Artist: Saya Behnam
Difficulty: Beginner – Moderate (Photoshop Knowledge Needed)
Resources: Tucan Bird | Earth Globe covered in Grass | Yellow Flower | Dry Soil Texture | Green Leaf with Water Droplets | Flower 1 | Flower 2

Final Preview

Step 1

Time to create a new document for you to work on. If you plan on using this graphic for printing services then change the Color Mode to CMYK and 300 DPI resolution.

Step 2

Create a new group layer(CTRL+G and then CTRL+SHIFT+N OR Layer>New>Layer) name the group (BG) and import the image “Earth globe covered with grass) stock photo and scale it to fit the canvas.

Step 3

Create another group layer name it “letters” and start typing “COMING SOON” in upper case. Each letter in a separate group. The reason for splitting up the letters is because you will be editing each letter separately.

I used font “Palindrome Black SSi” Bold, 90 pt size. You can use any other fonts but it is better bulky and heavy face. With transform tool select each letter in their layer
Rotate or slightly transform each letter to match the curve of the earth

Step 4

In the “BG” background group – duplicate the “earth” photo. With Pen tool start to trace the earth (grass) out line. Skip the small grass hair, just follow the curve. In Path layer – Then select section

On the layer window – select the earth photo then go to Go to layer tab- select “ Layer mask> Reveal selection”

You will have grass masked like this

Step 5

Go to the second copy of the background, On the path layer select the path you just made and click “Selection” Under Select menu> Inverse and Got to Layer menu> Layer mask> Reveal selection- This time you have sky selection (don’t worry about small grass revealing, we will take care of it in next steps)

Step 6

Choose “Color balance” adjustment (from icons under layer window) and use following setting.

Create a new gradient adjustment layer with following settings for sky gradient fill:

Now for toning down clouds we use another gradient adjustment layer with these three colors for the top part of sky

If you want to make could darker you can use Burn tool with following setting on the clouds

You should have something like this now.

Step 7

Back to letters group: Go to “ C-main” group layer. Select C and with “Pen Tool” start to draw a jagged edges around the letter C- Make path in and out of the border of the letter to give it a rough edge.

Make selection from Path layer. From Layer menu – Select Layer mask> Reveal selection

Step 8

Now “Rasterize” the Type layer – by right clicking on the layer and selecting ‘Rasterize layer”. Duplicate this layer and name it C- Black –copy.

Step 9

Open the stock image earth globe covered with grass and with rectangle selection select part of the grass.

Back to the “ C-main” group layer and paste it on top of the other layers in the group name it “grass”. If need to transform and make it bigger, do it to cover the entire “C” letter. Go to layer window, Alt click between” grass” layer and rasterized C layer underneath it (if have not done it already) to create a “Clipping Mask” group- or while selecting “ Grass” layer go to Layer menu and click on “ Clipping mask.”

Step 10

Now choose the duplicated layer from C_main group, “C-black-copy” and with “move tool” move it to the right and down on the first layer. Now set this layer blending mode to “ Multiply” 47%. Open the “Dry soil texture” stock photo and select part of the image. Then come back to the “ C –main” group layer and past the layer under the “ C- black _copy”

Step 12

Copy the mask you created for letter “C” from above layers to this layer (soil image)


If you need to move or use Free Transform tool to adjust it, do it.

Step 13

To make the solid dry layer look more natural, click on layer mask choose white or black soft pen (opacity 47%) to add or erase to the mask within
On the “C-black _copy” to adjust it.

Also adjust the black shadow but erasing some area with soft brush opacity 20%

Step 14

To have more natural grass layer, with eraser and pen tool draw lines as for grass within grass clipping masks layers.

Now we give darker tone to the grass by selecting the grass image layer and go to Image menu and from Adjustment drop down select “Brightness and Contrast”

Now you should have something like this.

Step 15

Now that you have handled one letter, you have to repeat the process for all the letters in your composition. Once you have done so and added your own touch of creativity. You should have something like this.

Step 16

Make a group layer name it “Shadows”. From the letter group duplicate black layer for each letter and place in the Shadow group Choose “Prespective, Skew, Distort transform tool and adjust them on the ground.

-Change the blending mode to Multiply, opacity 37%

Step 17

Repeat the steps for each letter. Create the shadows with your initiative and style them as you would like by using the eraser tool, soft brush (size 39 – to 42) opacity 20% and randomly erase some areas from the shadow to give a grass natural tone.

Step 18

Open the “Dry Soil Texture” stock photo and insert it into the canvas. Place the layer in the BG group and on top of the other layers. We will be using it to create the soil level below the grass.

Select the Quick Mask Tool with the following Setup.

Start to paint the area you want to mask. From channel layers select selection tool for the alpha channel and turn off the Alpha channel. On the soil image layer go to Layer menu> Mask Layer> Reveal Selection

With pen and eraser tool draw or erase some part of grass root into the soil

Step 19

In the BG group add a new layer for adjustment on the grass shadow and with a soft brush (size form 32- 40 px)- use multiply for blending, 17% opacity and soft brush 32 to 40 px size- you can use this layer to add some touch up to the letter shadows as well -Use larger soft brush (60 px).

Step 20

Time to add some accessories. Open Tucan bird isolated stock photo and the yellow flower isolated stock photo and then open the two other pink flowers photos. Open Green leaf with water droplets photo as well and import the photos into your canvas. Now for the birds with Magic Wand tool select the background delete it and copy the bird on different place on top of the letter- Make them smaller with the free transform tool.

For yellow flower do the same above selection since it has the white background. For pink flowers- use quick mask and make selection copy and paste the flower to the group of your choice.

For Leaves, select them, transform and place them in different sizes and areas of the composition.

Step 21

You can change the color of the flowers by going to Image> Adjustment> Hue/Saturation with following settings.

Step 22

With brush tool (round hard brush size 20px or what you prefer) solid, 100% opacity, make different circles. Add a rectangle box with dusty color 8b7647 and 1d0705 randomly and mix these colors. Create a clipping mask tool above the circles and set the opacity of the group to 72% Normal.

Step 23

Add a new layer for adding some shadow adjustment to the Flowers and leaves group on the top- Set it to multiply and with soft brush opacity 17% black color add soft shadows if needed. Also to add some light and shadow to the grass you can use burn and dodge tool with following set up.

Now you are finally done. You need to be creative with your outcome and then you can add a brightness/contrast layer on top of the composition to balance out the lighting too.

Final Preview

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Please do share your outcomes with us. Would be appreciated.

What will we be creating today you might wonder, well let’s start off by saying that I love eggs for breakfast, yes chicken eggs. A lot of you might have seen some creative egg photography on deviantart or facebook, but I decided to create my own little army and then eat them in the end. So let’s start off by seeing what you will have at the end of the tutorial.

Final Preview

Tools you need:

• Sharpie Marker
• A dozen chicken eggs
• Frying pan
• Stove
• Measuring Cup
• Camera

Yes, its really everything that can be found in the kitchen except the sharpie and camera obviously. So let’s get started.

Step 1

Time to grab those chicken eggs and that sharpies, there is obviously a lot of different faces you can draw on your eggs and it comes down to your skills and imagination at the end of the day. You don’t have to necessarily create an army, you can muster up anything you can think of. Just have some fun.

I came up with a few funny faces that I thought I could build a story around. Yes, it might seem that I was bored in some way, but I was actually just spicing up breakfast.

Step 2

Now that you have your army setup, it’s time to setup your scenes. Basically you can decide what your storyline is obviously, mine wasn’t really a story, it just played out that some of the guys watched their friends being cracked open and thrown into a measuring cup. Which in the end led to the mafia boss trying to stop me from frying the eggs. In this step you will have to setup your scenes and grab the camera and think your story through. I will layout my photos below with some short captions.

The Crew lining up in their normal positions. As you can see some of them definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Once Jimmy got popped and drained, there were some strange and angry faces being thrown around the counter. Especially because little Timmy got caught up in the entire thing.

Timmy got pushed back into Jimmy’s shell which started a egg war…literally…even the mafia started stepping in. As you can see the mafia boss Mr.Belugi is smiling in the back.

Once Mr.Belugi got hold of the story he sent out his thugs (Gary and Harry) to investigate what was going on in his part of town.

The problem with Gary and Harry was that Gary was much more ruthless than Harry. Harry’s attention span wasn’t very long either. On their quest, Harry got fascinated by the shiny thing that was draining and holding his friends. He vowed to get revenge on this huge measuring cup.

Due to Mr.Belugi’s men poking around the counter and looking for clues I thought I’d send Mr.Belugi a strong message to stop poking around and punched his son in the face. Now Belugi Jr. was literally cracked up. I soon after drained him as well.

Mr.Belugi didn’t take the message very well and decided to send out 3 of his thugs to take me down, however I retaliated with force and drained the one guy.

When Jumbo caught up with the news and saw that his brother Sammy(Thug 3) got drained, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Something had to be done to stop this monster from wiping everyone out.

Jumbo immediately got Mr.Belugi to step in and that is exactly what he decided to do. He came accompanied by two thugs and his trusty fork. He literally used the butter in the pan as a shield. Well almost.

I ended up defeating Mr.Belugi and his two thugs, but due to respect I haven’t made the images of the fight public, the only thing I will make public though is the pouring of the mixed eggs into the pan. This just shows you. Creativeoverflow 1 – 0 Egg army.

Step 3 – Making the Eggs

Well as you noticed I made up a quick story just to show you what is capable. After going through all the trouble though I was still hungry so I switched on the gas stove and heated my frying pan, added some butter to layer the pan and then poured in my eggs. I mixed them around in the pan for a bit until my scrambled eggs were done.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. You definitely can’t say this isn’t unique content! Haha, see you in the next article.

Before we continue, take a look at the final result:

Step 1

Let’s create a square, any size you want. This will be our canvas for creating and tweaking the brushed metal effect until we’re happy enough with it to use in our real projects.

Step 2

Fill the square with a gradient. The type should be Linear, and the angle should be set to 90 degrees. We want to create a somewhat 3D effect with the gradient, so the first colour should be 40% black, the middle 0% black and the final colour should again be 40% black. While you’re at it, apply a border to your image that is 40% black. It doesn’t matter what stroke width you use — I used 1 point in this example.

Your box should now look something like this.

Step 3

Go to the Effects menu and select Texture > Grain. In the Grain settings, set the grain type to Horizontal with an intensity of 7 and a contrast of 0.

If your Preview looks something like this, press OK:

Step 4

Presto: we have a brushed metal effect that is completely scalable and can be used in any fill area.

Feel free to download our Illustrator file containing the free brushed metal vector download.

Need a graphic design?

Hire James Turner, a freelance web and graphic designer from Australia.

Looking for freelance design work?

Find illustrator design contests or metal logo design jobs at DesignCrowd.

Recently I created a logo for a client that fell in this category. I was really proud of the design I came up with, yet the design failed to strike a chord with the client. That, of course, is the nature of the design industry. Not everybody is going to like what you create.

However, rather than consign my design to the recycle bin, I have decided to rehash the concept using a fictional name so I can share with you the steps I took to create it. Whether you like the design or not is a matter for you to decide but regardless of opinion, I hope you can gain something and maybe learn a thing or two from my own methodology.

Final Preview

The following is a step by step tutorial on how I created the above logo design. Tips learned in this tutorial can be applied to other designs with a Web 2.0 style.

Step 1

In this first step, we need to create the base shape of the planet.

Using a medium gray, create a circle while holding down the Shift key to create a perfect circle. Then rasterize the layer.

Step 2

Next, we need to indicate the Earth’s land mass. I have used a free vector map available from VectorWorldMap.com.

I have removed all the white background and used the background eraser tool to remove excess white from the internal land mass areas. Once this was done, I gave the whole layer a vivid green colour overlay by double clicking the map layer in the layers box and adding it as an effect. This is to ensure crisp clean edges. This colour overlay needs to be flattened into a single layer. I find the easiest way to do that is by creating a new layer, selecting both the empty layer and the map layer in the layers box, then merging the two layers.

The image then needs to be placed centrally to the page and the base circle. For this part, we aren’t trying to create an exact replica of the planet. We just want it to look vaguely like the Earth.

Step 3

We now need to give the land mass a more spherical quality. This is easy to do.

Making sure the land mass layer is selected, go to Filter, Distort, then Spherize. In the dialogue box, ensure the percentage is whacked up to 100% for full effect. You may find that one attempt is not enough to give the land mass the needed effect. I used the spherize filter effect twice for a more rounded look.

Tip: The spherize filter works from the center of the page you are working on. This means for an even spherical effect, you need to make sure the layer you want is roughly center to the page, otherwise your layer will look lopsided, like it’s a chunk from the outside edge of a sphere rather than being a sphere itself.

Step 4

At this point, we need to re-size the land to make a vaguely realistic fit on the base circle. You don’t need to try and get all the map to fit, as in real life you wouldn’t be able to see land mass on the opposite side of the planet. Just try to obtain a fit that lends to the spherical look of the planet.

Step 5

Next, we need to remove any excess land from around the base circle.

To do this, select the circle layer and using the magic wand tool, select the area outside the base circle. Then select the map layer and press delete. This removes everything on the map layer that doesn’t fit within the boundaries of the circle selection. Remember to right click and deselect.

Step 6

Now we start work on giving our image more earth like color.

Select the base circle and duplicate the layer. You need to fill with a vivid blue color. Both the green map layer, and the blue ocean layer, need to be changed to overlays for the next step. Do this by selecting the layer, then selecting the drop down menu above, where it says Normal, and change them both to Overlay. As you can see, because of the medium grey base circle, the colors have been muted to a level more acceptable for my design.

Step 7

Now we start adding a 3D effect to our planet.

Select the grey base circle once again, and duplicate it. Double click the new grey circle in the Layers box and give it a black and white gradient overlay. We need to reduce the transparency of the overlay a little so the gradient isn’t completely black and white. We also need to change the angle of the gradient. This is dependent on where you want the light to come from. I chose a 60 degree angle. I always work with my light source coming from upper right but you may feel more comfortable with another angle. This gradient effect needs to be flattened using the method described in Step 2.

Step 8

Next, we need to give more shading and highlighting to create a truly spherical effect.

Selecting the newly flattened gradient circle, we need to use the burn tool to darken the gradient in a more rounded way. Ensure that you have a large size and soft edged brush. In the Burn tool dialogue box, you need to select midtones and have the exposure on about 20% – 25%. Make sure to burn slightly around the entire edge of the circle aswell and blend down in a curving motion.

You may find once you’ve finished that the shading isn’t quite as perfectly smooth as we’d like. To ensure a smoother look, use the magic wand tool to select the outside area of the circle. Right-click and invert the selection. Then go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian blur and knock the blur radius up to around 60%. You may decide more or less, depending on how good your shading looks to start with. Selecting the circle before blurring ensures that no blur escapes the confines of the circle we’ve created and keeps the crisp edge.

To add more of a shine to the Earth, create a white circle in the area where you need the most light and you need the most shine. Rasterize it and give that a Gaussian blur of a slightly lesser amount than you did the grey circle. Make sure none of the shine blur has escaped the edges of the circle.

We now have our finished planet.

Tip: At this point, I would put all the layers making up the planet into their own group folder. Not only does this keep your layers box tidy but it ensures you don’t accidentally move one of the layers whilst performing other tasks, or moving and resizing the planet.

Step 9

Now we move on to adding the letter that will eventually envelope the planet we’ve created.

Create a capital letter Z using a relatively simple and unadorned font. Size it to fit the planet, then rasterize it so we can work with it. You will need to duplicate this letter layer.

Step 10

Using the Polygonal Lasso tool, we need to separate the Z into separate horizontal and diagonal parts. Selecting one of Z layers, use the lasso tool to select the diagonal length of the Z, and then delete it. Be careful not remove any of the horizontal bars of the Z.

Select the next Z layer and do the same again, this time removing the horizontal and keeping the diagonal. Make sure to select enough of the diagonal so that it can overlap behind the horizontal bars. This is to make sure you don’t end up with a very tiny gap between the different parts of the letter.

Step 11

Again, we need to make use of the Spherize filter on each of the component parts of our letter Z.

The horizontal bars need to on the top and given a spherize of 100%. The lower, diagonal bar, needs to be given -100%. This creates a reverse effect.

Step 12

Now we need to give the same shiny 3d effect to our Z and make it wrap around the planet.

To do this, use the Burn tool in the same way we used it to create shading on the planet. Shade the areas on the diagonal very dark, as that will be behind the planet. Use your eye to apply the correct shading to the horizontal bars, always keeping in mind where your light source is.

To create the super shiny effect, create two white ellipses where the shine needs to be and give them a Gaussian Blur as you did with the shine on the planet. The shine nearest the light source will need less blur than the shine further away. You will then need to use the magic wand tool to select the outside areas of the horizontal bars and delete the excess of the blurs once you’re done.

Step 13

As the typical home of our planet is in space, I thought it best to present the design on a black background. I also felt that the planet needed a little atmosphere, so that’s what I gave it. This was achieved easily by duplicating the blue ocean layer, taking it off overlay and giving it a Gaussian blur. Make sure that this blue blur is below all the planet layers, but above the diagonal of the Z.

Now we have our finished earth and capital Z, all that is needed is a little simple text.

Step 14

Due to the amount of editing that has happened to our wrap around Z, I couldn’t find the perfect font to the tie in the Z to the name I made up. To bypass this, I selected the layers used to create the Z, duplicated them and merged them, then gave this new Z a colour overlay selecting a grey from the lighter part of our main Z. I then used a futuristic but simple font to finish off the name.

And there we have it. Our finished design.

Tip: As this design is made up of separate rasterized layers rather than being full of photoshop effects, we can open this design in illustrator, changing the layers to objects, and create an .eps or .ai file if the client requests it.

Conclusion

I’d like to say that this is still one of my favorite creations so far, yet this kind of design doesn’t appeal to everyone. However, Web 2.0 style logo design is becoming more and more prominent, especially now many businesses are strictly web-based.

I hope you can learn at least one new tip or method from my design tutorial. If you do then my lost planet design was worth the effort.

Need a logo design?

Hire Cinami Grafiks – a freelance logo designer from the United Kingdom.

Looking for freelance design work?

Find freelance earth logo design work or general logo creation jobs at DesignCrowd.

Information

Author: An1ken Creative
Skills: Beginner-Intermediate
Tools: Photoshop
Resources: Studio Portrait of Young Woman Eating Hair | Background Texture by Night Fate Stock | Piano Keys | Nebula Stock | Smoke on Sxc | Noise Effect Textures

Final Preview

Step 1

You will obviously have to open Photoshop and then import then create a new canvas by going to File>New (Shortcut: CTRL+N). I worked on a width of 3500×5000 pixels in this case with a DPI of 300. You are able to use any size that you are comfortable with, I just like working high resolution. Fill your background with black #000000 and now its time to setup the background. I imported the background texture created by Night Fate Stock and positioned it on the canvas. I then duplicated the texture and moved it around and filled out the entire background. I basically used (CTRL+J) or Right click on the texture layer and hit duplicate layer and then went to Edit>Free Transform (CTRL+T). This is what I have after the first step.

Step 2

Now its time to import your stock photo that you will be using. Erase the background of the image and keeping the main focal. You can use your eraser tool or pen tool, it doesn’t have to be perfect in this instance. Once you have your background removed you should have something like this.

As you can see it isn’t a perfect extraction, but it will work perfectly with the smokey effect. Duplicate the stock image layer and hide the copied layer which will obviously be the top one. Now with your bottom stock layer selected, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the radius between 35-40, its up to you. Now make your copied layer that you hid previously visible again and you will see a slight blurred edge on your stock photo. Your blurred image will look like this before you make the top layer visible again.

Step 3

Now its time to work on the background again behind the stock image. Select the texture layer that you previously setup and create a new layer right above it by going to Layer>New>Layer or (CTRL+ALT+N). Now grab a biggish soft brush with Black #000000 as your color and set the brush opacity to 70% and darken the background of the canvas. You can just brush over the entire canvas or you can add your personal touch if you like. Once you are done with the darkening of the canvas go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map. Make sure the gradient map is the default Black to White gradient and hit OK. Set the Blending mode to Multiply. Sure this isn’t really looking attractive at the moment, but that will soon change. You should have something like this now.

Step 4

Now its time to insert the Piano keys behind the stock image of the girl. Import the stock to your canvas and make sure it is below the stock image of the girl and above the gradient map that you created in the previous step. Position it how you would like it and set the blending mode to Overlay. In my case I positioned it behind the girl so that it creates a nice depth and pulls your attention to the background too. This is what you should have right now.

Step 5

Now we are going to be inserting some nebula stocks into the background to create some atmosphere. Moonchilde-Stock has some pretty awesome Nebula stocks that are available for use in your projects. I inserted the nebula stock of my choice below the stock image of the girl and above the piano keys layer created in the previous step. I duplicated the layer and made sure that the entire canvas was filled with the nebula stock. Once I had all my nebula duplicates placed where I needed them, I selected all the nebula layers and merged them together by going to Layer>Merge Layers or (CTRL+E). I then set the merged nebula layer blending mode to Linear Dodge. This is what I have so far.

Step 6

Let’s make use of another nebula, in this case I made use of the Cosma Stock by Moonchilde-stock. I inserted it into the canvas and made sure that it was below the stock image of the girl and positioned it to where I liked it. I then set the blending mode to Linear Dodge and enabled a layer mask. I selected the layer and went to layer>Layer mask>Reveal All. I then selected my brush tool with a black soft brush and erased the parts that I didn’t like. This is what I ended up with.

Step 7

Now we will be adding some smoke effects to the composition. You have to download Smoke from Sxc and insert it into your canvas, position it on the left hand side behind the stock image and set the blending mode to Linear Dodge. Now duplicate the smoke layer and flip it horizontally by going to Edit> Transform>Flip Horizontal and move it to the right hand side of the canvas. You have freedom to position it as you want, but this is what I have.

Step 8

Time to add some color and depth to the piece now. Create a new layer on top all the layers and this includes the stock image layer as well. Fill the layer with black #000000 and set the blending mode to Color Dodge. Now make use of the blue and orange to add some small color alterations to the piece. The blue is #01374b and the orange is #503405 and the dark yellowish color is #5a5026. This is what it should look like with the blending mode set on normal.

Now make sure the blending mode is set to color and the opacity is set to 47% and you should have something like this.

Step 9

Now I duplicated the first nebula layer and moved the duplication to the top and positioned it over the face of the girl in the stock image. I removed the parts that I didn’t want to display in the piece and made sure the blending mode was set to Linear Dodge. Without the blending mode set, you should have something like this below.

As you can see I have darkened the parts of the nebula that I didn’t want to display. Here you can see the preview of the blending mode enabled and set to Linear Dodge.

Step 10

Let’s add some adjustments to the piece. Let’s start out by going to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast. Set the brightness to -21 and the Contrast to +80 and hit OK. Now go back to Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient. Make use of the Purple to Orange gradient which has color codes of #290a59 and #ff7c00 and make sure the style is Linear and the Angle is 90 degrees and hit OK. Set the Blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 30%.

Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter and choose the Warming Filter(85) and hit OK. You should have something like this below.

Step 11

Create a new layer and select a soft brush with a orange color #db4002. Now set the blending mode to Color and the Opacity to 89%. I used this to touch up some spots on the piece that was lacking orange color. Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast and set the contrast to -17 and hit OK. Now create a new layer and go to Image>Apply Image. Now with the applied image layer selected go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the radius to 8 and hit Ok. Now set the blending mode of the layer to Overlay and the Opacity to 57%. This is what you should have.

Step 12

Now the final step is where we add the noise layer to add some characteristic to our final image. I made use of the Noise Effect Textures from Wegraphics and added a noise texture on top of the image and changed the blending mode to Linear Dodge and the opacity to 23% and we are finally done. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Conclusion

This tutorial showed you how to combine simple elements and make someone beautiful out of it. Hope to see you in the next tutorial.

Here’s the end result of what we’ll be creating:

Getting Started

Start with clean black line-work. For this tutorial I am using my own artwork, but if you are working as a pro colorist it is likely you will receive the artwork from the inker. Before you start the line-work must be clean. Adjust levels so that the image is pure black and white.

Step 1

For this image we will begin in RGB mode (but CMYK will work). Select the entire image and cut (Ctrl/Cmd + X) it to the clipboard.

Open the Layers Palette and click on the “New Layer” icon.

Click Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode (or simply hit the ‘Q’ on your keyboard). This will allow you to take the Line Art you just cut and convert it to a selection.

While in Quick Mask Mode, paste in (Ctrl/Cmd + V) your linework. It will appear as a light red outline.

This outline is a Quick Mask. When you exit Quick Mask mode everything that you see on the screen here will become a marquee selection. But before you do that, you need to invert the selection.

To invert the selection, select the menu item Image > Adjustments > Invert, or hit Ctrl/Cmd + I.

Exit Quick Mask Mode by pressing Q. This brings you back into RGB mode. You should see the linework as a marquee selection (a bunch of moving dashed lines).

Flood (Alt-Del) the selection with black. If you click on the eyeball icon on the Layers Pallette beside the Background layer, you should see a grey checker pattern behind your lines that indicates transparency.

Step 2

Fill the Background layer with a neutral color (I used brown). This will make your later color choices more natural. Name the top layer “Line Art”.

Create a new layer between the background and the Line Art layer and call it “Flats”.

Step 3

Here’s the fun part. Select the Pencil tool. Make sure it is on Normal mode and is at 100% opacity.

Trace the outline of each shape with a solid color.

Select the Paint Bucket tool with the tolerance set to 1 and the anti-aliasing turned off and start filling in the outlined areas.

Did I say flatting was the fun part? Not compared to shading, which is coming up next! At this stage, though, you should have something that looks a little like this:

Step 4

In the Layers Pallette duplicate the Flats layer by dragging it to the New Layer icon (the one that looks like a piece of paper at the bottom of the Layers Palette). Click on the “Lock Transparency” icon (see the image below – it’s highlighted).

Set your fill color to white and fill the Flats layer (Alt-Del). This should leave a white silhouette of your figure.

You can paint in your shade tones directly onto this silhouette without fear of “going outside the lines”. I used a light blue color for the shadows in this particular image.

If you set the blending mode of your Shadows layer to Multiply you will see how the shadows add definition to the flat colors you laid down in the previous step.

On the Shadow layer, apply a very light pink to the nose, eyes, and cheeks, and to the knuckles and elbows. These areas have blood that is close to the surface and adding a light dusting of a rosy hue will help make your character look more alive. I recommend using a very light shade of pink as it will become darker due to the Multiply mode of the layer.

Step 5

Now you need to create a “Highlights” layer. Place it above the Shadows but below the Line Art layer and fill the silhouette with black.

It may seem odd to fill your Highlights layer with black, but the black will become invisible once the layer’s blending mode is set to Screen. Change it over now.

Set your paintbrush to a soft edge and keep the opacity low as you paint in highlights. If you are coloring shiny plastic or metal you may use a brighter color and a harder edged brush.

Bonus Step: Coloring Line Art

Lock transparency on the Line Art layer, just as you did with the shadows and highlights.

Use the pencil tool to fill in the lines with the desired colors. I generally, though not always, use a darker shade of the fill color.

Bonus Step: Textured Background

For this piece I found a photograph of a rough textured surface and pasted it above the image. I then lowered the opacity to about 4% and set the layer’s blending mode to Multiply. This gives a more organic look to the image.

Conclusion

In the wide world of coloring, there are many other ways to achieve a similar effect. I’ve found this to be the most time-efficient and it yields great results. Let us know about your coloring tips, tricks and techniques in the comments.

Having trouble following any of the steps above? Download the Photoshop Comic Illustration Free on DesignCrowd so you can take a closer look at where you might’ve gone wrong.

Need a creative graphic design?

Hire Michael Patrick, a freelance web and graphic designer from the United States.

Looking for freelance design work?

Find character logo design jobs and photoshop illustration jobs at DesignCrowd.

Tools: Sketchpad + Illustrator
Time: Dependent on ideas and the designer
Skills: Beginner to Expert

Part One: The Creative Brief

The first step when you’re taking on a logo design project is to read and ensure you understand the brief. Without it, you can’t convey the subtle meanings the client has in mind.

For this tutorial the example brief I’ll use is for a company called ‘Complete Revamp’, a building and interior renovation company who sought a new logo through a DesignCrowd logo contest.

The client: Complete Revamp

The creative brief they provided follows:

A logo for “Complete Revamp”, a mid size business in the first stage of becoming a company that will carry the message of Professional, reliably, craftsmen, energetic, leading, yet organic, builders with a flare for the specialized and extreme renovations. We also want to communicate that our clients are in safe hands when they take us on. I love the color of Metal, ie Gold Stainless. Fonts should be modern and easily read.

They went on to list their target audiences:

Bar and restaurant owners, shop owners, warehouse conversion investors and owners, mainly based in inner city Melbourne and inner suburbs who are the decision makers. Building designers and architects looking for the right company to build exotic design features.

After reading the brief, the first thing I do is to grab a kid’s drawing pad. I don’t open any computer software – to me, that is a part of the very last stage of the process.

Part Two: The Sketchpad

I use a kid’s drawing pad because the paper used in these tends to be a warmer, earthier color than blazing white A4 printer paper. The brightness and the ‘office’ feel of copier paper doesn’t put me in the right creative state. Artist’s sketch pads are fine, but a kid’s drawing pad will cost you US$1.30 (around $10 in Hong Kong dollars), so I can buy a whole bunch at a time.

As you can already tell from the name, Complete Revamp are specialists in renovations. The logo needs to solid, bold and masculine to convey the right qualities for a construction company – such as the sturdiness of the craftsmanship.

At this point I list all the possible elements of a logo that conveys this meaning, trying to establish the related visual in my head. I experiment by linking up some interesting combination’s between these thoughts.

After some brainstorming, I found the concept of children’s wooden building blocks to be a line to keep playing with given the subject matter. I went to Google for some inspiration, looking for interesting block configurations.

I picked some useful angles to develop further from these images. Personally, I like to print them out and glue them in my sketch pad (better then staring at the screen!) – much like a moodboard.

Eventually I found the arch block quite appropriate to represent the initial “C”, and the square and triangle blocks looked good for the “R”.

With the shapes developed and looking good in the sketch pad, it’s a good bet they’ll look good on the screen as well. My theory is that the more time a designer spends sketching, the better the end result created with a graphics application will look. The idea is king, and the computer is just a tool for finishing the design.

Part Three: The Computer

At this point, I scan and import the sketch into Adobe Illustrator. I then start drawing the shapes over the scan, drawing the square first and using the Pathfinder tool to punch out the arch shape.

I then start smoothing the corners. To do this, go to the menu option Effects > Style > Round Corners and set the radius of the corners to your preference. This makes the logo look less angular.

Choosing the right font to work with is the next part of the project, and one of the most challenging steps. The wrong font can spoil the whole logo, so we need to take the time to pick the perfect one. It’s best to use a font manager such as FontExplorer X for this. Pick a few that seem like good fits, and then activate them so they can be used in Illustrator.

I put the logotype side by side with the logo imagery I’ve developed so that I can easily judge which fonts are good matches and by process of elimination I work down to just one font.

In this case, I ended up picking Avant Garde Gothic Std. The shape of the font is a good start, but it needs to be bolder. I add a stroke line to beef it up and then turn the type into a path using the Create Outline option, which can be accessed by right-clicking the item you’d like to convert.

Generally, when it comes to logo design you’ll find you want to modify the font to seamlessly marry it with the logograph itself. In this case, I feel the “C” is too big and not stylish enough, so I’m going to chop it a little.

I’d like the words to better represent the idea of blocks and geometry, so I tie in the idea of the triangle block with the corner of the capital “R”, simplify the “t” and divide the “m” into three pieces. Now, the logo text works with the block images to lend meaning to the logo with the geometric shapes of construction and building blocks.

The final stage is picking a color palette. Since the beginning I’ve had a good feeling about grey and orange, but it’s good to try variations and see if they work better. The grey color lends a mature and masculine connotation to the logo, with the orange giving it boldness and impact, and acting as a highlight color. I’ve also colored the triangle I added to the letter “R” to match the square in the logo mark, establishing a relationship between mark and type.

Finally, I feel the logo mark is a little dull and lifeless in its current position, and we want to add some excitement – the highlight color can’t carry this burden on its own. I’ve turned by 45 degrees, which I feel gives it better composition. The design is now finish, and I can submit it to the client.

In Conclusion

The logo you’ve created is thoughtful, fits the brief and unique. Fortunately for me, the logo I created below was the winning logo in the Complete Revamp’s logo contest on DesignCrowd.

Need a logo designer?

Hire Alan Lee from Hong Kong – author of this article and a multi-lingual logo designer with expert skills in Adobe Illustrator.

Need a logo design job?

Browse logo design jobs on DesignCrowd by tag: Create a logo, Logo Construction, How to Create a Logo, Logo Creation, Create A Construction Company Logo, Yellow Logo Creation

Author: An1ken Creative
Tools: Photoshop + Illustrator
Time: 45 mins
Resources: Skateboard Template by Nunosk8 & 85 Illustrator Paint Brushes courtesy of Colorburned

Final Preview

Step 1

Let’s start off by opening Illustrator. It can be any version of Illustrator in the CS range, you aren’t bound to a certain suite in this case. Now create a new print document with the sizes of 500 pixels in width and 1000 pixels in height. Now that you have a blank canvas in front of you. Grab the shape tool and create a rectangle shape that fills your entire layer and canvas, then lock the layer. This will act as your background for the time being. You should have something like this below.

Step 2

Now create a new layer by click on the new layer button in your layers palette (Right next to the trash can on the left) If you don’t have your layers palette active, go to Window>Layers or press F7 for the shortcut. Now grab your text tool and set the font to Arial and the size to about 90pt and type out the word that you want to use. In my case it was “Creative.” Now once you have your word typed out, go to Window>Type>Character and then make sure that there is some AV spacing on the letters, at least 40. Now right click on your word and select Create Outlines. You will now notice that the letters have paths around them.

Now its time that you open the brushes that you downloaded earlier from Colorburned. To load the brushes into Illustrator, make sure that your brushes palette is open, if it isn’t go to Window>Brushes (Shortcut: F5) now once the brushes palette is open, go to the bottom left hand corner of the palette, it has two little windows with a arrow that points to the right hand bottom corner. This is the brush library menu. Now once you have clicked on it, go to Other Library… at the bottom, now navigate to the brushes that you have downloaded and open the file. Now you will see the newly loaded brushes in a window. You can then include them in your illustrator brushes or you can keep them in a separate window. I just kept them separate for the tutorial.

Now make sure that your text is selected and make sure that the stroke color is set to white and the fill color is no-fill. Now whilst your text is selected, choose the brush of your choice. Each brush will take to the form of your word and display it differently. Find the brush that you want to work with and set the stroke weight to 2pt, if you can’t find the stroke, (Shortcut: CTRL+F10) or Window>Stroke. My choice looks like this below.

Step 3

Now that we have our text sorted out. We can begin with the layout of the piece. Select your text and then tilt it to the left 45 degrees. You can achieve this by using the transform command Object>Transform>Rotate 45 degrees OR by doing it yourself with the select tool. Its up to you. Now that you have the angle on your word, it should look like this.

Now its time to start duplicating the text. Click on the text and then hold down alt and drag it away, this will duplicate the text or you can just use the normal copy and paste method. Be creative with the layout of your text. This is what mine looks like after the duplication.

It will appear to you that all the text is within the block, however you have a lot of overlap because you can’t see the white on white. Time to bring in some colors. You are free to do with the colors as you please, just try to create some variation. This is what my outcome looks like.

Sure this might be looking a bit strange at the moment, but that will change in a moment. Now hide your background layer which is your black rectangle. You can click on the little eye next to the layer or just delete the layer all together. Then go to File>Export and save it as a PNG file. It will take a little while to render.

Step 4

Now in Photoshop, open the skateboard template you downloaded earlier. Now, hide all the unnecessary layers. Now select all the layers from the skateboard psd excluding the background layer and then go to Edit>Free Transform (Shortcut: CTRL+T) now size the skateboard down a bit, this is down to ensure your PNG file will fit the board, you can either scale down the board or scale up the graphic in Illustrator. (Its totally up to you) Now that your board is sized down. Open the PNG file you exported earlier in Photoshop and drag it into your skateboard PSD. Now in the layers palette you will see a layer called design layer, you have to move your graphic layer to just under that layer, this is so that the shadows and highlighting of the template is effective on your graphics.

Now once you have moved it down, hold down CTRL and click on the layer window of the “Deck Color” layer this will create a selection around the board. Now select your Graphics layer again and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. This will hide all the overlapping elements by using a layer mask. This is what you should have.

Now its time to change the background color on your deck. Click on the Deck Color layer and then grab your fill tool (Shortcut: G) then make sure your foreground color is black #000000 and then click on the deck itself. It will fill the deck with your black color for the background of the graphics. Now it should look like this.

Step 5

Now that we have our graphics on the board, we can begin with the finer details. Make sure the graphic layer is selected and then go to Filter>Liquify… Now by making use of the tools on the right hand side, and by changing the brush size on the right, be creative and liquify your type graphics. Work with the wording and the curves to get a seamless outcome. This is what my outcome looks like.

Now create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer and the making sure your background color is white and your foreground color is Black (Shortcut: Press D) and then go to Filter>Render>Clouds now you will have some darkish cloud cover. Change the blending mode from Normal to Overlay and then create a layer mask for that layer too. CTRL Click on the layer window of the Deck color layer and then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Now with your clouds layer selected Press (CTRL+L) this will open the Levels for the layer and set the levels to 0 | 0.68 | 212 and then hit OK. You should now have something like this.

Step 6

Now for the final phase, its to create the background to display your nice design. Simple take your png file and place it just above your background in your Skateboard PSD. Now change the background color to black and then with the png layer selected got to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the blur radius to 36% and hit OK. Now you’re done. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Pretty simple and easy right?

The sky is the limit. You can come up with a lot of variations when using this technique, but I hope you enjoyed the guide. See you in the next tutorial.

Final Preview

Introduction

Hey all. My name is Kendra Gaines aka @kgainez and I am coming to you all today with a VERY in depth tutorial on how to create (what I think is) a retro inspired business (print-ready). While it’s a fairly simple business card, I really hope you all pick up some good techniques and tricks from this tutorial.

As far as knowledge level, I think a beginner could do this tutorial, but of course’ it’d be a bit easier if you’ve been inside Photoshop before. I am using Creative Suite 5 on my Mac.

Downloads

I love fonts! I’ve used quite a couple fonts that you may want to download before starting this tutorial:
Dancing Script
Quicksand
Pompadour
Interstate (There is a similar font called Blue Highway).

We are also going to be using a VERY useful pattern as well. This is great resource:
Dooffy Pattern Set

Once you download all that stuff, let’s get started!

Step 1.

So to begin your Print-Ready Business Card, you want to create a New Document in Photoshop. Make sure you are using inches, turn your color mode to CMYK. A business card’s dimensions are 3.5 inches by 2 inches. In the print world, when you want to add a bleed (so that the color goes all the way to the edges) you want to add an extra 1/8 (.125) of an inch. Important: Make sure you are using 300 dpi Resolution.

Step 2.

I wanted to use a retro kind of color, so I’ve picked what I think is a ‘dirty pale yellow’ color. Inside the outlined red box is typically where I look to get my retro/washed out colors.

On your blank canvas, grab your paint-brush tool (G), and fill it with this yellow color.

This is my secondary color–a very deep gray. Great contrast in colors really works for simpler designs, especially in print. If you want to make sure it’s grayer looking when you print it, don’t pick too deep of a gray. Almost always when you print, your colors will come out a bit darker than viewed in PhotoShop.

Step 3.

On your tool palette, select your shape tool (U). You may have to make sure the ‘Custom Shape’ Tool is selected, just by clicking the shape that looks like a blob. You’re going to create your emblem/seal by selecting the seal from the custom shapes drop down (see above picture).
*Make sure you hit the arrow on the Shape’s dialog box to make sure ‘All’ shapes appear on your list.

Get to your canvas, and with your shape tool activated, hold down Shift, and Click & Drag your Seal (left-click) to a desirable size on your canvas.

Step 4.

I wanted the seal to look a bit fuller. I didn’t like the way it looked with one seal so I duplicated (Cmd/Ctrl + J) that same seal and rotated it (Cmd/Ctrl + T) so the points were in between each other.

Above is what the finished product should look like. Looks a lot better, right?

Too condense layers and help with organization it’s best to merge like layers. Since these two seals make up one shape, we are going to convert them to a ‘Smart Object.; Select both layers (Cmd/Ctrl + Left click) then right-click on the layers to get this menu. Select ‘Convert to Smart Object.’

Step 5.

Now we want to put the initials in the seal shape. Grab your type tool (T), click in the seal and type your initials in the Dancing Script font. Above are my settings for the typo. Notice my tracking is at -10.
*Get in the habit of renaming your layers by double clicking the name of the layer and just typing it in

Step 6.

Now you want to put the little swoosh under your initials. Grab the Shape Tool again (U) and this time make sure you are using the Eclipse setting. In your yellow color, create a small oval much like the one above.

Step 7.

Now you want to warp it to make it look more like an organic swoosh. Go to Edit > Transform > Warp and play around with the points to your liking. I like to widen out the rightmost points, and squeeze in the leftmost points. You also want to try to create some movement by moving up or down the middle points and lines. Play around with it until you get something you like.

You want to try to get something like this (above). You may have to play with the scaling and rotation as well.

Step 8.

Now to make the dotted lines. Select your Paintbrush tool (B) and choose a round hard brush. I chose a size of 5px. On the toolbar on the right of your selected brush (above), click the little icon that looks like a folder with the paintbrushes in it.

When you open this Brush settings menu, you want to increase the Spacing of the brush. I have mine set at 200%. Make sure the other settings are the same as the above as well.

On your canvas in your gray color, you want to Create a New Layer (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + N). Choose a spot to start at on the left side. Hold down Shift and Left-Click and Drag your mouse to a stopping point on the right side. It should look like the image above. Rename this layer ‘dotted lines.’
*Sometimes you may have to go to Filters > Sharpen > Sharpen to clean up the slight blur on the dots.

Step 9.

Now we want to create our title to go to the left of the seal, below our current dotted line. Grab your Type Tool (T) and click on your canvas, and type whatever your title may be. I used the Quicksand Font for this, with settings like the above. Please notice my tracking is at 120. Depending on your titles you use, you may use less or more tracking.

You want your image to look much like the above.

Step 10.

Follow the directions from Step 9 to create a title on the right side of your seal.Your current image should look like the above. You want to try to make everything as balanced and even as possible.

Step 11.

Duplicate your original ‘dotted line’ layer by pressing Cmd/Ctrl + J.

Hold Shift and drag the new layer underneath your titles. Try to make sure it’s evenly spaced and comfortably surrounding the text.

Step 12.

We want to make our Layers Palette very neat, so we want to group all of our current layers. Select all your current layers (with the exception of the Background) by selecting your top layer (which should be ‘dotted line copy’), hold Shift and select your bottom layer (should be your ‘seal’ shape), then go to Layers > Group Layers. I renamed my group to ‘emblem.’

Step 13.

Moving on to the next part of the business card, your name, select the Type Tool (T), click on the canvas and type your name. This time we are going to utilize our Interstate font. Notice I’m using the Bold Compressed style.  I’m fortunately enough to have an even number of letters in both my names, but you may have to do some messing around. I wanted it to be weighted evenly on the left and right side of the seal, so I added some extra spaces in between my names.

Step 14.

After you’ve figured that out, you want to duplicate your layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J). Select your original layer (because it is behind the copy). Turn your Fill down to 0%.

Step 15.

Now you want to get your Layer Style settings. Make sure you’re using the name layer that is behind the other. On your layer palette, there is a button that has an ‘fx’ on it (second from the left). You want to change your Pattern Overlay and use the Dooffy Pattern Set. I chose the 4 pixel line.
*To get to the Dooffy Pattern Set, you will have to click the arrow to the right of the Pattern box, click on Load Pattern and locate your Dooffy Pattern Set.

Step 16.

On that layer with the line pattern on it, you want to use your arrow keys to nudge it down and over. I hit my down arrow 5 times and hit my right arrow 5 times as well, so it would like the above image.

Step 17.

Once you’ve gotten your pattern shadow in a decent position, you want yo try to fill in the space you created between your name. Grab your Shape Tool (U), and put it on the Line Setting. On your toolbar, make the weight 2px.

Hold Shift and click and drag your line in between your name. Duplicate your line and position it under your first line.

Step 18.

AGain to try to condense layers, we’re going to select both these lines we just made and covert them to smart objects by right-clicking on the layers and selecting Covert to Smart Object.

Step 19.

Now you want to group your layers again (Step 12) and name your group ‘name.’ Your image should look similar to the image below.

Step 20.

On to the phone number portion, grab your Shape Tool (U) and make sure you’re on the rounded rectangle setting. Change your Radius to 50 px. Click on your canvas and make an oval like shape, make sure isn’t too tall so that it looks like a pill (see bottom image).

Step 21.

Grab your Type Tool (T) and pull up your Pompadour font. Please be aware, this only a numeral set with some other characters. Click inside of your pill shape and type your number. Above are the settings I used–notice the tracking is set to -10.

Step 22.

I linked these two layers to make sure they stay together. Just select both layers (Cmd/Ctrl + Left Click) and hit the chain on the bottom left of the Layer’s Palette.

Step 23.

Now we are going to make the circles next to the pill shape. Grab your Shape Tool (U) and make sure you have it on the Eclipse Setting.

Shift + Left Click and drag to create a circle that is slightly smaller than your pill shape. Once you create one, duplicate the layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J) and create another and move it further from the pill. Follow these same steps on the side. You want it to look similar to the image below.

Step 24.

I created Smart Objects (Step 18) from each pair of circles and named them ‘circle left’ and ‘circle right’, accordingly.

Keeping things clean and organized, you want to group your number layers and name that group ‘number.’

Step 25.

I stole the dotted lines from our original emblem layer. just select your two lines in your ‘emblem’ group and Duplicate them (Ctrl/Cmd + J). Drag them in the Layers Palette outside the group and to the top of the Layers list. Once you do that, you can position them under your number info  on the canvas. Your Layers Palette should look like the image below.

Step 26.

Grab your Type Tool (U) and in Quicksand, type your e-mail address in between your bottom dotted lines (much like you did in your earlier steps). Because we have a lot more information going inside these lines, you want to tighten the tracking up a bit (I set mine to -75).

Step 27.

Now, we’re going to add a mail icon next to your email address to give it some character. Grab your Shape Tool (U), and make sure it’s on the Custom Shape Setting. You’ll have to scroll down a bit to find it, but select that Envelope shape. Shift + Left Click and Drag your Envelope next you your e-mail address.
*Make sure you hit the arrow on the Shape’s dialog box to make sure ‘All’ shapes appear on your list.

Step 28.

Link your layers (Step 22) to guarantee they will always be together.

Step 29.

Call up Shape Tool (U) again and this time, grab the Globe Shape. Draw it up on your canvas and make sure you type your website’s name next to it.

Step 30.

Link up your website layers.

Step 31.

For this last portion I actually had to search google images for the ‘twitter t’ icon. I would recommend using this one. Once you download it, open it and drag it into your business card’s canvas and put a Color Overlay on it. Pull up your Layer Effects (Step 15) and click the Color Overlay checkbox and use the settings used in the above image. After you do that, grab your Type Tool (T) and type in your Twitter Username.

Progress Check

A quick progress check to make sure everything looks right. Here is what it should look like thus far. This is the basis of the business card.

Below is what your Layer’s Palette should look like when all groups are compressed. We grouped all the contact information and named it ‘contact’.

Step 32.

To add some character on this Card, select your Background layer and we are going to grab our Burn Tool (O). Make sure it is on the burn setting, as there are some other settings on it. You want to ‘burn’ around the edges of your card to give it a dirty look. This is completely optional, but I like the look. Play around with your range and your exposure. This is using the Burn tool on the Midtones Range.

Step 33.

Here is what it looks like when you use the burn tool on the Highlights range. Play around with your brush sizes and different exposures to see what you like. It kind of adds a western feel to it.

And that’s it! You have a new print-ready business card! Send it off to your printer and get some cards printed up. If you said screw all that and just want the template, you can download the source files below.

If you have any questions or what to show me what you’ve come up with, hit me up on twitter, @kgainez!

Author: An1ken Creative
Tools: Photoshop
Time Needed: 45 minutes

Final Preview

Step 1

Firstly it’s time to open Photoshop and create a new canvas with a size of 1000×600 with a 72dpi. Now fill the background with a greyish color #e3e3e3 and then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the amount to 1% – Distribution to Gaussian and make sure Monochromatic is ticked and then hit OK. You should have something like this below.

Step 2

Now that we have a background to work on go to View>New Guide… make sure the orientation is Vertical and set the position to 50% (Not 50px) and hit OK. This basically sets up a guide to show you the vertical center of the canvas. If you don’t see anything hit (Shortcut: CTRL + H) this will activate your extras, but if you still don’t see anything go to View>Show>Guides make sure the guides tab is active.
Now we are going to create some more guides. You will basically use the exact steps as mentioned above, but you will use the properties listed below.

• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 125px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 475px
• Orientation: Vertical | Position: 350px
• Orientation: Vertical | Position: 650px

You should have something like this below.

Step 3

Now that we have some guidelines setup for the menu. It’s time to start with the actual menu. My menu has rounded corners, however you aren’t limited to that. Go to the Rounded Rectangle Tool or Press (Shortcut: Shift + U) till the tool is selected. Make sure the radius for the corners are set to 10px and now it’s time to create the shape. Draw the shape within the guidelines to make sure that centered and the correct for the tutorial. It should something like this once the paths have been created.

Now go to your pen tool or press (Shortcut: P) to select the tool. Now go to Layer>New>Layer to create a new layer for the shapes filling. Now with the pen tool selected right-click on the canvas and select Fill Path. Set the color to anything you like, I used #333333. Once the shape is filled, right click on the canvas and select (Delete Path). You won’t be using the background color as we will be changing the tab colors using Blending Options. Your canvas should look like this now.

Step 4

Now its time to setup the tabs for the menu. Time to setup some more guides. Use the exact same steps as we did previously, but use the values below.

• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 175px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 225px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 275px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 325px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 375px
• Orientation: Horizontal | Position: 425px

You should have something like this below.

Now we will be creating the individual tabs by using the fill tool and layer masks. That’s how we will be creating the individual tabs. Grab your Rectangular Marquee Tool (Shortcut: M) and select the top tab in the guides. Should look like this.

Now create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer and fill the selection with #AAAAAA, we will be changing the colors soon. Now you must be wondering why the top piece of the menu suddenly has square corners? This is where Layer Masks come in. Select the menu background layer and go to Select>Load Selection and hit OK this should select the menu background (Shorcut: CTRL + Click on Layer window) Should look like this.

Now with the menu selection click on the new layer you created and filled for the top tab of the menu and with the top tab layer selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Now you should be seeing some rounded corners again. You might have some underlining pixels at the moment, but once you hide the menu background layer they will disappear.

Now with the steps used above you have to create new tabs for all the sections on the menu. The only time you really have to use the layer mask is for the top and bottom tab with the rounded corners. The rest of the tabs is a simple selection and fill in a new layer. Once you have created tabs for each section you can hide the menu background layer (We will be using it later). Your canvas should look like this now. The menu is basically just going to be another color for the moment.

Step 5

Now it’s time to start adding some gradients to the tabs. First right click on your top tab layer and select Blending Options. Now drop the Fill Opacity to 90% and then select Bevel and Emboss and Color Overlay – Orange #ff3300. Use the settings below.

Your top tab should now look something like this.

Step 6

Now it’s time to sort out the rest of the tabs. Right click on the 2nd tab layer and select Blending Options. Now select Gradient Overlay and use the settings below. The colors used are #dbdbdb to #f8f8f8.

Now hit OK when you are done setting up the gradient and then right click on the layer you just edited and select Copy Layer Style. Now select the rest of your tabs, and then right click>Paste Layer Style. You should have something like this now.

Now to create the hover effect. Right click on your top tab layer and Copy Layer Style and then choose the tab you want and Paste the Layer style on it. Now you have your hover effect setup as well. Easy isn’t it?

Step 7

Now let’s create the dividers for the menu. All the strokes are 1px in size and is pretty easy to create. Let’s select the menu background layer that you hid in Step 4, it will create a selection around the entire menu. Now make sure you create a new layer on top of all your other layers and then go to Edit>Stroke. Now your Width: 1px, Color: #CACACA and Location: Outside. Now hit Ok. You should see a nice stroke around your entire menu.

Now select your Rectangular Marquee Tool and in the top toolbar click on the Style: drop down menu and select Fixed Size. Make the Width: 300px and Height: 1px now create a new layer and make your foreground color #CACACA. Now click on your canvas and you will see a thin striped selection appear, place it within your guidelines and between the tabs.

Once you have the placement right, select your fill tool (Shortcut: G) and fill it with #CACACA in the newly created layer, go to Select>Deselect(Shortcut: CTRL+D). Now all you have to do is duplicate the layers and place them in between the tabs correctly. To duplicate right click on your newly filled layer and select Duplicate Layer (Shortcut: CTRL+J). Now just place the newly duplicated layer in between the next two tabs and continue the process till you have this below.

Step 8

Time to label the menu. In my original Freebie I used Helvetica-Condensed to label the menu, but it isn’t a free font, so I will make use of Arial Bold for the tutorial.

Let’s start with the Navigation label. Font Size: 21pt | Color: #FFFFFF now create the label in all caps and place it centered on the top tab. You can add a little drop shadow too if you really want some depth for the text. Your label should look like this.

Now for the other labels. Font Size: 19pt | Color: #5a5a5a once you have labeled your other tabs it should look like this.

Now for the Hovered label. Font Size: 19pt | Color: #FFFFFF place it on your hovered tab and you could add a subtle drop shadow if you want too. That was your final step for the menu and you are all done. I added in a shadow below the menu just for preview purposes.

Final Preview