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Beginner Tutorial: Easy Clock Icon on Illustrator

marcos333 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:16:51 +0000

Hi everyone, today we're going to do a really simple exercise on creating this slick clock icon on Adobe Illustrator. If you're beginning in using this software, well this tutorial will be very suitable for you, so let's begin!

Just a little reminder: this is a beginner tutorial, even though some of you are really skilled with Adobe Illustrator, I would recommend to take the time to read this as you can get some insights and ideas out from this tutorial. Please comment If you have any questions, problems or doubts, have fun!

Step 1

Let's open Illustrator and make a 15 x 21 cm canvas. Using the ellipse tool (L) and make a ellipse on the center of the canvas.

Let's fill it with a radial beige gradient.

Then duplicate it using the selection tool + alt or by just pressing command + c / command + v (ctrl + c / ctrl + v). Enlarge it proportionally by holding shift + selection tool. Now apply a metallic linear gradient over it.

Make another ellipse using the same gradient, but this time change the gradient direction to give the sensation of depth.

Make a circle inside the beige one, adjust the stroke to about 90 pt or more, it need to cover the whole circle. Then access the strokes panel and set a dashed line with 9,3 pt of dash, then go to the transparency panel and choose the blending mode to Soft light.

Make a semi circle by using a circle and a square in the middle of it, select both and use the pathfinder option called Minus front, that must give you a semi circle. After that go to the gradient panel and make a white gradient with 0% of opacity on one of the sides. Then duplicate your semi circle and flip it to the other side.

Let's make some golden dots to indicate the hours. Use some golden radial gradient on it, duplicate and adjust the position by using the align panel.

Duplicate the first four and then make a rotation. Do it twice till you got the twelve hours of the clock on the desired position.

I decided to simplify and use a common serif font (Capitals), let's make a classic hard shadow effect. First make the number using a grey color. Then duplicate it and put a white color copy over it.

Step 2

Let's make another fading gradient, this time using black on one of the extremities. We're going to make this ellipse and fill it with this radial gradient.

Let's create other ellipse on the top of this shadow using the ellipse tool (L) , let's add a red radial gradient on it

The second arrow can be achieved by using the pen tool (P), just remember to create ellipse on the bottom of it and blend both using the pathfinder option called Unite.

Using the ellipse tool (L) make the minutes pointer, adjust the vector points using the direct selection tool (A). Add a grey gradient, adjust the darker area to be next to the ellipse, so it will look like a shadow.

Duplicate the previous shape, re-size it so it can fit inside the pointer and then add some golden gradient on it.

Duplicate the big pointer and send it to back. Use a dark grey fill on it then go to Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 7,4 pixels.

Repeat the same procedures on the other pointer.

Step 3

Let's make the legs, first make a rectangle and rotate it a bit on the bottom of the clock, don't forget to send it to back.

Make another rectangle and adjust the two vector points of the bottom using the direct selection tool (A).

Make a ellipse on the extremity.

Add some grey metallic gradient on both three, make sure they're all in the same direction.

You can also add some shadows over it by making a rectangle with a black fading gradient and then using the blending mode called Multiply, quite easy.

Let's make a shadow bellow the clock, use the ellipse tool (L) to make a grey to white gradient.

Step 4

Let's make the bells, first make ellipse and add a gradient with the darkest part on the top.

Create a rounded rectangle, click on the icon to adjust the corner radius, set it to 1 cm.

Now make a rectangle crossing on the middle of it, then go to the pathfinder panel and choose the option called Minus front.

Adjust the remain piece and choose a metallic gradient to put over it.

Make a little rectangle on the top of the rounded shape an then a bigger rectangle over it. You should be pretty cautious while trying to create the gradient for the clock pin, so it should look like it has some sort of slots to adjust, so make a complex gradient.

Okay now we just need the ring breaker, this should be piece of cake. Using the pen tool (P), make a shape then just duplicate it and reflect to the other side.

Final Result

Download the Illustrator File

Click here to download the Illustrator file used for this tutorial.

About the author

My name is Marcos Torres, I'm Graphic Artist from Porto Alegre, Brasil. You can get to know more about me by acessing my Personal Website or by following me on Twitter: @marcos333. You can also see some of my last projects at my Flickr.

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Easy Camera Icon in Fireworks

abduzeedo — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:23:19 +0000

A few weeks ago I decided to create a camera icon. Usually I would do that in Illustrator or Photoshop, however as I use Fireworks pretty much most of my time I chose to create the icon using it. The cool thing about Fireworks is that you have the vector features found in Illustrator with bitmaps features found in Photoshop, especially layer style filters.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a camera icon in Fireworks. I will focus on the lens pretty much, but as you will see, to create a realistic effect it's all about playing with gradients.

Reference

The first thing to do is always find some references so we can learn about lighting, shadows and texture. For my icon I wanted to recreate the Sigma DP2s.

Step 1

Open Fireworks and start a new document. I am using 1024x1024 pixels. You can do the same using Illustrator or Photoshop. After that with the Ellipse Tool (U) create a circle.

Step 2

Start creating more circles following the photo as references.

Step 3

Now it's time to create the small circles that will be the lens. When you see those lens they look quite complex but if you analyze it's quite simple to recreate that, it's all about circles.

Step 4

Now we have all the circles necessary to create the lens. As you can see we are just playing with black outlines and no color.

Step 5

With the Rounded Rectangle tool create the body of the camera. After that click on the yellow controller to change the type of the corner.

Step 6

Now let's start making the lens looks more realistic. Select the bigger circle and apply a gradient. Use the Cone type with grey and black for the color. Use the image below for reference.

Step 7

Now for the second circle just use black for the color with #333 for the stroke.

Step 8

For the third circle use #1B1C1C for the color and #333 for the stroke.

Step 9

Use black color for the next with the same stroke color. The for the other one use the same as the third to alternate the colors.

Step 10

For the next 4 circles use #1B1C1C for the color with #333 for the stroke. The 5th you use black for the color. After that use #999 for the stroke of the 6th. We need some highlight to the center part. The add other 3 circles like the image below, with the last one using a linear gradient.

Step 11

For the circle in the very center fill it with black. As you can see in the image below, until now we haven't done anything much fancy or difficult, it was just repetition.

Step 12

Now add 4 new circles in the center of the document. The big one in purple (1), then another one in dark/green yellow (2), one in the very center smaller in light yellow (3) and another one in green (4). Use the image below for reference. Also change the Edge Type to Feather with 3pt.

Step 13

Add 2 new circles one bigger and another smaller. The go to Modify>Ungroup. Then with the Subselection Tool (A) edit the circles to make them look more like an ellipse. Change the Fill color to Linear Gradient and use #728EA6 for the color but with 100% transparency in the beginning and 0% at the end. Make sure the total transparent part is towards the center of the lens.

Step 14

Add an ellipse to use as a mask. That's important to create the refleciton in the lens.

Step 15

Cut the ellipse and start selecting the colored circles. Celect the dark yellow one and go to Edit>Past as Mask.

Step 16

Repeat the same thing for the other circles. Now for the big reflection select the circle like I did in the image below and copy. Select the big gradient ellipse and go to Edit>Paste as Mask. Do the same for the other small gradient ellipse.

Step 17

Now lets add some effects on the body of the camera. We had the rounded retangle. To add a little bit of 3D effect just add two rectangles one at the bottom and one at the top. Apply a gradient on them so the left and right edges are transparent.

Step 18

Add 2 new rectangles on the right and left edges of the camera. Then apply a gradient using white for the color but with 100% transparent at the beginning and end and 0% transparency in the middle. That will add a nice round 3D effect.

Step 19

Move the lens on top of the body. You can add more effects like shadows and elements.

Step 20

Here are other parts of the camera I created. They are basic rectangles with gradients and different sizes. They look very basic but when you put them to together you ger a very realistic effect.

Conclusion

Select all layers but the ones in the center of the lens. The go to the Add Filters button on the Properties panel. Click and select Noise>Add Noise. Use 2 Amount, that will give a nice texture to the camera.

As you could see in this sort of walkthrough/tutorial, create the camera and the lens was quite simple, however you have to go all the way till the end in order to get the result you want, otherwise you want be able to see how simple colors and gradients when together can create a nice effect.

Step by Step

Download Fireworks File

Click here to download the Fireworks file used for this tutorial

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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Easy 3D Globe in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:57:25 +0000

A few weeks ago a friend of mine wanted to know how to create a sort of 3D globe effect using Photoshop. I didn't know how to do that but I got really intrigued with that, so I decided to give it a try. I knew that the Spherize would work in this case but didn't know how.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice 3D globe in Photoshop using basic tools and the Spherize filter. This whole tutorial won't take more than 30 minutes but the technique is really useful especially for icons and logos.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and then with the Rectangle Tool (U) create a rectangle, then start duplicating it until you get 7 columns. Use the Distribute Horizontal Centers to make the distances the same. After that duplicate those 7 rectangles and rotate them to create a grid.

Step 2

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) create a circle selection like the one I did in the image below.

Step 3

Go to Filter>Distort>Spherize. Use 100% for the Amount and Normal for the Mode.

Step 4

Cut the selection and paste it in order to get the front face of the globe.

Step 5

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Apply a gradient from dark red to light blue in linear mode. You can try with Radial as well.

Step 6

Duplicate the layer and rotate it 45º Also change the gradient colors to light red on top and dark blue at the bottom. This will create a really nice 3D effect and it's super simple.

Step 7

Select the background layer and go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Use (#aa616b) and (#2c354d) for the colors, Radial for the Style and 140% for the Scale. Position the center of the gradient a little bit on top of the center of the globe. To do that just click and hold to move the gradient position while you are in the Gradient Overlay properties.

Step 8

Select the two globe layers and duplicate them. After that go to Layer>Merge Layers. You will have one layer with the globe. Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Color Overlay. Use black for the color. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the radius. Then just resize it and change the opacity to 20%. to create a nice shadow effect.

Step 9

Select the front face of the globe and edit the Layer Styles. Click then on Inner Shadow and use white for the color, Color Dodge for the Blend Mode at 60% Opacity. Also change the Angle to 100%, Distance to 3 pixesl and Size to 7 pixels.

Step 10

After the Inner Shadow you will get a nice light effect in your globe.

Step 11

Select all layers and duplicate them. After that go to Layer>Merge Layers to have one layer with all the image merged. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius.

Step 12

Change the Blend Mode to Overlay and you will get a really nice light effect.

Conclusion

Now just add the text you want and also you can apply a texture on top. I am using a scanline pattern I created. The whole idea of this tutorial was showing how to create a nice 3D globe using only Photoshop, it's a nice technique for logos and icons and it's super simple to achieve.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

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Stylish Metallic Button in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 06:30:37 +0000

Last Saturday I was checking Dribbble for some inspiration when I came across this beautiful design created by a Portuguese designer called Emanuel Sa. It was an icon with some beautiful metal effects, so I decided to learn how to do that in Photoshop.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice metallic button using Layer Styles in Photoshop.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document, the size I am using is 2560x1440 pixels because it's a nice HD wallpaper size. After that with the Ellipse Tool (U), create a circle in black.

Step 2

Create another circle, smaller and align both in the center of the document, after that, create a marquee selection of the smaller circle. To do that is super simple, just hold the Command (MAC)/ Control (PC) key and click on the thumb of the layer of the circle.

Step 3

Select the big circle and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection. You will have a nice ring ready to add some chrome effects.

Step 4

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Color Overlay. Use a dark grey for the color.

Step 5

Select Bevel and Emboss, then for the values use Inner Bevel for the Style, 550% for the Depth, 32 pixels for the Size, 2 pixesl for the Soften, 100º for the Angle, 30º for the Altitude. Also change the Gloss Contour for the one I am using in the image below as well as the values for the Highlight and Shadow mode.

Step 6

Select Inner Glow and use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode, 75% for the Opacity, white for the color. Then for the Choke use 0% and the Size 6 pixels.

Step 7

Select Drop Shadow and use the values below, make sure that the angle is 90º and that you didn't mark Use Global light.

Step 8

Create a black circle in the middle and then add another one a little smaller to create the center part of the button

Step 9

With the small circle of the center selected, go to Layer>Layer Style> Gradient Overlay. Use Normal for the Blend Mode, 100% for the Opacity, and for the Gradient use a dark grey to black and Linear. Also for the Angle use 90º and Scale it to 75%.

Step 10

Select Bevel and Emboss. Use Inner Bevel for the Style, 80% for the Depth, 3 pixels for the Size and 0 for the Soften. For the Shading options use the image below.

Step 11

Add another circle using the Ellipse Tool (U), the with the Direct Selection Tool (A) edit the points and also with the Pen Tool (P) add 2 points and delete other 2 that were the horizontal center ones. The image below shows how this shape will look like.

Step 12

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Use Screen for the Blend Mode use Screen. For the Opacity use 100% and for the Gradient use white and black for the colors, for the Angle use 90º and for the Scale use 140%.

Step 13

Here is the final result of our button/badge. Now it's time to add your logo. I used the Abduzeedo symbol I created in Illustrator and pasted in Photoshop so I could apply some layer styles.

Step 14

With the logo selected go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Use the image below for values and the gradient colors. Then apply a bevel and emboss.

Step 15

Here is the final result of our logo with the metal symbol.

Step 16

Let's create a nice texture for the background, to do that just select the background layer and go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Use 5% for the Amount, Gaussian for the Distribution and select Monochromatic.

Step 17

Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use 0º for the Angle and 20 pixels for the Distance.

Step 18

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode, 100% for the Opacity, black and white for the gradient color, Radial for the Style and 90º for the Angle.

Conclusion

As you could see the whole process was super simple, we just played with Layer Styles to create an amazing metal effect in Photoshop. This effect is perfect for icons or if you want to create a logo for an automobile company! Now it's all about practicing and trying different variations.

Version 2

Just playing with some light effects to create a nice Start button.

Download the Photoshop File

Download the Photoshop file used for this tutorials

About the author

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Sweet Minimalist Designs by Celeste Prevost

marcos333 — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:45:25 +0000

I think one of the most common problems that graphic Designers have with clients is that most of the time clients tend to think that the more detailed a project is, the better he will become. This happen with all type of projects, from illustrations to identities. However, we know that sometimes less is more and that was what I've seen on Celeste Prevost works.

Every designer who use's a Macintosh is probably a great fan of Apple's identity, well known for it's minimalism and simplicity. I must admit that I felt the same felling when I looked at Celeste Prevost's Identities, icons and illustrations, they're are so simple, but at the same time so effective and recognizable. If you want to see more of her works, please access her website.

The Shoppe

K.I.D. Collective

MIMA Summit

Green Spark

Haagen Dazs Blender

Fresh Simple

Hand of God

Typeface is available for free via MyFonts.

About the author

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Radar Icon in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:27:31 +0000

A few weeks ago I showed you how to create a Mac style icon using Photoshop. It was a radar one inspired by the Network Utility icon. As I like to play with all tools I decided to give it a try in Pixelmator as well.

So, in this tutorial I will show you how to create a beautiful Mac style icon using Pixelmator. I will show you how to create some bevels and light effects that are very characteristic of these icons.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document, I'm using 1024x1024 pixels. After that fill the background with a dark grey and add some noise using black for the background. Once you have the background with the Ellipse Marquee Tool (M) create circle and fill it with a 50% grey.

Step 2

Duplicate the circle and then go to Edit>Free Transform and resize it so it's slightly smaller. After that go to Edit>Load Selection to create a marquee selection of the smaller circle.

Step 3

Select the big circle with the marquee selection active and hit the Delete key to delete that area of the big circle. If you hide the small one you will have a result like the image below.

Step 4

Duplicate the grey border we created in the previous step and change the Blending to Screen in order to make it lighter.

Step 5

Duplicate the border again and fill it with black then, there are 2 ways to do that, once is using the Paint Bucket Tool (N) and the second one, which I prefer is to go to Filter>Color>False Color. Then just make sure that you have black as the background color before applying this filter.

After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the amount. Then move it down a little bit. Use the image below for reference.

Step 6

Duplicate the grey border again and use the fake color filter but this time to convert it to white. Then go again to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 again for the amount. After that resize it a little bit in order to make it a slightly smaller.

Another thing you will have to do here is this, add a new layer and fill it with black, this layer will be beneath the white border. After that merge the two layers and change the blending of the merged layer to Linear Dodge.

Step 7

Group all layers used to create the metallic border. After that create another circle that will be the center of our radar. Use black for the color and it will be beneath the border group.

Step 8

Go to View>Show Gradient. Create a new gradient preset and then use radial for the type and for the colors use black and #926007 for the center color.

Step 9

Duplicate the black circle in the center and resize it in order to make it slightly smaller. After that go to Edit>Load Selection. Then with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the circle with the gradient where the center will be at the bottom of the circle. Use the image below for reference.

Step 10

Add a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) and with a very soft brush and #926007 for the color paint a light spot on top of the center of the circle with gradient. Notice that the circle marquee selection is still active.

Step 11

Add a new layer on top of the previous two layers. Now with the Brush Tool (B) and still with the same very soft round brush, use black to paint on the sides of the circle in order to create some depth.

Step 12

Add a new layer then fill with black. With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a thin rectangle and fill it with white in order to create a line.

Step 13

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 2 for the Radius. After that change the Blending to Color Dodge. You will get a really nice light effect. Duplicate this layer and rotate it 90º.

Step 14

Duplicate both layers and apply more gaussian blur to them in order to create a glow.

Step 15

Duplicate the black circle that we created in the step 7 then change its order so it is on top of the others. After that resize it so it will be much smaller like the image below. To create the light effect is very simple. The circle will be black already so go to Edit>Stroke. Use a inner stroke of 3 in white. After that change the Blending of the layer to Color Dodge and apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 or 3 for the radius. You can also duplicate this layer and apply more blur to create the same glow as we did in the previous step.

Step 16

Repeat the same thing we did in the previous step to add another white stroke circle.

Step 17

Add a new layer and fill it with Black. Notice this layer will be on top of the others but beneath the metallic border. After that with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft and round brush create some white spots.

Step 18

Change the Blending to Color Dodge and you will have a super cool light effect.

Step 19

Add a new layer and with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a rectangular selection and fill it with black, after that create a thinner rectangular selection over the black area and fill it with white. Change the Blending to Color Dodge and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 for the radius. After that just go to Edit>Free Transform and rotate it 45º, then align it as I did in the image below.

Step 20

In order to create a sort of ghost tracking light effect for that rectangle as it is rotating let's use the Gradient Tool (G). Create a new gradient preset using Angle for the type and black and white for the colors. Once you have the gradient preset, add a new layer and create a circle the same size as the radar center one. Then fill this circle with the gradient we created. Rotate it so the white part is exactly over the rotating bar.

Step 21

Add a new layer on top of the other radar elements but beneath the border. Then create an elliptical selection of the center circle, just select the center circle and go to Edit>Load Selection. After that select the new layer and then with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) change the type to ellipse and then holding ALT create another selection a little bit below the center of the previous selection. Use the image below for reference.

Step 22

Fill the selection with white and reduce the opacity to 10% and you have created a nice glossy effect.

Conclusion

Select all the layers used to create the center area of the radar and duplicate them, after that merge the duplicated layers into one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the radius and then change the Blending to Screen at 50% Opacity. That will increase the glowing effect.

As you can see, we created a very Mac style icon using Pixelmator only. We didn't have any specific filter for bevels but there's always ways to overcome that. Now it's up to you.

Download the Pixelmator File

Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

About the author

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Radar Icon in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 02:22:25 +0000

We have received quite a few emails with requests about some icon design tutorials in Photoshop. I'm not an icon designer per se however I love icons and really admire guys that are good at that, including my friend Everaldo Coelho, currently working at Apple and great inspiration, including for this tutorial.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a Mac style radar icon in Photoshop. This could be done easily in Fireworks and in Illustrator, I am also thinking about doing that to practice more.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document, the one I'm using is 1024x1024 pixels. Also I added the linen background I created in one of my previous tutorials just to make it more stylish.

Step 2

With the Ellipse Tool (U) create a circle in the center of the document. You can create it with 500x500 pixels or depending the size of icon you want.

Step 3

Duplicate that circle and then resize it in order to create a sort of inner circle, the idea is create a border for our icon. Once you resized it click with the right button of the mouse over the icon of the layer in the Layers Panel and select "Select Pixel" in order to create a marquee selection of that area.

Step 4

Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide selection.

Step 5

To create the effect of a metallic border let's use Layer Styles. So go to Layer>Layer Styles>Drop Shadow. Then follow the values of the image below. You will use Inner Shadow, Bevel and Emboss and Color Overlay

Step 6

Here is the effect you will get after the layer styles.

Step 7

Add another circle using the Ellipse Tool (U). This one will be in black and will be in the center of the metallic border.

Step 8

Duplicate the circle and resize it so it's slightly smaller than the black circle, then go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. For the colors use #7a5511 for the light brown and #180f00 for the dark. For the other values use the image below.

Step 9

Add a new layer over the the circle with the gradient and then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Now with the Brush Tool (B) paint using a very soft brush with #7a5511for the color right on top of the circle (1). Also add a new layer an paint again with the same color but with 5% opacity over the metallic border to create a brown reflection.

Step 10

Add a folder in the layers palette and change the blend mode of this folder to Color Dodge. Also mask this layer using the inner circle area for reference. Then using the Rectangle Tool (U) create a very thin line in white, make sure it's inside the folder with color dodge. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use .5 pixels for the Radius. After that change the Opacity to 70%. Duplicate this line and rotate it 90º. You will have a result like the image below.

Step 11

With the Ellipse Tool (U) add a circle in the middle of the radar, the color here won't matter because we will use layer styles to change it.

Step 12

For this circle the first thing to do is change the Fill Opacity to 0, then add a Outer Glow, Inner Shadow and Stroke. For the values use the image below.

Step 13

Here is the result you will get with after the layer styles.

Step 14

Now add a new layer inside the folder with color dodge and the with the Brush Tool (B) and white for the color paint a couple white spots. Because of the color dodge and the soft brush the circles will have a really nice light effect.

Step 15

Add more elements in order to make it look more realistic.

Step 16

Create a new rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (U) and then rotate it 45º. This rectangle will be also inside the folder with color dodge that we created it the step 10.

Step 17

Now with the Pen Tool (P) create a shape that covers the area from of one quadrant plus the 45º of the rectangle we created in the previous step.

Step 18

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Blending Options. Change the Fill Opacity to 0 and then go to Gradient Overlay. Use Angle for the Style 50º angle and 55% Opacity also take a look at how I set up the gradient colors.

Step 19

This is the result you will have after the layer styles.

Step 20

Repeat the same thing we did in the step 2-4 and create another circle to use as border. This border will be between the glass of the radar and the black circle, it's the green one in the image below.

Step 21

Now let's apply more Layer Styes to add a more metallic look to our design. Use the image below for the values.

Step 22

Below you can see the look of the border after the layer styles.

Step 23

Now create a circle with the same diameter of the one that has the radar elements, then apply a Gradient Overlay on it using white for the start and end colors but the different opacities, like 0 for the start and 100 for the end. After that resize it a little bit horizontally only. Then using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) create an selection like the image below and hide that area of the selection with laery mask (Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection).

Step 24

Select all the layers used to create the radar interface including the circles with gradient overlay. After that duplicate them and merge the duplicated layers into a layer. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 pixels for the Radius. Change the opacity of this layer to Screen at 50%.

The idea of this layer is to increase the glowing effect.

Step 25

With the Eraser Tool (E), delete the areas that are dark in the radar interface to increase to contrast.

Conclusion

As you can see the whole idea of this tutorial was show you how to create a Mac style icon in Photoshop using basic tool and filters. You can even use more non-destructive features like smart objects in order to make it easier to resize.

Green Version

You can create different color schemes using the Hue and Saturation. To do that just go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation or Layer>New Adjustment Layer.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

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Interview: Everaldo Coelho

fabiano — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:35:40 +0000

Everaldo Coellho is one of the most talented icon designers out there, since the very first time I saw the Crystal icons I became a huge fan and even more when I found out that he was Brazilian. Everaldo has been working with icon and UI design for almost a decade now and after founding and running his own design studio he decided that it was necessary to go a little further and joined the Apple Design Team.

Fabio got the chance to meet him in San Francisco last October and they talked about all sorts of things, design and non-design related, now I want to share with you this really insightful interview with Everaldo.

Also, don't forget to visit: http://www.everaldo.com and http://yellowicon.com.

Fabio and Everaldo, in San Francisco

Can you start by telling us a little bit about your training/education, where you studied, what courses you took, or if you're self-taught?

I am passionate about humanities. From early on I liked psychology, especially psychoanalysis. I also started to study theology, but didn't complete the course. I have a bachelor's degree in communication and design that was given to me based on my work experience, I never took any kind of design class as a student. I took several short courses and workshops, but not an actual college program in the area. I don't believe in being self-taught, but I think that might be what most people would refer to me as. I read a lot, and every day. For me, a formal university education is extremely important, but I think what's more important than receiving training is containing that information. Unfortunately the two do not always go together.

The Crystal project is what gave you worldwide recognition, right? Did you begin this project?

Yes, Crystal was my first serious project in interface design. The project itself started very simply, actually not even as a project. All I wanted was just to customize my own desktop. In 2000 I familiarized myself with Linux and soon after in 2001 I got a job in the marketing department of Conectiva (now Mandriva). This was the time when the world was getting to know Windows XP and Mac OS X refurbished with their icons with more colors and transparencies. Linux was still using icons reminiscent of Windows 95. It was then that I started drawing the icons. The guys at Conectiva liked them and motivated me to continue the project which I named Crystal. They later became the default KDE icons, which at that time was the most popular graphical interface for Linux.

I believe that we would make better products if we spent more time reading Freud, Lacan, Piaget, Yung, Cury, and other great psychologists. Unfortunately even the few designers who devote some attention to this still prefer reading more shallow literature. At the end of the day we design products for people.

And what about Icon Design, did that project emerge from Crystal? Tell us a little about that story.

In 1999 I got my first official job as a children's book illustrator under the publishing company Dom Bosco in Curitiba. There I was introduced to a PC for the first time and one of my first questions was, "how do I change this yellow icon?" I was referring to the Windows 95 folder icon. Later "yellow icon" became the name of my studio. Anyway, I already "played" with icons before but it was really with Crystal that it became serious work.

You say that you rely heavily on philosopher Protagoras' quote: "The human being as the measure of all things". What is the idea that you from this phrase to your life and work?

I consider myself a humanist and this quote from Protagoras accurately reflects this philosophy. Designers and developers rely too much on aesthetics, codes, jargons and fashion movements. They waste too much time reading books about design, web, languages, graphics software, and all that is really important. What worries me, however, is that they don't give the same attention to understanding humans. I believe that we would make better products if we spent more time reading Freud, Lacan, Piaget, Yung, Cury, and other great psychologists. Unfortunately even the few designers who devote some attention to this still prefer reading more shallow literature. At the end of the day we design products for people. Understanding their feelings, emotions, conflicts, ambiguities is, and should be, the basis of our work. Otherwise we are just making decorative design and not creating experiences.

What is your working method for an icons project? Do you start with a few freehand sketches? Which programs do you use the most?

The most important part of an icon is the metaphor, and finding an appropriate metaphor is naturally the first step. In part of this, psychoanalysis, semiotics and sociology are extremely useful knowledge. UI/UX is all about projecting emotions. The next step is to create a simple sketch. We used to do it with pencil on paper or in Adobe Illustrator, but now Yellow bought iPads for all the designers and we use Adobe Ideas for that. After we reach a conceptual idea, a preview is sent to the client and once approved we go to the final render. Usually we do the icons in vector on Illustrator and touch up on Photoshop. Recently I've been testing out designing the actual vectors directly on Photoshop, but I'm not sure this is a good method. I have also tested the Sketch on Pixelmator but it is still early to say what I think :)

And your daily routine, do you tend to get up early, sleep late, do any sports? How do you organize other actives together with work during the week?

I lived in London for a few months, I returned to Brazil for a few, and now I'm moving to California (I'm doing this interview on the plane). I'm also leaving Yellowicon to join the team of designers from Apple. Because of all these changes, my daily routine is, let's say, "messy". I was doing weight training until three months ago and now I intend to start back up again in San Francisco. I need to lose weight :D

The most important part of an icon is the metaphor, and finding an appropriate metaphor is naturally the first step. In part of this, psychoanalysis, semiotics and sociology are extremely useful knowledge. UI/UX is all about projecting emotions.

We know of other great artists who work with icons, like John Hicks. Do you like his work? And what are other designers that you admire?

John Hicks does a fantastic job, I'm a fan of his. There are also many others, but I prefer to avoid naming names as you run the risk of being unfair. Yellowicon has some of the best designers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and now at Apple I've met some truly fantastic guys as well. I'm also impressed with a few Russian designers I've seen on Dribble. Actually, what is happening in Russia? These guys are amazing! :)

What were some of your most rewarding work? Either by company size or final result.

At Yellowicon I worked with many companies of various flavors, shapes, and sizes around the world. They were wonderful experiences but I don't necessarily have a favorite job. I really liked the Yogurt app that was a personal project of mine with Eduardo Fonseca from A&D. Unfortunately the limitations of the Orkut API and a few of Apple don't allow us to make the app that I wanted to. I have a special affection for Orkut, it was through it that I met my fiancee. I also really love the iPhone. So this project was really fun to do.

And plans for the future, any new project to be launched?

I have three apps for iOS projected for development, but now with all this moving I don't know when it will be released. The guys at Yellowicon are working on the new studio site. The current is about four years old and no longer reflects the time nor the current portfolio of the studio.

And finally, are you happy with your work and what you do? And how important is this in your life?

I love my job a lot! I feel like a truly blessed guy to do what I like and still get paid for it. I try to give things the value that they deserve. I'm not young anymore and after awhile you learn that the things that truly have value in life are not in fact things at all.

About the author

I'm from Brazil, co-founder of Zee with Fabio. Nowadays I like to play with Fireworks, Photoshop and improve my skills in CSS. If you wanna request some posts, please feel free to contact me or follow on Twitter.

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Real Apple Logo in Photoshop

guest — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:07:17 +0000

In this case study/icon tutorial Edward Sanchez will share with us the creative process behind one of his personal projects, a really cool icon called the Real Apple Logo. The image mixes real photography with the Apple logo in Photoshop to create this super cool icon.

I'm not quire sure why I never thought of doing this before. And I certainly never saw it done by anyone.

Step 1

I started by getting a vector version of the logo so I could make a shape layer on photoshop.

Step 2

Then I found a photo of an Apple to use as my base.

Step 3

Using the liquify tool I morphed the Apple close to the shape of the logo.

Step 4

In order to give it an ultra realistic feel to it, I adjusted the saturation, removed the original glow, and used smart blur and the clone tool to only keep the most prominent details of the apple. Then I masked it into the shape of the logo.

Step 5

With the brush tool I added highlights and shadows to the shape to accentuate the volume.

Step 6

I morphed the leaf with the liquify tool to make it come close to the original logo shape. I found that if I was 100% faithful to the shape it just looked too fake, so I retained some of the original leaf shape.

Step 7

Now the actual bite!

I found a picture of a bitten apple and masked it into this hand drawn shape. I also added a bit of a shadow around it and inside it to give it some contour and depth.

Step 8

Finally I added the floor shadow and voila!

Step 9

Here are my layers… I like to keep my highlights in separate layers so I can control individual opacity as well as the filter.

Conclusion

Here is the final result. You can share your opinions by leaving a comment or visiting my Dribbble profile.

About the Author

Edward Sanchez is a UI designer founder of Kohive.com. Born in Brazil to a Spanish father he moved to London when he was 18 and lived there for 10 years. He has recently relocated to Silicon Valley to start at new position.

New Quicktime Icon in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:48:40 +0000

Apple is about to release their new version of Mac OS X, code-named as Snow Leopard. With this new release there will be a totally new version of Quicktime. One thing that is really cool is the new icon for the app. Because of that I decided to play a bit with Photoshop to reproduce the effect.

Step 1

Open a new document in Photoshop, I used 512x512 pixels. Then start adding some guides using squares for references. They will be useful to create the circles. With the Ellipse Tool (U) create a circle.

Step 2

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use Normal for the Blend Mode, and for the colors use #242e3c for the dark and #b4c1d4 for the light. Also change the Angle to 90º.

Step 3

After the gradient overlay, select Stroke. Then change the Size to 1 pixel and for the Fill Type use Gradient. For the colors use #7f8a98 for the dark and #e9f1f4 for the light. Also use 90º for the angle. The light colors will be at the top.

Step 4

Click on Bevel and Emboss. For the Style use Inner Bevel. For the Technique use Smooth, for the Depth use 20%, for the Size use 45 pixels, for the Soften use 15 pixels. Now for the Shading use -90º for the Angle, 65º for the Altitude, then for the Highlight Mode use Color Dodge, with white and 100% opacity and for the Shadow Mode use black, Multiply and 100% opacity as well.

Step 5

That's the effect you will have after the Layer Styles.

Step 6

Again with the Ellipse Tool (U) add create another circle. Then click over the Layer Palettes, click with the right button of the mouse over the big circle layer and select Copy Layer Style. The click on the new circle layer click with the right button again and select Paste Layer Style.

Step 7

Over the Gradient Overlay, change the colors a bit, make them darker and add another spot of color. Use the image below for reference.

Step 8

Select Inner Shadow. For the Blend Mode use Multiply, for the Opacity use 55%. For the Distance and Choke use 0 pixels, then for the Size use 6 pixels.

Step 9

Now for the Stroke, the colors will change a little bit, we will add some transparencies. Use the image below for reference. And look how I added a 0% opacity right in the middle of the color scheme.

Step 10

Now this is is the effect you will have after the layer styles. Now it's time to add another circle.

Step 11

Once again with the Ellipse Tool (U) add another circle that will be the glossy part of the icon.

Step 12

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use a dark blue and a light blue for the colors. Then for the Style use Linear, and 90º angle. Use the image below for reference.

Step 13

Select Inner Glow. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay. For the Opacity use 75% and black for the color. Also change the Choke to 0% and the Size to 18 pixels.

Step 14

Now add a Drop Shadow. Change the Blend Mode to Multiply, and the Opacity to 75%. Also change the Angle to -90º, the Distance to 4 pixels, and 10 pixels for Size.

Step 15

This is the effect you will have after the layer styles.

Step 16

With the Ellipse Tool (U) create an ellipse using white for the color, also change the opacity to 30%.

Step 17

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) create an ellipse like the image below, then with the white ellipse layer selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 30 pixels for the Radius.

Step 19

Add another circle, now more at the top of the middle part. Then apply a Gradient Overlay through Layer Styles. For the colors use white and white, and change the opacities to 0 and 100%. Also the Angle use 90º and the Style Radial. Move the gradient a bit to the top like the image below.

Step 20

Click holding Command (mac) or Control (PC) over the Vector Mask thumb in the layer palette. That will create a marquee selection. Then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Now select just the layer mask and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 2 pixels for the Radius. That will soften the edges of the effect.

Step 21

Create a new ellipse again, now at the top of the icon. Then holding Command (mac) or Control (PC) click on the thumb of the big ellipse. That will create a marquee selection of the whole circle. After that, again holding command or control but now with Alt, click on the middle ellipse. That will subtract that area from the marquee selection. Then just go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Step 22

Now apply the same Gradient Overlay we applied in the step 19. Just change a little bit of the presets, like in the image below.

Step 23

Duplicate the layer for the top highlight and with the marquee selections still active, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 30 pixels for the Radius. After that change the Opacity to 80%.

Conclusion

For this tutorial we basically used the Ellipse Tool, with Layer Styles and a few blurs. It's all about playing with gradients, shadows and strokes. You can even try different colors for the middle part instead of the blue scheme. The best thing when trying to recreate existing icons is that you learn quite a few new ways to create effects.

Other Versions

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

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Time Machine Icon in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:41:09 +0000

Last week I got sometime to study a bit of icon design, specially the Mac OS X icons. Among all Leopard icons the one that I like the most is the Time Machine one, it's really beautiful and the idea is very clever as well.

With that icon in mind, I sort of challenged myself and I decided to recreate it in Photoshop to see how some of those effects work and, perhaps, start creating some icons as well.

After a couple of hours I had gotten a satisfactory result, I think. So I decided to teach my girlfriend how to create the icon. Well, she stopped on the third step :). But I still think it’s a very useful tutorial.

UPDATE: I think the tutorial will be published this week on PSDTUTS.

icon.jpg