Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to work with Photoshop’s advanced shape tool functions and create a complex custom shape arrangement.
• Learn how to create your own custom patterns and textures and integrate them smoothly into your work.
• Learn how to work with small details in your piece to produce a more complex, realistic outcome.
• Learn a professional, non-destructive workflow, working with smart objects, vectors and other non-destructive techniques.
• & Much More!

Learn how to work with Photoshop’s advanced shape tool functions and create a complex custom shape arrangement.

Learn how to create your own custom patterns and textures and integrate them smoothly into your work.

Learn how to work with small details in your piece to produce a more complex, realistic outcome.

Final Image

This is the final image that we’ll be creating.

Step 1

Download this image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1104824

Don’t think you’ve already made it as we will be tracing over the image!

Open the image in Photoshop and re-size it to what you want. I re-sized mine to 1800 px by 2546 px.

I lowered the opacity of the penguin image to 50% as it’s much easier to see your paths and curves your creating.
To do this, simply duplicate the layer, delete the bottom, original layer and then set the opacity to 50%.

Step 2

Create a new layer, name it ‘Body’ and select the Pen Tool (the shortcut for the Pen Tool is ‘P’).

Make sure that Paths are selected.

Step 3

To start with we will work on the outline of the body.

Left click on the very top of the head. A small square box will show. This is called an anchor point. It’s the beginning of the path.

For larger areas I like to create larger lines as I feel it creates a smoother curve rather than creating lots of anchor points, but, if you want, you can create smaller lines and use more anchor points. Try both methods and see which works best for you.

When you come to do smaller and more detailed areas, e.g. the foot, you will have to create smaller lines and curves.

Step 4

Click (and hold) on the start of the arm.

Now drag your mouse down and you will notice that the line will bend.

Drag and release your mouse button when the line curves round and fits round the edge of the head.

If a line isn’t as good as what you want it to be, no problem, the Pen Tool is very forgiving.

One option is to delete the last anchor point you made. To do this, press Delete. This will delete the last anchor point. After you’ve deleted an anchor point you must remember to click on the last anchor point you made or else it will create a new sub-path.

You can also edit the angle of the line by choosing the convert point tool. When you created the curve you probably noticed these two lines appear. These are called guide/direction lines. They control the angle and length of the curve.

With the Pen Tool still selected, hold down the key ‘Alt’ (this is the shortcut key for the Convert Point Tool) and hover over the top direction line. (you’ll notice that your cursor won’t change until you hover over the ends of a direction line or an anchor point).

Now if you click and hold the top direction line you will be able to edit the curve and make any fine tuning to it.

The last way of editing paths is holding down the ‘Ctrl’ key. This enables you to move anchor points and direction lines and again make any edits to your lines and curves.

If you want, play about with a few lines to get to grip with what you can do.

Step 5

The bottom direction line will be long and like this, if you have not edited it.

If you try to continue and click on the outline of the arm with the Pen Tool, the line will not go where you want it to!
This is because the direction line is large and creates a large curve (basically a long direction line = a long curve, a short direction line = a short curve!).

Hold down the ‘Alt’ key, click and drag the bottom end of the direction line upwards so it sits reasonably close
to the anchor point and follows the direction of the arm.

Now you should be able to draw around the arm using these different methods to edit the line/curves.

Here’s what mine looks like.

Following the information in Step 3 to 5 you should now be able to draw around the whole body.

Remember,

Keep hold of your mouse and drag in a direction to curve the line
Long direction lines = long curves
Short direction lines = short curves
If you delete an anchor point, click on the last one you created
Use the convert point tool to shorten/lengthen the direction lines
Zoom into the areas that are quite detailed and need small curves and lines
It does not matter if your lines are not perfectly traced around the edges
Take your time!

Step 6

As you finish the right arm you’ll be able to click on the 1st anchor point you made. This will close and finish the path.

Your image should look similar to this.

Now change your foreground colour to black.

Now right click (with the Pen Tool still selected) and this box will appear.

Click on ‘Fill Path’ and use these settings.

The outline of the Pen Tool will be around the body so press delete to get rid of this.

Your image should now look like this.

Step 7

Click the small eye symbol next to the Body layer to hide that layer.

Create a new layer above the layer ‘Body’ and name it ‘Stomach’. Use the Pen Tool to draw around the outline of the white part of the body.

When you’ve finished and closed the path, set the foreground colour to white, right click and choose Fill Path. Click delete to get rid of the pen outline.

Now your image should look like this with the body layer showing.

Step 8

Create a new layer on top and name it ‘Left Eye’. Hide the other layers accept the original penguin image.

As the eye is a circle you can either create it with the ellipse tool,

or,

draw around the left eye with the Pen Tool and fill it with the colour Black.

After you’ve finished the left eye, duplicate the layer (Ctrl & J/Apple Option Key & J) and move it over to the other eye. Name this layer, ‘Right Eye’.

Here’s how the image is looking with all the layers visible.

Step 9

Create another layer on top and name it, ‘Beak’. Again hide the other layers so you can trace around the beak.

Use the Pen Tool to draw around the beak and set the foreground colour to #fbdf26. Fill the path and then press delete to get rid of the pen outline.

Step 10

Delete the background layer (the original penguin image) and make all your layers visible. I added a layer filled with the colour white at the bottom and cropped the image so the penguin was sat neatly in the centre.

Here’s the final image that we’ve created. I hope you’ve enjoyed the tutorial.

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to identify and manage light sources, creating a sense of cohesion and realism in your piece.
• Learn how to use photo manipulation techniques to totally transform and photo and blend it smoothly into your composition.
• Learn how to work with masking to extract your images non-destructively and work with light effects.
• Learn how to working with adjustment layers, blending options and other non-destructive techniques.
• & Much More!

Learn how to identify and manage light sources, creating a sense of cohesion and realism in your piece.

Learn how to use photo manipulation techniques to totally transform and photo and blend it smoothly into your composition.

Learn how to work with masking to extract your images non-destructively and work with light effects.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (900X900px).

Open the ‘cloudy sky’ photo in the resources section for this tutorial.

Paste the sky into the top part of your canvas. I used the transform scaling box to make the height of this sky a little taller, filling more of the canvas:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer, being sure to give you adjustment layer a clipping mask. (Apply a clipping mask to all adjustment layers unless otherwise specified).

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -21 / +4 / -6
Midtones: -39 / +16 / -18
Shadows: -21 / +15 / +5

Step 2

Open the ‘grassy field’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Paste the image into your original document and position it at the bottom part of your canvas:

Apply a layer mask and use a soft, black paintbrush to mask off the top of your grassy field image. The idea is to let it look as if the underlying sky image is the actual sky for this scene.

Be sure to keep the sign post area in tact and don’t mask this off:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your green field layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

19 / 1.00 / 236

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -16 / -8 / -26
Midtones: -22 / +4 / -4
Shadows: -4 / +26 / -25

Step 3

Open up the ‘old boots’ image from the resources section for this tutorial. Cut out one of the boots using your preferred selection method and paste it into your original document, positioning it like this:

We want to get rid of the large lace hanging down the side of the boot. You’ll also notice a small light patch on the bottom left of the soul. This was the second boot in the original image, and we want to get rid of this area too.

Use the clone stamp tool to clone over these areas. Start by option+clicking on your boot layer to select it. The marching ants active selection around your boot will mean that non of your cloning efforts will go outside the edges of your boot shape.

Then proceed to use your clone stamp tool like normal to clone out areas of your boot:

You can see the result of the cloning process below. I also applied a layer mask and masked off the top of the boot using a large, soft black paintbrush (you’ll see why later in the tutorial):

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your boot layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

9 / 0.95 / 244

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -5 / +6 / +2
Midtones: +16 / +11 / +16
Shadows: -11 / +1 / -9

Step 4

Create a new layer underneath your boot layer called ‘shadow under boot’.

Use a medium sized, soft black paintbrush (around 20% opacity) to build up a shadow between your boot and the ground:

Create a new layer ABOVE your boot layers and call this ‘shadow bottom of boot’.

Apply a further shadow underneath your bottom area, but this time overlap the bottom of your boot slightly, blending the boot into the shadowed area:

Step 5

Open up the ‘door’ image from the resources section for this tutorial. Select the door using your preferred selection method and then paste it into your original document.

Go to edit>transform>distort and distort your door so that it fits better with the edge of your boot:

Apply a levels, hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer to your boot layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

23 / 0.93 / 241

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

0 / -20 / 0

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -56 / -29 / -11
Midtones: -30 / -9 / +12
Shadows: -32 / -6 / +5

Step 6

Right now our door is looking a little flat and not really part of our boot’s structure.

To fix this, create a new document called ‘shadow over door’.

Use a soft, black paintbrush to paint around the edges of your door, creating the effect than the door is concave into the structure of your boot:

Download the ‘bell photo’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Cut it out from it’s background and paste it into your original document.

Position and resize the bell to fit next to your doorway. The colors are already pretty well blended with your surrounding composition, so no adjustments needed just yet:

Step 7

Open up your ‘roof’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the roof part of the image from it’s background and paste this into your original document.

The roof is roughly at the right angle, so just use your basic transform tools to manipulate it very slightly to fit the top of your boot better:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your roof layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

22 / 0.81 / 247

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +12 / +2 / -2
Midtones: -25 / +6 / -1
Shadows: +12 / -6 / -8

Step 8

Create a new layer called ‘shadow over roof area’. Use a soft black paintbrush to shadow the bottom part of your roof and the top part of your boot. This should help blend them better together.

Step 9

Open up the ‘wooden beams’ image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Select one of the beams using your preferred selection method and copy/paste it back into your original document.

The colors of the beam are pretty well blended already with the rest of our composition, so no adjustments are needed for now.

Duplicate the beam several times. Resize and transform each beam to fit as a support for your roof structure:

Add a further beam to sit horizontally underneath your roof.

Then create a new layer called ‘shadows blending beams’. Use a soft black paintbrush to add shadows to the top of your beams, blending them better with your roof area.

Finally, apply a layer mask to each of your beam layers. Use a soft black paintbrush to mask off the bottom of each beam, blending it into the leather of your boot:

Step 10

Create a new layer beneath your beams called ‘beam shadows’.

Use your lasso tool and paintbucket tool to create some rough black shadows where you anticipate the shadows cast by your beams to go:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to around 55%, and then go to filters>convert for smart filters. This will allow you to apply filters not destructively. Now go to filters>blur>gaussian blur.

Apply a 3.5 pixels strength gaussian blur:

Step 11

Open up the big ben clock image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the clock part of the tower, and the square frame surrounding it. Paste this into your original document:

You’ll notice that the clock isn’t the right angle to fit with our rooftop right now. This is a pretty easy fix. Simply go to edit>transform>distort and distort your clock until it looks like the image below:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to your clock layer:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +11 / +4 / -11
Midtones: +25 / +6 / -16
Shadows: +6 / 0 / -18

I also created a new layer called ‘shadow clock’ and used a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to add some additional shadow around my clock:

Step 12

Time to add a chimney to our roof!

Start by opening the ‘chimney’ image in the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract the chimney and paste it back into your original document.

Position the chimney over your roof, and use a layer mask to mask the bottom of the chimney smoothly into your roof area (using a soft black paintbrush for this):

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your chimney layer:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

20 / 0.79 / 240

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +16 / +11 / -9
Midtones: -13 / -6 / -9
Shadows: +4 / 0 / -8

Step 13

Download the ‘FanExtra premium brush set: Clouds’ brush set from the resources section for this tutorial.

Create a new layer called ‘smoke’.

Select one of your cloud brushes and use a white paintbrush to give the impression of smoke rising up from the chimney of the house:

To make the effect slightly more subtle apply a layer mask and use a low opacity, soft black paintbrush to mask off areas of your smoke:

Step 14

Now paste in your ‘window’ image from the resources for this tutorial.

Apply a layer mask and use a soft black paintbrush to mask off the area around your window, blending it more smoothly into your boot’s surface:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to help blend the colors of the window better:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +2 / -4 / -2
Midtones: +29 / +12 / -4
Shadows: +21 / +9 / -15

Step 15

Add some additional lighting and shadowing to your window.

Use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to paint in shadows around the left edge of your window.

Then use a soft, low opacity yellow/orange brush to give a subtle tint of light coming out of the window:

Step 16

Cut out and paste in your doormat image from the resources section for this tutorial.

You will need to go to edit>transform>distort to distort the mat to fit nicely in front of your door:

Apply a levels, hue/saturation and color balance adjustment layer (in that order).

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings

23 / 0.89 / 224

Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -55
Lightness: -25

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +1 / +4 / -9
Midtones: -2 / -4 / -11
Shadows: -5 / +1 / -6

Step 17

To help blend your doormat better, create a new layer called ‘shadow doormat’.

Use a soft black paintbrush to paint in shadows between the doormat and the door, as well as underneath and to the sides of the mat a little.

Download the free grass brush set from the resources section for this tutorial.

Create a new layer called ‘grass’. Use your eyedropper tool to sample a shade of green from the surrounding grassy area. Use several of your grass brushes to create areas of grass that overlap your welcome mat.

Step 18

Copy/paste in the image of the girl sitting from the resources section for this tutorial. Position her so she is sitting on the end of the boot:

Adjust the colors of the girl very very slightly just to fit better with the surrounding composition.

Then create a new layer called ‘shadow under girl sitting’.

Use a soft, mid-opacity black paintbrush to brush a shadow under the girl and slightly covering her right side. This makes it look more realistic that she is actually sitting on top of the boot:

Step 19

Paste in the ‘running children’ image from the resources section for this tutorial:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer. You should aim to make the grass in your ‘running children’ image match the lightest grass in your main composition.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +8 / +35 / -16
Midtones: +13 / +40 / -23
Shadows: +9 / +13 / -26

You’ll notice that whilst your color balance adjustment layer has turned your grass a nice color, it’s also made your children green. To fix this, simply mask off this area of your adjustment layer, just like you would a normal mask. Simply select the mask attached to your adjustment layer and use a black paintbrush to paint over your children, thus returning them to their original, non-adjusted color:

Now select your ‘running children’ layer and mask off the edges of the image until you’re left with just your children and a little blending grass surrounding them:

Step 20

Copy the ‘red balloon’ image from the resources section for this tutorial into your original document.

Option+click on this balloon layer to select your balloon shape. With your selection active create a new layer called ‘balloon shadow’. Use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to paint a shadow on the left/bottom side of your balloon, making it more rounded:

Create a new layer called ‘string’.

Select your paintbrush tool, and select a 1px, white paintbrush at 55% opacity. Use your path tool to create a wavy path dangling down from your balloon. In your paths palette right click on your path and click ‘stroke path’, selecting ‘paintbrush’ as the stroking option.

This should stroke your path line with a 55% opacity 1px white line. This is an easy way to create a simple balloon string:

Step 21

Time to start adding some final lighting and adjustments to our piece.

Create a new layer called ‘blue lighting’. You want to give the impression of some of the blue of our sky bleeding across into the boot/grassy areas. This should give the impression of various light sources in the piece effecting one another.

Use a large, soft paintbrush tool (69cbe1) to create a series of soft blue spots along the edges of your boot and grass:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 10% to make the effect more subtle:

Repeat the same steps on a new layer called ‘green lighting’. This time paint green (456300) light spots along the bottom of your shoe, as if the green from your grass is casting this color upwards:

To make the effect more subtle change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 20%:

Step 22

If you check out the image below you’ll see that our sign post is a strange color. This is caused by the original adjustments on our ‘grassy field’ layer.

To fix this we could always mask off that area of our original color balance adjustment layer. However, we want even more control over our sign color than that!

Create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer (DO NOT APPLY A CLIPPING MASK TO THIS ADJUSTMENT LAYER).

Apply the settings shown below:

Hue Saturation Adjustment Layer Settings:

Hue: 0
Saturation: -55
Lightness: +10

This will cause your sign to become a nicer color, but will also reduce the saturation of the rest of your image, which you don’t want!

To fix this, select the mask associated with this adjustment layer. Fill your entire canvas with black (thus masking off your entire adjustment layer). Then go in with a white paintbrush and paint over your sign area.

This will reveal your hue/saturation adjustments, but only in this specific area, as your reveal your adjustment layer’s mask.

And there you have it, safe, non-destructive blending, with plenty of control!

Step 23

To give a slightly more fantasy look to our piece we’re going to apply a dodge/burn layer.

Create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn’. Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

Then use a soft, low opacity black paintbrush to burn your image, and a soft, low opacity white paintbrush to dodge it. You should aim to create a more unified light source, accentuate shadows/highlights where appropriate and just generally bring the feel of your piece together more:

Step 24

As a final adjustment apply a gradient overlay adjustment layer (DO NOT APPLY A CLIPPING MASK TO THIS ADJUSTMENT LAYER).

Select the default gradient overlay ‘orange, yellow, orange’.

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 2%.

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to work with textures/patterns, even creating your own custom halftone pattern.
• Learn digital painting techniques, and learn to understand correct lighting and shadowing.
• Learn how to master the minor details of your piece to create an outcome with more depth and substance.
• Learn how to build up multiple layers of coloring to correctly tint and blend your image.
• & Much More!

Learn how to work with textures/patterns, even creating your own custom halftone pattern.

Learn digital painting techniques, and learn to understand correct lighting and shadowing.

Learn how to master the minor details of your piece to create an outcome with more depth and substance.

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Start by creating a new layout (1000X1400px).

We’re going to start by laying out canvas guides to help structure our layout.

Lay out the following guides:

Vertical Guides:

50px, 350px, 600px, 650px, 700px, 950px

Horizontal Guides:

200px, 550px, 700px, 900px, 1000px

Step 2

Create a new layer called ‘background’. Select your entire canvas and fill it with d12b5d.

Create a new layer called ‘radial gradient top’.

Drag out a white to transparent radial gradient from the very top center of your canvas.

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 20% and change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This will make the light effect much more subtle, giving just a subtle highlight to your header:

Duplicate your ‘radial gradient top’ layer and move the duplicate layer down so that your duplicate highlight starts at your 550px horizontal guide line:

Step 3

We’ve going to create a simple logo for our Vlog.

Start by pasting in the camera icon from the movies icon pack in the resources section for this tutorial.

Then apply some next to the right of this:

Logo Text Settings:

Font Face: Carson
Size: 30pt
Kerning: -50
Color: ffffff (for small text) and ffd800 for the larger text.

Now apply a subtle drop shadow blending option to your text layer:

Drop Shadow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: 000000
Opacity: 25%
Angle: 120
Distance: 1px
Spread: 0%
Size: 2px

Step 4

Download the ‘simple dividers’ web elements pack from FanExtra (see resources section for this tutorial). Paste in the first divider from the pack, positioning it just underneath your logo area.

Reduce it’s opacity to 60% to make it slightly more subtle:

Step 5

Now apply some text underneath your divider for menu links.

Menu Text Settings:

Font Face: Arial
Styling: Bold
Kerning: 75
Color: ffffff

Apply a subtle drop shadow to your text to help it stand out against your background more:

Drop Shadow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: 000000
Opacity: 25%
Angle: 120
Distance: 1px
Spread: 0%
Size: 2px

Use your lasso tool to create a series of white ‘play’ icons next to each menu item:

Step 6

Now we want to create an active state for our menu.

Start by creating a white rounded rectangle behind your ‘home’ link (10px radius).

Now reduce the fill opacity of this layer to 8%, leaving the main layer opacity at 100%.

Apply an inner glow blending option:

Inner Glow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Screen
Opacity: 15%
Color: ffffff
Source: Edge
Choke: 0%
Size: 10px

Step 7

Download the Komodo social media icon pack from the resources section. Paste in several of the icons that are relevant to your blog, positioning them to the left of your logo.

Type out some account related links and position them to the right of your logo:

Now type out some sketchy text above your links, using the Jenna Sue font links to in the resources section for this tutorial.

Sketchy Text Settings:

Font Face: Jenna Sue
Size: 24
Kerning: 0
Color: ffffff

Also download the FanExtra Sketchy Arrows brush set found in the resources for this tutorial and create a light pink arrow pointing to your account related links:

Apply some sketchy text and a sketchy arrow to the left side of your header above your social media icons:

Step 8

Using your guides create a large black area in the center of your canvas. This will be the background for your featured video player:

Now grab a screenshot of your featured video. Later your will embed the video using code.

I used a video of me and my good friend Matt performing a cover of one of our favorite bands. If you’re interested you can check out the video here. (I’m the one on the right).

Step 9

Let’s create some browsing buttons to navigate between featured videos easily.

Create a white circle in the center of the black area to the left of your featured video:

Reduce the opacity of this circle to 16%.

Then create a new layer called ‘arrow’. Reduce this layer’s opacity to 20%. Use your lasso tool to create a white arrow within your circle:

Place the ‘circle’ and ‘arrow’ layers within a single layer group. Duplicate this group and move your duplicate arrow button to the right of your featured video area. Then with this layer group selected go to edit>transform>flip horizontal.

Step 10

Now apply a heading underneath your featured video area.

Paste in one of the icons from the FanExtra movie icon pack.

Then type out some heading text. Apply the drop shadow blending option that you used on your menu text.

Heading Text Settings:

Font Face: Carton
Size: 24pt
Kerning: -50
Color: ffffff

Step 11

Paste a series of video thumbnails underneath your ‘latest videos’ heading.

Step 12

Create a rounded rectangle shape (10px radius) underneath your video thumbnails. It can be any color, as we’re going to style it using blending options:

Now apply a gradient overlay and drop shadow blending option:

Gradient Overlay Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Gradient: ranging from fe9700 to ffd100
Angle: 90

Drop Shadow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: 000000
Opacity: 14%
Distance: 2px
Spread: 0%
Size: 5px

Step 13

Now apply a brown (5d321b) custom shape arrow to your button, as well as some brown Arial text saying ‘OLDER VIDEOS’. This will allow users to browse back through your vlog archives:

Step 14

Open up your simple dividers web elements kit again and copy/paste the 10th divider into your original document.

Go to edit>transform>rotate 90 CCW and use your guides to position it between your left column and the empty space in your right column.

Also reduce this dividers layer opacity to 20% to make it more subtle:

Step 15

Add some content to your right column.

This column is really just reusing layer styles and font settings from the rest of your layer, so I won’t repeat them again.

The sign up button uses the same layer styles as your ‘older videos’ button.

The heading text settings are the same as your ‘LATEST VIDEOS’ heading, and the smaller text is the same as your menu:

Step 16

To construct your site’s footer create a new layer called ‘footer’.

Select the bottom 50px of your canvas and fill it with black:

Use your lasso tool to create an upwards black arrow from the center of your black footer bar.

Then add some text to your footer:

Footer Text Settings:

Font Face: Arial
Size: 12pt
Kerning: -50
Color: 9f9f9f

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Apply filters and light effects in a non-destructive way by mastering Photoshop smart objects.
• Learn how to correctly work with layer styles and blending options, creating a multi-layered vector composition.
• Learn how to create custom patterns and textures within Photoshop in order to structure a more realistic outcome.
• Learn how to utilize a totally non-desctructive workflow, so that you can go back and edit details of your image at any time.
• & Much More!

apply filters and light effects in a non-destructive way by mastering Photoshop smart objects.

Learn how to correctly work with layer styles and blending options, creating a multi-layered vector composition.

learn how to create custom patterns and textures within Photoshop in order to structure a more realistic outcome.

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Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

Create a new document (1000X1000px).

Paste in your sky photo from the resources section for this tutorial, positioning it to fit like the image below:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to your sky layer. For all adjustment layers in this tutorial be sure to apply a clipping mask so that your adjustments only effect the underlying layer, and not your entire canvas.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +2 / -13 / -6
Midtones: +28 / +4 / -11
Shadows: +11 / -4 / -12

Step 2

We want to create a more central focus for our design.

Start by creating a new layer called ‘vignette’.

Use a large, soft, low opacity (around 10-20%) black paintbrush and brush around the corners and edges of your canvas:

Step 3

Create a new layer called ‘center highlight’.

Use a very large, soft, white paintbrush (around 20% opacity). Create a large white spot of white light in the middle of your canvas.

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This should create a subtle lighting in the middle of your composition, drawing the eye:

Step 4

Open your main pig image (see resources section for this tutorial).

Extract the pig from it’s background using your preferred extraction method.

Paste the pig into your original document, resizing and positioning the pig like the image below:

If you notice, the feet of the pig appear very flat, as in the original photo they were resting on a flat surface. Now that our pig needs to be floating in the air we need to give the impression of the feet dangling naturally.

To achieve this effect, go to edit>puppet warp. Use your puppet warp tool to create multiple anchor points over the body of you pig. This will hold the pig in place while your warp it’s legs.

Use your puppet warp tool to bring the front legs closer together, and adjust the back legs slightly to give the impression of the legs hanging in mid air:

You can see the outcome of warping below:

Step 5

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to your pig layer to help blend the pig better with it’s background:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

26 / 0.87 / 243

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +6 / -2 / 0
Midtones: -26 / 0 / +4
Shadows: +16 / 0 / -9

Step 6

Create a new layer called ‘band’.

Use your pen tool to create a belt type shape wrapping around your pig. Be sure to leave a little opening in the belt, letting a square of the pig’s back show through.

You can fill this area with whatever color you want. I used black:

Download your leather texture from the resources section for this tutorial. Paste the texture into your original document, resizing and positioning it to fit over your ‘band’ area:

We want to give the impression of the leather molding roughly to the shape of the pig’s body. To help achieve this effect, go to edit>transform>warp. Use your warp tool to warp the texture like in the image below:

Ensure that your leather texture is directly above your ‘band’ layer, and then apply a clipping mask to it. This will mean that your texture will clip to the shape of your band, giving the impression of a cool leather band effect wrapping around the pig:

Apply a color balance adjustment layer. This should automatically be given a clipping mask, but if not then apply one.

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +18 / 0 / -16
Midtones: +32 / 0 / -11
Shadows: +2 / 0 / -12

You can see that this has tinted the leather brown:

Step 7

We need to give our leather band area some lighting to make it look more natural.

In your layers palette option+click on your ‘band’ layer. This will select all data on this layer.

With your selection still in place, create a new top layer called ‘shadow band’. Use a soft black paintbrush to paint in shadows at the top and bottom of your band. Use a soft white paintbrush to paint in the middle of your band area.

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%:

Step 8

Create a new layer called ‘highlight band’.

Use a soft, mid-opacity white paintbrush to brush over the center area of your band to act as a highlight:

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%:

Step 9

Create a new layer called ‘gold outline’.

Using your pen tool, create a selection around the square opening in the top of the leather band. Fill this area with ffd800.

Apply an inner shadow and inner glow blending option to your ‘gold outline’ layer:

Inner Shadow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: 000000
Opacity: 35%
Angle: 120
Distance: 5px
Choke: 0%
Size: 5px

Inner Glow Blending Option Settings:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 20%
Noise: 0%
Color: 000000
Choke: 0%
Size: 1px

Step 10

Create a new layer called ‘pink fur’.

Download the FanExtra fur brush set from the resources for this tutorial.

The idea here is to apply subtle furry edges overlapping from the pig over the leather band area.

To do this, sample colors from the pig surface, and use these colors to paint with using your fur brush. Apply several brushes to achieve a nice random edge:

You’ll notice in the last image that the size of your fur brushes means a lot of the brush will be overlapping the pig and background, with only a tiny bit of the edge of the brush actually being useful, overlapping the leather band area.

To fix this, add a layer mask to your ‘pink fur’ layer, and mask off all areas of your brush marks apart from the areas overlapping your leather texture:

You’ll notice in the last image there’s still a bit of a seam line between the edge of the pig’s fur and the fur brush set.

To fix this create a new layer called ‘fur blend’. Use a small, soft pink paintbrush to paint along this seam line, blending the two areas a little more smoothly:

Step 11

To make the eye of the pig stand out even more, create a new layer called ‘eye glint’.

Create a tiny white spot over the pupil of the eye. (There is already a white spot here, but you want to make it more intense):

Step 12

Download the wing image from the resources section for this tutorial.

Extract one of the wings, and paste it into your original document. Use a layer mask to gradually blend the wing into the pig’s back, by masking off the bottom of the wing using a soft, black paintbrush:

Paste in the second wing, positioning this on a layer beneath your original wing. Label the front wing layer ‘front wing’ and the back wing layer ‘back wing’.

The back wing won’t be the perfect shape to start with, so go to edit>transform>distort to distort the wing to fit better:

Step 13

We want to give a tiny bit of movement to our back wing to help simulate the pig flying.

Select your ‘back wing’ layer and go to filter>convert for smart filters. This will convert this layer to a smart object, and let you apply filters non-destructively.

Then go to filter>blur>motion blur.

Motion Blur Filter Settings:

Angle: 30
Distance: 4 pixels

Step 14

Apply a color balance adjustment layer to both your wing layers. This will tint your wings pink, blending them with your pig:

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: +9 / -8 / -5
Midtones: +53 / -18 / -57
Shadows: +12 / +1 / -13

Step 15

Duplicate your front wing layer.

Go to edit>transform>distort and distort the wing to fit in the area where it would naturally flap downward to.

Use a layer mask to gradually mask off the top edge of this wing:

Apply a motion blur to this layer to simulate the movement of flapping wings:

Motion Blur Filter Settings:

Angle: -66
Distance: 100 pixels

Repeat this step, creating a second blurred wing for the front wing, distorting this wing to be even further down.

Also create two blurred ‘back wing’ duplicates.

With the second duplicate for each wing (the most downward blurred wing) reduce the opacity of this layer, in order to make it fainter than your first duplicate wing:

Step 16

To finish our wings, we want to blend their base a little better into the pig’s back.

To do this, select a square area of fur from the surface of the pig, and copy/paste this to be a new top layer. Rename this layer ‘fur to wing’ and position your square of fur over the join between your wings and your pig:

Use a layer mask to mask this area of fur, creating a smooth transition between the base of the wings and the pig’s back:

Apply a levels and color balance adjustment layer to this ‘fur to wing’ layer, in order to make the colors more accurately blended:

Levels Adjustment Layer Settings:

56 / 0.76 / 247

Color Balance Adjustment Layer Settings:

Highlights: -2 / -2 / +4
Midtones: -1 / +6 / +5
Shadows: +32 / +16 / +11

Step 17

Create a new layer called ‘dodge/burn main pig’.

We’re going to dodge/burn our pig in a non-destructive way.

Start by going to edit>fill>50% gray. Once you’ve filled your canvas with 50% gray, change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This will hide your gray fill, but allow you to dodge/burn your image in a non-destructive way.

Simply use a soft black paintbrush (around 10% opacity) for burning your image, and a soft white paintbrush (around 10% opacity) for dodging.

Below you can see your dodge/burn layer at ‘normal’ blend mode and then ‘overlay’ blend mode:

The idea is to blend the pig better with it’s background. Try to identify light sources coming from the sky, and accentuate shadows where needed:

Step 18

To further blend the pig with the background, we’re going to add some soft color overlays as additional lighting.

Select a large, soft paintbrush (color: ffca55) and add several spots of orange light over your image. Again, try to work out where this orange light would be coming from in terms of your background:

Reduce this layer’s opacity to 20% and change it’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. This should give a very subtle orange tone to areas of your pig:

Repeat this technique using additional layers and adding purple/darker orange tones:

Step 19

Repeat the techniques used to create your main pig, and add a second, larger pig to the bottom left corner of your canvas.

You only want part of this pig’s head to be visible, as it’s merely used to create some nice framing and depth for the composition.

The image below shows the pig after adjustment layers, color tint layers and dodge/burning:

Go to filter>convert for smart filters.

Then go to filter>blur>gaussian blur. Apply a 6 pixels strength gaussian blur. This will help give the impression of depth, as the larger pig appears to be closer to us and out of focus:

Step 20

Create a new layer called ‘lens flare’. Fill your canvas with black, and then go to filter>convert for smart filters.

Go to filter>render>lens flare and apply a 50-300mm Zoom flare (100% brightness).

Try to position the lens flare over your pig’s back:

Change this layer’s blend mode to ‘screen’ which will hide the black background fill, letting only the lens flare show through. Also reduce this layer’s opacity to 50%, making the effect more subtle:

Step 21

Finally, to finish apply a gradient overlay adjustment layer. We actually only want this adjustment layer to effect mainly our background area, as we don’t want to tint the pig too much.

To solve this problem, simply use the adjustment layers built in layer mask, and mask off the areas over your pig, using a large, soft black paintbrush:

Gradient Overlay Adjustment Layer Settings:

Gradient: default orange to purple gradient
Layer opacity: 10%
Layer blend mode: Normal:

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Google Calendar is one of many apps that runs on the Internet, not on your desktop. I’ll show you how to make your very own desktop icon for Google Calendar and, hopefully, the skills behind creating other similar icons. I hope you enjoy the experience!

There’s no denying that the Internet is going to be a big part of our future of computing. Running applications in the cloud have already become popular, with services such as Google Apps, which we also offer to our clients. Whether you use Google Mail and Google Calendar to help to manage productivity, or social lifestyling apps like Twitter and Facebook, there’s probably a web-based application or two running on your computer throughout the day.

I recently created some icons and released them to the public for free (and hope to be able to release some more soon), one of which was the icon I’ll be showing you to make in this tut. Feel free to go and pick up those icons here. I can also recommend free printable calendars.

This guide will walk you through how I created the Google Calendar icon. There’s a total of 41 steps, so it’s a reasonably long tutorial, so feel free to grab a drink before we begin. You’ll be required to spend a few moments at various points in the tut to draw shapes freeform so please, take your time, and enjoy the experience.

Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

As always, this is the final image for this tutorial:

Step 1

To begin, create a new Photoshop file that is 512 pixels by 512 pixels in size like in the snap below.

Step 2

Let’s start up by making a new layer. Using the Polygonal Lasso tool (L key, or Shift+L to toggle through the Lassos until you get to the one seen in the snapshot) and draw a loose, freeform, angled square. Fill this square with black, either by using the Paint Bucket tool (G on the keyboard.) Deselect your selection with Command+D.

Step 3

Right click on your new layer in the layers panel, and select “Blending Options‚Ķ”. Click “Stroke” (the word, not the tick box), found at the bottom of the new panel that will have popped up.

Step 4

Select the red that’s in that panel, and a Stroke Colour window will pop up. Select black, and OK through both panels that you have up. We want to flatten down this blending option; what I do for speed is to create another layer underneath this layer, select “Layer 1″ again, and hit Command+E (Ctrl+E for PCs) to merge them on top of one another. All Blending Options bake down too.

Step 5

Using the Polygonal Lasso tool again, create another freeform shape on a new layer (below the current one) in a different colour to simulate a facade to the square that we’ve just made. We’re building up a 3D looking “surface” here, which we’ll put the calendar itself onto. Deselect again.

Step 6

Make yet another layer, above all the others, and make another freeform shape with the polygonal lasso tool. I know, lots of free shapes. Take your time to get them just how you want them. I’ll wait here while you do it. Make it another colour again, so that we can see what we’re up to on each layer. This is what will eventually become the “Top Page”. Deselect again.

Step 7

Another layer, another freeform shape with the Polygonal Lasso tool. Make this one underneath the “Top Page” layer, like shown in the image. This will eventually become all of the other pages that are underneath the top one. Again, make sure it’s a different colour, so we can tell what’s going on where, then deselect when you’re done.

Step 8

At this stage you’ll have 4 layers. Keeping layers tidy early on is a life saver later on, particularly when you work on big pieces like this. In the screenshot above, you can see what I chose to rename each layer. I’d recommend using the same names while you use this tutorial so that you don’t risk getting confused later on.

Step 9

Using the Polygonal Lasso tool again, make a selection around the top of the “Top Page” layer.

Step 10

Using shortcuts Command+X then Command+V will cut that section out from that layer, and paste it back into reality on its own new layer. Pop it back to where it was before by using the move tool (V on the keyboard). This bit at the top will eventually become the “bind” that holds each sheet of the calendar in place. Let’s name this layer “Bind”.

Step 11

Select the “Top Page” layer again, and hit Command+L on the keyboard to bring up your Layers panel. In the Output Levels area at the bottom, grab the black nozzle and drag it along to the right until its integer reads 230. Alternatively, just type 230 into that same box.

Step 12

Back on the “Bind” layer, bring up those Blending Options again (second click on the layer, “Blending Options‚Ķ”) and click on Color Overlay from the left-hand column. Pick a colour that you’d like to use for your bind (I chose a desaturated blue, to go with the official Google Calendar icon). HIT OK

Step 13

Select your “Bind” layer’s pixels by clicking on its image thumbnail from the layers panel while holding down the Command key. With these pixels selected, make a new layer and select the Gradient tool (G on the keyboard, or Shift+G to toggle over to it from the Paint Bucket) and click on the little arrow in the top left corner of your screen next to the Gradient icon. Select the second standard gradient, which runs black to transparent. If it’s not black to transparent as an option, make sure that your colour palette on the right side of your screen has black as the foreground colour. Select this again and black should then become the colour which merges to transparent. Be sure that the Linear gradient is selected (that’s the first one of five options, right next to the drop-down you’ve just used to select your gradient colours). Draw a line from the bottom of the “Bind” to about three-quarters up it, then release. This should give you a gradient like in the image above. It usually takes a few goes to get it exactly how you want it. Call this layer “Bind Gradient”

Step 14

I set this new “Bind Gradient” layer to “Multiply” with an opacity of 25% like in the image above. This will make the gradient nice and soft, hinting at the bind’s shape.

Step 15

In a similar way as the Bind layer was created from “Top Page”, we’re going to select pixels from the top of “Bind” to make a highlight to “Bind” itself. Select a thin row of pixels from along the very top of “Bind”. This time we won’t Cut and Paste it back in, though; we’ll instead make the selection and use the Duplicate command (Command+J) to make another instance of the selection above the original. Do this, and use the Levels panel to change the colour to make it lighter than the original “Bind” layer. We’re going to do this again on the bottom of “Bind” too, and make it darker, so that “Bind” looks like the image above. Name these two layers “Bind Highlight” and “Bind Lowlight” respectively.

Step 16

Like instruction #13, we’re going to use that Gradient tool again. On a new layer, we’ll draw from underneath “Bind” down until about three-quarters the way up “Top Page” with the gradient tool, in a south-east direction along your canvas. This will leave you with a big blob of black on your lovely work, filling the top of your screen, and fading to transparent as it enters the “Surface Top” area. Don’t fret; use the Mask tool (the third icon along at the bottom of your layers panel; looks like a moon in a dark sky) and rub out all of the Gradient that we don’t want by using the Brush tool (B on the keyboard) Selecting Bind like in #13 and rubbing out its contents may speed up the process. Name this new layer “Bind Gradient”.

Step 17

It’s time to make that “Top Page” look more realistic. Select the pixels of “Top Page” using the polygonal lasso tool, in the same way as in instruction #15, and make a new layer. Using the Brush tool, we’re going to draw in where we want some light shadowing to be. Turning down the opacity of this layer will make the black nice and soft like in the image above. I chose to make some light shading around the edge of the page, and some to emphasise the lifting of the corner. I kept the lifted corner itself completely clear of all this, to make it appear raised. Name this layer “Top Page Shading”

Step 18

Select the “Top Page” layer and duplicate it (Command+J). Drag the duplicate underneath the original and nudge it down a few pixels from the original using the Move tool (V on the keyboard). Use the Levels panel (Command+L) to make it a little lighter than its original.

Step 19

We’ve got 12 layers on the go at the moment. Even though I work with hundreds of layers on my bigger pieces, I try to keep the count down if I know I don’t need to go back and change anything. Like in the image above, I flattened all of the “Top Page” layers together, and all of the “Bind” layers together. To do this, select a group of layers you want to flatten together, and hit Command+E to merge them.

Step 20

Next step, the “Other Page”. Using the Blending Options on the “Other Page” layer, use the Gradient from the left column to make the layer look like the image above. Flatten the blend mode onto the layer like in instruction #4.

Step 21

Duplicate the new “Other Page” layer, and drag it underneath the original. Using the Levels panel (Command+L), drag the black Input Level over to the right and the white Input Level to the left slightly like in the image above to increase the intensity of the Gradient. Nudge this layer down slightly from the original “Other Page” layer, to reveal the second “Other Page”. The increased intensity of this layer’s Gradient allows the effects of the gradient to be visible in this small space.

Step 22

With this newly positioned “Other Page” copy, copy it a few times more and continue stacking them slightly below one another like in the image to give the feel of there being multiple calendar pages.

Step 23

We want to make the “Surface Top” look better, next. Duplicate “Surface Top” and invert it to be white (Levels panel can help out if you didn’t start out with black).

Step 24

From the menu at the top of Photoshop, select “Filter > Noise > Add Noise‚Ķ”

Step 25

Choose how much noise you’d like to use. I chose 58.91% of uniform, monochromatic noise. Noisy.

Step 26

Select the pixels of the noisy layer. You’ll want to contain this next step, as it leaks all over the place without selections. On top of this new noisy layer, select “Filter > Blur > Motion Blur‚Ķ” from the top.

Step 27

In the Motion Blur window, try to get the angle of your blur in line with the angle of Surface Top. set the distance enough to make a wood grain-like pattern. OK to that.

Step 28

Set this noisy layer to Overlay in the Levels panel. It should basically disappear. Select “Surface Top” and, using Levels panel (Command+L), drag the black Output Level over to the right slightly to make the layer’s pixels off-black. This should reveal your noise again slightly.

Step 29

Use the Levels panel on your noise layer too, in a similar way to the image above, to focus the histogram on the area of effect.

Step 30

On the “Surface Top” layer, select the very bottom of the surface with the polygonal lasso tool.

Step 31

In the Levels panel again, slide the grey input level over to the left slightly to make your selection lighter. You should have a nice little highlight on that edge, now.

Step 32

Next up, new layer. On this layer, you’ll want to use the Polygonal Lasso tool to make a selection for colouring in. In the image above, you’ll see that I drew a 4×3 grid. This will become the calendar itself. Take your time on this step, and feel free to use multiple layers and flatten them together at the end for accuracy. Make sure your lines are all the same thickness all the way along.

Step 33

Make a selection around the squares seen in the image above, and make a new layer below the grid that we’ve just created. Fill it with black, then use the Opacity slider in the levels panel to weaken it off.

Step 34

New layer, above all the others this time. Fill it with a colour of your choice (I went with red, again, to be in line with the official Google Calendar icon).

Step 35

Select a lighter version of your chosen colour, then select the pixels of the layer. With a suitably sized Brush with no Hardness, click a few times in one spot, to give the square a nice highlight.

Step 36

Using the Blending Options panel, give this shape an Inner Glow. Go for a Black one with about 25% opacity, with a blend mode of Multiply.

Step 37

Almost finished now. Time for a bit of polish. Select the Surface Top layer’s pixels, then make a new layer above all the others. Make that brush you were using white, and a bit larger. Click a few times near the centre/top of the Surface Top to make a big white blob. Set the blending mode to Soft Light in the layers panel, and adjust the opacity if you need to, to give some depth to the calendar.

Step 38

Do the same for the Bind layer. I chose to make this layer “Overlay” in the blend mode, to compliment the blue underneath.

Step 39

Make a duplicate of the Surface Top layer, and drag it to the bottom of the layers panel. By going “Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur‚Ķ” we’ll make this layer into a shadow.

Step 40

Set the Radius to about 8 or 9, then Duplicate this layer a few times on top of itself to make the layer effect stronger.

Step 41

Flatten the shadow layers together, and you should have yourself a very fine Google Calendar icon.

And We’re Done!

Voila! You should have your very own Google Calendar icon. More importantly, you should have your very own understanding of how such an icon is pieced together. I truly hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tutorial. Speak soon!

Download Source File for this Tutorial

Final Image

The result of this tutorial is shown below:

What You Will Learn

This tutorial is very in depth, and covers the design techniques listed below:

• Learn how to build up lighting effects using a combination of filters and blending options.
• Learn how to create a cool swirling light effect.
• Learn how to work with Photoshop’s shape tools, creating your own custom shapes to add to your composition.
• Learn how to work with masking and overlays to bring your work together into a professional outcome.
• & Much More!

Learn how to build up lighting effects using a combination of filters and blending options.

Learn how to create a cool swirling light effect.

Learn how to work with Photoshop’s shape tools, creating your own custom shapes to add to your composition.