Build Me A Fab Website » PhotoShop Tuts & Freebies

Create a Paint Brush in Photoshop

PSDTuts — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:19:36 +0000

Creating still-life objects in Photoshop is often great practice for learning how to create other objects. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a realistic-looking paint brush using layer styles, clipping masks, and the not-so-commonly-used blend if sliders. Let’s get started!

Tutorial Assets

This tutorial uses a custom created pattern. Download here:

Paint Ripples Pattern

Step 1

Create a new document (2400px x 2175 px). Sketch out a scene of a paintbrush.

Step 2

This step is optional, but I’ve added some additional visual guides to help me draw the bristles.

Step 3

Before we start drawing bristles, create a New Group called “Bristles.” Inside this group, create a layer called “Bristles” and add the following Layer Style.

Step 4

Duplicate the empty layer 5 times. Since we are making a lot of bristles, we are going to be drawing them on five separate layers. If we tried to draw them all on one layer, the strokes would blend together and ruin the layer style that’s applied. Select the bottom-most layer in the “Bristles” group and, with a small brush, start drawing lines using the guides and sketch as references.

Step 5

Continue drawing bristles on the remaining four layers, adding some variation and stray bristles as you go. Feel free to add more layers as you see necessary.

Step 6

When you’re done, you’ll notice there are still several gaps in the brush. To fix this, create a new layer called “Black out” below the “Bristles” group and paint in a dark gray color (#1B1919) to fill all gaps.

Step 7

Next, we want to add some paint to the bristles. Before we add the obvious paint to the tip of the brush, we want to make it appear that bristles have ‘absorbed’ some of the paint. To do this, create a New Layer called “Inside Paint” below the “Bristles” group. Next, use the Brush Tool to add a blob of color as shown.

Step 8

To create the effect that the bristles have ‘taken’ the paint, use the Smudge Tool, set to 100%, to push the paint on to random bristles.

Step 9

Now, we can add the paint on top of the bristles. Create a New Group called “Outside Paint” above the “Bristles” group and use the brush tool to add another blob of the same color to the tip of the brush. Use the same technique with the Smudge Tool to push the color on to random bristles.

Step 10

To give the paint some variation, add the following Layer Styles. As an optional step, you can use the Eraser Tool (E) set to 1 px to erase lines from the paint. This will give the illusion that some bristles are showing through the paint.

Step 11

Next, we want to merge the layer effects to that layer. To do this, Right + Click on the “Paint” layer and choose “Create Layers” (this will convert the layer styles in to their own layers). Now, just select all the new “Paint” layers and merge (Command/Ctrl + E).

Step 12

Use the Dodge and Burn Tools to add some more variation to the paint. Make sure to dodge and burn in the direction of the bristles.

Step 13

Next we are going to add the streak of paint. Create a New Layer called “Streak.” Use the Brush Tool to add a streak of paint using the same color of paint that is on the bristles.

Step 14

Use the Dodge and Burn Tools to add some subtle variation to the streak. When you’re done, merge this layer with the “Paint” layer. Rename the layer to “Paint.”

Step 15

Now, we are going to give the paint that wet look. To start, create a New Layer called “Highlights 1″ and make this a clipping layer (use Alt + Click on the Layers Panel).

Step 16

Now, draw in some white highlights as shown. Set this layer’s opacity to 11%

Step 17

Open the layer’s Layer Styles and adjust the “Blend If: Underlying Layer” sliders as shown.

Step 18

Next, we are going to do the same with a darker color. Create a new clipping layer called “Lowlights” and use a darker red to paint in some lowlights.

Step 19

Set the “Lowlights” layer’s opacity to 72% and open the Layer Styles to adjust the Blend If sliders as shown.

Step 20

We can keep using this technique of adding highlights and adjusting its Blend If sliders to complete the ‘wet’ look of paint (I used this technique to add 3 more highlights).

Step 21

Now that the bristles and paint are done, we can create the rest of the brush. Hide all layers associated with the paint and bristles. Next, create a New Group called “Handle”. Inside that group, create 2 new groups called “Metal” and “Grip”.

Step 22

In the “Metal” group, create a New Layer called “Metal Band.” Using the sketch as a guide, create the shape of the metal band that holds the bristles in place. I found it easier to create the brush’s handle upright. It may help to go back to the sketch and create a copy to rotate it so that the brush is standing up.

Step 23

Create a New Layer called “Bevels” and draw in some bevels. You can use the Pen Tool if you wish, but I just used the Brush Tool.

Step 24

Use the “Bevels” layer to make a selection (Command/Ctrl + Click the thumbnail). Use this selection to Cut (Command/Ctrl + X) the “Metal Band” layer. Also cut out some holes for rivets. All of these cuts will give us more edges for the Bevel and Emboss effect in the next step.

Step 25

Add the following Layer Styles to the “Metal Band” layer

Next, add the following layer styles to the “Bevels” layer.

The result should resemble the image below.

Step 26

Next, create a New Layer called “Rivets.” Add a small circle at each opening on the metal band and add the following layer styles.

The image should resemble the following

Step 27

Now, to make the next few steps easier, merge the “Rivets” and “Bevel” layers together. Next, merge the layer styles to the “Metal Band” layer.

Step 28

Create a New Layer called “Reflections” and make this a clipping layer to the “Metal Band” layer. Use a dark color to draw in several lines to create the illusion of a reflection.

Step 29

Create another clipping layer called “Highlights 1.” Using a lighter color, draw in some highlights as shown. Use the Burn Tool to give the color some variation and the Blur Tool to soften some of the highlights.

Step 30

Create another clipping layer called “Highlights 2″ and using the same techniques from the previous step, add some additional highlights.

Your image should resemble the following

Step 31

Now that we’ve added reflections and highlights as clipping layers to the “Metal Band” layer, we will use the same techniques to add reflections and highlights to the bevels. After this is done, add any additional details as you see fit.

Step 32

Create a New Layer called “Grip” inside the previously created “Grip” group. Draw the shape of a brush handle and fill with black. Give this some noise (Filter > Noise > Add Noise) with a setting of 10%.

Step 33

Before we finish the grip, rotate and skew the “Handle” group in to position in our scene. Unhide the “Sketch” and “Bristles” group to help with the positioning.

Step 34

Now, we are going to start texturing the grip. We will do this with a series of clipping layers. Create a new clipping layer to the “Grip” layer and, using a soft brush, paint a portion of it white (see image below). Set this layer’s opacity to 3%.

Step 35

On a new clipping layer, draw a thinner highlight on the grip. Change the opacity to 23%. Open the Layer Styles and adjust the layer’s Blend If sliders as shown (this will break up the highlight so it doesn’t appear unnaturally smooth).

Step 36

I want to add some scratches to the bush’s handle for some added realism. To do this, open a new document and make a thin brush stoke. Select the stroke and go to Edit > Define Brush Preset to make it into a brush.

Step 37

Open your Brush Panel and adjust the settings to give the new brush variable size and scatter.

Step 38

Back to the main document, on an new clipping layer, use the scratches brush we just created to draw black scratches on the grip.

Step 39

Create another clipping layer and add a few more scratches, this time in white. Adjust the opacity of both layers so the scratches are barely visible (darker monitors might have trouble picking this up). Your image should resemble the following:

Step 40

As an optional step, you can go in to the “Metal Band” layer and use the same scratches brush to add scratches to the metal.

Step 41

Back in the “Handle” group, on a new clipping layer, use the Brush Tool to paint a soft highlight as shown (make sure you are not using the Scratches brush). Change the Blend If settings as shown and change its opacity to 80%.

Step 42

On an new clipping layer, create another, thinner highlight on top of the last one. Adjust the Blend If settings similar to the last layer we did and change the Opacity to 12%.

Step 43

On a new clipping layer, create an oval and fill it with white. Rotate it in to perspective and add a layer mask to erase part of the bottom of the oval. Adjust the Blend If slider and set its Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 44

Use a Brush Tool to add a bit of a highlight on the bevel. Use the Blur Tool to soften the highlight.

Step 45

Lastly, we can go back through the image to add some detail or make minor adjustments.

Step 46

Unhide all the working layers and you’re finished. If you want to, you can use the original “Grip” layer to add different textures. In this case, I’ve added a faux wood finish using a texture I’ve already created using Photoshop.

Final Image

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Create a Paint Brush in Photoshop is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Create an Open Book Icon In Photoshop

PSDTuts — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:02:31 +0000

Most people don’t realize how much time and effort goes into creating something like an icon. Icons can take many hours to complete and the techniques used can take a long time to perfect. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create an open book icon in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

Pages Stripes Pattern file

Step 1

Fire up Photoshop and create a new document. Make it 400px wide and 350px high.

Step 2

Now take the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and set your Foreground color to a neutral gray #7a7a7a. Then using that Paint Bucket Tool (G) fill the canvas with your neutral gray. Then, name your gray layer “Background”. Make a new layer, and then take the Rectangle Tool (U), and set it to Shape Layers.

Take that Rectangle too, and setting your Foreground color to #e7c681 draw a rectangle on the layer you just created.

Step 3

Because you used the Shape Layers setting, you will notice that, when looking in your Layers Palette, the normal layer you created at the beginning of the previous step has been transformed into a Shape Layer, aka Photoshop’s kind of vector! You will also notice a thin gray border around your rectangle. Now THAT is awesome, and you know why? Because now we can transform the shape without losing any quality! So, let’s do just that. Press Command/Ctrl + T to transform, and then holding down the Command/Ctrl key drag the corners as to create a shape similar to this.

Awesome! Now make a new layer, and taking the Rectangle Tool (U) just as before, make a new rectangle shape, only this time when you transform it, make it similar to the shape on the right side.

Step 4

Now it’s time to name our shapes layers, we don’t want them to have an identity crisis do we? So, go to your layers palette and re-name the first rectangle’s layer to “Cover 1″ (that’s the left-most rectangle one). Then re-name the layer hosting the other rectangle to “Cover 2″ (that’s the right-most one). Good. Once we have them named, let’s give them some layer styles! Either double-click on one of the cover layers (in the layers palette of course) or go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options and give it these styles.

Now click OK, to confirm your settings. Next, right-click on the Cover 1 layer (that’s the one we just added Layer Styles to) and choose “Copy layer Style”. Then right-click on the Cover 2 layer in the layers palette, and choose, well of course, “Paste Layer Style”! Now we have a pair of gold book covers.

Step 5

Now there’s only one small problem, we want the covers to be green-ish, not gold-ish. But we can fix it quite easily: Go to your Layers Palette, and you’ll see that each layer has a tiny thumbnail, true? Yes! Now hold down Command/Ctrl tab and click on one of those thumbnails and magic happens! You obtain a selection of that layer! Okay, from now on, this will be referred to as “obtain the selection of layer X/Y/Z,” okay? To have more magic happen, you can hold down Command/Ctrl + Shift + click on the layer’s thumbnail, to obtain a complete selection of multiple layers. Try it! Hold down Command/Ctrl + Shift keys + click on the thumbnails of “Cover 1″ and “Cover 2″ respectively, and you’ll see that you get a selection like this.

Okay, now you should know we DO have an actual use for this selection, namely this. Go to your Layers Palette, and look at is bottom. Among other icons you’ll notice, you’ll see one that looks like a Yin/Yang symbol, a sort of circle with one white half and one black half, true? Well, that is the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” icon! Okay, make sure you still have that selection we made above, and click on that icon. Choose “Hue/Saturation”. And choose these settings.

Good, now we’ll need that selection again you know? Command/Ctrl + click on the thumbnail of the Hue/Saturation layer we just created and voila, selection active ok, now go and pay another visit to the “Insert new fill or adjustment layer” icon. Only this time, choose “Color Balance” from the list. Give it these settings: Preserve Luminosity: Checked! Midtones: +21/0/-12. Highlights: +3/0/0. Shadows: +11/-10/-18 Make sure your Color Balance layer is above the Hue/Saturation one, okay? Otherwise you’ll start getting funky color shades. Obtain the selection of the covers again, and go to Hue/Saturation again and choose this.

Okay! Now you should be looking at something like, this.

Step 6

Awesome work! Now, if you want, you can use Photoshop’s awesome Groups feature to organize a bit your layers so, go to the bottom of your Layers Palette and right next to our familiar Yin/Yang circle you’ll see a folder-like icon, yea? Okay, click that and you’ll create a new Group! Move all of the layers you made until now (except the Background one) in this group, (drag the layer onto the group to include it in) and re-name the group to “Covers”. Okay, the next part will be a bit difficult to explain, so let’s take it slow okay? Make a new layer above your Covers group, and name it “Corner 1″. Now take the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and make a triangular shaped selection around the bottom-left corner of Cover 1.

Set your Foreground color to #e7c681 and using the Paint Bucket Tool (G), fill that selection on your “Corner 1″ layer. Then press Command/Ctrl + D to deselect. Sweet, now remember that layer style we copied earlier from the “Cover 1″ layer to our “Cover 2″ one? Paste the same layer style to the “Corner 1″ layer. You should get something like this.

Okay, now we’ll do the same thing with the other 3 corners, okay? Make a new layer, name it “Corner 2″, make a triangular selection, etc, fill with color, deselect, paste layer style, okay, do this for the remaining 3 corners, and then you should have: 4 layers, one above the other, named “Corner1″, “Corner2″, “Corner 3″ and “Corner 4″, each with a layer style pasted to it and overall looking somewhat like this.

Step 7

Only now, our corners look SO faded and spiritless. Let’s make them more lively then! Go to your layers palette, and holding down Command/Ctrl, click on the 4 Corners layers, action which will make all 4 of them a dark blue color, and then press Command/Ctrl+E to merge them. Now you have a single layer, which has all the 4 corners on it, and most important, has no layer styles anymore. ok, let’s see. Obtain a selection of your corners layer (Ctrl/Cmd + click on its layer thumbnail) and visit the Ying/Yang circle from before, choose “Photo Filter” From it, choose “Warming Filter 81″, 63% density. Click OK and then press Command/Ctrl + E to merge the Photo Filter with the corners layer, so that you have just one layer. Then, take the Burn Tool (O), and set it to a soft, round brush of about 50px in size, Range: Shadows, Exposure: 11%, Airbrush NOT checked. Brush a little (not very much, mind the exposure) so that you get a nice, golden tone. Then take the Dodge Tool (O) and set it to a round, soft brush of about 50px size as well, Range: Highlights, Exposure: 10%, Airbrush NOT checked, and brush a bit to give your corners some highlights, okay? This is what you should get in the end, or something like this.

Step 8

Okay, we’re done with them, name the layer to “Gold Corners”, and ta-daa, you’re done with them! Okay now we’ll have to take it slow again, because the next couple of steps are very much intuition-based. Remember those Cover1 & 2 layers? Good! Now go to your Group and duplicate the “Cover 1″ shape layer, and move it upwards, outside of your Group. Now, your Layers palette should look something like this.

Ok, now right-click on the “Cover 1 copy” layer and choose “Clear Layer Style”. This will leave us with the plain yellowish colored rectangle. Then press Command/Ctrl + T to resize it into something like this.

Take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and click with it anywhere on the surface of the yellowish rectangle. You are doing this to obtain the gray border around it. Next, click exactly ON that gray border, so that you have its Anchor Points visible, like this (you might have to zoom in to do this).

Step 9

Once you have the Anchor Points visible, take the Convert Point Tool (P) and clicking on the bottom-most anchor point drag a little bit, so that the handles become visible. Drag the handles so that you have this.

Ok, that will be our page’s base, so let’s rename it to “Pages Base” okay? Next, set your Foreground color to #d6bb8e and taking the Line Tool (also set to Shape Layers), set its weight to 20px. Create a new layer and on it drag to create a line like so.

Step 10

Okay, let’s finish this step and then we take a break for some chips & coke? Good, let’s take the Direct Selection Tool (A) again and doing exactly as in the previous step, drag the corner anchor points (zoom in a bit for that) so that you have something like this.

Then, taking the Convert Point Tool like before, curve the bottom & top sides a bit like this.

Step 11

Now it’s a good time to take a break: a hot bubble bath or something. Okay, back to work soldier! Ok, we’re at step 11 Let us add a texture of real pages to our latest shape, huh? Remember that pattern file from the beginning of the tutorial (in the resources section)? Download it, now it is needed. Make a new layer above all your others, and take the Paint Bucket Tool, set it to Fill with Pattern, and choose that particular pattern from the list and, well, fill. Press Command/Ctrl + T to transform the layer. Rotate it so that its lines are parallel to the edges of the Cover 1, and resize it to be about 50% of the original size like so.

Obtain a selection of the latest shape layer we made and on your pattern layer go to Select > Inverse. Then press Delete. Name this pattern-ed layer “Pages Black” for now. It won’t live long though. But for now name it like this. Obtain a selection of your Pages Black layer. Then create a new layer and set your Foreground color to #fdf8ea. Using the Paint Bucket Tool which you make sure to set to Fill with Foreground Color again Fill with the new foreground color that selection. On the newly created layer, of course! Now take the Move Tool (V) and move the whiter page texture a little bit to the left, so that it looks something like this.

Step 12

Name this layer to “Pages White”. Next, we have to take care of the “Light Side” shape layer a bit. Right-click on it and choose “Rasterize Layer”. Take the Burn Tool same settings as before, and burn it a little, especially around the “bottom” part. The use the same Dodge Tool as before to lighten the “top” part, so that it creates a realistic lighting.

Now merge the two lines layers with the “Light Side” layer, so that you make them into one. Make sure this newly-obtained layer’s name is “Light Side”. Right now you layers palette should look like this.

To make it even better, take the Eraser Tool (E) and set it to a hard, round brush of about 1-2px in size, and start erasing slightly at the top of the “Light Side”, like this.

Step 13

Let’s make the bottom side or the pages now. Take the Line Tool again with exactly the same settings as before, only difference being that you should now set the Foreground color to #9c8d6e, and draw a like above all your other layers, like so.

Next, use the same Direct Selection Tool (A) and Convert Point Tool as before to mold our shape into a book side, like this.

Step 14

Time to give it a similar pages texture! Make a new layer above your others and taking the Paint Bucket Tool (G), set it to Fill with pattern and select the striped pattern as before, and fill that new layer with it. Go next to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 degrees clockwise. As before, press Command/Ctrl + T to transform, and resize it to about 50% of the original size. Next, go to Edit > Transform > Warp, and make sure the lines are again somewhat parallel, like so.

Obtain a selection of the bottom side shape layer (the one we just created before) and then go to Select > Inverse, and press Delete. Next, make a new layer above it and do just like before: obtain a selection of it (of the lines pattern of course) and then on the newly made layer fill the selection with #a59d86 and, you know the drill. Move the lighter color a bit downwards, so that you get something like this.

Rasterize the shape layer as in the previous step, and using the burn & dodge tools we are already familiar with, give it a bit of good realistic lighting. You can then merge the pages pattern layer(s) with the rasterized shape one, and you can also name the layer “Pages Dark Side”, Like so.

Step 15

Okay but only one side is no good, so let’s work on the second side as well huh? Now make sure your Foreground color is set to #9c8d6e and taking the Line Tool (U) (of course don’t forget to set it to Shape Layers) like before, with a weight of 20px, draw a new line, on the right side this time, like so.

Nice, now, as you did in the previous steps, take the Convert Point Tool and giving your anchor points their controls and then drag them something like this.

Okay, now make a new layer above the Line shape layer we created a few seconds ago, and fill it with the Pages pattern, yes, like before. Now resize, rotate, crop then go to Edit > Transform > Warp and give it a shape like so.

Step 16

Ok, now confirm the Warp transformation and right-click on the pattern layer > Create Clipping Mask. Now create a new layer and move it in-between the Shape Layer and the dark stripes layer, okay now our shape layer should have two clipping masks right? Sweet! Now set your Foreground color to #a59d86 and Command/Ctrl + click on the dark stripes layer’s thumbnail in the Layers Palette to obtain its selection. Next, use the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill this selection with the #a59d86 foreground color, on the last-created layer of course, like you did in the previous step. Then move this lighter stripes layer a bit down, like before in Step 14.

Now right-click on the shape layer, choose Rasterize Shape Layer, then use the Burn Tool like in the previous steps, setting your Burn Tool to a soft, round brush, about 50px in size, Range: Shadows, Exposure: 5% and Airbrush: ON. If needed, you can also use the Sponge Tool (O) setting it to Desaturate mode, Flow: 27%, again a soft, round brush. Also, if needed you can use the Levels and/or the Hue/Saturation adjustment to lower its Saturation (this helps give the shadow effect, since in real life when an object is in the shade its colors are less saturated, just think of that) Okay, well now you can merge the clipping masks with their “master” layer. And as a final result of this step, we now have this:

Merge the resulting layer with the “Pages Dark Side” one. Now your Layers Palette should look something like this.

Step 17

Good! Now as a final touch, zoom in to around 400-500% and take the Eraser Tool (E), set it to a hard, round brush, size about 1-2px and erase slightly around the edge of the pages. Here is a comparison shot (I used pink background color to obtain contrast, for better visibility).

Now let’s work on the shadow. Remember that “Covers” group we made back in Step 5? Time to merge it. So, merge the whole group into one layer. Then create a new layer above the merged “Covers” one and right-click on it, choose Create Clipping Mask. Command/Ctrl + click on the thumbnails of the Gold Corners layer to obtain its selection like so.

Then on the new layer we just created fill this selection with the Paint Bucket Tool (G) using the #8c7330 color. After this, set the layer to Multiply blending mode, and then you can deselect. Ok, now we will take the Move Tool (V) and zooming in 2-300% we will press Command/Ctrl + T to transform it and resize it bit squeezing a bit from the 4 corners, then give the thingy a Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur of about 0.2, like so.

Okay, create a new layer and make sure it is placed just above the “Gold Corner” layer. Set it to Multiply and then Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnails of the Pages Dark Side & Light Side layers in the Layers Palette to obtain their selection, like this.

Fill this selection with the #8c7330 color we used before and then deselect. Using the Move Tool (V), move the “shadow” a bit down and a bit to the left, then blur it again with a 0.2-0.3 Gaussian Blur, like this.

Step 18

Now let’s take care of the pages. Take the Pen Tool (P) and let’s set it to Shape Layers, and set our Foreground color to #efd5a9. Then on a new layer above all your others make the shape of the pages.

Name this layer “Base Pages” for now. Now give your Shape Layer these layer styles.

Next, set your Foreground color to #b48455 and your background one to #efd5a9 and create a new layer above the “Base Pages” one, and then right-click on it to make it a Clipping Mask to the Base Pages, and afterwards take the Gradient Tool (G) and setting it to Foreground to Background and Reflected Gradient, drag from the middle like so.

Step 19

Now we’ll work on the flipping pages. New layer, above all your others. Set Foreground color to #cc9c6a and taking the Pen Tool (P) with same settings as before, draw the shape of the first flipped page.

Next, name this layer “Flip Page Left” and right-click on the “Base Pages” layer, choose Copy Layer Style, then go back to your “Flip Page Left” one and right-click > Paste Layer Style. Then create a new layer above it and transform this new layer into a Clipping Mask to the “Flip Page Left” one, and set your Foreground color to #f5e0b2 and you Background one to #cea06e and taking the Gradient Layer (G) set it to Linear Gradient, Foreground to Background and drag like so.

Good so far, now set your Foreground color to #fef9ed and taking the Gradient Tool again but this time set to Foreground-to-Transparent and Reflected Gradient, drag like so, to give your page a highlight.

Good, now your image should be looking somewhat like this.

Step 20

We’ll follow the same process for the Flip Page Right, and since it’s a repeat job I’ll just show the process through a series of images. Only specification is that we will make the “Flip Page Right” layer(s) under the “Flip Page Left” ones.

Step 21

Okay. Now let’s look at what we have until now. Well there’s something amiss, the pages aren’t casting any shadows now are they? That is an easy fix. Just go ahead and look at the “Pages Base” layer in the Layers Palette, see it?

Currently it has a clipping mask with a gradient on it, so let’s just create a new layer and move it to be a second clipping mask to the “Pages Base” shape layer, and make sure it is placed just above the gradient, like so.

Set this layer to Multiply mode, then set your Foreground color to #815130 and obtaining a selection of the two Flip Pages, fill this selection on the newly-made layer with the #815130 Foreground color. Next, transform it to get a result similar to this.

Now lower the layer’s Fill to about 80% or whatever number you think looks good. We’re not done with this yet, we need to Blur it but wait! Not the Filter blur, that’ll look weird you know, because the closer an object is to a surface, the more sharp its shadow is, right? And the further it is, the more blurred is its shadow! So let’s take the Blur Tool (R) and set it to a soft, round brush of about 50px in size, Strength: about 30% and blur the edges of the shadow, remembering what we just talked above. So that in the end you get a result similar to this.

One more thing for our shadow to be perfect! Take the Dodge & Burn tools and set them to: Dodge: soft round brush, about 50px in size, Range: Highlights, Exposure: 9% and Airbrush: Checked. Burn: Soft round brush of some 50px Range: Shadows Exposure: 5% Airbrush: Checked, Let’s Dodge a bit around the outer corners, and burn around the place where the “pages” meet, so that the outer edges get a reddish tint.

Step 22

Perfect! Sweet, now our icon is starting to look more like a book and less like a donkey, no offense Mr. Shrek-friend Donkey! Now let’s take care of the shadow effect which we SHOULD have around the place that the Flip Pages bind together okay? In order to do that we must have both our Flip Page layers in one single layer (well why, duh, because then we can use a nice Clipping mask which will spare us a lot of deleting trouble) So. Let’s look in the Layers Palette and Command/Ctrl + Click on the 4 Flip-Pages related layers (two shape layers and two clipping masks gradient layers) so that they are all 4 in a darker blue color like this.

Now press Command/Ctrl + E to merge them all into one. Re-name this new layer to “Flip Pages”. Oh, one tiny thing, in the process of doing the merging, it is possible that your layer will become a Clipping Mask to the “Pages Base” layer, so just right-click on it and choose Release Clipping Mask. Now the Layers Palette should look like so.

Okay, so now what we’ll do it create a new layer above the newly-merged “Flip Pages” and convert it into a Clipping Mask for the last, then set it to Multiply mode. Set your Foreground color to #815130 and taking the Gradient Tool (G) set to Foreground to Transparent and Reflected Gradient drag like so.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give your shadow a 8,5 – 8,7 Gaussian Blur, so that you get a result like so.

Step 23

Well all good and nice but the shadow needs to be deeper a bit. So let’s press Command/Ctrl + E to merge this first shadow layer with the “Flip Pages” one and then let’s repeat the process of creating a new layer & transforming it into a Clipping Mask to the “Flip Pages” one like we did in the previous step. Make sure your layer is set to Multiply like before, then set your Foreground color to #49260f and with the same Gradient Tool as before drag in a way similar to before, only notice this time we drag for a smaller distance, like so.

Now lower the layer’s Opacity to about 60% Good, now create a new layer and move it in-between the “Flip Pages” one and the shadow one (so now the Flip Pages has 2 clipping masks) and taking the Foreground color of #815130 drag with the Gradient Tool as before. Set the layer to Multiply and lower its Fill to some 20% Now feel free to merge the Flip Pages layer with its two shadow-y clipping masks and you should get a result like this.

Step 24

Nice. We will now take care of the spine, after which we’ll add the mandatory text on the pages. Okay first thing’s first, spine time. Set your Foreground color to #7e7633 and take the Line Tool (U) and setting it to Fill Pixels mode and a Weight of 3px, drag to create a sort of, inverted V, like so (I selected it in the image below so that it’ll be more visible for you).

Okay, now give the layer these styles.

Name this layer “Spine V”. So now our picture should look like this.

Step 25

Okay now let’s make the second part of the spine (the cover one you know?) Set your Foreground color to #544a15 and taking the Pen Tool set to Shape Layers, create a new layer under all your other book-related ones (so that this new layer will be the first one above the Background layer). Draw a shape like this.

Name the layer “Spine Base”. Then, make a new layer above it and transform this new layer into a Clipping Mask. Now, set your Foreground color to #221500 and your Background one to #372705 and take up the lovely Gradient Tool (G). Set it to Foreground to Transparent and Linear Gradient. Then drag to create a shadow effect, like so.

Now, press X to reverse your Foreground color with your Background one (so now #ff8e72 is your Foreground color now). Create a new layer and move it in-between the gradient one we just made and the “Spine Base” shape layer. Take the Gradient Tool again, but this time set it to Foreground-to-Background and Reflected Gradient. Drag to create a left-hand side shadow effect on the Base Spine, like so.

And now give your “Spine Base” shape layer this layer style.

Now merge the three “Spine Base”-related layers (one “sire” shape layer, one dark gradient at the tip of the inverted V and one a lighted left-hand side shadow). To do this, Command/Ctrl + click on the 3 layers in the Layers Palette so that they are all 3 in a dark blue color then press Command/Ctrl + E to merge them. After you’ve merged, re-name the layer to “Spine Base” and take the Dodge tool (you can leave the same settings we used in one of the previous steps, but lower the brush size to about 20px) and gently brush around the right-hand side of the spine, like so.

Step 26

Ah, the moment we all have been waiting for. Text-adding time! Okay let’s start with the “Base Pages” first. Currently (unless you merged anything) your “Base Pages” shape layer should have 2 clipping masks. Like so.

See the shadow-y one? The topmost one I mean, the one I noted with “1″ in the picture above? Okay, make a new layer and move the new layer in-between the shadow-y one and the gradient one (so, in-between 1 & 2). Then take the Pen Tool, set it to Paths mode and drag to crate a path like so.

Then grab the Text Tool (T) and choose a nice font (I used here Lainie Day SH). Set your Foreground color to #a17852 and start typing. After you have finished typing, set the layer to Multiply mode and lower its Opacity to about 85% Here’s my result of path-typing.

Okay, repeat the process once more to add a second path-text layer, move it upwards so only its bottom edges are visible.

Step 27

Okay now we’ll take care of the text on the Flip Pages. Make a new layer and move it just above the “Flip Pages” one. Take the Pen Tool as before and make a Path that follows the curvature of the page and type.

Then re-do this step over and over and over again so that you fill the two pages with text! Now for file-size economy purposes, Command/Ctrl + click on all these text layers to have them in a dark blue color in the layers palette let’s merge them all in one layer. It’s looking much better now. Re-set the layer mode to Multiply, re-name the layer to “Text on Flip Pages” and you’re good to go.

Step 28

Okay, just one more thing on the book itself to take care of, and that is the bookmark. After we finish dealing with that bugger of a Bookmark, we’ll create the pen and well that’ll be it. So bookmark time. Create a new layer and move it just under the “Flip Pages” one, like so.

Take the Pen Tool set on Shape Layers, set your Foreground color to #c52114 and draw the shape of the Bookmark, like this.

Okay now name this layer “Bookmark”. Create a new layer above it and transform the new one into a clipping mask to the Bookmark layer. Set your Foreground color to #480b04 and your Background one to #fa6e5c and taking your Gradient Tool (G) set it to Foreground to Transparent and Linear Gradient, and drag to create a shadow around the top side of the bookmark, as if trying to simulate the flip-page’s shadow, and then drag again but this time from bottom upwards to create the shadow effect for the “swallow’s tail” tip of the bookmark. Like this: (see the two shadows and the lighter-colored red between them? Try to get this effect).

Press the X key to reverse your working colors. Now take the Gradient Tool again but this time set it to Reflected Gradient, and still Foreground to Transparent. Drag a small distance to create a highlight effect on the Bookmark, like so.

Now it’s safe to Command/Ctrl + click on the Bookmark shape layer and its clipping mask and then press Command/Ctrl+E to merge them. You might have to re-name the layer to “Bookmark” again and perhaps use “Release Clipping Mask”. Now Command/Ctrl + click on the Bookmark layer’s thumbnail in the Layers Palette to obtain its selection. Then create a new layer and move it under the Bookmark one, name it “Shadow Bookmark”. Set the layer to Multiply mode and lower its Opacity to about 80%. Set your Foreground color to #480b04 and fill the selection with the foreground color, then you can deselect. And go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur of about 2,3. Okay, and now, magic! We’re done with the book itself! Congratulations! This is what it should look like, or close.

Step 29

Pen time! Set your Foreground color to #d2a756 and take up the Pen Tool, which you need to set to Shape Layers of course. Create a new layer on top of all your others. With the Pen Tool, create a shape like this.

Good, now give it this layer style.

Okay, your result now should be something like this.

Step 30

Name the Shape Layer we just finished adding a gradient to “Pen Body Gold”. Take the Pen Tool again and on a new layer above the “Pen Body Gold” and make this shape.

Next, give it this layer style.

Name it “Pen Body Silver”, and now make a new layer above all your others. Then taking the Pen Tool (P) again draw this ringlet shape.

And give it these layer styles.

Step 31

Okay, now your image should look like so.

Name the ringlet layer ”Ringlet”. Duplicate now that “Ringlet” layer, and move the copy upwards, like so.

Now only a little more distance to go! Let’s do the tip of the pen. Make a new layer and move it right under the “Pen Body Silver” one. Taking the Pen Tool again, draw this shape.

Okay, now name this layer “Pen Tip” and then go visit the “Pen Body Gold” layer, right-click on it and choose Copy Layer Style. Return to the “Pen Tip” one and right-click on it, choose Paste Layer Style. Then get into the Pen Tip’s Blending Styles options, and go to Gradient Overlay. Increase its Gradient’s Scale to 31, like so.

Step 32

Make a new layer above the “Pen Tip” layer, and take the Ellipse Tool. Set your Foreground color to #593f11 and your Ellipse Tool to the Fill Pixels mode. Draw an ellipse like so.

Okay now take the Line Tool (U) and set it to Fill Pixels mode, and weight to 1px and draw a line like so.

Name your layer “Details Pen Tip”. Okay, good! Now our image should look like so.

Step 33

Okay, now let’s take care of the shadow which the pen body casts on the tip. Command/Ctrl + click on the “Pen Tip” and the “Details Pen Tip” layers in the layers palette and get them in a dark blue color, then merge them together. Re-name the layer to “Pen Tip” and then make a new layer above it. Convert this newly-created layer to a clipping mask for our “Pen Tip” one, and set it to Multiply mode. Set your Foreground color to #6a5428 and take up the Brush Tool. Set it to a hard, round, 6-7px in size brush and drag once to create a shadow, like so.

Okay, now lower the layer’s Opacity as you think best, here’s what I got.

Step 34

Now it’s safe to merge the shadow-y layer with the Pen Tip one. One more thing left to do: you see, our pen is currently a ghost! It doesn’t have a shadow! So let’s bring it back to life, we can’t write with a ghost pen heh? Okay, create a new layer under all your PEN-RELATED layers and set it to Multiply mode. Set your Foreground color to #663316 and then Command/Ctrl + click on the thumbnails of all the pen-related layers to obtain a selection of the total pen, like so.

Okay, now with the Paint Bucket Tool (G) fill this selection with the foreground color. Deselect. Press Command/Ctrl + T to transform it and rotate it like so.

Then go to Edit > Transform > Warp.

Next, let’s take the Smudge Tool (R), set it to a 80% hardness, round brush with about 30% Strength and Mode: normal See where the shadow goes over the page flip and book covers? In nature, try taking a book or pencil, and try to make it cast a shadow over objects placed at different heights, you’ll observe that the shadow makes a kind of “steps” So let’s give our shadow some “steps”! Drag gently with the Smudge Tool downwards, like so (you might have to zoom in a lot for this).

Much better, isn’t it? Nice, now you can freely delete all the shadow that goes outside of the boundaries of the book covers & all. Nice, now let’s take the Blur Tool (R) and with the same settings we used previously (only lower the brush size to about 30px), blur nicely on our shadow, blurring more the farther from the tip it is (you remember what we talked earlier about shadow fuzziness yes?) The aim is to get something like this. Now name this layer “Shadow Pen” and we’re done!

Final Image

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Create an Open Book Icon In Photoshop is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Draw a Roll of Camera Film in Photoshop

PSDTuts — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:02:01 +0000

Icon design can be a lot of fun. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a roll of camera film using Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Step 1

Before we start, take a look to the layer setup.

Step 2

Creating the basic shape. Create a new layer named ‘Body’. Start with a Pen tool and create the shape described below.

Step 3

Now apply the following the layer style.

Step 4

Take a feathered Brush, Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail of ‘Body’. Create a new layer named ‘White_1′. Use white color, start painting as shown on next image. Now set the layer blending mode to Overlay.

Step 5

Use the same technique for next step. See result. Leave the layer blending mode on normal.

Step 6

I’ve used same technique again but this time, using black and also set layer blending mode to overlay and opacity to 42%. Take a close look at the next image.

Step 7

Using above techniques I’ve added more light and dark portions.

Step 8

Create a new layer named ‘Orange’. Take the pen tool and create the shape shown below. Fill it with color #ffa657.

Step 9

Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail of ‘Orange’, create a new layer. Take a feathered brush tool, color #e2481d and paint as shown on next image.

Step 10

Create next shape using Pen tool and fill it with white color. Set its layer blending mode to overlay. Take a feathered eraser tool, change it’s opacity to 50% Flow to 50% from Options bar. Follow next image.

Step 11

Again take pen tool and create the shape described below. After that follow the layer style.

Step 12

Take Pen tool and create the shape described below. Then hit Command/Ctrl + enter, now fill it with color – #fdc161. Take a feathered eraser tool, then follow the next image.

Step 13

Using previous techniques I’ve added more lights on the object.

Step 14

Placing the text. Use Vertical Type tool, and type your text. After that right click on the text layer and select Rasterize Type from the menu. Now hit Command/Ctrl + T on keyboard, right click on it, select Wrap from the menu. See the image. Using same technique I’ve added another text.

Step 15

Grab the pen tool and create the shape described below. Hit Command/Ctrl + Enter on your keyboard. Fill it with white color, set layer blending mode to Overlay and opacity to 25%. Now select all the layers and press ctrl + G to put all the layers into a new group. Name it ‘Body’.

Step 16

Create a new layer, use pen tool and create the shape described below. After that apply the following layer style.

Step 17

Follow step 4-6 and see next image. Use new layers each time. Use a feathered brush tool, use white and black colors, change brush size as required.

Step 18

Again grab pen tool and create the shape described below. Follow step 16 and apply the layer style.

Step 19

Again I’ve used previous techniques to add highlights on the object

Step 20

Use pen tool and create the shape described below. Follow step 16 and use the layer style.

Step 21

Again using pen tool create the shape and fill it with color #232323.

Step 22

Copy the layer shown on next image. Press Command/Ctrl + T on your keyboard, Right click on it, choose Flip Vertical and place it as shown on image.

Step 23

Creating the base of inner side. Create shape using pen tool or Elliptical Marquee tool whatever you like, now follow the layer style.

Step 24

Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail that we’ve just created, create new layer above this, and fill it with white color. Take a feathered Eraser tool and erase the highlighted area.

Step 25

Now create a circle with Elliptical Marquee tool and then go to Edit > Stroke, Width -2px, Color- White, Location – Outside. After that apply the following layer style.

Step 26

Again Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail that we’ve just created. Go to Edit > Stroke, Width -1px, Color- White, Location – Outside, and use a feathered eraser tool and erase the highlighted portion. See the result.

Step 27

Create the shape described below using pen tool. Now apply the layer style, which we’ve used in step 3. After that add some highlights using pervious techniques. Follow the image.

Step 28

Again copy the layer shown on next image. Hit Command/Ctrl + T on your keyboard, right click on it, choose Flip Vertical from the menu and place it as shown on next image. Also add some Highlights on it.

Step 29

Create a circle above using Elliptical Marquee tool and add stroke of 3px. Then apply the layer style, which we’ve used in step 3. Then using white color and a feathered brush tool add some highlights on it.

Step 30

Drawing the back portion of the reel. Use pen tool to create the shape. After that follow the layer style.

Step 31

I’ve added some highlights on the object. See next image.

Step 32

Command/Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail shown on next image. Create new layer, fill it with black color. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, Amount – 63.1%, Select Gaussian and Monochromatic.

Step 33

Again create the front reel using pen tool. After that apply the layer style.

Step 34

Add some noise using the same technique. I’ve also added some lights to it.

Step 35

Adding shadows. I created all of the highlighted shapes using pen tool. Fill them with black color. Erase edges of them using a feathered eraser tool. Decrease their opacity. See next image.

Final Image

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Draw a Roll of Camera Film in Photoshop is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Create a Download Folder Icon in Photoshop

PSDTuts — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:11:07 +0000

Icons are an important part of most interactive and web design. While icons are small, they can often be challenging to create. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a download folder icon using different shapes and reflections in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Step 1 – New File/Pen Tool Technique

Open Photoshop and set up a new document (Command/Ctrl + N). Use the following settings:

Resolution: 72dpi
Color Mode RGB color
Dimensions: 600×600 px

Create the following shape using the Pen tool (P).

Step 2 – Creating Shapes Using Pen Tool

Draw the back part of the folder using the Pen Tool using the same drawing technique. Then draw the stripe as shown.

Step 3 – Finishing the Shapes

Once you have finished drawing your folder, go ahead and add the paper and arrow as shown. You should now have the following 5 layers. Each shape will be in its own layer. Be sure to give each layer a unique name.

Step 4 – Adding Colour Effects

Add the following layer styles to the front part of the folder. Lower opacity to 90%.

Add the following layer styles to the Paper. Lower the opacity of the layer to around 90-95%.

Add the following layer styles to the Stripe.

Add the following layer styles to the rear part of the folder.

Add the following layer styles to the arrow.

Your icon should now look like this.

Step 5 – Adding Reflections

Add a new group named “refs.” Use the pen tool to draw reflections as shown. Make sure you draw your shapes as paths instead of shape layers (see arrow). After you have closed the path, right-click on the workspace and choose “make selection” (feather 0). Pick up a big brush (master diameter around 470, hardness 0) and brush round the right part of the selection as I did creating a white reflection. Change the blending mode to Overlay and reduce the opacity to 63%.

Step 6 – Margins

Create a new group named “margins,” create a new layer in it (Command/Ctrl + Shift + N). Adding highlights on the margins emphasizes the effect of the 3d icon. Use the pen tool to create the stroke lines around the corners and all the margins of the folder, paper and arrow. Then, right-click on the workspace and choose stroke path – brush. The brush settings must be changed to 8 px master diameter, hardness 0.

Step 7 – Shadows

Create a new layer (Command/Ctrl + Shift + N) for shadows and place it into a new group (Command/Ctrl + G). Make selection as you did in step 5 for creating reflections. Fill the selections with black and then blur the margins using the blur tool. If the shadows look too strong, it means that you must lower the opacity of the layer to 40%.

Step 8 – Adding Text

Add text using whichever font you like. In this case, I chose “Agency FB.” Font size: 40, Layer Opacity: 75%.

Step 9 – Add the Final Reflections and Shadows

Add some more reflections to the paper using the same techniques we demonstrated in Step 5.

Add a shadow using the ellipse tool (E). Draw an ellipse as shown and add a slight motion blur. Reduce the opacity to your liking.

Final Preview

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I added some additional icons that I created using the same techniques below.

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Create a Download Folder Icon in Photoshop is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 1 – Sketchbook with Pencil Icon

RSSFeed — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:29:09 +0000

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This is the first tutorial in a series called “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons.” We will design five icons that depict common tools associated with digital painting: a sketchbook with pencil, a camera for taking reference pictures, a paintbrush, a pen tablet and a large screen with a complete matte painting displayed on it. Let’s get started with the sketchbook icon!

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Tutorial and Series Details

Below are the five icons we are creating in this series.

Here is the icon we will create in this tutorial. Every artwork starts with the most basic combo, pencil and paper, so let’s do that first.

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour

Step 1

We’ll create the pencil first because it’s the trickiest item in our icon. Draw a small green circle at the center-top of the canvas using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M). Then make two smaller copies, one on each side.

Step 2

Activate Snap from the View Menu (Shift + Command + and create guides for the pencil. Snap to the three circles to mark where the pencil’s vertical edges will be. Draw a light yellow triangle on a separate layer below the circles using either the Pen Tool (P) or the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L), snapping to the guides to ensure symmetry. Name this triangle “tip.”

Step 3

Draw a black circle on top of the “tip” on a separate layer and name it “lead” (3a). Command-click the “tip” layer and use this selection to mask the “lead.” Right-click on the mask in the Layers palette and choose Apply Layer Mask to crop the “lead” to the “tip” (3b).

Step 4

Add two gray ellipses at the bottom guides, right where the metal clasp will be, using the Ellipse Tool (U) (4a). Copy the bottom ellipse, name it “eraser” and move it down. Change its color to a pinkish orange then rasterize all three shapes. With a simple rectangular selection fill in the gap between the bottom gray ellipse and the “eraser” (4b).

Step 5

Move the bigger green circle down a bit, then using the Pen Tool (P) draw the shape for the pencil’s body, snapping to the guides (5a). Adjust the position of the three circles so they look like a crown on top of the main shape then merge all green shapes together (5b).

Step 6

Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and snapping to the edges of the circles at the top, select each vertical side of the pencil’s body then hit Shift + Command + J to create a new layer from the selection, or go to Layer > New > Layer via Cut. You will thus obtain three layers. From left to right name them as follows: “top”, “front” and “bottom.”

When we rotate the pencil so it points to the sketchbook, the left side will be on top, the middle side will be at the front, and the right side will be at the bottom (6a). Let’s imagine that the light comes from the left so when we rotate the pencil to make it write on the sketchbook it will appear to be coming from the top. To comply with the light’s direction we have to make the “top” layer lighter and the “bottom” layer darker. You can use the Brightness/Contrast, the Hue/Saturation (Command + U) or the Levels window to accomplish that. It’s your choice (6b).

Step 7

Let’s shade the tip now. Add a pale yellow-to-orange horizontal Gradient Overlay style to the “tip” layer (7a) so the right part, which will be the bottom once the pencil is rotated, is darker (7b). To enforce the lighting we must also brighten the left side of the “lead.”

Lock its transparency so you won’t be able to paint inside the existing pixels (7c). Hit B to select the Brush Tool and make sure the color is pure white. Then paint a single stroke along the left side with a big, soft, white brush, while keeping the opacity to a low number (7d). This adds a nice, subtle highlight.

Step 8

Type D to activate the default colors (black and white). Create a black square on a new layer between the “tip” and the “lead” and name it “wood texture” (8a). Go to Filter > Render > Fibers and choose the same values as in image 8b. The resulting texture (8c) hides the “tip” so we reduce the Opacity to 50% and choose the Overlay blending mode (8d). The wooden tip now has a nice color and a realistic grain (8e).

Step 9

All we have to do now is deform the “wood texture” so it follows the contour of the “tip.” To do that type Command + T to activate Free Transform, then right-click the texture on the canvas and choose Perspective. Drag the top anchor points inward to fit the texture to the “tip” (9a). Take a look at what we have so far (9b). We want to add a bit of shininess to the pencil so let’s paint the main highlight on the “tip” on a new layer, using a soft, white brush. Reduce the highlight’s opacity to let the texture shine through (9c).

Step 10

Let’s introduce some color variation on the pencil’s body, it looks flat right now.

Select the Burn Tool (O) from the toolbar and set it up as in image 10a. It’s important to use a large, soft brush and very low opacity. Use several brush strokes to darken the top and the bottom of all three sides, making the bottom darker (more brush strokes). Try it on the “bottom” layer first to get a feel for the Burn Tool. Once you’re satisfied with the shading (10b), repeat this for the remaining two layers. Make sure the pencil becomes progressively darker as you go to the right and to the bottom (10c).

Step 11

Let’s make the edges pop out. With the guides showing and Snap active, draw a path along the left vertical side (11a). In the Paths palette double-click it to name it “edge” (11b). Now set up a 3px, hard-edged, white brush (11c). Create a new layer on top of the three sides and select it.

In the Paths palette right-click on the “edge” and choose Stroke Path. From the pop-up window select the Brush and toggle on the “Simulate Pressure” option (11d). This is what it looks like: a nice, tapered highlight (11e). Name the layer “edge.” Create a second edge by copying the first one. Make the copy a bit transparent since it’s closer to the bottom where less light arrives (11f).

Step 12

On to the metal clasp now. Hide the “body” and “tip” layers. Darken the top ellipse. It will be the hole where the wooden pencil inserts. Fill in the lighter ellipse to close the gap (12a). Apply a Gradient Overlay style with many highlights to get a nice metal surface (12b).

Step 13

Duplicate the “hole” ellipse. Name the copy “ring,” reduce its Fill to 0% then add a dark Stroke (13a). Erase the top half (13b). Now add a white Drop Shadow (13c) to simulate a highlight (13d). Make a bunch of copies of the “ring” and arrange them over the metal clasp (13e). Group all similar layers together.

Step 14

Before we move on let’s take a look at the layer structure we have. It’s important to keep files tidy. We can easily toggle layers on and off, which speeds up productivity. It also makes complex layer structures less scary to look at (14a).

Move the “CLASP” group above the “BODY.” Add an internal shadow by painting with a soft, black brush on a separate layer (14b). To complete the pencil we have to shade the eraser. First let’s scale it down a bit so it’s smaller than the metal clasp. Then lighten the left part and darken the right part. How do you do that? Just like we did for the “lead,” lock the eraser’s transparency then paint with low opacity brushes along the edges, white to lighten and black to darken (14c).

Step 15

The pencil is complete. Select all layers and group them as “PENCIL.” Duplicate the group and hit Command + E to merge all layers into one. Keep the original group for later adjustments, just in case, but work on the single layer from now on (15a). Rotate the pencil 135 degrees clockwise so it points down diagonally (15b). Lock this layer to avoid messing it up. You can see now that the shading suggests light coming from the top. Let’s keep that in mind.

Step 16

Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the top page of the sketchbook (16a). The sketchbook’s orientation nicely contrasts that of the pencil for a balanced composition.

Step 17

Shade the page with a soft gradient, from almost white (top) to a light gray (bottom) (17a). Using the Pen Tool again add thickness to the sketchbook. Use two shades of gray, making the bottom darker (17b).

Step 18

Lock the transparency of all three layers (page, side and bottom). Using soft, black brushes with low opacity darken the page at the top and bottom. Also darken the bottom thickness near its center. These color variations suggest a slight unevenness that makes the objects look a bit more natural (18a, 18b, 18c).

Step 19

Using the Line Tool (U) set to white, draw parallel lines over the bottom and side (19a and 19b). They represent the stack of pages, of course, so adjust their opacity to your liking. Group them together once you’re done.

Step 20

You can now duplicate all the sketchbook layers and merge them together. Again, keep the original layer structure for any changes you require down the line. When creating icons you optimize the smaller sizes (48px, 32px, 16px) by eliminating those elements that won’t be readable anymore, for example the page lines. Add a Drop Shadow to the sketchbook using a simple layer style.

Step 21

The light comes from the top so the pencil projects a shadow onto the sketchbook. Duplicate the pencil layer and turn it black. I usually hit Command+ U to bring up Hue/saturation and move the Lightness slider all the way to the left. But everyone develops a unique workflow.

Skew the shadow (Command + T, right-click and choose Skew) so it lies parallel to the sketchbook’s top and bottom sides (21a). Alt-click the line between the “sketchbook” and the “shadow” layers to mask the shadow with the sketchbook’s contour (21b).

Step 22

Reduce the shadow’s fill to 0%. Add a Gradient Overlay, making the left color stop transparent and the right color stop black (22a). The shadow now fades away from the tip of the pencil to the border of the page. Blur the shadow using the Blur Tool. The farther from the tip, the blurrier (22b).

Step 23

The icon is now complete. All we have to do now is draw a little sketch on the page. I’ll leave you free to draw whatever you want. Just pick a brush with a little texture from the Brush Presets (hit F5) and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

The first icon in this “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series is complete. We have learned to use subtle brush strokes to give presence to otherwise plain looking objects. We also employed a simple but effective compositional trick to fill the square canvas nicely. Stay tuned for the next tutorial in this series, which is the camera icon!

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Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 1 – Sketchbook with Pencil Icon is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 3 – Paint Brush Icon

RSSFeed — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:58:25 +0000

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Welcome to the third tutorial in the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series. In this installment we will create a paint brush icon, complete with wooden palette and paint dollops. We will employ textures, layer styles and a good sense of lighting to create a fun looking icon.

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Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial and Series Details

Below are the five icons we are creating in this series. In this tutorial we’ll be making the paint brush icon.

Take at the look at the finished icon in this tutorial, which combines a touch of realism and a touch of fun. They both never hurt!

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Later
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Step 1

We will need two wood textures for this icon so let’s download them from StockXchng: first texture and second texture.. Start Photoshop and create a new blank document that is 512 pixels by 512 pixels. Set the foreground color to a pale yellow then type P to select the Pen Tool. Make sure the Shape layers mode is active (1a) and draw the outline of the palette (1b). Name the layer “palette.”

Step 2

In the Pen Tool options choose Subtract from path area (2a) and draw an ellipse. It will be subtracted from the main shape, thus creating a hole (2b).

Step 3

The palette’s shape is complete. Duplicate the layer then hide it. We will keep working on the copy. We are satisfied with the shape so we can right-click on it and choose Rasterize.

Import the first texture into the document, place it above the palette. Scale it and rotate it so it’s slightly bigger than the palette and its grain runs at an angle. Command-click the palette to load its contour as a selection, then mask the texture by clicking on the mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette (3a). The palette is starting to look good (3b).

Step 4

We want the texture to be much lighter than it is so hit Command + M to bring up the Curves window. Click the curve directly in the middle and drag up (4a) to lighten the texture (4b). At this point you might want to adjust the rotation like I did here (4c).

Step 5

We can now merge the two layers, “palette” and “texture,” together. Select the “texture” layer, right-click on the mask and choose Apply Mask. Then hit Command + E to merge the layer down. A dialog will appear asking what you want to do with the palette’s mask. Choose Apply. Now we have a single layer (5a).

Let’s give the palette some thickness by adding a Bevel and Emboss layer style. Make sure you pick a dark brown color for the shadow instead of the default black (5b). The palette now looks much better (5c) but it’s not finished yet.

Step 6

Add a Gradient Overlay style (6a) so the top is lighter (6b). Now duplicate the layer, naming the copy “palette shadow.” Clear all styles. Move the shadow below the palette and make it a bit smaller (6c). Fill it with dark brown, set it to Multiply mode and reduce the Opacity to 65% (6d). Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and experiment with the values until the shadow looks similar to image 6e.

Step 7

Let’s add the paint dollops now. Using the Pen Tool in Shape layer mode draw a few colored blobs around the palette (7a). Select the blue one and add a Bevel and Emboss style (7b). The paint now looks thick and shiny (7c).

Let’s add some ambient reflections by adding an Inner Glow style too (7d). Now it looks more realistic (7e). Right-click on the blue paint layer in the Layers palette and choose Copy Layer Style. Now right-click on the other paint layers and choose Paste Layer Style. Change the settings to achieve some variation (7f).

Step 8

The paint dollops need a shadow. Let’s create one for the blue dollop then apply the same workflow to the others. Make a copy of the paint layer and rasterize it. Fill it with black (8a). Apply a 2px Gaussian Blur filter (8b). Set the layer to Multiply at 60% Opacity (8c) and move it behind and below the paint dollop. Image 8d shows the result for all paint colors. Note how the shadows are short, blurry and variously transparent. At this resolution some variation is always advisable.

Step 9

Let’s go back to the palette now because I am not satisfied with it. It’s too polished! Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use the settings shown in image 9a to add a fine grain to the texture. Now it’s finished (9b). Group all layers together as “PALETTE” and hide them.

Step 10

Let’s create the brush now. Draw a long, thin ellipse down the middle of the canvas. Use either the Pen Tool (and rasterize the shape once you’re satisfied with it) or the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M). Fill the ellipse with a subtle reddish-brown gradient. Make the left side darker (10a). This is of course the handle of the brush. Since it’s rounded we need to add a highlight across its length. Make a copy of the layer and scale it down horizontally (10b). Set it to Screen blending mode (10c).

Step 11

The handle is tapered at each end so we need to make the highlight conform to that shape. Hit Command + T to select Free Transform, then right-click on the highlight directly on the canvas, and choose Warp. In the Option bar at the top of the window choose these settings: Arc, toggle on the axis chooser and set Bend to -5 (11a). The highlight now bends to the right (11b). Duplicate the layer a few times then merge all copies together. This will make the highlight stronger (11c). Apply a 2px Gaussian Blur (11d).

Step 12

It’s time to add a wood texture to the brush. Drag the second downloaded texture into the document and scale it to fit the handle (12a). Mask the texture to the handle (12b). Apply the mask and merge the texture down. The result is nice but too dark (12c). With Command + L bring up Levels and drag the right slider to the left until the wood is light enough (12d). Adjust the highlight by making it brighter and less opaque (12e and 12f).

Step 13

Now we need to add the metal grip where the bristles are attached. Draw a black rectangle about 3/4ths down the handle (13a). With the Elliptical Marquee Tool select the top edge and delete a half ellipse (13b). Now make another selection at the bottom edge and fill it with black (13c). The result is shown in image 13d.

Step 14

Adjust the length of the metal grip if you need to. Use a horizontal Gradient Overlay to simulate reflections on metal, use the colors shown in image 14a. Now make a copy of the grip, move it behind the original and nudge it up a few pixels. Command-click the grip and erase the selection from the copy (14b). Now add a Drop Shadow pointing downwards (14c). The result is a small indented ring (14d). Make a few copies and distribute them across the metal grip. When you’re done merge all layers together (14e).

Step 15

Let’s create the bristles now. Erase the bottom part of the handle, or just mask it out (15a). Draw the outline of the bristles with the Pen Tool in Shape layer mode (15b). Rasterize the shape when you’re satisfied with it and name it “bristles.”

Step 16

On a new layer select a thin horizontal stripe (16a), hit D to load the default black and white colors then Alt + Backspace to fill the selection with black. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and choose the settings shown in image 16b. Activate Preserve Transparency for the layer (16c) and go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic and choose a Cell size of 5 (16d). Now the strip is filled with random grayscale pixels (16e).

Step 17

Type Command + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation window. Activate Colorize and move the sliders (17a) until the strip turns brown (17b). Stretch the layer vertically (17c) and squash it horizontally (17d). Copy it horizontally a couple of times until it covers the bristles (17e).

Step 18

Reduce the Opacity temporarily so you can see the outline of the bristles. Activate Free Transform (Command + T) and select Warp from the right-click menu (18a). Manipulate the points until the vertical lines match the shape of the bristles below (18b). When you’re done bring the Opacity back to 100%. Alt-click between the two layers to mask the lines with the bristle outline and merge the two layers together (18c). Group the bristles, handle and metal grip together as “BRUSH” (18d).

Step 19

Now let’s compose the palette and brush into the final view. Squash the palette vertically and move it to the bottom of the canvas. Rotate the brush 45 degrees counterclockwise (19). Let’s examine the shot. The light comes from the top of the palette, the paint dollops and the brush’s handle and metal grip are lit accordingly. The bristles are not though. Let’s correct that immediately.

Step 20

Select the Burn Tool (O) and set it up as in image 20a. Paint the base and the bottom of the bristles to darken them (20b). Now select the Dodge Tool (O), set it up as in image 20c and paint a highlight across the middle of the bristles, where the light falls (20d).

Step 21

On a new layer draw some blue paint on the brush with the Pen Tool (P) and position the blue paint dollop directly below the bristles of the brush. Now it looks like we just dipped the brush in the blue paint (21a). Apply Bevel and Emboss to the paint on the brush (21b) to match the lighting (21c). The brush is finished so we can merge all its layers together.

Step 22

The last thing to add is the brush’s shadow on the palette. Duplicate the brush and make the copy black (22a). Move it below the brush and modify its shape so it lies flat across the palette. To do that enter Free Transform (Command + T) and use a combination of Skew and Distort, both accessible from the right-click menu (22b). Mask the shadow to the palette (22c). Shadows are generally set to the Multiply blending mode and their Opacity varies from 40% to 70%. Pick 40% this time to keep the shadow subtle (22d).

Step 23

Now let’s apply a 3px Gaussian Blur to the shadow (23a). Type Q to enter Quick Mask mode. Paint a black-to-white gradient from the top-left to the bottom-right corner. You will see a red gradient fading out: that represents the part that will be masked out (23b). Hit Q again to exit Quick Mask mode and the gradient will now be a selection. Apply it as a mask to the shadow. As you can see the shadow now fades away from the tip of the brush (23c). The icon is finished.

Conclusion

This was the third installment in the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series. We employed textures, vector shapes, layer styles, filters and brushes: a well-rounded workflow that exploits Photoshop’s many tools. Until next time, when we will create a digital tablet icon, have fun painting!

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Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 3 – Paint Brush Icon is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

How to Make a Highly-Textured Site Layout in Photoshop

RSSFeed — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:27:57 +0000

This post was generated by an RSS Feed from PSDTuts

In this tutorial, we’ll create a textured site layout by layering multiple images. Creating highly-textured web design layouts is easier than you may think. You can learn to build image intensive designs rapidly. For intermediate Photoshop designers creating this design will take less than an hour, and you’ll learn some professional tips along the way. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

Program: Photoshop CS4
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 60 minutes

Take a look at the site design we’ll be creating below.

Materials Needed

Download grunge texture
Download wood seamless texture
Flower stock image (included in the Psd Plus source files)
Leaf stock image: (included in the Psd Plus source files)

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

In this tutorial we’ll use some stock images to create a highly-textured web layout. Let’s start by creating a new document with the following size: 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels.

Step 2

Now go ahead and download the seamless wood texture from Grafplus.com. Here you can find the download link: Download wood seamless texture. Open the “texture-small.jpg” in Photoshop and then go to Edit > Define pattern. Choose a name for your pattern and click OK. You can now close the image with the wood texture.

Step 3

Select the “background” layer and press on Command + J. This shortcut will duplicate the “background” layer. Select this new layer and from the top menu select Layer > Layer Style > Pattern Overlay… Use the pattern you created a few seconds ago.

Step 4

Use the Rectangle Tool to create some vertical bars with different colors/

Step 5

Select all these shapes in the layer palette by holding down the Command key and with your mouse click on each layer). In this way you will select all the shapes.

Step 6

When you have all shapes selected press on Command + E (this shortcut will merge all the layers into a single one). Change the blending mode to Color Dodge, and the Opacity value to between 40% and 50%.

Step 7

Now it is time to add another great stock image. Visit grafplus one more time and download the following image: grunge texture. Place this image in your document at the top. Go to File > Place, and select this nice grunge texture.

Step 8

Be sure you have this layer selected and then apply a simple drop shadow. Layer > Layer styles > Drop Shadow.

Step 9

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to make a selection as shown.

Step 10

Be sure you have the layer with the grunge texture selected, and then press Command + J (this shortcut will create a new layer via cut). Select the new layer and rotate the layer 180 Degrees (Edit > Transform > Rotate 180. Place this new layer on top of the layout with the Move tool. Go ahead and add your logo now as well. For this tutorial I’m using the text: “PSDtuts+.”

Step 11

Change the blending mode for the text logo to Color Burn.

Step 12

Use the same technique to cut some buttons and a footer. Here you can see the result.

Step 13

If you want to create a distinct button with another color you have to select the layer with the button you want to make it unique, and then press Command + U to bring up the Hue/ Saturation settings. Check the Colorize checkbox, and move the sliders to the right or left until you’re happy with the result.

Step 14

On the right side, create a white shape with the Rectangle Tool.

Step 15

Use the Line Tool to create some thin lines and place them over the white shape. The color used for the lines is #d3d1d2.

Step 16

Select the white shape and the lines in your layer palette, and then press Command + E to merge down all the layers. Select the Eraser Tool and with a small, round brush delete some parts of the layer until you have a realistic piece of paper.

Step 17

Now add the following layer styles.

Step 18

Use the Horizontal Type Tool to add some text. I used the Myriad Pro font (you will find the font in windows 7 and vista).

Step 19

Now add another image in the middle of the layout, and on the right side of the image add two arrows. The arrows you will find under the Custom Shape Tool.

Step 20

Together with the PSD file you will find two stock images in the Psd Plus source files for this tutorial. Of course, if you’re not a Plus Member then you can search for equivalent images on the web. The first one is a leaf, and the second one is a red flower. Open both images in Photoshop and remove the background. Both photos are very high quality at around 4000 pixels, and you can remove the background with the Magic Eraser Tool, or use your preferred method.

Step 21

Place the image with the leaf on the right side of the layout under the white piece of paper.

Step 22

Duplicate the layer with the leaf several times and place these multiple leafs in different positions as shown.

Step 23

The last step is to place the red flower over the green leaves.

Final Result

Here is the final result. Have fun creating your own highly-textured Photoshop site layouts.

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How to Design a Phone Icon in Photoshop

RSSFeed — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 19:20:33 +0000

As modern people, we all have a certain attraction to the fresh gadgets offered by latest technology. Here we talking about Phones which I find usually amaze me more than anything. Phones are often reinterpreted by many artists according to their view or outlook of the type. Unsurprisingly, these interpretations are often sure-fire hits with many other designers out there.

In this detailed Photoshop Tutorial, you will learn how to create a high end professional Phone icon with a limited knowledge in Layers and Layer Styles. The only necessary skills to get through this tutorial are the basic knowledge of how to use the most common tools in Photoshop. In just a few steps we are going to create a truly eye catching Phone icon ready to be used in any way you want and can think of.

When it comes to Image editing or photo enhancement, Adobe Photoshop is usually the primary option to consider. However, the software package itself is a quite hard to learn — and extremely hard to master.

For those, who don’t know what is Adobe Photoshop? And what it can do? Then follow the link below for detail introduction.

Final Result

Let’s see what you will be creating in this tutorial. You may click on the image to see the full scale version.

Materials Needed:

Brushed Metal Wallpaper (as a pattern) by fardouk

Let’s Start!

Step 1: Creating New File

We are going to start by creating a new file using Photoshop CS4. After opening Photoshop go to File >> New… or you can just use Ctrl+N. Use the settings in the image below for your new file.

Step 2: Setting Up The Background

Now lets set the background layer Blending Options to the settings in the image below for Gradient Overlay.

Step 3: Creating the Phone Body – Create The Shape Layer

So, now after the background layer is ready we can start creating the phone shape layer. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and set shape color to Black and 20px radius of rounded corners as shown in the image below. Then draw a rectangle shape with a fixed size of 360px*560px for this tutorial, but you are free to choose the size you like for your version. Then rename your new shape layer to “phone”.

Step 4: Creating the Phone Body – Applying Layer Styles

After creating the shape layer for the phone we will have the following result. Now press Ctrl+A while your “phone” layer is selected and then choose the Move Tool (V) and then go to Layer >> Align Layers to Selection >> Vertical Centers then Horizontal Centers this will make our phone aligned to the middle of our canvas.

Now open the “phone” layer blending options and use the settings in the images below for Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow, Gradient Overlay, Pattern Overlay (use the Brushed Metal Wallpaper as a pattern. Or, you can create your own Metal texture via this photoshop tutorial), and Stroke.

Importing The Brushed Metal Wallpaper as Pattern

You can create a pattern from the wallpaper by simply opening the wallpaper in Photoshop and then goto Edit >> Define Pattern… and then give it a name that you like.

If you got everything right the “phone” shape layer should look exactly as the image below.

Step 5: Creating The Phone Screen – Create The Shape Layers

We can now start creating the screen shape layers. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and set shape color to Black and 10px radius of rounded corners as shown in the image below. Then draw a rectangle shape with a fixed size of 300px*400px. Then rename your new shape layer to “screen 1″.

Now align the “screen 1″ shape layer horizontally to the canvas as we did with phone shape layer in Step 4, but don’t align it vertically just move it vertically so that most of the lower third of the phone shape is clear. You can use the image below as a guideline.

Step 6: Creating The Phone Screen – Duplicating The Shape Layer

Now we are going to duplicate the “screen 1″ shaper layer 3 Three times by going to Layer >> Duplicate Layer… and call the new layers “screen 2″, “screen 3″ and “screen 4″.

Step 7: Creating The Phone Screen – Applying Layer Styles

Now that we have four similar screen shape layers we are going to apply styles to every layer. Select “screen 1″ shape layer and then select Blending Options and apply the settings in the images below for Inner Shadow, Gradient Overlay and Stroke.

The “screen 1″ layer should look like the image below.

Now we are going to apply styles to “screen 2″ layer. Select “screen 2″ shape layer and then select Blending Options and apply the settings in the images below for Fill Opacity, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow and Gradient Overlay (I used the same gradient colors as in layer “screen 1″).

The “screen 2″ layer should look like the image below.

Now we are going to apply styles to “screen 3″ layer. Select “screen 3″ shape layer and then select Blending Options and apply the settings in the images below for Fill Opacity and Satin.

The “screen 3″ layer should look like the image below.

Now we are going to apply styles to “screen 4″ layer. Select “screen 4″ shape layer and then select Blending Options and apply the settings in the images below for Fill Opacity and Bevel and Emboss.

The “screen 4″ layer should look like the image below.

Step 8: Creating The Phone Screen – Create Screen Light Reflection

Now let’s add a little light reflection to the screen to make it more realistic. Create the Shape layer as shown in the image below. Rename the new layer to “screen reflection”.

Select “screen reflection” shape layer and then go to Blending Options and use the settings in the images below for Fill Opacity and Gradient Overlay.

Now you should have a result similar to image below.

Step 9: Creating The Phone Navigation Dial – Create Shape Layers

Using the Ellipse Tool (U) create a circle shape with a fixed size of 85px*85px, set shape color to Black and rename the layer to “navigation 1″, duplicate the shape layer as “navigation 2″. Place the Shape layers as shown in the image below.

Step 10: Creating The Phone Navigation Dial – Applying Layer Styles

Now, select layer “navigation 1″ and then Blending Options and use the settings in the images below for Blend Mode, Bevel and Emboss, Gradient Overlay and Stroke.

Layer “navigation 1″ should look like the image below.

Now, select layer “navigation 2″ and then Blending Options and use the settings in the images below for Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, Gradient Overlay and Stroke.

Layer “navigation 2″ should look like the image below.

Step 11: Creating The Phone Command Buttons – Create Shape Layers

Using the Pen Tool (P) create a shape similar to the image below, set shape color to Black, top right corner radius to 10px and rename the layer to “command 1″, duplicate the shape layer as “command 2″, “end call” and “accept call”. Place the Shape layers as shown in the image below.

Step 12: Creating The Phone Command Buttons – Apply Layer Styles

Now apply the Inner Glow, Gradient Overlay and Stroke to all four command layers as in the images below.

Now apply the Bevel and Emboss style for layers “command 1″, “end call”, “command 2″ and “accept call” as the images below consecutively.

The result should be as in the image below.

Step 13: Creating The Phone Command Buttons – Create Command Buttons Engravings

Now we finish command buttons by creating the engravings on them. Using Line Tool (U) create with a weight of 3px and a width of 30px and set layer color to Black. Duplicate the Layers 3 times and align them to each command button as in the image below.

Step 14: Creating The Phone Command Buttons – Apply Style to Engravings

Apply the Blending Options settings for all layers for Inner Shadow, and apply Blending Options settings to each layer as in the images below. Apply the red styles to the end call button engraving, green styles to the accept call button engraving and blue to “command 1″ and “command 2″ engravings.

Step 15: Creating The Phone Navigation – Create Engravings

Now using Pencil Tool (B) with a master diameter of 3px, then create a new empty layer by going to Layer >> New >> Layer… or use the shortcut Shift+Ctrl+N, and then draw a shape like the one in the image below (use Black as color). Repeat the same step on a new layer but use White as color.

Step 16: Creating The Phone Navigation – Create Engravings

Now align the two layers to “navigation 2″ layer to the center horizontally and then move the white layer one time to the bottom. Then duplicate the layers and rotate them 90 degree CW by going to Edit >> Transform >> Rotate 90 CW and repeat this 2 times, and distribute each two sets on the dial as in the image below.

Step 17: Creating The Phone Speaker

Now we are going to create the speaker using Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) with fixed width and height of 100px*8px and using the settings in the image below.

Create using the settings two shape layers call the lower layer “speaker back” and the hight layer “speaker”. Position both layers to center of the phone horizontally and at the top of the phone above the screen in the space available, just like the image below.

Step 18: Styling The Phone Speaker

Select the “speaker back” layer and open Blending Options and use the settings in the image below for Bevel and Emboss.

Select the “speaker” layer and open Blending Options and use the settings in the images below for Blend Mode, Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss and Contour.

You should have a result like the image below.

Step 19: Creating Phone Shadow

Now, after we finished the phone we will start on making the shadow. Select the background layer (the first layer we created in this tutorial) then using Pen Tool (P) and the color Black create a shape under the phone similar to the image below with a width of about 400px, then rename the layer to “shadow”.

Now select the “shadow” layer and goto Layer >> Rasterize >> Shape, so that we can apply a filter on the shape layer. Now goto Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur… and use the settings in the image below.

Applying Filters to Shape Layers

You can apply filters to Shape layers in two ways: First, by rasterizing the shape layer but in this case you lose the qualities of resizable shape layers. Second, by converting the shape layer to smart object and keep all the qualities of resizable shape layers. You can convert a shape layer to a smart object by first selecting the layer and then goto Layer >> Smart Objects >> Convert To Smart Object.

You would have the result in the image below.

Now move the “shadow” layer just like the image and set its Opacity to 60%.

Step 20: Creating Phone Reflection

Now, select and duplicate the “phone” layer select the “phone” layer again and goto Layer >> Group Layers or you can just use Ctrl+G and name the group “reflection”, move the group just under the phone like in the image below.

Now we can apply a layer mask to the group, select the “reflection” group and then goto Layer >> Layer Mask >> Reveal All, then select the Gradient Tool (G) and set gradient from Black to White and Drag from the lower third of the phone to the bottom.
You can use the below image as a guideline.

Now, if you have followed the tutorial step by step then you should have a result similar to the final image below (Click on the image for the full resolution image).

Conclusion

I created this tutorial to show you how easy to design gadgets and icons, and to show you that a few basic knowledge in Photoshop and layer styles can make a lot if placed in a well thought idea. I hope that you can all create better designs using the little things I shared with you here.

Download the PSD

download .psd source file (.zip, 0.36 MB)

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How to Design a Phone Icon in Photoshop is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

35 Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts for Professional Designers

RSSFeed — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:45:31 +0000

Typography is the art and techniques of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. Display typography is a potent element in graphic design, where there is less concern for readability and more potential for using type in an artistic manner.

The proper selection of typography can convert your normal design into very attractive piece of art. Among other things, effective typography manages to achieve three necessary objectives of web designing are Look, Appearance and Outcome which helps you to keep apart from normal wave.

Below you’ll find Collection of Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts to Enhance Your Designs by which you can save money and focus on making great applications.

The basic purpose behind this post is to show you Popular, Artistic and most importantly Free Downloadable font types to save your time searching them online. Direct download link available for the entire fonts.

You can also find some related free references at the end of the post. Just make sure to read the license agreements carefully as they can change from time to time.

Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts For Your Designs

We know that typography can be used as a way of mutual understanding between you and your users. To communicate effectively, typography requires appropriate typefaces as there are a lot of unsung fonts out there that have really inspired us. Color and size of type elements are much more prevalent than in text typography. Most display typography exploits type at larger sizes, where the details of letter design are magnified. Color is used for its emotional effect in conveying the tone and nature of subject matter.

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35 Fresh High-Quality Free Fonts for Professional Designers is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

How to Design a Print-Ready Flier with Photoshop and Illustrator

RSSFeed — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:28:36 +0000

In this tutorial we are going to create 3D text and integrate it in a natural environment. We will not use any 3D programs, so all you need is Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create this effect.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Difficulty: Intermediate

Step 1

We are going to open up Adobe Illustrator, (using CMYK as your color settings) to start creating our 3D text.

Type out the word “Escape”, (I am using the font Impact) and change the color to blue (#1A98BB). This color will be easier to work with, and it will roughly be the color we will be using in our final outcome.

Step 2

Typically, we would use the Extrude & Bevel Tool to create a 3D version of our text, but since Illustrator can’t really handle what we want to do, we are going to create it ourselves. (Shown below is what we would get if we used the Bevel & Extrude tool)

Click on your text, and go to Type > Create Outlines. Now copy the text with Command + C and Paste In Place with Command + F. Darken the text using the black slider in your Color window.

Now we are going to shrink the text down and keep it in the same spot at the same time. To do this we are going to click on our dark text and hold down Alt and Shift, then bring one of the corners of the box in.

Step 3

Highlight all of the letters, open up your Pathfinder (Shift + F9). In the Window drop down menu, (if you don’t already have it open) and click the Add to Shape Area icon. Click Expand. This will make the two “Escape” words into one shape.

Step 4

Click on the Pen Tool (P) and where there were corners and now “L” shaped areas, click on the corner anchor to delete it.

Step 5

After you get rid of all the “L” areas you can do Command + F, this should bring back your original text. Once you do that, you may notice that some of the rounded edges don’t look right. To fix these rounded edges, you can delete the original text we just pasted, click on the Pen Tool (P) and delete the points on the curve until you get an angle that looks right.

Step 6

Now we are ready to bring our text into Photoshop. Create a new document (Command + N). We are going to treat this as a cover design, so we are going to change our settings to 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall and the color setting of CMYK. We will change our resolution to 300 dpi, so it will be print quality. Once we open our document we want to Click and Drag guides a half-inch from each edge (using our ruler—Command + R). This will work as our bleed.

Step 7

Go to stock.xchng to get the image we are going to use for our background. Open up the image in Photoshop, we are going to adjust it a little to suit our purposes.

Step 8

Go to Image > Adjustment > Replace Color. Click on the part of the grass area that is the most yellow and use the Hue to adjust it so it has more of a green look. You can also drop down the Saturation to give it more of a realistic look.

Step 9

Drag our photo into the Photoshop document we made, and resize the photo to fit in the area with the Transform Tool (Command + T).

Step 10

For the background, we are going for a more desaturated look, so we are going to open up our Hue/Saturation with Command + U and drop down the saturation to -20.

Step 11

Now we can bring in our text. We are going to bring in the face of the text first, and then the 3D part, so that we can work with each one individually. So Copy and Paste (Command + C, Command + V) each one into our Photoshop document. If you don’t resize the text or zoom in/zoom out of the document at all, both of the text layers should line up perfectly.

Step 12

Now that you have the text and background image in place where you want them, we can start adding in the grass.

Let’s start off by creating a new folder (clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette), we’ll call it “grass”, then create a new layer within the folder.

Using the Square Marquee Tool (M), Click and Drag a box around the bottom half of the document, below the photo (make sure there is no white gap in between the photo and the box) so that the photo isn’t selected. Now click on the foreground color and click on the grass in the photo until you find a dark green. Fill the Marquee box we made with that color.

Step 13

Click on the Brush Tool (B) and change the brush to the generic one-blade grass brush that comes with Photoshop. Now click on the Foreground color and then click on the grass on the background photo. Do the same with the Background-color. This should give you two different but similar greens.

Using F5, open up the brush settings and adjust the Hue Jitter, in the Color Dynamics tab to 20%.

Step 14

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder, and start painting from where the background photo ends with a 125px brush. As you move towards the bottom of the document make the brush larger ( ] ), so you end up with about a 200px brush when you get to the bottom. This should be quick so that it leaves holes for the future layers to cover up.

We are going to make this color a little bit darker because this will be under another layer. So go in to the Curves (Command + M) and adjust the Input to 47 and the Output to 55.

Step 15

We are going to repeat step 14, except this time we are going to fill in most of the rest of the holes that we missed the first time around. We don’t need to adjust the Curves on this grass layer.

Step 16

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder. Now to add some highlights to the grass we are going to use our grass Brush (B) with the same color and paint in just a few areas. Go into the Curves again (Command + M) and adjust the input to 58 and the output to 39.

Step 17

We are going to create a new layer (Command + Shift + N), above the lettering, so we can paint on some grass so it looks like it is going in front of the letters.

After you paint the grass in front of the letters create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and do a light pass of grass, we are going to darken this layer with the Curves (Command + M), adjust the input to 42 and the output to 56.

Step 18

Now that we have our grass finished, we are going to start working on our lettering.

Create a new folder called “text face” and a new folder called “text shadow” put the text face and the text shadow in the corresponding folders.

Now we are going to Command + Click on the text face layer to create a marquee outline around it, create a new layer in the “text face” folder with Command + Shift + N and fill it (Command + Delete) with #EDE6DA.

Step 19

Go into the “text shadow” folder and create a new layer (Command + Shift + N).

Since our sunlight is coming from the right, as you can see with the trees in the photo, we have to make the brightest part of our text on the right side of each letters. To create our highlights, we are going to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the areas that are supposed to be highlighted, the areas that would get hit by the sun.

Step 20

Using a white 90px Rounded Brush (B), with 0% Hardness at 20% Opacity, start painting strokes onto the areas that we selected. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

To get rid of the excess area, Command + Click on the text shadow layer, Command + Shift + I to get the inverse selection, then delete.

Step 21

Now we are going make our shadows the same way we made the highlights in step 19. Once you have your shadows selected, repeat step 20, except this time we are going to use a black brush for our darkest areas.

Step 22

To add in some darker shadows and give our letters more contrast, we are going to repeat step 21, but instead of changing the Blend Mode to Overlay, we are going to change it to Multiply. Also, It will be easier if we change the brush to about at 5% Opacity, this way you can darken the shadow slowly, and it will also blend smoother.

Step 23

The text can be worked on a lot more and have a lot more shadow/highlight details added, but since this is a tutorial we are going to leave it as is and start working on the shadow the text casts on the grass.

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and put it above the “grass” folder. Using a 200px black brush (B) at 100% opacity, and 0% hardness paint under the text, trying to make sure that the black doesn’t go under the grass that is in front of the letters too much. Change the blend mode to Multiply.

Step 24

Now we can start tackling the face of the text. We are going to start off by giving it an Inner Shadow. Click on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and then click on Inner Shadow.

Now go to Bevel and Emboss, on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette, and adjust your settings, something like what I have. These two settings will give the text face an edge.

Step 25

We are going to Command + Click on the text face layer and create a new one with Command + Shift + N. Using the Gradient Tool (G) with a black to 0% Opacity, click on the left side of the text and drag it to the right. This should give the text a gradient that is black on the right. Drop down the Opacity all the way down to 5%.

Step 26

With the text face still selected create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the “text face” folder and change your Foreground color to a yellow-orange color (something like #FFC600) and create a Gradient (G) so it is on the top edge of the letters. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 27

Create a new layer in the “text face” folder, and take a 200px black Brush (B) with 5% opacity and 0% hardness and click and drag a line just above the grass. This will give us a subtle shadow just above the grass.

Step 28

Now we are going to give our text face a weathered look.

In the “text face” folder, create a new layer, and then using the Square Marquee Tool (M), create a box that covers the “Escape”. Fill the box with black.

Step 29

Go to Filter > Render > Fibers and adjust your settings to something like what I have.

Step 30

Deselect the area with Command + D and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Command + Click on the text face, then Command + Shift + I to get the Inverse Selection, delete and change the Blend Mode to Multiply with an Opacity of 5%.

Step 31

Click on the second icon on the bottom of the layers palette to add a Mask to our fiber layer. Using a black to 0% Gradient (G) click and drag from the bottom up so the bottom half of the fibers are gone from the text.

Step 32

And now to finish it off a little bit, we are going to click on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette and open up the Color Balance.

Step 33

And now open up the Photo Filter on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 34

Now we are finished, I am going to add some finishing touches with a footer that will bleed over the edge.

Final Image

And that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tutorial.

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How to Design a Print-Ready Flier with Photoshop and Illustrator is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website