User blog:Loupi/Tutorial:Move Icons

In this tutorial i'll show you how to make move icons for your movesets. As always i use Photoshop for these.

There's two ways to make a move icon:

For this tutorial i'll be doing a move icon for Rick Grimes. So Level 1 move is your typical Gun attack. Depending on the character and move you might need to search a bit for a hand/gun that fits your preference.
 * 1) Edit an existing one.
 * 2) Create one from scratch.

I'll use part of the sprite to create the icon. So open the Move Icon Template and paste the sprite below it.

http://i.imgur.com/dhQShyp.png

Create a new layer and fill it with any color of your preference.

{|class=boxborderO width=650px {|class=boxborderI {|class=boxborderM style="text-align:center;"
 * - valign="top"
 * - valign="top"

Hint:
To fill a Layer with a color click Edit > Fill. Click on Use and select either Foreground, Background or Color. Foreground and Background colors are the ones on the left, the tool sidebar.

Alternatively hit Shift + Backspace and Photoshop will fill the layer with your background color.
 * }
 * }
 * }

I'm gonna rotate the sprite to point forward and not upward. Resize, rotate and edit your sprite as you see fit.

Now we'll work on the bg. Make a Layer Mask and paint black over the corners of the icon that you dont want the bg to touch (remember the corners are transparent).

Double click on the bg layer (not on the name area but around it) to open the Blending Options window. Click on Gradient Overlay and use the values in the image below (or play around to see what does what that's how i learned). Drag around the gradient (while the Blending Options is still open) and place it wherever you want. I'm bringing it to the right so the bright side is near the barrel of the gun.

http://i.imgur.com/Rj6tc7E.png

Now click on Pattern Overlay. Photoshop has some textures built in by default so select one you like and use the following values (you might want to play around with them depending on the one you use.).

http://i.imgur.com/yXtYoZ3.png

The one i used can be found here:

http://i.imgur.com/Y7UvRt6.png

If for some reason you can't find any patterns then google one, paste it on your icon, use the same method we used for the bg to hide the corners and set the Blending Mode (it's next to the Opacity in the Layer Panel) to Multiply or sthg else you like.

MAA icons sometimes have sunbursts on them so we'll use one to make the icon prettier. I use this one. Paste it and resize/position it as you see fit. Invert it by hitting Ctrl + I and set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

http://i.imgur.com/iFwiSY5.png

You could stop here but you might want to make it a bit better. So let's add a few MAA FX. Get the FX that Cyrus Annihilator has made available and i've organized here. Since this is a gun icon i'll use an explosion. I put it over the gun barrel and set the blending mode to Hard Light. I'm not satisfied with how it looks so i'm using Hue/Saturation to make it stand out more against the BG.

http://i.imgur.com/7Csy86I.png

I used a yellow flash, placed it below the gun, set it to hard light and came up with this:

http://i.imgur.com/99nQzxh.png

As i said this is one way. The other is kinda easier but not always effective. Go to MAA wiki and search for the type that corresponds with your move. In this case the Gun Type.

Winter Soldier's L1 ability works even though his gun is shorter. So we save it and open it. Rick doesn't wear gloves so we're gonna have to change the hand to look like skin. We've gone over the techniques for that on other tutorials so i won't go over it again. I'll change the color of the bg as well using Hue/Saturation and Layer Masks.

http://i.imgur.com/BqEnoUU.png

Obviously the result isn't the same but sometimes you have no other option.

This tutorial has kinda dragged longer than i expected so it will conclude here. If you have any questions about a move icon feel free to ask me.