Musings on, Art, Skinning, Computers, and the True meaning of Life. (AKA The Lego Theory)
Help, Help, I have to do the Help Icon.
Published on March 10, 2005 By mormegil In Icons
Icon 69 (Help)

I wanted to do the Scanners and Cameras icon today, but I want to put some time into that one, so I am going to put it off for a few days. I am gearing up to do the big portion of our move on Saturday, so I am going to do a some of the simpler icons we have left to do.

A while ago we did the "Folder Options" icon, in the process we made a glass checkbox. I liked the way it looked, and I think I am going to use that element to do several of the "Start" icons. Today we will start this process with the Help icon.
 
Step 1:

First thing we do is copy the Folder Options icon.
Step 2:

I delete the folder, and the reflections. And use the mesh tool to change the color of the center rectangle to blues.

Step 3:

Now I type myself a "?" and convert it to curves.

 
Step 4:

Now using the perspective tool I tweak my "?" to look like it is the same perspective as the glass block.

Step 5:

Now using the
contour tool I give our "?" a "poor mans bevel".

Step 6:

Once more with the
contour tool I give the "?" an inner contour to give it some depth.
I also give the "?" some
glare.


Step 7:

I put a temporary gray box behind the icon to see how it will look on darker backgrounds.
I also give the "?" a nice new
drop shadow.



Step 8:

Last thing we have to do is give it our standard
Reflection.



Finished Icon Design.





Click here to download the finished icon.

This should start us off on a bit of a string of  "Start" icons. Check in tomorrow for the "Run" icon. Se ya then.

Read the other Icon-A-Day Articles:
(Icon-A-Day Index)

Check out the CorelDRAW for Skinner Index, for links to all the related Video Tutorials.

And don't forget to check for all the Icon-A-Day icons as they get made, in the
Miscellaneous Icons Gallery at Wincustomize.com
All Images and Text in this tutorial are © Paul Boyer, and may not be reused without written permission.


Comments
on Mar 10, 2005
Nice mix of the techniques and material looks, Paul.

Thanks.
on Mar 11, 2005
Wow.. now this is a killer icon. I love it. Great work as always.