About The Pen Tool

The pen tool is one of the few tools available to you in Photoshop that works with Vector Graphics as opposed to Raster Graphics. Vector Graphics use mathematical statements and points in order to define their shape and other characteristics, and therefore are very scalable. In other words, vector graphics can be scaled to any size without ever losing quality.

With the Pen Tool, we can create lines and curves that can be put together to create custom shapes. If we combine the pen tool with some of the other vector shapes, we can create some intricate, scalable objects (I’ll be covering additional vector tools in other tutorials).

Getting Started

In order to help familiarize yourself with the pen tool, I’m going to take you through a series of examples that will show you how to draw and create some custom shapes.

To begin, Create a New Document (I’m using 284×284 in my example, with default Photoshop Preferences).

Next, let’s enable the Grid. Go to View > Show > Grid, or Ctrl + ‘. Also Enable Snap (View > Snap, or “Shift + Ctrl + ;“).

We enable grid + snapping so that when we draw using the pen tool, we can easily make precise shapes, and curves with little effort.

Now select your Pen Tool from the toolbar, and set it up to work on Shape Layers in the Options Bar.

Select a foreground color of your choice.

Drawing with the pen tool is easy. Simply position your cursor where you’d like to begin drawing, and click to create your first anchor point. Subsequent anchor points will all be connected to the last point drawn, allowing you to create custom shapes. To complete a shape, click the first anchor point.

Go ahead an try it. See what you can create using basic anchor points. I managed to make a very primitive star.

That’s simple enough, right?

Drawing Curves with the Pen Tool

You may have already noticed that something interesting when drawing curves, and dragging after clicking to create an anchor point. The lines begin to curve!

Go ahead and try it. After creating an anchor point, hold down the mouse button and drag in the direction you want your line to curve.

If you follow the below layout, you should be able to create a primitive circle shape.

If you’re still having trouble, here’s a video that illustrates how to create the circle. When you see the icon change into a black pointer, that means that I’m DRAGGING once I create a point.

The curves characteristics are based on the length of these direction points, and at what angle they are drawn at. After some time practicing with them, you should become more familiar with drawing more complex curves. It should also be noted that you can change any directional points with the pen tool by holding Ctrl, or Ctrl + Alt.

Example:

Example Shapes

Let’s take what we’ve learned so far, and apply it in some basic design. If you’re using the same sized document as I am (with default Photoshop grid preferences), you should be able to Copy + Paste these templates in your document, and follow my anchor points easily.

First let’s make a Rounded Rectangle. We already have a custom shape that does this, but sometimes designs call for modified rounded boxes of sorts.

The Rounded Rectangle Shape uses basic curves, and is very simple to create. With some slight modifications, we can make rectangles with only 1, 2, or 3 of the corners rounded, while keeping the rest sharp corners.

Here is another template that focuses on “S” shaped curves, as seen in frequency waves.

“S” curves are used all the time in more complex shapes. They are created by dragging the Directional Points of two sibling anchor points in the same direction.

For our last example, let’s make a “Pen Tool” custom shape!

Creating an exact copy of this shape will require you to have some knowledge of the “Convert Point Tool” as well. Once your points are made, go back with the Convert Point Tool, click a point, then click and drag out the point so that you can manually modify the direction handles for custom curves. Try following the video below:

 

See how easy it really is? With a little practice and imagination, you can literally design anything you wish with the pen tool.

Conclusion

The Pen Tool provides a very simple way to work on custom shapes and paths inside of Adobe Photoshop, and allows users to easily create scalable objects. There are limitations to what can be done in Photoshop in terms of vector graphics, but that’s what we have Adobe Illustrator for!

It only seems fitting to end this passage with a quote by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” In this case, I’d compare the sword to an ordinary brush used in Photoshop. However, each serves its place in Graphic Design, so it’s up to you as the designer to decide where to utilize each respectively!

In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you how to create a realistic 3D Baseball cap in Adobe Photoshop using the Pen tool, brushes and some nifty tricks.

Step 1: Create the shape

Create a new document in Photoshop and fill it with white (#FFFFFF). Create a new layer and use the Pen Tool (P) to create the shape of the cap (you can use an image of a cap as reference for this, or use the outline shown below). After that, press Command+Enter to transform the path into a selection. Then fill it with the color #1c1812.

Step 2: Define shapes

It’s time to define some parts of the cap. Use the Burn Tool (O) for adding some shadows to the cap (shown below) and then use the Pen Tool (P) to create two lines (#413a2f).

Step 3: Create the Texture

The rear part of the cap must be darker. Create a selection on the back of the hat, and use the Brush Tool (B) to fill the selection with a black color on a new layer.

Step 4

Right-click on the layer with the rear part of the cap and select Blending Options. Then go to Pattern Overlay and add the below settings.
Blend Mode: Hard Light
Scale: 7%
Opacity: 13%

Step 5

The seams of the visor are created with the Pen Tool (P). Create each seam on a separate layer by drawing the line with the pen tool, stroking with a thin hard brush, and then erasing the edges with a large soft eraser. Select these layers with the seams, and Merge Layers.

Duplicate them, invert their color (Ctrl+I) and place the black seams layer behind the other ones. This gives it a bevel effect.

Step 6

Create a new layer. Again use the Pen Tool (P) to create a shape like below and fill the selection with black. Then add noise to the selection (Filter > Noise > Add Noise | Keep it below 10%), and keep the Opacity of the layer to 75%.

Step 7

Create another layer and build a shape like below using the Pen Tool (P). Next thing you’ll have to do is to add some light, to make the rear side of the cap look more transparent (as if light is fading through from the other side). Use the Brush Tool (B) with white color and add some smooth light.

Step 8: Add logo

To give it an unique look you can add a brand or some unique design elements of your own. I used #7b7452 and then set the layer to Color Dodge.

Step 9: Details

To create the shape of the deeper lines in the cap, use the Pen Tool (P) to create shape selections, add lights and shadows using the Burn and Dodge Tools. Smudge the highlights and shadows to give them a softer look.

Step 10: Light

You must add some light on the visor, so make a selection and use large white brush to fill in the selection. Then select the Hard Light blending mode and decrease the opacity if needed.

Step 11: Realistic Texture

The material looks a bit cartoonish and smooth, so we need to brush some spots with different colors (darker/lighter). You can smudge them (or give them different Filter>Blur>Motion Blur effects) to make them look more realistic.

Step 12: Background

The cap is finished. Now you must create the background.

Step 13: Light

To make it more obvious and shiny, we must modify the contrast and the brightness. Select all the hat layers and merge them onto a new layer (Ctrl + Alt + E). Adjust the Contrast and Brightness (Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast) until the hat pops out from the background significantly.

Step 14: Shadow

The cap looks like it is floating so we must add a shadow.

Step 15: Background

Create a new layer (ctrl+shift+n) and place it behind the cap layers. After that use some grunge brushes (like these) create a nice background using various colors.

Step 16: Background

The final step of this chop is to add light on the bottom and shadow to the top to create the space where the cap is placed.

Use PenTool(P) to make the selection and using a large soft brush create the platform for the cap.

Conclusion

Try to improvise as much as you can when you are creating the design of the cap. It’s not necessary to use all the same colors, or create a grungy background! Enjoy, and feel free to download the free PSD for reference!

 

• Create the following shape with the help of Rounded Rectangle Tool.

• Correct the form of the shape using Convert Point Tool.

• Click Ctrl + Enter or Choose Select > Load Selection to load selection.

• Fill selection with any color.

• Apply the following layer style settings to this layer.

• Ctrl + Click on Layer1 to load selection (or Choose Select > Load Selection).
• Create a new layer.
• Fill the selection with any color.
• Reduce the size of this form by 8 - 10 % using Free Transformation. Edit > Free Transform.
• Apply Gradient Overlay to this layer.

• Create a new layer.
• Ctrl + click on the previous layer to load selection and fill it with any color.
• Draw a shape, just like in the example below using Pen Tool and Convert point Tool.
• Click Ctrl + Enter.
• Go to Edit > Clear to remove superfluous areas of the shape.

• Apply the following layer style adjustments to this layer.

• Make a new shape in a new layer. Fill it with any color and apply Gradient Overlay.

• Create a new layer.

• Make a rectangular selection using Rectangular Marquee In the bottom part of our phone.

   
• Fill selection with a pattern which consists of a small circle and a transparent background.
• Create a round selection and cut central part of the shape with pattern.

Creating and managing patterns

• Use Rectangle Marquee tool  on any open image to select an area to use as a pattern. Feather must be set to 0 pixels. Note that large images may become unwieldy.
• Choose Edit > Define Pattern.
• Enter a name for the pattern in the Pattern Name dialog box.

 

• Apply Opacity 40% and the following layer style adjustments .

• Load selection to the layer located before the pattern layer.
• Fill it with any color in a new layer and cut top part of the shape.
• Apply Gradient Overlay to this layer

• Make rectangle shape for the phone screen and apply the following adjustments.

• Insert any image into a new layer to create phone screen.

• Load selection (Ctrl + Click) to Layer2 (large black rectangular).
• Fill it with Linear White/ Transparent Gradient.
• Create rectangular selection, transform it and cut the part of the white gradient shape. Adjust Opacity 25%.
• Load selection to Layer6( rectangular for sreen), return to white gradient shape, cut selected area and paste it into the new layer. Adjust opacity 20%.

Make a new form using the tool and apply layer style adjustments just like in the example below: Choose Ellipse Tool and draw the following shape. Adjust the layer style effects.

Create a new circle in a new layer.

Create another circle in a new layer.

Make a small circle and apply the following adjustments: Create a metal circle and apply the following adjustments to this layer. Make small rectangles for buttons using Rounded Rectangle Tool.

Make small rectangles for the buttons using Rounded Rectangle Tool. Apply the layer style settings, just like in the example below. Load selection with button shape to the layer. Fill it with white color (Opacity 20%) in a new layer. Erase part of the white rectangle using Soft Eraser Tool. Draw a button using Rounded Rectangle Tool.

Creation of reflection. Merge all layers. Duplicate created layer. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Move it down. Opacity 30%. Add Vector Mask, fill it with White/Black Gradient. And here is the result! The phone should look like this.

Materials needed:

Metal Lord Font by Larabie Fonts

Grunge Brushes by DarkRose

First Step:Creating a New Document

Open Photoshop and create a New Document of 600×400px.

Step 2:Background Gradient

Now add a sleek black to black gradient for the background,with the next settings:

Step 3:Creating the Metal Piece

Grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool(U),set the radius to 15px and draw a rectangle of 370×240px.

Now add the next blending options:

A black Outer Glow with the size of 3px and the opacity of 20%.Be sure to have the blend mode to Multiply,like in the image.

Bevel and Emboss with the next settings:Depth:320%,Size:2px,Soften:0px.

And the hard part,the Gradient Overlay.Apply the settings from the next image to obtain the same result.

This is how the image looks after applying the set of blending options.

Step 4:Creating the Text

Now I want to show you how to create a beautiful inner text effect.For this,download the Metal Lord Font by Larabie Fonts from the top list and type in some words with the font-size of 68px.I wrote “OurTuts”.

Step 5:Blending Options for the Typography

After typing in some words,add the next blending options:

We`ve just obtained a nice metal graved text effect:

Step 6:Adding 4 holes in the corners:

Grab the Ellipse Tool and draw a small circle in one of the corners.

Now add the next blending options to create an inner effect too.

Now,the small circle truly looks like a hole.

Duplicate the Hole Layer and put one in the rest of the corners.

Step 7:Making the Metal Piece a lil bit Grunge:

Firstly,download the Grunge Brush Set from the top-list.Secondly,create a new layer just above the metal piece layer.Then,Ctrl+Click on the Metal Screen Layer to reveal its selection.Now click on the new layer that you`ve just create and paint inside the selection with some grunge brushes from the set.Are you wondering why we must paint inside the selection?The answer is simple:because we want to paint only inside and not outside.

My image after painting looks like this one:

Last Step:Adding a mirror reflection of the Metal Piece:

A last effect that I want to show you is the mirror reflection effect in Photoshop.For this,you have to select all the layers created till now,without the background,and duplicate them.After,merge them in one layer(Ctrl+E).Then flip the layer Vertical by going to Edit->Transform->Flip Vertical and put it under the initial metal piece.

Now,add a Layer Mask for this new layer by going to Layer->Layer Mask->Reveal All.

Now grab the Gradient Tool(G) set a gradient from black to white and paint inside the layer mask like in the image:

You may low a little bit the opacity of the layer for a better mirror reflection effect.

After applying this step you`re done.This is how the final result should looks:

That was all,my friends!See you next time for another tutorial!

You may follow me on twitter or subscribe to my RSS Feed,or if you wanna receive more Freebies and news from OurTuts,just become a part of our community by just entering your name and E-mail in the for below.I promise that you won`t regret!

This tutorial will show you how to make some really great fireworks using Photoshop. It’s a great technique to use on celebration cards and posters, as well as graphics pertaining to holidays such as New Years and Independence Day.

You may have seen this effect a few days ago in Tutorial9’s New Year’s Announcement.

In this tutorial, I’ll be demonstrating how to create this effect.

Step 1 – The Background

Go ahead and create a new document, and select the Paint Bucket Tool.

Unless you plan on tweaking your fireworks color with Color Balance Layers (or by some other means) later on, the fireworks color will largely depend on what you choose your background color to be. We want a background color that is sort of dark, but also has some color value to it. I’ll be using a dark purple (#1c1727).

Fill your background layer with your chosen color.

Step 2 -The Burst (Stroke Paths)

If’ you’ve ever used Photoshop’s Stroke Path option before, this ought to be a cinch for you. For everyone else, we’ve got an easy guide to get you going.

Create a New Layer.

You’re going to need to select the Pen Tool from the tool bar, and in the options bar, you need to make sure that you’re working with Paths instead of Shape Layers.

On your document, left click somewhere near the center of the canvas to create a point with the pen tool.

Left click again up and to the right of this point to create a new point. This time, hold down the mouse button, and drag towards the bottom right to Curve your path.

This will become the path which we will use to streak a beam of light across to make the “Burst Effect”.

Select the Brush Tool. Select a Foreground Color of White. Set the Size of the brush to 3px (Hardness 100%).

Under Shape Dynamics for your brush, set up a fade of around 200px.

Go back to the Pen Tool. Right Click anywhere on the Canvas, and select Stroke Path. From the Box that pops up, make sure you select the Brush as the tool. This will tell Photoshop to use that brush you just set up to stroke the path you drew with the pen tool.

Once you have stroked your path, hit Esc Twice to make the Path line disappear.

Repeat this step several times until you have a few similar lines. Remember to always start your path from the outside going in, as the fade will begin from the first point.

Step 3 – Burst Blending Options

We need to touch up our burst effect a bit by adding some blending options to our burst layer. Right Click the Layer, and select Blending Options. Add the following Drop Shadow, and Outer Glow.

This will add a slight glowing effect to your burst streaks.

Step 4 – Ambiance Effects

Create a new Layer, and place it underneath your burst streaks layer.

Select the Brush Tool, select a default round brush (to override your earlier modifications to the brush tool), and then set the hardness to 0% and the size to somewhere around 200px. Set the Foreground Color to white. Click once to near the center of your streaks.

Set this layers Blending Mode to Overlay.

Create a new Layer above the streaks now. Using a smaller brush (50-100px, hardness still at 0%, or very soft), create a small circle at the center of the streaks again, where they all start to converge. Set this layers Blending Mode to Overlay. Repeat this a few times (you should end up with 3-4 layers).

Step 5 – Adding the Sparks

Select the Brush Tool once more, and set it up as follows (We are setting up a “Glitter”, “Sparkle”, “Fairy Dust” brush, so you may already have the idea on how to set this up).

Now that you have your brush set up (which you may want to save for later use), Create a new Layer on top of all your previous layers, and brush in some sparks for your firework. Try to concentrate mostly around the center area, easing up on the sparks as you go outwards.

I usually like to add an Outer Glow at this point in the Blending options of this new layer. It lets me add some spark ambiance, as well as add some extra color to the firework.

Your firework should look pretty good by now!

Final Remarks

The fireworks in this tutorial hardly aim to replicate the look of a real world firework, but from an illustration perspective, they capture the elements of fireworks in a fun, creative manner.

To go a step further, you may want to add some Color Balance layers to add some colorful effects to your fireworks. You could also play with depth of field effects to give more depth to larger scenes.

Feel free to download our Fireworks Example PSD to see how we went about doing things!

Galactic space scenes are a popular theme for digital art, they’re packed full of texture and vibrant colour, which are two ingredients of an awesome design! Using Photoshop’s blending modes along with a mix of textures and brushes, let’s get lost in space and create an abstract cosmos poster design.

 

Open up Photoshop and create a new document. Depending on your overall aims, you might want to specify dimensions for a printed poster, otherwise a 72dpi document is perfect for on-screen use. Fill the background with a dark grey.

Grab a couple of source images of smoke clouds, these particular images are courtesy of Shutterstock (1)(2). Paste the images into the document and position to flow diagonally across the design. Change the blending modes to Screen and drop the opacity to around 15%.

On a new layer, dab three bright colours with a large soft brush. Pink, turquoise and purple work well together.

Change the blending mode of the colour spots to Overlay to allow the colours to cast over the underlying textures.

On a new layer, change the colour swatches to their default black and white settings (D). Then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Change the blending mode to Overlay and tone down to 65% opacity.

Fill a new layer with black, then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Select an amount of around 10%, with the Gaussian and Monochromatic options selected. Change the blending mode to Screen and adjust the Levels (CMD+L) black and white points to create a field of distant stars. Create a Layer Mask and dab areas with a large soft brush to add variance to their intensity, making some brighter than others.

Download this handy collection of Star Brushes, then set up your brush settings in Photoshop as follows. Select a star brush from the pack and turn down the size, also adjust the spacing to 1000%. Under the Shape Dynamics tab, change the Size Jitter to full and Minimum Diameter to 0%. Under the Scattering tab, change the Scatter to full.

Paint in a variety of stars to fill out the space scene, adjust the brush size between strokes to give a wider range of sizes. Give the star layer an Outer Glow of a light blue, then add a Layer Mask to adjust the intensity of the stars.

Grab the Type tool and create a simple typographic layout. Here I’m using the words Chemical Imbalance, with a fat slab-serif font (Geometric Slab-Serif). The tracking is tightened and leading shortened to spice it up.

Add a Layer Mask to the type layer, then go to Filter > Render > Clouds to erase out random areas of the text.

Duplicate the layer, then add a Gaussian Blur of around 6px. Change the blending mode to Overlay.

Add another clouds rendering to this layer’s mask to erase out different areas of the text. Use a normal soft brush to also manual erase out specific areas of the text layers.

On a new layer, paint in a range of white spots with the Brush tool. Changing these to Overlay will give intense areas of light.

Continue to paint in more dabs of colour, this time spots of yellow around the text.

Add a layer mask to the yellow spots, then add a rendering of clouds to give a textured appearance.

Change the blending mode to Color Dodge to blend the colour spots into the design as casts of vibrant colour.

Paint a spot of pink, then change the blending mode to Dissolve. Add a Radial Blur of around 60% using the Zoom setting.

Merge this pink spot with a new blank layer (CMD+E) to reset the blending mode back to Normal, then change the mode to Color Dodge. Change the Opacity to around 60% to tone down the effect.

On a new layer, draw a spot of white using a soft brush. Grab the mask tool and delete away half of the circle.

Press CMD+T to transform the semi-circle, then stretch and squash it into a cast of light. Rotate it by 45% (hold Shift) and move into position on the design.

Press the ALT key and move copies into various places on the design. Overlap a few casts to give the impression of streaks across the whole design.

Change the blending mode to Overlay to allow the white to interact with the underlying colours.

Sit back and cast your eye over the design, make any tweaks to the opacity of layers or tone down areas with brush strokes to the layer mask to erase out areas taking too much prominence.

Take your artwork cosmic

Celestial elements are everywhere in design. Ben Thomas demonstrates how to incorporate them into your style

Click here to download the tutorial for free

Step 1

We will start our image in Adobe Illustrator. We could have done it entirely in Adobe Photoshop but I like to use the right tool for the right type of work, if there's vector I will always use Illustrator, it's easier and faster. In Illustrator select the Star Tool and create a star.

Step 2

With the Line Segment Tool (\) create 2 lines following the base shape of the star. Use the image below for reference.

Step 3

With the Blend Tool (W), click on one line then click on the other one. You will apply the blend effect to the lines. Now double click on the Blend Tool icon to open the Blend Options. Change the Spacing to 10.

Step 4

Duplicate the whole blend object and move it to the other side of the star.

Step 5

Just flip horizontally the on side to get the other one.

Step 6

Keep duplicating until you get all the sides covered.

Step 7

Now lets add some color to the lines. I used red, yellow, green, cyan and purple for the colors.

Step 8

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I used 1920x1200 pixels. Then fill the background layer with a very dark grey.

Step 9

Copy each blend object from Illustrator and paste them in Photoshop separately, you will have 5 layers. Now it's really important to organize them.

Using the Lasso Tool (L) and mask (Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection) hide parts of the lines so they do not cross one another. That way the green lines will be on top of the blue and yellows. Use the image below for reference.

Step 10

Select all line layers and go to Layer>Merge Layers. Duplicate the layer. After go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius.

Step 11

With the duplicate layer go again to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 2 pixels for the Radius.

Step 12

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. For the color use white. After that group the layer and then change Blend Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 13

This is the effect you will have after these steps. Take a look at the order of the layers, it's really important for the lines effect.

Step 14

Add a group folder in the layer palettes and change the Blend Mode of the group to Color Dodge. After that inside this group add another layer. With the Brush Tool (B), select white for the color and get a very soft brush to start paint some light spots over the green lines.

Step 15

Let's use an image to add another light effect. The one I used can be downloaded for free at http://www.williams.edu/Astronomy/IAU_eclipses/eclipse_results.html. Place the image and change the its Blend Mode to Screen. After that with the Eraser Tool (E) delete most of the image leaving only the light effect in the middle of the document.

After that, go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Move the Hue until you get a greenish color.

Step 16

With the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, change the opacity to 20% and start with a green color. So paint over the green lines, add another layer and select cyan and paint over the cyan lines. Do the same for the other colors. The idea is to make the light effect a little bit stronger. This layers will be beneath the lines.

Step 17

Add another layer, this time on top of the layers we painted in the previous step and beneath the lines. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you had black and white for the background and foreground colors. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, then with the Eraser Tool (E) delete some parts of the layer to make the clouds less uniform.

Step 18

Now let's create a pattern, actually let's use an image and create a pattern from that. Download the Free Seamless Vector Perforated Metal Pattern (http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/free-seamless-vector-perforated-metal-pa...) and open it in Photoshop. Go to Edit>Define Pattern.

Back to our design, add another layer on top of the others and fill it with any color, the go to Layer>Layer Styles. First go to Blend Options and change the fill opacity to 0. After that go to Pattern Overlay. Select the pattern we've just created for the Pattern and reduce the Scale to 50%.

Step 19

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Create Layer. You will break the layer style into layers, so you will have a layer with the pattern you applied. Delete the other layers and with the pattern layer, change the Blend Mode to Multiply, then go to Edit>Transform>Warp. Use Fish Eye for the Warp and then move the controller to reduce the size of the warp in the middle. Use the image below for reference.

After that, change the Opacity to 20%.

Step 20

This is the order of the layers I have so you can have an idea and use it for reference.

Conclusion

The light effect we created here is nothing new, I've shown you how to create this quite a few times. However this time we played with patterns and the warp transform to add a very nice effect to the image. Once again I was inspired by a skateboard deck design and wanted to reproduce that in Photoshop. The whole idea of this tutorials is that we can play with the tool and learn at least something new.

This time we’ll make a Stone Cursed person effect in Photoshop. I have used Photoshop CS4 for this tutorial.  Medusa, in the Greek mythology, is a female monster that, gazing directly upon her, would turn onlookers to stone.

Here is what we are going to do:

We’ll use this one: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1166996

Name the layer to “Kid“. Duplicate the “Kid” layer by right click on the layer and choose Duplicate Layer or CTRL+J for shortcut command.

Name this duplicated layer to “KidCopy” and close the “Kid” layer for a while, we’ll use it later on.

Desaturate the Duplicate Layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate.

On the “KidCopy” Layer, Remove the background and the eyes. I used the Pen Tool (P).

Once your done the image will look like this.

Now we need a texture. We’ll use this Concrete texture downloaded from GrungeTextures. Open it to photoshop. Name the layer to “Texture“. Rotate it to 90° CCW. Go to Edit>Transfrom>Rotate 90° CCW.

Hold CTRL+CLICK on the “KidCopy” layer so that it will be in selection mode. Click the “Texture” Layer and inverse the selection. Go to Select> Inverse. Now press DELETE.

Now Set the “Texture” layer to Multiply. Desaturate the “KidCopy” Layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. The image will now look like this.

Working on the eye. On the “Textures” layer, Select an area using Polygonal Lasso Tool (L). Try to select below the eye and once your done selecting press CTRL+J to duplicate the selected area. Same Process on the Right eye. Name the left duplicate to “Left Eye” and “Right Eye” for the right side.

Now move the “Left Eye” and the “Right Eye” layer below the “HandsomeCopy” Layer by click on the duplicate layer and dragging it below on the layers palette. Heres the position of the Layers.

Place the “Left Eye” and “Right Eye” Layer to the proper position Using Move Tool (V). See this image below.

To adjust the Lightness of the Right Eye and Left Eye Layer, go toImage>Adjustments> Hue/Saturation then adjust the Lightness to -40 so it will be a bit darker.

Choose Burn Tool (O). Set the range to Highlights and Exposure to 30%. Start Using burn tool on the sides of the eye.

Working on the hair. We will use Curves to match it with the skin and to make it more lighter. Select the “KidCopy” layer, Choose Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and select the hair.

Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves. Adjust at your taste.

Now our image will look like this after we adjust the hair:

Now to finish, Choose Burn Too (O) and try to apply some darker area on the nose and the eye a little. Open the “Handsome” layer to bring back the background. Now we’re done!!!!

I hope you learn something on this tutorial and let me hear your feedbacks.

You can download the PSD File

Hello everybody, today were going to be creating a colorful image icon from scratch, the icon features a colorful design in a shiny metal like border the icon also used a bokeh effect.

 

Setting Up The Canvas & Background

Create a new document 800×600 pixels, you can use a bigger canvas if you wish to but for the purpose of this tutorial we’ll be using those dimensions.

For the background ive just added a simple gradient with a sun burst effect, just something better than boring white.

Creating The Icon Surround

Select the rounded rectangle tool with a radius of 15px, change the type to “shape layers”.

Using shape layers will let you resize your icon without loss of quality. Draw out your icon surround in the center of the canvas, make the surround fairly big.

Add these layer styles to the surround.

You should have something like this.

Creating The Inside

Select the rectangle tool again with the type set to “shape layers”.

Draw out a rectangle inside the surround, leave about 20 - 26 pixels all the way around the surround.

Add these layer styles to the rectangle you just created.

You should have something like this.

Creating The Bokeh Effect

Create a new document 600 x 600 pixels with a transparent background. Select the elliptical marquee tool and create a circle as big as the canvas, fill the circle with black.

Once you’ve filled the circle change the fill opacity to 50%.

Now add a stroke using the settings below.

Once you’ve added the stroke go to “edit > define brush preset”, save your brush as “bokeh”. Head back over to your layout and select the brush tool, find and select your brush from the brush menu.

Open up the brush settings window by press F5 or by going to “window > brushes”, once opened add the following settings.

Adding The Bokeh Effect

Make sure you still have the bokeh brush selected, randomly brush over the inner rectangle, try keeping the circles inside the inner rectangle, if they happen to go over on the surrounding rectangle inverse the selection and hit the delete key. Once you’ve brushed a few circles blur them by 3 pixels using the guassian. (filter > blur > guassian blur).

Repeat the process again on a new layer this time set the layer opacity to 50% then add a outer-glow using the settings below.

You should have something like this.

Repeat the process again including the outer-glow only this time set the layer opacity to 75%, your final result should be something like this.

Creating The Inner Rectangle Shine

Select the pen tool and make a path like the image below.

Once you’ve made the path right click and go to “fill path”, fill the path/selection with the color white. Make sure you have your layer selected then ctrl + click on your inner rectangle, go to “select > inverse” and hit the delete key.

Now you have your shine add a layer mask to the layer, reset your foreground and background colors then select the gradient tool with a linear gradient. Drag the linear gradient from the bottom of the shine upwards.

Creating The Shadow

Select the rectangular marquee tool and create a black rectangle towards the bottom of the surrounding rectangle.

Blur the rectangle by 6 pixels using the guassian blur (filter > blur > guassian blur).

Set the shadow layers opacity to 50% then cut off the left and right ends using your favorite cutting tool.

Creating The Second Icon

Select ALL layers apart from the background layer, merge all duplicated layers into one layer then place the layer behind the first icon. Press CTRL + T to free transform the duplicated layer, slightly rotate the 2nd icon behind the first icon.

The Finished Product

You should now have something like this.

I look forward to your comments.

License and Attribution

The PSD file is licensed under the Creative Commons license and can be used for personal purposes ONLY. No attribution is needed but it is always appreciated.