How to Create a Basic House Icon in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you’ll go through easy steps and techniques to design a simple yet attractive house icon. It’s easy to follow and to play with. There are no intricate curves or complex brush work. Just simple shapes along with layer styles will do the complete job. The aim of the tutorial is to get familiar with the correct use of colors and efficient use of layer styles. I am sure you’ll enjoy following it. Let’s jump in!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

Step 1

First of all, create a new 500px by 500px document with white background. Drag out some guides at the center of the document for convenience. Select the Pen Tool (P) and make a shape like the one shown below.

Step 2

You need to add some colors and a thin-white strip to the shape. To do so, double-click on the layer and apply the following Layer Styles.

Step 3

Duplicate the shape (Command + J) and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal, move the duplicate shape rightward so that the sides join each other as shown.

Step 4

Due to similar colors, the two shapes give a flat look to the roof. There’s a need to fix that. Open the Layer Styles of the duplicate layer, and apply the following changes.

Step 5

Set foreground color to “830F00.” Draw a shape like that shown below with Pen Tool (P). Name the resulting shape “roof left”.

Step 6

Duplicate the shape and name it “roof-right”. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal and move the duplicate shape rightward so that you get something like this.

Step 7

With Pen Tool (P), draw another shape like the one shown below, name it “body.”

Step 8

Double-click on the layer and give it these Layer Styles.

Step 9

You need to put the roof’s shadow on the body of the house. To do so, Command-click on the “roof left” layer, then Command + Shift-click on the “roof right” layer to sum up the selections of the two layers. Move the selection down and on a new layer fill the selection with the color “5F5343.”

Step 10

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, enter 10px and click OK.

Step 11

You might notice that after the filter has been applied, the shadow is flowing outside the house’s body, which doesn’t look right. To fix it, Ctrl-click on the “body” layer, and press Command + Shift + I to invert the selection. With the “shadow” layer selected, press Delete.

Step 12

You now need to add a prominent part of the house – that is the door. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), and on a new layer fill a selection with black.

Step 13

Give the door the following Layer Styles.

Step 14

Now we need to add some details to the door. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (Shift + U) and draw a black rectangle with a 3px radius.

Step 15

Go to its Blending Options and apply these settings.

Step 16

Duplicate the shape and move it down so that you have something like this.

Step 17

A handle can now be added to the door. Use the Ellipse Tool (U) to make a small circle on the door.

Step 18

Give the circle a Drop Shadow and a Radial Gradient.

Step 19

You can add a slab above the door. Use the Pen Tool (P) to make a shape like the one shown below.

Step 20

Go to its Blending Options and give it a Gradient Overlay of a similar tone as that of the roof.

Step 21

With the Pen Tool (P), make another shape like the one below.

Step 22

Give the shape the following Layer Styles.

Step 23

Create a new layer and fill a selection with black on it. Make sure that this layer is placed below the “door” layer in the Layers Palette.

Step 24

Give the black strip a Gradient Overlay of the following colors.

Step 25

As a further detail, you can add a door-step to the house. Make a shape like the one below with Pen Tool (P).

Step 26

Give the door-step a Gradient Overlay.

Step 27

To give the door-step a 3D look, add some thickness to it. Set the foreground color to “A26431″ and draw a shape like the one shown below.

Step 28

It’s time to add windows to the house. Start doing so by filling a selection with black on a new layer.

Step 29

Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), fill a selection with white on a new layer as shown.

Step 30

Go to the Blending Options of the windows cross section, and give it these styles.

Step 31

Now, you need to make shutters. Just like you made the door, make a shutter and put it on one side of the window. Make a copy of it and move it to the other side, give a Drop Shadow to the shutters if you want.

Step 32

Just for increasing details, add a slab to the window like you did for the door. The only difference is that you need to apply the Layer Styles of the door-step to the slab you are making for the window.

Step 33

Create a layer set and put in it all layers that constitute the window. Duplicate the layer set twice and transform it to 60% of its original size. Put the smaller windows on the right side of the door.

Step 34

You can now add a chimney to the house. Create a new layer and on it, fill a selection with black.

Step 35

Give it a Gradient Overlay with these colors.

Step 36

Make a shape like the one below to give the chimney a 3D look.

Step 37

Make another shape of any color for the chimney.

Step 38

Give the shape a Gradient Overlay with these colors.

Step 39

Set the foreground color to “D6C08D” and make a shape like this.

Step 40

It’s time to give shadows to the base of the house icon. Create a new layer, then use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to fill a selection with black.

Step 41

Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and then Filter > Blur > Motion Blur with these settings.

Step 42

Make a similar shadow for the door-step. You can set the Opacity of the shadows from 80-90% or from 20-30%. I added some grass and ended up with this.

Conclusion

The final image is shown below! I hope you enjoyed creating this icon design!

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.



October 30, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

40 Quality Photoshop UI Design Tutorials

Want to improve your interface design skills? If so, then check out this group of Photoshop tutorials. There are loads of tuts here to get started with basic elements and work your way up to full interface designs, which integrate numerous custom elements. If you’re looking to get started with Photoshop UI design or build these skills, then jump into these tutorials right now!

1. Creating a Knob in Photoshop

2. How to Make a Menu Interface for a Fantasy Themed iPhone Game

3. Create a Promotional iPhone App Site in Photoshop

4. How to Create a Slick and Clean Button in Photoshop

5. Simple Button

6. How to Create a Detailed Audio Player in Photoshop

7. Create an Apple IPhone case from scratch

8. iPhone Style Icon Tutorial

9. Create the Glass Shelf Dock from Leopard OS in Photoshop

10. Build a Slick Rich User Interface in Photoshop

11. Loading Interface

12. Make a Web Interface with Car Images

13. Zoom Player Design Skin

14. Volkswagen Inspired Navigation

15. MP3 Player Interface Design

16. Blackberry Fruit phone

17. Interface Navigation Tutorial

18. Create a Mac Style Interface Button in Photoshop

19. Nokia 5300 Cell phone interface

20. Photoshop Tutorial: Audio Interface

21. High-Detailed Plastic Navigation Bar

22. Aqua Interface

23. Nav Bar Interface Tutorial

24. Content Box

25. Interface or Skin Tutorial

26. How To Create a Stunning Vista Inspired Menu

27. Create a Web App Admin User Interface in Photoshop

28. Creating Inset Buttons for Interfaces

29. Modern Web Layout

30. Creating Smooth Metal for Interface Design

31. Create a Zune MP3 Player

32. Interface Orbs

33. Design Your iPhone Widgets

34. RCA Lyra X3030 portable media player

35. Video Player Skin

36. Designing a Black Audio Player Interface

37. MP3 Player Interface

38. Design Mico Buttons

39. VCarbon Style Icons and Buttons

40. Create a Speed Gauge and Watch Icon in Photoshop

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.



October 29, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Top 40 Tuts+ Tutorials in September

In this Best of Tuts+ roundup you’ll learn how to simulate a sniper scope, design and code a flexible website, create an intense movie poster, create a golden vector compass, build a minigolf game with ActionScript 3.0, take sports photos like a pro, create a rocky video game terrain in Blender and get a useful introduction to home recording–among many other things! Let’s take a look.

Aetuts+ – After Effects Tutorials

Nettuts+ – Web Development Tutorials

Psdtuts+ – Photoshop

Vectortuts+ – Vector & Illustrator

Activetuts+ – Flash, Flex & ActionScript Tutorials

Phototuts+ – Photography & Post-Processing Tutorials

Cgtuts+ – CG Tutorials

Audiotuts+ – Audio and Music



October 29, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Creating Product Advertisements with a Flowing Aesthetic – Psd Plus Tutorial

We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your product advertisement skills to the next level, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Learn how to combine multiple elements into a flowing digital illustration. Learn more at the jump!

This Plus Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

In today’s tutorial we will be focusing on creating a flowing aesthetic that works great for a Product Advertisement, and I will be guiding you by using an image I created for the Tiger Beer company in Singapore.

Tiger Beer commissioned this image for their exhibition “Tiger Translate.” The image ended up not being used by the Tiger Beer company for theme relation purposes, but aesthetically they were very pleased with the outcome. I’ve decided to share that workflow and process with you Psd Plus readers today in the hopes that you can utilize these techniques when given a product advertisement job!

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image we’ll be creating in this tutorial.

tigerstep29

Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from this tutorial.

tigerstep5

PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed to stay up to date with the latest Photoshop tutorials and articles.



October 28, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

How to Create a Rusty Texture in Photoshop – Screencast

“In this tutorial, we’ll learn how simple it is to texturize objects using different fusion mode layers, adjustment layers, color tweaks and some very simple filters in Photoshop. You can use this simple technique in more complex illustrations of your own creation. Let’s get started with learning these techniques!” Sergio Ordonez

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a Rusty Texture in Photoshop and the video version is below.



October 27, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Create a Steam Powered Typographic Treatment – Part II

We’re back with the second half of our Steampunk style type experiment! In this Part II, we’ll generate realistic textures and create a fitting scene for our text. Let’s get right to it!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Time to get all wound up! Start up C4D and open the scene you created in Part I.

Step 52

First we’re going to use a few free materials from the web. You’re going to have to register to be able to grab these, but it’s free and totally worth it! The first one is a brushed metal material. After you download it, open it. You’ll have an empty scene and you can find it inside the Materials Menu. While having the mouse pointer over it, copy it.

Step 53

Paste it into our type scene and double-click on its icon from the Material Menu. Inside the Editor, make a few changes to the following tabs. The first one is Diffuse A.

Step 54

Then change Specular 1 A.

Step 55

Change the Intensity of the Specular 2 A to 20%.

Step 56

From specular 3 A, change the color, size and glare.

Step 57

To apply a material to an object drag it onto one inside the scene, or over a layer from the Objects panel.

Step 58

Place this metal texture over the rest of the word as well.

Step 59

The dots that come from the letter will also have a metal casing. We’ll create a different appearance for the rest.

Step 60

It’s time for a new material. I know it’s strange to modify a wood texture into a bronze surface, but with a few tweaks, it should fool most people. Download this material and place it in the scene. This material comes with a texture, or image. This means that it will have to be linked to this texture the whole time. All you need to do is add a reflection with the same texture, so activate the Reflection tab and find it inside the download folder.

Step 61

Drag it over center loop.

Step 62

Place it over all all the remaining objects of the first letter.

Step 63

And finally, add it over the rest of the word.

Step 64

The final material we’re going to use for this scene is gold. Get this material and make one simple change. Switch the Color to black.

Step 65

We want this material to appear only on the front of certain objects. Drag it over the diamond and change the Selection to C1. While C1 is the front face, C2 is the back. You can also use R1 and R2 as selections, but not for this tutorial.

Step 66

Place this material over the following objects.

Step 67

With the type all done, it’s time to make a final render. You’ll need to bring up the Render Settings (Command + B) and from the General tab, use the settings shown below.

Step 68

Next is Output. Here you can change the render size and aspect ratio.

Step 69

Check the Save Image box and don’t forget to specify a path. Also, by clicking on the Alpha Channel, you get to use it to make a quick selection of the content in Photoshop.

Step 70

And finally, change the Antialiasing settings to the ones shown below. You should calibrate these according to what your computer can handle, or how much time you’re willing to wait.

Step 71

Hit Shift + R to render it in a new window. This might take a while.

Step 72

Once you have the file saved, open it in Photoshop. Bring up the Channels menu and Command-click on the Alpha 1 icon. This will make a selection of the content.

Step 73

Go back to the Layer Menu, and double-click on the background layer. Give it a name if you like, and press OK. Add a quick mask by clicking on the highlighted icon.

Step 74

We’ll now create a different background so create a new layer, and move it underneath the “Type” layer inside the Layers panel. Change the foreground color to #aaaaa9 and background color to #403c3b. Drag a radial gradient with the Gradient Tool from the center out to the top-right corner.

Step 75

Now we’re going to create the slots for each letter. Start with the bottom of the first letter. Follow the inner edge of the border and trace a vector shape with the Pen Tool. The color is irrelevant.

Step 76

You’ll now need a Small version of this clockwork image. I bet I’ll read comments about the gears not being able to physically fit inside the casing, but that’s not the point. You can use whatever mechanism image you like. Once you’ve pasted it over the shape, press Command + T, hold Command and drag each endpoint until it has a skewed appearance. Keep in mind that you have to match the perspective of the letter.

Step 77

Once you’ve done that, press Enter and Command + Alt + G to make it a clipping mask.

'

Step 78

Use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to expand parts of the image that are missing. First of all, make a selection of an even surface (Alt-click), and then paint the top and bottom of the mechanism.

Step 79

Command-click on the layer icon to make a selection of the layer, and go to Select > Modify > Expand. Enlarge the selection by 1 pixel and press OK.

Step 80

With the active selection, give it a layer mask and make it a clipping mask.

Step 81

Release the clipping mask (Command + Alt + G) now and delete the shape.

Step 82

To give it an extra bit of realism, add an Inner Shadow (Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow). The shadow color is #282020.

Step 83

Let’s give the image a bit more contrast. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. After you create a similar curve, press OK and make it a clipping mask.

Step 84

In the same way, create a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer with -25 Saturation. Make this a clipping mask as well.

Step 85

And for a final bit of realism, let’s add a glass cover. Glass is transparent, but not perfectly transparent. You can also see it’s there by glares that appear from light sources, so let’s use these two concepts to create a Reflected Gradient (G) with black and white.

After you create one on a new layer, Make it a clipping mask.

Finally, drag the Opacity to 30%.

Step 86

Repeat the process for the remaining layers.

Step 87

This can take quite a long time, but is great for adding rich detail and making it more realistic.

Step 88

Download this pipe image and cut it out from its background with the Pen Tool (P). I’ve placed the pipe in a place that fits the perspective of the letter, but not the lighting unfortunately. The darker side of this image is near our light source, so you should normally find a different photo. But this is a tutorial after all, and with the sole purpose of learning, so it will work for now.

Step 89

Next, we’re going to make a series of Adjustment Layers to change the appearance of the pipe. The first one is Curves.

Step 90

Change the contrast again with a second Curves Adjustment Layer.

Step 91

The higher contrast has also intensified the colors, so bring down some of the Saturation.

Step 92

Now you’ll need a pen tablet to create a few highlights, visible here on black.

Once you’ve painted those on a separate layer, drag the Opacity to 70%.

Step 93

Duplicate the pipe and place it on the top of the third letter. Flip it and erase the top.

Step 94

Another image that we’ll use in this tutorial is this gauge photo. Fortunately, the perspective is spot on, so just cut it out of the background.

Step 95

Make it smaller and place it in the center of the diamond.

Step 96

To add a bit of contrast to the background, we’ll darken the gradient. Create a new blank layer (Command + Shift + N) and drag the layer opacity to 45%. Now reset the color selection (D) and fill the layer with black (Alt + Backspace).

Step 97

Next with a pen tablet, use the Brush Tool (B) to paint a few soft cloud-like shapes.

Step 98

On a layer above these, create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. Use these colors for left (#676767) and right (#e6d7c8). Don’t make this a clipping mask. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 99

A final stock image that you need is this sky photo. No need to resize it, just move it around until you find a nice stream. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 70%.

Step 100

Reset your foreground and background colors (D) and create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. Press OK and Command + Alt + G.

Step 101

Create a few more soft glows in the back.

Step 102

Now create a new layer above all the other ones and while keeping track of the light source, add highlights to all the elements.

Step 103

Create yet another layer and draw some steam. Use mostly white, but black too.

Here’s a close-up of the steam. I’ve used a pretty large brush size, but you’ll also need a small one to add detail.

Step 104

Let’s add a light reflection to the entire text. Locate the “Type” layer and add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style.

Step 105

Now let’s make a few color adjustments to the scene. Over the top layer, add a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Use these settings for Whites and Neutrals.

Step 106

Now add a Channel Mixer and find the Black & White with Orange Filter from the drop-down menu. Press OK, change the Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 35%.

Step 107

And finally, add a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Find the Blacks and input the values shown below.

Final Result

Believe it or not, we’re through with the second half of this tutorial! It’s been quite the trip, but three programs later, and this steampunk type is ready to blow off some steam. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tutorial, and managed to complete it without any hiccups! Have a great day!

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.



October 27, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Create a Steam Powered Typographic Treatment – Part I

Whether or not you’re a Steampunk fan, this two part tutorial is sure to test your knowledge on Illustrator, Cinema 4D and Photoshop. In the first half, we’re going to customize a Blackletter font and create 3D text with vector shapes. There’s lots to do, so let’s start with the first part of this two-part series!

Introduction

In this type treatment, I sought to bring together a Blackletter font with the alluring Steampunk Style. A quick search on the net about the movement will show a well defined style and a few dominant leitmotifs. Raging steam engines, whistling exhausts and shiny metals are the norm, so in keeping with the guidelines, I created this illustration.

Be sure to check out one of our other Steampunk tutorials on Psdtuts+, How to Create a Steampunk Style Illustration in Photoshop for great inspiration and some traditional Steampunk gadgetry!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Here’s what we’ll achieve by the end of these two parts.

For now though, we’re going to try and get this far.

Step 1

The first program on today’s list is Illustrator. Start it up, create a new web document with standard settings and type in your word using this free font.

Step 2

As you can see when zooming in, the font has a lot of harsh edges because it’s free, and not meant to be used for display purposes. We want a clean, few-endpoints font that won’t reveal any bugs in Cinema 4D. So turn down the Opacity of the text, and create a new layer. Lock the previous layer and start to trace your own version of the first letter.

Step 3

Try to keep the lines as smooth and natural as possible. You may choose to follow the edges by the letter (pun totally intended) or create a slightly different version like I did.

Step 4

Create a new layer underneath and create two bars over the old ones. While the color has no importance, I chose different values to make the tutorial easy to follow.

Step 5

Then on a layer above, create some dots with the Ellipse Tool (E). Create a rectangle too with the Rectangle Tool (M) and rotate it by 45 degrees.

Step 6

Then trace the… swirly thing near the center. Once you’ve done that, go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Use the values shown below.

Step 7

Locate your Pathfinder (Window > Pathfinder) and click on the Trim icon.

Step 8

Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), or white arrow, and click firstly away from the object, then in the center. Delete that part.

Step 9

Now trace the rest of the word.

Step 10

Copy all the letter faces and paste them on a separate layer (Command + F).

Step 11

Go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 12

Go to Window > Stroke and give the text a 1 pt stroke.

Step 13

You’ll now have to click away and click back to only the top part of the text. For some reason, you can’t change the stroke alignment of all the elements at once. Anyway, change the alignment by clicking on the middle icon. Also, change the Weight to 7 points.

Step 14

Now go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 15

Trim it with the Pathfinder.

Step 16

Then offset it by -2.4 pt.

Step 17

Trim it again to flatten the effect.

Step 18

Now you can use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to delete the center.

Step 19

Repeat this process for all the remaining portions of the text.

Step 20

Now save it as an Illustrator 3 file. Cinema 4D won’t be able to access later formats.

Step 21

Our second software choice is Cinema 4D. Create a new Scene and go to File > Merge and locate the Illustrator 3 file. Click open to have the file placed inside the scene. Now go to your Objects panel and Shift-click on the first nine paths. Delete those. These are corner markers you get when importing the Illustrator file.

Step 22

Move paths five and six away from the group by Shift-dragging them over the group in the Object Menu. Any object that you want to extrude individually, you’ll have to separate from the group.

Step 23

Now click and drag the Add HyperNURBS button and release over Extrude NURBS.

Step 24

Shift-click on the two paths, and drag them on top of the Extrude NURBS.

Step 25

Tick the Hierarchical box. This means that the Extrusion will affect all the objects placed under the Extrude NURBS.

Step 26

Click on the Caps tab and change the settings to those shown below.

Step 27

After doing this for each part of the letters, move the Extrude NURBS back and forth until you have the paths aligned at different points in space. Also, click back to the Object tab and change the Movement to 40.

Step 28

Pick the center detail and repeat the process explained above. Just change the movement to 20 meters.

Step 29

Next up are the dot paths. You can see more tabs at once by Shift-clicking on two or more, in this case Object and Caps. Use the following settings. Notice that we’ve changed the appearance of the edges from a soft corner, to a half circle.

Step 30

Then create the same Extrusion effect for paths 1, 2 and 3, but with a 30m Movement value.

Step 31

For the diamond, use slightly different values. We’ve also constrained the effects to the original size by ticking the Constrain box for the dots and diamond. Doing that with small objects may create artifacts, or visual bugs. This happens when the constrained effect expands past the object dimensions.

Step 32

Create an Engraved effect over the rod that connects the letter.

Step 33

Use the following settings for the final dot.

Step 34

Finnish off the first letter by extruding the borders.

Step 35

Do the same for the remaining letters.

Step 36

Copy the connecting rod (Command + C) and paste it (Command + V). This will paste it in the exact same position.

Step 37

Use the move tool to reposition the rod inside the following letter.

Step 38

On the left side of the interface you have different methods of selecting an object. We want to move just the top endpoints in order to resize the rod. First though, hide the extrusion effect by clicking on the green check mark from the Objects menu. Then select the Point Tool and Move Tool (highlighted in the following screenshot) and Shift-click on the top two endpoints.

Step 39

Drag the yellow arrow down until the dots disappear inside the letter.

Step 40

Do the same for the bottom endpoints until they reach the bottom loop and bring back the Extrude NURBS.

Step 41

It’s time to add a light source to the scene. For the lighting, we’re going to rely on an HDRI map environment and one Area Light. First of all add an Area Light.

Step 42

Bring it up over the text with the Move Tool.

Step 43

Rotate it by 45 degrees with the Rotate Tool.

Step 44

Change the dimensions by dragging the endpoints with the Move Tool.

Step 45

Now add a Sky Object.

Step 46

Create a new material from the Material Menu.

Step 47

Double-click on the material icon from the menu to bring up the Material Editor. Uncheck all the boxes and activate Luminance. You’ll now need this free HDRI map collection. Remember where you place it, and don’t make it a temporary location. Try to find a safe spot because you may find yourself linking more files to these HDR files. After you press Open, you’ll be asked if you want to copy the HDR file to the root folder. You can do that, or press No if you don’t move the folder after this point.

Step 48

Click on the three dot button and find the studio number seven from the folder. Open the small version.

Step 49

Drag the material over the Sky object.

Step 50

Find an appropriate angle to view the text from and add a Camera.

Step 51

To activate the camera, click on the white icon from the Object menu.

Final Result

A quick render will reveal what we’ve done in this first part of the tutorial. In this render, I’ve duplicated the light source for more brightness. You won’t need that for Part II though. I’ll see you next time when we’ll add textures and a scene to our text!

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.



October 26, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Sander Rietdijk Interview

Sander Rietdijk is not only an artist with a knack for creating amazing art, but he is also very wise and has learned a lot of interesting things in his few years exploring the world of graphic design.

Sander has partnered up with a friend Thimo Smit to create their own graphic design studio named Edberry Creative. On top of that Sander will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of collaborating with another artist. We’ll learn about how he creates an amazing typographic piece. So lets get into this great interview!

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Hi there, my name is Sander Rietdijk. I’m 26 years old. I live in the city Utrecht in the Netherlands and I’m one half of the Amsterdam based design studio Edberry Creative

As a kid I loved to draw and create things, but I didn’t hear about Photoshop until I discovered it during my study of Communications; and I instantly loved it. After experimenting for some time, I started publishing some work on the Internet and from there I started getting some exposure and after awhile even some clients. This was when I decided to give working as a freelance designer a try. And until today I’m still keeping myself alive and even own a small studio in Amsterdam.

The Beatbox Band

2. You are an extremely well-rounded designer with artwork in many categories, what would you say is your favorite style to design in?

My favorite style is probably whatever I think looks cool. During my work I’m always searching for new styles and techniques to use within my designs. So I guess that’s probably the main reason you see such diversity within my work. The reason why I do this is to keep challenging myself to stay creative and because I believe you should never stop learning.

Primal Fear

3. Illustrations like “BADABOOM” and “Music In My Head” are collaborations that you have done with other artists. What would you say are some pros and cons to collaboration with different artists? Should designers be doing this frequently or on rare occasions?

I believe collaborations are a good way to learn new things and to see how other people create things. It’s also interesting to find out if you can team up with someone else to come out with something new. But I also learned you should pick your collaborations wisely, because not every combination will work. Some styles, techniques or minds just can’t be mixed. I did collaborations that ended up in complete disasters and others that came out really cool.

So today I think about it twice before I say yes to a collab. “BADABOOM” For example was created together with Armen Mnatsakanjan with who I already collaborated in the past. So when we started on this one I was quite sure it would work. So I believe you should get to know somebody a little better before you say yes to making art together.

BADABOOOM

4. “The Common Paradox” is an astounding mix of typography and photo manipulation. Please walk us through how you made this illustration and what this piece represents.

I started of this piece as collaboration with Saad Moosajee. He rendered me some 3D letters out of abstract shapes and gave those to me. But when I started working with them, the letters didn’t really work for me. So I decided to start again from scratch.

The concept behind the piece was to show the word “order” within a chaotic scene, to symbolize the concept order vs. chaos. So when I started, I picked some typography I liked and spelled out the word “order” on the canvas. After that I messed them up a bit using some masking and brushing because I wanted them to look more messed up

After I was done with placing the type, I added different shapes, like lines, triangles and dots, to the piece to make it look chaotic. After that I added the bullet bursting out of the letter “D” to symbolize a loud sound and the numbers “0″, “20,” “43,” “31,” “51,” “74″ that look like random numbers, but they do have a logical pattern. Finally I added the girl that’s looking at the scene as the main character of the piece and to give it a human touch.

The Common Paradox

5. Typography is something a viewer will notice comes up a lot in your portfolio. So what would you say are some skills that a designer should have to be able to create good typographical illustrations?

I believe the most important thing is to create a good composition; so you make sure people will read your typography. So things like balance, focal point and empty space are quite important. Beside that you also need to know how to find or create the right font to put your typo in. Like for example if your artwork is happy, you’ll need a font that expresses some happiness itself. Therefore you need to look at fonts and think about what sort of shapes go well with the theme. Like for happiness you could go for round and thick.

And last but not least you need to have something to say, or else it is just letters. Although random letters can be cool as well, but then you still need the right letters to make it look cool.

Colourfull

6. Is the approach to a typographical piece different from the approach to say a photo manipulation illustration? If so how is it different for you and why do you think it is different? If no then why not?

Well I guess some will say there is, because of all the theories and rules there are about using and creating typography. But for me personally there isn’t. This is mainly because I create typographical pieces from my background of doing illustrations. So for me a typographical piece is an illustration based on letters. The only other thing about them is that I start of by thinking about a sentence or a word to use instead of an image I want to create.

Fade Away

7. Edberry Creative is a design studio comprised of you and Thimo Smit, could you tell us exactly what you guys are planning to d?. And what do you hope to achieve in the future with this group?

With Edberry we offer our clients a wide range of services, such as illustrations, corporate identities and web design. For us our goal is to be challenged by our clients, by doing projects in which we can put in our love for creativity and colors. We don’t want to walk the path of the least resistance; we just want to go where our creativity brings us. This means we’re open to all sorts of projects and love to work together with other creative people to offer our clients the best solution possible.

As for the future, we hope to build up a creative network of people that are like-minded and combine different skills. Within this network everybody should deliver what he or she does best and together we should create things that will make us all proud. But that’s the dream, for now we just want to do cool things and meet new and interesting people. So if you’re interested you can find us at Edberry.net. We also have a blog , with no one visiting at all. So be nice and have a look at it.

Music In My Head

8. Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Your welcome Emil! Thank you as well for interviewing me and to all the readers I like to say have fun in what you’re doing and try to push yourself to be original. If you do so you will stand out from the crowd, which will bring you a lot further then when your just one of them trying to be like every other artist.

Heavy Water

Where to find Sander on the Web

Landon

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.



October 24, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

How to Get that Anime Look in Photoshop Using a Flexible Workflow





In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to get that smooth shiny Anime look. We’ll start with a simple character outline and build the correct hierarchy for the base colors, tones and highlights. Also, we’ll learn how to work with this “method” for later projects in case the client or director will ask for changes, it will be easy to replace colors for a specific part of the character without redrawing all the tones and highlights again! You are about to learn one of the many techniques from the Anime industry. Let’s get started!









Final Image Preview




Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.





Tutorial Details













Before We Start




Psd Plus members will find 2 files provided in this tutorial. “Creature_Start.psd,” contains only the outlines of the creature we will start to work with. “Creature_Final.psd,” contains all the final organized layers in the correct hierarchy, effects and background for you to explore.







Step 1




Load the provided “Creature_Start.psd.” You should see a cute rounded creature over a white background. Notice you will have two groups: “Outlines” and “Background.”








Step 2




We want to keep everything organized and easy to follow for our workflow. That’s why we start building the correct hierarchy for the project by making all the groups with the right names. Create those groups, and make sure to put them in the correct order, which is very important: “Highlight-2,” “Outlines,” “Highlights-1,” “Tones,” “Colors,” “Background.”










Step 3




Now it’s time to create the basic colors for our character. Select the “Colors” group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the base colors for the character: “Mouth,” “Eyes,” “Backpack,” and “Skin.”










Step 4




Select the color for the Skin, you can select ANY color that you want, but it’s recommended to choose something not too dark or too light, something in the middle so we’ll be able to see the Tones and Highlights later on.










Step 5




Before we start painting, select the Paint Bucket Tool and make sure that these three options are checked: Anti-alias, Contiguous, and All Layers. It will let us paint the area we want without painting in the same layer as the outlines, which is a very important part on any Anime production, separating outlines from the base colors and other layers. Open the “Outlines” group, Hide the “Mouth” and “Eyes” layers. Now all you can see is the character with the backpack.










Step 6




Painting the Skin is very easy. Make sure that you choose the “Skin” layer inside the “Colors” group Now use the Paint Bucket Tool and paint inside the character’s body.










Step 7




Painting the Backpack is a bit more advanced then just one color like the skin. Make sure that you choose the “Backpack” layer inside the Colors group. We will use a color split into three, light, medium, and dark. You can choose any color that you wish, in this case I chose purple.





We won’t focus on light theories in this tutorial because we want to learn the main technique of compositing a character, so let’s keep it simple and easy to understand. The light color will come from above, the medium from the side, and the dark on the front. The following image shows you the way you should do that, split into sections.










Step 8




Painting the mouth is simple. First check the “Mouth” layer inside the “Outlines” group. Now that you can see the mouth, make sure that you choose the “Mouth” layer inside the “Colors” group. We will use two colors, I chose something between red and pink for the tongue and black for the inside mouth.










Step 9




Painting the eyes is also simple, but we will have to draw a guide for the main eyeball. First check the “Eyes” layer inside the “Outlines” group to make it visible. Make sure that you choose the “Skin” layer inside the “Colors” group. Select the Paint Brush tool with 3 pixels size.










Step 10




We will use three different colors: White (not pure white, but a bit darker), Yellow, and Darker Yellow. Feel free to choose any colors that you want, but for the white part of the eye I highly recommended to never go with pure white for eyes or teeth because the pure white will take it’s part on the Highlights, we will focus on that later on.





Start with a rounded line for the white part of the eye. Do the same for both eyes. Remember, you can draw a bit under the outlines, it’s just like a safety net to make sure your line doesn’t shave too closed gaps. If you feel comfortable, then zoom in a bit to do it.










Step 11




After we have a guide for the white part of the eye, lets continue painting the rest of the eyes. Select the Paint Bucket Tool, and paint the White, then the (not pure white, but a bit darker), Yellow, and Darker Yellow.










Step 12




Finishing the basic colors of the eye, we don’t have to but we can add one more rounded darker sphere at the center of the darker yellow color, this will be the smallest part of the eye. Select an even darker color than the dark yellow you used, something more close to black, but give it some color so it will be more interesting with the rest of the eye. Select the Paint Brush Tool again and draw the sphere and paint it. Again, feel free to zoom in bit as that may be more comfortable.










Step 13




Now we have a completed colored character, but it looks like it’s flat and simple. So have a good look on the current colors, because we are about to give it the look of professional Anime style.










Step 14




Tones are very important part for the Anime look, there is a very complicated explanation behind it because in Anime, just like in other styles, tones won’t represent only the light expressions over a material, but it will also represent the type of the material. In this tutorial we won’t get deeper into tones, we’ll focus on how to work with tones and how easy it is to draw it thanks to our organized layers and groups hierarchy.





We will start with building the layer names in the right order just like we did earlier with the colors: Select the “Tones” group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the different tones for the character: “Tone-Mouth,” “Tone-Eyes” “Tone-Skin,” and “Tone-Backpack.”










Step 15




Now you’ll learn a new method and start to understand the reason behind our groups and layer hierarchy. Our first tone will be for the skin. Select the “Tone-Skin” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group.










Step 16




You will notice that the character’s skin area is now selected. That means we are able to draw only inside this specific area. Select the Brush Tool with the size of 3 pixels, and select black for the color. Start to draw around the shape guide for the rounded creature’s body. Then one line under each foot.










Step 17




Select the Eraser Tool and erase the line that crossed over the creature’s hand.










Step 18




Add tones for the hands in a shape of water drops. Also, add three small triangle-like shapes: two above the eyebrows, and one under the mouth.










Step 19




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guides we just created.










Step 20




Use Gaussian Blur to make the tone softer (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select a low radius – something between 1.2 to 2.5 and see what you like most.










Step 21




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Mouth” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Mouth” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw a line at the top part of the tongue.










Step 22




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the tongue. Then make the tone softer by using the Gaussian Blur again (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select the same radius that you used for the skin.










Step 23




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Eyes” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Eyes” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw the shape of the original eyes inside of each circle and a line on the top near the eyebrow.










Step 24




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the eyes. Then make the tone softer by using the Gaussian Blur again (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select the same radius that you used for the skin.










Step 25




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Backpack” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Backpack” layer under the “Colors” group. Follow the guides shown below to create the backpack tone. Try to draw it as you see, it’s very simple.










Step 26




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the Backpack. This time, don’t soften the tone for the Backpack, we want it to look a bit sharper than the creature’s tone. Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tones” group and reduce the Opacity from 100% to 30%










Step 27




Just like the tones, The highlights are a very important part for the Anime look. There is a complicated explanation behind it because in the Anime just like in other styles highlights won’t represent only the light expressions over a material, but it will also represent the type of the material, in this tutorial we won’t get deeper into highlights, we’ll try to focus on how to work with highlights and how easy it is to draw it thanks to our organized layers and groups hierarchy.





Start with building the layer names in the right order, just like we did earlier with the colors. Select the “Highlights-1″ group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the different highlights for the character” “Mouth,” “Skin,” and “Backpack.”










Step 28




Select the “Mouth”” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group. You will notice that the character’s skin area is now selected. Select the Brush Tool with the size of 3 pixels, and select white for the color. Start three wave lines at the top of the character’s head.










Step 29




Now add the little circle shapes on the hands, legs, and one under the mouth (lips area) to complete the highlights for the skin. Fill everything with the a white color. Then to make the highlight smoother, use Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and use a lower radius, something between 0.7 to 1.2 will be enough.











Step 30




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Mouth” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Mouth” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw two circles at the bottom-left of the tongue.










Step 31




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Backpack” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Backpack” layer under the “Colors” group. Follow the guides shown below to create the backpack highlights. try to draw it as you see, it’s very simple.










Step 32




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the Backpack. Don’t soften the highlights for the Backpack, we want it to look a bit sharper than the creature’s highlights. Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Highlights-1″ group and reduce the Opacity from 100% to 33%










Step 33




Shiny eyes are important as much as any other part we’ve done so far, it will attract most attention. Select the “Highlights-2″ group and create a new layer, and name it “EYES.” The reason for this group to be the highest over all the groups is because it should be also over the outlines. Draw 2 circles and one triangle-like shape for each eye as shown.










Step 34




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the eye guide. Now click on the layer with your right mouse button and select Layer Properties.










Step 35




To make the eyes more shiny, we will add a nice glow effect to it. In the Layer Style window that just opened, check the Outer Glow on the left. Change the Opacity to 100% and click on the yellow cubic to select a light blue color. Click OK when you’re done.










Step 36




Great! Now we’re done with the creature, cute right? It’s time to add a nice background to make our final look come together. Collapse all the layers, then select the “Background” layer. Create the next layers: “BG-Lights-2,” “BG-Lights-1,” “BG-1,” and “Background” (already there by default).










Step 37




Hide all the groups by clicking on the eye icons of each group, leave only the “Background” group visible. Select the layer “BG-1.” Hold your left mouse button on the Bucket Tool and select the Gradient Tool.










Step 38




Select a dark green color, and a light blue. Then pass a line from the bottom-left corner of the canvas to the top-right corner of the canvas.










Step 39




Select the layer “BG-Lights.” Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and use it to draw a wide box starting from the top of the canvas, we are creating thick horizontal lines. When you’re done with the first box, hold the Shift button, and draw 4 or 5 more indifferent sizes of boxes.











Step 40




Hide the “BG-1″ layer so we will be able to paint the lines with no issues. Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill the inside of the boxes with a white color. Now clicking anywhere on the canvas will do the job, as it will color all the boxes. Unhide the “BG-1″ layer again, and you should see white boxes over the green-blue background.










Step 41




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Zoom out twice, by selecting the Magnify Tool, then point your mouse on the canvas. Hold the alt key until you see a minus sign and click twice.










Step 42




Press the V button for the Pan Tool. Press Command + T for the Free Transform Tool. Enter the numbers to resize and rotate the lines into beam-like shapes using these settings: X at 300, Y at 310, W at 200, H at 140, and Angle at -35. Then press Enter to apply the changes.










Step 43




To make the tone softer we will use the Gaussian Blur again. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, then select a radius between 7.5 and 9. Change the Fill from 100% to 22%.










Step 44




We need to add another light. Select all by Pressing “Command + A” and then copy by pressing Command + C. Select the layer “BG-Lights-2″ and press Command + V to paste.





Now we need to tweak it just a bit so it will look different. Press Command + T for the Free Transform Tool and make it a bit bigger and also rotate it a bit. Just play with it by changing the numbers on top, or click on one of the tiny white squares and move them around. When you’re done click Enter to apply, then change the Fill from 100% to 35%.











Step 45




Unhide all the groups and have a look at the final result. To show you how dynamic this technique you just learn is, lets do few tweaks. Let’s quickly change the color of our character.





Select the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group. On the top menus select: Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, or press Command + U and try to scroll the default Master Hue and the Saturation sliders to the left and right to see what color you like. You can also change the RGB to get even more specific color that you want. When you’re happy with the new skin color, click OK.











Step 46




Feel free to change in the same way the rest of the parts, that’s why we separated them from each other. The more dynamic it gets the easier it is for us to tweak for our clients or directors we work with. Below is what I came out with after a few color changes.










Conclusion




Using these techniques you are able to change colors, add or replace parts on the drawing with few clicks. You don’t need to change any of the Tones or Highlights, unless you want to make something a bit darker or more shiny, and then you will only need to play with the Fill and Opacity of the layers.





Try to create your own character, start with the outlines, try to separate it into parts like we did, and follow these techniques to get the best results.








Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.






October 23, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

How to Get that Anime Look in Photoshop Using a Flexible Workflow





In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to get that smooth shiny Anime look. We’ll start with a simple character outline and build the correct hierarchy for the base colors, tones and highlights. Also, we’ll learn how to work with this “method” for later projects in case the client or director will ask for changes, it will be easy to replace colors for a specific part of the character without redrawing all the tones and highlights again! You are about to learn one of the many techniques from the Anime industry. Let’s get started!









Final Image Preview




Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.





Tutorial Details













Before We Start




Psd Plus members will find 2 files provided in this tutorial. “Creature_Start.psd,” contains only the outlines of the creature we will start to work with. “Creature_Final.psd,” contains all the final organized layers in the correct hierarchy, effects and background for you to explore.







Step 1




Load the provided “Creature_Start.psd.” You should see a cute rounded creature over a white background. Notice you will have two groups: “Outlines” and “Background.”








Step 2




We want to keep everything organized and easy to follow for our workflow. That’s why we start building the correct hierarchy for the project by making all the groups with the right names. Create those groups, and make sure to put them in the correct order, which is very important: “Highlight-2,” “Outlines,” “Highlights-1,” “Tones,” “Colors,” “Background.”










Step 3




Now it’s time to create the basic colors for our character. Select the “Colors” group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the base colors for the character: “Mouth,” “Eyes,” “Backpack,” and “Skin.”










Step 4




Select the color for the Skin, you can select ANY color that you want, but it’s recommended to choose something not too dark or too light, something in the middle so we’ll be able to see the Tones and Highlights later on.










Step 5




Before we start painting, select the Paint Bucket Tool and make sure that these three options are checked: Anti-alias, Contiguous, and All Layers. It will let us paint the area we want without painting in the same layer as the outlines, which is a very important part on any Anime production, separating outlines from the base colors and other layers. Open the “Outlines” group, Hide the “Mouth” and “Eyes” layers. Now all you can see is the character with the backpack.










Step 6




Painting the Skin is very easy. Make sure that you choose the “Skin” layer inside the “Colors” group Now use the Paint Bucket Tool and paint inside the character’s body.










Step 7




Painting the Backpack is a bit more advanced then just one color like the skin. Make sure that you choose the “Backpack” layer inside the Colors group. We will use a color split into three, light, medium, and dark. You can choose any color that you wish, in this case I chose purple.





We won’t focus on light theories in this tutorial because we want to learn the main technique of compositing a character, so let’s keep it simple and easy to understand. The light color will come from above, the medium from the side, and the dark on the front. The following image shows you the way you should do that, split into sections.










Step 8




Painting the mouth is simple. First check the “Mouth” layer inside the “Outlines” group. Now that you can see the mouth, make sure that you choose the “Mouth” layer inside the “Colors” group. We will use two colors, I chose something between red and pink for the tongue and black for the inside mouth.










Step 9




Painting the eyes is also simple, but we will have to draw a guide for the main eyeball. First check the “Eyes” layer inside the “Outlines” group to make it visible. Make sure that you choose the “Skin” layer inside the “Colors” group. Select the Paint Brush tool with 3 pixels size.










Step 10




We will use three different colors: White (not pure white, but a bit darker), Yellow, and Darker Yellow. Feel free to choose any colors that you want, but for the white part of the eye I highly recommended to never go with pure white for eyes or teeth because the pure white will take it’s part on the Highlights, we will focus on that later on.





Start with a rounded line for the white part of the eye. Do the same for both eyes. Remember, you can draw a bit under the outlines, it’s just like a safety net to make sure your line doesn’t shave too closed gaps. If you feel comfortable, then zoom in a bit to do it.










Step 11




After we have a guide for the white part of the eye, lets continue painting the rest of the eyes. Select the Paint Bucket Tool, and paint the White, then the (not pure white, but a bit darker), Yellow, and Darker Yellow.










Step 12




Finishing the basic colors of the eye, we don’t have to but we can add one more rounded darker sphere at the center of the darker yellow color, this will be the smallest part of the eye. Select an even darker color than the dark yellow you used, something more close to black, but give it some color so it will be more interesting with the rest of the eye. Select the Paint Brush Tool again and draw the sphere and paint it. Again, feel free to zoom in bit as that may be more comfortable.










Step 13




Now we have a completed colored character, but it looks like it’s flat and simple. So have a good look on the current colors, because we are about to give it the look of professional Anime style.










Step 14




Tones are very important part for the Anime look, there is a very complicated explanation behind it because in Anime, just like in other styles, tones won’t represent only the light expressions over a material, but it will also represent the type of the material. In this tutorial we won’t get deeper into tones, we’ll focus on how to work with tones and how easy it is to draw it thanks to our organized layers and groups hierarchy.





We will start with building the layer names in the right order just like we did earlier with the colors: Select the “Tones” group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the different tones for the character: “Tone-Mouth,” “Tone-Eyes” “Tone-Skin,” and “Tone-Backpack.”










Step 15




Now you’ll learn a new method and start to understand the reason behind our groups and layer hierarchy. Our first tone will be for the skin. Select the “Tone-Skin” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group.










Step 16




You will notice that the character’s skin area is now selected. That means we are able to draw only inside this specific area. Select the Brush Tool with the size of 3 pixels, and select black for the color. Start to draw around the shape guide for the rounded creature’s body. Then one line under each foot.










Step 17




Select the Eraser Tool and erase the line that crossed over the creature’s hand.










Step 18




Add tones for the hands in a shape of water drops. Also, add three small triangle-like shapes: two above the eyebrows, and one under the mouth.










Step 19




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guides we just created.










Step 20




Use Gaussian Blur to make the tone softer (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select a low radius – something between 1.2 to 2.5 and see what you like most.










Step 21




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Mouth” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Mouth” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw a line at the top part of the tongue.










Step 22




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the tongue. Then make the tone softer by using the Gaussian Blur again (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select the same radius that you used for the skin.










Step 23




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Eyes” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Eyes” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw the shape of the original eyes inside of each circle and a line on the top near the eyebrow.










Step 24




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the eyes. Then make the tone softer by using the Gaussian Blur again (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and select the same radius that you used for the skin.










Step 25




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tone-Backpack” layer under the “Tones” group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Backpack” layer under the “Colors” group. Follow the guides shown below to create the backpack tone. Try to draw it as you see, it’s very simple.










Step 26




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the Backpack. This time, don’t soften the tone for the Backpack, we want it to look a bit sharper than the creature’s tone. Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Tones” group and reduce the Opacity from 100% to 30%










Step 27




Just like the tones, The highlights are a very important part for the Anime look. There is a complicated explanation behind it because in the Anime just like in other styles highlights won’t represent only the light expressions over a material, but it will also represent the type of the material, in this tutorial we won’t get deeper into highlights, we’ll try to focus on how to work with highlights and how easy it is to draw it thanks to our organized layers and groups hierarchy.





Start with building the layer names in the right order, just like we did earlier with the colors. Select the “Highlights-1″ group, then create all the layers we are about to use as the different highlights for the character” “Mouth,” “Skin,” and “Backpack.”










Step 28




Select the “Mouth”” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group. You will notice that the character’s skin area is now selected. Select the Brush Tool with the size of 3 pixels, and select white for the color. Start three wave lines at the top of the character’s head.










Step 29




Now add the little circle shapes on the hands, legs, and one under the mouth (lips area) to complete the highlights for the skin. Fill everything with the a white color. Then to make the highlight smoother, use Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and use a lower radius, something between 0.7 to 1.2 will be enough.











Step 30




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Mouth” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Mouth” layer under the “Colors” group. Draw two circles at the bottom-left of the tongue.










Step 31




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Backpack” layer under the “Highlights-1″ group. Hold the Control button and click on the thumbnail of the “Backpack” layer under the “Colors” group. Follow the guides shown below to create the backpack highlights. try to draw it as you see, it’s very simple.










Step 32




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the guide for the Backpack. Don’t soften the highlights for the Backpack, we want it to look a bit sharper than the creature’s highlights. Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Select the “Highlights-1″ group and reduce the Opacity from 100% to 33%










Step 33




Shiny eyes are important as much as any other part we’ve done so far, it will attract most attention. Select the “Highlights-2″ group and create a new layer, and name it “EYES.” The reason for this group to be the highest over all the groups is because it should be also over the outlines. Draw 2 circles and one triangle-like shape for each eye as shown.










Step 34




Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill inside the eye guide. Now click on the layer with your right mouse button and select Layer Properties.










Step 35




To make the eyes more shiny, we will add a nice glow effect to it. In the Layer Style window that just opened, check the Outer Glow on the left. Change the Opacity to 100% and click on the yellow cubic to select a light blue color. Click OK when you’re done.










Step 36




Great! Now we’re done with the creature, cute right? It’s time to add a nice background to make our final look come together. Collapse all the layers, then select the “Background” layer. Create the next layers: “BG-Lights-2,” “BG-Lights-1,” “BG-1,” and “Background” (already there by default).










Step 37




Hide all the groups by clicking on the eye icons of each group, leave only the “Background” group visible. Select the layer “BG-1.” Hold your left mouse button on the Bucket Tool and select the Gradient Tool.










Step 38




Select a dark green color, and a light blue. Then pass a line from the bottom-left corner of the canvas to the top-right corner of the canvas.










Step 39




Select the layer “BG-Lights.” Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and use it to draw a wide box starting from the top of the canvas, we are creating thick horizontal lines. When you’re done with the first box, hold the Shift button, and draw 4 or 5 more indifferent sizes of boxes.











Step 40




Hide the “BG-1″ layer so we will be able to paint the lines with no issues. Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill the inside of the boxes with a white color. Now clicking anywhere on the canvas will do the job, as it will color all the boxes. Unhide the “BG-1″ layer again, and you should see white boxes over the green-blue background.










Step 41




Press Command + D to deselect the current selection. Zoom out twice, by selecting the Magnify Tool, then point your mouse on the canvas. Hold the alt key until you see a minus sign and click twice.










Step 42




Press the V button for the Pan Tool. Press Command + T for the Free Transform Tool. Enter the numbers to resize and rotate the lines into beam-like shapes using these settings: X at 300, Y at 310, W at 200, H at 140, and Angle at -35. Then press Enter to apply the changes.










Step 43




To make the tone softer we will use the Gaussian Blur again. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, then select a radius between 7.5 and 9. Change the Fill from 100% to 22%.










Step 44




We need to add another light. Select all by Pressing “Command + A” and then copy by pressing Command + C. Select the layer “BG-Lights-2″ and press Command + V to paste.





Now we need to tweak it just a bit so it will look different. Press Command + T for the Free Transform Tool and make it a bit bigger and also rotate it a bit. Just play with it by changing the numbers on top, or click on one of the tiny white squares and move them around. When you’re done click Enter to apply, then change the Fill from 100% to 35%.











Step 45




Unhide all the groups and have a look at the final result. To show you how dynamic this technique you just learn is, lets do few tweaks. Let’s quickly change the color of our character.





Select the “Skin” layer under the “Colors” group. On the top menus select: Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, or press Command + U and try to scroll the default Master Hue and the Saturation sliders to the left and right to see what color you like. You can also change the RGB to get even more specific color that you want. When you’re happy with the new skin color, click OK.











Step 46




Feel free to change in the same way the rest of the parts, that’s why we separated them from each other. The more dynamic it gets the easier it is for us to tweak for our clients or directors we work with. Below is what I came out with after a few color changes.










Conclusion




Using these techniques you are able to change colors, add or replace parts on the drawing with few clicks. You don’t need to change any of the Tones or Highlights, unless you want to make something a bit darker or more shiny, and then you will only need to play with the Fill and Opacity of the layers.





Try to create your own character, start with the outlines, try to separate it into parts like we did, and follow these techniques to get the best results.








Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.






October 23, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Next Page →