Simple Underwater Scene in Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a underwater scene with some bubbles and light effects. We will use the Brush Tool to create the bubbles and basic tools and filters for the rest of the effects. The whole process won’t take more than 45 minutes and as usual you can download the Photoshop file in the end of the tutorial.

Creating Retro Folded Typography

In this Photoshop tutorial, we’re going to create retro-looking text that seems like it’s constructed using folded strips of paper. We’re going to step away from the computer a little bit and use a real model as a reference for our project.

How to Create a Photo Realistic Camera

In this tutorial we will demonstrate a powerful combination of vector shapes, layer styles, and manual drawing to create a photorealistic camera. So realistic you’ll think it’s just an ordinary photo.

Making a Book of Magical Playground Scene

This tutorial will show how to create a fantasy book scene. We will be using various advanced Photoshop techniques to make the composition as realistic as possible.

3D Water Text Effect with Repoussé in Photoshop CS5

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a water text. Even though it might look complex it’s a very simple effect. We will be using the new Repoussé then some stock photos to create the effect.

Elegant 3D Text Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create an elegant 3D Text effect using simple the shape tool, layer styles and paths.

Design a Multimedia Website Layout in Photoshop

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use photos, brushes, and textures, and 3D objects to design a creative multimedia website layout in Photoshop.

Hexagon Bokeh Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a digital bokeh effect with hexagons. We will use the brush engine, patterns, blend modes and basic filters to achieve this effect.

3D Layered Text Effect

In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a 3D text effect using actions, basic transform operations and filters.

Design a Multimedia Website Layout in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a isometric microchip icon using basic drawing tools and transformations.

Create a Distressed Vector Typographic Poster Design

Starting with custom made type in Illustrator, we’ll move our vector graphics into Photoshop for some serious distressing with Photoshop brushes, blending modes and more!

The Creation of “Lost in Memory” Epic Fantasy Artwork

In this tutorial, you’ll learn the the steps taken to create this epic Fantasy Style artwork “Lost in Memory” in Photoshop. It’s a combination of a meteor effect, some matte-painting tricks plus lighting effect in this tutorial.

Create Abstract Fake 3D Objects in Photoshop

This tutorial will demonstrate how we can use the Pen tool to create abstract vector shapes that form into a beautiful piece of fake 3D artwork.

Create a Sleek and Stylish MP3 Player

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a sleek, stylish, and simple MP3 interface in Photoshop to play audio files for your Flash projects.

Create a Photo Realistic USB Cable

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to draw a photo realistic USB cable using Photoshop’s pen tool.

Vintage Camera Brushes

Vintage Grunge

Vintage Anatomy Set 1

Old Brushes

Vintage Postcards Set 1

Old Brushes

Old Paper Brushes IV

vintage brushes

Vintage Script Brush Sampler

Vintage News Ad Brushes

Vintage Images + Ephmera

Steampunk PS Brushes

Old Ephemera

Postage label brush set

The Vintage Effect-brushes

Book Ornaments Brushes 3

Old Paper Brushes 2

vintage polaroid brushes

Old Letter

vintage wash ps actions (10 actions)

Vintage II – PS Actions (6 actions)

Old Photo

Photoshop Action 11

Vintage Colors (8 actions)

Victorian PS Action

Vintage Photo Action

Vintage Effect (6 actions)

Vintage meets lomo

Vintage Actions (2 actions)

photoshop actions – 63 (6 actions)

photoshop actions – 133 (12 actions)

photoshop actions – 136 (4 actions)

Slightly Vintage (3 actions)

photoshop actions – 41 (4 actions)

photoshop actions – 38 (8 actions)

Lith Print Action

Vintage

Photo Manipulation

Creative Photoshop Animal King Photo Manipulation Tutorial

How to Mold Paint Splatter to a Face in Photoshop

Creating a Spy Fly Photo Manipulation

How to Create a Fantasy Landscape Photo Manipulation

Photo Manipulate a Falling Angel

Text Effects

How to Create 3D Text Blocks in Photoshop

Awesome Milk Typography Effect in Photoshop

Create Destructive Black and White Lettering with a Dramatic Splash Effect

How to Create Stunning and Bold 3D Text

Web Design

How to Create a Clean Web 2.0 Style Web Design in Photoshop

Design a Beautiful Website From Scratch

How to Create a Unique Colorful Site Layout

Create a Magic Night Themed Web Design from Scratch in Photoshop

Icon Design

Design a Stylish Mail Icon in Photoshop

Create a Leather-Textured, Realistic Briefcase Icon

How to Create a Basic House Icon in Photoshop

Create a Magnifying Glass Icon in Photoshop CS4

Retro and Vintage Effects

Create Vintage Traveler Diary in Photoshop

Create A Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop

Super Cool Retro Poster in 10 Steps in Photoshop

Lighting Effects

How to make a Typographic, Retro, Space Face

Very Easy Heroes Eclipse in Photoshop

Create a Trendy Galactic Poster Design in Photoshop

Enabling Photoshop to Do More

Out of the box, Photoshop is a robust graphics package with a powerful set of tools that enable designers to work their magic and create visually stunning web designs. In a typical web site creation workflow, when the design process is finished, so is Photoshop’s role. However, if you’re using SiteGrinder 2, Photoshop becomes a fully functional web page building solution. It’s a plugin that makes the transition from design to code seamless.

SiteGrinder 2 also ensures that the integrity of the design is maintained. This is so important for designers. Often times in a typical web site creation process, important aspects of a design have to be omitted because they require complex coding. SiteGrinder 2 makes sure that your design will look just as good in the browser as it does in Photoshop.

The main aspect of SiteGrinder 2 that designers will love the most is the fact that no coding knowledge is required. All of the code is generated by the plugin and it happens behind the scenes. And if you are the programming type, SiteGrinder 2 is going to be a huge time saver. There’s no longer a need to switch to Dreamweaver or TextMate after your design is finished. SiteGrinder 2 does all of the coding for you, leaving you more time to tweak your design.

So How Does it Work?

This explanation of how SiteGrinder 2 works is going to be short, because it’s such a simple process. It’s all about how you name your layers in Photoshop. The plugin requires special “hints” that tell it what each layer should be. For example, if you have a button in your design, just add “-button” to the end of its layer name, or “-rollover” to define its rollover state. Of course, for some designers this will mean actually being organized with their layer naming and overall PSD structure, but this is something that web designers should get in the habit of doing anyway. Plus the time saved by using this plugin makes it a non-issue. These hints are also used to create more complex web site elements, such as drop down menus, forms, multi-media content and more.

Basic or Pro

SiteGrinder 2 comes in two flavors: Basic and Pro. The right version for you will really depend on the functionality requirements of your sites. The Basic version gives you all the standard features, but does limit you to using solid color backgrounds. Going Pro will give you more options for background images and the added ability to easily create photo galleries, include Flash media, and add forms to your pages.

When products come along that claim to make difficult and complex tasks “push button” easy, it’s natural to be skeptical. However after using SiteGrinder 2, I’m convinced that this is a powerful plugin that can make a web designer’s job much easier.

Visit the official SitGrinder 2 site to learn more about this product.

Here’s what we’ll be creating. Click on the image for a full preview.

Step 1

Create a new canvas in Photoshop, we’ll be working on a 250 x 180 mm sized canvas in RGB mode at 300 dpi. This is important because the values for filters that work on pixel sizes will need to be amended if you’re working on a different sized canvas.

Step 2

In Photoshop select the Gradient Tool (circled) and click the Gradient Editor (circled) on the Options Bar (Window > Options) to edit the gradient. Change the two colour values as in the screen grab, you’ll need to click the little colour tab and the rectangle marked ‘Color’. Enter the two values in the field marked ‘#’ in the Color window that pops up. Change to a Radial gradient in the Options bar and draw from the center outwards.

Step 3

Select the Horizontal Type Tool and a font you want to use. I’ve gone with a classic, if not overused, sans serif font called Avant Garde. I then did a version using Century (a serif font), which worked a lot better.

Type in SHINY and then go to Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay and set up as in the Photoshop screen grab.

Then add a Stroke and an Inner Shadow layer style to the text using the screen grabs as guides.

It’s also worth mentioning that I had to reduce the Kerning in the ‘N’ and the ‘Y’ to even out the spacing.

Step 4

Create a new layer beneath SHINY, then select both SHINY and the new layer and go to Layer > Merge Layers. This will cause Photoshop to rasterize both the text and the Layer Styles so that we can build more Layer Styles on top. There’s possibly a better way to do this though simply rasterizing the text layer will not do this, not in CS2 anyway.

Then add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style as shown in the screen grab.

Repeat the layer merging process and add another Gradient Overlay (with the black and 50% black). Once again, repeat the merge process so there are no editable Layer Styles left on your text.

Your text should look something like the screen grab.

Step 5

Duplicate SHINY (Layer > Duplicate Layer) and apply an 8 pixel Gaussian Blur filter (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to the copy. Make sure the original is above it in the Layers palette.

Step 6

Duplicate SHINY (the un-blurred layer) and go to Filter Blur > Radial Blur. Set it to Zoom, Best quality and apply at 100%. Set start point to be centered at the bottom in relation to your text.

Step 7

The zoom isn’t quite the right size for our needs. Go to Edit > Free Transform to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Hold shift whilst manipulating the corner points to constrain the aspect ratio.

Then add a Smart Sharpen (Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen). Add a Layer Mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) and erase the parts you don’t need using the Eraser Tool as set up in the screen grab. Rename this layer ZOOM_BLUR.

Step 8

Duplicate ZOOM_BLUR and set the copy’s Layer Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 9

CTRL+Click on ZOOM_BLUR’s Layer thumbnail (not the Mask thumbnail), this will create a selection from it. Then go to Select > Inverse Selection.

Create a new layer beneath ZOOM_BLUR and call it FILL_LIGHT and fill it with White.

Apply the same Gradient Layer Style (don’t do the Inner Shadow or Stroke) as you did for the text in Step 3.

Create a Layer Mask and use the Eraser Tool to delete any unwanted areas. I find you get better results by reducing the Opacity of The Eraser Brush to around 30% and repeatedly chipping away at the mask so it blends. Use the screen grab as a guide.

Finally, reduce the Layer’s Opacity to 50% and move it below SHINY in the Layers Palette.

Step 10

Select the Line Tool. Set it to Shape Layers on the Options Bar, with an 8 pixel Weight. Draw in a white Line. Use Rectangular Marquee Tool to mark off a rectangle spanning the length of the line you just made.

Select the Paintbrush Tool and set up a big soft-edged brush. Take the Flow down to 21 and start to draw in some glow, making more passes over the edge that connects with the line. Use the Screen Grab as a guide.

Select this layer and the line layer and merge them. Rename this layer TWINKLE and apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) as in the screen grab.

Step 11

Use the Eraser Tool (set up as in the screen grab) to delete the hard edges.

Duplicate TWINKLE and move it parallel. Duplicate it again and use the Free Transform Tool to rotate (90 degrees), resize and reposition.

Step 12

Create a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and set up as in the grab.

Try and center the flare so all the elements line up on top of each other.

Adjust the Levels (Image > Adjustments > Levels) to knock out unwanted glow and increase the center. Then go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

Select your four associated layers (TWINKLE and its two duplicates and the lens flare) and group them, call the group STAR.

Step 13

Use the Free Transform Tool to rotate, resize and reposition the star. Make duplicates of the STAR group and rotate, resize and reposition. As each element of the STAR group is on its own layer you can tweak each part of the star until you’re happy.

Create a new layer beneath all your STAR groups and call it GLOW. Select the Brush Tool and set up as in the screen grab, then draw some extra glow behind each star picking a brush size to match.

Step 14

Group all your image layers (except the background) together and call it SHINY. Duplicate this group and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Create a Layer Mask for the group (Select the Group and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) and use the Gradient Tool, set to Linear with white and black colours to mask off the bottom, creating a reflect effect. Reduce the Layer Opacity to around 50%.

Step 15

Now go grab your favourite old paper textures. These ones from bittbox are pretty good. I used paper2.jpg, pasted it into the document and moved it to the top of the layer palette. Change the Layer Blend Mode to Multiply.

It looks too dark currently so go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels, check the box marked ‘Use Previous Layer To Make Clipping Mask’ and set up as in the screen grab. To increase the texture, duplicate the paper layer, desaturate and set it’s layer Blend Mode to Hard Light. Drop the layers Opacity down to 58%.

Step 16

Select ALL of your layers and merge them together. Put this new layer at the top of the layers palette (we’ll keep the originals just in case). Duplicate this layer and desaturate it.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Invert. Apply a 40 pixel Gaussian Blur, turn the layer Blend mode to Overlay. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer >Levels) as in the screen grab.

Step 17

Go to Mode > Grayscale. Select Flatten in the pop-up window. Then go to Mode > Bitmap and follow the screen grabs to deal with the Bitmap and Halftone Screen pop-up windows.

Once it has been applied, select the entire canvas and load it onto the clipboard (CTRL+C). Go to your History palette (Window > History) and click back to just before you changed to Grayscale Mode. Then paste the copied bitmap layer and move it to the top of the Layers palette.

Select the Magic Wand Tool and un-check the Contiguous box on the Options bar. Use the wand to select any patch of white on the bitmap layer, then delete all the white.

Step 18

Change the bitmap layers blending mode to Soft Light and it’s opacity to 80%. Then tweak the opacities of your other three final layers as shown in the screen grab. These should be your merged art layer, the copy which was desaturated, inverted & blurred and the Levels Adjustment layer. The copied art layer should also be set to Overlay.

Conclusion

That’s mostly it… But if you want to get proper old then head over to Deviantart.com or brusheezy.com and get yourself some dirty/grunge brushes and paint in a final layer of scuffs and dirt. Don’t use white but a creamy off-white such as #ddc8b3 as your foreground colour. This will add to the aged feel. It’s worth creating a new layer to draw on and experiment with your brushes.

WDL Premium members can download the source Photoshop file below.

Download the Photoshop source file

About the Author

James Davies writes tutorials for various magazines and websites when he’s not designing gig posters, t-shirts, catalogs, magazines, etc.

How to Create a 3D Text Photo Manipulation

Let’s Make a Playful Yet Robust 3D Letter Design

Awesome Milk Typography Effect in Photoshop

Create a Dream Design with 3D Typography

How to Create High Quality Metal 3D Text in Photoshop

Create a 3D Flowery Text Effect

How to Create Stunning and Bold 3D Text

Text effects

Create a Spectacular Flaming Meteor Effect on Text

Create 3-D text with some extreme lighting

How to Quickly Create a Stylish Retro Text Effect

How to Create an Ice-cold Poster with 3D Text

Design Soft Stylized 3D Type

Create a 3D Text Scene Using Photoshop

3D Text On Fire

3D text effect – 2009

Design a Slick 3D Ice Text Effect

Create a Spectacular Style Text Effect

Hell of Tutorial in Photoshop

Create a Spectacular Grass Text Effect in Photoshop

Glowing and sparkling intense light 3d logo

Here’s the end result of this tutorial.

Step 1

We’ll create this at 300dpi so set up a canvas that’s 750×750 pixels at 300dpi. It’s also better to work in RGB as you get more control over the colour output and more options within Photoshop itself. With your canvas open, select the Pen Tool and set it to Shape Layers in the Options bar (Window > Options if it’s not visible). Use this tool to draw in your basic character shape, at this stage don’t worry about colour.

Step 2

Once you’ve drawn a basic shape it’s time to add colour so select your Body Shape Layer and go to Layer > Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay. Set up a 2-colour gradient inputting 4c7812 and aed82c in the field marked ‘#’ in the Color Picker window. Your gradient should look similar to the screen grabs.

Step 3

Select the Ellipse Tool and make sure it’s set to Shape Layers (Use the Options bar to do this). Select White as your foreground colour and draw an ellipse as your eyeball. Draw a smaller black circle for a pupil (hold the SHIFT key whilst you draw – this will constrain a perfect aspect ratio). Then use the Pen Tool to draw a small white triangle over the pupil. If you need to change the colour of any of your shape layers then simply double-click the corresponding colour icon on the Layers palette. Finally, select the EYEBALL layer and go to Layer > Layer Styles > Inner Shadow and set up as in the screen grab.

Step 4

Select all of your eye layers in the Layers Palette and click the Folder icon at the bottom of the palette to group them. Name the Group LEFT_EYE. Then select the Move Tool from the Tools palette, hold down the ALT key and drag the group across the canvas to create a duplicate. Name the duplicate group RIGHT_EYE. The eyes don’t quite fit the perspective of the body so with the RIGHT_EYE group selected go to Edit > Free Transform and resize and rotate to 94.5% size and 6.0 degrees.

Step 5

The mouth is easy enough. Select the Pen Tool and set it to Shape Layers. Click one point and then hold the SHIFT key and draw a point to the right of the first one. Holding SHIFT will force the point to be drawn within increments of 45degrees from the last point drawn. In this case we want a horizontal line. Then pick somewhere between the two points but lower down and click and drag to create a curve. Then click the original point (the open end) to close the path. You can edit any of these points by using the Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow not the black) and dragging the points or their handles. You can also resize by using the Free Transform Tool. Draw in two teeth over the mouth.

Step 6

Select the Paintbrush Tool and edit the options to create a 16 Pixel brush with 100% Hardness. Set the foreground colour to 213600. Select the Pen Tool and set it to Paths. Create two new layers (Layer > New Layer) and call one LEFT_ARM and one RIGHT_ARM. Make sure that LEFT_ARM is positioned above BODY in the Layers palette. RIGHT_ARM should be below BODY. Draw a left arm with the Pen Tool, select LEFT_ARM layer and open the Paths palette. Click the little arrow at the top right of the palette to bring down the drop down menu. Select Stroke Path. Repeat the process for the RIGHT_ARM layer.

Step 7

Repeat the process to draw in some legs. Bear in mind that the legs should be thicker so I opted for a 26 pixel brush to Stroke Path with. Booger Man should be taking shape by now.

Step 8

The hands are a little trickier. Select the Pen Tool and set it to Shape Layers. Draw a curve point (click and drag downwards until the handles appear) at the base of the wrist. Then draw another curve point opposite, dragging the handles roughly the same distance. Draw a curve point where the thumb would meet the fingers of a clenched fist. Then press and hold the ALT key, click the point again and drag a new handle as shown in the screen grab. Holding ALT and clicking a point splits it’s handles so you can move them independently of each other. You’ll need to use this technique again at the base of the thumb. Use the Direct selection Tool to manipulate the points, their handles and generally clean it up. Duplicate the hand and call the duplicate RIGHT_HAND. Use Free Transform to rotate and resize until they are in perspective.

Step 9

Use the Pen Tool to draw in a shoe. Set Black as your foreground colour and draw as in the screen grab. Use the Direct Selection Tool to clean up and perfect your shoe. Once done, duplicate, rename, rotate and resize so it fits your perspective.

Step 10

Lets add another layer of depth by adding more shading to the body. Select BODY layer and go to Layer > Layer Styles > Inner Shadow. Firstly, deselect Use Global Light and then set up as in the screen grab. I used colour #527e14 for the shadow. I had to move the left arm a bit to accommodate the new shadow.

Step 11

Add as much depth as you like. I’ve drawn in some shine on the shoes and a Tongue using the Pen Tool. I’ve also drawn in some spots using the Ellipse tool before resizing and rotating them with the Free Transform tool. Once your character is complete you can move all the elements around to fine tune your character. You can also resize and rotate things until you are happy.

Download the Photoshop Source File

About the Author

James Davies writes tutorials for various magazines and websites when he’s not designing gig posters, t-shirts, catalogs, magazines, etc.