Supercolortuts » Tutorials

Tips to Showcase and Highlight your Projects in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:15:39 +0000

When Presenting a project to a client or featuring it on your blog its always nice to add a few effects and highlights on it. In this tutorial I’ll show you a few tips to add some effects and highlight details on your projects.

When I work on a project for a client, I try to highlight the details of this project and make it stand out to be more eye catching to the client, also showing the progress between two versions. Here’s a few examples and tricks to highlight your work in Photoshop.

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Tip 1 – Blurred Reflection

I’m using a mac for my design work, in the dock there’s a nice blurred reflection effect on the icons, here’s a quick way to apply it on any object. For thoses examples I’m using a custom Photoshop CS6 icon from an Adobe CS6 Flat Icons I’ve released previously.

Open your object or icon in Photoshop, Duplicate its layer, Use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) on the duplicated layer to Flip it Vertically, Right Click – Flip Vertical.

Use the Move Tool (V) to place this duplicated object under the original.

Create a blank Layer Mask on the duplicate object layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal All. Select the Gradient Tool (G) with a Black to White gradient, create a gradient on the layer mask we just created going from bottom to top.

Last step, Apply a 10px Radius Gaussian Blur on this duplicated object, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur.

Tip 2 – Blurred Background

The use of blurred backgrounds have been a big trend lately, I like to use then behind a detailed object because it gives a better focus on the object you want to highlight.

In this example I just added a blurred background from a 8 Blurred Background Pack I released previously.

Tip 3 – Zoom Effect on Details

When you’re working on an illustration or a webdesign, there’s a lot of details to show, it’s nice to highlight those details with a zoom effect.

Open up your object, illustration or webdesign, select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a perfect circle (hold shift while creating the circle) on top of the detailed you want to highlight.

Let’s apply a little shadow on this zoom part, add a Drop Shadow Layer Style with those parameters on the zoom circle.

Now open a bigger version of the project or duplicate your project layer and use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to make it bigger, use the Move Tool (V) to place the part you want to highlight on the zoom circle.

Make sure the bigger version layer in just in front of the zoom circle layer then Right click on the bigger version layer in the layer panel and select Create Clipping Mask.

Tip 4 – Decompose your Project into Layers

To present your project you can also decompose the different styles (background, elements, details, shadows) here’s a quick way to create this presentation.

Open up a project and create 3 to 5 layers, each layers with the same styles of elements. For this example i used the same custom photoshop icon with 3 layers, dark blue background layer, light blur background layer and text layer. Select all the layer, use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+U) to downsize the width of your layers to 50%.

Right click on the Free Transform Tool selection and select Skew, drag the middle bottom point 45° to the right.

Now use the Move Tool (V) and arrow keys to move the different layers down except the top layer (the text layer for me), I moved the light blue layer 50px down and the dark blue layer 100px down.

Let’s add a little shadow on the layers, add the same Drop Shadow Layer Style on all the layers.

Tip 5 – Focus Blur

Last tip to highlight and add a focus on your project, I used a screenshot of the Supercolortuts blog and used the new CS6 Iris Blur Filter on this screenshots to blur out around the part I wanted the focus on.

Just open your project, go to Filter – Blur – Iris Blur, place the center of the blur on the part you want the focus to be and player with the parameters and size of the blur.

You can use those tips on any design projects for a presentation or just feature them on a blog or social media. There’s a lot of ways to make your projects stand out, try to experiment and use those tips alone or together on one of your projects. Feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

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Create a Computer Chip Text Effect in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:30:44 +0000

In this Photoshop Tutorial, learn how to create a Computer Chip Text Effect. We’ll use basic shapes, Layer Styles, Layers Masks and a few Filters to create this cool text effect to give a technology feel on your texts.

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Step 1 – THE New Document and Computer Chip Shape

Open up Photoshop, create a new document, 1750x850px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with white, Edit – Fill – White.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style with a Radial Gradient, with a 90° Angle with those colours, #1B1B1B – #313131 – #565656.

Create the main shape of the computer chip, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), create a black 1500x700px rounded rectangle with a 5px Radius.

Add a few Layer Styles on this shape to give a nice green colour with those parameters :

Now let’s cut out a few parts of the main shape using a Layer Mask, first select the Ellipse Tool (U), create 3 75x75px circles, place one on the top left part, one on the top right part and the other on the bottom right part. create a smaller 50x50px circle on the bottom right part. create an other shape on the bottom part of the main shape with a 30x120px rectangle and a 30x30px circle like below.

We’ll now create a Layer Mask on the main shape with the selection of those small shape. Load the selection of all the small shape we just created, Cmd+Shift+Click on the thumbnails of the small shapes to load the selection.

Create a Layer Mask on the Main Shape with this selection, Layer – Layer Mask – Hide Selection.

Step 2 – Gold Stroke Circle and Background Shape

Hide or delete the small shapes we created except the small 50x50px circle on the bottom right corner.

Apply a few Layer Styles on this circle shape with those parameters :

Use #F4E541 – #C4791B for the Gradient Overlay Layer Style.

Change the Fill of this circle to 0%.

Duplicate the main shape layer, delete the Layer Styles from this shape, right click – Delete Layer Styles, place this duplicated layer, behind the original layer, use the Move Tool (V) to move the duplicated shape 10px down.

Apply a Color Overlay and Drop Shadow Layer Styles on this duplicated shape.

Step 3 – Text

After creating the main chip shape, let’s create the text. I used a Font called Intro, you can use any font you like and wrote “CHIP“.

Add a few Layer Styles on this text layer to give a black plastic feel with those parameters :

To add more details on the text create a few small black circles on the bottom corners of each letters.

Add an Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay Layer Styles on those small shapes.

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) again, create a 35x35px red #EE445E circle on the top right corner of the “P” letter.

Add a few Layer Styles on this red circle :

Create a 35x35px white circle on top of the red circle, apply a Gaussian Blur with a 3,5px Radius on this white circle. Right click on the white circle blurred layer, select Create Clipping Mask. Change its Fill to 65% and Blending Mode to Lighten.

Step 4 – Details

Create 16 small circles, 2 rows of 4 circles on the top left part of the chip shape and 2 rows of 4 circles on the top right part like below

Add a few Layer Styles on the small circles with those parameters :

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create the small metal shapes on the bottom part of the chip, create a 25x100px with a 5px Radius rounded rectangle, duplicate it 20 times, place those rounded rectangle on the bottom part of the chip with a 20px margin between them expect one on the left of the cut out part like below.

Apply a few Layer Styles on all those small shapes to give a nice gold metallic effect.

Use #D1C03F – #C4931B for the Gradient Overlay.

Step 5 – Small Metal Pins

In this step we’ll create the small metal pins around the letters, Create a Grey #D0D1D3 rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (U).

Apply a Drop Shadow and Black to Transparent Gradient Overlay Layer Styles on this rectangle shape.

Create a smaller grey rectangle behind the first rectangle we created, a little down the right. Create an other small grey rectangle on the right of the second rectangle like below. Merge the two smaller rectangles we just created, select those rectangle shape, right click on the two selected layers and select Merge Shapes.

Apply a Drop Shadow and Black to Transparent Gradient Overlay Layer Styles on this merged rectangles shapes.

Place this metallic pin shapes in a new group, use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to downsize this pin shape. Place this pin shape group behind the text layer, duplicate this group a few times and place those pins on the right parts of the letters.

Duplicate one of the pins, Flip it Horizontally, Edit – Transform Path – Flip Horizontal. also change the Angle of the 2 Gradient Overlay Layer Styles on this duplicate pin shape to 180°. Duplicate this pin shape group a few times and place them on the left parts of the letters.

Step 6 – Green Lines

This part of the tutorial can take a little time, we’ll need to create a lot of lines to join the small metallic pins together and to the gold bottom shapes, select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create a lot of lines, also create a few lines inside the letters like below :

Merge all those lines together and apply a Color Overlay and Drop Shadow Layer Styles with those parameters on those lines.

Select the Ellipse Tool (U), create some small circles at the end of the lines we created inside the letters.

Add a #6F6F6F – #BBBBBB Gradient Overlay Layer Style on those small circle details.

Step 7 – Noise and Blur

Create a new layer, Fill it with white, Edit – Fill – White. Apply a Noise Filter on this white layer with a 10% Amount and Gaussian for the Distribution.

Change the Fill of this noise layer to 20% and Blending Mode to Soft Light.

Apply the same Layer Mask than on the main chip shape on this noise layer.

Select all the layers we created from the start of the tutorial except the background layer and press the Cmd+Alt+E keys. This will create a new layer with all the other layers merged inside this new layer.

Next apply an Iris Blur Filter, Filter – Blur – Iris Blur with a 5px blur on this merged layer like below.

Change its Fill to 25% and Blending Mode to Soft Light.

To finish this Computer Chip Text Effect I just added the Supercolortuts Logo on the top part of the chip with the Layer Styles than on the small green top circles.

That’s it for this Tutorial, now you have a cool Computer Chip Text, you can use those technique with any text and create different styles of technology style text effects. Feel free to download the Source Files or leave a comment if you need help.

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Create a Nintendo Gameboy Cartridge in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:20:18 +0000

In this Photoshop Tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a Nintendo Gameboy Cartridge icon in Photoshop, with basic shapes, Layer Styles and Layer Masks. After sharing this Gameboy Cartridge Icon as a Freebie I thought it could be nice to share the design process to create this old school icon.

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Step 1 – THE New Document and Main Shape

Open up Photoshop and create a new document 1024x1024px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with white, Edit – Fill – White.

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and create a 690x865px rounded rectangle with a 15px Radius.

Create an other rounded rectangle on the right of the main rectangle with those parameters: 100x825px with a 15px Radius.

Select the two shape layers, right click on those layers and select Merge Shapes.

Add a Bevel & Emboss and Drop Shadow Layer Styles on this merged shape with those parameters:

Now let’s modify this main shape a little bit using a Layer Mask to hide some parts of this shape. Create a blank Layer Mask on this main shape layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal All. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create two vertical rectangle shapes, one on each side of the main shape. Hold the Cmd+Shift keys and click on the thumbnails on the two vertical rectangle shapes layers to load a selection. Select the Layer Mask on the main shape layer and fill the selection with black, Edit – Fill – Black then delete those two vertical shapes.

Now we’ll work on the top part of the cartridge, select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create a 95x16px horizontal shape. Duplicate this shape 9 times to have 10 identical shapes, place 5 of these horizontal shapes on each side of the cartridge with a 11px margin between each shapes.

Merge all those shapes and load a selection from those shapes

Select the Layer Mask on the main shape, fill the selection with black and delete the 10 identical shapes.

Create two 185x185px circles using the Ellipse Tool (U), and place one on each side of the horizontal stripes like below:

Make a selection with those two circles, Hold the Cmd+Shift keys and click on the thumbnails on the two circles shapes layers to load a selection. Select the Layer Mask on the main shape and fill this selection with white, when you’re done delete the two circle shapes.

To add more details on this cartridge icon, I created rounded corners on the top horizontal stripes, select the Pen Tool (P) and create a small triangle shape on the corner of the top left side stripe, duplicate this shape 3 times and place them on the other stripes. Duplicate those 4 triangle shapes and use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to flip them vertically, Right Click – Flip Vertical. You should have 8 triangle shapes like below, one on each corners of the stripes :

Merge those 8 triangle shapes, make a selection from those small shapes, select the Layer Mask on the main shape and fill the selection with black.

Repeat the same process on the stripes on the other side, select the 8 small triangle shapes, flip them horizontally using the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T), Right Click – Flip Horizontal and repeat the same process with the small triangles on the right side of the cartridge on the Layer Mask. delete the small triangle shapes when you’re done.

Select the Pen Tool (P), create a small triangle shape on the left middle corner of the main shape, load a selection from this shape, select the Layer Mask on the main shape, fill the selection with black.

Repeat the same process on the other middle corner

You should have something like this

Step 2 – Noise and Background Shapes

Now we have our main shape, let’s add a little texture on this shape. create a new layer, Fill it with White, Edit – Fill – White, apply a Noise Filter on this layer, Filter – Noise – Add Noise with a 50% Amount, Gaussian for the Distribution and Monochromatic.

Create a Clipping Mask on this layer, Right Click – Create Clipping Mask, change the Fill of this layer to 3% and its Blending Mode to Overlay. Rename this layer “Noise 1“.

Duplicate the “Noise 1” layer, rename the new layer “Noise 2“, invert the colours on this layer, Image – Adjustments – Invert, change the Fill of this layer to 7% and use the arrow keys from your keyboard with the Move Tool (V) to move 2px down and 2px right.

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), create a 748x625px rounded rectangle with a 15px Radius. place this shape layer behind the main shape.

Create a 748x168px rounded rectangle with a 15px Radius on the top part of the main shape, place this shape behind the main shape layer.

Step 3 – Bottom Triangle

In this step we’ll create the bottom triangle on the cartridge using a few shapes, select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create two small 15x15px circles with a 85px spacing between those circles.

Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create an horizontal rectangle between the circles shapes.

Select the Custom Shape Tool (U), select the Rounded Triangle shape in the Toolbar, this shape is available in the default shape library in photoshop. create a rounded triangle pointing down.

Merge all those shapes, select all the shape layers, Right Click – Merge Shapes then apply a Bevel & Emboss and Color Overlay Layer Styles on the merged shape with the parameters:

Step 4 – Sticker Background

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), create a 585x520px with a 15px Radius in the center of the cartridge. Add a Bevel & Emboss and Inner Shadow Layer Styles on this shape with those parameters:

Step 5 – Circles

In this step we’ll create the two circle that should be behind the sticker, I created them to keep this icon realistic. Select the Ellipse Tool (U), create a 52x52px circle, apply those Layer Styles on this circle :

Create a 15x15px circle in the center of the bigger circle and apply an Inner Glow Layer Style on it :

Create a 2.5×2.5px grey circle in the middle of the two circles we just created. Place the 3 circle we just created in a new Group.

Now we’ll create the other circle, select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a 22x22px circle under the circle we created previously.

Add a few Layer Styles on this circle shape to create a nice metallic effect :

Step 6 – Text

Let’s create the top part of the cartridge with the text, select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create two 160x160px circles then create a rectangle between those circle using the Rectangle Tool (U) and merge those three shapes, select the shape layers, Right Click – Merge Shapes. I’ve used a pink colour for the purpose of the tutorial, change those colour of the merged shapes to a grey colour, #877c85.

Add a Bevel & Emboss and Inner Shadow Layer Styles on this shapes with the those parameters :

For the Text I used two fonts the first called “Pretendo” from Urbanfonts.com and the second is the “Arial” font. For the first part I wrote “Supercolor” using the Pretendo Font and apply some Layer Styles on this Type layer :

For the second part I wrote “TUTS“, I used the Arial font with the Bold Italic option, apply the same Layer Styles than before on this text.

To finish the text I wrote “TM” using the Arial font and added the same Layer Styles than on the other text parts.

Step 7 – Sticker

To finish this icon, you can add an image for the sticker, first select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and create a 555x495px rounded rectangle for the sticker, add a Drop Shadow Layer Style on this shape.

To add you own sticker, you can use any image you like, load the image in Photoshop, drag it into the Cartridge icon document, place it on top of the sticker shape, then create a Clipping Mask from the layer of this image, select the layer of the image, Right Click – Create Clipping Mask.

That’s it for this Tutorial, Here you have a cool old school gameboy cartridge you can use as an icon or maybe on a T-Shirt, feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

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Create a Shiny Gold Star Coin in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:45:25 +0000

In this Photoshop Tutorial, learn how to create a Shiny Gold Coin in Photoshop. We’ll use basic shapes, Layer Styles, Layers Masks and a few Filters to create this cool Gold Coin that you can use as an icon or in a any design projects

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Resources Needed for this Tutorial:

- Custom Star Shape

Step 1 – THE New Document and Big Circles

Open up Photoshop and create a new document 1024x1024px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with white, Edit – Fill – White.

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a 850x850px perfect circle in the center of the canvas (hold the shift key while creating the circle to make it perfect).

Change the Fill of this shape to 0% then let’s start adding some colours and effects on this shape using Layer Styles with a Gradient Overlay going from #F3E54A to #C3781A and a Bevel and Emboss with those parameters :

Create an other 850x850px perfect circle in the center of the canvas using the Ellipse Tool (U).

Change the Opacity of this shape to 75%, its Fill to 0% and add a Satin Layer Style on this new shape with those parameters :

Step 2 – Small Circles

In this step we’ll create two smaller circles with some more effects on it. Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a first 700x700px circle shape in the center of the canvas.

Change the Fill of this shape to 0% and add a few Layer Styles with those parameters on this circle shape :

For the Gradient Overlay, I used the same colours than before, #F3E54A to #C3781A and for the Outer Glow I used #94641C.

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) again and create an other 700x700px circle shape on top of the previous one.

Change the Fill of this circle shape to 0%, then add a Bevel – Emboss and Inner Glow Layer Styles with those parameters on this shape.

Place those 4 circles shapes layers in a new group, rename this group “Coin Shape“.

Step 3 – Star Custom Shape

Now we have the main gold shape let’s add a custom shape in this gold coin, you can use any shape you like, I used a custom star shape created previously in Illustrator, you can download this custom shape in the Resources Needed section at the top of the tutorial. Open this shape in Photoshop and drag it into our gold coin document, use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to resize it if needed.

Duplicate this custom star shape 3 times and hide those 3 duplicated star shapes layers. We’ll start working on the original custom star shape. Add a few Layer Styles on this first shape with those parameters :

Unhide the first duplicated star shape layer, change its Fill to 0% and add a Drop Shadow Layer Style on it :

Unhide the second duplicated star shape layer, change its Fill to 0% and add a Satin Layer Style on it :

Unhide the third and last duplicated star shape layer, change its Opacity to 75% and Fill to 0%. Add a few Layer Styles on this shape with those parameters :

For the Gradient Overlay Layer Style, I used a #D3831D to Transparent gradient.

#D29F36 for the Inner Shadow Layer Style.

#8E5E20 for the Inner Glow Layer Style.

#F8EA48 to #F1C124 for the Gradient Overlay Layer Style.

Select all the layers we created from the beginning except the Background layer, press the Cmd+Alt+E keys on your keyboard, this will create a new layer with all the selected layers merged together. Apply an High Pass Filter, Filter – Other – High Pass with a 5px Radius. Rename this merged layer to “High Pass” and change its Blending Mode to Overlay.

Place the 4 star shape layers and High Pass layer in a new group, rename this group “Star Logo“.

Step 4 – Blur Highlights Lines

In this step we’ll add a little highlights on this this gold coin using blur lines. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create 3 white vertical rectangle shape, all with a different width (mine are pink in the first preview so you can see them better). Use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to rotate those rectangle shapes 22,5°.

Merge those 3 rectangle shapes, to do this, select the 3 shapes layers, right click on those selected layers – Merge Shapes. Apply a 7,5px Gaussian Blur Filter, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur on those merged shapes.

Now we’ll add a few Layer Masks on those blur shapes, Load the selection from the 850x850px main circle shape (Cmd+Left Click on the Thumbnail on the 850x850px main circle shape layer) then select the first blur shape layer and create a Layer Mask, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection on this layer like below.

Change the Fill of this blur shape layer to 15% and Place this layer in a new group, rename this group “Blur Lines“.

Load the selection from the 700x700px circle we created in step 1 and create a Layer Mask on the “Blur Lines” group we just created with this selection, Layer – Layer Mask – Hide Selection.

Duplicate the blur lines layer and use the Move Tool (V) to move those duplicated blur shapes to the right :

Place this duplicated blur lines in a new group, rename this group “Blur Lines 2“. Load the selection from the 700x700px circle we created in step 1 and create a Layer Mask on the “Blur Lines 2” group with this selection, Layer – Layer Mask – Hide Selection.

Place the “Blur Lines” and “Blur Lines 2” groups in a new group and change the Fill of this new group to 75% and its Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 5 – Shadow

To add more details on this gold coin let’s add a little shadow under it. Create a new group named “Shadow“, place this group in front of the Background layer. Select the Ellipse Tool and create a 600x30px black oval shape on the bottom part of the coin.

Apply a 40px Radius Gaussian Blur Filter, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur on this oval shape.

Change the Fill of this shadow layer to 75%.

Duplicate this shadow layer, use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd+T) to downsize it 50% and change the Fill of these second shadow layer to 50%.

Here’s a Bronze and Silver version of the coin, just change the colour in the Layer Styles to create those coins. You can also create cool coins with different custom shapes.

That’s it for this Tutorial, now you have a nice shiny gold coin you can use as an icon or in a webdesign project, feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

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Create a Vintage Clock Icon in Illustrator

Adrien de Broglio — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:58:07 +0000

In this new Tutorial, we’ll create a Vintage Clock icon in Illustrator, using basic shapes, vibrant colours, some filters to create and using a few tricks. This tutorial is great for beginners to understand a few tricks and tools in Illustrator.

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Step 1 – Clock Shape

Open up Illustrator and create a new document, for the size I used 500x500px.

We’ll start using a lot of the Ellipse Tool to create the different shapes for the clock, select the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 300x300px circle in the center of the canvas. Apply a two grey colour linear gradient of this shape, going from #A4A4A4 to #BBBBBB with a 135° angle.

Create a new circle, this time 296x296px, with no Fill and a Stroke Gradient going from white with a 50% opacity to white with 0% opacity with a 0% angle. Change the Transparency of this shape to 50%.

Create a smaller circle, this time 250x250px, with a dark colour, #1E1E1E.

Still with the Ellipse Tool, Create a white circle, 240x240px, add an Inner Glow filter on this shape, Effect – Stylize – Inner Glow with a 20% opacity and 15px Blur.

Create an other circle, the same size than the previous one (240x240px), with a dark colour, #1E1E1E. Apply some Gaussian Blur on this one, Effect – Blur – Gaussian Blur with a 50px radius, change the transparency of this circle to 20%.

Create two new circles in the middle of the canvas, the first, 200x200px with a dark colour, #1E1E1E. Then second one, 100x100px with a linear gradient going from #B5D743 to #D7F834 with a 0° angle.

Step 2 – Minute Marks Action

In this step we’re going to create the minute marks on our vintage clock creating a small action to make it quick and easy. Select the Rectangle Tool (M) and create 4 small rectangles on the outside of the dark grey circle, one one each side (5×2,5px), one of the top (2,5x5px) and one on the bottom (2,5x5px) part of the clock.

When you’re done create those 4 small rectangle, select all 4 and group them, Object – Group. We’re now going to create a small action to create minute marks all around the clock, open up the Actions panel, Window – Action, create a new group, name it «Clock Action» then create a new action named the same «Clock Action», make sure you have the 4 small rectangles selected, then start recording the action clicking on the small circle on the bottom of the Actions Panel. Go to Object – Transform – Rotate, enter a 5° angle and click on Copy. go back to the Actions Panel and stop the recording of the action clicking on the small square on the bottom of the Actions Panel.

Now just press the small arrow in the bottom of the Actions Panel to play the action, press a bunch of times until you have small minute marks all around the clock.

Delete or hide the group with the 4 original small rectangles and use the Pen Tool (P) to create 4 small triangles where we had the small rectangles

Use the Text Tool (T) to add the «6» «12» «18» and «24» numbers inside the black circle using white for the colour of the numbers.

Step 3 – Highlights and Reflections

Now the clock is taking form, let’s add a few reflection effects and highlights. Use the Rectangle Tool to create two white vertical rectangles, one wider than the other. Select those two rectangles and rotate them 45°, Object – Transform – Rotate – 45°.

Create a 240x240px circle using the Ellipse Tool on top of those two rotated rectangles, select those 3 shapes (the circle we just created and the 2 rotated rectangles), right click on them, select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Transparency of this new clipping group to 10%.

Create two other 240x240px circle, one in the center of the clock, the other one of the top right part of the clock. select both circles, right click on them, select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Transparency of this new clipping group to 20%.

Create an other 240x240px circle in the center of the clock, with a 3px linear gradient stroke, with two same green colours we use in the small green circle, #B5D743 to #D7F834 with a 0° angle.

Step 4 – Clock Needles

In this step we’ll create the 2 clock needles, First create a small black circle (6x6px) in the center of the clock, then use the Pen Tool (P) to create the minutes clock needle with a grey colour, #93959A. Create the hours needle using the Pen Tool, with the same grey colour. Place the two needles behind the small black circle and rotate them to put the time you want.

Duplicate the two needles shapes, place the duplicated ones under the original ones and move them a little down using the arrow key on your keyboard. Change their transparency to 20%.

Step 5 – Clock Bells

Create three black rectangles on the top part of the clock, place them behind the clock.

Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to create a small black rounded rectangle on top of the middle rectangle.

Let’s now create the top clock Bells, create a circle using the Ellipse Tool, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to delete the bottom anchor point on this circle. Select the shape and reduce its height a little. Select the Pen Tool (P), select left anchor point of the shape and create a curve going to the right anchor point.

Rotate this shape a little, place it on one of the small rectangle on top of the clock and apply the same green colours gradient for both the Fill and Stroke.

Duplicate the half round shape twice, the first one, with no Fill and a Stroke Gradient going from white with a 50% opacity to white with 0% opacity with a 0% angle. Change the Transparency of this shape to 50%. For second duplicated shape, change the Fill to white and no stroke then create an oval shape on top of it with the Pen Tool (P), select those two shapes, right click on them, select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Transparency of this new clipping group to 25%.

Duplicate all the left bell shapes we’ve worked on, place them on the other side to make the other bell, rotate them a little, just change the angle for the green gradient to 135°.

Step 5 – Bottom Part and Shadows

Now most of the clock is done, let’s add some shapes to support it on the bottom part. Create the two supports with a grey colour using the Pen Tool, Make sure to place them behind the clock.

Duplicate those two shapes, add a black with 50% opacity to white with 0% opacity gradient with a -90° angle on those two duplicated shapes.

Now for the shadow, use the Ellipse Tool to create a grey horizontal oval shape under the clock, add a 20px radius Gaussian Blur on this oval shape, change its Transparency to 50%.

Create two smaller grey oval shapes, one under each support shapes, this time add a 10px radius Gaussian Blur on these oval shapes, change the Transparency to 25%.

Just using a few tools and techniques you can create a lot of different objects, apply this process to your own projects and feel free to download the source files if you need some help.

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Create an Angry Bird Character in Photoshop Version 2

Emy — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:45:13 +0000

In this Tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a cool Angry Bird. To draw this first you must have enough skills to draw some shapes, which you will see in the proceeding section. To draw this you must learn the following cool tricks.

- Usage of clipboard and their levels.
- Usage of layers and elliptical tools to draw basic structure.
- Use of Color tool to assign HD colors to this little bird.
- Use of Arc Tool.
- Use of Marquee Tool.
- Use of ruler as a guide.

To draw this shape use the following Tools.

- Use Elliptical Marquee Tool to draw elliptical shape.
- Use of Color tool. You can use shortcut for color selecting color tool using Shift+F5.
- First draw circle using this tool. Use stretching tool to stretch circular shape. Elliptical shape will be formed.
- Use the Arch Tool to draw this arc. After drawing first arc you can copy paste same arch. Invert and flip the first arc to draw second arc.

Use this technique to draw the following shape :

- Use the Ellipse Tool to draw the hairs of angry bird. The trick behind this is draw two oval shapes
- These shapes should merge into the large oval shape.
- Use Rotating Tool, resize tool to rotate and resize the oval shape.
- Sizes must be decided at your own you must manage this according to angry bird looks.
- Here we used multiple color to draw these shapes, you can draw according to your own wish either you want to use multiple color or use single color for simplicity if your aim is only end result.

Draw Tail of Angry Bird :

- It’s very simple to draw this tai, use build in shape tool to select an arrow shape.
- Adjust the size of arrow by placing that arrow behind the above shape.

Draw V Shape Using the Line Tool :

- Use the Line Tool to draw V shape. Select 3 points using the Line Tool.
- Middle point must be below and a little left on the point of intersection of arcs.
Use the Ruler Tool as a guide to draw different shapes.

Draw Eyes and Nose Using Arc & Elliptical Tools :

- Draw the left eye using the Arc or Ellipse Tool. Use a V shape as a basic building structure.
- The arc should start from the left end of the V shape to the mid of the V shape.
- The area of the arc must be adjusted by proper measurement to get accuracy.
- In the same way draw the right eye using the same tool. Care must be taken while drawing the right eye.

Draw Eye Ball Arc & Filling :

- First draw arc in the eye portion & fill it with any desired color.
- Use Paint bucket tool to fill that eye portion with color.
- If you don’t know how to select paint bucket tool just press G paint bucket tool will be selected automatically.
Selection of color will be done manually.

Use Single Color for shape drawing :

- We used multiple colors to draw the different shapes. This was for a better understanding of this tutorial to draw each shapes. Use a single color to draw all shapes.

Fill the Angry Bird with Desired Colors :

Download the PNG File : Angry Bird PNG

See the First Version of to draw an Angry Bird at http://stylebizz.com/how-to-draw-anime-angry-bird-for-game-development/

Create a Plastic Beach Ball in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:00:25 +0000

In this Photoshop Tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a simple Plastic Beach Ball with nice colored stripes using basic shapes, Layer Styles and a few Filters.

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Step 1 – THE New Document and Main Shape

Open up Photoshop and create a new document 1250x1250px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with white, Edit – Fill – White.

Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a 850x850px black circle.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this circle going from #DBDBDB to #F3F3F3 with those parameters :

Now let’s create the color stripes on the beach ball, select the Pen Tool (P) (make sure the Shapes option is select in the Toolbar), pick a vibrant colour and create a triangle oval shape like below.

Load the select of the big circle, Ctrl+Click on the Thumbnail on the circle shape layer, this will load its select then select the stripe shape layer and create a Layer Mask, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this stripe shape going from #FFFFFF with a 0% Opacity to #FAFAFA with those parameters :

Select the Pen Tool (P), create an other over triangle shape on the top part of the beach ball. I choose a blue colour and add the same Layer Mask than on the other stripe shape.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this shape going from #FFFFFF with a 0% Opacity to #FAFAFA with those parameters :

Select the Pen Tool (P), create the third and last oval triangle shape on the right part of the beach ball, I choose a pink colour, apply the same Layer Mask with the big circle selection on this shape

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this shape going from #FFFFFF with a 0% Opacity to #FAFAFA with those parameters :

Place those 3 stripes shapes layers in a new group, rename the group “Stripes“.

Step 2 – Top Plastic Part

In this step we’ll create the top round plastic part on the beach ball using a few ellipse shapes. Select the Ellipse Tool (U), create a grey oval shape of the top right part of the beach ball like below, use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to rotate this shape.

Change the Opacity of this oval shape to 35% and Add a Drop Shadow Layer Style with those parameters :

Create an other oval shape using the Ellipse Tool (U), a little smaller than the previous and add a Gradient Overlay with 2 light grey colours and Drop Shadow Layer Styles with those parameters :

Select the Ellipse Tool (U), create two small oval shapes in the center of the bigger ones. Add an Inner Shadow Layer Style on the first small oval shape with those parameters :

Add an Inner Shadow Layer Style on the smaller oval shape with those parameters :

Place those 4 oval shapes in a new group, rename this group “Plastic Top“.

Step 3 – White Highlights

Let’s now add a few highlights on this beach ball, select the Ellipse Tool (U), create a 850x850px white circle, the same size than the beach ball, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), create an oval selection on 2/3 of the beach ball and create a Layer Mask, Layer – Layer Mask – Hide Selection. Change the Fill of this shape to 5%.

Apply a 2,5px Gaussian Blur Filter, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur, on this shape.

Select the Pen Tool (P), create a white highlight shape like below on the left part of the beach ball.

Change the Fill to 5% and Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this shape going from #FFFFFF with a 0% Opacity to #FAFAFA with those parameters :

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a white soft rounded brush around 750px, create a Layer Mask with the beach ball shape selection like before on this layer and change its Fill to 15%.

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B), this time pick a 500px soft rounded brush and paint on the oval shapes, change the Fill of this layer to 15%.

Step 4 – Top Shadows

Create two black 850x850px circles using the Ellipse Tool (U) on the beach ball, change the Fill of both circles to 0%, place those 2 circles in new group, rename this group “Shadow Top“. On the first circle add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style with a Black to Transparent gradient with those parameters :

on the second circle add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style with a Black to Transparent gradient with those parameters :

Step 5 – Blur

Select all the layers we created except the background layer, press the Cmd+Alt+E keys on your keybord, this will create a new layer with all the layers merged inside. Apply a 2,5px Gaussian Blur on this merged layer, change its Fill to 20% and Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 6 – Shadow

Now we have our beach ball, let’s add a shadow under it, select the Ellipse Tool (U), create a 750x25px oval shape under the beach ball, place this layer just in front the background layer. Apply a 50px Radius Gaussian Blur on this shape.

Duplicate the shadow layer twice, change the Fill of the first duplicated shadow to 25% and use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to reduce 50% the second duplicated shadow layer.

Here’s your Beach Ball, I hope you enjoyed this Tutorial, just using a few highlights and shapes you can create some cool looking objects, feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

Download

Create a Glossy Neon Text Effect with Stars in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:30:42 +0000

Layer Styles and Patterns are very powerful tools in Photoshop, you can have create cool effects using those tools. Follow this step by step Photoshop Tutorial to create a Glossy Neon Text Effect with a star field background creating a custom Pattern, using a lot of layer styles and adding a few highlights.

Download

Resources Needed for this Tutorial:

- Free Photoshop Stars Patterns Pack 1
- Dirt Pattern

Step 1 – THE New Document and Background

Open up Photoshop and create a new document, use your screen resolution for the size, I used 2560x1440px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with a dark colour, #1E1E1E, go to Edit – Fill – Color and add this dark colour and rename this layer “Background“, place this layer in a new group, rename this group “Background“.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this background layer going from #161626 to #010101 with those parameters:

Create a new layer, Fill it with white, Edit – Fill – White. Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this background layer going from #E93080 to #902985 with those parameters:

Place this layer in a new group, change the Blending Mode of the group to Overlay and rename both this layer and the new group “Background 2“.

Step 2 – Star Field Background

In this step we’ll create a star field background using a few stars photoshop patterns I’ve published previously. download the Free Photoshop Stars Patterns Pack 1, load those patterns in Photoshop. Create a new Pattern Fill, Edit – New Fill Layer – Pattern and select one of the stars pattern. Change the Blending Mode of this pattern fill layer to Color Dodge.

Add 3 or 4 more Pattern Fill Layers using the other stars patterns, also playing with the scale % in the Pattern Fill options. Make sure the Blending Mode of those layers is set to Color Dodge. Place those stars patterns layers in a new group, rename this group “Star Patterns“.

Download the Dirt Pattern available in the Resources Needed section at the top of the tutorial. Load this pattern in Photoshop, create a new layer, Fill it with a black, Edit – Fill – Black. Add a Pattern Overlay Layer Style with this Dirt pattern with those parameters and change the Fill of this layer to 0%.

Step 3 – Line Pattern

Now let’s create a nice custom line pattern, then we’ll add it to our background. Create a new document 500x500px with a transparent background. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and create 4 white rectangle lines (the lines are black in my exemple for a better preview), 500x10px, one on each side of the canvas.

Create 2 new white lines in the center of the canvas, one vertical the other horizontal.

Create 2 new diagonal lines like below :

Create a 40x40px circle using the Ellipse Tool (U) in the center of the canvas.

Select all the canvas, Select – All then go to Edit – Define Pattern and save the pattern.

Create a new layer, Fill it with White, Edit – Fill – White then apply a Pattern Overlay Layer Style with the Lines pattern we just created and those parameters (make sure the Fill of this layer is set to 0% and the Blending Mode of the Pattern Overlay is set to Overlay) :

Step 4 – Blur Colours

In this step we’ll add a few colours in the background, select the Brush Tool (B) with a big soft rounded brush, and paint on a new layer with a vibrant colour.

Continue painting with other colours, create a new layer for each colours.

Merge all those colour layers, to do this, select all the colour layers, Right Click on them and select Merge Layers. Apply a Motion Blur Filter on this new merged layer with 0° Angle and 2000px Distance. Filter – Blur – Motion Blur.

Change the Blending Mode of this merged layer to Overlay, its Fill to 50% and rename this layer “Color Blur“. Place all the layers we created since the beginning in a new group named “Backgroung“.

Step 5 – Neon Text

Now we have created the background, let’s dive into the text, I want to created a text with a lot of highlights and different colours, first let’s choose a font, I used a font called “Bello“, I wrote “Supercolor” in the center of the canvas then “Tuts” under “Supercolor” in white.

Keep this original text layer, we’ll duplicate it a few times, duplicate it one time and apply those some Layer Styles on the duplicated text layer with those parameters :

Duplicate the original text layer one more time, place the duplicated text layer on top of the other layers and apply some other Layer Styles on it with those parameters :

Duplicate the last text layer with the layer styles we just worked on, place the duplicated text layer on top of the other layers, now let’s add little blur on this text effect, apply a Gaussian Blur Filter with a 20px Radius, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur. Change the Blending Mode of this blur layer to Screen and its Opacity to 50%.

Duplicate the original text layer one more time, place the duplicated text layer on top of the other layers and apply some other Layer Styles on it with those parameters :

Duplicate the original text layer one last time, place the duplicated text layer on top of the other layers and apply those Layer Styles on it :

Now that we added a lot of Layer Styles, let’s use a few filters to add more effects on this text, select all the text layer we’ve been working on in this step except the original text layer and press the Cmd+Alt+E keys on your keyboard, this will merge all those text layers into a new one and Duplicate this new merged layer 3 times.

On the first duplicated merged layer, apply the High Pass Filter with a 5px Radius, Filter – Other – High Pass. Change the Blending Mode of the first duplicated layer to Overlay.

Now select the second duplicated merged layer, apply a Plastic Wrap Filter, Filter – Filter Gallery – Artistic – Plastic Wrap with those parameters :

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light.

Select the third and last duplicated merged layer and apply an Emboss Filter on it with a 90° Angle, 1px Height and 235% for the Amount. Change its Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 6 – Text Highlights

In this step we’ll add some highlights on and around the text, create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a soft rounded brush and white for the colour and paint on the edges of the text like in the exemple below :

Right click on the little thumbnail with a T on the original text layer and click on Select Pixels, this will load a selection of the text, go back on the highlight layer we just created and create a Layer Mask, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Overlay.

Place all the layers we created in Step 5 and the Highlight layer we just worked on in a new group, rename this group “Text“.

Before starting this part, make sure your foreground and background colours are set to black and white, press the D key on your keyboard to reset the colours. Create a new layer, select the Lasso Tool (L), make sure the Feather in the Toolbar is set to 50px and create an oval selection on the text like below :

Apply a Cloud Filter in this selection, Filter – Render – Clouds, place this cloud layer in a new group and place this group behind all the layers in the text group. Make a selection of the original text layer like we did before (right click on the text layer thumbnail – Select Pixels) and create a Layer Mask with the selection on the Cloud group, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection and change the Blending Mode of the Cloud group to Color Dodge.

Let’s add a little more highlights on this text, create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) and paint on the text with a soft rounded brush and white for the colour.

Make a selection of the original text layer like we did before (right click on the text layer thumbnail – Select Pixels) and create a Layer Mask with the selection on this new layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection. Change its Blending Mode to Color Dodge and Fill to 35%, place this layer in the “Background” group on top of the other layers.

Select the “Background” Group and press the Cmd+Alt+E keys on your keyboard, this will merge all the layers in the group into a new one. Apply the Spherize Filter, Filter – Distort – Spherize with 25% for the Amount to give a nice effect on this duplicated background layer.

Make a selection of the original text layer again (right click on the text layer thumbnail – Select Pixels) and create a Layer Mask with the selection on this new merged layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection.

Step 7 – Background Highlights

Duplicate the original text layer once, place the new duplicated layer in a new group named “Highlights“, and place this group under the “Text” group. Add a few Layer Styles to create a nice highlight effect with those parameters on this layer :

Right Click on this layer and select Rasterize Layer Styles, rename the layer “Highlights 1“. Apply a Motion Blur Filter to it, Filter – Blur – Motion Blur with a 90° Angle and 200px Distance. Duplicate this layer, rename the duplicated layer “Highlights 2” and apply the Motion Blur on this duplicated layer with a 90° Angle and 750px Distance. Change the Blending Mode of the “Highlights” group to Color Dodge.

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with big soft rounded brush, a vibrant colour, I choose a pink colour and paint a big circle on the canvas, change the Blending Mode of this layer to Screen and its Fill to 75%.

Create a new layer, paint an other big circle using the Brush Tool (B) with a vibrant colour, I used blur. Change the Blending Mode to Screen. Place those two layers in a new group named “Colors“, place this group under the “Text” group and change its Blending Mode to Lighten and its Fill to 20%.

Step 8 – Noise and Adjustments

Let’s add a little noise on this text effect, create a new layer, fill this layer with black, apply a Noise Filter on this layer, Filter – Noise – Add Noise with a 30% Amount and Gaussian for the Distribution.

Apply a 2px Radius Gaussian Blur on this Noise layer and change its Blending Mode to Screen.

add a Levels Adjustment Layer, Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Levels, with those parameters on top of the Noise layer.

Create a Clipping Mask on this Levels layer, Right Click – Create Clipping Mask and place those two layers into a new group named “Noise“.

To finish this text effect tutorial let’s add two more Adjustment Layers, for the first add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer, Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Photo Filter with those parameters :

Change the Fill of this Photo Filter Adjustment Layer to 50%.

For the second Adjustment Layer, add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer, Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Color Balance with those parameters :

That’s it for this Tutorial, I hope you’ve enjoyed creating this cool Text Effect, you can see that the Layer Styles are a very powerful tool to create nice effects, try to play with the parameters and colours. feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

Download

Create a Retro Spaceman in Lights and Lazers Wallpaper in Photoshop

Adrien de Broglio — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:30:20 +0000

In this Tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a Retro Lights and Lazers wallpaper in Photoshop with vibrant colours and light effects, using filters like the Gaussian and Radial Blur filters also using a few Adjustments Layers, Stock Images and Textures.

Download

Resources Needed for this Tutorial:

- Free Photoshop Stars Patterns Pack 1
- Spaceman Stock Image

Step 1 – THE New Document and Background

Open up Photoshop and create a new document, use your screen resolution for the size, I used 2560x1440px with a Transparent background. Fill this background layer with a dark colour, #1E1E1E, go to Edit – Fill – Color and add this dark colour and rename this layer “Background 1“.

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this background layer going from #13121E to #030303 with those parameters:

Create a new layer, rename it “Background 2“, Fill it with White, add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style on this layer going from #DB2B7A to #9B2599 with those parameters:

Place this layer in a new group, rename this group “Background 2“, change the Blending Mode of this group to Overlay.

Step 2 – Stars Patterns Background

In this step we’ll add a few Stars Pattern Fill layers on this background to give a nice space effect, previously I’ve released a Photoshop Stars Patterns Pack with some nice stars patterns, download this pattern pack, load those patterns in Photoshop, then create a Pattern Fill layer, Layer – New Fill Layer – Pattern and select one of the Stars Pattern.

Change the Blending Mode of this Pattern Fill layer to Color Dodge.

Create 3 more Pattern Fill Layer with the other Stars Patterns and Color Dodge for the Blending Mode.

Let’s add a little blur on these stars, duplicate one of the Pattern Fill layers with a Star Pattern, apply a Motion Blur Filter, Filter – Blur – Motion Blur on this duplicated pattern fill layer with a 25px Distance and a 0° angle, place this layer under all the other stars patterns, change its Fill to 50%. Place all the layers we created in this step in a New Group, rename this group “Stars“.

Step 3 – Retro Light Lines

Let’s now create those cool light lines in on the whole wallpaper, this process will take a little time. We’ll create lines one colour at a time, I started with a green colour, select the Line Tool (U) and create 4 or 5 lines joining at the bottom center of the canvas.

Let’s add a little effects on the those lines, select one of the lines and add those Layer Styles on it:

Copy this layer styles on the other green lines, to do this, right click on the line layer with the layer styles, select Copy Layer Style, then select the other lines without layer style, right click and select Paste Layer Style. Place all the lines layers in a New Group, name it “Light Green“.

Repeat the same process to create a lot of other lines, using different colours, also use different colours in the layer styles, if your using a purple colour for a line, use purple colours in the layer styles.

Place all those line colour groups in a New Group, rename the group “Light Lasers” and change its Fill to 75%.

Select the “Light Lasers” group and press Ctrl+Alt+E keys at the same time. This will create a new layer with all the line layers merged inside, rename this layer “Light Lasers Color Dodge“, change the Fill of this layer to 25%. Place this layer in a New Group also named “Light Lasers Color Dodge” and change its Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 4 – Colours and Blur Lines

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a big soft rounded brush with a size around 2000px, select a purple colour and paint on the top of the canvas

Create a new layer, paint on the bottom part of the canvas with a blue colour with the same brush.

Create a new layer, paint on the bottom right part of the canvas with a yellow colour with the same brush. Select and Merge those 3 colour layers (Ctrl+E) then apply a Gaussian Blur filter, Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur with a 600px radius. Change the Fill of this layer to 35% and its Blending Mode to Screen.

Duplicate the Light Lasers group (Ctrl+Alt+E), place the new merged layer on top of the others. Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to flip it Horizontally, to do this right click on the selection and select Flip Horizontal.

Apply a Gaussian Blur filter on this layer with a 30px radius, change the Fill of this layer to 75%. Place this layer in a New Group then change the Blending Mode of this group to Linear Dodge (Add).

Step 5 – Spaceman

In this step we’ll add the spaceman in the wallpaper, you can find the cut out spaceman in a png file in the Resources Needed section at the top of the tutorial. download this image, open it in Photoshop and drag it into our document. Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to rotate and resize the spaceman and place it the bottom center of the canvas.

Add a Black an White Adjustment Layer, Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Black and White, with those Parameters:

Change the Fill of this Adjustment layer to 50% and create a Clipping Mask, Layer – Create Clipping Mask.

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a soft rounded brush and black for the colour and paint on the helmet. Create a clipping mask from this layer.

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer, Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Gradient Map, with those going from #AA009B – #F5F847 and those Parameters:

Create a clipping mask from this adjustment layer and change its Opacity to 30%.

Create a new layer, create a clipping mask from this layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a 50% opacity, a soft rounded brush, and black for the colour and paint on the edges of the spaceman on this new layer.

Add a Gradient Overlay layer style on this layer with those parameters:

Select all the layers we created in this step, press Ctrl+Alt+E, to create a new layer with all those layers merged together. Add an Exposure Adjustment, Image – Adjustments – Exposure with those parameters:

Desaturate this layer, Image – Adjustments – Desaturate then change the Blending Mode of this layer to Luminosity and its Fill to 35%.

Make a selection of the Spaceman, to do this, right click on the thumbnail on the spaceman layer – Select Pixels. create a new layer, fill this selection with white.

Apply a Radial Blur filter on this white shape layer with an Amount of 100, Zoom for the Blur Method. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and its Fill to 50%.

Select all the layers we created in this step and press Ctrl+Alt+E, apple an High Pass filter on this new layer, with 5px radius. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Overlay. Place all the layers we created in this step in a New Group, then hide this group so we can work on the background.

Step 6 – Highlights on Background

Let’s add a few highlights on the background, create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a big soft rounded brush and white for the colour and paint with the soft part of the brush on the bottom part of the canvas.

Create a new layer, paint in the middle bottom part of the canvas with the Brush Tool (B). Place those two layer in a new group, rename the group “Back Highlights“, change its Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 7 – Light Lines on Helmet

In this step we’ll add a reflection of the light lines on the helmet, select the Light Lasers group with all the lines, press Ctrl+Alt+E to create a new merge layer, place this layer on top of the others, use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) to flip it Vertically, right click on the selection and select Flip Vertical,

Then use the same Free Transorm Tool (Ctrl+T) to flip it Horizontally and downsize these lines 50%.

Use the Liquify Filter, Filter – Liquify on those shapes with a 1000px brush size and use the Pucker Tool (S) in the center of the shapes to curve them like below:

Create a Layer Mask on this layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal All, select the Brush Tool (B) with a soft rounded brush and black for the colour, make sure the Layer Mask is selected and paint around the glass on the helmet to hide the lines around the helmet.

Change the Blending Mode to Lighten and its Fill to 70%.

Step 8 – Stars and Lights on Helmet

Let’s had a few stars and light reflections on the helmet, download one of the stars textures image from the Free Photoshop Stars Patterns Pack 1 post, open it in Photoshop and drag it into our document. Resize it using the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T) and place it in front of the helmet.

Create a blank Layer Mask on the star texture layer, Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal All, use the Brush Tool (B) with black for the colour and paint on the layer mask to hide the parts of the texture around the helmet. Change the Blending Mode to Screen

Create a new layer, fill it with black, then create a lens flare using the Lens Flare Filter, Filter – Render – Lens Flare, with a 100% Brightness and a 105mm Prime.

Resize the lens flare using the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T), place it on the helmet, change its Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 9 – Highlights

Create a few small white circles using the Ellipse Tool (U), Merge all those circle layers, apply a Gaussian Blur Filter with a 5px radius. Place this circle layer in a new group, change the Blending Mode of this group to Color Dodge and rename this group “Front Highlights“.

Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) with a small soft rounded brush with a 25% opacity and white for the colour. paint on the some parts of the spaceman to highlight them. place this layer in the “Front Highlights” group.

Create a new layer again, select the Brush Tool with a big soft rounded brush and 25% opacity and paint all over the canvas to highlight those parts. Place this layer in the “Front Highlights” group.

Step 10 – Highlights, Noise and Texture

We’ll now hide a few parts of the line lights we created in the background, create a blank Layer Mask on the “Light Lasers” group, select the Brush Tool (B) with a soft rounded brush and black for the colour and start painting on the Layer Mask to hide some parts of those lines, Repeat the same process on the “Light Lasers Color Dodge” layer.

Select all the layers we’ve created so far and press Ctrl+Alt+E, select the new merged layer, apply a Gaussian Blur Filter on it with a 20px radius. Change its Blending Mode to Hue and its Fill to 50%. Create a blank Layer Mask on this layer, use the Brush Tool to hide the parts of this layer on the helmet.

Create a new layer, Fill it with black, add some noise on this layer, Filter – Noise – Add Noise with 30% Amount, Gaussian for the Distribution and Monochromatic. Change the Blending Mode to Hue and its Fill to 25%.

If you want to add a more retro feel on this wallpaper you can use a cardboard texture, drag a cardboard texture into your wallpaper document and change its Blending Mode to Overlay.

That’s it for this Tutorial, I hope you’ve enjoyed creating this cool wallpaper tutorial with lots of lights effects, you can use those techniques on any other retro or light effect projects, feel free to download the Source Files if you need help.

Download

Create a Retro Apple Mac Plus Icon in Illustrator

Adrien de Broglio — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:47:17 +0000

In this Tutorial I’ll show you how to create an Old School Apple Mac Plus Icon in Illustrator using basic shapes, a lot of different gradients and rounded rectangles to replace you’re actual Macintosh HD or Computer icon.

I always like to customize my desktop with custom Icons and Wallpapers, last time I wanted to a new icon to change the Macintosh HD icon on the desktop and dock on my mac, here’s how to create this Mac Plus icon. Download the Source file if you need help:

Download

Step 1 – Icon Base

Open Illustrator and create a new document, mine is 500x500px. We’ll start by creating the base shapes for the icon, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool, click on the canvas and create a 280x330px rounded rectangle with a 8px corner radius.

Apply a grey colour gradient on this shape, going from #919193 to #D6D6D6 with a 45° angle.

Create a new rounded rectangle, this time 270x295px with a 4px radius. apply a gradient going from #909090 to #BBBBBB with a 45° angle.

Let’s create the shape for the screen, create a new rounded rectangle, this time 235x165px with a 3px radius. apply a gradient going from #B7B7BF to #7E807F with a 0° angle.

Step 2 – Screen Part 1

In this step we’ll continue to add details on the screen, create a new rounded rectangle, this time 210x155px with a 10px radius.

Select the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape on the left part of the screen with some curves on the top and bottom like below:

Duplicate this shape, Flip it Vertically, go to Object – Transform – Reflect and select vertical, place this duplicated shape new to the other.

Let’s add more roundness on the screen, with the Pen Tool, create a small triangle on the left part of the screen pointing down like below:

Duplicate this small triangle and flip it Horizontally, same as before, go to Object – Transform – Reflect but select Horizontal this time. place the duplicated shape on top of the original:

Duplicate those two triangles shapes to place them on the right side of the screen.

Select all the shapes we created in this step and unit them using the Unite option in Pathfinder panel, Window – Pathfinder and click on Unite.

Step 3 – Screen Part 2

Add gradient on the screen shape we created in step 2 going from #292B30 to #3E4248 with a 0° angle.

Add an Inner Glow on the screen shape with a 25% Opacity and 15px Blur.

Add an other Inner Glow on the screen shape with 50% Opacity and 5px Blur.

We’ll now add the 4 corner shapes on the screen, let’s create one of those shape. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a vertical oval shape, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select and delete the bottom anchor point.

Rotate this shape and place it on the top left corner of the screen and add a light grey to dark grey gradient on this shape with a 45° angle with those colours from left to right #C0C0CA – #B3B3BB – #595959.

Duplicate this shape 3 times, place one shape on each corner and add a gradient to each of the shapes with those parameters:

Step 4 – Screen Part 3

Place the 4 small shapes we just created behind the main screen shape.

duplicate the bigger screen shape and place it in front of the small shapes, then select this duplicated shape and the 4 small corner shapes, right click and select Make Clipping Mask.

Create a white Rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (M) (Mine is Pink for the purpose of the tutorial), place it on the screen, rotate it a little on the left, then duplicate the main screen shape, place the duplicated shape in front of the rotated rectangle we just created, select both shape and like previously right click on the selected shapes and select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Transparency of this shape to 5%.

Step 5 – Bottom Part

To create the bottom part of the icon, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a 265x45px rounded rectangle with a 3px corner radius.

Add a Gradient on this shape going from #969696 to #CFCFCF with a 0° angle.

Duplicate the shape we just created, change the gradient on the duplicated shape to a Black to Transparent gradient with a -90° angle. Change the Transparency to 15%. Make sure those two shapes are placed behind all the other shapes.

Step 6 – Keyboard Port

We’ve got to be able to plug a keyboard to this icon so let’s create the keyboard port, create a small rounded corner rectangle, add a light grey radial gradient on this shape, #BCBCBC to #939395.

Create a smaller rounded corner rectangle in the middle, add a dark grey to light grey linear gradient on this shape, #3F3F3F to #89898B.

Create a dark grey square using the Rectangle Tool then create two small dark grey rectangles on top of the square.

Create 4 small stripes using the Rectangle Tool on the bottom of the main square.

Create two trapezoid shapes using the Pen Tool (P) one on the top part, the other on the bottom part of the usb port. duplicate the bigger rounded rectangle we created at the beginning of this step, place the duplicated shape on top of the others, select this shape and the 2 trapezoid shapes, right click on those shapes and select Make Clipping Mask.

Add a Black to Transparent gradient on the two trapezoid with the parameters below, change the transparency of both shapes to 15% and place the Keyboard port on the right part of the icon bottom part.

Step 7 – Brightness Symbol

Let’s create the small Brightness symbol on the left of the bottom part of the icon. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and create small circle with a 0,5px dark grey stroke.

Select the Rectangle Tool (M), create a small rectangle with a dark grey colour on top of the circle.

Duplicate the small rectangle we just created and place the new one on the bottom of the circle.

Select both small rectangles, duplicate them and rotate the duplicated rectangles 90°, Object – Transform – Rotate.

Select the 4 small Rectangle, duplicate them and rotate the duplicated rectangle 45°.

Place the Brightness Symbol on the left of the bottom part of the icon.

Step 8 – Floppy Disk Drive

In this step we’ll create the Floppy Disk Drive for our icon, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create 2 shapes like below:

Select those 2 shapes and merge them using the Unite option in the Pathfinder panel.

Create a small rounded rectangle merges with a thin long rectangle in the middle of the previous shape, add an Inner Glow in this new shape with a 25% Opacity and 5px Blur.

Duplicate the shape we just created then create a dark grey rectangle, place this dark grey rectangle under the duplicated shape, select both shapes, right click on them and select Make Clipping Mask.

Add an Inner Glow on this new Clip Group with 50% Opacity and 5px Blur.

Create a black vertical rectangle on the right side of the main shape, like before duplicate the smaller merged rounded rectangle+rectangle shape, place the duplicated shape on top of the new black rectangle, select both shapes, right click on them and select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Opacity/Transparency to 25%.

Add a small black circle on the right bottom part of the main shape. place this Floppy Disk shape on the bottom right of the screen.

Step 9 – Vintage Apple Logo

Let’s add the small vintage apple logo on this mac, add the apple logo (save the png file below to help you trace it):

Create 5 different color horizontal stripes using the Rectangle Tool.

Place those stripes behind the apple logo, select all those shapes (stripe+apple logo), right click on them and select Make Clipping Mask. Change the Transparency of the Clip Group to 75%

add the apple logo again, place it behind the original one, move it a little on the bottom right and change it’s Transparency to 20%. Place the logo on the left side of the icon.

Step 10 – Mac Plus Shadow

Select the Ellipse Tool (L), create a thin horizontal oval shape on the bottom of the icon, place it behind the icon and change its transparency to 25%.

Add a Gaussian Blur Filter on this shape, Effect – Blur – Gaussian Blur with a 20px radius.

Step 10 – Mac Plus Highlights

Let’s add some highlights to add more details on this icon, first duplicate the bigger rounded rectangle shape around the screen and the smaller rounded rectangle shape of the main part of the icon, place them on top of the other shapes. Use the Minus Front option in the Pathfinder panel to cut out from the smaller shape in the bigger shape.

Select the Ellipse Tool (L), create an oval shape on the top part of the screen, add a white to transparent Radial gradient on this shape. duplicate this shape and place the new one on the bottom part of the screen.

Bring to front the cut out shape we modified at the beginning of this step, select the three shapes (cut out shape+the two oval gradient shapes), right click on them and select Make Clipping Mask.

Repeat the same process, but this time duplicate the two big rounded rectangle shapes, bring them to front, use the Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel. duplicate one of the radial gradient oval shape, place the duplicated shape on the bottom part of the icon. place this shape under the shape we just cut out, right click on them and select Make Clipping Mask.

Save your new mac icon as a PNG file so you can use it in your dock or as an icon on your desktop.

That’s it for this Tutorial! I hope you’ve learned a few tricks and techniques creating this nice old school Apple Mac Plus icon and that it’ll look nice on your desktop. Feel free to leave a comment and download the Source Files if you need help.

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