Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam08
Is there any tutorials on-line for how to make quality icons? My image works, but is seems I need to do some work to make the details stand out more:
That's supposed to look like a T-64, but I can't really see any details.
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There's a thread over at this site that gives a lot of helpful advice about making good SP icons:
http://spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...r=asc&&start=0
The thing I found most important is light.
Generally, the higher a feature is on a vehicle the lighter shade it should be. So the top of the turret should have the lightest colour.
When working on an icon, I will create a micro palette of the colours I'm using, like this:
Then choose a light shade for the highest feature and work down the palette as you work down the vehicle.
Look at the back of the Morris C8 FAT and the Kuebelwagen, notice how you can create a sloping effect by having a lighter colour at the top and then use darker colours as you move towards the rear bumper:
Notice the lightest colour on the open topped cars is the top of the windshield/windscreen (the highest point). Depth inside the cars is created by putting black or dark gray at the lowest point.
With SP icons always remember that the light source is coming from the northeast, so put the south and the west in deeper shadow. Notice the left hand side of the Morris C8 FAT is lighter than the right side.
Notice the tire behind the cab of the Bedford QLD 3 Ton, there's a tread pattern of light and dark gray, but the light and the dark gray both get darker at the ends of the tire to give the impression of being round.
Same with the mud guards over the Bedford's front wheels. The lightest colour at the top, which gets darker towards the front and back to give a round impression.
I used darker shades for features on the front deck of the Ford GPA (amphibious Jeep). Features create shadow, so should usually be darker, or a mixture of dark and light (like the MG turret on the roof of the Bedford cab).
Make sure you add dark shadow around the tank turret to distinguish it from the hull.
In fact you might want to zoom in on a similar tank icon (that you like) to the one you are making, and see what the artist did to make it look good.
Cross