial: extend background, tutorial: negative space

12 comments | Leave a comment

kibethsbark

24 March 2010 @ 03:15 pm

A Guide to Colour Normalization

Program(s) version: PSP X2, but the principles should apply in any program.
Involves: Colour Normalization of blue and red-tinted caps, as well as basic colouring tips for natural caps. Brief guides on the colour balance, curves, and levels tools.
Translatable: Yes.
Steps: None and many, all at once! This is a guide, not an A to B type tutorial.
Difficulty: Absolute Beginner. I've geared the guide towards people who are very unfamiliar with their program, but there should hopefully be some tips here that are useful for more experienced users as well. (: I assume a basic understanding of how to create layers, and how layers work.

This guide is very image heavy!
This guide covers, in this order:
-A brief introduction to how colours relate to each other, shadows/midtones/highlights, and the tools I'm using in this guide (colour balance, levels, and curves) for beginners
-Correcting blue screencaps using colour balance, levels, or curves.
-Correcting red screencaps using colour balance, levels, or curves.
-General colouring tips (i.e. odds and ends)

What it is not meant to be:
-an exhaustive list of colouring techniques
-the end point for an image colouring - these are just techniques that I use to get an image to a point where I can then apply other colour adjustments without the images looking horrific

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: paint shop pro (all), graphic program: photoshop all versions, guide: basic tips for coloring, guide: how to use color balance, guide: how to use curves, guide: how to use levels, image type: screencaps, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial involves: color balance, tutorial involves: curves, tutorial involves: levels, tutorial: color normalization, tutorial: coloring

Current Mood:

exhausted

Current Music: 30 Seconds to Mars - Vox Populi | Powered by Last.fm

12 comments | Leave a comment

shoqolad

08 January 2010 @ 11:15 pm

extending backgrounds

This is a little tutorial on how to extend the background of an image. I'll try to explain 3 different techniques I use. I tried to explain everything as detailed as possible. If there are any questions left feel free to ask away!
I'll start with what I feel like is the easiest way to extend the background of an image and then get to the more difficult techniques. But this isn't all that hard.
The coloring of the icons is not included.

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS 2
Involves: smudge tool, rectangular marquee tool, clone stamp, layer mask
Translatable: should be translatable to programs that have the above mentioned tools and work with layers
Steps: up to 6
Difficulty: medium

extending backgrounds

using the smudge tool

using the rectangular marquee tool

using the clone stamp

Please let me know if you have any questions, if I messed something up or if any images/links don't work!

Comments are appreciated.

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: photoshop all versions, graphic program: photoshop cs2, graphic type: icon, guide: how to use clone stamp tool, image type: screencaps, tutorial involves: clone stamp tool, tutorial involves: layer mask, tutorial: negative space

15 comments | Leave a comment

aida_rose

01 January 2010 @ 11:50 pm

Happy birthday good_tutorial

Today

good_tutorial is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday good_tutorial!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for making this community a success, and I would especially like to thank our members here, the tutorial writers, for sharing their wonderful talent and knowledge with all of us. It's very much appreciated and I hope all of you will continue to write tutorials and share them here this coming year, as you did the last :)

Tags: !mod post

5 comments | Leave a comment

bethyj

17 December 2009 @ 12:23 pm

GRAPHIC TUTORIALS: BLEND MODES, BRUSHES, TEXTURES

I didn't realize I never posted the last part in my tutorial series, my apologies!

Program(s): Paint Shop Pro 9
Involves: Basic tips
Translatable: It's quite specific to PSP, but is translatable to most other programs.
Steps: 0 - It's just a list of tips.
Difficulty: Beginner

The main purpose of textures and brushes are to enhance your image, not completely distract from it. You want to attain a certain effect, not compromise the integrity of your base image. Because as I’ve continually said before you add textures, brushes or text you need a quality base image. When using certain textures or brushes however there are times when you create the base to match or fit them. Even on that occasion you still need to concentrate on the quality of that image, don’t let the brush or texture distract you.

NOTE: These do's, don'ts and tips are written based on the assumption you have read the previous tutorials. These tutorials are to be used as steps. By this point you should be somewhat more comfortable in the basics and tools of your Paint Shop Pro.

TUTORIAL SERIES:
INTRODUCTION
A GOOD BASE
BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FONTS
TEXT TECHNIQUES
>>>BLEND MODES; BRUSHES & TEXTURES: THE DO'S AND DON'TS<<<

Tags: graphic program: all programs, graphic program: paint shop pro (all), graphic type: icon, guide: basic tips for graphic making, guide: how to use brushes, guide: how to use textures, resource tutorial: brushes, resource tutorial: textures, tutorial includes: blend modes, tutorial includes: brushes, tutorial includes: textures

9 comments | Leave a comment

killmotion

24 November 2009 @ 05:40 pm

The Ultimate Screencapping Guide for Mac Users

Program(s)+version: UnRar, HJSplit, VLC Player, Automator, NameMangler, EasyBatch, ViewIt
Involves: Learning about HD files' image quality and size, how to cap, batch conversion and renaming, sorting, uploading your caps to a server and adding those caps using Coppermine for sharing in a gallery as well as uploading zip files for sharing.
Translatable: No, Mac only.
Steps: A lot.
Difficulty: Moderate

There always seems to be fairly well done tutorials for various Windows programs and how to cap out there over the years, but when I switched over to Mac over a year ago it took me a while to find all the programs I use now because there was no guide like this to simply follow. I had to learn through trial and error and searching and searching for the program I wanted for each task. There was no step by step how-to. Now that I have a set method, I figured it would only seem reasonable to share.
So for anyone interested in switching to Mac, new to Macs, or for the occasional dual Mac-PC user, this is THE guide to all things screencapping. I'll try not to get too technical, I want this to be pretty easy to comprehend.

Please do let me know if you find anything confusing, or if you have more questions or problems and hopefully I can answer them!

Tags: screen-capping, screen-capping program: vlc player, screen-capping: batch conversion, tutorial: file format/saving graphics

40 comments | Leave a comment

spoopy

13 October 2009 @ 05:17 am

An easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide on how to make smooth, good quality animated icons

This is my first tutorial. I decided to make an easy-to-follow tut on how to make animated icons because I can't count the amount of times I'd searched around for tutorials on how to make animated images when I wanted to learn how, only to discover nothing made any sense or I got lost along the way because the instructions were so confusing.

Today, we'll be making this icon:

Programmes: VirtualDub (for screencapping), Adobe Photoshop CS - CS2 and Adobe ImageReady.
Involves: How to screencap, how to import frames and images, how to crop, colour adjustment layers, tweening, how to optimise animated icons to fit 40K, how to set timing for icons.
Translatable: Probably not. :-(
Steps: For screencapping: 4 steps. For making the icon: 15 steps.
Difficulty: Actually really easy once you know how to do it. But I will go with Medium - Hard.
WARNING: THIS IS VERY IMAGE-HEAVY.

Tags: animation tut: change file size ps cs3, animation tut: change file size ps cs4, animation tut: change file size ps/ir, animation tutorial: all, animation tutorial: photoshop cs3, animation tutorial: photoshop cs4, animation tutorial: photoshop/imageready, graphic type: animation/mini movie, screen-capping program: virtual dub

Current Mood: awake

29 comments | Leave a comment