We want to thank our readers for your support and wish you all the best for 2014. As we did last year, we decided to start the year listing some of the best tutorials that Photoshop Star has published in 2013.
In this tutorial we will create a realistic water reflection effect. You should be able to replicate this effect on other pictures using the techniques presented here.
Learn how to create a super creative collage effect, using a range of photo manipulation, blending and compositional techniques in this Adobe Photoshop tutorial.
This is a very simple tutorial that will show you how to use Photoshop’s Layer Styles, an awesome tip for creating 3D-like shadow, and a splatter brush, to create a bright Arcade-inspired text effect.
Final Image
Note: Original tutorial published on Photoshopstar.com some years ago. Tutorial was updated and now republished.
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (CS3+ versions will work as well)
Create a new 900 × 690 px document, place the “Black-Purple Grunge texture” image on top of the Background layer, then go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90° CW to make the texture extend horizontally instead of vertically. Move the texture around if needed until you like how it looks.
Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, and change the Gamma value to 0.90 to darken up the texture a little bit.
Step 2
Create the text using the font “Age”, the font Size 182 pt, and the color #b0cc00.
Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
– Stroke
Size : 5
Position : Inside
Color : #b0cc00 (Same text color)
– Inner Shadow
Blend Mode : Normal
Color : #ffffff
Opacity : 90%
Distance : 9
Size : 0
Duplicate the text layer then drag the copy below the original.
Step 4
Go to Edit > Free Transform, the hit the Down Arrow Key Once, and the Right Arrow Key once, to move the copy text 1 px downwards and 1 px to the right. Hit Enter/Return to accept the changes.
Press the Alt + Ctrl + Shift + T or Option + Cmd + Shift + T keys a couple of times to duplicate the layer and the transformation until you like the depth of the 3D shadow. Here, the layer is duplicated 14 times to create a total of 15 copy layers.
Step 5
Click the last copy layer, then press and hold the Shift key, and click the first copy layer to select all the copy layers you created. Go to Layer > Merge Layers, to merge all the copies in one layer, and rename it to “3D Shadow”.
Double click the “3D Shadow” layer to apply a Color Overlay effect, using the color #000000.
If you think Black is too dark, you can definitely use any other color you prefer.
Step 6
Duplicate the original text layer, then make it invisible by clicking the eye icon next to it. Then select the duplicated layer, and go to Layer > Rasterize > Layer Style.
If you’re using a Group Layers), then merge the group (Layer > Merge Group).
Click the “Add vector mask” icon down the Layers panel to add a mask to the rasterized layer. This will make sure that the changes will not be applied directly to the layer, so the mask thumbnail should be always selected before erasing anything.
Pick the Eraser Tool, and choose any of the “Monster Splatter Brush Set” brushes. Change the brush size to one you like (around 350 – 550 px), make sure that the mask thumbnail is selected, then click around the letters to erase some parts as shown below.
You can undo any parts you don’t like, try different brushes and sizes, or even use any splatter/grunge brushes of your choice.
And We’re Done!
Hope you enjoyed this really simple tutorial and found it useful. Please feel free to leave your comments below.
Let’s darken the image a little bit with curves. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) and adjust the sliders as shown below. Dragging the curve down darkens the image.
Step 2
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill it with black (press D for default colors and Alt + Backspace to fill the layer with the foreground color). Lower the opacity of this layer to 44%. This will make our image even darker.
Step 3
At night the colors are usually more desaturated compared to daylight. Let’s do this in our image by creating a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer by going to (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation). Drag the Saturation layer all the way to the left in order to decrease the saturation and after that lower the opacity of this layer to 46% in order to leave some colors in the image.
Step 4
Night photos usually have a bluish/cyan tint, or at least this is how we imagine it (being cold and all). Create a Color Balance Adjustment Layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. Add a little blue and a little cyan.
Step 5
Our night photo looks decent but we’re not done yet. Let’s create some light from one of the windows. First create a new layer and with a round brush of your choosing paint between the frames of the window with an almost white color (#dadada).
Now choose a round soft brush and paint some glow around the window using a slightly yellow color (#e9e8d4).
Step 6
Night is not night without the moon. Open the image “Moon”.
Choose Select > Color Range and click once anywhere on the black background. Press Ok in order to create a selection. Now press Ctrl + Shift + I to invert it.
New let’s copy our selection by pressing Ctrl + C. Go back to our night photo and press Ctrl + V to paste.
Press Ctrl + T to Transform the moon. Shift-drag on the corners in order to resize it proportionally and drag it from the center in order to place it in the upper-right corner of our image. Lower the Opacity of the moon layer to 72%.
Step 7
As it is the moon looks way to strong and dominant. Let’s tone it down a bit by adding a layer mask to it (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All). Now choose a round soft brush at 50% Opacity and paint with black over the moon to hide most of it. You should have something like in the image below.
Step 8
The moon usually looks yellow (unless you live on another planet and have a different moon) and it glows a bit. Let’s add those attributes to our moon. Double click the Moon Layer in order to enter Advanced Blending mode and add a Color Overlay and an Outer Glow. For the Color Overlay use #fff587 and for the Outer Glow use #ffffbe.
Step 9
Since the moon is a source of light (a weak one) we should see that reflected in our image. Let’s paint some highlights on areas that should receive light. Use a 1px round brush at 50% opacity and paint with white on the corners of the roof that face the moon, a little on the top of the trees and over the (telephone?) wire in the upper part of the image.
Step 10
Now let’s lighten some areas that are close to the sources of light. Create a Curves Adjustment layer and add a layer mask to it. Fill the mask with black in order to hide it and with a white brush at 30% Opacity paint around the lighted window and a little around the moon.
Step 11
We are almost done. At night the details are not so sharp as in daylight so let’s blur our image and also tweak the saturation a bit.
Create a new layer from all visible (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E) and apply 0.7px Gaussian Blur to it (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur). Desaturate this layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + U. Now simply lower the Opacity to your liking (60% works nice enough for me).
Today we are going to create our very own vector inspired portrait in Photoshop that you can readily use as your personal avatar whether it’s for Facebook, Skype or even your own website.
Though I will be using a stock image to do this you can do the same with your own photo, just make sure that it is a hi-res image and a fairly large size so that you can pick out details, shadows and distinguish color changes. Now that you know that little bit of important information power up Photoshop and let’s get started.
There are a ton of reasons Photoshop is one of the most preferred drawing programs out there for graphic designers. The program is powerful, allowing you to create and manipulate however you see fit, not to mention the various effects and filters available. Photoshop can be used for many things which include making your portraits stand out. Vector and vexel portraits are so popular that there are even apps that quickly do the job for you. You can do the same thing in Photoshop however and even create a cool color combination to give your portrait its own unique feel.
Final Image
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5 (CS3+ versions will work as well)
Before we can begin turning our photo into a vector style portrait we must first open it up in Photoshop. You can use whatever image you prefer but for this tutorial I will be using the image in the link above.
Step 2
Create a new layer to begin working on the skin. Use the color picker to pick the desired skin tone you want your person to have. In this case I am using #ffe0c7. Now that your color is selected use the Pen Tool to trace the face and neck like this.
Once you have your skin traced and the path is created you can then fill it in.
Continue doing this until all of the skin is traced and filled as shown below.
Step 3
Make a new layer for the hair and once more use the color picker to select the most dominant hair color in your picture. If you want to add in highlights you can do that later. For the hair I will be using #401e12. Just like before trace the hair and then fill in the path.
Step 4
Once more create another layer so that you can lay down the base color of the clothing. Worry about the dominant colors only. The halter top will be filled in with #3c6844 like so.
Step 5
Lower the opacity of the skin layer enough so that you can see the facial features of the original image. Create a new layer for the eyes and change your foreground color to #000000. Begin tracing the outline of the top eyelash. Notice you do not have to be super detailed.
Fill in your path with your foreground color.
Outline the other eye so that both eyes are done.
Step 6
On the same layer you want to fill in the whites of the eyes. Simply do this by making your foreground color #ffffff and then using the Paint Bucket Tool to fill in your eye outlines.
Step 7
Create a new layer for the pupil and iris. Hide the eye layer temporarily and use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to get the iris the right shape.
Fill the iris in with #7b7648.
Now finish up by filling the pupil in with #000000 and the light source with #ffffff.
Step 8
We need for things like the eyelids and nose to stand out. To do this we need to simply use the colors of our face to make the shapes, in other words use the same shades on the facial features. Make a new layer and change your foreground color to #fec2a6. Begin tracing the nose.
Fill it in and continue until you have a nose shape.
Step 9
Use the same color for the hair to fill in your eyebrows after you have the path traced.
Step 10
Make your foreground color #e6756d and create a new layer. Trace only the outline of the top lip.
Fill in the top lip path with your color.
Finish the lips by using #f47f78 for the bottom lip.
Step 11
To give the face a more defined look we need to add more shadows around the cheeks and jaw like so.
Fill the outside shadows with #dd8561 and then drop the opacity to 20%.
Step 12
Continue using #dd8561 to add shadows around the neck and arms as shown below.
Drop the opacity to 50%.
Step 13
We want the face more defined and less flat so we are going to add in more shadows with the color #f9c19c. Start by adding a shadow beneath the bottom lip.
Continue adding more shadows such as around the eyes and nose.
Lower the opacity to 50%.
Step 14
To make the shirt look like it has a bit more dimension to it you need to use the color #334f38 and add a large shadow on top of the shirt.
Drop the opacity to 50% and change the layer mode to Soft Light.
Step 15
Outline the edges of the hair where you see that it carries more of a shadow.
Make a new layer and fill these areas in with #4b1b11. Change the layer opacity to 16% and the layer mode to Multiply.
Step 16
Change your foreground color to #ffad95 to add blush to the cheeks. Outline where the blush is and create a new layer.
Fill in the shapes and make the layer opacity 24%.
Step 17
Trace the shape of the eyeshadow and make a new layer.
Fill the shape in with #ea98c8 and drop the opacity to 35%.
Step 18
Add highlights to the skin by following the areas of your photo where the skin is the lightest.
Fill these in with #ffffff and drop the opacity down to 20%.
And We’re Done!
Finish your design by adding more shadows, details and a background just like I have done. Once you have your desired details added in you’re finished.
As you can see I left my vector portrait fairly basic and close to the original photographic image. You can however develop your image more. Adding in small details like glittering rhinestones, wisps of hair and highlights will make your image pop. You can also create your vector portrait in grayscale by varying your shades between black and white or simply go for a limited color choice where one color is dominant over the rest. Hopefully you have found this tutorial not only helpful but also inspiring, and as always, happy designing everyone.
In this Photoshop tutorial I’ll show you how to create a dreamy grass scene featuring a fantasy boat. You’ll learn different manipulating techniques, blending, masking, creating lighting effects, working with groups and more.
Create a new document, size 1000×1000 px and fill it with white (you can use your own size and color). Open the grass stock. Use the Move Tool (V) to drag it onto our white canvas, use Free Transform Tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) to resize and skew it to get the look below:
Step 2
To change the color and contrast of the grass, I used some adjustment layers with Clipping Mask. On the grass layer, go to Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Photo Filter:
Curves and Levels:
On the Curves and Levels layer mask, use a soft black brush with opacity about 30-35% (Curves) and 70-90% (Levels) to erase the left side nearest the horizon. You can see how I did it on the masks and result on picture:
Step 3
Open the sky stock. Use the Retangular Marquee Tool to make a selection on the sky part and move it onto the upper part of our main document:
Click the second button at the bottom of Layer Pallete to add mask to sky one. Use soft black brush to remove hard edge and blend the sky with the grass:
Step 4
I used some adjustment layers (Curves and Hue/Saturation) with Clipping Mask to darken and change the color of the sky a little:
On the Curves layer mask I used a black brush with opacity from 30-50% to brush over the right side of the sky as I don’t want it too dark:
Step 5
Choose the boat and place it in the center section of our image.
Add a layer mask to the boat layer. Use a black brush to remove the top right of the boat and then change brush to grasses. I chose number 503 and 504 to blend the edge of the boat into the grass:
Step 6
To make the left part of the boat (that gets more light from the sky horizon) brighter, I used Inner Shadow effect. Double click the boat layer, choose Blending Options:
Step 7
To darken and reduce the light on unwanted parts I used a Curves layer with Clipping Mask:
On the Curves layer mask I used a brush with opacity varied from 30 to 80% to reduce the darkness on the sides of the boat.
Step 8
Make a new layer (Clipping Mask), change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:
Use the Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range, Exposure about 20% to darken the boat more. You can see how I applied this tool in Normal mode and the result in Overlay mode:
Step 9
To make the shadow for the boat on the grass, make a new layer under the boat layer. Hold Cmd/Ctrl while clicking the boat thumbnail layer to load its selection:
Fill this selection with black (Shift+F5). Choose Edit-Transform-Flip Vertical, then move it under the boat. Use Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform it as shown below:
Lower the opacity to 40% and go to Filter-Blur-Gassian Blur and choose radius of 6 px:
Add a layer mask to the shadow layer. Use a brush to reduce the shadow intensity to get a subtle faded effect:
Step 10
Open the moss stock. Use the Retangular Marquee Tool to make a selection of the moss and position it on the boat, use the Warp Tool (Edit-Transform-Warp) to bend it:
Add a layer mask to the moss layer. Use grass brush, number 199 to trim the hard edges and blend the moss with the boat, lower the opacity of the brush while masking if needed to get a more natural result:
Step 11
Use the same method to “decorate” the boat with moss:
Step 12
To edit all the moss layers together, select them all then hit Cmd/Ctrl+G to create a group. Change the mode of this group from Pass Through (default group mode) to Normal 100%. I named the moss layers from 1 to 3.
I made a Curves layer above the moss ones to darken them:
Step 13
I think “1″ should be darker so I made a Curves layer above this layer:
Step 14
Make a new layer on the top using the same settings as in step 8. Use the Burn Tool to darken the boat more and give it a good contrast:
Step 15
Open the tree stock. Use the Lasso Tool (L) to copy the trunk part and place it above the top right of the boat and tweak it with the Warp Tool:
Use a layer mask to blend this trunk with the boat:
Step 16
The trunk looks too dark compared with the boat so I used Curves to brighten it:
Step 17
Copy the leaves part and place it above the trunk, rotate them to get the look below:
Add layer mask to the leaves layer. Use grass brush, number 199 to remove some unwanted leaves at the bottom:
Step 18
I used Photo Filter, Hue/Saturation and Curves (Clipping Mask) to change the color and contrast of the leaves:
On the Curves layer mask I erased the right side as I don’t want it too dark:
Step 19
To remove the unwanted trunk part on the leaves, I made a new layer on the top and active Clone Tool (S). Change the brush to grass number 199 to clone over the indicated trunk:
Step 20
Isolate the the lamp and place it under the leaves:
Step 21
Open the fish stock. Choose the one you like and place him at the left of the picture, rotate him a little:
Step 22
I used Color Balance and Curves to change the color and brighten the fish:
On the Curves layer mask I erased selected parts a little to keep them a bit darker than the rest:
Step 23
Open the butterfly image. I copied a wing and positioned it beside the fish:
Duplicate this wing layer and move to the the other side, and transform it to fit the movement of the fish:
Step 24
I used a layer mask to blend the wings with the fish:
Step 25
Make a group for the wings as we did with the moss texture layers.
Add a Curves layer within this group to change the color and brighten the wings a little:
On the Curves layer mask I reduced the light on selected parts:
Step 26
Make some adjustment layers on the top:
Gradient Map 1 and 2:
Lower the opacity of Gradient Map 1 to 30% and Gradient Map 2 to 20%:
Photo Filter, Curves and Levels:
On the Levels layer mask I used the brush to reduce and remove the dark effect on the parts shown on the screenshot below:
Step 27
To create a nice contrast for the picture, I made a new layer above all other layers. Activate the Gradient Tool (G) and choose Radial Gradient with default colors (black and white). Drag a line from the top left to bottom right:
Change the mode to Soft Light 100% and use a layer mask to reduce the dark effect on the boat and bottom right of the picture:
Step 28
In this step we’ll make some magic sparkles for the picture. Create a new layer on the top. Change the brush color to #f7de79 and size to 2-4 px. Press F5 to change the settings of this brush:
Paint spots around the tree, boat, lamp, grass:
Change the mode to Vivid Light 100%:
Step 29
On the sparkle layer, press Cmd/Ctrl+G to make group for it. Change the mode of this group to Vivid Light 100% and here is the result:
Step 30
Add a Layer Style to the sparkle layer:
Step 31
I added a Color Balance layer within this group to reduce the red tone a little:
Step 32
To create the glowing light from the lamp I made a layer on the top. Used a soft brush with color #422a03 to paint on the lamp and changed the mode to Linear Dodge 100%:
Create a new layer and use the brush with color #f7de79 to make the light effect stronger. Set the mode to Overlay 100%:
Step 33
On a new layer use the same brush to make reflected light from the lamp. Set the mode to Overlay 100%:
Step 34
To create more light for the picture create a new layer and select the brush with color #d0ba87 to paint over the horizon. Change the mode to Hard Light 20% and use a layer mask to remove the effect on the boat and sparkle:
Step 35
I used two color fill layers to change the color of the whole picture ( Layer-New Fill Layer-Solid Color):
Change the mode of this Color Fill Layer 1 to Linear Dodge 60%, Layer 2 to Hard Light 20%.
On the mask of layer 2 use the brush to erase the grass part:
Step 36
I used some adjustment layers to add more contrast and vibrance to the picture (Black & White, Hue/Saturation, Vibrance):
Change the mode of the Black & White layer to Soft Light 100%. On the Black & White layer mask erase the horizon part and sparkle and on the Hue/Saturation layer mask erase the lamp part:
Sometimes designers have to create a collage from several photos. In this Photoshop tutorial I would like to show you the technique of creating collages, by creating a gothic collage as an example.
Final Image
Note: Original tutorial published on Photoshopstar.com some years ago. Tutorial was updated and now republished.
Start by opening Cathedral Saint Julien du Mans photo.
Step 2
To begin let´s remove the sky from this photo. Double click on the background layer in the layers palette to remove the lock. Now we are going to select blue sky. It can be easily done by using the Magic Wand Tool, as the sky is monotonous. Select the sky with Magic Wand Tool (Tolerance: 20). If you want to add to selection press Shift and click, if you want to subtract from selection press ALT and click. Use Lasso Tool or Polygonal Lasso Tool to select areas identified on photo below and add those to selection.
Press Delete button to clean the selected area.
Step 3
Open Unique Sunset photo. Drag the photo on our main canvas and go to Edit > Transformer > Scale to scale it down.
Place the layer with the sky under the layer with the cathedral.
Step 4
Although cathedral is the centre of composition, the mood of the whole picture is indeed made by the sky, so let´s try adding more contrast. Create a new layer above the layer with the sky. Select soft-edged brush, 400px in diameter, opacity 30% and colors: red (#cb1e00) and blue (7389f8). Then using the Brush Tool add these colors to the canvas carefully as show on image.
With layer selected change blending mode to Color.
Now change the layer opacity to 50%.
Step 5
Open Dock To Nowhere photo. Cut out a fragment of sky by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Feather: 10px).
Copy the selected area on the main canvas below the layer with the castle.
Transform this layer using Edit > Transform > Scale and move to the right a bit.
Then desaturate this layer using Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
Adjust brightness and contrast using Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast with the following parameters:
Now select the Eraser Tool and soft-edged brush and erase the empty area of the sky on the left.
Set Hard Light blending mode for this layer.
Then change layer opacity to 65%.
Step 6
Create a new layer, move it at bottom and name it Background. Select Paint Bucket tool, choose black color (#000000) and fill new layer with selected color.
Step 7
As we are finished with the sky, we should correct the cathedral taking into consideration the sky colors. There is much red color in this image, so we should make cathedral more red. Go to the layer with the cathedral (it should be above all the layers) and apply Image > Adjustments > Color Balance to it.
The composition centre is where we should put emphasis on so in this case it’s the cathedral, to be more precise a couple of towers, that stand out above the cathedral. Copy layer with the cathedral and desaturate copied layer using Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
Change brightness and contrast by using Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast with next presets:
After that assign Soft Light blending mode to this layer and get this result:
Step 8
The whole cathedral became sharper, but we should put emphasis only on some of its parts, in order to make the cathedral look more three-dimensional. Therefore we select the Eraser Tool and soft-edged brush, 200 px in diameter and partially delete this layer along the edge of the cathedral on the left and on the right, erase the cathedral fragment with the tree and leave only the central outstanding part of the cathedral.
If we assign Normal blending mode to this layer, it would look like my image below (this helps you see where you should have applied Eraser tool). This image shows clearly, what parts of the layer were deleted from the black-and-white layer.
If you update blending mode to this layer to help you apply Eraser tool, don’t forget in the end to go back to Soft Light blending mode.
Now it’s worth putting emphasis using shadow and light. Create a new layer, assign Multiply blending mode to it, select the Brush Tool (Opacity: 30%) with soft-edged brush, black color (#000000) and darken the cathedral on the left and on the right.
Then change the color to white (#ffffff) and brighten the outstanding parts of the cathedral, the other parts darken again. If we shift the layer to Normal blending mode, we get such a result, as in the screenshot below.
Shift back to Multiply blending mode in this layer and you will get this result:
Step 9
The cathedral seems to be separated from the sky, we should remove this drawback. To begin with let’s admit, that cathedral is reddish, it’s a warm color, and there’s cold blue color in the sky. Let’s add some cold tone to the image of the cathedral. As the sky is the majority carrier of color, in contrast to it the cathedral should not be too many-colored, so let’s avoid bright colors, just play with tones a little. Copy the layer with the cathedral and place it above all the layers.
Apply Image > Adjustments > Color Balance with the following adjustments:
As the color gamut is dark enough, it’s worth making this layer much darker using Image > Adjustments > Levels:
Change blending mode to this layer to Soft Light.
Step 10
We should pay attention to the fact that despite of the dark sky, there is still a source of light in the composition, so there can’t be such dark roofs on the cathedral, they should be brightened. For this purpose select the Dodge Tool and brighten the roofs of the cathedral on the top layer.
Step 11
For the cathedral to harmonize with the sky, we should process it’s edges partially. Go to the original layer with the cathedral and erase its edges a bit by using the Eraser Tool (Opacity 100%) and a soft-edged brush, in this case the edges of the cathedral will visually partially acquire the background color adding perspective. After that, set brush opacity to 30%, choose a small-scale diameter and go thoroughly along the edge of the cathedral on the three remaining upper layers in order to intensify the effect of perspective.
Step 12
At the moment the cathedral doesn’t seem to be separated from the sky, but it’s still missing the reflections. We should just select the Eyedropper Tool and move the colors from the sky to the cathedral, thus adding reflection. Create a new layer. As we’ve already mentioned before, the cathedral shouldn’t be the same colored as the sky, therefore it’s worth selecting all the colors slightly more gray than the original ones and using the Brush Tool (opacity 30%, soft-edged) to impose them to the cathedral.
Assign Color blending mode to this layer.
Step 13
Now the cathedral and the sky is a united composition. In order to make any picture look bright, we need contrast. For that purpose use warm and cold color, we have already performed this method while adding contrast of the sky, now we should do the same with the cathedral; let’s choose less bright colors again. Create a new layer, assign Overlay blending mode to it. Select the Brush Tool (Opacity: 30%) and soft-edged brush again, then paint out prominent parts of the cathedral using cold color (#8d8fd3), for other parts of the cathedral we choose warm color (#753d3d).
If we assign Normal blending mode to this layer, the result should be approximately the following:
Step 14
There is only one detail left. If we look on the edges of the cathedral, we can notice that the main source of light is situated behind the cathedral, so the rays that come through the clouds should light the walls of the cathedral partially.
Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (Opacity: 100%) and soft-edged brush again and light the corner of the castle partially, select color using the Eyedropper Tool.
The general picture should approximately look like my screenshot below:
Step 15
In order to make the picture look better, it’s worth making the edges dark, it will draw attention to the centre and will give the feeling of depth and volume. Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (Opacity: 100%) with soft-edged brush again and darken the edges with black color.
Final Image
Now change blending mode for this layer to Soft Light.
In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a simple printer icon in Adobe Photoshop.
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Estimated Completion Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Step 1
Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK. Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For starters you will need a grid every 5px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box. Also, set the color of the grid to #a7a7a7.
Once you have set all these properties click OK. Don’t get discouraged by all that grid. It will ease your work later. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.
Step 2
Go to your Toolbar and set the foreground color to #00aeef. Grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool, focus on the top bar and set the radius to 5px. Create a 120 x 40px vector shape, make sure that it stays selected and switch to the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and then draw a 120 x 10px path along the top of your rounded rectangle as shown in the second image.
Move to the Layers panel and double click on the vector shape made in this step to open the Layer Style panel. Activate the Drop Shadow, the Inner Shadow, the Bevel and Emboss and the Gradient Overlay then enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 3
Set the foreground color to #ffda71, make sure that the Rectangle Tool is still active, create a 120 x 35px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image.
Make sure that this new rectangle stays selected, switch to the Add Anchor Point Tool and add two anchor points as shown in the first image. Next, you need to remove the handles from those new anchor points. Simply select the Convert Point Tool and click on both anchor points. Pick the Direct Selection Tool and focus on the top side of your yellow vector shape. Select the left anchor point and drag it 10px to the right then select the right anchor point and drag it 10px to the left. Move to the Layers panel, open the Layer Style window for this yellow vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 4
Set the foreground color to #ff0000, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 120 x 25px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image.
Make sure that this red rectangle stays selected, go to the Layers panel, lower the Fill to 0% and then open the Layer Style panel. Activate the Inner Shadow and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 5
Set the foreground color to white, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create an 80 x 20px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rounded rectangle stays selected and grab the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw an 80 x 5px vector path as shown in the second image.
Step 6
Make sure that the vector shape made in the previous step is still selected and grab the Rectangle Tool. Check the Add button from the top bar and simply add an 80 x 10px vector shape as shown in the first image.
Focus on the top side of this white shape and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the left anchor point and drag it 5px to the right then select the right anchor point and drag it 5px to the left. Open the Layer Style window for this vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 7
Set the foreground color tp #ff0000, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 80 x 15px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this red rectangle stays selected, go to the Layers panel, lower the Fill to 0% and then open the Layer Style panel. Activate the Inner Shadow and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 8
Set the foreground color to #141414, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create an 80 x 20px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rounded rectangle stays selected and switch to the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw an 80 x 5px vector shape as shown in the second image. Open the Layer Style window for this dark shape and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 9
Set the foreground color to #8dc63f, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a 90 x 30px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rounded rectangle stays selected, check the Subtract button from the top bar and then draw an 80 x 20px vector shape as shown in the second image.
Step 10
Make sure that your green vector shape is still selected and grab the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw a 90 x 10px vector shape as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 11
Set the foreground color to #fbaf5d, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 90 x 20px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rectangle stays selected, focus on its bottom side and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the left anchor point and drag it 5px to the left then select the right anchor point and drag it 5px to the right. Open the Layer Style window for this orange vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 12
Set the foreground color to white, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 70 x 30px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rectangle stays selected, focus on its bottom side and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the left anchor point and drag it 5px to the left then select the right anchor point and drag it 5px to the right. Open the Layer Style window for this orange vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 13
Set the foreground color to black, pick the Rectangle Tool, create an 80 x 20px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this new rectangle and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 14
Set the foreground color to #ffda71, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 70 x 25px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this new rectangle and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 15
Set the foreground color to #3c3c3c, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a 15 x 5px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this tiny rounded rectangle stays selected and switch to the Rectangle Tool. Check the Subtract button from the top bar and draw a 5px square as shown in the second image.
Step 16
Open the Layer Style window for the vector shape made in the previous step and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 17
For the following steps you need a grid every 1px,so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 1 in the Gridline Every box.
Set the foreground color to white, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a 6 x 3px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this rounded rectangle and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 18
Set the foreground color to #fbaf5d, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 100 x 3px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this orange rectangle and enter the properties shown in the following image.
Step 19
Return to " Gridline Every 5px", so go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 5 in the Gridline Every box.
Set the foreground color to #ffda71, pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a 130 x 10px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this rounded rectangle stays selected and switch to the Rectangle Tool. Check the Add button from the top bar and add a 100 x 25px rectangle as shown in the second image.
Step 20
Make sure that the yellow vector shape made in the previous step is still selected, focus on its bottom side and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the left anchor point and drag it 5px to the left then select the right anchor point and drag it 5px to the right. Focus on the Layers panel, send this vector shape to back (Shift + CTRL + [ ) and replace the yellow with black.
Step 21
Focus on the Layers panel, right click on the black vector shape made in the previous step and go to Convert to Smart Object. Make sure that this new smart object is selected, lower its Opacity to 15% and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 5px radius and click OK.
Step 22
Set the foreground color to black, pick the Ellipse Tool, create a 170 x 20px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Focus on the Layers panel and turn this squeezed circle into a smart object. Make sure that this new smart object is selected, lower its Opacity to 7% and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 5px radius, click OK and you’re done.
In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a dark grim reaper scene. We’ll be using different manipulation techniques to blend many stock images together into a cohesive scene, doing advanced masking, adjusting colors, working with groups, creating lighting effects and much more.
Create a new document with a size of 1100×1000 px and fill it with any color you like (feel free to use any size as you want). Open sky 1 stock. Use Move Tool (V) to drag it into our white canvas then use Cmd/Ctrl+T to rotate and resize it :
Step 2
Move sky 2 stock into our document, transform it using Cmd/Ctrl+T to get the look below and change the mode of this layer to Soft Light 100%:
Click the second button at the bottom of Layers Palette to add a mask to this layer. Use a soft black brush to erase the top left of this image. You can see how I did it on the mask and the result on the following images:
Step 3
Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N to make a new layer. Use a soft brush with color #66686a to paint on the edges of the image to darken these areas. I changed the mode of this layer to Multiply 50%:
Step 4
Create a new layer and use a soft brush with color #bbbfc7 to brighten some parts of the sky. Set the mode to Soft Light 100%:
Step 5
Move the landscape stock into your image and change the mode to Soft Light 100%:
Use a layer mask to remove hard edges and blend the landscape with the background:
Step 6
To create some depth we’ll blur the landscape. On the landscape layer, go to Filter-Blur-Gassian Blur and fill radius with 5 px:
Step 7
Extract the model and position him in the center of your image. You may notice that I don’t include all of the scythe:
Step 8
Use a layer mask with a brush about 30-40% to blend the bottom of the model with the background:
Step 9
I want to give the model a little retouch. Make a new layer with Clipping Mask, change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:
Take the Dodge and Burn Tools with Midtones Range and Exposure about 20-25% to darken the scythe and brighten the hood. Also I used this tool to refine the details on the clothes of the model. You can see how I applied this tool with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode:
Step 10
In this step we’ll add light to the model. Make a new layer with Clipping Mask. Hold Cmd/Ctrl while clicking on the thumbnail of the model layer to load its selection:
Go to Edit-Stroke and pick color #ced1d1 with brush size of 18 px:
Apply Gassian Blur of 20 px:
I used a layer mask to reduce the light intensity:
Step 11
On a new layer and I used this brush again with opacity and flow about 50 -55% to paint over the shoulder and right arm to make them brighter:
Step 12
Create another new layer and repeat step 10 but choose brush size of 5 px and apply Gassian Blur of 3 px:
Use a layer mask to erase or reduce light intensity to create a more natural look:
Do the same with a new layer but lower the brush size to 3 px to create a stronger highlight:
I named 4 these layers from “light 1″ to “light 4″:
Step 13
In this step we’ll add some cloudy effects to the image. Open the cloud stock. Use the Magic Wand Tool (W) to make a selection around the cloud part and set the feather for it to 30:
Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate this selection. Move this part into your main document and transform it using Cmd/Ctrl+T:
Use a layer mask to blend the hard edges with the rest:
Copy a smaller part of the clouds and place it at the right edge of the image, and mask it to get the result shown below:
Step 14
To edit all clouds layers together, select all these layers then hit Cmd/Ctrl +G to create a group. Change the mode of this group from Pass Through (default group mode) to Normal 100%. I named these layers “clouds 1″ and “clouds 2″. On clouds 2 layer, choose Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Curves:
I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to reduce the saturation of the clouds:
Because the mode of this group changed from Pass Through to Normal, these adjustment layers only affect the layers within this group (clouds ones).
To get a subtle effect, I lowered the opacity of this group to 50%:
Step 15
In this step we’ll create a black face for the reaper. Make a new layer above all other layers. Use the Lasso Tool (L) to make a selection of the model’s face and fill it with color #171313:
Use a layer mask to blend this “face”:
Step 16
Make a new layer with Clipping Mask and the same settings as in step 9. Use Dodge and Burn to create some details on the face:
Step 17
Cut out crow 1 and place him above the hand of the reaper:
Step 18
I used a Curves layer (Clipping Mask) to darken the crow a little, then use a soft black brush (on Curves layer mask) to remove the dark effect on the right of the crow as it’s the part illuminated by the background:
Step 19
Use the same techniques as in step 10 to add light to the crow, choose brush stroke 3 px and apply a Gaussian Blur of 10 px. Erase part of crow’s claws:
Step 20
Make a new layer using settings as in step 9. Use the Burn Tool to darken the claws more:
Step 21
I want to add more light to the crow, so double click crow layer, choose Blending Options:
Step 22
Isolate crow 2 and position him at the top left of your picture:
I used a Brightness/Contrast layer to change the contrast of the crow a little:
Step 23
Apply Inner Shadow effect to add light to this crow:
Step 24
Extract crow 3 and move him to the bottom left of the image:
Apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 px for this crow to add depth to your picture:
Step 25
I used Curves to brighten this crow a bit. Then use a soft black brush with opacity about 30-40% to erase the wings, tail (on Curves layer mask):
Step 26
Place crow 4 at the top right of the pic. Duplicate it and transform him, move him to the bottom right, apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 px:
Step 27
Use Inner Shadow effect for the crow on the top:
Step 28
Group the crow layers (crow 4) as we did with the clouds. I used a Brightness/Contrast layer within this group to add a light effect to them, and use a soft brush to blur this effect on the crow at the bottom (erase on Brightness/Contrast layer mask):
Step 29
Create some adjustment layers on the top to change the color of the whole picture (Gradient Map and Curves):
This is the result:
Step 30
Open the fire stock. Isolate the fire from the background (no need to be precise):
Take a fire part and place it on the right hand of the reaper, change the mode to Screen 100%:
Use a layer mask to remove hard edges:
Duplicate it twice and position them as the screenshot below shows. I also named them as 1, 2, 3:
Step 31
Group the fire layers and remember to change the group mode to Screen 100% (it’s very important to keep the effect the same as before grouping). On 2 layer, go to Layer-New Adjustment Layer-Hue/Saturation:
Step 32
Isolate the smoke and move it onto the reaper’s head, change the mode to Screen 100%:
Use a layer mask to remove or blur unwanted parts:
Duplicate this layer four times, transform and move them around the head, shoulder and arm, use a layer mask if needed:
Step 33
Cut out the skull and place it on top of the scythe:
Make a new layer under the skull. Use a soft black brush with opacity and flow 30-40% to paint under the skull to make a shadow for it:
Step 34
I use two Curves layers to add color and change the brightness of the skull so it fits with the rest:
On the second Curves layer mask, erase the left side of the skull to create a nice contrast:
Step 35
Add light to the skull with the same techniques as in step 10 but with a brush size of 12 px, color #36aff4 and apply a Gaussian Blur of 14 px. Also use a layer mask to erase the left as this part should be darker than the rest:
Repeat this technique on a new layer, but lower the brush size to 6 px and Gaussian Blur 3,5 px:
Step 36
Make a new layer on the top. Use a soft brush with color #fe0a0a to add a spot inside a skull eye. Duplicate it and transform it to fit the position of another eye:
I named these layers “eye 1″, “eye 2″.
Step 37
Make two new layers under the eye ones. Use the same brush color to paint around the skull, the shoulder, the hood that are absorbed in red light from the skull eyes. I changed the first layer mode to Color 100% and the second to Color 100%:
Step 38
Now we need to change the color of the fire/smoke nearest to the red light to help the effect look realistic. Double click 3 layer in the fires group, choose Blending Options:
Do the same with the smoke layer on the left shoulder:
Step 39
On a new layer on the top, use a brush with color #fe0a0a to paint a spot on the eyes of the crows to get an evil look:
On another new layer use the same brush to add a spot inside the black face to gain the creepy effect. Then use a layer mask to erase the eyes a little as a part of them is covered by the hood:
Step 40
Final step: I used a Levels layer on the top to increase the contrast of the whole picture:
Layer Styles are a powerful feature in Photoshop that can help you achieve brilliant effects easily and quickly. Layering those styles is a great way to add dimension and details to the effect. This tutorial will show you how you can do that, and use it to create a space-inspired text effect.
Final Image
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (CS3+ versions will work as well)
Brushed Steel Metallic Texture. (Note: Before you begin the tutorial, open this image in Photoshop, then go to Edit -> Define Pattern, and click OK, to add the texture to your Patterns preset.)
Step 1
Create a new 1024 × 750 px document, place the “Space Dust Texture” image on top of the Background layer, then resize it until it fits within the document.
The texture is quite big, so if you are creating a longer text than the one in the tutorial, you can use bigger dimensions for your document.
Double click the texture layer to apply a Pattern Overlay effect, by changing the Blend Mode to Overlay, and choosing the “Hex Metal Mesh” pattern from the “Metal Mesh Patterns – Pack 1″ pattern pack.
This will create the in-space-like background.
Step 2
Create the text in All Caps using the font “Garnet”, the font size 250 pt, and the color #1e4d6e. Then, set the Tracking value to 100 pt.
Duplicate the text layer twice, then change the second copy’s Fill value to 0. Next, we are going to style each of the text layers.
Step 3
Double click the original text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Style to Stroke Emboss, the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Size to 10, the Gloss Contour to Cone – Inverted, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, its color to #e8ebf0, and the Shadow Mode color to #08324b.
– Contour: Choose the Ring contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.
– Stroke: Change the Size to 7, the Fill Type to Gradient, the Style to Reflected, the Angle to 90, and choose the “stove pipe 155b” gradient from the “CHROMES.grd” file found in the “gradient-shapes for Photoshop” gradients pack.
This will create the outer stroke of the text.
Step 4
Double click the first copy text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Gloss Contour to Rounded Steps, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and its color to #e2ffff.
– Contour: Just check the Anti-aliaeds box.
– Satin: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, the color to #c1ffe8, the Angle to 0, the Distance to 35, the Size to 70, and the Contour to Ring – Double.
This will create the first layer of the styled text.
Step 5
Double click the second copy text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Size to 40, uncheck the Use Global Light box, change the Angle to 65 and the Altitude to 75, change the Gloss Contour to Gaussian, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and its color to #efe6d2.
– Contour: Choose the Half Round contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.
– Satin: Change the Blend Mode to Vivid Light, the color to #2fffc7, the Distance to 28, the Size to 35, and the Contour to Gaussian.
This will create the second layer of the styled text, adding more depth and some extra details.
Step 6
Ctrl + click any text layer’s thumbnail to create a selection.
Create a new layer between the two copy text layers and call it “Texture”, set the Foreground and Background colors to #081f30 and White, and go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds. Then, go to Select -> Deselect to get rid of the selection.
Go to Filter -> Pixelate -> Crystallize, and set the Cell Size to 32.
Go to Filter -> (Filter Gallery) -> Brush Strokes -> Accented Edges, and use the values shown below.
This will create a bright cracks texture.
Go to Filter -> Filter Gallery -> Brush Strokes -> Angled Strokes, and use the values below as well.
This will sharpen the cracks a little bit.
Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen, and use the settings below.
This will intensify the cracks and enhance the contrast of the texture.
Change the “Texture” layer’s Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Step 7
Ctrl + click a text layer’s thumbnail again to create a selection, change the Foreground color to #1a1a1a, create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Noise”.
Go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds, then go to Select -> Deselect to get rid of the selection.
Go to Filter -> Texture -> Grain, and use the values below.
This will create a simple noise texture.
Change the “Noise” layer’s Blend Mode to Soft Light, and its Opacity to 50%.
Step 8
Click the layer at the top, then Shift + click the original text layer to select all the layers except for the Background layers, then go to Layer -> Group Layers.
Duplicate the group, make the original invisible by clicking the eye icon next to it, then select the copy and go to Layer -> Merge Group. This will rasterize the group layers into one layer.
Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, choose the Shape option in the Options bar, and set the Radius to 10. Then click and drag to create a rounded rectangle that is big enough to place a letter inside it. Drag the shape layer right below the rasterized group layer.
Double click the shape layer to apply the following Layer Style:
– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Size to 25, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and the Shadow Mode Opacity to 65%.
– Contour: Choose the Ring contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.
– Gradient Overlay: Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light, choose a White to Black gradient, change the Style to Reflected, and the Scale to 150%.
– Pattern Overlay: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, and choose the “Brushed Steel Metallic Texture” Pattern. You can click and drag the texture around inside the tile if you want to change its position as well.
This is what you should get.
Step 9
Duplicate the rectangle so that you have one for each letter you created.
Double click the rasterized group’s layer to apply a simple Drop Shadow effect by changing the Distance to 16 and the Size to 10.
This will add shadow to the text. The reason why it wasn’t added earlier is because it would’ve been rasterized, which will make it a solid color instead of a color that interacts with the Background elements through the Multiply Blend Mode.
Step 10
Pick the Polygonal Lasso Tool, then select the first letter you have. Click once to add a point, then release and drag the mouse to move, click to add another point, and so on, until you arrive back at the start point to close the selection.
Press the Ctrl/Cmd + J keys to duplicate the selected letter, with its shadow, in a separate layer.
Select the rasterized layer once again, and repeat the steps until you extract all the letters. When you’re done, make the rasterized layer invisible.
Next, you will have to arrange the rectangles and the letters in the document. And you can go to Edit -> Free Transform to rotate the letters and/or the rectangles if you like. Don’t forget to hit the Enter/Return key to accept the changes you make in the Free Transform Mode.
Step 11
Create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Glow”, then change its Blend Mode to Linear Light. Set the Foreground color to #6dcff6, pick the Brush Tool, and choose a soft round 35 px brush.
Start adding glow dots on the outer stroke of the letters.
Once you’re done, go to Filter -> Distort -> Ripple. Set the Amount to 100 and the Size to Large.
This will add a nice touch to the glow dots.
Finally, click the ‘Create new fill or adjustment’ layer icon down the Layers panel, and choose Gradient Map.
Choose the gradient shown below from the “CSP True Sky Gradients.grd” file in the gradients pack. Then, change the adjustment layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 50%. This will enhance the coloring of the final result.
And We’re Done!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it useful. Please feel free to leave your comments below.
In this tutorial we will create a logo for our favorite website, Photoshopstar.com, using the dreaded Pen tool. You will have to learn some new concepts and while it might be a bit difficult the results will be worthwhile.
Final Image
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (CS3+ versions will work as well)
First let’s start by opening the file “background”. You see, it’s always better to have something on top of which you can start creating stuff than a blank white canvas. This can be a texture, a drawing or even a photo at a lower opacity – everything that can help you in the artistic process.
Step 2
Select the Type Tool (T) and a sans-serif font (Century Gothic is my choice) of your liking (sans serif fonts are best for modern, techy logos while serif fonts are best suited for more conservative designs) and type PHOTOSHOP. The type tool will automatically create a new type layer for us.
Step 3
Now with the Type Tool still selected click somewhere below the text PHOTOSHOP and write STAR. Make sure you don’t type near the PHOTOSHOP text or the STAR text will be appended to it and we don’t want that. We want star on its own layer.
Step 4
Select the STAR layer in the layer palette and press Ctrl + T to Free Transform the text. Hold the Shift key and drag by the corners to resize the STAR text to a respectable size.
Step 5
Before we go any further there is an important aspect to logo creation (and vector drawing). You need to have things aligned precisely otherwise things will look out of place. Imagine that you have your logo on a huge billboard somewhere and your various elements are misaligned. While you may not notice that on a small computer screen you will see the flaws and misalignments of your design very clearly on a 10×10 ft poster. That’s why we need guides. Guides are 1px blue lines that don’t show up in your final image (when you save it) but they can help you tremendously when you create your design.
First let’s show the rulers on the screen by pressing Ctrl + R.
Now left-click on the rulers area (left or up), hold the mouse button and drag somewhere on your image and release. You should see a horizontal blue line if you dragged from the upper ruler or a vertical one if you dragged from the left ruler. To remove a specific ruler hold Ctrl and mouse over the guide until you see the mouse cursor transforming into an icon representing 2 vertical lines. Then you can safely click and drag the guide back into the ruler area (or outside the image area).
Now put some rulers around the text and make sure that your elements are aligned to them (you will see how my elements are aligned and you can follow through). I won’t tell you in future steps to add more rulers but if you see them in the images accompanying steps then add them in your document.
Step 6
Add a layer mask to the STAR text layer (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All). Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and in the layer mask draw a rectangular selection that covers the A letter. Fill the selection with black by pressing D and Alt + Backspace.
Step 7
We removed the letter so we can draw our vector shape. Select the Pen Tool (P) and from the Options Bar choose Shape.
A shape is a path that is automatically filled with 2 colors. First color is the outline color (stroke) and second color is the color inside the path (fill). Note that we can have one of the 2 colors (either fill or stroke), both (fill and stroke) or none (no fill and no stroke). The stroke can also have a width (how thick it will be) option.
In our logo design we want to replace the letter A with a nice star shape that has a white color and no outline. This means we will have to set the fill to a white color and the stroke to none. Click on the fill in the Option Bar and choose a white color.
Now with the Pen Tool still selected click (but don’t drag) on the points shown in the image below to draw a star (it doesn’t have to be perfect for the first time, we can tweak it later). Click on point 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 then back on point 1 to close the circle. The end result should be something like in the image below.
Step 8
If you feel queasy about paths go check out this great tutorial by yours truly and you will be able to follow the next steps with much more ease.
Let’s tweak the star. We have 2 main tools when we want to modify an existing path (and its points): the Path Selection Tool (select the whole path with one click) and the Direct Selection Tool (select points on the path independently). In the following steps we will work only with the Direct Selection Tool. Because we don’t want to be cycling between the Path Selection tool and the Direct Selection Tool here’s a time saving shortcut: when you have the Path Selection Tool selected simply press Ctrl to temporarily gain access to the Direct Selection Tool. Try it now, select the Path Selection tool and press Ctrl. If you click on a point on the path you will select it, if you hold Shift while clicking you can select multiple points, if you click outside the path you deselect the points and (be ready for a hardcore shortcut) if you press Ctrl + Shift + Alt and click somewhere on the path you will select all the points on it thus replicating the functionality of the Path Selection Tool. Neat huh?
Once you have selected points you can simply drag them around to change the shape fill and stroke on the fly. Go ahead, give it a spin and familiarize yourself a bit with these concepts and when you’re ready go to the next step.
Select the whole shape by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt somewhere along its lines and drag in the empty space between the T and the R letter.
Now tweak the shape’s points by dragging them in order to form something resembling a stylish A letter. Make sure your points are aligned to guides.
Step 9
Hey, it starts to look pretty good! But the star looks a bit thin so let’s add some width to it. Select the star shape (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + click) and press Ctrl + T to resize it. Make sure the star stays within the guides.
Step 10
Let’s tweak our logo a bit more. Select the PHOTOSHOP text layer in the layers palette by clicking on it and press Ctrl + T to Free Transform it. Resize it so it fits exactly above the word STAR.
Step 11
Let’s put a background behind our logo in order to make it stand out better. This background could be part of the logo or could be part of the presentation – it’s up to our future client. Now that you’re familiar with the shapes created with the pen tool let me introduce you to another set of tools that share striking similarities to our previously created shapes. Just below the Direct Selection Tool on the tools palette you will see a group of shape tools (Rectangle Tool, Rounded Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, Polygon Tool, Line Tool and Custom Shape Tool).
Step 12
Select one of these tools (let’s say the Rectangle Tool) and click and drag with it. You will notice that it will create a rectangular shape, with fill and stroke, just like the shapes created with the Pen tool. You can modify this shape (and all the shapes created with tools in the same group) just like you modify the shapes created with the Pen Tool. Just select the Path Selection tool again and use the known shortcuts and commands (like holding Ctrl in order to access the Direct Selection Tool ) to modify the rectangle shape.
Now let’s modify the fill and stroke of our rectangular shape in order to fit the image’s color scheme. Choose a black color for the stroke and decrease its width to 0.50 points and choose a nice strong yellow for the fill. Resize the shape with Free Transform and place below our logo (in the layers palette drag the rectangle shape layer below other layers and just above the “Background” layer).
I added a little .COM text just below the star in order to emphasize that this is a website logo.
And We’re Done!
And for a final trick, just for you dear reader: you can transform the text into shapes and further modify it by right clicking on the text layer in the layers palette and choosing Convert to Shape. Feel free to experiment. Also, if you don’t like my color scheme you can change the fill color of the star or the text in order to better suit your sense of style.
Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK. Enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For starters you will need a grid every 5px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box. Also, set the color of the grid to #a7a7a7.
Once you have set all these properties click OK. Don’t get discouraged by all that grid. It will ease your work later and you can easily turn it on/off using the CTRL + ‘ shortcut. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.
Step 2
Set the foreground color at #c69c6d and pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Focus on the top bar, set the radius at 5px and create a 105 x 15px vector shape. Make sure that this new shape stays selected and get back to the top bar. Check the Add button then simply add a 40 x 20px rounded rectangle and place it as shown in the second image.
Step 3
Move to the Layers panel (Window > Layers), name the existing vector shape "back" then double click on it to open the Layer Style window. Activate the Inner Shadow and the Gradient Overlay then enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 4
Make sure that the foreground color is still set at #c69c6d and grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Create a 115 x 75px vector shape, place it as shown in the first image and go to Edit > Transform > Warp. Focus on the top bar, select Bulge from the Warp drop-down menu, check the Orientation button, enter 5 in the Bend box, set the Vertical distortion (V:) at -3% then hit Enter.
In the end things should look like in the second image. Move to the Layers panel and simply name this new shape "front".
Step 5
Open the Layer Style window for your "front" vector shape and enter the properties shown in the following images. For the Pattern Overlay section you will need the darkest pattern from Neutral Tileable Leather Patterns pack.
Step 6
Set the foreground color at black and pick the Ellipse Tool. Create a 105 x 5px vector shape, place it as shown in the first image and move to the Layers panel. Right click on this new vector shape and simply go to Convert to Smart Object. Send this new smart object to back (Shift + CTRL + [ ) and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 3px radius and click OK.
Step 7
Make sure that the Ellipse Tool is still active, create a 105 x 10px vector shape, place it as shown in the first image and move to the Layers panel. Convert this new vector shape into a smart object, send it to back (Shift + CTRL + [ ) and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 3px radius and click OK.
Step 8
Set the foreground color at #aecef5, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 105 x 70px vector shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this blue rectangle is selected and hit CTRL + T (or go to Edit > Transform > Rotate). Focus on the top bar, set the rotation angle at -4 degrees and hit Enter.
Move to the Layers panel and drag this new vector shape below your "front" shape. Open the Layer Style window for this blue vector shape, activate the Stroke, enter the properties shown in the following image and click OK. Return to the Layers panel, right click on your blue vector shape and simply go to Copy Layer Style.
Step 9
For the following steps you will need a grid every 1px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and enter 1 in the Gridline Every box. Using the Rectangle Tool, create a 105 x 70px shape, place it as shown in the first image and hit CTRL + T. Set the rotation angle at -5 degrees and hit Enter.
Focus on the Layers panel, drag this new, blue shape below your "front" vector shape then right click on it and go to Paste Layer Style.
Step 10
Make sure that the Rectangle Tool is still active, create a 105 x 70px shape, place it as shown in the first image and hit CTRL + T. Enter a 3 degrees rotation angle and hit Enter.
Focus on the Layers panel, drag this new, blue shape below your "front" vector shape then right click on it and go to Paste Layer Style.
Step 11
Disable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and duplicate your "front" vector shape (CTRL+ J). Focus on the Layers panel, right click on this copy and go to Clear Layer Style.
Make sure that this copy stays selected, lower the Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 12
Focus on the Layers panel, hold the CTRL key from your keyboard and click on the bottom, blue vector shape. Next, hold the CTRL and the Shift keys from your keyboard and simply click on the other two blue vector shapes. In the end you should have a selection around all three blue vector shapes. Reselect the "front" copy made in the previous step and hit the Add Layer Mask button from the bottom of the Layers panel.
Open the Layers Style window for this masked vector shape and simply check the Layer Mask Hidden Effects box. Finally, hit CTRL + D to get rid of that selection.
Step 13
Using the Horizontal Type Tool add a simple piece of text as shown in the first image. Use the Eras Bold ITC font with the size set at 30pt and pick a random color. Make sure that your piece of text is selected, lower its Fill to 0% then open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.
Step 14
Finally, here’s how you can easily change the color of the final icon. Move to the Layers panel, focus on the vector shapes with the color set at #c69c6d and simply replace it with a color that you prefer.
Create a new 500 x 500 px document with all the default settings, then fill the Background with Black.
Create the text in White using the font Futurama. The letters are all created in Small Caps, the font Size is 100 pt, and the Tracking value is set to 25 px.
What you’ll need to do next, is click and drag using the Type Tool to select (highlight) each letter separately, then change its color.
The colors used here (from left to right) are: #800cb6, #074d9d, #0496b7, #00992b, #8c9f09, #a55405 and #9f0929.
Step 2
Once you’re done coloring the letters, right click the text layer and choose Rasterize Type. This will rasterize the type layer, so it will no longer be editable as a text layer. Duplicate the rasterized layer.
Select the original rasterized layer, then go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Change the Angle to 90 and the Distance to 150. This will create a vertical blur effect.
Step 3
Ctrl + click the copy layer’s thumbnail to create a selection.
Pick the Rectangular Marquee Tool and click the ‘Intersect with selection’ icon in the Options bar. Click and drag to draw a rectangle that covers the upper half of the selected text. Once you release the mouse button, the lower half won’t be selected anymore.
Create a new layer on top of all layers, call it “Top”, set the Foreground color to White, and pick the Gradient Tool. In the Options bar, choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient Fill, and click the Linear Gradient icon.
Then, press and hold the Shift key, and click and drag vertically from the lowest point to the highest point of the selection, and release all.
This will fill the selection with the gradient. Go to Select -> Deselect to get rid of the selection.
You can change the Opacity value if you prefer a more subtle gradient fill. Here, the “Top” layer’s Opacity value is set to 30%.
Step 4
Now, it’s time to add the text underneath. So go ahead and create whatever text you like in white. The font used here is Century Gothic (All Caps), the Font Size is 18 pt, and the Tracking value is still 25. You might need to use different values depending on the length of the text you have.
Double click the text layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect, and start by changing the Angle to 0, then click the Gradient fill box to create the gradient used.
To add color stops, you need to click once below the gradient bar for each color you want to add. And when you create or select a color stop, you get access to its settings. We’ll be changing the Color and Location values, from left to right.
In this tutorial we will explore how to create a realistic eroded gold effect from a custom bump map. You will learn bump map creation techniques as well as how to distort any surface effectively with that bump map. Then you will combine Layer Style with it to create a 3d look. Then we will add a custom lens flare, glow, streaks and other details to achieve the final look.
You will also master the Lighting Effects Filter as well as various tips and tricks and much more!
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Illustrator CS5
Estimated Completion Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Step 1
Open a new file (File > New) in Adobe Photoshop with the following settings. Save the file as “Eroded Gold.psd”.
Step 2
Select the Type Tool (Or press T), then type the numeric digit “5”. Here I’m using Arial Black, size 500 pt.
Step 3
Select the Move Tool (V), then click the layer “5” and shift/click to select the background layer. When you select more than two layers, alignment buttons are active on the Options Bar. Now click Align Vertical Centers and Align Horizontal Centers buttons on the Options Bar. This will center the “5” layer.
Step 4
Now press “D” and then “X”. “D” will reset the foreground-background colors to default black-white and “X” will make white the foreground color.
Create a new blank layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) above “5” layer. Rename this layer “Eroded 5” and press Alt + Backspace to fill with white. We will create the eroded textured background on this layer with the help of the Lighting Effects filter. But to produce an effective result the Lighting Effects filter needs a Bump map. In the next step we will create that bump map within an alpha channel.
Step 5
Click on the Channels panel and then create a new alpha channel by clicking on create new channel button (third button from left) below the Channel Panel. Alpha channels are used for storing transparency information or simply selections.
Step 6
A Bump Map is basically a grayscale image, where white is height and black is depth and 50% grey is neutral, i.e., neither height nor depth. Target the newly created alpha channel by clicking on it and select Filter > Render > Clouds. The Clouds filter generates a random cloud pattern that varies between the current foreground and background color, each time you apply the filter. Apply the Clouds filter a couple more times until you get an even distribution of grey values. Rename the alpha channel “Clouds”.
Step 7
Now we will apply the Difference Clouds filter on top of this cloud pattern to enhance it more. Difference Clouds blend the current foreground and background colors with the contents of the selected layer. Apply Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. This will add more depth and contrast to the existing Cloud pattern.
Apply a few more times until there is an interesting pattern. Rename the alpha channel “Eroded Bump Map”. Now the bump map for our Eroded surface is ready.
Step 8
Go back to the Layers panel and Ctrl-click on the “5” layer to load that text as a selection.
Step 9
Return to the Channels panel and target the “Eroded Bump Map” alpha channel. Then Select > Modify > Feather.
Use 3 pixels as the Feather radius value.
Step 10
From Edit > Fill and apply the settings from the screenshot below. Fill twice more (Total 3 times) with the same settings. Then deselect by pressing Ctrl + D or Select > Deselect.
Step 11
We need a fresh selection without the feather for the next step. Ctrl-click on the “5” layer to load that text as a selection. Then select the Brush tool (Press B) and black as the color. In the Options Bar click on the Brush Preset and select a soft brush. Then change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Change the Brush opacity to 50% and start painting within the selection. Paint on the dark areas specifically on the cracks or eroded area more to enhance them. Then change the brush color to white and paint on the white areas to make them more solid looking. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the eroded look. Slowly build up the desired look by painting again and again. Due to the Overlay selection mode within the selection white areas will become more white and black or dark areas will become darker. This process will help us to define the eroded look of the text.
Deselect and check that there is a fine separation line just inside the edge of the text. This will add more detail to the edge later.
Step 12
Still deselected, paint again with 50% soft white brush. But this time paint outside the “5” by overlapping the edge of the “5” and a little outside area.
Step 13
For the finishing touches in this deselected state we will paint with a black brush (Hard, 50% opacity) in normal mode in some of the areas, to give those areas a more solid eroded look.
Step 14
Go back to the Layers Panel and target the “5” layer. Then Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and apply the settings in the screenshot below:
Lighting Effects Filter
The Lighting Effects filter creates various lighting effects on images (RGB only). You can also use textures from grayscale files (called bump maps) to produce 3D-like effects and save your own styles for use in other images.
Applying The Lighting Effects Filter
Choose Filter > Render > Lighting Effects.
For Style, choose a style.
For Light Type, choose a type.
To add light drag the bulb icon from below the preview area to within the preview window.
To duplicate a light, Alt-drag the light within the preview window.
The Texture Channel will use any grayscale image (Alpha channel) to give the surface a 3D look. Below the Texture Channel, if White is high option is checked, then the slider will determine the height of the white areas within the bump map.
Gloss – Determines the gloss/ wet / matte look of the surface.
Material – Determines which is more reflective: the light or the object on which the light is cast.
Exposure – Increases or decreases light intensity.
Ambience – Diffuses the light as if it is combined with other lights.
Limitations of Lighting Effects Filter
The Lighting Effects filter works only on RGB images.
Not available in the Filter Gallery of Photoshop CS5.
Only available in the 32-bit mode of Photoshop CS5. For 64-bit solution check this link
There are no issues before or after Photoshop CS5
As you can see the look of the eroded surface is dependent on the cloud pattern we created in the alpha channel. Compare the b/w cloud pattern and the rendered eroded surface to see how the white and black areas of the cloud pattern get translated into the final eroded surface. You might want to do this a couple more times to get the desired look. Don’t try to match my eroded surface because that may not be possible due to the random nature of the cloud pattern. Instead try to create an interesting pattern of your own. This will give your surface a unique touch. So experiment with the Clouds – Difference Clouds – Lighting Effects combination.
Step 15
CTRL+ Click on the “5” layer to load as a selection. Target the “Eroded 5” layer and then from Select > Modify > Expand. Use a value of 4 pixels.
Why we have to do this is because of our use of 2 pixels Feather in the “Eroded Bump Map” channel. As a result, after the Lighting Effects Filter application, the “5 text” expanded a little. Now after the expansion the selection is fitting nicely around the “5”.
Step 16
Now the selection is still active on that “Eroded 5” layer, press Ctrl + J or Layer > Layer via copy to copy the “5” only on a separate layer. Rename the new layer as “Eroded Gold”. Delete the “Eroded 5” layer if you want.
Step 17
Ctrl click on the “Eroded Gold” layer to load that “5” as a selection. Then click on the Add Layer Mask icon below the Layers panel to create a layer mask based on that selection.
Step 18
Now go to the Channels panel and target the “Eroded Bump Map” channel. Then select the Magic Wand Tool (W) from the Tools Panel. Now click on the dark eroded areas with the Magic Wand Tool to select them all. Press Shift and click the Magic Wand Tool to add to the selection.
Step 19
With the selection still active go back to the Layers panel and click on the Mask thumbnail of the “Eroded Gold” layer to target that.
Step 20
Then make sure that black is your foreground color and fill the selection with black.
Below are the final eroded text and the mask.
Step 21
Duplicate the “Eroded Gold” layer. Then drag and position the new duplicate layer below the “Eroded Gold” layer. Rename it “Eroded Gold Base”.
Step 22
Right click on the mask thumbnail of “Eroded Gold Base” layer and select Delete Layer Mask.
Step 23
Duplicate the “Eroded Gold Base” layer and rename it “Eroded Gold Side”. Then press Shift + Right Arrow and Shift + Down Arrow once from the keyboard. We are offsetting the “Eroded Gold Side” layer to simulate the 3d look of the “Eroded Gold” layer.
Step 24
Double click on the “Eroded Gold Side” layer to open the Layer Style window. Let’s create a Gradient Overlay to define the shaded look of the side of the “5”. This will give it a more 3d look. Match the screenshot for Gradient Overlay settings.
Below is the final look of the side of the 3d “5”.
Step 25
Next we will create a Curves Adjustment Layer on top of the “Eroded Gold” layer. This Curves Adjustment Layer will help us to control the highlight and shadow of the top surface of “5”. First target and Ctrl+click on the mask thumbnail of “Eroded Gold” layer to select it. We will use this selection to create the mask of the Curves Adjustment layer. This Curves Adjustment layer will control the look of the top surface of “5” only, not the eroded areas. For the Eroded areas later we will create another Curves Adjustment layer.
Step 26
With “Eroded Gold” layer still active, create a new Curves Adjustment layer by clicking on the Create a new fill or adjustment layer icon (Fourth from left) below the Layers Panel.
Below is the Curves Adjustment settings (Window> Adustments):
Step 27
Double click on “Curves 1” text of the Curves Adjustment Layer and rename it “Top Surface Curve”.
It’s time to create the gold color of the top surface (excluding the eroded areas). Ctrl+click on the mask thumbnail of the “Top Surface Curve” Adjustment layer to select it. Then create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer on top of “Top Surface Curve” Adjustment layer and rename to “Top Surface Gold”. Then use the Hue/Saturation values from the screenshot below:
Step 28
Next we will create the look of the Eroded surface. Following the same procedure we will create two more Adjustment Layers for the eroded areas. But first Ctrl+click on the layer thumbnail of the “Eroded Gold Base” layer to select it. We will use this selection as the mask for the new Curves Adjustment layer. With the selection still active, create a new Curves Adjustment layer with the name “Eroded Surface Curve” on top of the “Eroded Gold Base” layer. Use the settings from the screenshot below:
Step 29
Next we will create the Gold color of the Eroded surface. So we will create another Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer on top of the “Eroded Surface Curve” layer. But the process of creating the mask for this new Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer is a little different. We have to use two different selections from two different layers for this mask. First we Ctrl+click to select the “Eroded Gold Base” layer. Then Ctrl + Shift + click to select the “Eroded Gold Base Side” layer also. By Ctrl + Shift method you can add to an existing selection or simply combine selections. So using this combined mask, create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer with the name “Eroded Surface Gold” on top of the “Eroded Surface Curve” Adjustment layer. Use the screenshot from below:
Step 30
The main Eroded Gold Text effect is complete. Next we create the stone background with a simple layer style. Target the “Background” layer and create a new Fill Adjustment Layer (Solid Color) on top of it.
Step 31
In the “Pick a solid color” window select black (RGB 0, 0, 0) as the color and rename the layer “Stone Bg”.
Step 32
Double click on Stone Bg layer to open the Layer Style window. Create a new Pattern Overlay by clicking on the Pattern Overlay text in the left pane (i.e. Styles) of Layer Style window. Use “Rock Wall” from the Rock Patterns group. In case this pattern is not present in your version of Photoshop, feel free to use any other rock/stone pattern available in the patterns pop-up list. It will change the look of the background a little. But we are not working on any specific look here. This tutorial is rather an understanding of the process, besides being a simple steps tutorial. So explore on your own.
Use Divide as the Blend Mode and change the Scale value to 150.
Step 33
Let’s create an Edge Darken effect on top of it. Create a new Levels Adjustment Layer on top of the “Stone Bg” layer with the following settings:
Step 34
Target the “Edge Darken” Adjustment layer and add a Layer Mask to it. Select a 100 pixel soft rounded brush with black and click once in center of the mask. It will look like a small back dot in the mask thumbnail.
Step 35
Now we have to scale it up. Select the Move Tool (V), then Menu > Edit > Transform > Scale (Ctrl + T). Now scale up the back dot, until it is touching almost the edge of the layer and apply the transformation by pressing the Enter button or double clicking within the transform box. In the screenshot below I have hidden the “Stone Bg” layer to show the transformation of the black dot within the mask prominently.
Now change the Blend Mode of “Edge Darken” Adjustment layer to Multiply and layer Opacity to 50%.
Step 36
We are almost there. Let’s add some small details like, Shadow, Lens Flare, Glow and Streaks. First we create the shadow. Duplicate the “5” Text layer, then right click on it and select Rasterize Type. Rename the layer “Eroded Gold Shadow” and position it on top of the “Edge Darken” layer. Then use the right and down arrow keys from the keyboard to offset (Move) the shadow a little towards the right and down.
Step 37
Then target the “Eroded Gold Shadow” layer and from Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 3 pixels in the Radius field. Then change the blend mode to Multiply.
Step 38
Create a new layer on top of “Eroded Gold Shadow” with the name “Glow Below”. Select a soft brush. Press the Alt key and the Brush Tool will change temporarily to the Eyedropper Tool. Select a light shade of gold with this Eyedropper Tool, then release the Alt key to go back to the Brush tool. Now paint some glow below the “5”. Check the screenshot below:
Step 39
Change the blend mode of the “Glow Below” layer to Overlay. Now create a new layer on top of the “Top Surface Gold” Adjustment layer. Then with the same Brush and color, paint some glow, matching the areas of “Glow Below” layer. Change the layer blend mode to Hard Light and the opacity to 40%.
Step 40
Create a new layer with the name “Flare” on top of “Glow Top” layer and fill with black. We will add Lens Flares matching the “Glow Top” paint spots. But to locate the exact area or center of each paint spot we need the Info panel (Window > Info). Open the Info panel and click on the down facing arrow at the top right corner and select Panel Option. In the Info Panel Options window, click the drop down list, beside the Ruler Units, in the Mouse Coordinates area. Select Pixels as the Ruler units and click the OK button to close the window.
Step 41
Change the blend mode of the “Flare” layer to Screen. Now select the Move Tool (V) position your cursor on the center of each paint spot. Check the Info panel for X and Y coordinates. We will use this data to position the Lens Flares accurately. From Filter > Render > Lens Flare. Alt+click within the Flare preview area to open the Precise Flare Center Window. Use the x, y coordinate values from the Info panel here. Then select 105mm Prime as the Lens type and adjust the brightness.
Step 42
Use the screenshot below for flare values. I changed the screen blend mode to normal mode for showing the exact flares. But feel free to use different flare types and values.
Step 43
Actually we need the same gold color flares here. To do that first we have to remove the default flare colors. Target the “Flare” layer, then Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. This will remove the default flare colors.
Step 44
Then again Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, checked the Colorize option first, and then apply the settings from the screenshot below:
Step 45
Let’s create the streaks now. Create a new layer on top of the “Flare” layer with the name “Streak 1”. Then select a soft brush and click on the Toggle Brush Panel button beside the brush preset picker. For the Brush Panel settings check the screenshot below:
Step 46
Now center the Brush and change the Brush opacity to 30%. Then click and reduce the Brush size by pressing the “[” (Left third bracket) key. Repeat the process, like 30% (One size smaller), 50% (One size smaller again) and then 100% (One size smaller again). So from the outside to the inside the flare becomes more opaque (30% to 100%). Check the screenshot below:
Step 47
Copy the “Streak 1” layer three times, then rename them to “Streak 2” and “Streak 3”. Then resize the three Streaks with Edit > Transform > Scale (Ctrl + T). Use the screenshot below as a guide for position and placement:
Step 48
Now we create a Glow center for each Streak layer. Target “Streak 1” layer, then select a 50 pixel Soft Brush with 100% Opacity. Click in the center of the “Streak 1”. Then following the same process, use 30 pixels for the “Streak 2” and 40 pixels for the “Streak 3”.We are not creating a streak for the fourth flare. We are only using that to create a bright highlight spot at the side.
And We’re Done!
Congratulations, the Eroded Gold Effect is now complete. Below is the final arrangement of the Layers Panel.
Below is the final result. But you can still tweak and add more details. It’s up to you and your creativity where you want to go from here.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to create a Dake photo manipulation. We are going to learn the process of creating depth of field using a few advance tools.
We are going to learn how to blend images so seamlessly that it will look like a single image, using the Brush tool, the Eraser tool and several adjustment layers. We will learn how to create light and darkness to make the background look seamless.
Create a new document, 1900 x 1440 pixels and fill the background with light gray: #ededed. Select the Pen Tool and create the upper shape of the hourglass. Make sure to turn the shape layer on.
Step 2
Change the ‘Fill’ to 0% just below the ‘Opacity’ option in layers palette. Apply an inner glow layer style with gray: #bdc1c2 and opacity 50%. Name this layer “outer glass”.
Step 3
Duplicate the “outer glass” layer, right click on the layer and choose ‘Clear Layer Style’ to remove all layer styles. Press Ctrl + t to transform the layer, click on the ‘Maintain Aspect ratio’ icon between the width & height options and set the height to 98%. Name this layer “inner glass” and apply an inner glow layer style with these settings;
Step 4
Duplicate the “inner glass” layer, group all layers and merge the group into a single layer. Name the group “upper glass”.
Now create another shape inside the upper glass group, make sure to turn the shape layer on and apply an inner glow layer style using dark gray: #43494a, size 125px and opacity 75%. Name this layer “glass shadow”.
Step 5
Now we will create some lights and reflections, to do this create a new shape with the help of the pen tool. Set its color to white, change its blending mode to soft light & opacity to 40%. Name this layer “reflection top”.
Step 6
Create two more shapes to create other reflections, set their color to white and rename both layers “reflection top left” & “reflection top right”.
Step 7
Create the lower glass by following steps 1 – 4 and step 6. Create another shape to create a reflection on the top of the lower glass. Change its color to white and set its blending mode to soft light with opacity set to 40%.
Step 8
Now we are going to create the middle part of the hourglass for this, press P to select the pen tool and create a shape with ‘Fill’ 0%. Ctrl + click on the layer to select the pixels, select a soft brush using light gray: #d2d2d2 and paint along the left and right edges. Name this layer “middle”.
Step 9
Now merge the “outer glass” layer and the “inner glass” layer with both upper and lower glass. Create a layer mask and hide the edges in the centre part. The hourglass will look like this:
Step 10
Now we will create the sand inside the hourglass for this, create a new document: 1000 X 1000 pixels and fill it with tan: #b0926c. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and add 28% noise to the layer, name this layer “noise”.
Step 11
Import the “noise” layer into our document, select the pen tool and create a shape for the sand in lower glass. Don’t forget to set the ‘Fill’ to 100%. Change this shape layer’s color to tan: #b0926c and rename this shape layer “lower sand”. Select the “noise” layer and keep it just above the “lower sand” layer now press ‘Alt + Ctrl + G’ to create a clipping mask. You can also create a clipping mask by going to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.
Step 12
Now it’s time to add some shadows, to do this select a soft brush color light brown: #a08d76 and brush the highlighted areas to create shadows.
If everything is done properly your result will look like this:
Step 13
To create lights, select a soft brush color tan: #c7b59d & opacity to 60% and paint the highlighted area to create light in that part. Create another layer and paint the upper part of the sand, set the blending mode of the layer to screen.
Step 14
Repeat steps 11 – 13 to create sand for the upper glass, create the upper surface of sand to give it a natural look. Create another sand layer in the middle part of the hourglass in the same way as you did in steps 11 – 13.
Step 15
Now to create falling sand, select the “noise” layer and select an area with the rectangular marquee tool. Press Ctrl + J to isolate the selection, press Ctrl + T to transform the layer and stretch it vertically, again transform the layer, right click and select ‘warp’ then transform it to create falling sand. Apply some shadows to match the sand and the result will look like this:
Step 16
First off, let’s open the Soil stock in Photoshop. We will be using the Soil from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Soil and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the Soil and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “Soil”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “Soil” layer is selected resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of layers palette.
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings :
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a Brightness/contrast adjustment layer which can be found by pressing the Create New Fill/Adjustment layer button shown on the layer window:
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (Soil layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (Soil layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 17
First off, let’s open the Field Background Stock 009 stock in Photoshop. We will be using the hill from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Field Background Stock 009 and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the hill and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “hill”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “hill” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of layers palette.
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings:
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Now create a new Color Balance adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and Color Balance) to make a mask.
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Curves adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and Curves) to make a mask.
When the Curves box opens, input the following:
Now create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (hill layer and hue/saturation) to make a mask.
When the hue/saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 18
First off, let’s open the Avebury Path stock in Photoshop. We will be using the path from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Avebury Path and press p to activate pen tool and then make a selection around the path and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “path”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “path” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (path layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 19
Now, let’s open the big blue sky stock in Photoshop. We will be using the sky from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the big blue sky stock and press V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change layer name to “sky”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “sky” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now add a vector mask from the bottom of the layers palette .
Now activate the Brush tool (B) using these settings:
Brush size: 400px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 40%
Flow: 100%
Color: #000000
Now paint over the highlighted area.
The result should be similar to this:
Step 20
Now, let’s open the Tree stock stock in Photoshop. We will be using the tree from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Tree stock and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the tree and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “tree”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “tree” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Now create a new Color Balance adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Color Balance) to make a mask.
When the Color Balance box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of layers palette .Press Alt+left click in between 2 layer’s (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Brightness/contrast adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Brightness/contrast) to make a mask.
When the Brightness/contrast box opens, input the following:
Now create a new curves adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and curves ) to make a mask.
When the curves box opens, input the following:
Now create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers palette. Press Alt+left click in between the 2 layers (tree layer and Hue/Saturation) to make a mask.
When the Hue/Saturation box opens, input the following:
The result should be similar to this:
Step 21
Next, let’s open the Lighthouse stock in Photoshop. We will be using the Lighthouse from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the Lighthouse and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the Lighthouse and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “house”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “house” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Step 22
Now, let’s open the car stock in Photoshop. We will be using the car from this stock image so we will need to transfer it to our main canvas.
Click the car and press p to activate the pen tool and then make a selection around the car and then click V to activate the Move Tool. Left-click the image and drag the image to the main canvas and change the layer name to “car”.
Next, activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd +T), then while the “car” layer is selected, resize it as shown below:
Step 23
Now, let’s create a new layer and name it “shadow”. Now activate the Elliptical marquee tool and make a circle under the glass layer and fill it with black: #000000.
Now Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur
When the Gaussian blur box opens, input the following:
This Photoshop tutorial will show a simple way to create a nice text effect using Layer Styles, then modify some brush settings to add stars to the background.
Final Image
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (CS2+ versions will work as well)
Estimated Completion Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner
Note: Original tutorial published on Photoshopstar.com some years ago. Tutorial was updated and now republished.
Created a new 500 x 300 px document with all the default settings, then fill the Background with the color #1a142c.
Create a new layer and call it “Center Glow”.
Pick the Elliptical Marquee Tool, then click and drag to create an ellipse in the center of the document as shown below.
Fill the ellipse with the color #6d56b2.
Go to Select -> Deselect (Ctrl/Cmd + D) to remove the selection. Then, go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur, and set the Radius to 28. This will feather the edges of the ellipse.
Change the “Center Glow” layer’s Opacity to 70%.
Step 2
Pick the Horizontal Type Tool, then type the first letter of the word you will be creating. The font used is KabelBd, the color is White, and the font Size is 75 pt.
Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style.
– Stroke: Change the Size to 1, the Position to Inside, and the Color to White.
– Gradient Overlay: Click the Gradient box to create the gradient.
The gradient uses two colors: #8061da to the left, and #ffffff to the right.
– Outer Glow: Change the Opacity to 70%, the color to #ae93fe, and the Size to 3.
– Drop Shadow: Change the Opacity to 60%, uncheck the Use Global Light box, and change the Angle to 144.
This is what the text should look like.
Step 3
Right click the text layer and choose Copy Layer Style.
Create a new layer below the text layer you have, then add the next letter.
Right click the secone letter’s text layer, and choose Paste Layer Style. This will apply the same layer style to the new text layer.
Keep on adding the rest of the letters, and paste the layer style to each one you create. You can place them on top of and below each other as you like.
Step 4
Create a new layer below all text layers and call it “Stars”. Pick the Brush Tool, then choose the “5″ star brush from the brush pack.
Open the Brush panel (Window -> Brush), and modify the brush settings as shown below:
Brush Tip Shape:
Shape Dynamics:
Scattering:
Step 5
Change the “Stars” layer’s Fill value to 0.
Double click the “Stars” layer to apply a Stroke effect, by changing the Size to 1, the Position to Inside, and the color to #6c51c2.
Click and drag slightly to add stars around the text. The settings will help you create stars with different sizes and angles.
You can use the Eraser Tool to remove any unwanted parts, then recreate them, until you like the final result.
And that’s it!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it helpful.
