Full Icon Tutorial: Katherine Moennig Natural Icon
We're making this icon:
I started out with a picture that I found online of Kate, but it went down, and I've been asked not to display the original image. It doesn't really matter, since this is a tutorial anyways.
I took the original image, copied it and pasted it as a new image. Remember to leave one copy the normal size it is, we'll need it later. I took one of the copies and cropped it, then resized it:
I then took a gradient-like base from
I put it on top of the base and set it on Color (Legacy), 100% opacity. Now, we leave that one for a little bit and we go back to the other copy of the picture.
I cropped the part I wanted to put on the empty corner of the icon base. Then, I resized it so it would fit. In this case, I resized it to 60x44. I sharpened it once and I then put a simple 2 pixel white border around it all.
Now, I took the same base I had used for the icon base (the 100x100 Kate icon base) and I put it on top of this layer, setting it to Color (Legacy) at 100% opacity also. I moved the gradient-like base a bit until I was satisfied. We get this little pic:
Now, you copy (copy merged) this little pic and you place it on top of the Kate Icon base. Like so:
Now, we grab this light texture, made by
I put it on top of the other layers and set it on Screen, 100% opacity.
Pretty! Now, for the text. I looked at it for a while, and the thing that popped into my mind was the word "Natural". So , I went with it. Yes, I know, I wrote nat-u-ral. That's because I put the syllable breaks in there. I chose a font called Haettenschweiler, size 16 and 25 Kerning. I used black, but as always, I thought it was too bold, so I just set the layer on Normal, 74% Opacity.
Now, for the final touch. I went to dictionary.com and looked up the word natural. One of the definitions was so completely Kate that I used it.
Characterized by spontaneity and
freedom from artificiality, affectation,
or inhibitions.
That's SO Katherine. Anyways, I put that on, using Century Gothic, size 2, color black. I didn't need to fiddle with the opacity, since it looked fine on its own.
The end result is this great icon:
Same Disclaimer: Feel free to comment and request any other tutorial. Also, duh, don't make exactly the same icon. And, don't snag this icon/tutorial as your own and tell people you made it. Thanks, and if you used this tutorial, feel free to show me what you made with it. Enjoy!
