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It's June, and that means it's time for Ask The Maker again!

Our poll decided that a good majority of our makers here would like to see this activity again, and I'm hoping for high participation.

Ask The Maker is where you can ask your favorite makers about how they do that thing. You can ask for tutorials, guides/"How to", or ask any other questions related to their work. Check out the Maker thread (below) for makers who have signed up and are ready to answer your questions.

You can also ask questions to the community at large, and hope that someone is able to answer them. Do this in the Questions thread (below).

By now this community has been active for over two years, and we've grown quite a bit, along with DW. This should make for an interesting mix. I for one am looking forward to interesting questions and discussions!

Please promote this activity!

You can use this code here:

The more participants the merrier! I will promote it at an official promo comm.

Here are the rules:

1) Maker-Driven

Rules for makers who want to sign up

Sign up by commenting to the Maker thread.

Please don't sign up if you know that you can't or do not plan to fulfill the requests you get within a month.

If you are an icon maker and you're willing to write tutorials, guides or answer questions (Q&A's), please sign up here with your name and where you post your work. Please state what you're willing to do/answer and if people can hotlink your work or not. Use this posting template:

There is no fixed time limit in which the signed up makers have to write these tutorials or answer questions, but it would be nice if everyone managed to post their answers within the next month. I will make the master list post around mid-July (i.e. in six weeks). Even if you take longer than that, please try and answer your questions. Please let people know if you find out you cannot fulfill the requests. Try not to leave people hanging.

All tutorials/Q&A etc. need to be posted in your community/journal and be posted publicly. In-depth explanations on tutorials is not a must, but highly encouraged.

When you finish your requests, post a link to them as a reply to the original request comment here. That way, I and the person requesting will be able to see them and I can add them to the master list.

2) Question-Driven - I have a question and anyone can answer

If you have a question about techniques, a specific look, etc, but you can't ask any maker directly (e.g. because they didn't sign up or are not on DW or because your question is more of the general kind), you may ask your question in the Questions thread.

Be aware that there is no guarantee that you'll get your question answered. You will increase your chances by asking specific questions about specific techniques and by giving icon examples, from different makers if possible. Please don't ask about single specific icons, nobody should feel pressured into participating.

Please don't hotlink icons from other makers without asking them. Reupload the icons (e.g. to imgur.com or postimages.com) instead.

What's What

Question categories and examples

Guides - a guide is a general explanation post. The maker will make a post explaining how to achieve a particular effect, use a technique, use a tool, etc.

#1 - Text and typography in gimp by

cool_spectrum
#2 - A guide lighten dark bases from last year by

tinny

Tutorial - a tutorial is a step-by-step description of how to make a particular icon. Only the maker of an icon can make a tutorial of how they made that icon. If you ask for a tutorial, you must provide said icon with your question. This kind of question only makes sense in the Maker thread.

A tutorial by

fueschgast
Example tutorial #2 by

word_never_said

Q&A - everything that doesn't quite fit the first two categories. Ask away, hope for the best. :)

Maker thread

Questions thread

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tinny

Ask questions for a specific maker here

From:

sheliak

Username + where you post your work: Sheliak + https://sheliak.dreamwidth.org/tag/icons
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc.) I'm up for anything!
Can we hotlink your icons?: Sure.

From:

tinyumbrella

I always struggle to make comic book icons look normal, do you have any tips and tricks for colouring? I like your colouring on these:

From:

sheliak

I think that first one was just a crop from a page, unaltered. (So the answer for that one is “start with a scan with coloring you like, and don’t mess with it.” Probably kind of disappointing? Although it might be worth mentioning that comic book coloring has changed a lot over time; I work mostly with older comics, stuff from the 80s and modern digitizations of it, and the colors there tend to be a lot flatter than stuff from the last two decades or so.)

The second one is pretty similar, just with a texture for a background.

The basic thought process on most of my icons like that is:
- Pick a scan you like the coloring on.
- If you’re using a texture as a background, match it to the coloring and quality of the scan. (If the scan is an old, faded comic, especially one that uses halftone/dotted coloring, you want to use faded/papery textures rather than the kind of bright/smooth texture I used for the second Corsair above.) I can pull up some examples if that’d be useful?
- Upping contrast can help a lot with faded scans, although you have to be careful not to overdo it. If you do this, fiddling with the brightness as well is usually a good idea.

The third one is where it gets a bit fancier. I didn’t save the .xcf file (if you like I can try reverse engineering the icon to be more sure of the steps?), but this is approximately what I did, starting from the cropped panel and working in GIMP:
1. Used Free Select to get a layer of just the character I wanted, erased the background edges.
2. Copied just the glasses for a second layer (and erased around them in that layer).
3. Went to the character layer and used the Colorify tool to convert it to grayscale. (NB: I might’ve first copied the layer again, and used color to alpha to get just the linework and layer that on top of the grayscale. I don’t think I did that in this case, but I did it in some of that batch.)
4. Added a texture as a background.
5. …. Saved. I thought I was done at this point. Then I noticed that the background was a bit too orange, so I went back and upped the contrast a bit so that it’s redder. This had the effect of also losing some of the grayscale effect on the character, though there’s still some gray in his jacket. The first version of the icon is here: https://i.imgur.com/Bmy0fOF.png

I hope that was of some use! And if you've got any follow-up questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinyumbrella - Date: 2019-06-07 08:06 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

tinyumbrella

Username + where you post your work:

tinyumbrella (previously

timetobegin) and i post at

oh_crime
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc.) I'll give anything a shot! I don't save my psds, so i will recreate anything rather than showing the exact same icon
Can we hotlink your icons?: sure

Edited Date: 2019-06-02 01:07 am (UTC)

From:

ella_rose88

I really love what you did with these icons: https://i.imgur.com/34IGnom.png
https://i.imgur.com/aC6J3Ju.png
https://i.imgur.com/mjfaO3t.png

I just would love to know how you work out the composition (re. what textures to use, what images, the text and placement etc). Hope that makes sense *fingerscrossed*

Edited Date: 2019-06-03 09:58 am (UTC)

From:

tinyumbrella

yes, i think so! I will work on something this weekend :)

From:

tinyumbrella

I hope i've gone in depth as much as i can, hope this is useful: https://oh-crime.dreamwidth.org/36338.html

From:

goodbyebird

Would love a coloring tut on this. SO pretty!

From:

tinny

Username + where you post your work: https://tinny.dreamwidth.org/tag/art-icons
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc.) Anything
Can we hotlink your icons?: yes

From:

extrapenguin

How do you do text so that it looks so ... un-blocky and fluid? Like here:

Relatedly, do you have any fonts you would recommend?

From:

tinny

1) Ah. Good question!

In those two examples, I actually didn't do anything at all. They probably look okay because the contrast between the font and the background isn't that strong.

But some fonts look a little pixelated by themselves, and those I blur. I.e. I stamp the whole icon, blur it, and then set the mask to all black. Then I draw into the mask with a small white brush to make the things that are too contrasty or too sharp a little less so. This often includes text, but not only. I don't really like doing something to the whole icon that requires stamping, but I have found no other way to smooth out text.

Example:

Left: sharp, right: blurred

2) I already listed some fonts I use very often in a comment below. Besides that, let me see... I love fonts that look like they're handwritten.

My faves there are:

https://www.dafont.com/beastform.font
https://www.dafont.com/coalhandluke.font
https://www.dafont.com/indelible.font
https://www.dafont.com/landliebe.font
https://www.dafont.com/muurahaiskarhu.font
https://www.dafont.com/rebel-heart.font
https://www.dafont.com/kg-two-is-better-than-one.font
https://www.dafont.com/vni-thufap1.font
https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/amatic

Re: Maker Thread

From:

extrapenguin - Date: 2019-06-03 07:58 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinny - Date: 2019-06-03 08:34 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

tinyumbrella

I've been loving your glow lately, any tips or tricks? I find sometimes my glow overpowers or underperforms

eg.

i adore that last icon too, if you feel up to a tutorial?

oh and maybe any info on how you blend your textures to make it look like a normal background/foreground, it's not one of my strong points. eg

From:

tinny

firstly, thank you for asking so many questions! <3

1) GLOW

Oh god.... I feel like my glow is very hit and miss. I can't even say I'm doing anything in particular. My process for glow is:

- make the brush large and soft, paint a blob in a light color (white is best by far, but sometimes I use a saturated yellow or blue). Make sure the glow is on the correct side, matching the direction of the lighting on the subject
- I sometimes actually leave it on Normal blend mode, but most of the time I set it to Screen or Soft Light.
- smudge it until it doesn't look circular anymore
- erase it from the middle of the subject's head, leaving the edges.
- smudge again (repeat...)

That's it. I smudge it (which makes it softer) until I think the subject looks lit but not washed out. I'm not sure that's a good process - and it doesn't always work. I have lots of examples where I definitely overdid it. This one is too light I think:

2) MINI-TUTORIAL

I don't think I can write a whole tutorial on this icon. I didn't do much. :) I'll sketch it here for you:

- here's the cap:

* you can see that the lighting is already all there in the cap (the Detective L caps are all lit like that, they're a lot of fun to work with)
- I filled the background with a blue color (#375676)
- I added a texture (from the British Library here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/albums/72157638733975756)

- I didn't even change the color of the texture, just set it to Overlay at 69%. (As you can tell from the layer palette, I just added it as is first, and only later decided to make it blue by adding the blue layer and setting the texture above it in Overlay mode.)

- I masked Xiaoman and duplicated her twice:
- The first duplicate, I sharpened and set to 50%.
- The second duplicate I set to Linear Add at 40%.
* The percentages depend on the cap, but that is one of my normal processes for base preparation for dark and slightly blurry caps. Sometimes I mask the sharpened layer, too, but I didn't do that here.
- I painted a yellow blob (#f0bf74, taken from her face after the whole lighting process) in the right half of the icon and moved it behind her and set it to Color 100%.
* I did this because wanted the background colors to fit the original lighting of the original cap, and now we have blue on the left and yellow on the right. (But I hated how that yellow came out... it's too muddy and greenish.)

- I painted a white blob into the upper left corner and set it to Soft Light (100%)
- I painted another smaller blob in the same corner and set it to Soft Light (100%)
- I duplicated that smaller blob
* this is why the glow is soft but still strong in the corner

That's it. Here's the layer palette:

I was very unsure about this and hated that the yellow didn't come out yellow enough for my taste. So I made seven alts (of which I posted four):

3) TEXTURES

In that particular icon, I actually didn't do *anything*. I just chose a texture that matched in color to the cap. But usually they don't.

a) Imho, the main thing with fake background is accurate masking. Which is why I mask at full size these days. I use the magnetic lasso to mask the subject and then quick mask to fix what the lasso got wrong. Only then do I resize to 100x100. (I like to work at 100x100.) That gives me crips edges. If I want to put a texture in front of the subject, I do the same: mask it crisply, so the styles match.

b) Coloring: I usually add a plain color layer in a color picked from the texture or from the subject and set that to Lighten at low opacity. This will give the icon a consistent look. That's my way of making the coloring match. Doesn't work with all the caps or all the textures, so I usually keep changing the texture until one fits.

c) Background-Foreground: the only type of texture I can do this thing in a way that I like the results are flower textures. They're easy because flowers have a nice round form behind which to place the subject. I have tried with other textures, but only rarely. Examples:

Did I answer your questions or did I misunderstand any of them? I'll happily explain more/something else if I got anything wrong.

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinyumbrella - Date: 2019-06-08 01:09 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

goodbyebird

Username + where you post your work:

goodbyebird @

spankulert
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc.) I probably won't be able to do a tutorial for a specific icon unless I saved the PDF, but ask away.
Can we hotlink your icons?: Yup :)

Edited Date: 2019-06-02 12:10 pm (UTC)

From:

tinyumbrella

I love your icons where they are quite monochrome, i never seem to get the colours right on those - eg that Villianelle icon up there, or even the last one. Just...working with more monochrome icons? IDEK

I like that third icon as well as it's so clear for such a tiny subject - any tips and tricks on that one?

Obviously a cropping guide would be amazing, i love your close crops on hands and faces that just look awkward when i try!

THIS IS A LOT, just pick one to focus on :)

From:

goodbyebird

hee, I don't think monochrome is a particular strength of mine, but I do believe I have the PDF for the Villanelle icon, so I'll have a look at writing something up (after I'm done with the comics battle eep!).

For the Batwoman icon, I remember doing a lot of individual sharpening where I felt it was needed(tips of cloak, weapon, boots, hair), and then highlighting the red parts with some soft light to make them stand out more.

Hah, and for cropping it's about squishing as much as possible into every corner and side of the icon? Combined with my eternal lust for hand and hairporn? *hands* Oviedo did a cropping guide way back when, so you might as well go learn from the master.

Edited Date: 2019-06-26 08:34 am (UTC)

From:

seraphina_snape

Username + where you post your work:

seraphina_snape |

raptor_inc (icon tag)
What can we request from you (tutorials, Q&A, guides etc.) ask me anything
--->(If you know of anything that you're not able to answer/do, please mention it)<---
Can we hotlink your icons?: sure, they're all up on imgur anyway, so there's no point of reupping them

From:

tinyumbrella

Your texture use is really cool and interesting, do you have any process on how you pick and apply textures? I know that's really broad, let me know if you want me to be more specific!

From:

seraphina_snape

Well, the super vague answer is "whatever looks good". :p

But I've been thinking about this for a couple days now and I think I either go for matching colours or contrasting colours.

Matching colours:
I like using matching colours because it makes the icon look more harmonious.

Here the background picks up on Eve's lavender shirt

And this one picks up on the green dress

IDK, it just makes the icon more cohesive.

Contrasting:
I like creating contrast by using a dark texture with a light-coloured focus object, or a light or bright-coloured texture to offset the dark focus object:

Also great are textures that somehow "frame" the focus object, like these:

All of the above I use for my negative space icons (60% or so of all my icons are negative space icons). If an icon is not negative space, I use mostly light textures or colourful ones that I can add to the icon to make it less boring.

The actual process is as follows:
1. make basic icon
2. think "this needs some kind of texture"
3. open "favourite textures" folder on pc (note: this folder is like 87% textures by lookslikerain and 13% other, because I LOVE textures by lookslikerain - they're super colourful and I've never not been able to find one that works)
4. scroll through the textures and try out whichever texture catches my eye
5. if it's difficult to decide, duplicate the icon and look at them side-by-side
6. pick the one that looks best and save
(sometimes there is a step 5a. decide it looks great but needs something more, so repeat steps 4 and 5)

And that's about it!

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinyumbrella - Date: 2019-06-15 01:00 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

ideare

what is your process in deciding on how to use a texture? deciding if a texture should be used as a background or over the image?
alt

From:

seraphina_snape

For me it depends on the icon and the crop: if it's a negative space icon, the main texture goes behind the focus object (aka the person). If it's not a negative space icon, the texture goes on top of everything (or at least on top of strategic parts of the icon).

I make a lot of negative space icons because I feel like the background is sometimes too busy and distracts from the focus of the icon. But just leaving things blank is a bit boring, so I go looking for a texture to work with the icon.

If it's not a negative space icon, it's very often a close or mid crop icon (I don't like full body icons, so I rarely make them unless prompted), meaning there is very little room around the edges for a texture unless it's on top of everything. So in these cases I pick textures that make the icon a little less bland and boring (like in the first example icon you gave) and that work well with the screen or overlay or soft light blend modes. I use light textures a lot, too. Sometimes though I want to obscure parts or make a certain statement like in the second example icon - the texture obscures Donna's eyes and it reminded me of the season one finale where Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS; I thought it was fitting for the Doctor Donna. *g*

Occasionally I have a case like this one:

Technically the texture could have gone behind Flynn, but I remember that tried it with several different blend modes and with the texture tilted this way and that way, but this looked best.

I also generally try a few different textures and look at them side by side to see which texture works best with the icon.

(You might also want to check out this comment because

tinyumbrella asked a similar question.)

I hope that answered your question!

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinny - Date: 2019-06-09 09:13 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Maker Thread

From:

seraphina_snape - Date: 2019-06-09 09:35 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Maker Thread

From:

tinny - Date: 2019-06-10 09:50 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

ideare

would you be able to do a guide/tutorial on how you made this parker icon?
alt

From:

tinyumbrella

oh +1 on that, it's beautiful!

Re: Maker Thread

From:

seraphina_snape - Date: 2019-06-17 06:57 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

seraphina_snape

Oh, give me a few days? I've been trying to find the file, but it's entirely possible it's on an external hard drive somewhere and I have no idea which one. If I can't find it, I'll write up a close approximation of how that icon came to be.

Re: Maker Thread

From:

seraphina_snape - Date: 2019-06-17 06:55 pm (UTC) - Expand

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