In this tutorial we will be creating a detailed iPod Nano illustation in Phoroshop complete with menus and on-screen icons. Througout this tutorial we will be utilizing the Drawing and Pen tools along with Gradient Overlay Styles to make our Nano as realistic as possible.

Step 1

The first step is to draw a shape layer, a square to be precise.Go to the Tools bar and select the Rectangle Tool (U) and draw a square (its colour doesnt matter now since we’ll be applying a Layer Style over it). Name this layer ‘Base.’

Step 2

Double-click the ‘Base’ layer and choose the Gradient Overlay style. Set the parameters of the Gradient as shown below:

Step 3

In a new layer, use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to draw a shape within the ‘base’ shape. On its Options bar, set the shape type to ‘Fill pixels’ and the Radius of the corners to 19 px. For greater accuracy, you should enable Rulers (Ctrl+R) and drag from the margins of the ruler, the Guides. Position these Guides within the base shape.

Drawing the rounded square within the guides automatically snaps to the lines of the guides when ‘Snap To’ is enabled from View>Snap To>Guides. Name the layer ‘Bevel.’

Step 4

For a ‘Screen’ layer, draw a square and add both a Gradient Overlay and Stroke Layer styles using the parameters below:

Step 5

To add droplets of water on the screen, download any of these images of your choice from either wallpapers.com or www.sxc.hu.

Step 6

Drag the image into your working window. Desaturate the image of the droplet by pressing Ctrl+Shift+U and have it resized to fit the Nano’s screen. Add a Layer Mask to water droplets image and erase a quarter of its bottom part unevenly. That done, reduce the Opacity of the layer to 54%.

Step 7

For the on-screen menus, draw a rounded square with the Radius of the its corners set at 11 px.

Step 9

Add a Gradient Overlay style to the rounded square and follow up with a Drop Shadow style:

Step 10

Draw three other menus each with its own Gradient Overlay styles as shown below. The settings for the Drop Shadow style are pretty much the same as above.

Step 11

Create a Group for these menus by clicking the fifth icon from the left below the Layers Palette.

Step 12

Now for the text. With the foreground colour set to white. Select the Text Tool (T) and set the text type to Arial Rounded MT and Font Size to 4.0pt from the Character Palette. Type ‘Playlists’ for of course, the ‘Playlist’ menu.

The completed texts for all menus:

Step 13

To add a glossy or shiny overlay to the menus, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw an outline of  the same size as the menu’s. Right-click and select ‘Make Selection.’ Select the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill the selection with white. Press Ctrl+D to deselect and with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), cut out right about half of the shape by hittting the Delete key.

Step 14

Press Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and then select the Warp Tool. In warp mode, drag the two bottom points downwards to create a slight curve.

Step 15

Create a Layer Mask and then select the Gradient Tool (G). On its Options bar, set the Gradient Preset to a ‘black to white’ one and its style to Linear. Making sure the mask thumbnail is selected on the Layers Palette, drag with the tool upwards within the menu icon, for a fading transition effect.

For the other menus, just simply duplicate your gloss effect and reposition them appropriately.

Step 16

At the bottom of the screen, draw four circles with the Ellipse Tool. One white, the other three, black. You may want to set the Ellipse Options to Circle for a perfect circle if you find holding the shift key while drawing tricky.

Step 17

For the black tabs, apply a Gradient Overlay style to them with the parameters below:

Step 18

For the ‘Now Playing’ menu, select the Polygon Tool and set its Sides to three for a triangle; its fill colour should be #2f2e2e. Drag a Guide to the centre of the menu and draw a triangle along the planes of the Guides. The triangle snaps to the Guides at its axis perfectly.

Step 19

Draw two more triangles and a standing rectangle all partially mashed together. Merged these shapes (Ctrl+E) and then duplicate them pressing Ctrl+J. For the duplicate, ‘Flip Horizontally’ when in Free Transform mode.

Step 20

For Playlist menu, in a new layer, use the Rectangle Tool to draw horizontal bars like the ones below:

Step 21

As part of the musical notation we’re trying to create, draw a standing rectangle as a shape layer and rotate it at an angle with the Direct selection Tool.

(A). Click on the shape to reveal its Anchor points and then select the ‘Add Anchor Points’ Tool from the Pen Tool fly out.

B. Add a couple of more Anchor points to the shape and reposition them along with adjusting their handles. Work on this until you get a curved shape as shown below:

C. Add other shapes such as a standing rectangle and a circle.

Step 22

Next is the ‘Mixes’ menu where we’ll create an atom symbol over it. Select the Custom Shape Tool and then pick a circle shape. With a foreground set to white draw a narrow circle or ellipse.

Step 23

Duplicate this shape and entering Free Transform mode, rotate it. Make another copy of the rotated shape and ‘Flip Horizontally in Free Transform mode.

Step 24

Follow up with white circles (atomic particles supposedly) drawn about the shape. And we have our atom symbol.

Step 25

On the Artists menu, draw a rounded rectangle with radius set at 1 px. Add rectangle for the mic stand and flat ellipse for the mic subsequently in separate layers and merge them all – its just that simple.

Step 26

And now for the tough part: Use the Pen Tool to map out the silhouette of a singer (head and shoulders). Click and drag each new Anchor Points to create curves and adjust these points afterwards to fine-tune the contours of the shape. A ‘Delete Anchor Points’ Tool can be used as well but sparingly that is, to delete unwanted anchor points for smoother curves,

The look of our ipod nano so far:

Step 27

Creating the top buttons of the Nano, draw a rectangle behind the “Base’ layer and make the following adjustments shown below for the Gradient Overlay and Inner Glow Layer style.

Step 28

Add two more buttons and just copy and paste the previous Layers styles of the first button to these buttons. And edits their Gradients by repositioning the Color Stops.

Step 29

For a shiny screen, draw a rounded square outline of the same size as the black bevel and make a selection from it. Fill the selection with white colour with the Paint Bucket Tool.

Step 30

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, create a large selection and rotate it by transforming it (Ctrl+T, right-click and Free Transform selection).

Step 31

Clear by hitting the Delete key.

Step 32

Create a Layer Mask and with the Gradient Tool (black to white), draw a gradient from the bottom to the top. Also reduce the layer’s Opacity to 43%.

Step 33

We’ll now set out to create a reflection. Group both Bevel and Base layers and copy.

Step 34

Select the Group, ‘Main Copy’ move its contents below the Nano.Delete most part of the Nano copy.

Step 35

Add a Layer Mask and use the Gradient Tool to fade the Nano copy from bottom to top.

Step 36

Not forgetting, we add a clock, mini play button and a battery status icons at the top of the screen. And we have our spanking new ipod Nano!

Let’s sit back for a while and admire the truly satisfying geometrical wonders of the universe. Out with squares, circles and other absolutely boring shapes, and in with cleverly crafted and charming bits and pieces! Lucky for you, we have had the extreme pleasure of stumbling through the interwebs, dodging stray triangles and dodecahedrons, on a quest to find the best shapes just for you at no cost whatsoever! That’s right, we’ve decided to bring to you 20 of the best FREE Photoshop shape set downloads!

Banners and Scrolls

The Banners and Scrolls shape set from Obsidian Dawn adds an exceptional charm to your work. Take your designs back to the days of parchment, ink and quills as you indulge in this PhotoShop shape set!
Banners and Scrolls

Birds

Let your imagination fly with these magnificent custom shapes from lukeroberts! Soar through chirpy designs like never before as you implement these bird shapes into your work.
Birds

Urban Designs

Add some extra jazz to your work with this fantastic urban pack from Obsidian Dawn! From barbed wire to skyscrapers and all sorts of urban designs in between, this shape set is perfect for designing concert posters or simply adding a little something to a logo design.
Urban Designs

Butterfly Shapes

Transform your work into a thing of elegance and beauty with these many butterfly variations. Flutter on over to Dezignus to download this elegant set!
Butterfly Shapes

Natural Leaves/Bushes

These natural leaves and bushes made by the Vector Lady are absolutely perfect for any green designs you happen to be creating. Can you imagine just how fantastic logos would look with plantlife growing from them!
Natural Leaves/Bushes

People Silhouette

What better way to add personality to your work than to use these people shapes! This pack contains a large variety of many different people doing various things. These would look lovely in logos, posters, business cards or anything else your creative mind can conjure up!
People Silhouette

Vector Wings

Glide through projects gracefully with this diverse wing shape set! Add any type of wing to your creations and watch the magnificence soar! This set is a must have for anyone wishing to implement elegance and beauty into their work. Vector Wings

Elegant Floral

Feeling a tad bit fancy? Well these are just for you then! The elegant floral shape set is a pleasure to use and works extremely well with designing logo’s, posters or business cards. They would also do well on fancy invitations. Elegant Floral

Valentines

You will love simply LOVE these various heart shapes. Who needs cupid when when you have PhotoShop? These would be great for creating cute stationary designs, or a letter for your love. There are many styles to choose from, so this time you’re allowed to be picky! This pack comes with brushes too! Valentines

Smooth Arrows

This arrow set by Magdalena M Proszows really points to success. The many cartoonish styled arrows would most definitely add a little something to a logo or poster. They would even fit in with graphic novel design, if thats up your alley. Dont be fooled by these arrows though, the rest of the article is actually below! Smooth Arrows

Grunge Splashes

Splash this shape set on your designs for a grungy look. The set contains a very impressive 173 various splash shapes and so chances are you’ll like at least one of them! These shapes could look effective on any sort of graphic design so don’t hesitate to download the set and get splashing! Grunge Splashes

Floral Shapes

Add a twirl to your work with this fantastic and vast set of PhotoShop Shapes. From small sprouts to extravagant floral shapes, this set has it all!! With 258 spirals, curves, and arcs, this set is almost a necessity! Floral Shapes

DS Decor Shapes

For some fantastic fairytale shapes, check out this set by dmitryseliv! The floral intricacy blended with old parchment really makes this pack something special! If ever you need a magical title bearer, you know where to go. Bear in mind that it is only for Personal Use though! DS Decor Shapes

Frame and Border Shapes

Fancy a portrait of yourself in a nifty frame? Or perhaps you want to frame a splendid picture you drew? Look no further! Download Shelby Kate Schmitz‘ Free Frame and Border Shapes and get to it. These shapes would look great on invitations, logos and whatever else you can think of.
Frame and Border Shapes

Chandelier Shapes

Throw yourself a grand ball with this delightfully detailed shape set by hotpinkscorpion. Be a bit fancy and use these shapes to decorate posh invitations or whatever else you find is lacking the rich factor.
Chandelier Shapes

Kiddy Stuffs

Go back to your childhood, where anything you could find was your canvvas and crayons were your tools of wacky art! This pack by hikaridrops is full of cute and nostalgic shapes perfect for designed aimed for children. Stationary, birthday invites or a nostalgic gateway, this pack is waiting for you to download right away!
Kiddy Stuffs

Floral Banner Shapes

Add a little charm and a lot of extravagance to your designs with these impressive shapes by eurochronix! You won’t regret downloading this set. It comes with 5 equally impressive floral banners ready to add text to.
Floral Banner Shapes

Animal Shapes

Having a zoo of shapes at your fingertips will prove to be useful to you again and again. UnidentifyStudios did a fantastic job in capturing sufficient detail whilst still retaining a nice simple style.
Animal Shapes

Gear Shapes

Watch the cogs of graphic design come together with these gear shapes! These are a must have for your shape arsenal. And the best part? There’s 90 of them!!
Gear Shapes

850 Assorted Shapes

And to finish off, here is a massive assortment of various shapes from naderbellal. The set contains over 850 shapes so there’ no doubt something in there that will tickle your fancy.
850 Assorted shapes

In this tutorial, we’ll be looking at how to transform a photo of a person into a work of art – in this case, a highly illustrated sketch art piece.

Vector shapes and textures will also be added to our composition as this will give our sketch artwork more depth and character. Below are examples of what you could achieve even with the simplest of art forms (pop art etc) to create interesting and beautiful effects from a picture. The final images could used as e-cards, profile pictures/avatars, wallpapers and so on.

Step 1

I start with a new document with a white background layer. The dimensions of  your documents are of course entirely your choice depending on the size of the picture you’re working with. I’ll be using this picture from istockphoto.

Step 2

Remove the background of the image by creating a Layer Mask clicking the third button from the left. Its located at the base of the Layers Palette. Then press Ctrl+D to make sure that the foreground colour is set to black and with a Soft Round brush (B), (have its hardness increased to about 45
to 60 per cent) paint away to remove the background.

When done, Press Shift+Ctrl+Uto desaturate the ‘Man’ layer.

Step 3

Duplicate the ‘Man’ layer by pressing Ctrl+J and head on over to Image>Adjustment>Invert or just press Ctrl+Ito invert the layer. Also, change the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge. The image in the ‘Man inverted’ layer would apparently disappear at this point.

Step 4

The image in the layer will be given more visibility when we have it blur a little. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 14.2 pixels and this as a matter of fact, all depends on the results that
suits your likings. The result you get eventually, is nicely rendered sketch effect.

Step 5

To further enhance the pencil-like effects of our simulated sketch, select the duplicate the ‘Man inverted’ layer and go to Filter>Sketch>Graphic Pen. Make the adjustments as shown below:

Step 6

Set the layer’s Blend mode to Lighten and reduce its Opacity to about 23%. Name the layer ‘Graphics’.

B.
Not to make the Graphic Pen effect to brash, go to Edit> Fade Graphic Pen or press Shift+Ctrl+F and reduce the opacity of the effect down to about 60% until you’re satisfied with the results.

Step 7

For a new layer, with a Hard brush selected, paint the eyes of the in the image. Use any colour of your fancy. Set the Blend mode of the ‘Eyes’ layer to Overlay.

Step 8

We’ll now create custom pen strokes to enhance our sketch. Please do use your creative license here to express yourself. Well, with the Pen Tool (P) selected, create Anchor Points over the edges of the head. To create curves, just click and drag in the direction you want the curves created. That done, we’ll now add a stroke to the path. But first, run these checks: make sure your brush’s opacity is appropriate, the brush size should be set to about 2px to 3px and the foreground colour is switched to your desired colour.

Step 9

Still with the Pen Tool, right-click the path and select Stroke Path.

Step 10

On the Stroke Path Dialog box, select Brush and check Simulate Pressure. This creates a nice fading effect to your brush strokes. Use the Marquee Tool (M), to clear the Pen path and then hit Ctrl+D to deselect.

Ive disable the ‘Man’ layers to show you the strokes Ive made with Four
colours, thickness and varying opacities.

The final results:

Step 11

Now, we’ll add vector elements to our image. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and on its Options bar, set the shape type to “Paths.” Draw a flat rectangle.

Step 12

Select the ‘Add Anchor Point’ Pen Tool and then create points at points on the rectangle. 2. Select the Direct Select Tool (A), and use it to adjust the anchor points to form curves.

Step 13

Double-click the vector layer for a Layer style and set the parameters below:

Step 14

In a new layer, draw an ellipse with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Paint on the base of the selection with a white Soft Round brush. Reduce the opacity of the layer to about 43%. Add some other shapes to the umbrella – handles etc.

Step 15

Duplicate the Umbrella shape layer and right-click this copy and select the Rasterize Layer option.

Step 16

The Paint Bucket (G), can be used to change the colour of the shape. Reduce the the opacities of the both ‘Umbrella’ layers to 63% and 49% respectively.

Step 17

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, pick the ‘Circle Frame’ shape.

Step 18

Create a couple of circles in separate layers and at reduced opacities.

Step 19

Draw a circle and add a Gradient Overlay Style to it with the settings
below:

Step 20

Reduce the opacity of the circle to43%.

Step 21

Download these great looking halftone brushes from Env1ro. 3D halftones they’re called.

Step 22

Set the foreground colour to #ccccccand add these dots to you image.

Step 23

Add some other vector shapes of your choice.
- Swirlsdownloaded from www.brusheezy.com
- Treesdownloaded from snap2objects.com

Step 24

Its also a good idea to add texture your image as this deepens the entire outlook the composition. This rock texture was downloaded from freetextures.org. Place the rock texture over all other layers and
desaturate it. Set texture layer’s Blend mode to Color Burn and reduce its opacity to 69%.

Step 25

Create a Layer Mask for the texture and clear any trace of the texture from the man image.

Step 26

More texturing. Download these set of Grunge Texture brushes
fromART-D. Apply the brush and add a Shadow Overlay style to the brush mark.

Step 27

Erase areas of brush mark via a Layer Mask and this time, use a Spatter brush instead.

And we have our final result!

You can even take your artwork a little further as Ive done below. Just
imagine the possibilities! I hope this post would be of use to you.

In this tutorial we will be showing you step-by-step how to create a photo realistic illustration of Apples latest crowning achievement, the beautiful and inconceivably thin new MacBook Air.

The finished result

Step 1

We start off, with a new document; its size set to 1000 x 750 pixels, an increased resolution of 120 pixels and a white background which we’ll delete later for a transparent background.  First off, switch the foreground colour to #eff0f2. Now, select the Rounded Rectangle tool (U) and on the tool’s Options bar, set the rectangle’s radius to 20 px and click on the little square icon “Fill Pixel” to automatically fill the shape to be drawn. Draw a rectangular shape and name the layer ‘Panel.’

Step 2

Double-click on this layer to add Layer Styles to the shape. Select the Gradient Layer style and adjust the Gradient’s Color Stops and other parameters as shown below:

Follow up with an Inner Glow Layer style and make the necessary adjustments as shown below:

The Layer styles result for a reflected effect.

Step 3

Create a new layer under the previous layer and draw another rounded rectangle just slightly larger than the first. Also have the shape’s radius set to 22 px.

Step 4

With the Burn Tool (O) selected and its Exposure set at about 50%, darken selected edges of just the second rectangle.

The burn result:

Step 5

Being on the ‘Panel’ layer, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), and make a selection across the rectangle and hit the Delete key to clear the selection.

Press Ctrl+D to ‘deselect.’

Step 6

Back to the second rectangle, add an Outer Glow Layer style.

The result has the edges of the panel defined.

Step 7

The panel appears too smooth here, we must add a subtle touch of grain to it by applying a Noise Filter effect (Filter > Noise > Add Noise).

Step 8

In a new layer, draw a rectangle for the screen and fill with the colour #828384. I also enabled the Guides (Ctrl+’) to aid my positioning of the screen.

Add a Stroke Layer style to it. Afterwards, add a Guassian blur with a raduis of 1.5 pixels to the rectangle. It softens the Stroke effect a bit which previously was too sharp. This will form the backdrop upon which the main screen will be placed later.

Step 9

For the flat base of the Macbook, select the Pen Tool (P) and click with the tool to create these Anchor points as shown below.  You may also use the direction keys on your keyboard to conveniently adjust the positioning of selected points.

Step 10

For a little gloss for the base of the laptop, add an Inner Glow, Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay Layer styles with the settings below:

The result:

Step 11

Draw a 2 px rounded rectangle right on top of the base to form something of the rim on the base. Burn its edges sparingly on both its ends.

The new outlook of the base:

Step 12

Add a soft shading to the rim applying an Inner Shadow Layer style with a reduced opacity of 45%.

Step 13

Pick the Pen Tool yet again and map out an outline shown below. This is to form a shallow inward curvature on the base of the Macbook.

Step 14

Fill the outline by right-clicking within it and selecting ‘Color.’

Step 15

Apply both a Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow styles to create a resulting appearance of an inward curve,

Step 16

For th hinges of the Macbook, use the Rectangle Tool to draw a flat rectangle and then fill with a white colour.

Step 17

Set up both Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow Layer styles for the hinges with the parameters below:

Step 18

Saving time drawing a second hinge, just press Ctrl+J to duplicate the ‘Hinges’ layer and position the hinge copy to the right of the Macbook.

Step 19

With a rounded rectangle set at 2px, draw an opening or slot on the right of the Macbook and fill with a black or if your Tool’s shape has “Fill Pixels” set on its Options bar, just hit ‘D’ on the keyboard to set the foreground colour to black before drawing.

Step 20

Select the Type Tool (T) and bring up the Character Panel (Window > Character) to make other adjustments not available on the Type Tool’s Options bar. Set the Font to Verdana ts size to18 pt and color to #4b4b4b. Also use the scaling options to scale vertically and horizontally at 41% and 31% respectively. You’ll get something almost close to the real thing.

Step 21

For the web cam, use the Ellipse Tool to create a small circle holding Shift to constrain its portions and fill with black. Add a soft glow around it with an Outer Glow Layer style.

Step 22

Follow up in a new layer, with two other small round points. Of course, adding an Outer Glow Layer style as well.

Step 23

For a nice and shiny screen complete with abstract graphics, we will creating create something intricate. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection and then pick the Gradient Tool (G) and change the Color Stops of the Gradient. Make a diagonal sweep across the selection with the Gradient Tool.

Note: place or resize the screen within the grey rectangle in a way a thin margin is formed around the screen.

Step 24

For other elements within the screen, use Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to create the shapes below. You can on the Tool’s Options bar, select “Add to selection” to create multiple selections. Fill the selection(s) with the colour #e2eef2 using the Paint Bucket Tool (press Shift+G if not already selected). Ctrl+D to deselect afterwards.

Step 25

On the Layer Palette, reduce the opacity of this layer to about 70%. Proceed to add a Layer Mask by clicking on the third icon from the left at the bottom of the palette. Fade the shapes with a black soft brush. You’ll also have to vary the brush’s opacity when fading certain areas of the shape.

Step 26

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (Shift+M if not already selected), create a flat ellipse selection. Fill with #e2eef2 and on the Layers Palette, set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and Opacity to about 38%. Create another Layer Mask and with a brush (Opacity; 25%) fade the base
of the ellipse.

Step 27

Create two other ellipses in a similar fashion as the previous steps. Again, use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create another shape and then fill. Right-click and select Transform Selection and then select the Warp Transform Tool to make a curve on one side of the selection.

Step 28

Hit Enter when through and of course, set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its Opacity to about 85% and add a Layer Mask to make the necessary adjustments.

Step 29

As always, create a triangular selection with the Polygonal Lasso Tool and fill with the usual colour.

Step 30

For a curve, Use the Warp Tool in Free Transform mode.

Step 31

Change the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and Opacity to about 58%.

Step 32

The Polygonal Lasso Tool for another shape - you should know the drill by now; fill, warp and deselect!

Step 33

The layer’s Blend mode here is set to Soft Light definitely and its, Opacity reduced to about 62% as you see fit. You might as well create group your shapes for organization and reducing excessive scrolling within the Layers Palette. Select the little folder icon at the bottom of the palette and drag your shape layers into it and collapse it.

Step 34

Select the ‘Screen’ layer and add the Layer styles, Inner Shadow and Outer Glow making the following adjustments below:

Step 35

As an option, you may download one of the numerous Mac OSX icon set for windows. These images were in JPEG format and were edited in a separate window and moved to the working document. Like I said, you may skip this step as its okay for the ‘Air’ to be clutter free.

Step 36

Create a new layer, ‘Shadow,’ below all other layers and with the Ellipse Tool, draw a very flat ellipse.

Step 37

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 3.5pixels.

Step 38

Draw a rounded rectangle and Press Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and select the Distort Tool and splay the shape outwards. B. Add a Layer Mask and with its thumbnail selected, use a Gradient Tool (black to white) to draw  a vertical gradient.

There you have it, a slick and realistic Macbook Air to say the least.

A Macbook image without the dock. This might be the ideal icon; though it all boils down to your preference eventually.

Also delete the background layer for a transparent layer.

Here’s a rather bland but clean Macbook Air icon.

Downloads

Photoshop PSD file
png files

In this post we’ll analyze a variety of useful techniques that will allow us to tone map an image for future print or web design projects.

You probably have your own way to color correct and alter the tone of an image in your preferred application, but there’s a huge reason why you should know more about gradient mapping: it’s cross compatible between applications and operating systems. If you understand the basic principle, you can use it in Photoshop, Gimp, Pixelmator and all other applications on Mac OSX, Windows or Linux. It’s a powerful technique also in video editing systems and generally where you want to alter the colors of an image.

Our Original Image

This is the image that we’ll use for our gradient map toning examples. One thing is important: if you want to use the gradient map tool, and generally any tool that implies altering colors, avoid tweaking the exposure and brightness/contrast of the original image. Try to shoot the image as best as you can because you’ll be able to work on real pixel information. If you alter the exposure after the shooting a whole lot, you’ll loose a lot of details that will compromise the toning.

As you can see, it’s a simple shooting at Park Guell, in Barcelona, on a rainy day. Before you begin to go into Photoshop, let’s analyze the image. The important thing here is to understand three color zones that will make our tone mapping a breeze. You have to focus on highlights (areas that are brighter, getting to white), shadows (areas that are darker, getting to black) and midtones (areas that are between brighter and darker areas, getting to gray). It’s important to train the eye to understand differences between these areas so that you can target them easily with the gradient map tool.

The gradient map tool works in a really simple way: you choose a gradient and Photoshop will map the image with the gradient. The left color of the gradient will be mapped to shadows, the right color will be mapped to highlights and the middle area of the gradient will be mapped to midtones.

Let’s start with a self explanatory example.

Black & White Tone Mapping

Let’s add a gradient map adjustment layer in Photoshop, by clicking on the little circle icon in the bottom area of the layers panel, and selecting “Gradient Map”. This action will automatically add a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer with a predefined black to white gradient. As you can see, you get a black and white conversion of your image, since highlights are mapped with white and shadows are mapped with black. It’s a pretty boring black and white image. But let’s add a white color stop in the middle of the gradient and assign black to the left and right stops.

Now the effect is extreme, but useful to understand how the gradient map works. As you can see the subject of the photo is highlighted. Why? Because we pushed to the white all the midtones in the image, and since the monument in the original photo was having a lot of midtones areas, it’s entirely white now. The sky is black because the areas that in the original image were near white have been mapped to black. This is the power of the gradient tool. It’s intuitive and after a little bit practice you’ll be able to achieve a really professional color correction. The HEX color codes for this effect are #000000 to #ffffff to #000000.

X-Ray Tone Mapping

Now we can start experimenting with some colored gradients to give the image a distinctive and creative look. Obtaining a pseudo x-ray style with a gradient map is very simple. Just add a new gradient map layer with a gradient that starts at #020144 and ends at #95a2ce. With this gradient the image turned to blue, but you’re not actually seeing the x-ray effect. The secret is in the “reverse” option. By checking this option you reflect your gradient, and the tone mapping is reversed so dark areas will turn to light blue and bright areas will turn to dark blue. The final result is an x-ray color corrected image.

Warm Tone Mapping

In this section we’ll take the gradient map tool to another level by introducing the overlay blend mode and the opacity adjustment. As you can see from the image, the result is fairly better that previous effects. Let’s start from the gradient. In this case is a simple two stops gradient, from #ff0015 to #fff800. If you apply it before the effect you will soften the image and you’ll loose a lot of details.

The trick is, whenever you see that the gradient map is too visible, select the overlay blend mode for the current gradient map layer. This way the layer will be applied with the low contrast/high contrast method and the result will be more real and consistent. If it’s still too heavy, just decrease the opacity a bit (in this particular case 70% is fine) and the image will be warmed.

Cold Tone Mapping

As you can see from the image, in this case we have to choose some cold colors to achieve the opposite effect. A cold image is an image that has a color space defined by cold blue colors. In this particular case a simple two stops gradient will not work since the midtones of the monument would be too dark.

After experimenting with colors and stops, a good solution could be a gradient from #004170 to #9dd4fb to #bde9fa, with a middle color stop at 28%. This gradient will cool down the sky and the ceramic parts of the monument, while lighting up dark areas. The final result is a more dramatic image, that presents itself better than the original image due to the weather conditions of that particular rainy day.

In this tutorial, we’ll be using Photoshop CS3′s 3D rendering features to recreate something close to Neytiri, the lead female character of the Na’vi race. In the James Cameron movie – Avatar. Just to point out, Photoshop CS4 offers more a robust 3D features; one of which is to paint directly on 3D models or objects. CS3 ‘somewhat’ doesn’t have these capabilities among other things. However, we’ll get around this in our tutorial using a technique that hinges on the manipulation of texture maps of the 3D model.

Scenes from the Avatar movie:

Step 1

I started off with the free 3D program – Daz Studio 3. Loading the popular Victoria 3 model (there’s also the Victoria 4 model which offers higher resolutions), from Studio>People>Victoria.

The face here will be the main focus on manipulation for an Avatar-like character.

Step 2

Selecting the face with the mouse, Go to the Pose/Animate Tab, and click on the Parameters tab for the settings of the ‘Morphs’. Below, are the adjustments made for a face of a Na’vi humanoid. Unfortunately, there were no Morphs available for the nose.

This is the closest we can come to recreating a Na’vi face. Yes the ears needs to be a little higher and the nose a lot flatter. Like I mentioned earlier, there were no Morphs for the nose. Of course, this tutorial is primarily on how to paint or manipulate 3D objects/models in CS3. Also, I chose not to include any props (items such as hair and ferns for clothing) to the model. This is because when exported, they are rendered badly in Photoshop as they appear shredded.

Step 3

Next, click on the PowerPose tab to adjust the posture of the model.This is something easy to do by just a click on the ‘points’ on the body and dragging in the direction desired.

Below, I effected just a simple walking pose; with the positioning of the figure done, the model is all set to be exported in u3d format.

Step 4

Now to export the model in u3d format. Go to File>Export and in the export dialog box, name your model and save it as an u3d file. Do not save the model as an obj file as it does not come which the texture maps needed. That done, accept the Export settings.

Step 5

Open the u3d file in Photoshop and it will be loaded automatically into the main document from size view. To rotate our model, double-click on its thumbnail in the Layers Palette to make it active in 3D Transform mode.

Step 6

That done, a set of 3D tools appears on the menu bar – Options bar to be precise. Select the Rotate Tool (R) to turn the model in a front facing position. Hit Enter to apply the transformation.

Step 7

For the skin of the Avatar, download any zebra pattern texture and load it into Photoshop. Enter into the Free Transform mode (Ctrl+T) and use its Skew and Distort Tools to mash the stripes of the pattern into an
adjacent angle as possible. Head to Filter>Liquify and in the Liquify window, use the Bloat Tool to create uneven surfaces on the pattern.

Step 8

After applying the Liquify Filter, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and drag it vertically at the right side of the zebra pattern. With the selection made, press Delete to remove the little portion selected and then, press Ctrl+D to clear the selection. Below is a straight line on one end of the pattern.

Step 9

Duplicate this layer and use the Flip Horizontally option of the Free Transform Tool to position the pattern copy in the opposite direction to the original. Press Ctrl+E to merge the layers into one.

Step 10

Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours of the zebra pattern. This is to make more white stripes visible than the black ones. For we need the ‘whites’ for our skin. Also keep this window open or minimize for later use.

Step 11

Now for the more interesting and crucial part of this tutorial. Below the model’s thumbnail in the Layers Palette is a list of textures for various body parts. Double-click on ‘texture 1_0‘ to bring up the texture map for the main body. Duplicate the main texture, ‘background’ as we dont want to make a mistake on the original texture that would prove irreversible when changes are made. So working on a copy is a safe bet. Below is the texture map of the main body all splayed out in a rather ‘freaky’ manner.

Step 12

Press Ctrl+U for Hue/Saturation and set the Hue to180 for a bluish colour.

The result:

Step 13

After the changes are made, press Ctrl+S to save. Close the texture window and voila! The model in the main window is automatically updated.

Step 14

Double-click on ‘texture1_2‘ under Textures in the Layers Palette and add the same blue hue as with the body. Select the Burn Tool (O), with an exposure of 15%and darken lightly around the edges of the face. Also, use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to copy lighter portions of face while holding the ALT key and releasing it. Make copies over the nose to make it look flat like a Na’vi’s.

Step 15

Select the brush Tool (B), and set the its opacity 75%. Change the foreground colour to pink and paint the nose and the ear areas.

Step 16

Go to the zebra pattern window and drag the pattern into the texture window. Set the Blend mode of the pattern layer to Soft Light and opacity 65%.
Save and close the window.

Step 17

Double-click on ‘texture1_8‘ to display the eye texture and then duplicate it. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a circular selection over the iris.

Step 18

Paint with a yellow brush within the selection.

Step 19

Change the layer’s Blend mode to Overlay.

The result of our image so far:

Step 20

For the luminous dots of the Na’vi, enable the face texture once again and with a Hard Round brush, make dots over the face in a new layer. Notice I added a swirl-like pattern as well -just trying to be creative here.You can play around with the face adding your desired styling. The lips as well was painted with pink. Double-click the layer and for a Layer Style and select an Outer Glow style and increase its Spread to 4 and Opacity to 85%.

The result shows the markings nicely adapted to the contours of the face but however, its rather dull in appearance.This will be fixed when the brightness of the image is increased eventually.

Step 21

Over the 3D layer, create a Levels Adjustment Layer by going to Layer>New Adjustment>Levels. Make the following adjustments with the sliders as shown below:

Now isnt she a beauty? There’s actually controls to change the lighting of the model in the 3D Transform mode but these do not offer parameters to adjust their intensities or orientations. This is why I stuck with the Levels command instead.

Step 22

The skin of the Na’vi is unacceptably to smooth and so it must be roughen up a little by creating a texture over it. Download this stone texture from freetextures.organd have it dragged into the already open ‘texture1_0‘ window.

Step 23

Erase the stone texture around the body parts; it doesnt have to be so accurate just as long as the stone texture doesnt exceeds the boundaries of the body texture.

Step 24

Set the stone texture’s Blend mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to 65%. Use the Eraser Tool with an opacity of about 15% to fade the texture at chest, mid sections, palms and backsides.

The result:

Step 25

Finally, going back to the ‘texture1_0,’ the part and under arms was darken slightly with the Burn Tool. Below is the final result:

This is a cross section of the Na’vi model at various positions. Pretty impressive backside – I mean, the nicely patterned stripes obviously.

The Na’vi model at side views:

A background, Gradients, shadows and dry ground texture were added to the mix for a scenic composition.

From my portfolio, is my completed ‘Nubian II‘ artwork using to a degree, similar techniques from the tutorial to paint on the 3D model below. Other elements in the picture were manipulated entirely in Photoshop. Hope the basics of this tutorial sparks off something of a career in 3D in the digital art sphere.

By David El’ Ella

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a highly dramatic scene with a disintegrating statue of an Angel. The end result would be an intense composition of the Angel seemingly coming to life as Gradients, blends, and a set of unique brushes are used to enhance the image of the Angel statue.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 1200 x 900, a resolution of 140 dpi and a black background. Open and drag into the new document, a statue of an Angel. This one below can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu

Step 2

To extract the Statue from its background, we’ll use the Magic Wand Tool(M) and click on the background sky. Hit Delete to clear each selection made. If you prefer, the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) can be used instead.

These result below:

Step 3

Use the Clone Stamp Tool to copy certain areas of statue and have them pasted over the an extension of the left wing of the Angel. Hold the ALT key when selecting plain area, then release and click on the wing to remove it.

Step 4

Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Statue and go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 80.This in effect, defines a lot more the highlights and shadows.

Step 5

We’ll now select the cross using the the Pen Tool (P). When done, right-click within the Pen outline and choose Make Selection. Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected cross and then, create a new layer. Hit Ctrl+V to paste the copied the selection into the new layer and name it ‘cross.’ Hide this layer for now.

Step 6

Select the Smudge Tool and set its Strength to about 50% to 65%. Use increased strengths (about 60%)for extensive
smudge(s).

Step 7

This step I must say would take a little time and series of ‘undo’ to complete. You need to employ a good eye for details. For the Eraser Tool (E), select a Spatter brush and gnaw away carefully the smudges close to the edges of the statue itself. Try using different brush sizes as well – 14 px to 65 px.

Step 8

Next, go on further to modify the Spatter brush by bringing up the Brushes Palette (Go to Window>Brushes if not visible) and select Scattering Brush Preset. Set the Scatter to 475% to increase its randomness.

Step 9

Now, methodically erase away the edges of the smudges into something like shimmers. The final result should like the statue disintegrating from its edges as shown below:

Step 9

Create a new layer and select the Gradient Tool (G). Go to the Gradient’s Options bar and select a Reflected Gradient and click the gradient to bring up the Gradient Editor. On the Gradient Presets, select Spectrum; Type as Noise; increase Roughness to 90% and check in Options, Restrict Colors/Add Transparency.

Step 10

Drag the Gradient Tool from the centre of the Angel Statue. Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Gradient effect.

Step 11

Lighten the rays a little using the Levels command (Ctrl+L) and add a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of 0.7px.

Step 12

On the ‘rays’ layer, set the Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 13

Make a new layer above the ‘rays’ layer and select a large Soft Round Brush (#cfd8f6). Follow up with a smaller white brush and paint over the previous one.

Step 14

Set the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 15

On the ‘rays’ layer, use the Eraser Tool at an opacity of 75% to erase round the rays.

Step 16

For the fun part (well, for me) download the set of Debris brushes from qbrushes.net. Paint in separate layers on the left, (Brushes – D11 and D14) and a right, (Brushes – D17 and D17). Erase or fade at your discretion excess debris paintings.

Step 17

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and on its Options bar, select ‘Add to Selection’ to make make multiple selections at points of the debris.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and set the Amount to 5; the Method to Zoom; the Quality to Best.

Step 19

Create a new layer and paint more debris on both sides of the Statue and blur as in Step 18.

Step 20

Download the Odysee brushes by Axeraider from axeraider70.deviantart.com. With a Foreground colour #92a0ea, select the the Odysee brush (Samplebrush 8). When painting a second ‘ghostly wing’, preferably in a new layer, press Ctrl+T to transform it; selecting Flip Horizontal make it face the opposite direction.

Step 21

In a new layer below all other layers but above the background layer, create clouds for it by going to Filter>Render>Clouds. Set the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 22

Erase the top and bottom areas of the clouds in a way that the remaining clouds appears as stretch of clouds. The eraser’s opacity should be set at 70%.

Step 23

Set the foreground colour to #c0d5dd and select the Custom Shape Tool (U) from the Tools bar. On the Tool’s Options bar, select ‘Fill Pixels’ and ‘Circle Thin Frame’ from the Shape drop-down menu. Draw the shape in a layer above the ‘clouds’ layer.

Step 24

Set the blend mode of the drawn shape to Vivid Light.

Step 25

In a new layer above the statute, use a white Soft Round brush to paint around the head of the statue.

Step 26

Set the layer’s Blend mode Soft Light.

Step 27

Enable the ‘cross’ layer we hid earlier. Double-click the layer for a Layer Style. Adjust the values of the Color Overlay, Inner Glow, Outer Glow styles as shown below:

The result:

Step 28

We’ll add smoke to the glowing cross using the Smoke Brushes fromfalln-stock.deviantart.com. I used a combination of two brushes and erased slightly the edges of the smoke.

Step 29

For the ‘smoke’ layer, add a Gradient Overlay Layer style. Edit the Gradient’s Color Stops as shown below:

The resulting effects:

Step 30

Above the ‘smoke’ layer, paint over the smoke where top end of the cross is, with a white brush. Set this layer’s opacity to Soft Light. This adds a highlight to the cross.

And there we have it! TheAngelos! In old Hebrew tradition, there’s the belief, though referred to as unauthentic, of an Angel called Uriel that means ‘fire of God.’ In John Milton’s epic poem, Uriel is being described as the ‘Regent of the Sun.’

Below is a variation of the same composition.

By David Ella Ella

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a dark composition that would be chiefly enhanced by Adjustment Layers and for other effects in the image, the use of Smart Object/Filters we also be highlighted.

Step 1

We’ll start by creating a new document with the size of 800 px x 800 px and a resolution of 140 pixel/inch. The photo below is one I shot myself (it seems a little under exposed) but you can find lots of free pictures of the dawn with a floating stretch of clouds.

Step 2

Drag the picture into Photoshop and resize it (well, this of course depends on the image you’ve decided to use) to fit our working window.

Step 3

The Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), was used to select and delete the base of the picture.

Step 4

Duplicate the ‘sky’ layer and go to Filter>Extract to extract the clouds from the background. In the Extract Filter window, select the Edge Highlighter brush(B) and make the outlines as shown below:

Step 5

Follow up with the use of the Fill Tool (G) and fill the inner areas of highlights.

The extracted clouds:

Step 6

This picture of the moon can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu.

Step 7

Use your selection tool of choice to extract the moon from the black background. In this case, the Magic Wand Tool (W), was used here. Also use a soft Eraser brush with an opacity of 50% to soften the sharp edges of the moon.

Step 8

Press Ctrl+L for the levels Dialog box and lighten up the moon by just
dragging the white slider on the right.

The result:

Step 9

In another layer over the moon, paint with a black Soft Round brush around areas mainly where the craters are. Change the layers Blend mode to overlay. Merge this layer with the moon.

Step 10

Increase the brightness of the clouds with the Levels command making the adjustments below. Also place the ‘clouds’ layer on top of the ‘moon’ layer.

The clouds highlighted:

Step 11

This picture of a beach can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu by Chemtec. Resize the picture to suit the size main document and also have it placed over the ‘sky’ layer.

Step 12

Erase the blue skies from the beach.

Step 13

Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and make a selection around the rocks.*Note that the selection at the base of the rocks shouldnt be very straight. It should follow closely the alignment of the rocks.

Step 14

Right-click the selection and choose Layer Via Copy to copy the rocks to a new layer.

Step 15

Adjusting the hue of the rocks, press Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation Dialog box.

Step 16

Also darken the rocks just a bit with the Curves command (Ctrl+M). Then merge the ‘rocks’ layer with the ‘sky’ layer pressing Ctrl+E.

Step 17

Merge the moon, clouds, sky layers into one. Duplicate the newly merged ‘sky’ layer and press Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Select Rotate 180 degrees and then, Flip Horizontal.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur to blur the intended reflection of the sky.

The result below:

Step 19

Use the Free Transform Tool to scale the ‘sky copy’ and the Distort Tool to spread the image for a flatter look.

Converting the ‘sky copy’ to a Smart Object, provides a non-destructive way to edit an image without really altering the image itself but yet, attaining the desired effects set out. In our case we’ll be using Filters – thus, Smart Filters. This will enable us adjust or rearrange the Filter effects.

Step 20

Convert the ‘sky copy’ to a Smart Object right-clicking the layer and selecting this option. Now go to Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple and set the Ripple Size to13 and its Magnitude to 14.

Step 21

Below the ‘sky copy’ layer is a sub-layer with the Ocean Ripple effect. Double-click on the little arrows its right to bring up the Blending Options. Reduce the Opacity of the Filter to 30%.

If you’re not satisfied with the result, you can always go back to the Filter itself to make the necessary adjustments.

Step 22

We’ll now add another Smart Filter which is the Bas Relief Filter. Go to Filter>Sketch>Bas Relief and adjust its values as shown below:

Step 23

As is in Step21, bring up the Blending Options of the Bas Relief Filter and set its Opacity to15%.

The final result with the Smart Filters below:

The final result with the Smart Filters:

Step 24

Over all other layers, add both a Color Balance and Curves Adjustment Layers (click on the third icon from the left below the Layers Palette). These are the parameters below:

The result:

Step 25

In a new layer, use a black soft round brush to paint around the edges of the image and some portion of the clouds. Also use the Smudge Tool to smear the paint work.

Step 26

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 82 pixels.

The blur result below:

Step 27

We’ll now add light from what would be something of a distant star. Set the foreground colour to #deeff5
and select the Ellipse Tool (U) and draw a thin line.

Step 28

Draw a second flat ellipse with a colour: #609ae8.

Step 29

Blur both ellipses with a Gaussian Blur with the Radius of 0.4 and 12 pixels respectively. Use the Blur Tool to fade both ends of the first ellipse as well.

Step 30

Merge both layers of the ellipses (Ctrl+E) and use the Eraser Tool with an opacity of about 5% to fade the light ray only at it edges. Create a new layer and place a white Soft Round brush over the line and follow up with a slightly larger, but light bluish color. Also use the Free Transform Tool to narrow the glow.

Step 31

Merge the glow with the line and increase its brightness just a little with the Levels command (Ctrl+L). Name the layer ‘ray.’

Step 32

Duplicate the ‘ray’ layer, flip it with the Free Transform Tool and set the
layer’s Blend mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 75%.

Step 33

Above all other layers, create a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer with the parameters below:

This is our final image! A dreamy night scape.

By David Ella Ella

For today’s news round-up we take a look at whats new and cool in the world of icon design tutorials. We have picked four such tutorials which we feel are that good that we simply had to share them with our readers.

How To Create a Detailed Briefcase Icon

Follow this step by step guide to create a detailed briefcase icon, building the rough outline with basic shapes, then adding depth and definition with various Photoshop layer styles such as Inner Glow and Stroke. And finally bringing the icon to life by using real photographic textures to give a tactile leather feel to the icon.
How To Create a Detailed Briefcase Icon

Draw a Trophy Icon in Photoshop

Draw a Trophy Icon in Photoshop

Shiny Lock Icon Photoshop Tutorial

Shiny Lock Icon Photoshop Tutorial

How to Create a Beautiful Guitar Icon

Learn how to start from scratch and draw your own guitar icon in Photoshop. This tutorial will show you how to create your own wood texture and create a guitar using the basic tools in Photoshop.
How to Create a Beautiful Guitar Icon

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned Photoshop pro or a novice, there are two things both levels have in common – a passion for learning new techniques and a huge desire to improve their skills. And as far as Photoshop tutorials go, text effects are one of the most popular techniques designers choose to follow, and in this round-up we have chosen five in which we are sure you will love.

Create a Retro Sci-Fi Movie Poster in Photoshop

If you are a fan of of sci-fi movie art, then you will love this intermediate Photoshop tutorial.
Create a Retro Sci-Fi Movie Poster in Photoshop

Urban Type Art – Photoshop & Illustrator Tutorial

London is hip again, and in this tutorial Holland-based designer Bram Vanhaeren shows you how he created a new piece that draws on all that’s great about the city – taking inspiration from the Olympics, underground club scenes and the city vista from up high.
Urban Type Art – Photoshop & Illustrator Tutorial

Create a Cosmic Scene with Photoshop and Cinema 4D

In this Photoshop and Cineme 4D tutorial, you will be shown how to create a space composition, exploring techniques for creating 3D text in Cinema 4D, a glass effect in Photoshop and a slew of different light effects.
Create a Cosmic Scene with Photoshop and Cinema 4D

Create an Awesome 3D Text Effect with Abstract Brush Decoration in Photoshop

In the tutorial, you will shown the processes used to Create an Awesome 3D Text Effect with Abstract Brush Decoration in Photoshop. This is an intermediate tutorial so some steps can be tricky.
Create an Awesome 3D Text Effect with Abstract Brush Decoration in Photoshop

Make a 3D Colorful Abstract Text Effect

Make a 3D Colorful Abstract Text Effect

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).