Step 1

Create a 700 by 700px, RGB document. First, turn on the Grid (View > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Next, you’ll need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, enter 5 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box.

You can also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Do not forget to replace the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Unit > General. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

Step 2

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 355 by 100px shape and fill it with R=245, G=243, B=238. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the bottom, left anchor point and move it 30 px to the right. Move to the bottom, right anchor point, select it and move it 20px to the left. Now, you need to add some roundness for bottom anchor points. The Round Any Corner script will come in handy for this. You can find it in the Vectortuts+ article 20 Free and Useful Adobe Illustrator Scripts.

Save it to your hard drive and grab the Direct Selection Tool (A). Select the bottom, left anchor points and go to File > Scripts > Other Script. Open the Round Any Corner Script, enter a 70px Radius and click OK. Move to the left anchor point, select it and go to File > Scripts > Other Script. Open the Round Any Corner Script, enter a 80px Radius and click OK. In the end your shape should look like the third image shown.

Step 3

Reselect the shape made in the previous step and go to the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance). Select the existing fill and click on the Duplicate Selected Item button from the bottom of the Appearance panel. Obviously, this will add a copy of the selected fill. Select this new fill and use the linear gradient shown below.

The yellow zero from the gradient image stands for Opacity percentage. Return to the Appearance panel and add a stroke. Make it 2pt wide, align it to inside and set the colors at R=255, G=255, B=255 (white).

Select it and click again on the Duplicate Selected Item button. Select the new added stroke, make it 1pt wide and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180. Return to the white stroke, select it from the Appearance panel and lower its Opacity to 85%.

Step 4

Pick the Pen Tool (P), draw two horizontal paths (345px long) and place them as shown in the first image. The Snap to Grid will ease your work. Add a 1pt stroke for both paths and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180, and then go to the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke). First, check the Round Cap button from the Cap section. Next, check the Dashed Line box and then enter 3pt in the dash box, and 4pt in the gap line.

Step 5

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 190 by 50px shape and fill it with white. Place it as shown in the first image, then go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points. Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top anchor point and move it 20px to the left.

Move down to the next anchor point, select it and move it 10px up. Finally, select the bottom, left anchor point and move it 15px to the left. In the end your new shape should look like the third image shown.

Step 6

Select the shape created in the previous step and go to the Appearance panel. Select the existing fill and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Continue adding a stroke. Make it 2pt wide, align it to the inside and set the colors at R=255, G=255, B=255.

Select this white stroke and click again on the Duplicate Selected Item button. Select this second stroke, make it 1pt wide and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180. Return to the white stroke, select it from the Appearance panel, and lower its Opacity to 85%.

Step 7

Pick the Pen Tool (P) and draw a simple path like the one shown in the following image. Fill it with none and add a dashed stroke like you did in the forth step.

Step 8

Select the two shapes created in the last three steps and group them (Command + G). Select this group and send it to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 9

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 205 by 160px shape. Fill it with R=0, G=169, B=211, lower its Opacity to 30%, and place it as shown in the first image.

Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the bottom, left anchor point and move it 35px to the left. Pick the Add Anchor Point Tool(+), focus on the left side of this new shape and add a new anchor point, as shown in the second image.

Step 10

Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top, left anchor point and move it 15px down and 70px to the left. Select the anchor points added in the previous step and move it 70px down and 10px to the left. In the end your shape should look like the second image shown. Select it and go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points.

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Pick the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C) and add some roundness for the four anchor points highlighted in the second image. In the end your shape should look roughly like the third image.

Step 11

Re-enable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Again, you will need the Round Any Corner script. Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the three anchor points highlighted in the first image and go to File > Scripts > Other Script. Open the Round Any Corner Script, enter a 5px Radius and click OK.

Step 12

Reselect the shape edited in the previous step and raise its Opacity to 100%. Pick the Pen Tool (P) and draw two oblique paths as shown in the first image. Once again, the Snap to Grid will ease your work. Add a 1pt, black stroke for these two paths so that you can distinguish them from the rest of the shapes.

Select them, along with the blue shape, and group them. Make a copy of this group (Command + C > Command + F) and make it invisible. Move this invisible group somewhere in the bottom of the Layers panel. You will need it later. Return to the visible group, select it and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. This will create a group with three blue shapes. Ungroup it (Shift + Command + G).

Step 13

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + ” ). Let’s focus on the shapes created in the previous step. Start with the bottom. Select it and make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F). Select the top copy and hit the right arrow six times and the up arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its Opacity to 30%.

Step 14

Move up to the next blue shape. Replace the existing color with R=116, G=204, B=229, then make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F). Select the top copy and hit the right arrow five times and the up arrow four times. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its Opacity to 40%.

Step 15

Move up to the top blue shape. Replace the existing color with R=185, G=229, B=251. Now make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F). Select the top copy and hit the up arrow three times. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 16

Return to the bottom, blue shape and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -5px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape and make a copy in front (Command + C > Command + F). Select this copy and hit the left arrow 10 times, then reselect both shapes and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its Opacity to 5%.

Step 17

Move up to the next blue shape and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Again, enter a -5px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape and make a copy in front (Command + C > Command + F). Select this copy and hit the left arrow and the down arrow 10 times. Reselect both shapes and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its opacity to 10%.

Step 18

Move up to the top, blue shape, and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Once again, enter a -5px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape and make a copy in front (Command + C > Command + F). Select this copy and hit the down arrow 10 times. Reselect both shapes and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with white and lower its Opacity to 20%.

Step 19

Return to the bottom, blue shape. Select it, add two new fills and use the linear gradients shown below. Go to the Appearance panel, select the second fill and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 20

Move up to the next blue shape. Select it, add two new fills and use the linear gradients shown below. Go to the Appearance panel, select the second fill and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 21

Move up to the top blue shape. Select it, add two new fills and use the linear gradients shown below. Go to the Appearance panel, select the second fill and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 22

Go to the Layers panel and find the invisible group created in the twelfth step. Make it visible and bring it to front (Shift + Command + Right Bracket key). Select the two oblique paths, go to the Appearance panel and replace the black with R=0, G=133, B=172.

Select the large, blue shape, replace the blue with white and bring it to front (Shift + Command + Right Bracket key). Now, select this white shape, along with the two obliques paths, and go to the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency). Open the fly-out menu and click on Make Opacity Mask. In the end, your group should look like the fourth image shown.

Step 23

Re-enable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). For the following step you will need a grid every 0.3px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid. Then enter 0.3 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 3 by 3px shape, and fill it with R=128, G=130, B=133.

Continue with the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a second shape. Make it 3px wide and 0.6px tall. Now fill it with R=230, G=231, B=232, and place it as shown in the first image. Select these two rectangles, go to Object > Blend > Make, and then go to Object > Blend > Blend Options.

Select Specified Steps from the Spacing drop down menu, enter 15 in the box and click OK. In the end, your blend should look like the second image. Reselect the Rectangle Tool (M) and create three new shapes (3px wide and 0.3px tall). Fill them with the colors shown below, then place them as shown in the third image.

Step 24

Open the Brushes panel. Select all the shapes created in the previous step and group them (Command + G). Select this new group, open the fly-out menu of the Brushes panel, and click on New Brush.

Check the Pattern Brush button and click OK. This will open a new window where you can set the properties for your new pattern brush. Follow the data shown below, name it Pattern Brush 1, and click OK. Have a look in your Brushes panel and you’ll find your first pattern brush.

Step 25

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, then enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 260 by 100px shape, and place it as shown below. Fill it with none, add the pattern brush created in the previous step, and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 55px radius and click OK.

Continue with the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 290 by 110px shape, and place it as shown in the second image. Fill it with none, add the pattern brush, and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 60px radius and click OK. Reselect both rectangles, group them (Command + G), and send them to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 26

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 135 by 135px shape, and place it as shown in the first image. Fill it with none and add a 7pt stroke. Align it to inside and set its colors at R=235, G=230, B=222, and then go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -52px Offset and click OK.

Select the resulting shape, remove the stroke, fill it with R=210, G=199, B=180, and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -8.75px Offset and click OK. Fill the resulting shape with R=166, G=157, B=128.

Step 27

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Reselect the largest circle created in the previous step and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the resulting shape and make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F).

Select the top copy, hit the down arrow, and the left arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting group of shapes with R=245, G=243, B=238.

Step 28

Reselect the shape created in the previous step (the expanded stroke) and go to the Appearance panel. Select the fill and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the data shown below, click OK, then add a stroke. Make it 1pt wide, align it to outside, and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 29

Re-enable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Pen Tool (P), draw a vertical path (135px tall), and place it as shown in the following image.

Add a 1pt stroke for this fresh path and set its colors to R=166, G=157, B=128. Switch to the Rectangle Tool (M), and create two 3 by 2px shapes. Fill them with R=166, G=157, B=128. Now place them as shown in the zoomed images.

Step 30

Select the three shapes created in the previous step and group them (Command + G). Select this fresh group and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 15 in the copies box, and 345 in the Angle box, then click OK.

Step 31

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid. Now enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 120 by 120px shape, and place it as shown in the first image.

Fill it with none and add a 7pt stroke. Align it to inside and set its colors at R=235, G=230, B=222. Then go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -49px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape, remove the stroke, fill it with R=210, G=199, B=180, and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -6px Offset and click OK. Fill the resulting shape with R=166, G=157, B=128.

Step 32

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Reselect the largest circle created in the previous step and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the resulting shape and make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F).

Select the top copy, hit the down arrow, and the left arrow once. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting group of shapes with R=245, G=243, B=238.

Step 33

Reselect the shape created in the previous step (the expanded stroke) and go to the Appearance panel. Select the fill and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the data shown below, click OK, then add a stroke. Make it 1pt wide, align it to outside, and set its color to R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 34

Re-enable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Pen Tool (P), draw a vertical path (120px tall), and place it as shown in the following image.

Add a 1pt stroke for this fresh path and set its colors to R=166, G=157, B=128. Switch to the Rectangle Tool (M), and create two 2 by 2px shapes. Fill them with R=166, G=157, B=128, and place them as shown in the zoomed images.

Step 35

Select the three shapes created in the previous step and group them (Command + G). Select this fresh group and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 15 in the copies box, 345 in the Angle box, and click OK.

Step 36

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Select all the shapes that make up the two wheels, and group them, then send this group to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 37

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 155 by 155px shape, and place it as shown in the following image. Fill it with none and add a 9pt stroke. Align it to inside and set its colors at R=245, G=243, B=238.

Step 38

For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Pen Tool (P), draw a vertical path (155px tall), and place it as shown in the following image.

Add a 1pt stroke for this fresh path and set its colors at R=166, G=157, B=128. Switch to the Rectangle Tool (M), and create two 3 by 3px shapes. Fill them with R=166, G=157, B=128, and place them as shown in the zoomed images.

Step 39

Select the three shapes created in the previous step and group them (Command + G). Select this fresh group and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 15 in the copies box, 345 in the Angle box, then click OK.

Step 40

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Select the shape created in the thirty-seventh step and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -60px Offset and click OK.

Select the resulting shape, remove the existing stroke, and fill it with R=245, G=243, B=238. Add a new stroke for this shape, make it 2pt wide, align it to inside and set the color at R=255, G=255, B=255. Add a second stroke for this path, make it 1pt wide, align it to inside and set the color at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 41

Select the shape made in the previous step and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -10px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape and remove the 2pt stroke. Fill it with R=255, G=218, B=205, then set the color for the 1pt stroke at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 42

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Reselect the shape created in the thirty-seventh step and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the resulting shape and make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F).

Select the top copy, hit the down arrow, and the left arrow twice. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting group of shapes with white.

Step 43

Reselect the shape created in the previous step (the expanded stroke) and go to the Appearance panel. Select the fill and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the data shown below, click OK, then add a stroke. Make it 1pt wide, align it to outside and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 44

Re-enable the Snap to Grid. Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 135 by 135px shape, and place it as shown in the following image. Fill it with none and add a 9pt stroke. Align it to inside and set its colors at R=245, G=243, B=238.

Step 45

For the following step you will need a grid every 1px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Pen Tool (P), draw a vertical path (135px tall), and place it as shown in the following image.

Add a 1pt stroke for this fresh path and set its colors at R=166, G=157, B=128. Switch to the Rectangle Tool (M), and create two 3 by 3px shapes. Fill them with R=166, G=157, B=128, and place them as shown in the zoomed images.

Step 46

Select the three shapes created in the previous step and group them (Command + G). Select this fresh group and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 15 in the copies box, 345 in the Angle box, then click OK.

Step 47

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Select the shape created in the forty-forth step and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -55px Offset and click OK.

Select the resulting shape, remove the existing stroke, and fill it with R=245, G=243, B=238. Add a new stroke for this shape, make it 2pt wide, align it to inside, and set the color at R=255, G=255, B=255. Add a second stroke for this path, make it 1pt wide, align it to inside, and set the color to R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 48

Select the shape made in the previous step and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -8px Offset and click OK. Select the resulting shape and remove the 2pt stroke. Fill it with R=255, G=218, B=205 and set the color for the 1pt stroke at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 49

Disable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Reselect the shape created in the forty-forth step and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Select the resulting shape and make two copies in front (Command + C > Command + F > Command + F).

Select the top copy, hit the down arrow, and the left arrow twice. Reselect both copies and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting group of shapes with white.

Step 50

Reselect the shape created in the previous step (the expanded stroke) and go to the Appearance panel. Select the fill and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the data shown below, click OK, then add a stroke. Make it 1pt wide, align it to outside, and set its color at R=210, G=199, B=180.

Step 51

Enable the Smart Guides (Command + U), and create two simple paths, as shown in the following image. Add a 4pt stroke for the right path and 7pt stroke for the left path. Set the color at R=128, G=130, B=133. Now go to the Stroke panel and click on the Round Cap button.

Step 52

Disable the Smart Guides (Command + U) and enable the Snap to Grid (Shift + Command + “). Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 100 by 20px shape. Fill it with R=147, G=149, B=152, and place it as shown in the following image.

Step 53

Select the shape created in the previous step, add two new fills, and use the linear gradients shown below.

Step 54

Reselect the rectangle edited in the previous step and add a 2pt, white stroke. Align it to inside, lower its Opacity to 30%, and then add a second stroke. Make it 1pt wide, align it to inside, and set the color at R=109, G=110, B=113.

Reselect the entire rectangle and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px radius, click OK, then send this shape to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 55

For the following step you will need a grid every 0.25px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 0.25 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 10 by 10px shape, and fill it with any color.

Switch to the Pen Tool (P), draw five horizontal paths (11px long), and place them as shown in the following image. Select all these paths, along with the rectangle, and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. This will create a group with six simple rectangles. Fill them with the colors shown below.

Step 56

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 10 by 10px shape, and fill it with any color. Switch to the Pen Tool (P), draw five horizontal paths (11px long), and a vertical path, then place them as shown in the following image.

Select all these paths, along with the circle, and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. This will create a group with twelve shapes. Remove the left half of this group and fill the resulting shape with the colors shown below.

Step 57

Let’s create a second pattern brush. You will need the group of shapes created in the last two steps. Select the group of shapes that make up the half circle and drag them into the Swatches panel. This will create a new pattern.

Double-click on it and name it “Right 10pt.” Select the group of shapes that make up the rectangle and go to the Brushes panel. Open the fly-out menu and click on New Brush. Check Pattern Brush and click OK. Click on the End Tile box, then move down, and select Right 10pt from the large, white box. Name it “Pattern Brush 2″ and click OK.

Step 58

Reselect the group of shapes that make up the half circle and duplicate it. Select this copy, move it a few pixels to the right, and go to the Transform panel (Window > Transform). Enter 10 in the width box and 9 in the height box. Your group copy should look like the following image.

Step 59

Reselect the group of shapes that make up the half circle and duplicate it. Select this copy, move it a few pixels to the right, and go to the Transform panel (Window > Transform). Enter 4.5 in the width box and 9 in the height box. Your group copy should look like the following image.

Step 60

Let’s create a third pattern brush. You will need the group of shapes created in the last two steps. Select the shapes that make up the half circle and turn them into a pattern. Name it Right 9pt.

Select the group of shapes that make up the rectangle and go to the Brushes panel. Open the fly-out menu and click on New Brush. Check Pattern Brush and click OK. Click on the End Tile box, then move down, and select Right 9pt. Name it Pattern Brush 3 and click OK.

Step 61

Return to “gridline every 5px grid.” Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid and enter 5 in the Gridline every box. Pick the Pen Tool (P) and draw a path like the one shown in the first image. Start drawing it at the bottom. Make a copy of this path and place it as shown in the second image. Select this copy and send it to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 62

Focus on the shapes created in the previous step. Select the one in the back, add the Pattern Brush 3, and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 40px radius and click OK. Select the front path, add the Pattern Brush 2, then go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 45px radius and click OK.

Step 63

Pick the Pen Tool (P) and draw a simple, oblique path as shown in the following image. Add a 10pt stroke. Set its colors to R=0, G=133, B=172. Now go to the Stroke panel and click on the Round Cap button. Add a second stroke. Make it 5pt wide, set the color to R=0, G=169, B=211, and click on the Round Cap button from the Stroke panel.

Add one final stroke. Make it 2pt wide, set the color at R=116, G=204, B=229, and click on the Round Cap button. Return to the 10pt stroke. Select it from the Appearance panel and go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the data shown below and click OK.

Step 64

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 250 by 45px shape. Fill it with R=147, G=149, B=152, and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A). Select the top, left anchor point, and move it 20px to the right.

Select the top, right anchor point, and move it 20px to the left. Lower the Opacity of this shape to 20 and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 18px radius and click OK.

Step 65

Pick the Ellipse Tool (L), create two 55 by 10px shapes, and two 45 by 10px shapes. Place them as shown in the first image and fill them with R=188, G=190, B=192. Select the 55 by 10px shapes and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter an 8px radius and click OK. Select the 45 by 10px shapes and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a 7px radius and click OK.

Step 66

Select the shapes created in the last two steps and group them. Select this group and send it to back (Shift + Command + Left Bracket key).

Step 67

If you prefer the pink version of the stroller here are the colors that you need to use. First the colors for the masked strokes and the bottom pink shape.

Next, the colors for the second pink shape.

And the colors for the top pink shape.

Finally, the colors for the pink handle.

Conclusion

The final image is below. We’ve reviewed how to create a a classic baby stroller illustration. If you need a cute illustration for an “it’s a boy card” or “it’s a girl” sticker, then apply this to your next baby focused project.

Step 1

Create a new document. We will start our illustration by drawing a single grape. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create an ellipse with a blue fill color (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) – this will be the basic color of the grapes.

Step 2

Now create a grape cluster by duplicating the first ellipse. You can easily duplicate the shape by holding down the Alt key and dragging the ellipse with the mouse.Then create an arbitrary contour of grape cluster by using the Tool (P). The grape cluster will be formed gradually by filling in three levels with the ellipses: the lower, the middle and the upper. Start with the lower level, arbitrarily positioning berries along the contour of the cluster.

Step 3

Determine the light source. In order to bring more volume to the grapes let’s assume that we have two light sources: direct light – the first one (1), and reflected light – the second one (2).

Step 4

Change the solid fill color of the berries to a radial gradient. Start with the berries located closest to the first light source. Fill the berries with a radial gradient from blue (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) to a light-blue color (C= 62, M= 44, Y= 27 and K= 2) then use the Gradient Tool (G) to properly arrange the colors according to the location of the light source.

Step 5

Repeat the previous step with the berries located closer to the second light source. The intensity of the second light source is less than that of the first one, so the second gradient will be darker. So fill the berries with radial gradient from blue (C= 83, M= 72, Y= 39 and K= 26) to blue (C= 68, M= 54, Y= 33 and K= 9).

Step 6

Using the previous technique, introduce the third reflected light source, fill the upper berries with a radial gradient in the upper right corner of our image. Now group up all the berries of the lower level and name the group “Level 1″.

Step 7

Create the middle and the upper layer of the berries using the same technique.

Step 8

So far, we have achieved a pretty good result, although our image requires some further editing. First, let’s fill the gaps in the cluster. With the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) change the shape of the cluster’s contour so that it doesn’t protrude out from the berries. Keep the contour selected and go to Object> Arrange> Send to Back and fill the shape with the color (C= 75, M= 74, Y= 58 and K= 76).

Step 9

Let’s get down to more personalized settings. Move the berries around to make the gaps more realistic and balanced, some berries may have to be deleted, or added.

Step 10

Adjust the gradient. Start working with the berries that don’t overlap the other ones. As these berries are the closest to the light and don’t have any shadows, they will be lighter than the others. Add a new slider in the gradient palette as shown in the figure below. Now remove the leftmost slider and drag the central slider to its place. Do not forget that our berries are grouped, so use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select them.

Step 11

Darken the shadowed berries that overlap other berries. To do this, select the left slider in the gradient palette and change its color to a darker one, increasing the value of K in the color palette. Repeat this process for the rest of the berries. This work is painstaking, but very exciting.

Step 12

We will now create abrasions and scratches on the berries. Using the Pen Tool (P) create a ‘jellybean’ shape on the surface of the berry and fill it with white. Using the Mesh Tool (U) set a grid point in the center of the created shape. Change the color of this point to (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Using the Selection Tool (V) select the shape again and change the Blending Mode to Multiply in the Transparency palette.

Step 13

Use the Pencil Tool (N) to create scratches. Adjust this tool before you start working. Double-click on the Pencil icon in the Toolbar, type the values shown in the figure below into the dialog box. Choose the color of the stroke (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Let’s start drawing scratches. Diversify the scratches by changing the transparency and stroke width.

Step 14

To give the grapes a more realistic look, put abrasions and scratches on some of the berries.

Step 15

It’s time to create some water drops on the grapes. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create an ellipse with a linear gradient from blue (C= 75, M= 62, Y= 58 and K= 8 ) to dark blue color (C= 80, M= 77, Y= 50 and K= 55). Now create another ellipse smaller than the first one with a radial gradient fill from white to blue color (C= 75, M= 62, Y= 28 and K= 8 ). Finally, create another ellipse, smaller than the second one. Set the same radial gradient fill, but change the center location. This is a very simple and effective way to create a water drop.

Step 16

There’s no such thing as two identical water drops. With the technique we used before, create a few different variants of the drop. The more variants you have, the more realistic your image will be. Position the drops on the lower part of the cluster, they can be scaled, rotated and changed in transparency depending on the illumination intensity. Name the current layer “Grape”.

Step 17

Create a new layer on top of the “Grape” layer and name it “Leaf “. Using the Pen Tool (P) create the shape of a leaf. Fill the leaf with a radial gradient consisting of three shades of green – 1 (C= 72, M= 22, Y= 100 and K= 6), 2 (C= 68, M= 7, Y= 100 and K= 0), 3 (C= 50, M= 20, Y= 100 and K= 2).

Step 18

Divide the leaf into several parts. Create five lines as shown in the figure below with the Pen Tool (P). Select all the lines and the shapes of the leaf and press the Divide button in the Pathfinder box. Ungroup the leaf elements and adjust the gradient fill of each segment with the help of the Gradient Tool (G). This operation will add realism to our image.

Step 19

Select all the segments of the leaf and go to Effect> Artistic> Sponge. Set the following values in the dialog box: Brush Size 5; Definition 8; Smoothness 1.

Step 20

Create the veins on the leaf. Using the Pen Tool (P), create the vein shape. Drag the shape into the Brushes palette, select the Art Brush you have just created in the dialogue box.

Step 21

You will now create the veins of the leaf with the Pen Tool (P). Once you have made the veins, select them and click on the Brush you made in the previous step, this will turn your lines into stylized brush strokes that should look just like veins on a leaf. Select the veins and go to Object> Expand Appearance. With the veins still selected, click Add from the Pathfinder box and then Press Expand. Fill the veins with a radial gradient consisting of four colors: 1 – Brown (C= 25, M= 68, Y= 100 and K= 13), 2 – Green (C= 41, M= 23, Y= 100 and K= 2 ) 3 – Green (C= 35, M= 20, Y= 94 and K= 1), 4 – Green (C= 37, M= 21, Y= 97 and K= 2).

Step 22

Create a stalk shape and fill it with a linear gradient consisting of three colors: 1 (C= 54, M= 50, Y= 65 and K= 27, 2 (C= 50, M= 35, Y= 65 and K= 10), 3 (C= 49, M= 15, Y= 100 and K= 1). Using the Pen Tool (P) create a stem between the leaf and branch, and fill it with the same gradient as the leaf veins.

Step 23

To add volume to veins on the leaf, take the Pen Tool (P) and create reflections of light and shadow on the veins. Use the following colors for the linear gradient reflection: 1 – (C= 23, M= 15, Y= 87 and K= 0) 2 – (C= 27, M= 17, Y= 89 and K= 0). Colors of the linear gradient shadow: 1 – (C= 36, M= 30, Y= 95 and K= 4), 2 – (C= 42, M= 43, Y= 96 and K= 15), 3 – (C= 29, M= 20, Y= 90 and K= 0).

Step 24

Using the Pen Tool (P) make a grape tendril. Create a curved line without a fill, the color of the stroke doesn’t matter at this stage.

Step 25

Create a New Art Brush. Create a shape similar to the one shown in the figure below and drag it into the Brushes palette. Apply the brush to the line created in step 24. Keeping the tendril selected, go to Object> Expand Appearance and then to Object> Path> Clean Up. Fill the shape with a linear gradient consisting of seven colors: 1 – (C= 50, M= 20, Y= 100 and K= 2), 2 – (C= 25, M= 68, Y= 99 and K= 13) 3 – (C= 41, M= 23, Y= 100 and K= 2), 4 – (C= 23, M= 15, Y= 87 and K= 0), 5 – (C= 35, M= 20, Y= 94 and K= 1), 6 – (C= 27, M= 17, Y= 89 and K= 0), 7 – (C= 38, M= 21, Y= 97 and K= 1).

Step 26

Create dimension on the grape tendril using the technique and gradients described in step 23.

Conclusion

To finish your illustration, add a soft gradient to the background. The key to making a realistic illustration is to pay close attention to the details, the human eye is great at picking up on things that don’t look right. If your illustration isn’t as ‘real’ as it could be, try looking at some reference images and adding (or even subtracting) some detail. Best wishes.

Step 1

To start off our jellyfish, I’m going to draw a Rectangle (M) across the canvas and fill it with a black to dark blue (C=100, M=100, Y=25, K=25) radial gradient. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to modify the circle ratio of the gradient and for scaling (as shown below).

Step 2

To create the initial shapes of the jellyfish body, I’m going to use the Pen Tool (P) to draw the distorted round shape as shown and use a black fill. Then go to Effects > Stylize > Inner Glow and use the options below.

Now set the shape to Blending Mode Color Dodge. This will create a translucent effect for the main body.
 

Step 3

Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the body shape and then use the Free Transform Tool (E) to decrease the size. Go into the Appearance panel and click on the “fx” button at the bottom, then go to Stylize > Outer Glow. Use the settings below and then set the shape to Blending Mode Color Dodge, with Opacity 50%.

Step 4

I’m going to add glowing and sparkling elements to our jellyfish, to give the impression it is one of those deep sea jellyfishes you often see on nature documentaries. In order to do this, I’m going to create some brushes to help me create these effects.

We’ll need two different sorts of Blend brushes. The first is created using two Rectangles (M), the first being much smaller in height than the other, but with the same width. This rectangle will be 100% Opacity. The second rectangle will be much larger and underneath the smaller and set to 0% Opacity. Both rectangles will have a black fill.

With both selected, create a Blend (Alt + Command + B). Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options and change the Spacing to Specified Distance and the value to “1pt,” then click OK.

In the Brush palette, click on New Brush and select Art Brush. I’ve changed the width to 50% and the direction of the brush as well by setting the Colorization to Tints. This will be Blend Brush 1. Click on OK when done. You can delete the shapes now as they won’t be needed.
 

Step 5

The next blend brush is created in a very similar way, however this time using Ellipses (L). The smaller circle is on top of the other, both black fill and the smaller shape is 100% Opacity with the smaller set to 0%.

Now use the same settings to create an Art Brush. This will be Blend Brush 2. Keep this blend for another brush later on.
 

Step 6

Now we’ll use our Blend Brushes to add features to our jellyfish. You often see four rings on the top of a jellyfish, I’m guessing they might be some sort of organs or veins, let’s regard them as rings for the sake of argument. I’m going to use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw these rings and then apply the Blend Brush 1 to them with a light blue stroke color. Now set the Transparency to Screen and the Opacity to 75%.

Step 7

I’m going to add veins to the jellyfish using the Blend Brush 2. I’ll use the Paintbrush Tool (B) to draw curved vertical lines around the body with the same light blue stroke color. I’ve reduced the Stroke Weight to 0.15pt and applied the Profile “Width Profile 5″ to give it the tapered effect. The strokes will be set to Blending Mode Screen and Opacity 75%.

Step 8

Time to start working on the tentacles. Using the Blend Brush 2 again, however with a larger Stroke Weight of 3pt and the Profile of Width Profile 4, I’m going to add some loose translucent tentacles that flow from the middle of the body to just below the bottom. These will have a darker blue (C=97, M=73, Y=27, K=10) stroke color and be set to Blending Mode Screen with Opacity 100%.

Step 9

I’m wanting to add some sparkles on the body and the soon to be longer tentacles. To do this, I’m going to create a Scatter Brush. With the Line Segment Tool (\) create a cross with two black lines as shown below with the Profile “Width Profile 1″.

Then in the Brush palette, click on New Brush and select Scatter Brush. Use the settings shown below.

Step 10

I want the jellyfish to look as if it’s swimming through the water, so I’m going to Select All (Command + A) of the shapes and then use the Free Transform Tool (E) to rotate it.

Now to draw the initial strokes for the long flowing tentacles. I’ll use the Paintbrush Tool (B) to do this with the Blend Brush 2 using a light blue stroke color and the settings as shown. Change the Blending Mode to Screen and Opacity to 50%.

Step 11

Copy (Command + C) and Paste in Front (Command + F) the tentacles and change the stroke color to a lime green (C=20, M=0, Y=100, K=0). Apply the scatter brush to it, then change the Opacity to 100% and Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

As there is a slight scatter effect to the brush and it’s overlapping a stroke which is varied in shape and opacity (due to the blend), the scatter brush will give a random sparkling effect which is what I’m aiming for.

Step 12

Using the same settings, use the scatter brush with the Paintbrush Tool (B) to draw lose strokes around the veins, rings and tentacles to give an added sparkle to the body.

Step 13

With the Blend Brush 2 group (the circle blend), create a New Brush > Scatter Brush (use the settings below).

Step 14

I’m going to use our new glowing scatter brush to add glowing/highlighted particles in the water. Using the same lime green and with a 1pt Stroke Weight, draw a random swirl line across the canvas with the Paintbrush Tool (B). Set the Blending Mode to Color Dodge with Opacity 100%.

Now draw another line with the same Blending Mode but set to Opacity 75%. Then finally another, however set to Blending Mode Color Dodge and Opacity 25%. This is to give a subtle impression of depth.

Step 15

I’m going to use the Blend Brush 2 to add some extra highlights to the body of the jellyfish and some larger floating particles. These will be the same lime green and set to Blending Mode Color Dodge with Opacity 75%.

Step 16

Finally, I’m going to use the Blend Brush 1 to brush the background using the Line Segment Tool (\) to draw strokes across the canvas. These will have a dark blue stroke color and be set to Blending Mode Multiply with Opacity 60% and the Stroke settings shown below.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve learned some great ways to use blends and brushes to create a glowing effect within an illustration, as well as how you can create random sparkles where required.

Step 1

First, start Photoshop and create a new document. This tutorial is also going to be a wallpaper, so the size I’m using is 1920 x 1200. You can follow all the individual settings as shown in the diagram below.

Background

Create a new layer and fill the contents with black. The base color of the background is going to be black. Get the nebula stock image from the resources and drag it into your document on a new layer. To make it look good, we are going to reduce the opacity of the nebula layer to about 86%. You can also rasterize the background nebula by right clicking on the layer and selecting rasterize.

The background is a little grungy, so we are going to remove a little bit of the grunge by going to Filter>Blur>Surface Blur………and use the settings as shown below.Radius 18 & Threshold 23

Step 2 – Insert your Model

Drag and drop the photo of your model into the document. It was pretty easy to remove the model from its original white background by using the magic wand tool and the layer masks feature.

Step 3 – Focal Circle

This step is what I call the focal circle. The focal circle’s main job is to create a “focal point” in the image. (irony huh?). To create the circle, create a new layer by pressing CTRL + N on your keyboard. Now using the Elliptical Marquee tool (“M”) hold shift and drag & draw a perfectly round circle and fill it with black.

To cut out the middle of the circle use the same procedure by holding shift and drawing a perfectly round circle. When the selection has been made, drag it into the middle of the totally black circle and press delete. This should now leave us with a circular ring.

Voila!! Now we are going to move the circular ring layer below the model’s layer. To give the impression that the model is slightly coming out of the ring I’m going to use the eraser tool and erase “a little bit of her backside” as shown in the demonstration.

I used a reasonably sized large soft brush to erase the portion of her legs.

Step 4 – Styling the Circle

To give the ring a neat retro effect I’m going to use layer styles and the default Photoshop patterns. I’m using Photoshop cs5 to write this tutorial so lets hope our features look and behave the same way…………Anyways!!!

Double click on the circular ring layer to open up the layer styles dialog box or right click and select blending options.

Click on pattern overlay and follow the settings as shown below. Scale is set to 85% and I clicked the small arrow in the dialog box to choose the desired pattern.

The second layer style we are going to add to the circle is gradient overlay. Leave it at its default black to white gradient but change the blend mode to overlay and the scale to 37%. This gives us a nice gradient effect utilizing the pattern.

Step 5 – Custom Brush Effects

In this step. I’m going to use the pen tool and we are going to create a custom brush effect to make a nice circular bokeh element. Select the pen tool as in the diagram below and follow the steps below:

Create 3 points using the pen tool as demonstrated in the image below. The circular effect is going to follow the pattern of the pen tool. Read on…………

Now Select the brush tool by clicking and holding on the icon shown and then selecting “brush tool”………………….^_^. The fun starts here!

After selecting the brush tool select an average size brush using the brush panel. The brush size I’m using in this example is 38 px. Typically, the brush panel is not always shown by default, Therefore, go to Window>>brush or follow the pictoral example below. The panel should now pop up automatically once activated.

Follow the settings below to create the custom brush.

The most used options in the shape dynamics tool is normally size jitter and the minimum diameter. Size jitter and Minimum diameter work hand in hand. Based on our use of the tool, the minimum diameter affects how small the circle would be and size jitter would control the varying sizes from small to big. To properly understand this tool, you would have to tweak the settings on your own or my explanation would be useless!

Adjust the scatter percentage anf you’ll see what happens. Use the settings in the diagram below for complete accuracy whilst following the tutorial.

Transfer is basically used to adjust the opaque values of the brush. TRANSPARENT>>LEAST TRANSPARENT>>SOLID ( Or the diagram below would give a better explanation)

Step 6 – Stroke the pen path

Yes! Stroke the pen path and stroke it good! Anyways……Select the pen tool again and using the path that you have created in the steps above, Right click on the path and click STROKE………..Make sure Simulate pressure is selected.

Your result should now look like this.

Change the blending mode of the circular layer to overlay- This would make the circles invisible in the black areas.

We are going to give the circle a nice glowing effect by double clicking the layer. In the layer style dialog box, select outer glow and change the blend mode of the outer glow to color dodge. The color dodge blending mode would give the dots a beautiful glow.

Use the color picker to sample her skin color and use it for the outerglow. This would ensure that the image is blended a little better.

Step 6 – Retro Spheres

We are now going to add some spheres from the gfxcave sphere collection. This would also give the image a nice retro-ish feel. For the spheres you can either use the brushes provided or the images. I decided to use the images on separate layers using the striped texture sphere. I named the layer striped texture and duplicated and rotated the layers based on the rotation I wanted. View the image below

We are now going to create a new layer and using the brush pack or the stand-alone images, lets create a random set of spheres beneath the model. Name the layer sphere particles 1. Using the brushes, Select random spheres and add them to the image until you achieve a similar effect.

Now select the sphere particles 1 layer and go to filter

Step 7 – Clouds

We are going to use cloud number 485 in the cloud brushes provided. Create a new layer and name it cloud 1. The size I’m using is 960. Reset the default colors and click about 3 times in the same spot to get a beautiful cloud as the one depicted below. The reason why we clicked three times is because the cloud is very transparent, so the multiple clicks, would make it fuller and deeper.

Now use cloud number 886 and click once directly underneath the previous cloud. You can leave the clouds on the same layer. This added cloud enhances the previous cloud by making it look unique and adding the perception of movement.

Step 8 – Enhancing the Scenery

Lets start to beautify the image. Drag and drop the landscape photograph into your Photoshop document and place it just below the nebula background. Resize the photo accordingly. Change the blending mode of the background nebula to screen. (this would brighten the background and also allow the nebula to gracefully show through. View the results below.

Step 9 – Repousse 3d

For those of you new to repousse, it is basically responsible for creating easy 3d graphics in Photoshop CS5. Lets dive in. We are now going to create a 3d arrow using repousse and strategically place it in the design. Arrows are well noted for creating that “retro-ish” feel in designs.

Start by selecting the custom shape tool and drawing an arrow as demonstrated below. (just drag and draw)

Current Progress…………………….After repousse

Now, lets start to incorporate the arrow into the design. firstly, press ctrl + t to transform the 3d arrow and resize it. Resize as shown in the image below and rotate accordingly. The image was also placed directly below the model’s image and the blending mode was changed to hard light. View results below:

Step 10 – Abstract and Retro

The design is starting to look Abstract,Beautiful,Surreal and a “lil” retro. Now, we are going to duplicate the 3d arrow layer a couple times and resize as needed. Follow the pictoral steps below.

Light Effects

Create a new layer and select the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Now, on the freshly created layer make a selection as shown:

Then, Select a large soft brush around 300 pixels. Double click on the foreground color and then select the color on her jersey as the foreground color. Now just paint with the soft brush on the outskirts of the selection as shown below: (Also, change the blending mode of the layer to color dodge)

Press CTRL + T to free transform and use the “love handles” to rotate the the light stripe as shown.

Step 11 – Be Creative

We are now going to freestyle on this design. Press Ctrl + J on the keyboard to duplicate the light stripe a couple times as shown. DRAG the light stripe layers UP/DOWN/SIDE ways………………Make as many and as few as you would like! Check out my current progress:

Step 12 – Final Details

To finish this design, add a couple more spheres. The largest sphere I used is in the lower right hand corner of the design. To simulate movement I added a motion blur by going to filter>blur>Motion blur. You can use my settings as shown below…………..Or………..be dramatic and experiment!

Add two more spheres and rotate accordingly. Don’t be afraid to add depth of field or motion simulation by blurring the spheres.

Photo filter

We are going to add a photo filter above the entire image to basically standardize the color tones and make the image look a little more regulated. Go to LAYER>NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER>PHOTO FILTER

Select warming filter (81) and use the settings below. This is going to generalize the color tones in the image and make it a little more standardized.

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!! I just added a vignette to the upper image and blurred the background a little bit………don’t be afraid to experiment! I also added a lens flare from the free lens flare pack along one of the light stripes.

VARIATIONs for your Inspiration!

I saw some beautiful 3D illustration of Madagascar that inspired me to create this illustration. In this tutorial, I’ll share my experience in recreating this illustration. This tutorial will utilize Photo shop 3D features, layer masking, and a lot of selections.

Step 1

Create a new layer (Ctrl+N) with 1600x1200px wide and resolution is set to 150dpi. Create a new layer, fill it with solid 50% gray color.

Step 2

Create a 3D shape by accessing menu 3D > New Shape From Layer > Cylinder. Use one of the 3D Object tool to reduce the cylinder’s height as seen below.

Step 3

Increase the cylinder size by dragging up the middle square in the 3D Axis, see image below.

Step 4

Still using the 3D Object Rotation tool, adjust the perspective like shown below. Show the 3D panel by going to Window > 3D menu. Inside the 3d panel, click scene button to see option about material and render settings. Click the Edit button to show the 3D Render Settings dialog, we need to see some wire frames for guidelines, so check the second option (wire frame box icon), then adjust Crease Threshold value to 0. Click OK to apply changes.

Step 5

Convert 3d object layer into a raster layer, then create a new layer above it. Using solid round brush, draw a guideline to mark the area we’re going to cut.

Step 6

Create a light blue (RGB: #6dcff6) ellipse using ellipse tool, make sure you create it below the guideline layer. Using Edit > Free Transform Path command to adjust ellipse’s width and height. Don’t forget to hit Enter when you’re done transforming.

Step 7

Create a new ellipse shape below the first one, notice that I rename the layers for easier recognition. Use free transform command to adjust ellipse’s width & height, following the 3d model as guidance. This process will be easier if we can look the 3d model, so reducing the layer’s opacity surely will help us. As for the bottom edge part, use warp command to bend it. Hit Enter when you’re done.

Step 8

Still in the layer bottom, select Pen tool from tool bar. Activate subtract from shape area option, then follow the guidelines to create a triangle-like shape. Because we’re using subtract from selection mode, the triangle will ‘cut’ the ellipse as seen below.

Step 9

Click layer top thumbnail, then repeat the same step as before to cut the ellipse using Pen tool.

Step 10

We don’t need the 3d model layer anymore, so you can hide or delete it now. Still using Pen tool, create the left, inside & right shape (I assume you already know how to use Pen tool). For easier recognition, I suggest using different blue color tone for each shape. Make sure the layers order from top to bottom are like this: layer top, right, inside, left, bottom (see image below for more details).

Step 11

Now you’ve done creating the 3D pie, hide or delete the guideline layer since we no longer need it. The next step is adding texture, but first you have to decide where to put the light source. You don’t have to draw a polygonal shape to do this step, just visualize in your mind that the light source is from the top right corner (as seen below). Knowing the light source will make your work easier, because you know where to draw shadows and highlights globally.

Step 12

Open the water image (File > Open). Press Ctrl+A to select all parts of the image, then press Ctrl+C to copy it to clipboard. Get back to 3D pie image and press Ctrl+V to paste the water image. Make sure you place it above the TOP layer and name it wave.

Step 13

Still on the wave’s layer, reduce its size by pressing Ctrl+T (hold the Shift key while dragging the corner control point, this will keep the aspect ratio of the image so it didn’t look squeezed or stretched). Hit Enter when you’re done transforming. And since we’re agreed the light source is come from the upper right corner, we need to flip the wave by using Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal menu. That’s look better!

Step 14

We need the wave image as a texture for the top shape layer. In order to do that, simply press Ctrl+Alt+G and voila, you’ve got the clipping mask layer.

Step 15

Duplicate the wave layer, then drag it down between left and bottom layer. Create a rectangle-like selection using the Rectangular Marquee tool.

Step 16

Invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I then press Delete, this step will erase the selected areas. Now deselect by pressing Ctrl+D. To make sure there is no part of the wave image outside canvas, press Ctrl+A to select all part of the canvas, then go to Image > Crop.

Step 17

Still in the same layer, go to Edit > Transform > Warp then warp the image following the 3D model side curve. See image below for more details.

Step 18

Duplicate the wave copy layer, then place each image on top of left and right layer. After that, make each one of them ( wave copy layer ) as a layer clipping mask. Result of this steps can be seen in the image below.

Step 19

Select the wave copy 2 layer (the one on top of right shape layer) then change the blend mode to Multiply. Make it blur by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur menu, adjust Radius value to 5px then click OK.

Step 20

Repeat previous step for the other wave image placed on top of left shape layer. To apply the same Gaussian Blur filter, simply press Ctrl+F. When you’re done, select the left shape layer’s and reduce the opacity to 70%. This will make the left shape become transparent.

Step 21

Go back to right shape layer’s, we need to tweak this layer so it look transparent as the left shape. Reducing the layer opacity will simply work, but I didn’t want the entire right shape became transparent. So I decide to add a layer mask, then use a black-soft round-Brush tool with low opacity (around 10-20%) to mask some areas so the transparency is applied only on certain parts (i assume you already knew how to do masking with brush tool).

Step 22

Copy-paste the water texture image once again, don’t forget to decrease its size. Make sure you place this new water texture layer on top of inside’s shape layer, then create a selection using Rectangular marquee tool. Now Inverse (press Shift+Ctrl+I) the selection, delete the selected area then deselect ( press Ctrl+D ).

Still in the same layer, make it as clipping mask (press Ctrl+Alt+G) and then go to Edit > Transform > Distort. Distort the water texture until it the perspective’s feel right. Press Enter when you’re done.

Step 23

Same as previous step, change layer blend mode to Multiply then apply Gaussian Blur filter. Later on, reduce the “inside” shape layer opacity to 70%.

Step 24

Open and copy-paste the sand texture image into our working document. Place it on top of ‘bottom’ shape layer then decrease its size using the free transform command.

Step 25

Transform the sand texture using Edit > Transform > Distort command, making the perspective view like shown below. Don’t forget to press Enter when you’re done transforming.

Step 26

Next, make this layer as a clipping mask layer by pressing Alt+Ctrl+G then change the blend mode to Linear Light. This step also finish the ‘adding texture-part’ of this tutorial.

Step 27

Create a new clipping mask layer between sand texture and ‘bottom’ layer, change the blend mode to Overlay then draw shadows using soft round Brush with low opacity. When using Brush tool, remember the light source we mention at the beginning as your reference where to put shadows.

Step 28

Repeat creating shadows for each shape layers. But don’t change the blending mode, leave it normal instead. See image below if you need guidance.

Step 29

Get back to sand texture layer, we need to sharpen it a bit by using Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask menu. Inside the Unsharp Mask dialog, adjust Amount and Radius value as seen below. Click OK to apply the filter.

Step 30

I think we need to sharpen the top most wave layer to make it more convincing as real sea wave. Select the wave layer and repeat the Unsharp Mask filter, by simply pressing Ctrl+F. We need to tweak the wave color balance since I think more darker blue is better. To do that, we’re using Hue/Saturation ( press Ctrl+U ) and Levels ( press Ctrl+L ) command.

Step 31

Select layer shape ‘bottom’, add a layer mask in this layer. Then using soft round Brush tool with low opacity, mask the shape’s edge ( the upper-right parts ). As you can see, the result does imitate ‘depth of field’ when you look something underwater.

Step 32

To keep organize, put related layers inside a group/folder. This will bring out four different group which is named ‘top’, ‘inside’, ‘left’ and ‘bottom’. If you using Photoshop CS3 or the later version, you can do this step easily by Ctrl+Clicking related layers then press Ctrl+G.

Step 33

Open the cruise image. Grab Pen tool from tool bar, then start creating selection path to isolate the cruise.

Step 34

Go to Window > Paths or simply click the Paths tab to show the Paths panel. Now click the Load Path as Selection button to convert those paths into a selection marquee. Copy-paste the selected cruise into our working document.

Step 35

Using free transform command, reduce the cruise’s size. Make sure you place this cruise layer on top of layer group ‘top’.

Step 36

Go to Image > Adjustment > Color Balance or simply hit Ctrl+B to bring the Color Balance dialog. Adjust Color Levels value until the cruise color become more bluish, this will imitate the ambient color from the water texture, making the cruise color blend with the environment. Click OK to apply color balance command.

Water reflect things, right? so we’ll need to create one for the ship, adding realism. First, you need to duplicate the cruise layer (Ctrl+J). Then drag down the cruise copy layer below the original one.

Step 37

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip the ‘cruise copy’ image. Do some distortion here by using the Edit > Transform > Distort menu, hit Enter when your done. Now add a layer mask in this layer because we’ll going to hide half of the ‘cruise copy’ image using layer mask.

Step 38

Grab the Gradient tool, and draw linear gradient vertically from white to black (make sure the layer mask is active when you did this). There you go, looks like a reflection isn’t? but we’re not finished yet, some shadows is needed for adding realism and depth.

Step 39

Still in the same layer, add Color Overlay layer style. Choose a dark blue color, and reduce the opacity to get the semi-transparent color effect.

Step 40

We need some minor tweak for the ship’s reflection. Click back the layer mask of ‘cruise copy’ layer. Use soft round Brush tool to mask shadow’s front and back edge (marked with red circle in the image below). That’s better!

Step 41

Open the first iceberg stock image. Since the color between iceberg and ocean are contrast enough, you can easily create a selection using Magnetic Lasso tool. Copy-paste the selected iceberg into our working document.

Step 42

Decrease iceberg size using free transform command. Make sure you put iceberg layer on top of cruise layer group (I’ve been grouping those layer before doing this step), name it ‘iceberg01′ since we’re gonna add second iceberg later.

Step 43

This iceberg need reflection, so first thing is to duplicate iceberg01 layer then drag down the iceberg01 copy layer below it. Then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip the ‘iceberg01 copy’ vertically. Use Move tool to drag down iceberg01 copy image, you’ll see it’s rather difficult to create reflection if the image has this kind of perspective.

Step 44

Lets begin with the left part of iceberg reflection, create a simple selection using Lasso tool. Press Ctrl+J to copy selected areas into a new layer, then use free transform command to rotate it clockwise. Try matching the upper edge part with the original iceberg above it, press Enter when done.

Step 45

Go back to ‘iceberg01 copy’ layer and rotate it counter clockwise, it will not perfect but try to align the upper edge with the original iceberg above it. And yes, you probably want to stretch it a bit like I did ( shown in the image below )

Step 46

Erase the excessive iceberg reflection using Eraser tool, see image below for guidance when erasing.

Step 47

To make the reflection color becomes darker, add Color Overlay layer style for each iceberg copy. Pick a dark blue color with low opacity.

Step 48

A reflection usually faded, right? so, add layer mask for each ‘iceberg copy’ layer and then mask it using linear Gradient tool until you get this result ( see image below ).

Step 49

Notice the excessive part from the ‘iceberg copy’ layer, we didn’t want that annoying part. Click the thumbnail of layer ‘iceberg copy’, and then erase the annoying part using Eraser tool. See image below for guidance when erasing.

Step 50

Create a new layer between iceberg01 layer and its reflection layer. Then load a selection by Ctrl+Clicking the thumbnail of iceberg01 layer. Press Shift+F5 to bring the Fill dialog box, select black and reduce Opacity to40%. Click OK to fill the selection with low opacity black.

Step 51

Press Ctrl+D to deselect. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur menu, adjust Radius value: 5px. Click OK to apply Gaussian Blur filter, now you got shadows surrounding the iceberg. We didn’t need shadows on the upper part of the iceberg, so just delete it using Eraser tool.

Step 52

Create another new layer on top the previous layer, change the blend mode to Soft Light. Ctrl+Click on the iceberg01 layer thumbnail to load selection, then Fill it with 100% black. Using move tool, drag the new iceberg shadow to left like shown in the image below.

Step 53

Still in the same layer, add a layer mask into it. Mask certain parts using Brush tool to hide unwanted shadow areas. See image below for guidance.

Step 54

Open whale image, create selection of the whale using any selection tool you like ( I’m using Magnetic Lasso tool ). As usual, copy-paste the selected whale into our working document. Place it between layer group ‘cruise’ and ‘iceberg01′, lets call this layer ‘whale’.

Step 55

Adjust whale size using free transform command, and then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal to flip it.Create a new layer, name it ‘splash’ because we’re gonna draw some water splash in this layer. Grab Brush tool from the toolbar, pick a spatter brush and lower the opacity to 50%. Choose white as brush color then click several times ( don’t click and drag, the result will be different ) in certain areas where water splash should appear, use your imagination.

Step 56

Open the second whale image. Select the whale silhouette (I’m using magic wand tool to select it), then copy-paste selected image into our working document.

Step 57

Place whale silhouette layer below whale layer, rename its layer to ‘shadows’. Flip whale silhouette horizontally then resize until it fits the whale body. Erase unwanted shadows parts using hard round Eraser tool, see below image for guidance.

Step 58

Now we need to fake the ‘deep underwater’ blurry effect, using Blur tool with 50% strength (see below image for guidance). Add layer mask, then using the soft round Brush tool with 25% opacity, mask whale’s shadow to create the semi-transparent look.

Step 59

Add a new layer between whale and shadow layer, we’re gonna add more shadows in this layer. Ctrl+Click on the layer whale thumbnail to load a selection, then go to Edit > Fill menu. Inside the Fill dialog, choose 100% Black and then click OK to fill the selection. You won’t see the result since it covered by the whale layer.

Step 60

Rotate whale’s shadow to left, erase unwanted parts using hard round Eraser tool with 100% Opacity.

Step 61

Change the blend mode to Soft Light and reduce the Opacity to 75%. As usual, keep organize by grouping the whale-related layers into one folder.

Step 62

Open shark image, create selection for the shark ( I’m using Pen tool to do it ). As usual, copy-paste the selected shark into our working document.

Step 63

Place shark layer between ‘inside’ and ‘left’ group. Change the blend mode to Luminosity and adjust shark size and position like shown in the below image.

Step 64

Go to Image > Adjustment > Shadows/Hightlights menu, adjust shadows amount to 50% then click OK to apply. Shark image will be much brighter then before.

Step 65

Create a new layer below shark layer, we call it ‘shadows’ because shark’s shadow will be drawn here. Load shark selection by Ctrl+Clicking the shark layer thumbnail. Press Shift+F5 to bring up the Fill dialog and choose50% gray to fill the selection.

Step 66

Change blend mode to Multiply and reduce Opacity to 75%. Use Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with radius: 5pxto blur the shadows. After that, use Edit > Transform > Distort command to adjust shadow size and distortion.

Step 67

Go back to shark layer, blur certain parts of the shark using Blur tool with 50% strength, faking the depth of field effect.

Step 68

Still in the same layer, press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate shark’s color. We also need to fake the lens distortion effect, first thing to do is create a selection in the tail area using Rectangular Marquee tool. Second, activate the Move tool and then nudge the selected area by pressing the Up Arrow several times. Deselect by pressing Ctrl+D.

Step 69

Open the second iceberg stock. As usual, create a selection around the iceberg (Magnetic Lasso tool is quite good enough). Copy-paste the selected iceberg into our working document.

Step 70

Place the second iceberg layer below iceberg01 folder. Using free transform command, adjust its size like shown in the below image. Press Enter when you’re done.

Step 71

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the current layer. Get back to iceberg2 layer to change its blend mode to Luminosity.

Step 72

Hide layer ‘iceberg2 copy’, then add layer mask for iceberg2 layer. Hide the upper part of iceberg2 using black soft round Brush tool with 100% opacity, the result can be seen in the below image.

Step 73

Show the ‘iceberg2 copy’ layer again then add a layer mask in that layer.This time, use black soft round Brush tool to mask (hide) the lower part of iceberg2 image. As you can see now, the iceberg2 lower part seems submerged under water.

Step 74

Click on the iceberg2 layer thumbnail (this is to make sure you’re the one we’re editing now is the layer’s content, not the layer mask). Use soft round Blur tool with 50% Strength to blur some parts of the iceberg2, see image below for guidance.

Step 75

Create a new layer, name it ‘splash’ because we’re gonna add water splash there. Use white spatter brush with50% opacity to draw some water splash. Click several times until you satisfied with the result (don’t click and drag, because the result will be different). If you unhappy with the water splash result, delete unwanted parts or just transform it like I did.

Step 76

Create a new layer below iceberg2 layer, we call this layer ‘shadows’. Draw a selection using Lasso tool (just a simple silhouette of the iceberg2, no need to imitate the iceberg2 shape precisely). Fill the selection with 100% Black.

Step 77

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur menu to blur the shadows around 25px radius. Click OK to apply blur filter.

Step 78

Add layer mask for the current shadows layer. Mask the shadows using soft round Brush tool with 15% opacity, see image below for guidance. This also ends the ‘adding iceberg’ part in this tutorial.

Step 79

With the same technique when you submerge half of iceberg2, add another submerge object. For example, I’m sinking the cruise (you can use anything, be creative!). Don’t forget to group related layers, keep organized!

Step 80

On the top most of layer groups, add Vibrance layer adjustment (just go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance). Click OK, then increase the value until we get more vibrance blue/teal color for the entire image ( in my experiment, the value for vibrance is +49 while saturation value is +17 ).

Step 81

Add another layer adjustment, which is Color Balance (found in Layer > New Layer Adjustment > Color Balance). Adjust Color balance value until the illustration become a bit greenish (in my experiment, the value for midtones color balance is: -8, +15, +1)

Step 82

Hide background layer and all other layer group except the top, inside, left, bottom and two adjustment layer on top (see below image to be certain). Select the top most layer (color balance layer) and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E to merge all visible image into a new layer.

Step 83

Unhide layers we’ve been hide in the previous step, then drag layer 11 ( the merged layer ) below layer group ‘bottom’. Load a selection by Ctrl+Clicking this layer thumbnail, and then save the selection via Select > Save selection menu. You can give any name for the selection (in this example, I name it alpha-1), click OK to save it.

Step 84

Still in the same layer, go to Edit > Transform > Distort and try to align the merged layer so it look like a reflection. Use the Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All, which is will add layer mask filled with black, completely hiding layer 11 content’s.

Step 85

Now grab the soft round Brush tool with low opacity ( 25% ), make sure you choose white for brush color. Slowly using brush tool in the below part to create reflections. See image below for guidance.

Step 86

Make sure we’re still in the layer mask, then go to Select > Load Selection menu. Inside the load selection dialog, choose alpha-1 channel and then click OK to load the selection. Fill this selection with 100% black.Don’t deselect, yet!.

Step 87

Add a new layer on top of current layer, name it ‘shadows’ since here we gonna add shadows for the ocean-pie piece. Fill the selection with 100% black, then deselect it by pressing Ctrl+D.

Step 88

We need to see a bit of the shadows, so nudge it down using the Move tool as seen in the below image. Use Gaussian Blur filter with 10px radius to blur the shadows.

Step 89

We just need shadows for the downside part, so we’ll need to erase unwanted shadows using Eraser tool like shown in the below image. And that’s it, we are done!

Final Results

First we’re going to open a document with dimensions:

Creating the background:

We’re first going to create the background.  Click the little black and white circle that’s at the bottom of the layers palette and select “Gradient” like the picture below:

Make sure the dialogue box looks like this:

Then select the rectangle next to the word “Gradient” and insert the following settings:

Rename this new gradient layer “Gradient.”  After you rename it copy it by selecting it in the layers palette and selecting Command + J.  With the new duplicated layer flatten it by adding a new layer above it, selecting them both in the layers palette and pushing Command + E. You should now have 2 layers in the layers palette… the original gradient and the flattened duplicated gradient.

Now, we’re going to add an inner shadow to the duplicated layer.  Select the duplicated layer in the layers palette and click the little “fx” in the bottom of the layers palette and select “inner shadow” and enter the following settings:

This is what we should now have:

Now we’re going to add some glows to make the background look a little more unique than just a gradient.  Grab the brush tool and select a circular brush with a hardness of 0% and a foreground color of #ccffff.  Create a new layer above the duplicated background layer and click once in the middle of the background image.  Set this layers blending mode to “Overlay”  Do the same for another dot but on the left side of the image and with a color of #336666. Here is the result:

It’s a subtle change but enough to add a cool effect.  Now, select all of these layers and push Command + G on your keyboard to group them.   Name the group “background.”

Creating the Text

Now we’re going to add the text.  First go here to download the Star Avenue font that we’ll be using.  Select the text tool (t) and type “king tutz” on the stage (or whatever you want your composition to say).

Find a good floral brush on the web (there are tons out there). Using your floral brush paint a new floral on it’s own separate layer.  Make sure each floral is black so it best blends with the text.  Here is what we came up with:

Group all of these floral layers and the text layer and name the group “text.”  Duplicate this layer as we did before with the background group and flatten the group (command + E) as we also did with the background layer before.  Name this new flattened layer “kingtutz.”  We flatten this so we can add different effects like a drop shadow and a gradient overlay.  Click the “kingtutz” layer in the layers palette and select the little fx in the bottom of the layers palette and click “drop shadow.”  Enter the following settings:

Then select the check box next to “gradient overlay” and add the following settings:

We should now have this:

Background Revisited

We want to add some more cool effects to the background using the brush tool as we did before.  However, this time we’re going to set the layer blending modes to “saturation.”  We only added 2 different layers. We grouped these layers and named the group “random glows”  Here is the effect we got:

Now, we’re going to add some blurred dots to the background so we need to create a custom brush.  To do this, we need to select the brush tool (b) and select a round brush with a hardness of 53% and a size of 102 px.  Then in the Photoshop menu at the top of the screen select window > brushes.  Enter the following settings for the brush:

Use a nice green (00cc99) and create a new layer and start clicking to create random circles.  Click about 4-5 times and then create a new layer, change the brush color and click again.  Repeat this a few times until you get the desired amount of dots.  You can even select a dots layer and select filter > blur > gaussian blur and increase blurring to add perspective.  Set the dot layers to overlay ( you can also experiment here to create your desired effect).  Once you have the effect you like.  Group all of these dot layers and name the group “dots.”  Here is the effect we came up with:

Adding Jellyfish

This is a cool part.  We’re going to add jellyfish but first you need to download this jellyfish Photoshop brush.  After you’ve downloaded and installed the jellyfish brush, create a new layer beneath the “kingtutz” text layer.  Click to add various sizes and shapes of jellyfish on the stage (make sure each jellyfish is on it’s own layer).

After you have the desired jellyfish, we’re going to add gradient overlays to each jellyfish.  Click one of the jellyfish layers you just created and select the little fx at the bottom of the layers palette and select “gradient overlay.”  Enter the following settings:

Add this same gradient overlay to each jellyfish.

We want the jelly fish to pop more so we’re going to duplicate each jellyfish layer and set the layer blending mode to normal.  Here is what the layer palette should look like (after some grouping and organizing of the jellyfish layers). Also, here is the effect we have so far:

Jellyfish Glows

Now we’re going to use the brush tool to click and paint a white dot (on it’s own layer of course) on top of each jellyfish.  We’ll then set the blending mode of these new layers to normal.  Group the layers and name the group “jellyfish glows.”  Make sure this group is above the jellyfish group.  This makes the middle of each jellyfish look like it’s glowing  We should now have this:

Adding Bubbles

To create a more underwater effect we’re going to add some bubbles.  First download the bubbles here.  These are istock photos so if you plan on using these for a publication make sure you have proper rights.  Open the bubbles in our Photoshop document.  With the bubbles selected select image > adjustments > invert.  Then, set the bubbles layer blending mode to “screen.”  Then, grab the eraser tool and erase some of the harsh lines around the image.  After you’ve done this, push command + U on your keyboard and set the saturation to -100.

The bubbles need to pop more so select the bubbles layer and then select image > adjustments > brightness/contrast and enter the following settings:

Now, we’re going to duplicate this layer, and erase pieces of it as we place it around the text.  Here is what we came up with:

That’s it!  If you made it this far… congrats!  You’ve just created a pretty cool composition and learned some advanced moves.

 

Step 1 – Preparing the Document

Create a new document in Photoshop. To do that go to File > New… or press Ctrl + N. Set the value Width on 600 pixels and Height on 400 pixels. Press OK.

Download the picture of the sunset and the picture of the ground and place it into the new document. Name the layer with sunset SKY and the layer with ground GROUND. Place layer GROUND above the SKY. Click on the layer GROUND and press Ctrl + T. Then resize the image on proper size. Do the same with SKY. Below you can see how your image should look like so far.

Step 2 – Cutting Out the Sky From the Ground

In this step you´re going to cut out the sky from the ground picture. You can do it very easily thanks to Channels. To do that click on the palette Channels. If you don´t see it go to Window > Chanels. On the palette you can see RGB, Red, Green and Blue channel. Right click on the Blue channel and duplicate it.

TIP: If you cut out something with Channels, always duplicate the channel where is the biggest contrast between the object you want to cut out and the rest of the image.

Let make only the Blue copy channel visible and the rest invisible.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels… (or press Ctrl + T on your keyboard) and set the Input Levels as on the picture below.

The channel should look like on the following picture. You did this thing with Levels because you want to have solid black and white color – it indicates where the selection will be. White color will be selected, black stays unselected. Grey tones between will be selected with different opacities. E. g. 50% mid grey color will have selection with 50% opacity.

Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some hard round brush and pick white color. Paint over the grey parts of the sky. Be careful along the horizontal line. You do this because you want to have selected the whole sky – you want to cut out all the clouds not only some parts. Below you can see how the image should look like.

Click back on the RGB channel to be able to see the image in colors again. Click on the GROUND on your palette Layers and go to Select > Load Selection… and in the box Channel choose the option Blue copy. Press OK.

This step activates the selection based on the “Blue copy” channel. Everything which was white will be selected, black stays unselected. Now simply press Delete on your keyboard to delete the sky from the picture with ground. After this step you should have picture similar to the one below.

Step 3 – Adjusting the Mountain

If you take a look on the picture above you can probably see that the mountains on the horizon should be less blue and more orange because of the sun nearby. You´ll fix it in this step.

Add new adjustment layer Selective Color on the top of your layers (To do that click on the button “Create a new fill or adjustment layer” which can be found on the bottom part of the palette Layers. If you don´t see this palette go to Window > Palette or simply press F7 on your keyboard.)

I write it in all tutorials but I feel I need to mention it here too – try to use adjustment layers instead of direct adjustments as often as possible. This way you can change it during the whole process of doing manipulation not as long as History remembers your steps. In other words – thanks to adjustment layers adjustment is always reversible and changeable.

Set the adjustment layer Selective Color in the same way as you can see on the following picture.

Right click on this adjustment layer and select the option Create Clipping Mask. This way the adjustment affects only one layer bellow which means the GROUND. Click on the thumbnail of this layer (see picture below), grab the Gradient Tool (G), pick black color and fill the thumbnail with it.

Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick white color and paint over the mountain. This way the adjustment affects only the mountains and not the whole GROUND. Your image should look like the one below so far.

As you can see on previous picture the adjustment makes mountain bit more orange/rose but not over all parts and because of that they look badly stained. To fix that create a new layer on the top of your layers. Create clipping mask from it and name it e. g. MORE ORANGE.

Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush, set Master Diameter on about 20 pixels and Opacity on 30%. pick some color similar to colors of the sky and gently paint over the parts of mountain which stay too blue. Once you´re finished your image should look like the one bellow.

Step 4 – Reflection of Sun

If you look at some sunset photos you may notice that the sun creates “aura” on the objects behind which it shines. You will create the aura in this step.

TIP: You can take a look at two examples of this aura – photography “Sunset” by satomy79 on deviantart and painting “Cretaceous Sunset” by kerembeyit.

Make GROUND invisible for a while (click on the small eye icon).

Grab the Marquee Tool (M) and select the bottom part of the sun with the aura.

Copy the selection (Ctrl + C) and paste it on the top of the layers (Ctrl + V). Name the layer SUN AURA and change the Blending Mode on Color Dodge. Lower the Opacity on 80%. Make the GROUND visible again. Add vector mask to the layer SUN AURA. You can find the button Add vector mask on the bottom part of the palette Layers.

Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush, lower the opacity on about 50% and pick black color. Paint around the edges of the aura to blend it properly. On the following picture you can see how your image should look like.

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Step 5 – Adding the Light Bulb

It’s time to add the light bulb.

Download the picture of light bulb from the link I’ve provided on the beginning of the tutorial and drag it into the manipulation. Place the layer on the top of all layers and name it LIGHT BULB. Press Ctrl + T and resize it on proper size.

Tip: There is plenty of ways how to blend glass. You can blend it with the help of Channels (it’s quite similar as what you did in the step 2) or with different blending modes – e.g. if you have photo of the glass on the black background the easiest way how to blend it is to change the Blending Mode on Screen. It makes the black background invisible but the glass stays visible. You should try it!

But I´d like to show you another way to learn you as much as possible in this tutorial.

The way how you´ll do it is pretty simple. Make all layers except LIGHT BULB invisible (similarly as in previous step). Then go to Select > Color Range… and with the eye dropper click on some white part of the light bulb. The Color Range makes selection based on the color you´ve selected.

Set the value Fuzziness on 60 and press OK. Now you need to invert the selection. To do it go to Select > Invert or press Ctrl + Shift + I. Then press Delete on your keyboard to delete the selection. Some unwanted parts of the sky still stays. To hide them grab the Eraser Tool (E) and simply erase them. Lower the opacity of this layer on 65% and make all layers visible again.

Step 6 – Adjusting the Light Bulb

The glass should have more orange tones because the light on the scene is very warm because of the sunset. To fix it add new adjustment layer Photo Filter above the layer LIGHT BULB. Choose #BB6F56 reddish color and higher the Density on 60%.

Create clipping mask from the layer.

Step 7 – Adding the Holder

This will be really quick step. Open the picture of the holder in Photoshop. Cut out the background and drag it into the manipulation. Name the layer HOLDER and place it under the LIGHT BULB. Press Ctrl + T and resize it on proper size. Press Enter.

Step 8 – Adjusting the Holder

As you may see on the picture above the holder is too bright and should be more orange. You´ll fix it in this step. To increase the contrast add new adjustment layer Levels above the HOLDER and set the Input Levels on 125; 1,22; 226. Create clipping mask from this layer.

To add more orange color create new adjustment layer Color Balance above Levels and set the value Hue on -180 and Saturation on -50. Create clipping mask from this layer too.

Step 9 – Adding the Shadow Under the Bulb

To make the light bulb looks like it is actually standing on the ground you need to add shadow under it. Create a new layer under the layer HOLDER and name it SHADOW UNDER THE BULB. Grab the Eyedropper Tool (I) and pick some dark brown color from the ground. Then grab the Brush Tool (B) and paint thin line under the light bulb. On the following picture you can see how the shadow could look. (I added the white background so can see the shadow better.)

TIP: If you create shadows in your manip try to avoid using of black color. Use some dark browns, dark blues or greens etc.

In nature you will find very few pure black things – more often they are dark tones of different colors but your brain percieve them as black. Your pictures will look much more realistic if you don’t use black.

Step 10 – Blurred Background Behind the Bulb

The background behind the bulb should look little blury because of the glass in front. You´ll do it in this step. Click on the layer GROUND. Grab the Lasso Tool (L) and select the area behind the bulb. Press Ctrl + C to copy the selection and paste it under the HOLDER. Name this new layer e.g. BLURRED BACKGROUND. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… and set the value Radius on 2,0 pixels. Press OK.

Step 11 – Ading the Flowers

Now it´s time to add flowers and leaves. It´s pretty simple step but little time consuming. Cut out the background of the flower if it´s necessary, drag it into the manipulation, resize it properly and put it on the right place. Do the same process with all flowers and leaves. Below you can see the video showing how I added the flowers. And on the following

Step 12 – Glass In Front of the Flowers

Right now the flowers look like they are in front of the light bulb, not inside. You’ll fix it in this step. The way how to do it is quite easy. Right click on the layer LIGHT BULB and select option Duplicate Layer. Name this new layer e.g. BULB IN FRONT and place it on the top of all layers. Lower the opacity of this layer on 40%.

Step 13 – Adding Shadows Under the Flowers

Now it’s time to add shadows under the flowers to make them looking that they’re not levitating but standing on the ground.

TIP: Always if you add some new object to your manipulation don’t forget to think about shadows which the object automatically creates. Every object (except those who are flying) should have thin line of shadow between itself and the object on which it’s standing.

Create a new layer under the layers with flowers and name it e.g. SHADOWS UNDER FLOWERS. Grab the Eye Dropper Tool (I) and select some dark brown color again. Then grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush and set the Master Diameter on 25 px. Lower the Opacity of the brush on 50%.

Now start painting shadows. Bellow you can see how the flowers look with and without the shadows. I change the background on light green color to you can see the result better.

Step 14 – Adding a Crack

Select one of the pictures with crack mentioned in the beginning of the tutorial (I selected the one named “01.jpg”) and drag it into your manipulation. Place the layer on the top of all layers and name it CRACK.

Press Ctrl + T and resize it on proper size. You can also rotate it a little to it will fit better on the light bulb. Look at the following picture to get the inspiration.

There is really easy way how to blend the image of the crack with the rest of the picture. Change the Blending Mode of this layer from Normal to Screen.

Add vector mask to this layer. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color and paint over the areas of the crack which should dissapear to be properly blended. On the picture below you can see how the crack should look so far.

Step 15 – Warp the Crack

There are still two things I don’t like about the crack. First the crack is quite bad visible and deserves bigger contrast. Second the crack doesn’t copy the shape of the bulb. The bulb is rounded but the crack is too flat.

To increase the contrast of the crack go to Image > Adjustments > Levels… or press Ctrl + L and set the Input Levels on 0; 1,00; 200.

To make the crack looking like it’s really on the bulb you need to warp it a little. To do that go to Edit > Transform > Warp. The grid shows up and you can adapt it to be similarly rounded as the light bulb. Below you can see how to do it.

Once you’re satisfied with the shape of the grid press Enter on your keyboard to apply the warp.

Step 16 – Changing the Light

In this step you will change the light scene to gain more focus on the focal point of the manipulation, which is the light bulb.

Create a new layer on the top of all layers and name it LIGHT CHANGE. Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some big soft round brush and pick some dark violet color from the sky. Lower the opacity of the brush on about 30%. Paint a decent vignette around the image.

Now pick some light color from the picture and paint over and around the light bulb.

You probably agree with me that it looks quite weird right now. But it’s because it’s not blended properly. To blend it well change the Blending Mode of the layer on Soft Light.

Much better isn’t it?

Step 17 – Adding the Fractal

In this step you’re going to add the image of fractal to create the effect that the bulb is shining or glowing. Open the picture of fractal and drag it into the manipulation. Place the layer on the top of the layers and name it FRACTAL. To blend the layer properly you need to change the Blending Mode again. This time on Screen. It makes that the black color dissapear.

As you can see the effect is too harsh right now and it doesn’t look well. To make it bit less visible lower the opacity of this layer on 85%. Another thing which doesn’t look well is the bright spot in the middle of the fractal. To make it less visible add vector mask. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color, lower opacity on 60% and paint over the bright spot to make it less visible. After you’re finished you should have image similar to the one below.

Step 18 – Analysis of the Light Scene

Now it’s time to focus more on building interesting light scene. So far the image looks bit dull because there is quite low contrast between lights and shadows and light itself is quite uninteresting. You’ll change it in this and some of the folowing steps.

To be able better imagine how the whole light scene should look like I took a photo with light bulb and the lamp to imitate the scene on the maipulation. Below you can see the photo.

Now let me say what things has to be done:

• Lens Flare – it gives the picture sort of “movie feel”
• Yellow lines around the edges
• Lighter part on the light bulb where the sun is reflected
• Shadows from the holder

TIP: If you work on some manip with harder light condition I recommend you to take picture of the scene with similar light condition. Thanks to it you will be able to better imagine how the light should look and get better result.

Step 19: Adding Lens Flare

The first item from the “lighting list” is to add the lens flare. I encyrcled it on the example photo. You can see it below.

To add lens flare create a new layer on the top of all layers and name it LENS FLARE #1. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and fill the layer with solid black color. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare… and set the window as on the following picture.

Press OK.

To blend the layer properly change the Blending Mode on Screen. According to me the brightest spot of the flare is too bright and makes the eyes hurt. To make it softer add new vector mask to this layer. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color and lower the Opacity on 30%. Gently paint over that bright spot.

Step 20 – Yellow Lines Around the Edges

Second thing on the list is adding the yellow lines. I circled them on the example image again so you can see better what you will create in this step.

To add these lines create a new layer on the top of all layers and name it YELLOW LINES. Pick some light yellow from the picture with the Eye Dropper Tool (I). Grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush and set the Master Diameter on 4 pixels. Set the Opacity on about 60%. Now paint the upper line. Change the Master Diameter on 8 pixels and paint the reflection on the bottom. This step would be easier if you have a tablet but it can be done with mouse too. You just need little more patience. On the following picture it’s shown how your image should look so far.

Step 21 – Aura Around the Light Bulb

You will add the rest of the thing from the list little later. Now lets focus on something different. To make the light bulb looks like it is really shining it should have decent aura around. You’ll create it in this step. Add a new layer on the top of the layers and name it AURA. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick some very light yellow or orange color and lower the opacity of the brush on 20%. Set the Master Diameter on 60 pixels. Paint white stroke around the light bulb, not around the holder. Below you can see how the image looks with and without this step.

Step 22 – Reflection to the Light Bulb

The light bulb and the flowers inside should have bit more orange tones. To add them grab the Lasso Tool (L) and select part of the sky. Make the shape of the selection similar as the shape of the bulb.

Go to Edit > Copy Merged on press Ctrl + Shift + C on your keyboard to copy the merged image. Then press Ctrl + V to paste the selection. Name this new layer e.g. ORANGE TONES and place in on the top of the layers.

Grab the Move Tool (V) and move the layer above the light bulb.

Change the Blending Mode on Soft Light and lower the opacity on 50%.

To blend this layer with the rest of the image even nicely add vector mask to this layer, grab the Brush Tool (B), select some soft round brush, pick black color, lower the opacity of the brush on about 50% and over the edges of the layer to blend it.

Step 23 – First Color Adjustments

Now it’s time to focus on color adjustments. In this step you’re going to desaturate the picture a little, change color with Selective Color and add violet tones.

First of all you’ll desaturate the picture a little. Add new adjustment layer Hue/Saturation on the top of the layers and set the value Saturation on -12.

Let’s move on Selective Color adjustment. I really like this one because you can make quite dramatic changes by only this one tool. Add new adjustment layer Selective Color on the top of your layers and set it as on the following picture.

On the following picture you can see how the Selective Color adjustment effects the image.

Last thing you do in this step is adding gently violet tones. Add new layer on the top of all layers and name it VIOLET TONES. Grab the Gradient Tool (G), pick #7F4286 violet color and fill the layer. Then change the Blending Mode of this layer on Soft Light and lower the Opacity on 40%. You should get something similar to the following picture.

Step 24 – Second Lens Flare

In this step you’re going to make the lens flare more detailed by adding different type of it. Add a new layer on the top of your layers and name it LENS FLARE #2. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and fill the layer with solid black color. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and set the window as on the picture below.

Change the Blending Mode of this layer on Screen to blend it properly.

Step 25 – Adjusting the Lens Flare

As you may see on the following picture the effect of the lens flare is too bright and it doesn’t look nice.

To make the effect more decent add vector mask to this layer. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color, lower the opacity on 50% and paint over the area with the brightest spot. Then lower the opacity of the brush even more on 30% and make the transition between the blue lines and the background smoother.

Step 26 – Darkening the Light Bulb

The light bulb should be bit darker. You’ll fix it in this step. Add new adjustment layer Exposure on the top of all layers and set the values as it’s shown on the following picture.

Because you want to the adjustment affects only the light bulb but not the rest of the image you need to make the adjustment visible only on the light bulb. Click on the vector mask of this layer. Grab the Gradient Tool (G), pick black color and fill the vector mask. Then grab the Brush Tool (B), pick white color, set the opacity on 80% and paint over the light bulb. Below it’s shown how your image should look after this adjustment.

Step 27 – Changing Lights And Shadows

Lights and shadows on the flowers don’t fit to the light scene of the rest image. You’ll change them in this step.

Add new layer on the top of all layers and name it e.g. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and fill the layer with #808080 grey color. Change the Blending Mode of this layer on Overlay.

Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick white color, lower the opacity on about 15% and paint over the areas where lights should be. Then pick black color and paint the shadows. Below you can see what I painted to get the inspiration.

As you can see I focused on the flowers outside the light bulb because I think that the flowers inside doesn’t need this step. But if you don’t agree with it feel free to change also the flowers inside.

Step 28 – Adding the Blur

Flowers which are behind the glass should be bit blurred. You’re going to fix it in this step. Press Ctrl + A to select the whole picture and then go to Edit > Copy Merged or press Ctrl + Shift + C on your keyboard. Then go to Edit > Paste or press Ctrl + V to paste the merged image. Place this new layer on the top of all layers and name it BLUR. Go to Filter > Other > High Pass… and set the value Radius on 3 pixels.

Now you need to invert the colors to get the blur. If you don’t do it the adjustment would make the picture sharper. Go to Image > Adjustments > Invert or press Ctrl + I on your keyboard. Change the Blending Mode of this layer on Overlay.

As you can see the whole picture is blurred but you want only the flowers in the light bulb. To make the unwanted blur invisible add vector mask to this layer. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick black color, set the Opacity on 100% and paint over the areas you want to have sharp. After this step you should have your picture similar to the picture below.

Step 29 – Sharpening

The image would look better if it’s sharper. To do that select the whole picture again by pressing Ctrl + A on your keyboard. Copy it merged (Ctrl + Shift + C) and paste it on the top of all layers. Name the layer SHARPENING. Go to Filter > Other > High Pass again but this time set the value Radius to you can see only thin lines around the edges. You can see what I mean on the picture bellow.

Step 30 – Second Color Adjustment

In this step you’re going to add bit more violet tones to the picture and also increase the contrast little bit. First the violet tones – add new layer on the top of all layers and name it e.g. MORE VIOLET. Grab the Gradient Tool (G) and pick #6827C0 color. Fill the layer with it. Change the Blending Mode of this layer on Soft Light and lower the Opacity on 15%. To increase the contrast add adjustment layer Gradient Map on the top of all layers. Choose Black, White gradient and press OK. Change Blending Mode of this layer on Luminosity.

Because of the increased contrast the area around the sun is too bright and it doesn’t look nice. You need to hide the Gradient Map adjustment there. To do that click on vector mask of this adjustment, grab the Brush Tool (B) and paint with black over. You should get something like on the following picture.

Step 31 – Adding Vignette

I really like vignettes because they are easy way how to gently lead viewer’s eye into the picture. To create vignette add new layer on the top of all layers and name it VIGNETTE. Grab the Gradient Tool (G), pick white color and fill the layer with it. Now go to Filter > Lens Correction (the path may vary in different version of Photoshop) or press Shift + Ctrl + R. Set it as on the following picture.

Now change the Blending Mode of this layer on Multiply.

Step 32 – Adding Reflection of the Sun

Now it’s time to go back to our “light list” from the step 18. In this step you’re going to add the reflection of the sun. I used the example photo again and circled the part of what you’re going to create.

Create a new layer on the top of your layers and name it SUN REFLECTION.

With the Eye Dropper Tool (I) select some very light color. Then grab the Brush Tool (B), set the Master Diameter on 40 pixels and lower the Opacity on 40%. Paint oval shape over the light bulb similarly as on the picture above.

Below you can see how your image should look like.

Step 33 – Shadow From the Holder

One more thing from the list needs to be done – the shadow made by holder. Below you can see the shadow on the example picture.

To create this shadow add new layer on the top of the layers and name it HOLDER SHADOW.

Pick some dark brown color from the ground. Grad the Brush Tool (B), set the Master Diameter on 100 pixels and Opacity on 40%. Paint shadow with similar shape as on the picture above.

Below you can see the result of this step. It’s just a gently change but adds more on the realism of the picture.

Step 34 – Adding Grain

There is easy and effective way how to unify the look of the manipulation – you can add grain to it.

To do that add new layer on the top of all layers and name it GRAIN. Grab the Gradient Tool, select #808080 grey color and fill the layer with it.

No go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise… and set the value Amount on 3%. Select Gaussian Distribution instead of Uniform and press OK.

To blend the layer with the rest of the image properly change the Blending Mode on Overlay.

Step 35 – Final Touch

You’re almost finished the tutorial. There is one thing left which doesn’t look well. According to me the mountain under the sun are too bright. To fix it add a new layer on the top of all layers and name it DARKER MOUNTAIN. Grab the Brush Tool (B). Pick some dark rose color from the sky and paint over the mountain. Then change the Blending Mode on Soft Light.

Below you can see how the mountain look without this layer, with the layer on Normal and on Soft Light Blending Mode.

Final Results

Congratulation. You’ve just finished the manipulation. Thank you for reading the tutorial and hope you’ve learnt something new and useful during the reading or found inspiration for your new work. I’d like to see your work based on this tutorial in the comments! See you in the next tutorial

- Jarka

Step 1

We will be working in RGB color model, if you do not have it installed, go to File > Document Color Mode > RGB Color. Let’s begin our tutorial by creating a background. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle filled with a black color.

Step 2

Proceed to the creation of a match. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle in the shape of a matchstick. Now fill it with a linear gradient of various shades of brown to convey the light distribution at the edges of the match.

Copy this rectangle and paste it in front (Command + C; Command + F). Now slightly reduce the height of the rectangle and fill it with a new linear gradient. The shades of brown on this rectangle are darker than the ones on the bottom rectangle.

Select both rectangles and go to Object > Blend > Make.

Step 3

Create another rectangle of the same width as all the previous ones, as shown in the figure below. Set the gradient fill and Opacity to 0% in the Transparency palette.

Create a new rectangle the height of which equals a few pixels with the fill of the same gradient as a transparent rectangle.

Select the last two rectangles and go to Object > Blend > Make.

Step 4

Proceed to the creation of a match head. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle centered on the same axial line with the match.

For convenience turn on the Smart Guides mode (Command + U). Take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and pull out a circle to the left, while holding down Shift. Now take the Pen Tool (P) and put new anchor points at the intersections of the head with the matchstick.

Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), transform the shape of the head to the view shown in the figure below.

Step 5

Fill the match head with a radial gradient that goes from dark brown to its light shades.

Copy and paste back the shape of the head (Command + C; Command + B). Fill the copy with a solid dark-brown color and shift it slightly to the left.

Step 6

Take the Pen Tool (P) and create a place where the wood is burnt. These areas are filled with a linear gradient composed of dark shades of brown color.

Both of these objects must be located in the under layers below the match head.

Step 7

Create pores on the match head. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create an ellipse. For the fill color, use solid color of the fill of a radial gradient of the match head. To take the color, use the Eyedropper Tool (I) and hold down the Shift to select.

Often object selection interferes with choosing the right color, you can turn it on, go to View > Hide Edges (Command + H). Use the same combination of keys to activate the selection. Copy and paste the ellipse in front (Command + C; Command + F), reduce the size and fill it with a solid dark brown.

Using this technique to create more pores on the match head.

Step 8

Now we’ll proceed to create the match flame. At this stage, you should learn one important property: black objects when overlapping over other objects become transparent if you set the Screen Blending mode for them in the Transparency palette in RGB color mode.

You can see below the same objects in the CMYK color mode.

If you are still working in the CMYK color mode, then in order to achieve this effect, you should use absolute black.

Step 9

Create the shape of the flame. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), pull the top anchor point up. The shape of the flame should be located in the under layer below the elements of the match.

Step 10

Select the shape of the flame, and go to Object > Create Gradient Mesh… and set the number of rows and columns in the dialog box.

Remember that you can edit the grid lines that are obtained automatically. Use the Gradient Mesh Tool (U) to create new lines, and use the same tool to remove them but this time hold down the Alt. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) for grid line distortion and movement of the nodes.

Step 11

Thus, bring the lines and nodes of the gradient mesh to the view shown in the figure below. Flame is a movable object, so your grid can have a completely different shape.

Step 12

Select the gradient mesh with the Selection Tool (V) or by clicking on the appropriate under layer in the Layers palette and fill it with black. Set the Screen Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.

Step 13

Proceed to the coloring of the flame. Select the grid nodes and apply yellow and red colors to them. Nodes that lie beyond the borders of the gradient mesh should remain in black, otherwise we get the sharp edges of the flame, which is unacceptable.

Step 14

Create another object above the match. Using the technique described above, create a simple gradient mesh based on this object and color it.

And this is how two gradient meshes look together.

Step 15

Now create two more feathers of the flame.

And all the elements of fire together.

When coloring the gradient mesh you can use the colors of the already colored grids. In this, you can rely on your artistic taste to create a very interesting work.

Step 16

There is no smoke without fire, and vice versa. Start creating smoke. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle filled with black. And set the Screen Blending Mode in the Transparency palette.

Step 17

Keep the rectangle selected, go to Object > Create Gradient Mesh… and set the number of rows and columns in the dialog box.

Transfer the rectangle to the background in order to choose the right color, and replace the color of the two bottom central points of the gradient mesh with blue.

Step 18

Now you need to bend the rectangle shape into the shape of a smoke stream. I used the following tools to transform such objects: the Direct Selection Tool (A), Lasso Tool (Q), and Rotate Tool (R).

Let’s take a look at the transformation technique. First, lock all the objects except the rectangle in the Layers palette. Place the rectangle at the right place in your work, take the Lasso Tool (Q) and select all the nodes of the grid, except those that are on the left side.

Take the Rotate Tool (R) and set the center rotation at point A and use the same tool to bend the object.

Now make another bend. Using the Lasso Tool (Q) select mesh nodes, as shown in the figure below.

Take the Rotate Tool (R) and set the center of rotation at point B and bend the object using the same tool.

In addition, you can move individual nodes and (or) several nodes using the Direct Selection Tool (A). Grid line operation is the same as with operating any other vector objects. I think you’ve got the working principle down. Bring the object to the view shown in the figure below.

The smoke stream is located below the match in the Layers palette.

Step 19

Using the technique described above, create a few more streams of smoke.




You’ve probably noticed that for the creation of these streams both sides of the original rectangle are colored in shades of blue, while central nodes of the grid stay black. Check how all the elements that make up the smoke look.

Step 20

We only have to create a composition. Creating a composition in the technical sense is always the final stage. Of course, before creating the work, you should have an idea about the final result, you can even make a few sketches. But it is convenient to complete your work with this stage. Why do you think it is so?

The thing is that it is easier to work with gradients if an object is placed vertically or horizontally. Imagine how much time you would spend on setting the gradients of the wooden piece of the match, if it was located at an angle to the normal line?

And the thing is not only in gradients, it is convenient to work with any object if it is located horizontally or vertically. Thus, unlock all objects in the Layers palette (in step 18, we locked some objects) and group up all the elements of our work and rotate them as shown below.

Also resize the background in this step so that the composition looked harmonious. When creating a composition pay attention not only to the harmony of objects, but to the harmony of empty space as well.

Now hide all the objects protruding beyond the background. Copy the black rectangle (background) and paste it in front (Command + C; Command + F). Move the under layer with the rectangle in the layers palette so that it is above all objects.

Select all objects Command + A. Now go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make or choose the appropriate option from the context menu.

Conclusion

Having mastered the technique described in this tutorial, you can create realistic vector flames, lighters or torches. Who knows, you might want to make a fire? And give it some heat!

Final Product What You’ll Be Creating

Read this tutorial and learn how to draw a music folder icon in Illustrator. We’ll use the 3D Revolve tool and Extrude & Bevel effects. They are put into use throughout the entire workflow, starting from shaping a 3D folder using a single path and finishing with all the colorful glossy musical notes. If you want to learn all these vector techniques, then follow me!

Step 1

Let’s begin with the path that you need to create the folder. Take the Rounded Rectangle Tool, click on your artboard and enter the values shown, then take the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) and add another point in the place indicated.

Now take the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the two points shown to cut the shape, then delete the top segment because you don’t need it. All that remains to be done is to shape the right side. For that, first you need to take the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C), click on the two points and drag the handles.

Now, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to individually move the points and adjust the handles to obtain a path like below.

Step 2

After you’ve obtained the path, give it a 3 pt yellow Stroke, then go to Effect menu > 3D and apply the Extrude & Bevel effect. The settings are shown below. It’s important to select only 2 Blend Steps because after you expand it you will need as few shapes as possible with which to work, otherwise things get complicated.

Step 3

Next, draw a rectangle with the dimensions shown using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Take the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the two anchor points indicated to cut the shape, then delete the bottom segment.

Select (using the Direct Selection Tool) only the bottom right point, and move it to the right, then select both bottom points and join them (Command + J) to close the path. At the end, also move the bottom right corner point slightly above.

Step 4

Fill the shape obtained in the previous step with yellow, then go to Effect > 3D and apply the Extrude & Bevel effect. Arrange the resulting 3D shape above the folder as shown, and make sure they fit perfectly. If they don’t fit you can use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to slightly move the corner points of this 3D shape until they do.

Step 5

Now draw a 27x 13 px rectangle and then draw a triangle on its right side. Select them both and click Add To Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel. Now you have to transform the three points from the right side corner to smooth points. To do that, take the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C), click on each of them, and drag the handles. Fill the resulting tag with black.

Take the Type Tool (T) and type “Music” using the four fonts indicated, then from the Object menu select Expand and Ungroup. Keep only the red letters and compose with them the new word “Music”. The letter “s” was subsequently enlarged in comparison to the other. Group all the letters and arrange them above the black tag, then drag everything into the Symbols Panel to define a new symbol.

Step 6

Go back to the 3D shape obtained in step 4 and in the Appearance Panel Double-click on the 3D Extrude & Bevel effect to open the Options window. Now press the Map Art button. Now select the symbol defined earlier from the list and apply it on the front surface as shown.

Step 7

Having the shape that you previously mapped selected, go to the Object menu and choose Expand Appearance, then Ungroup four times. After that, in the Layers Panel open each of the remaining groups and if you see a clipping path there, delete it. Repeat this process for the folder. Make sure that all masks were removed before continuing.

Next, select the back shape of the folder and also the smaller yellow shape above it and click Add To Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel to unite them (image 1). Fill the resulting shape with the gradient shown.

At the bottom of the folder you will also find two shapes and you need to unite them. Select them both and click Add to Shape Area > Expand again (image 2). Fill the new bottom shape with the gradient shown. Do the same thing for the two shapes from the side of the folder (image 3).

Step 8

Grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw a small path using as reference the corner point of the bottom front shape of the folder (as shown in the close-up). Select both the narrow shape from the side and this path. Now click Divide from the Pathfinder Panel and Ungroup from the Object menu (2). Fill the two resulting shapes with the gradients shown (3).

Step 9

Fill all the shapes that make up the front of the folder with the gradients indicated using white, gray and black (1). Now set the blending modes and the Opacities for each one of them as shown (2).

Step 10

Copy and Paste in front the middle and the top shapes from the front of the folder, then click Add To Shape Area > Expand to unite them. Copy and Paste in front the resulting shape and move it a bit up and to the left. With the red and the green shapes selected, click Subtract From Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel.

The narrow shape obtained has to be divided in two. To do this, first take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a small path as shown in the close-up using as reference the two corner points indicated. Select both the green shape and this path, then click Divide from the Pathfinder Panel and choose Ungroup from the Object menu.

Step 11

Fill the two shapes obtained in the previous step with the linear gradients shown and move them behind the transparent shapes.

Step 12

Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a path from one side of the folder to the other, as in the image below. Go to the Brushes Panel, open the Brush Libraries menu and under Artistic > Artistic_Ink find Tapered Stroke.

Use it to stroke this path and reduce the stroke weight to 0.05 pt. From the Object menu choose Expand Appearance, then fill the resulting shape with light brown.

Step 13

At this step focus on the top of the folder and fill the three shapes with the linear gradients indicated.

Step 14

Let’s continue with the music tag. Replace the existing fill color with a gradient using black and gray, then select the group of letters and fill it with the radial gradient shown (1).

Next, follow the sequence of images (2) and draw with the Pen Tool (P) the shapes shown to finish the left side of the tag. When you are done, Copy and Paste in back the tag, replace the gradient with black and move it a bit up. Do the same thing on the side using the shapes that you just drew.

Step 15

Grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw the paths that you see below following the shapes and the curves of the folder. Stroke them with a Tapered Stroke (using the brush that you used earlier), then change the weight values as indicated for each of them.

When you are done select them all and choose Expand Appearance from the Object menu. The resulting shapes after expanding the green paths are filled with black and all the others with white. Set all of them (both white and black) to Soft Light.

Step 16

Let’s continue with the musical notes. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an oval shape, then switch to the Scissors Tool (C), and click on the top and bottom anchor points to cut the shape in half. Keep only the right path, then go to Effect > 3D and apply the Revolve effect.

Step 17

The note head obtained is not really what we want and still requires some adjustments. From the Appearance Panel open again the 3D Revolve Options window and press the More Options button so you can see the entire dialog. Here move the light from the right side to approximately in the middle, and reduce the Highlight Intensity from 60% to 40%.

Step 18

To create the stem, take the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\) and draw a straight path in back. Give it a 10 pt Stroke using the same green color as for the note head, and also check the Round Cap option in the Stroke Panel.

Now draw a 110×22 px rectangle, give it any fill color, and drag it into the Symbols Panel. With the stem selected, go to Effect > 3D > Revolve, and in the Options window select only the Position. Press the Map Art button, select the red stripe symbol from the list and apply it on the front surface of the stem.

Step 19

Select the note head and the stem and choose Expand Appearance from the Object menu. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the red stripe from the group and fill it with the linear gradient shown. Next, draw a flag shape using the Pen Tool (P) and send it behind the stem.

Step 20

Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw the three red paths that you see below. Stroke the path in the middle with a brush called Tapered-Sharp that you can find in the Brush Libraries menu under Artistic > Artistic_Ink. For the other two I used Tapered Stroke.

Set the weight values as indicated and select Expand Appearance for all three. Go to Effect > Blur and apply a 2 px Gaussian Blur, then change the Blending mode to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 60% for all of them.

Step 21

To create the second musical note the process is similar. Use again a half-ellipse and apply the Revolve effect to obtain the note head.

Step 22

For the stem, draw a thin rectangle using the Rounded Rectangle Tool, send it in back, then go to Effect > 3D and apply the Extrude & Bevel effect. The settings can be seen below. The second musical note is ready therefore you can expand it.

Step 23

For the musical note no.3 you need again an ellipse, a rounded rectangle, and a flag. This time select them all and click Add To Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel. Fill the resulting note with red, then go to Effect > 3D and apply the Extrude & Bevel effect. When you are done, choose Expand Appearance from the Object menu.

Step 24

For the musical note no.4, first draw the two thin rounded rectangles, then arrange a rectangle between them as in the image shown. Select all three shapes and click Add To Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel to unite them. Now you can apply the 3D Extrude & Bevel effect using the settings shown. Move the light on the left side as you did before.

Step 25

Use two ellipse halves and apply the 3D Revolve effect to create the note heads. Again move the light from the right side to the left and also increase the Highlight Size from 90% to 100% so they look a bit glossier.

Step 26

Take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a shape and a straight path as shown below. Stroke the path with Tapered-Sharp, set the weight to 0.3 pt then choose Expand Appearance from the Object menu.

Now select the resulting shape and also the black one, then click Add To Shape Area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel. Fill the shape obtained with a linear gradient using black and white, then change the Blending mode to Screen and lower the Opacity to 30%.

Step 27

The last musical note is the clef. First, you need to take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a path in the shape of the clef, then use Tapered Stroke to stroke it. Set the weight to 0.5 pt, then select Expand Appearance and Ungroup twice from the Object menu.

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move some of the anchor points individually to create thicker areas as indicated. When you are done, draw a circle at the bottom end, then select both shapes and click Add To Shape Area > Expand to unite them. This is the clef that you need.

Step 28

Go to Effect > 3D and apply the Extrude & Bevel effect to the clef obtained, then expand it. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select only the front shape from the group, keep the existing fill color, and also give it a 0.25 pt white Stroke.

Now open the fly-out menu and choose Add New Fill. I used the Zebra pattern that can be found in the Swatch Libraries menu under Patterns > Nature > Nature_Animal Skins. Change the Blending mode to Color Dodge and lower the Opacity to 85%, but only for this second fill.

Step 29

At this point the folder made fits into a 128×128 px square and I scaled it 200% to obtain a bigger icon. The reason is that I wanted to add a few shadows and we all know that the Drop Shadow effect or Blur applied to tiny shapes equals disaster sometimes.

Select the front side of the music tag, go to Effect > Stylize and apply the Drop Shadow effect using the settings shown below. Also, you can now arrange the musical notes inside the folder, behind all the transparent shapes in front. If you want to scale one of the notes, make sure you have expanded each stroke, pattern or effect applied before you do that.

Step 30

We are almost done. Grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw a wavy path like in the image, then Copy and Paste in front the bigger transparent shape of the folder.

Now select the path and also the pasted shape, then click Divide from the Pathfinder Panel and Ungroup from the Object menu. Keep only the bottom shape, fill it with a linear gradient from white to black, set it to Color Dodge and lower the Opacity to 10%.

Step 31

Copy and Paste in back each of the shapes selected below, more precisely the back, the bottom, and the bottom front shapes of the folder. Now click Add to shape area > Expand from the Pathfinder Panel. Send the resulting shape in back, then go to Effect > Stylize and apply the Drop Shadow effect.

Final Image

The music folder icon is ready and here is the final image. I hope you found this tutorial useful and that you learned new techniques.

Step 1

First create a new document, 1000×500 pixels, with a black background. Then, create your text in white. The font used is Verdana, and the size is 120pt. Choose Bold from the Font Style selection box next to the Font Family box in the Options bar.

Step 2

Create a new layer on top of the Background layer and call it “Gradient”. Select the Gradient Tool, and set the Foreground color to White. Create a Foreground to Transparent gradient from top to bottom.

Press the Ctrl key, and click on the text layer thumbnail (icon) to create a selection.

Select the “Gradient” layer so that it is the active layer, and press Ctrl + J to copy the selection and paste it in a new layer, call the new layer “Gradient Letters”. Then, click on the eye icons next to the text and “Gradient” layers to make them invisible.

Step 3

Pick the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and click the Intersect with Selection icon in the Options bar. Reselect the text (Ctrl + Click on the text layer thumbnail), then draw a rectangle around the first letter.

This will make the letter S the only selected letter.

Create a new layer on top of the “Gradient Letters” layer and call it “Colored Letters”, then change its Blend Mode to Screen. Fill the selection you created with the color #ff0000, then press Ctrl + D to get rid of the selection.

Repeat the same process to each letter. (Ctrl + Click on the text layer thumbnail to create a selection, draw a rectangle around the letter you want to color, fill in the selection, and press Ctrl + D to get rid of the selection at the end.) The colors used here are as follows:

S – #ff0000

U – #ff7e00

S – #fffc00

P – #a2ff00

E – #06ec00

N – #00d8ff

D – #004eff

E – #7200ff

D – #f000ff

This is what you should get:

Step 4

Set the Fill value for both the “Gradient Letters” and “Colored Letters” layers to 60%, and duplicate each one of them.

Select the original “Colored Letters” layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and set the Raduis to 5. Do the same thing for the original “Gradient Letters” layer.

Merge all 4 layers together (select them all, then go to Layer > Merge Layers).

Step 5

Now, create a selection from the original text layer again (Ctrl + Click on the original text layer’s thumbnail), use the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and click the Intersect with Selection icon in the Options bar, then draw a rectangle around the first layer.

Once the letter is selected, press Ctrl + J to copy it and paste it in a new layer.

Repeat the same process for each letter. Don’t forget to select the “Colored Letters copy” layer after you press Ctrl + J each time.

Once you’re done, you should have each letter in a separate layer. Remove the eye icon next to the “Colored Letters copy” layer to make it invisible.

Step 6

Set the Foreground color to #e5ffff, and pick the Pen Tool. Make sure to clik the Paths icon in the Options bar as well.

Create a new layer on top of all layers and call it Rope. Draw a path as shown below:

Choose a hard round brush and set its Size to 3 px. Then, pick the Pen Tool once again, right click on the path you’ve created, and choose Stroke Path.

Use the settings below:

This should stroke the path with the brush you modified. Hit Enter to get rid of the path.

Duplicate the “Rope” layer, then select the original one, and apply the Gaussian Blur Filter once again (You can press Ctrl + F to do so).

Drag the two “Rope” layer so that they are under all the letters’ layers.

Step 7

Rotate and move the letters to place them on the Rope.

Ctrl + Click the “Rope” layer’s thumbnail to create a selection.

Pick the Eraser Tool, and select the Letters layers, one by one, to erase the outer edges so that the letter looks like its really hung on the Rope.

This is how the text should look like:

Now choose a hard round brush for the Eraser Tool, set its size to 5 px, and again, select the Letters layers one by one, to erase the parts where the Rope and the Letter meet.

You should end up with a result similar to this.

Step 8

We’re going to make the background more colorful. So create a new layer on top of the Background layer and call it “BG Colors”. Then, select a soft round brush, and scatter some different sized spots on your canvas using different bright colors, for example #fe5a00, #ffe100, #7cff00 and #00fff5.

Use the Eraser Tool with a soft round brush to erase a bit of the colors at the center (around the text).

Set the “BG Colors” layer’s Opacity to 25%. And we’re done!.