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+---- Thread: [Tut]How to make simple icons quickly using Paint.NET (/showthread.php?tid=490548)
[Tut]How to make simple icons quickly using Paint.NET - TomHimself - Jun 19, 2010
Hello guys.
I was playing around with Paint.NET and found out how to create simple & nice icons.
There are no plugin requirements, so you may be able to do this even on Linux/Mac OS X using Paint.NET-derived programs like Pinta.
Tutorial:
1. Make a new image, let's say 512x512 (that's what I used for my tut) and delete everything (Ctrl+A then delete).
2. Pick a color you are going to use as an outline of your icon. In this tutorial I'm going to use black, but I also tried light brown, orange and blue.
If you think you have the right color, select the "Rounded Rectangle" tool and draw a square of any size (for 512x512 icon I recommend a 400x300 square). Oh, and your brush width should be around 15-16.
Spoiler (Click to View)
3. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and pick two colors (if you don't want gradient fill, pick just one color and use the "bucket fill" tool.) you are going to use to fill your icon. I used #FCE8A4 as primary color and #FDCA01 as secondary color.
4. Switch back to the 1st layer and select the plain area inside the rectangle. Now go to Layer 2 and select the "Gradient" tool. Now do a gradient from top to the middle of your image (if you have picked 2 contrast colors, such as black & white, you can do gradient to the bottom of your icon).
Now we should have something like this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
5. Select the "Rectangle Select" tool and select one of the corners.
Don't do anything with the selection, just switch to the "Move Selection" tool. Now right click (and hold) on the selected area and rotate it to 45° angle.
Spoiler (Click to View)
6. Now copy the selected area (Ctrl+C) and create another layer (Ctrl+Shift+N). Paste the selection in it and then rotate the selection, both vertically and horizontally like this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
7. Pick the "Magic Wand" tool and select the corner we made in the previous step:
Spoiler (Click to View)
8. Switch your primary color to white and secondary to light grey - #C7C7C7 and again do a gradient from top of the corner to it's bottom.
Spoiler (Click to View)
9. Now merge down the fill layer with the one with outline.
Spoiler (Click to View)
10. Select the corner we made in Step #6 and invert it to the other side (hold down Ctrl and use the "Move Selection" tool) like this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
11. Switch to the layer with outline and fill merged together and delete the selection.
Spoiler (Click to View)
12. Select the "Line / Curve" tool and fix the missing outline.
Spoiler (Click to View)
13. The final step:
Outline the corner's layer. If you have the "Drop shadow" plugin, you can use it now.
If no, you have to do it manually. I recommend you creating a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) for this step.
Spoiler (Click to View)
And voila! You're done!
Spoiler (Click to View)
#---Optional steps---#
14. Create a new layer on the top of the 1st layer.
Switch to the bottom layer and select the fill & outline merged together using the "Magic Wand" tool.
Go to the new layer and pick the "Square Selection" tool and set the Selection mode to "Intersect" and select the upper half of your image.
Spoiler (Click to View)
Select a smaller area inside, like this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
15. Now set your primary color as white with opacity 155 and your primary color to whatever color with opacity 0.
We should have something simillar to this:
Spoiler (Click to View)
#---Optional step #2---#
You might want to add some text. But where?
I'll show you...
16. Create a new layer and select the "Rounded Rectangle" tool and draw a rounded rectangle on the top/left side. Brush width goes to 15-16 again and color to whatever you want.
Spoiler (Click to View)
17. Select the area inside it and once again, swith colors to:
Primary - White
Secondary - C7C7C7
Do a gradient once more, and now, we should be done. :)
Spoiler (Click to View)
Results
Here is what I got after playing around:
Spoiler (Click to View)
* - TomHimself - Jun 20, 2010
40 views and no reply yet? I'd like to get some feedback.
* - Resistance - Jun 20, 2010
Nice tutorial, Good job (:
* - Random_Hero - Jun 21, 2010
This is actually really good.
Very high quality. I liked the optional steps you added and the pictures to guide you through.
May it be noted, the effort you put in to even make the hexadecimal values the same colour - makes it much easier for us.
* - TomHimself - Jun 21, 2010
(Jun 21, 2010 04:49 AM)FSM72 Wrote: This is actually really good.
Very high quality. I liked the optional steps you added and the pictures to guide you through...
Thanks, I hope this tutorial is going to be useful for Paint.NET users, as there is only a small number of PDN tutorials. (Most tutorials are for photoshop)
* - TheLocksmith - Jun 21, 2010
I love it :D
I've made 3 xD
* - TomHimself - Jun 22, 2010
(Jun 21, 2010 02:58 PM)ItsMeHunter™ Wrote: I love it :D
I've made 3 xD
Great. I'd love to see them. Feel free to post them here :)
* - Hecker21 - Jun 22, 2010
Great tutorial, Might make some like this in the future :3
* - ThuND3r_KiNG - Jun 30, 2010
n1c3 7u70r14L 6R0 :-) GR347
* - jimmyblonde - Oct 11, 2010
great work man !!
hats off..
* - Twicks - Oct 11, 2010
Although I didn't like the icons too much, the tutorial was very nice!
Very well written and easy to follow. Helpful and descriptive text and pictures.
Thanks :3
* - »AUB™ - Oct 11, 2010
thanks mate. i will try to make one icon for my vb.net 🙂
* - ven0m - Oct 13, 2010
nice tut i will try it soon.
thanks for the share.
👍
* - Punjabiuploader - Oct 16, 2010
@ all above except me:- my pleasure guys