Icon set for Round 15 on Farscape 20in20

[jacquelee]

Here's my icon set for Farscape 20in20 round 15. This is the second icon set I did with PS Elements (I'm still on the trial period for that program but I'll definitely cough up the 100 bucks, I don't think I can live without it anymore ;)), and I really like it.


I know I'm still a total newbie to all of this, so this is very much an experimental set. Just me fiddling around with all the new exciting tools I have now. So feel free to tell me which technique totally doesn't work, I really won't mind and I hope to improve steadily.

Also a big BIG shoutout to john_scorpy who IMO saved this set at the last minute - I was ready to post it, not heading all of his advices but he kept insisting and OMFG!!! This is SO MUCH BETTER!!! So thank you!! :D Next time I'll listen to you the first time around.

10 THEMES

beginning	simple	opposites	touch	23.45
monster	complex	two-toned text	emotion	end

CATEGORY - MAGNIFYING GLASS

01	02	03	04	05

ARTIST'S CHOICE

01	02	03	04	05

Comments

[midknight-starr.livejournal.com]

I think yours look good! I love that about them! I think that's partly why I chose CDM :D

But what I do is play with the brightness and contrast on a duplicate layer, then I use soft light blending layers using a new transparent layer and trying different colours to see how they affect the look of the image. I found that using a soft light blending layer with a light purple (like a lilac shade of purple) works great for skin brightening. It is pretty fun to make 2 or 3 different soft light blending layers in different colours to see how it affect the look of the image too :)

[jacquelee]

LOL, okay, misunderstanding, I meant the tone of the icons was lighter, meaning John is winking and laughing and just generally being annoyed in yours, while Aeryn is mostly crying and being desperate in mine. ;)

As for lighting the icon, I actually adore your style of lighting and I think it's what's fast becoming my style too. Using the layer blend mode was what saved these icons (again, thanks JS). I love using soft light layers now, and I tweak the colors a lot, mostly with adjustment layers.

Do you just add the color to the image? I think I know how to do that, I just always thought that would overcolor the icon. But using it on just one layer is something I never tried. Will definitely do that next. Thanks!

[midknight-starr.livejournal.com]

Oops LOL sorry :) yeah, I misunderstood.

Thank you! The color is not added to the image directly. I make a new transparent layer over the image, change the blending mode to soft light and use the paint bucket to fill the transparent layer. Depending on the color, it will lighten, darken or add a little bit of color. A good example is if you use a light grey soft light layer, it will brighten the image without extra color and a dark grey soft light layer will darken it. I play and experiment with different colors and mix them up. Sometimes I'll have 3 separate soft light color layers, each in a different color to get the look I want.