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!

Textures can form a principal element in your designs. They add details to images, giving a great deal of depth to a composition. Textures could come in the forms of high resolution images such as detailed surfaces of rocks, fabric, wood etc or can just be regular pictures. We have produced 7 exclusive free metal textures for you to download along with a step by step tutorial showing how they were made.

Step 1

In this short tutorial, we’ll go into the basics of creating one of the metal textures. Starting off with a new document with a size of  500 x 500 pixels, create a new layer. Then go to Filter >Render > Clouds to add a Clouds effect to this layer. Press Ctrl+F twice to apply this effect twice.

Step 2

Head on over to Filter  > Texture and select the Texture type as Sandstone and make the following adjustments below:

The result:

Step 3

Adjust the tone of the image a bit to reduce its brightness by pressing Ctrl+M for the Curves Dialog box.

Step 4

With the Ellipse Tool (U) selected, draw a circle while holding the Shift for a perfect circle and then fill with black.

Step 5

Add another layer and select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M). Draw a circle slightly larger than the previous one and with the Gradient Tool (G), create a gradient transiting from grey to white. Merge the ‘gradient’ layer with the black circle layer by pressing Ctrl+E.

Step 6

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 1.8 pixels.

Step 7

Duplicate the circles six more times by pressing Ctrl+J. Hitting Ctrl+R, the Ruler Bar pops up; Guides can be dragged from both the vertical and horizontal sides of the document window.

Step 8

Select the Crop Tool (C ) and drag it right about the guides. The selection snaps automatically in place but only if you’ve enabled ’Snap to Guides’ from View > Snap.

Step 9

At this point, go to Image > Crop to create a tile.

Step 10

Select the background layer and then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name the pattern in the box that comes up.

Step 11

In a new document, you can either go to Layers > New Adjustment Layers  > Pattern. Or apply your new pattern as a Layer Style to an object. Whatever use you have for your patterns, they can be scaled to your liken.

Applying Adjustment Layers among all other techniques and effects further enhances the look of your patterned textures.

Metal themed textures: Meshes and Grids

Grater

Grater detail

Mesh

Mesh II

Speakers Grid

Speakers II

Carbon

This one isnt metal as such, but what the heck! I had fun making it anyway.

Steel Mesh

Steel Split

Steel

Compared to the first steel texture above, this one’s seemless as it does not have those tiling hat make up the entire image visilible. This was possible using  the Offset Filter after making the pattern. Seemless textures are perfect for 3D for they give smooth appearance textures all round.

Downloads

Metal Textures Jpgs Zip file

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

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).

The arrival of HTML5 and CSS3 has given web designers a major sense of excitement by offering a broader range of options, creative opportunities and shortcuts for designing a web page. We could talk about all of these new features endlessly, instead, to keep things simple, we have highlighted four web tutorials that make use of HTML5 and CSS3 perfectly and that demonstrate effectively the potential power of these fantastic technologies.

Creating a Minimal Blog Design Using HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery

Creating a Minimal Blog Design Using HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery

Coding a Stylish Blog Design Layout in HTML & CSS

This tutorial starts with the Photoshop stage of the blog design process, and shows how the design and layout are created to form an initial concept from which the fully coded blog will be based on.
Coding a Stylish Blog Design Layout in HTML & CSS

Touch The Future: Create An Elegant Website With HTML 5 And CSS3

The aim of this tutorial is to create an elegant blog/portfolio for an efficient professional (graphic and web designer or photographer), coded through two new great technologies, HTML 5 and CSS3.
Touch The Future: Create An Elegant Website With HTML 5 And CSS3

Build a HTML5/CSS3 Website Layout Without Images

Build a HTML5/CSS3 Website Layout Without Images

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

We’re are going to immortalize the iconic Bob Marley on a brick wall – graffiti style. Graffiti has come a long way to the point that its argued by some to be respectable works of art for it was and still is considered as rude and destructive in the public sphere. On count, it is highly expressive and does lend to images/text powerful forms representation.Same goes for this tutorial where we’ll be applying Layer masks and Blend modes to merge a grunge-like image of Bob Marley with a brick wall.

Step 1

Start with a Bob Marley picture of your choice. Open a new transparent
document with the document size set to 1280 x 1024 px and a resolution of 140 inch/pixel.

Step 2

Go to Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation and increase the Saturation value to 100.

The reason for increasing the Saturation to the maximum was to vividly bring out the shadings of the face. I also had the picture resized to reveal potions of the transparent background.

Step 3

Head on over to Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation yet again or
hit Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation dialog box. This time, reduce Saturation to -90.

If I had just opted to desaturated the picture completely to gray scale, the picture would’ve appeared to have a faint bluish tint.

Step 4

We’d now fade the details of the image. Clicking on Image>Adjustment>Brightness/Contrast set the parameters below:

Step 5

We’d now apply a rough tile effect by going to Filter>Texture>Mosaic Tiles from the menu. Set Tile Size to 27, Grout Width to 4 (which determines the size of the cracks) and Lighten Grout to 7.

The result:

Step 6

We’ll now apply the Brick Filter effect over the Mosaic Tiles which
would of course blend all nicely and hence, create a more convincing rough
brick wall composition. Go to Filter>Texture>Texturizer and click
the drop-down menu for the Brick texture and set the parameters below:

The result looks better than having any one of the texture filters left out.

Step 7

Download this brick texture from www.sxu.hu
but if you do find a wall with smaller bricks, the better. I was interested in this wall because of how uneven the bricks were. Drag the brick texture picture to the main document window and place it below the “Marley” layer.

Step 8

It was delibrate to have parts of the brick wall to show through when
the Marley image was resized earlier. Also resize the brick picture by
pressing Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Holding down the
Shift key, drag the corners of the picture to scale it down while maintaining
its original aspect ratio. Hit the Enter key when done.

Step 9

Set the “Marley” layer’s Blend mode to Hard Light and reduce its opacity to about 45%.

Step 10

With the Foreground colour set to black by hitting the D key, select
the Brush Tool (B) as a Spatter Brush. Increase its diameter to about 153
px and on the brush’s Options bar reduce its opacity to 90%.

Step 11

Click from the left, the third icon at the base of the Layers Palette to create a Layer mask for the “Marley” layer. Now paint around the edges of Marley’s head and his face, particularly around the chin areas. Don’t completely reveal the bricks (except for the edges of the image) while painting away.

Step 12

Select the Gradient Tool (G) and set the colours of Color Stops as shown below:

Step 13

On the Gradient Tool’s Options bar, set the Gradient to Radial and then
drag the tool from the center to the left side.

Step 14

Set the Graidient layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and its opacity to 75%. And we’re through! Jah Rastefari mon.

MORE VARIATIONS:

Here, I’m playing around with Blend modes and opacities to come up with a
couple variations. The one below is a favourite of mine; the Marley image is a lot more
defined but yet it blends quite nicely with the wall. The “Marley” layer Blend type here was set to Hard Light and its opacity reduced to about 60%.

Moving on further, a Brick Texture Filter effect was applied to the brick picture to get the result shown below:

Now finally, this is another variation with the Blend mode set to Vivid Light. The details of the face here are more faded and the orange-brownish colour of the bricks shows through.Whatever your choice of the Blend modes Ive highlighted, it all comes down to your personal preference.

By David Ella Ella

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating an Autumn themed Calendar for this month of September. The style here is dark and grungy and the final result is appropriately titled the ‘The Fall.’ This being the season of falling leaves from trees. The techniques used to attain the final image are the application of Blend modes, the use of grunge brushes

Step 1

First off, open a new document Ctrl+N, and set its document size to 1280 x 768 px and the resolution to 140 dpi. The wood texture below was from www.mega-tex.nl. Drag wood texture into your working document window.

Step 2

Press Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation Dialog box and then reduce the Saturation to -42. This is to fade the wood’s colour a little. We don’t intend to make the colours of our composition too vibrant.

The result:

Step 3

Go to Filter> Render> Lighting Effects and set the Lightening parameters below:

The Lighting Effects result:

Step 4

Now to paint over the lightened wood texture with a grunge specific brush. Download a set of grunge brushes by ART-D. Select the ‘BB Grunge_9′ brush from the Brushes Palette and increase its size to 1166 px and the brush colour that is, the foreground colour to #1f1710.

Step 5

Create a new layer and paint just once over the wood image.

Step 6

Change the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light.

Step 7

Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer by clicking on the fourth icon from the left on the Layers Palette or go to Layers> New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Drag the midpoint of the straight line downwards to reduce the brightness of the image slightly.

We have now a dark wood surface that appears to be whittling away. Name this layer ‘grunge.’

This is the arrangement of the layers on the Layers Palette so far.

Step 8

Set the Foreground colour to #322c28 and from the Tools Panel, select the Rectangle Tool (U) and on its Options bar, select the ‘Fill Pixels’ icon.The square to be
drawn would be automatically filled with colour.

Step 9

Double-click on the ‘block’ layer for a Layer Style and select the Drop Shadow style. Set its parameters as shown below:

The Inner Shadow Layer Style adjustments:

Step 10

Create a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) selected, right-click to choose a new grunge brush – ‘BB Grunge_7 ‘and ‘BB Grunge_9′ to be precised. Set the brush colour to #262321 and reduce its opacity to about 85%. Paint on the block not minding if you exceed its boundaries and then on the layer, right-click to select a ‘Clipping Mask’ to ‘fasten’ the brush painting to the block.

Step 11

Select a Soft Round brush and change its colour to #181412. Paint over the block as shown below:

Step 12

Head on to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 45.5 pixels. *Note:when the effect has been applied, there’s no need to erase around the edges of the block where the blur might have spread. Finally, set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light.

Step 13

For a new layer, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and draw a circle that just encompasses the lower right corner of the block. Use a White Soft Round brush with an opacity of 75% to paint within the circle. Press Ctrl+D to clear the selection.

Step 14

Apply a Gaussian Blur of a Radius of about 60%. This in effect, increases the light intensity at a point without affecting other areas of the image.

For this layer ‘light,’ reduce the blur’s opacity to 60%.

Step 15

We’ll now add text for the date by selecting the Type Horizontal Tool (T).With the Tool, drag to create a rectangular shape.

Step 16

On the Type Tool’s Options bar, choose the font type as ‘Agency FB‘; the style as ‘Bold‘; size to 24 pt and colour to black. Alternatively, these adjustments can be made on the Character Panel. Enable this if not visible already, by going to Menu bar and select Window> Character. Type in the numbers for the month of the September; hit Enter to go into the next row for another set of numbers and so on.

Step 17

For a new layer, type in the numbers “30, 31″ for the numbers of the previous date and “1, 2, 3″ for
the numbers of the next date (the text colour doesnt matter for now).

Step 18

To make the date correspond with the direction of light, we’ll add a Gradient to it. Double-click on the first date text layer and select a Gradient Overlay Layer Style. Edit the Gradient by changing the Color Stops to the colours show below:

Step 19

Reduce the Gradient’s Opacity to 85% and set its Angle to -72.

Step 20

Add a Drop Shadow style with the adjustments below:

Step 21

For the second date “30, 31, 1, 2 and 3″, add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style. Set its parameters as shown below:

Step 22

Still on the second date, add a Color Overlay Layer style and set its colour to #957f6fand reduce its Opacity to 85%.

The final result:

Step 23

Also type in the days of the week and on the Character Panel, set the font colour set to #181615.

Step 24

For the month and the year, type in “SEPT . 2010″ and the Character Panel set the font type to “Broken Ghost” (you can download it for free at dafont.com)and the font colour to #363535.

Below we have a font with uneven edges that tallies with grittiness of the whole composition.

The completed date for September:

Step 25

Select a Spatter brush for the brush and set its Opacity to 85% Erase a little the set of numbers last row and the last two numbers on the row before. The aim is to make the numbers appear scratched.

Autumn wouldnt be complete without leaves; these maple leaves were downloaded from www.sxc.hu.

Step 26

Drag any maple leaf you fancy into the main document window and use the Magic Wand Tool (W) to extract the leaf from its background. Just click anywhere outside the leaf and hit the Delete key to clear the selection and you’re done! You may have to use the Eraser Tool to clear any hint of white left on the leaf.

Step 27

Use the Move Tool (V) to position the leaf and with the Free transform Tool (Ctrl+T), you might have to scale the leaf down.

Step 28

For the ‘Maple leaf’ layer, add a Drop Shadow Layer style:

Step 29

Follow up with an Inner Shadow style making the adjustments below:

The result below:

Step 30

Select the Brush Tool as a grunge brush and paint just once over the leaf.

Step 31

Create a Clipping Mask for the layer by right-clicking it and selecting this option. Set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 70%.

Step 32

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool, draw a circle and fill with a white colour and deselect or you could just use a Soft Round brush with the appropriate size and stamp a white brush mark over the leaf.

Step 33

Have the round white circle blurred with a Gaussian Blur and set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light. Also erase around the leaf to clear any paint outside it.

And this is our Calendar for September. Like I mentioned earlier, its titled “The Fall.”

By David Ella Ella

In our tutorial, we’ll be creating a shiny Pepsi can. For it to be convincingly realistic, a number of Layer Styles such as Gradients, Inner Shadows and Glows would be applied to a flat can shaped image.The resulting effect would be a 3D-like Pepsi can.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 750 x 850 pixels, a resolution of 140 dpi and a white background. Head on to the Tools bar and pick the Pen Tool (P), then outline a shape of a can as shown below. You may want to enable Grids (pressing Ctrl+’), as guidelines as well. Also, an actual Pepsi can was used as reference for the most part of the tutorial.

The final outline:

Step 2

Right-click the can’s path and select Fill Path to add colour to the shape. I must add that, what the colour is, doesn’t matter at this point since we’ll be applying Layer Styles with a new set of colour.
The path has to be filled for Layer Styles to work or the layer would be indicated as empty.

Clear the path of the can shape with the Marquee Tool (M), by making a selection around the can and hitting Delete. Pressing Ctrl+D clears the selection. Duplicate this “can” layer for use later.

Step 3

Now, double-click on the “can” layer to bring up the Layer Style dialog box.
Select a Gradient Layer Style and edit its Gradient and Style (select Reflected) as shown below:

Step 4

Add an Inner Shadow Layer Style as well:

The final result for the “can” layer below:

Step 5

Select the “can copy” layer duplicated earlier on and below the Layers Palette, click on the third icon from the left for a Layer Mask. Select a Soft Round black brush with an opacity of 80% and paint away some of the mask of the ‘can’ duplicate.To get straight lines when painting, hold the shift key when painting downwards. Also reduce the opacity of the brush when fading/erasing the central section of the mask.

Step 6

To better blend the reflection we’re trying to create, go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 4.0 pixels. And we get the result below:

Step 7

Create a new layer and name it “base.” We’ll now sketch out the base of the can with the Pen Tool as its been done below:

Step 8

From the options within the Pen Tool, select the add Anchor Point Tool and add more points to the outline and adjust them with your mouse or directional keys on the keyboard until the lines are
acceptably smooth.

Below is the final outline:

Step 9

Right-click within the outline (with the Pen or Anchor Point Tool still Selected), and select Fill Path for as ash colour to fill the base with. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection over the base and hit Delete to clear the base’s outline. Press Ctrl+D to clear the selection.

We have the result below:

Step 10

In a new layer above the “base” layer, draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (U) and fill with an ash colour – #e8eaeb.

Step 11

We’ll create a brushed metal effect here with this popular technique. Go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise and set the Amount 32.5%. Also have Monochromatic checked.

Step 12

Head on to Filter> Blur> Motion Blur and increase its Distance to 70 pixels.

Step 13

Hit Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Right-click, select the Warp Tool and bend the just slightly the rectangle.

Step 14

Right-click the layer and select the ‘Create Clipping Mask’ to clip the layer to th “base” layer. Also hit Ctrl+E to merge the two layers as one. The layer should still maintain the name as “base.”

Step 15

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style with the parameters below:

Step 16

Follow up with an Inner Shadow style:

Step 17

Still on the Inner Shadow Layer Style dialog box, select Contour and adjust the points of its Mapping as shown below:

Step 18

Add a Satin style and reduce its opacity to 18%, Distance to 15% and Size to 25%.

Step 19

Adjust the Satin’s Contour Mapping to something of a slope.

Now we have a realistic looking metallic base for the can. Though the
steps used to achieve this was a bit tricky execute.

Step 20

In a new layer, select a Rounded Rectangle Tool with its Radius set to 5px on the tool’s Options bar. Fill the shape with the colour #e8eaeb and clear its outline with the Marquee Tool.

Step 21

Follow Steps 11 and 12 for a brushed metal effect for the “rim” layer.

Step 22

Press Ctrl+T for the Free Transform tool – the Warp Tool to be precised. Bend the rim of our can just a little upwards from the points (handles).

Step 23

For a more polished metal look, burn and lighten the areas of the rim with the Burn and Dodge Tools (O) respectively.

The result produces a shiny metal appearance.

Step 24

We’ll also add an Inner Glow Layer Style to the rim as this gives the rim a softer edges without fading.

Step 25

I downloaded a Pepsi logo and positioned it at the middle of the can with the help of Guides. Just enable them by pressing Ctrl+R and with the Move Tool (M), hold and drag the margins (rulers)of the workspace to align the Guides that appear from them.

Step 26

Position the Pepsi Logo within the set Guides. That done, press Ctrl+; to clear the Guides and Ctrl+R to remove the rulers.

Step 27

The logo mustn’t be perfectly round and so the Warp Tool (Ctrl+T) would be used to narrow its sides just a little. The aim of this to make the logo appear as if its bent over the curves of the can.

The result:

Step 28

With the Burn Tool (Range set to highlights and Exposure at 25%), darken the sides of the logo.

The logo now blends with the darker shades of the can.

Step 29

For the “text” layer use the Horizontal Type Tool (T), to type out the letters below. But before then, on the Type Tool Options bar, change the font to Myriad Web Pro and the foreground color on the Tools bar to white.

Step 30

This font was chosen because, it came closest in replicating Pepsi’s. Anyway, hit the Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and scale the text downwards only just slightly.

Step 31

With the Rectangle Tool (for a new layer), draw and fill a small vertical rectangles with white.

Step 32

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to clip off a part of the “o” letter and clear the selection (Ctrl+D).

Step 33

Draw another small rectangle across the “o” for an “e”.

Step 34

Pressing Ctrl+T for the Free Transform Tool, more specifically, the Warp Tool, change the Warp type from Custom to Flag and its Bend to 30% at the Warp Tool’s Options bar. The “e” is given the signature shape of the original Pepsi logo.

Step 35

Right-click within the Warp and select Flip Horizontal to change the orientation of the Flag Warp to the way of how the original logo is.

Step 36

Before merging all these shapes with the text, the text must be rasterized by heading to Layer> Rasterize > Type. Then press Ctrl+E to merge the shapes the “text” layer. And With the Free Transform Tool, rotate and scale the text for a flatter look.

Step 37

Still within the Transform mode, have the text Skewed. That is, slanted forward on its axis.

Step 38

Select the Burn Tool, with an Exposure of 10% and darken the lower plane of the text.

Step 39

Type out the weight figures of the can in a new layer.

Step 40

Have the text slanted with the Skew Transform Tool.

Below is the final result:

Step 41

Create a new layer in between the “logo” and “rim” layers. Fill the layer with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and then go to Filter> Pixelate> Mezzotint. Select the Type as Fine dots from the drop-down list.

Step 42

Add a Motion Blur with a Distance of about 230 pixels.

Step 43

From the Layers Palette, set the Blend Mode to Color Burn and reduce the layer’s opacity to about 45%. You’ll notice that the Blend effects does not show on the white areas of the image.

Step 44

Use the Warp Transform Tool to bend the ‘brushed’ effects so as to give the can a more rounded appearance.

The can now has a convincing brushed metal appearance.

Step 45

To make the brushed metal look not too distinctive, use the Eraser Tool (E) with a reduced opacity of  5% and carefully fade some portions of the brushed effects – do not erase completely.

The result:

Step 46

Now to create a couple shiny portions of the can at selected areas. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and on its Options bar, choose ‘Add to selection’ to create multiple selections (in this case, flat
circular shapes).

Step 47

Fill the selection with white using the Paint Bucket Tool and deselect the selection. Select the Smudge Tool at Strength of 50% and smear the white thinly across the can.

Step 48

Use the Eraser Tool to fade edges of the smudge.

Step 49

Create a new layer as the background layer and fill it with any colour; as the colour doesn’t matter for now. Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style to the layer with the parameters below:

You’ll notice that the previous effects from Step 43 shows
through now and this is a good thing.

Step 50

Erase certain areas of the background layer with the Eraser Tool’s opacity set at 80%.

Step 51

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer with a Blur Radius of about 72.2 pixels.

Our Pepsi can now has an enhanced background. Something you’ll associate with an Ad for a product in a magazine.

Step 52

We’ll now fade the brushed metal effect at some points with the Eraser Tool.

Step 53

Create a “shadow1″ layer and select the Ellipse Tool to draw a flat circle. Fill it with black.

Step 54

Add a Gaussian Blur to the shape with a Radius of about 8.7 pixels.

Step 55

In another layer, draw another circle and fill with a black colour.

Step 56

Blur this circle a lot more than the previous one. This time with the Blur Radius set at 33.5 pixels.

This is the order of the layers so far in the Palette.

Step 57

Create a new layer at the top of the Layers Palette and name it “gloss.” Select a white Soft brush and paint the on both sides of the can – hold down the Shift key to constrain your brush stroke to a straight line.

Step 58

Set the “gloss” layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 76%.

Here another image with the “gloss” layer’s Blend mode changed to Overlay. I sort of like this blend for it give the Pepsi can a lot more radiance that corresponds with the intense light from the background. Well, we’ll stick with the above image – if you prefer.

Step 59

Finally, darken the both ends of the base of the Pepsi can with the Burn Tool for a more solid look. And we’re are through! Hope this kick-starts some fella’s career in the brand marketing field.

By David Ella Ella