VLC Player Icon Tutorial

Hey all,

Here is the tutorial that I promised a few days back. Took me quite some time to write this one.. it is quite long. You will see That is probably because it is so long… Here we go…

This will be the final result:

1. Start with a document 256x256px in size. Transparent background. Once opened, create a new layer and fill it in with White.

2. Hit Ctr+R (PC) or Cmd+R (Mac) to toggle ruler visibility. These are the scales that appear on the left and top of your workspace. Next, Click and drag out from the rulers to create guides. These are the lines that will help you make a symmetric shape using the pen tool. Draw them out like this:

3. Pick up the Pen Tool. Try to draw out a path similar to the following. I have taken screenshots at almost every step/point. So imitate!!

4. Close the path by clicking on the starting point. Right click anywhere on the image, and select “Make Selection”. This will convert the path to, guess what, a selection!! Fill in the selection with the color #f5721b.

5.
Save this selection. It will be needed later if you lose the selection somewhere.

6. Pick up the Gradient Tool. Set the gradient style to Black to Transparent. One a new layer, create gradients similar to the ones shown below. I have shown a white arrow depicting the motion of the mouse. Keep the length and angle exactly the same.

7. Create a Rectangular selection covering the right half of the cone. Then go to “Select>Load Selection”. Select the selection that you saved in the earlier step. If you didnt save it, dont fret, read on.
Hold down Alt and create the rectangular marquee on the right half. Holding Alt instructs Photoshop to subtract the new selection from any previous ones that are there on the screen.

8. Pick up the gradient tool. White to transparent. On a a new layer, Create a gradient from the right of the selection to the left. Set opacity to 30%. This creates an organic reflection.

[Sorry, no screenshot for this step. See the one below]

9. Load the previous conical selection. If you didnt save it, Ctrl+Click on the thumbnail of the cone layer.
Create a gradient as shown. Set opacity to 5-10%. This will give the cone a natural looking shade.

10. Pick up the Custom Shape tool. Click on the little arrow in the upper toolbar. This will give you more options for the custom shapes. Select the one shown. The name’s “Bull’s Eye” if I remember right…

11. On a new layer, make a stretched shape as shown. I have shown the black background only for clarity. You can work directly on your icon.

It will look like the following in your image… I have made a selection around it for clarity purposes. you wont see it in your image.

This completes your cone. Now for the base.

12. On a new layer, pick up the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Make a selection as shown, and fill with any color you like.

13. Hit Ctrl+T to free transform it. Right-Click on the rectangle, and select Perspective.

14. Click and hold the top-right corner and drag inwards. This will give your rectangle a 3D look. Like a vanishing point. Hit Enter to accept the changes.

15. Go to “Layer>Blending options>Gradient Overlay” for the new rectangle you just created. Set the following settings. Colors are #f9b200 and #f47e00.

16. Create a selection of the layer by Ctrl+Clicking on the thumbnail of the layer. Pick up a large soft, round brush. Set color to a dark maroon. Click once in the top right corner to create a shadow for the cone.

17. Next, open the layer styles again, and apply the follwing. the color is #cb4b00.
This will make an edge reflection kind of look.

18. Copy this layer onto a new one (ctrl+J). move it down a few pixels. A good way is to pick up the Move tool, and hit the Down cursor key a few times. Go to the Layer Styles of this layer, and select the color overlay. Set the color to a dark maroon.

19. This does make it look 3D, but it looks like a shadow instead of a thick base. To resolve this, make a selection similar to the follwing. Fill it with the same maroon color. This closes the edges, to make it look like a solid base.

20. Now comes the interesting part that finishes off the tutorial.
Select all the layers that have something to with the cone. (cone, black showdows, white highlights etc.). Once all are selected, drag then out to the New Layer button. This will create a copy of each of the selected layers, and put all of these copies together on top of all other layers. Now hit Ctrl+E to merge all these layers.
Now, go to “Edit>tranform>Flip Vertical”. This is what you wiill have:

21. Move this layer to below the original cone layer. Move it down so that it aligns perfectly with the base of the cone as shown. Erase the bottom part using a large soft eraser.

Final Results after some more tweaking:::

This is the image:

This is the 256×256 PNG icon that can be used in Vista. (XP doesn’t support PNG icons, you can use an addon for Photoshop that can save images as .ICO files)

Do comment on this long, long, long tutorial… PLEASE!!