| 1) Take your original image and crop, sharpen and smooth as required. |
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| 2) Create a new layer and fill it with #1D0C2E and set it to exclusion, opacity 100. |
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| 3) Paste this gradient by BTVS_Res (on LJ) into a new layer and set to multiply, opacity 20. |
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| 4) Paste another gradient by BTVS_Res (on LJ) into a new layer and set to multiply, opacity 50. |
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| 5) Paste this gradient into a new layer and set to soft light, opacity 55. |
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| 6) Paste yet another gradient into a new layer and set to soft light, opacity 57. |
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| 7) Paste this gradient into a new layer and set to colour burn, opacity 24. |
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| 8) The icon is currently far too dark so duplicate your base and leave it where it is (do not bring to the top). Set it to screen, opacity 80. |
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| 9) Duplicate your base again and this time drag it to the top. Set it to screen, opacity 30. |
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| 10) Duplicate your base and again drag it to the top. This time set it to soft light, opacity 40. |
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| 11) Paste this gradient into a new layer and set to screen, opacity 100. |
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| 12) Duplicate your base and drag it to the top, desaturate it and set it to soft light, opacity 100. |
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| 13) Paste this red blotch onto a new layer and set it to lighten, opacity 100. (Or using a large soft brush, with the colour something like #931620, paint on a new layer and set it to lighten, opacity 100.) Drag this layer down the layers so that it's under the blue-yellow gradient. |
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| 14) Select a pale colour from the icon (I used #F1F0EB) and add a small text brush, and some text in Freestyle Script. Add an outer glow in a dark colour from the icon (I used #190E19) and set it to darken, opacity 75, spread 0, size 4. (I also added a border in the same colour.) |
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| 15) I sometimes like to paste a merged copy of the icon into a new layer on top of all the other layers and go Adjustments > Auto Contrast just to see what it looks like, and then play with the opacity until I'm happy. |
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| Depending on your base the opacities and saturations of the screen and soft light duplicates may need changing. Also with some bases I don't like to use stage 6. |
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| Another example of these layers, with the addition of this light texture and this gradient, is: |
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