...I rambled less...

[so_out_of_ideas]

More than one person this week has asked me for ideas about what to do to "jazz up" an icon if it just looks "plain". There are of course, always brushes and textures to add effects, but what if you still don't like it, or you really want something that's just different from your usual? pokecharm and I were talking a while back about how cropping can really change an icon and the fact that there really aren't a lot of tutorials or anything that are specifically on cropping, so I decided I'd throw a few examples together of different cropping techniques. These run from really basic, simple cropping concepts to help new icon makers to some more complicated stuff for those who're bored with the basics.
I'm not some big expert or anything; mostly this is just a ramble about some tricks I've either picked up from others or stumbled across completely by accident. This is long, but I have pretty bold headings and then examples for each thing I'm talking about, so you can just sort of scroll down through until you see an icon you like. ;) I won't go into step by step details of how I did any of these icons, but anyone who likes one and wants a tutorial, please comment and I'll see what I can do.

Note: I use PSP, but the ideas should be translatable into other programs.




Tutorial 02: Cropping Ramble Featuring SG1, SGA, and Dune

I just want to preface by saying that all these things are tips, not hard and fast rules. They're not the be-all and end-all of good iconning, just some things that might help if you're looking for a way to alter an icon or base you're not happy with .


Tip 1: Try placing your subject off center.

When I first started iconning, most of my work had the subject was centered…and usually centered right on the subject's face. Like these:





Neither of these are actually bad icons, and sometimes centering the subject works well if that's what you're going for. But as you can see, with these icons, it's rather hard to add brushes or text because there's almost no room. Take a look at what happens if we move Teal'c over to the left.





I sometimes call these "lazy" icons because all I did was drag my original picture onto a 100x100 base, resize the picture layer (in PSP, Image>resize, making sure that the "resize all layers" box is not checked). Then, for the second two examples, I just took my move tool and slid Teal'c to the left until I saw something I liked. No messing with the crop tool or the selection tools. Yay.

Tip 2: Try making the finished icon a little smaller on your canvas.

This seems almost too simple to make any difference, but sometimes I get an icon that just looks unfinished, no matter how many effects I layer on. Like these:





Again, not really bad icons. They just don't seem quite done to me, and the way the images were cropped, adding a border brush or mask would kind of mess them up. Although you could also try a one sided border or something, but that's a different tutorial. What I did was this:





I used to see this technique all the time, and it drove me nuts. When I finally figured out how simple it was, I pretty much wanted to pull my bottom lip up over my head and eat my own face.

All you do is resize to 90% of the original image (for PSP users, this time make sure that "resize all layers" is checked) Then Edit>copy merged. Now open a new blank 100x100 image and paste as a new layer. You'll probably need to sharpen the image once. The only problem is, on a white background, the border doesn't show up. So, we add a layer with a 1 px black border.

For PSP: Add a new raster layer, flood fill with black. Go to Selections>select all, then Selections>modify>contract by 1 px. Now delete the selected area and you have a nice border.

If you want a bigger or smaller white border around the image, just play with the resize percentage until you have what you like.

Another variation on theses is to put the resized image over a texture, like this:





I used a 1 px border around both the texture layer and the image layer, then added a slight blur.

Tip 3 Try cropping the image so that it doesn't use your whole canvas. Like this:





I really didn't do anything spectacular here. I had applied a couple of different gradients after prepping my image of Amanda Tapping, so I just moved the image, then slid the gradients around until I had something I liked. Then I added a brush on the edge and applied a very slight motion blur effect. The text fits much better, and you have something that looks like a lot more thought went into it, when in fact it only took a few more minutes.

Here's another example. I can't resist including it because I like it better, but I don't have a "before" for this, because I made it separate from the tut.



Tip 4: Try using different sized crops of the same image.

Here's where things start to take a bit more effort. Not much, because I'm generally lazy, but a little. If you've stuck with me this long, I congratulate you. You're either really bored, someone who knows me and is reading to be polite, or an incredibly determined icon artist. So, take a break, go get a beverage, whatever you need. When you get back, you may even get to hear about the crop tool…which, mind you, I very rarely, if ever, use, because I tend to end up with stuff like this:



Definitely not what we want!!!

All right… I'll let you go get your drink now…

…Welcome back! So…different sized crops of the same image, then? Without ending up with something wonky like poor Ronon up there?

Let me show you my examples, then I'll explain. Basically, you can go from icons like these:





To icons like these:





For this set, I took a cap of Ronon and resized to 100x100, did all the prep work and coloring on the orangish one. Since I always save my layers before merging or anything, I saved at this step. Then duplicated the image, layers and all. (In PSP, just hit Shift-D on your keyboard; in GIMP I think it's like Image>Duplicate or something. Not sure about PS, sorry folks.) On the duplicate image, I then colorized the top texture layer to give it the pinkish look.

Next, follow the resize method from Tip 3. Exactly what percentage you use to resize by varies, but most of these were either 75 or 50. Just experiment a bit. Now you should have 4 images in your workspace.
Now, for the first three examples, just create a new blank base. Merge your layers on all your base images. Now you can just drag the Ronon images from your layer palette directly onto the blank base. Move them around and change which layers are on top until you find something you like. The largest images tend to be the "background" picture. On some of these, I needed to resize the smaller ones again to make them look the way I wanted. Again, it's mostly a matter of experimentation.

Ok, so what if you have a general idea how much of the icon you want covered by an image, or you don't want to resize the base, you just want a different or a tighter crop, like in the last example up there? Well, there are a couple of ways to do this. The most obvious is with the crop tool, which is how I did that example just to demonstrate. The tool has a setting where you can tell it what size to make the crop rectangle etc. The problem with it is, it tends to leave you with an obvious, hard edge, which you can still sort of see in the example. Best way around this is to use the selection tool. (The rectangular marque, marching ants thing…)

Duplicate your image again and merge visible layers. Create a rectangular selection about the size you want to crop the picture and just slide it around with your move tool until the part of the image you want is inside the rectangle. Now I like to feather the selection by 1 or 2 px to get rid of any hard or jagged edge. (In PSP, Selections>modify>feather; not sure how it works in other programs…meh.) Finally, invert the selection and delete. Now you have plenty of room for embellishments, and since you copied the image, your layers are entact in the original.

One final note I just thought of. Sometimes, you'll find tutorials with instructions that specifically tell you "make a crop of the base 35x100" or something. So what you do open a new file with those dimensions, go back to your base, copy merged and then paste it as a new layer. Then you can still use your move tool to slide it around to get what you want because the whole layer is actually there, you just can only see the parts that are within the dimensions of the new image. When you're ready to use it, just copy merged again and paste it wherever it's supposed to go..

OH! One more final note. This one's really final. About the black borders I have around each crop in these icons. Boxed divider brushes can work for something like this, but they tend to be ornate. If you just want something simple like a black line, the best bet is to put it in yourself. From tutorials I've read, I think PS has a feature that will create a border around a layer for you. Some PSP users apparently actually draw lines around their images with the paint brush or the pen tool. I guess, if you're really ambitious, bored, or insane, and you want to try that, go right ahead. I have visual perception problems which make something like this absolutely impossible. The lines come out all wonky no matter how long I sit there, or whether I use a grid as a guide or what…so, I figured out one of my patented cheat methods. (I have lots of these, btw.) It's nothing grand, probably most people know it, but since it took me a while before figuring it out, maybe someone else can use the tip.

On the layer you want to put the border around, use your magic wand selection tool and select the blank space around the picture. Your picture layers should all have nothing on them except the image, so the whole thing will be selected with one click. Now invert the selection. The image itself will be have a marquee around it now. Expand the selelection by however many pixels you want the border to be. (Selections>modify>expand) For the Ronon icons, I expanded by 1. Feather it for a softer look to the edges. Now, create a new layer, flood fill with black or whatever color you want. Then place that layer under the picture layer, and you have magic.

Tip 5: Try Using multiple images

No new stuff here…basically this is the same as the stuff I talked about in Tip 4, except that instead of using multiple crops of the same image, you try adding different images to the same icon. These are kind of a pain, so I'm going to be lazy and show some old ones I've done already:



And finally, because I love this icon, and because it uses two separate images of Enola, therefore manages to employ EVERYTHING I've been talking about:



Yay, so we're done! At last! I hope some of you wonderful icon artists found this useful. Please comment and let me know, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. I'll do my best to answer or point you in the direction of someone who can. ;)

And...since the variation monster of course couldn't stay under the bed while I made the example icons, I have some...erm extras. Plus Daniel..because he's Daniel.

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