beautiful life

9

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:17:29 GMT

I don't post icons here.

If you're looking for my icons, they are at my community, birdcut

I keep getting comments on my 2 year old icon posts and people asking me to update, but this is not where I house my work.

off-topic: OTH SEASON 5 TONITE!

Wed, 02 May 2007 17:49:17 GMT

OMGGG ONE TREE HILL TONIGHT FINALLYYYYYYY

The perfect end to a horrible day!

BIRDCUT!

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:52:13 GMT

I've opened a new icon community. The entries are locked, so please do join birdcut!

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:14:18 GMT

I'm about to go through my friends list and delete everyone, or mostly everybody except for those I really know. If you want to be added back, comment here and let me know you're alive.

Edit: Most of you are gone now. You must COMMENT HERE or I will not re-add you. My friends list is clogging up.

update 101506.

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 14:05:41 GMT

Let me give you guys a little update. Recently, my computer started acting up and it wouldn't turn on. It's currently in the shop, and I very well may lose all my files (as well as photoshop). So that's one reason why I haven't been making icons. The second is that my school, for some reason, lays on an enormous amount of homework each night. Therefore, I don't really get the time to make icons like I want to.

So there you go. I'm not fully "dead" from the icon world, just a little... out of it.

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:57:55 GMT

Dude I need some pictures to icon! :)

Preferences:
Natalie Portman
Reese Witherspoon
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Alexis Bledel
Romeo & Juliet (1996 movie)
Rachel McAdams
Scarlett Johansson
Patrick Dempsey
Jake Gyllenhaal
Chad Michael Murray
Hilary Duff
Lindsay Lohan
Jessica Stam
Christina Aguilera
Cintia Dicker
(Any of your favourite models or actors/actresses will do!)

Comment with as many links to direct pictures as you want! :]

Icon rant.

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:09:00 GMT

I don't usually rant in here (actually, never), but I am getting so irritated with tutorials lately.

After the 80th tutorial on the blue hair/red lips selective colouring thing, we get it. Stop making so many freaking tutorials with the same effect just because you may have added one different soft light layer. Oh, the originality.

Don't get me wrong, I like the trend with that certain technique, but we do not need 4,000,000 tutorials on the same colouring. Thanks.

Exclusive or not?

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 19:23:38 GMT

So I've been finding those annoying xanga sites that keep stealing my icons, and I don't know if I should start locking my icon posts (making them exclusive/FO), or just keep them public. What do you think?

View Poll: 98473558

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:17:11 GMT

I'm too lazy to make another post, so..

1-18: Natalie Portman
19-28: Mary-Kate and Ashley
29-36: Hilary Duff
37-51: Ana Beatriz Barros
52-58: Caroline Trentini
59-61: Adriana Lima
62-81: Headers/banners

POSTED HERE at ivorylaced

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 01:54:05 GMT

I saw Hayden a couple of weeks ago while I was in Canada, so I had to throw in a few of him<3

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1-17: MK&A
18-22: Hilary Duff
23-33: Natalie Portman
34-41: Hayden Christensen
42-53: Gemma Ward
54-59: Fashion
60-64: Banners/Headers (Hilary Duff, Peter Pan/Wendy, Fashion)

2 Requested tutorials. | I'm spelling badly today.

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 22:50:53 GMT

I'll get to the others some other time, but I've got two for you right now.

-----

Background
Start with your main image and crop it to whatever size you'd like. I didn't sharpen this icon, because the quality wasn't great to begin with. It didn't make much of a difference, but I duplicate the base layer and set it to soft light at about 30% or so. Then I merged it back to one layer.

Curves 1
To bring out the yellow tones in the image, I worked with the blue channel on a curves adjustment layer.

Blue channel
1st point - I: 223 , O: 208

Set this layer to 80%.

Selective Color 1
To intensify the greens and yellows, I created a selective color adjustment layer.

Reds-
Cyan: -100
Magenta: 0
Yellow: +100
Black: +32

Yellows-
Cyan: -100
Magenta: 0
Yellow: +82
Black: -15

Neutrals-
Cyan: +100
Magenta: 0
Yellow: +8
Black: 0

Layer 1
I created a new layer under the Curves 1 layer. It should be just above the Background layer. I took a small 2px brush and went over her lips with DA3502. I then set this layer to Soft Light at 75%.

And there you go. :] It's not exact to the original, but then agian... I have no idea what I did to the original, so.
Original:
Re-Created:

Layers Palette

-----

Start out with the image you'd like to use. This base is good, because it has a plain white background. It'll be fairly easy to cut the background out. Sharpen the base, and then go to Edit >> Fade Sharpen >> 20%.

Now, find the image you want to show through behind your subject. I chose a stock photo of a sky, which I got from peoplemachines(?) Crop it down to 100x100. You should have two seperate documents open; Kristen Bell that will paste onto the sky, and the actual sky image.

Go to the image of your person and hold down Ctrl + A. It should all be selected. Now go back to your sky image, and paste the Kristen Bell base as a new layer.

This is optional, but I just didn't think that the full colour image looked good on the sky. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Gradient Map. Choose a black to white default gradient and click OK. Go back to the layer with the Kristen Bell base on it. Duplicate the base three times. Set the first to multiply. Also set the second to multiply, but change the opacity to 50. Set the last duplicate to soft light at 90%.

Confused yet? I am! :)

Link all of those layers, and then go to Layer >> Merge Linked.

http://i1.tinypic.com/23wjt7a.jpg (Forgive me. I accidentally wrote "Quick" instead of Layer. Oh well!
Add a new layer mask to the Kristen image. You can either click on the "Add Vector Mask" button in the layer palette, or you can go to Layer >> Add Layer Mask >> Reveal All. This is so that when we do erase the background, if we make any mistakes, we can fix them easily. If the foreground colour is white, then using the eraser on the background will cause it to actually erase. If the foreground colour is black, then using the eraser on the background will restore the image.

There are a few ways you can do this. For this image, I simply selected the background with the magic wand tool. Then I went to Select >> Feather >> 1px. I pressed Delete (clear) twice. You can also do this manually with the eraser, but this just seemed quicker for me.

I pasted on a dusty texture by peoplemachines and set it to screen at 70%.

I merged everything. Then I created a new layer and just painted on some random dots.

I went to Filter >> Blur >> Radial Blur.

Settings -
Amount: 46
Method: Spin
Quality: Best

And there you go. :] It's not even close to being exact, but you'll get close by just experimenting.
Original:
Re-Created:

Request a tutorial

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 21:57:34 GMT

I'm in a tutorial mood, and I'll probably post one before my next icon post.. So..

REQUEST A TUTORIAL!
It can be one of my personal icons in my userpics, or from one of the posts I made in the past. Post one or two of my icons, and I'll see what I can do. :]

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 22:46:23 GMT

Pimping the questions meme!

If you're happy and you know it... Ask me something! :)

The base keeps running

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 18:54:09 GMT

Listen up!

These two boards are looking for some new members. Join them!

INTRIGUE
(My username is Wendy Darling)

BROADCAST
(My username is QV Represent)

If you do join, thanks! :)

Cinderella Story // PhotoshopCS

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:34:22 GMT

I like to play and experiment in photoshop, and I was testing out new kinds of colouring on these Cinderella Story caps. Involves some curves, selective colour layers. You need Photoshop. So here we go.

Background
Open up your picture full size. Since this was a cap, and those usually aren't great quality, I didn't sharpen it. I cropped it down to 100x100.

Background Copy
Duplicate your base and set it to screen at 64%. This is the part where you really need to think about your cap/image. Since this cap was fairly light, I didn't need to do much work to brighten it. However, if your cap is darker, you may need to incorporate a few more screen layers.

Background Copy 2
Duplicate the base once again. Bring it to the top, and set it to soft light with an opacity of 64%. Again, this honestly depends on your icon. Go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur >> 5.0... Just to make it a little bit softer.

Selective Color 1
Make a new adjustment layer. I just wanted to make it more red and yellow. Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Selective Colour.

===================
On RED Setting:
--cyan: -58
--magenta: 0
--yellow: +100
--black: 0

On YELLOW Setting:
--cyan: -100
--magenta: 0
--yellow: -91
--black: 0

On NEUTRALS Setting:
--cyan: +59
--magenta: 0
--yellow: +30
--black: 0
===================

Curves 1
To tone down some of the yellows, and bring back some of the greens/blues, I used a curves adjustment layer. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.

===================
On RED Setting:
-- 1st point - I: 208, O: 187
-- 2nd point - I: 97, O: 108
===================
Set this layer to 57%.

Curves 2
Now another new curves layer. Again, to restore the blues in her face. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.

===================
On BLUE Setting:
-- 1st point - I: 188, O: 214
===================

Selective Color 2
Another selective colour layer. I can't really explain what I was trying to do in this step, I was just messing around. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Selective Colour.

===================
On RED Setting:
--cyan: +100
--magenta: 0
--yellow: +88
--black: 0

On NEUTRALS Setting:
--cyan: +100
--magenta: -61
--yellow: -100
--black: +100
===================
This probably looks really funny right now. But set this layer to soft light at 33%.

Curves 2
Last layer. Just to darken the image a little.

===================
On RGB Setting:
-- 1st Point - I: 153, O: 137
===================

And there you go! Now you can do whatever you want with the rest of the icon. I added some red to her lips, played with some other things... and then submitted it to an icontest (hill_ichallenge). :)

Examples of this colouring:

» »

If you need any additional help, just ask.

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:20:03 GMT

Sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I went on vacation, and then I just fell out of the icon-making mood. But here is a batch that I made recently. I didn't feel like numbering. :[

Hilary Duff

Lindsay Lohan

Julia Stegner

Mean Girls

Peter Pan

Banners/Headers

Please credit to fightstarr@LJ if you use these icons off LJ, and fightstarr if you're using them on here. Thanks.

Red colouring // PhotoshopCS

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:23:55 GMT

I was playing around in photoshop, and I came up with this. It doesn't work with a lot of icons; it's pretty selective. Involves some curves, and possibly selective colour as an option. You need Photoshop. So here we go.

Background
Open up your picture full size. If it's about 600-700px in width, sharpen it once or so. Then crop it down to 100x100.

Background Copy
Duplicate your base and set it to screen at 40%. This is a subtle difference, but I just wanted to brighten the image a little.

Background Copy 2
Duplicate the screen layer, but change the blend mode to soft light. Set the opacity to 51%. To make the icon a little softer, go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur >> 0.7. Click OK.

Layer 1
Make a new layer and fill it with #CC33CC, or a pink/purple colour. Set this to soft light at 47%.

Layer 2
Make another new layer and fill it with #E4CC00, or a gold yellow. Set this to soft light at 61%.

Layer 3
There was a lot of yellow, so I wanted to bring back some of the pink and reds. Again, make a new layer. Fill it with #C3B9E7 (lavender), and set this to colour burn at 61%.

Layer 4
To make the icon a little more blue, I added a new layer and filled it with #0099CC, or a bright blue. Set this to soft light at 55%.

Curves 1
To brighten up the image without contrasting it, I used a curves layer. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.

=================== » Curves1.jpg
On RGB Setting:
-- 1st Point - I: 200, O: 210
-- 2nd point - I: 53, O: 76
===================

Curves 2
Then I increased the reds and brightened the icon more. Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Curves.

=================== » Curves2.jpg
On RED Setting:
-- 1st point - I: 200, O: 193
-- 2nd point - I: 52, O: 100
===================
Set this layer to screen at 46%.

Curves 2 Copy
Duplicate the 2nd curves layer and set it to soft light at 78%.

Layer 5
Make a new layer above everything and fill it with #D6DBE2. Set this to Colour Burn at 100%.

Color Balance 1
I don't really know what I was doing, I was just playing around. But go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Color Balance.

===================
On SHADOWS Setting:
-- cyan/red: +30
-- magenta/green: +14
-- yellow/blue: +17
===================

And there you go. :]

There's one more thing I want to show you. When you're using a cap for this method, and it's dark, you'll need to duplicate the first screen layer maybe once more or twice more.. Whatever's good for you. Also, if the base has too much red in it before you start the tutorial, I would suggest making a new selective colour layer (Layer >> New Adjustment layer >> Selective Color). On the RED channel, set Cyan to +100 and yellow to about +20. Then you can go to the NEUTRALS channel, and play with that more. Or just using colour balance to make the base more blue/cyan would work. :] I did that with the first two examples below.

Examples of this colouring:

» »

If you need any additional help, just ask.

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:23:41 GMT

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Credit and do not hotlink. Too many people are doing this while they use my icons at message boards (EuphoriaMB mainly). STOP!

1-10: Avril Lavigne
11-20: Fashion
21-31: Stock
32-35: Requests (Shareable)
36-39: Headers/Banners

Spotlight Tutorial // PhotoshopCs

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:04:09 GMT

Method 1. ; Method 2.
I've been seeing questions about the "spotlight" icons, so I thought I'd make a tutorial. There are two different methods that I use, and you can see both below. This is for Photoshop/Cs.

Background Layer
Start out with your base. I forgot to save my original one, so this might look different from the rest.

(click the thumbnail)
Go to Filter >> Render >> Lighting Effects...
Play around until your settings are similar to the ones above. You can decide for yourself on the shape and size of your "spotlight"... by dragging the points on the left of the window where you see the icon. Once you've done that, click OK.

Background Layer
This is what we have now. I can see some of the base behind the black parts, though, so we need to get rid of that.

Background copy
Duplicate this base layer, and set it to soft light. Grab your eraser. Use a size 50px soft brush, and erase what's inside the circle.

Hold down Ctrl (or the apple key for Mac users) and click on this layer in the Layer Palette (Should be called Background Copy or Layer 1). Now it's selected. Invert the selection, Shift+ Ctrl + i. You should see something similar to above.

You can just stop here, or you can continue on.

Layer 1 & Layer 1 copy
Create a new layer. Go to Edit >> Stroke. Pick out the "ring colour" that you want. This will kind of... "glow" on the edge of the spotlight. Set the width to about 5px, the location: outside. If you are super precise in erasing (step 3), and your circle selection is perfect, then make the location: inside. If you choose inside, be sure to blur this afterwards. If you choose outside, you won't need to. Click OK. Now, the blend mode depends on your icon. Sometimes you may need to use Multiply, Screen, Colour Burn, etc. Here, I used Overlay. I then duplicate this layer, and set it to soft light. TA DA. :) Confused?

---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

Background Layer
Start out with your base. Yada Yada.

Layer 1
Create a new layer and grab your Elliptical Marquee tool. Style: Fixed Aspect Ratio; Width - 1, Height - 1
Make your "spotlight" selection wherever you want to in the icon. Go to Select >> Feather (Alt + Ctrl + D). Feather it to 2px and click OK.

Now invert the selection, Shift+ Ctrl + i. Fill the selection with black.

You don't have to do this, but I like to. It makes it more realistic. Using your Rectangular Marquee tool, select the lower half of the icon. Make sure that you're still in the layer with the black fill. Go to Select >> Feather (Alt + Ctrl + D). Feather it to 8px and click OK.

Go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur. Blur it to about 3.4. :) See, I like the way it looks. Also, to make it sharper at the top... After you've blurred the lower half, invert the selection and sharpen the top half about three times.

Layer 2
Now, create a new layer under the black fill. Hold down Ctrl and click on the black fill layer in the Layer Palette, which is probably called Layer 1. Now it should be selected. Once again, invert the selection, Shift+ Ctrl + i. Go to Edit >> Stroke. Pick out the "ring colour" that you want. Set it to 5px and location: inside. Click OK.

Layer 2 & Layer 2 copy
Go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur >> 3.4. Once again, the blend mode depends on the icon. I set this layer to Overlay, and duplicated it once.

Confused?

And there you have it. :] I hope it wasn't too confusing.

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:15:08 GMT

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1-10: Bethany Joy Lenz/Naley
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30-44: Instant Star
45-55: Hilary Duff
56-57: Kristen Bell
58-62: Nicole Richie
63-68: MK&A
69-91: Fashion
92-103: Boyd Holbrook
104-113: Ana Beatriz Barros
114-129: Requests (Shareable)

I'm really sorry that I forgot to do some of the requests. There was.. Rachel Bilson, MK, and one of the soccer photos. I'll include those next time, I promise. :)

Friends With Madonna // PSCS

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 07:09:31 GMT

Hellooo there. :) I was messing around in photoshop a little while ago, and I came up with this easy icon. I, for one, am happy to say... YAY CURVES! Don't be hatin on my curves. You'll need photoshop CS, yeah.

to

Background Layer

So, start out by opening your image of choice. You don't want it too dark, so if you're screencap is one of those really dark ones, brighten it up somehow. You don't have to do this, but I sharpen the full image twice. It looks nice, I promise. Crop it down to icon size.

Background Copy

Duplicate the base layer, and go to Filter >> Blur >> Guassian Blur >> 0.3
Set this to soft light.

Selective Colour

I wanted to lighten up the main colours of the icon.
Go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer >> Selective Color
================
Reds:
Cyan: +66
Magenta: +20
Yellow: +16
Black: -44

Neutrals:
Cyan: -8
Magenta: 0
Yellow: -6
Black: -20
================
Set this to screen with an opacity of 35%.

Curves Layer

It's looking a little too dark now. Also, I know that when I brighten it, it'll be too contrasted. Using curves, I'm going to brighten it without letting a lot of contrast come out.
================
RGB: (Click to see image)
1st Point;
I: 186
O: 182

2nd Point;
I: 57
O: 97
================
Set this layer to an opacity of 72%.

Colour Fill Layer

Create a new layer. Using the flood tool, fill it with #87B1CB. Set this soft light.

Colour Fill Layer

The soft light layer sort of washed the icon out, so we need to bring the colours out. Create a new layer. Using the flood tool, fill it with #FFA800. Set this saturation with an opacity of 44%. However, by moving this layer below the blue soft light layer, you can get this.

Texture Layer

Paste this texture (by lovelamp) onto a new layer. I erased the parts that would cover Jennifer's face. Set this to screen.

Text Layer

Grab the text tool and create a new text layer. I used dearJoe: 18pt, Strong in white. It's a bit hard to read, but it says, "I'm friends with Madonna?!"

Brush Layer

Then I scribbled onto a new layer, and placed it over the text. If you make your own scribble, leave it at normal with an opacity of 43%. If you copy this brush onto your icon, set it to screen with an opacity of 100%.

Confused on the layer order? Look here. And you're done. :]

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:55:28 GMT

HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY FIGHTSTARR
I didn't think I'd have this journal for a year. AW.

Friend list

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 07:15:37 GMT

I have too many people on my friend's list, and I get really irritated when the numbers are all weird (LOL)..

So, if you've taken me off your friend's list, please comment here. You don't even have to say anything. Just type a period, I don't know. I won't take any personal offence, I just hate having to look through 160 usernames. The comments are screened.

Or, if you'd like me to take you off my F-list, comment as well. :)

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94	95	96

97	98	99

100	101	102

103	104	105

106	107	108

109	110	111

112	113	114

115	116	117

118	119	120

121	122	123

124	125	126

127	128	129