Photoshop-news

Photoshop tutorial making a cool glowing logo

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:17:00 -0700

Photoshop tutorial making a cool glowing logo

1.start by creating a new project window. I always make it a bit larger then I need.now type in your prefered text.

2. Use your selection tool and make a elliptical selection around your text, and create a new layer from your layers panel. Then hold down your shift key while pressing backspace, fill the selected area with a default color.

3. Now go to your layers style and add style like in the next couple of images.

4. When thats done, also add an outer glow with its default settings, pree ok, and move your text layer above your elliptical layer.5. Make your text layer about 60% in Opacity.6. We will now add a glass kind of effect to this logo. now make a selection so it covers half of your object, hold down shift and press backspace, fill with the color white.

7. Hold down ctrl (control key) and press the layer with your elliptical object from before, and then hold down ctrl and shift at the same time while pressing i, this will invert your selection. now it delete.
8. Now set the opacity of your glass layer to about 60%
9. Go to the layers style for your glow layer and add values as in this image:

10. Here you see my image, I have been playing around with text and fonts and bend my text to fit the object.And your done.

Digital flower

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:09:00 -0700

Now right click on the layer in the Layers Palette and apply a gradient to this layer from #ff3237 to #ff9b01:Duplicate this layer, on the new layer apply a Gaussian Blur filter with the radius set to about 4-7 px then duplicate this layer 2 times.Select the last three layers you created and merge them (you can go to the Layer menu and choose Merge Layers or CTRL+E).Duplicate this layer again and choose Edit > Free Transform and then right click and choose skew and skew it to right like you see in the picture below:Now press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T and you should obtain something similar to this:Group the last 3 layers and then duplicate the group and go to Edit > Free Transform and choose Flip Horizontal. Arrange the 2 groups like you see below and you will obtain something that starts to look like a flower:Here you can see the 3 layers that a group contains:Make a selection aroud the flower:Create a new layer and fill it with a color;it doesn't matter what color, mine is white. This layer should be arranged below all the layers.
Apply a Gradient Overlay style with these 2 colors: #ff9997 and #fc0100 with a radial style.With a Soft Round brush of 90-100 px delete the upper part of this layer and on the sides.Create a new layer and using the same brush and with the Foreground color set to #f08c2c click once:Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose a higher value for the Radius (I used 35 px).Create a new layer above all the layers and using the same brush and with the Foreground color set to white click again once. You should have something like this:You can enhance the saturation of the colors, apply other effects, just let your imagination go free. Here is what I came up with:

Create realistic ice effect in photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:09:00 -0700

Aplly a Stroke effect with the size of 1 px, Position set to Inside and Color set to #28a6ff.Aplly Color Overlay style, with the Opacity set to 75% and color set to #abc2e4.Apply a Bevel and Emboss style, leave all the settings default except your Gloss Contour which should change to Ring and your Shadow mode color which should be set to #3d5286.Add a Contour style and set your range to 100%, Contour to Cone and check Anti-aliased.Add Texture, with the Pattern set to Wood and Scale set to 63%.Apply a Satin style, but change your Blend Mode to Normal, Opacity to 100% and color to #a6d5f5.Add a Inner Glow, with the color changed to #2b81d9.Add a Outer Glow, with the color changed to #7dd9ff and the Opacity set to 15%.Add a Inner Shadow effect, with the color changed to #484a70.
Add a Drop Shadow style, with the color set to #1b2a6a, Opacity to 40%. Uncheck Use Global Light and set your Angle to -45 degrees, Distance to 65 px, Spread 5% and Size 100 px.Now you have an ice effect that can be easily modified and apllied to any other object you want.I always try to take my photoshop tutorials a little futher and see what else can I come up with if I am continuously improving an image. Here is what I come up with for this tutorial after adding a few other effects:

Silk pearl in photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:09:00 -0700

Learn How to create a silk pearl with this photoshop tutorial

After weeks of waiting I finally come up with a new photoshop tutorial, this time I though I might show you how to make a silk pearl in photoshop.
Open a new Photoshop document, mine is 250x250 pixels. Using your Elipse Tool (press and hold the SHIFT key) draw a perfect circle. Now double click your layer in the layer pallete and apply the following styles to it: a Gradient Overlay with the Style set to Radial and a gradient that goes from #b68072 at 0% location to #e9b6a0 at 60% location to #fff1d7 at 85% location and finally to #ffffff at 100% location. Your effects should look similar to this:You should also apply a Bevel and Emboss style to it with the style set to Inner Bevel, Technique set to Chisel Hard, Depth 151%, Size 2 px, uncheck use global light and use 38 degrees for Angle and 32 degrees for Altitude. Set the highlight mode to overlay with 100% Opacity and #d1a971 for color and your Shadow mode also to Overlay, with 75% Opacity and #d9b890 as color.Now CTRL+click your shape layer in order to bring out its selection then go to Select menu and choose Modify and Contract and insert a value of 2 pixels (this should big as big enough as the size of the Bevel and Emboss style applied to the circle shape layer).
Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and using black color draw something like you see in the picture below:Now put your layer mode to Soft Light and Opacity to 80%.Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and using white color draw something like you see in the picture below:Now put your layer mode to Overlay and Opacity to 80%.Now create a new layer and with a Soft Round Brush of 16 px click once on the light part of your sphere and you should have something like this:Selecet the layer's Opacity to be 60%.Now create a new layer and using your Polygonal Lasso Tool create a star shape and fill it with white:Now CTRL+click your shape layer in order to bring out its selection then go to Select menu and choose Modify then Contract and insert a value of 2 pixels (this should big as big enough as the size of the Bevel and Emboss style applied to the circle shape layer) then press CTRL+I in order to invert the selection. Create a new layer above all the layers, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and draw two white margins like you see in the picture below:If you want to take this tutorials a little further, you may try to add more light and shadow to your silk pearls; here is what I come up with:

Walkthrough - Quest for the magic wand

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:09:00 -0700

See how I work and think, and watch step by step how I create one of my works from concept to completion with this photoshop tutorial.

The work I'm about to show you was done for the Photoshop Cafe Movie Poster Competition. For this poster, I thought at a fantasy movie scenario... a team of adventurers proceeds in a glorious quest to find a magic wand that is supposed to help them save their realm from the forces of evil. I started by making some stars on a night sky:
Then I've added the hills covered with grass:A light behind the hills for contrast:Then some clouds added over the light in order to amplify it's effect:I have then added an unreal planet, something like a big moon, don't forget we still are in a fantasy realm: A rock:A path and some gravestones and a cross:Even more gravestones and crosses:Our 4 heroes (I put these just to see how they look like and I will later change them). I like how the silhouettes look in front of the light:This is starting to be interesting; the wizzard starts using his powers. For higher contrast I used green and yellow colors on the wizzard's spell:I've added title and info to make it look more like a poster:I've lighten the grass to bring out it's texture and added the shadows. At this point, I am happy with the graveyard look.
Always try to refine your image if you don't like the looks of it, you can always do better; you just have to try until you are satisfied with the result. Add your details gradually:
I've added more details in the title of the poster to make it pop-up more and I've added the name of the actors:I've changed the 4 heroes and replaced them with others, keeping the silhouette-look, with the light behind:
In the end, I modified the look of the wizzard's spell because I wanted more contrast and made it look like a phoenix, coming to help our adventurers in their noble quest. I was very happy with the result, but after working on more posters I decided this shouldn't be submitted in the Photoshop Cafe Contest.

Create realistic rocks and blend them into your scene

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:09:00 -0700

Learn how to create realistic rocks and then how to blend them into an underwater scene with this photoshop tutorial.

Hello and welcome to another photoshop tutorial. Many of my visitors asked me for a photoshop tutorial showing how I did the rocks in the realistic alien water scene were made.Here goes...
Open a new document, mine is 640x480 px then go to the Filter menu and choose Render > Difference Clouds.Now go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and select your light (spotlight) to come from top-left corner of your image, leaving all the other settings intact, like you see in my image below:Your result should be similar to this:Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and set the Amount to 0.6%, Distribution to Gaussian and check Monochromatic.Apply a Bas relief filter (from Filter > Sketch > Bas Relief) with the following values: Detail: 15, Smoothness: 2, Light: Top.Now duplicate your background layer (go to Layer > Duplicate Layer...) and then aplly a Craquelure filter (Filter > Texture > Craquelure) with the following values: Crack Spacing:80, Crack Depth:4, Crack Brightness:5.Using the Lasso Tool make a selection like you want your rock to look like. Flatten your image (go to Layer > Flatten Image) and copy from the new layer created.
Open the image you want to blend your rock into. Paste the rock into a new layer then press CTRL+U in order to modify the Hue/Saturation: check Colorize then use the following values Hue:220, Saturation:45, Lightness:-20.Now you must darken some parts of your rock and lighten others. I darkened the right part of my rock using the Burn Tool and lightened the upper part using the Dodge Tool (on the next image you have blue arrows to show you where I've used the Burn Tool and a White arrow to show you where I've used the Dodge Tool).Using the Burn Tool with a small brush selected make more cracks into our rock.Hope you liked this photoshop tutorial. Thank you!
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

bling bling your logo

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to pimp your logo with diamonds and gold with this photoshop tutorial

I saw many people like the bling bling effect applied to text, but I will show you how to do the best gold and diamonds effect that you can apply to everything you want: your logo, your avatar, anything. For this Photoshop tutorial, we will have to use a new pattern. Just download this image right here, open it in Photoshop then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Now we created a new pattern that we will use as a diamond.

Create a new document, mine is 300x300 pixels. Set your foreground color to #bb6b0c and background color to #d28714 and draw the shape on which you want the bling bling effect to be applied. I'm using a butterfly shape from the shapes available under the Custom Shape Tool. Double click the shape layer you just created in order to see the Layer Styles and choose Gradient Overlay from the options available. Now from the Gradient picker choose the first gradient available (foreground to background), leaving the other options intact.Apply the Drop shadow Effect with the opacity set to 40%, color set to #4b545d, Distance 10px, Spread 0px and size 60px.Now apply a Bevel and Emboss effect with the Style set to Inner Bevel, Depth 810%, Size 8px, Soften 0px; from the shading options set the Angle to 135 degrees, Altitude to 30 degrees, Highlight mode set to Overlay, color white and 100% opacity, Shadow mode set to multiply, color black and 60% opacity, and a Gloss Contour like you see I've drawn mine in the image below.On the same layer aplly a Satin Effect with the Blend mode set to Overlay, Color white, Opacity 25%, Angle 19 degrees, Distance 27px, Size 16px and from the contour options available select the Ring style, like you see I've done in the image below:Create a new layer above the shape layer. Now CTRL+click your shape layer:Choose Select > Modify > Contract and choose 7px then click OK. Your image should look like this:Now press the D key to reset your colors to default black and white and using your Paint Bucket Tool fill the layer you just created with black. Now double click the layer you just filled with black and from the options available choose the Outer Glow Effect with the Blending mode set to Overlay, Color white, Opacity 75%, Noise )%, Spread 65% and Size 3px, leaving the other options intact.Now apply a Stroke effect with a Size of 1px, Position set to Outside, Blend mode set to Soft Light, Opacity set to 80% and Fill Type set to Color Black:Now CTRL+click this black layer and create a new layer above it.Select the layer you just created and choose Edit > Fill and for the Use option choose Pattern and select the pattern we created at the beggining of this tutorial (it's the last one available). Click OK, then CTRL+D to deselect and there you have it:You cam play with the options above and add other effects like shining stars and lighting effects and obtain amazing bling bling effects:That's it, I hope you enjoyed this Photoshop tutorial.
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

How to create a blueberry

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to draw a blueberry with this photoshop tutorial

Welcome to another photoshop tutorial! As I was saying I try to have original tutorials or at least an original approach of some old tutorials. For this lesson, I thought maybe I can try to show how to do a blueberry. I had to do blueberry's for a client once and I thought I should make a nice tutorial for you. This may seem to be a very long tutorial but in fact it's not, I only took printscreens on every little step I made.

Create a new document of whatever size you want, mine is 300x300 pixels. Let's start by creating a circle with the Elliptical Marquee Tool, this must be a perfect circle not an ellipse so press and hold the SHIFT key while you are drawing with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. With your foreground color set to #1291c0 and your background color set to #0d0958 create a new layer, select the Gradient Tool and from the Gradient picker select Foreground to Background gradient (it's the first in the list) and then select the radial gradient style. Start dragging from one corner to another. Your settings should be like you see in the image below:You results should be similar to this:Now click the Lock transparent pixels icon (located in the layers palette, you can see on the next printscreen I took where it is located) and then go to Filter > Artistic > Sponge and use these settings: Brush Size set to 3, Definition set to 25 and Smoothness set to 9 and click OK.Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 2 pixels. You should obtain something similar to this:Create a new layer above the circle layer and by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool make a selection similar to what you see I did in the image below:Now press the X key so that your foreground color is the darker shade of blue and using the brush tool fill the are within the selection, but do not deselect yet. You should have something similar to this:Using the Burn Tool simply darken some areas inside the layer you just created. Here is how I done it:Now you have a blueberry just make it a little smaller in size using any transformation method you wantand you can obtain something like this:Let's add a little shadow to our blueberry. Using theEllip tical Marquee Tool, make a selection like you see I've made inthe image below:
Make a new layer and put it beneath all your layers ( you can do that by SHIFT + CTRL + [ or Layer > Arrange > Send to Back). Fill it with black or a darker blue than deselect and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select a Radius of 2. You should have something you see in the image below:Here is what I obtained after a few hours of work... you have got to love photoshop:You can also check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Create a kite shield in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to create a coloured kite shield with this photoshop tutorial

For this photoshop tutorial I thought I might teach you how to make a kite shield like the one below:Open a new document 300x300 pixels, press the D key in order to reset your colors to default colors and Using the Pen Tool draw a triangle, something similar to what you see I draw in the image below:Using the Pen Tool we need to add 2 more anchor points the first should be placed somewhere in the middle of the distance between the upper and the right anchor point and the second should be placed somewhere in the middle of the distance between the lower and the right anchor points, something similar to what you see below:Now, using the Direct Selection Tool, you need to drag the 2 anchor points you just created, one inside the path and one outside the path, until you obtain something like this:Using also the Direct Selection Tool press and hold the ALT key and when you approach the shape layer with your cursor you will see a little + appearing next to your tool. You need to click and drag your shape with the ALT key pressed (while holding the SHIFT key so that you can move in a straight line). You should obtain something like this:What you need now is to horizontally flip the new sub-shape you just created. For this press CTRL+T while your sub-shape is selected (if you deselect it you can reselect it by using the Path Selection Tool) and then right Click anywhere on the image and select Flip Horizontal from the options available, like you see below:Now holding the SHIFT key simply drag the sub-shape until it joins with the other sub-shape: Press the ENTER key. There is you shield. Your image should look similar to this one below:Now you need a little color on your shield so here is what you should do: set you foreground color to darken red, I used #b40000 and the background color to a brighter red, I used #ff130d.
Double click the shape layer you just created in order to see the Lyer Style options and choose Gradient Overlay and from the Gradient picker choose Foreground to Background (it's the first gradient available). You should have something similar to this:Now CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection and using the Rectangular Marquee Tool with the ALT key pressed (in order to substract from the selection) substract 2 times from our selection until you obtain a selection like the one I have in the image below:Create a new layer (mine is called Layer 1) above the shape layer (SHIFT+CTRL+N can be used) and then fill the selection with white. Your shield should look like this:CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection again and create a new layer above all the layers in your image. Go to Edit menu and choose Stroke. On the dialog box that appears select the width of the Stroke to 3 pixels, set the Color to black and from Location select Inside. Click the OK button and with your selection still active got o Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 10 pixels. You should have something like in the image below:You need to add a shadow to your shield so double Click the shape layer again in order to see the Lyer Style options and choose Drop Shadow with the following values: Opacity 35%, Angle 90 degrees, Distance 5px and Size 15px, leaving the other options intact. Your shield should now look like this:You see that the margins look really jagged and you don't want that CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection again and go again to Edit > Stroke. This time I want you to set the Width of the Stroke to 2 pixels, Color to #b3b3b3 and Location to Center. Click OK.At the end of this photoshop tutorial you should have a nice shield like this one:If you want to go a little further with the effects and styles apllied to the shield you can obtain something like I have below:
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Photoshop tutorial - Sparkling stars effect

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to create a sparkling clean stars effect with this photoshop tutorial

Here goes... my first Photoshop tutorial; in this tutorial we will learn to create a very nice sparkling effect and added to a photo, like the one you see below (you can also see some smart use of the sparkling effect in my previous works presented here)..
First of all, we need to understand what the sparkling effect is composed of: lots of stars arranged in random positions and having different sizes. The bigger stars should be in the middle, whie the smaller stars should be positioned on margins.

STEP 1
We need to create a star that will be the base of our effect. Let's start by opening a new work document with 21x21 pixels. You can change this size according to your needs. Now select the Pen Tool and draw a star shape like you see in the picture below (in the photo you have the star shape at 100% and 1600% zoom):
Now, this shape must be rasterized; this can be done in two ways: by right-clicking on the star shape layer we just created and then selecting Rasterize Layer from the options available or by selecting the star layer and then going to the layer menu and select Rasterize > Layer from the drop-down menu.. so it's Layer>Rasterize>Layer.
We must use the star we just rasterized as a brush. We do this by selecting the star layer and then go to the Edit menu and select Define Custom Shape then click OK.

STEP 2

Now with a few brush present we can do that sparkling stars effect you saw in the upper examples. Open the Brushes Palette and let's start: from the Brush Presets select our star brush we just created (it's the last brush on the menu), then from the Brush Tip Shape set the Spacing to 250%-350%, from the Shape Dynamics set the Size Jitter to 40%-60%, Minimum Diameter to 25%-35% and Angle Jitter to 35%-65%, leaving the rest of the options default, and in the end from the Scattering option set the Scatter to 450%-550% and Count to 2 or 3. For a better understanding, you have 3 printscreens of what these presets should look like.

STEP 3
Here is our image thst will have the effect applied on it:With the foreground color set to white start drawing at first with a bigger brush and then with smaller and smaller brushes. Here is how your image should look like:
After you finished drawing the stars, put the layer color mode to overlay and you're done - look at the details, the stars from the margin get some color from the background and you will find this tip very useful in some cases:

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

10 tips & tricks to make your work easier in Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to optimize your work in photoshop with this tutorial

I will start with my first Photoshop tutorial, ok it's not really a tutorial just some tips, general things that I found to be very useful when working in Photoshop. Even if you are an expert I think you will find some of this stuff usefull:

Right after you installed Photoshop onto your computer, go to Edit > Preferences > General (CTRL+K shortcut) and start customizing the program according to your needs. For example I always choose Zoom with Scroll Wheel from the General (CTRL+1) section then I go to the Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks (CTRL+7) section where I will choose my first and second Scratch Disk; usually I will not choose the first Scratch Disk to be the one that has the system (I use Windows) installed on. Then I will go to the Memory & Image Cache (CTRL+8) section where I will set the Cache Levels to 8 (maximum possible) and the RAM to 55-65% to be Maximum Used by Photoshop (remember that changes will take effect the next time you start Photoshop).

An easier way to switch between the different hidden tools is to use the keyboard shortcut along with the Shift key.

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Polygonal Lasso Tool will allow you use the Lasso Tool and inverse; you can combine these two in order to make a better and efficient selection. I reccomand the use of the Polygonal Lasso Tool (combined with a 300-400% zoom) when you are making a complicated selection (like when you are trying to extract an object from it's background).

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Dodge Tool will allow you to use the Burn tool and inverse.

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Blur Tool will allow you to use the Sharpen tool and inverse.

Pressing the ALT key when you click with the Text Tool will bring you a dialog box where you will be able to choose the Paragraph text size.

Pressing the Space key at any time will let you use the Hand Tool. Pressing the Space key combined with CTRL key at any time will let you use the Zoom Tool (the zoom in option, for the zoom out option also use the ALT key, so it's CTRL+ALT+SPACE for zoom out).

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Move Tool will allow you to duplicate a layer or a selected portion from a layer (if you have a selection made)

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Ellipse Tool, Rectangle Tool, Rounded Rectangle Tool or Custom Shape Tool to draw the shape from the centre.

Pressing the Space key when you are using one of the marquee tools or shape tools will allow you to move the selection or the shape while you are drawing it.

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Unleash the Power Within Adobe Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Some amazing photoshop tutorials

Wait a minute! I still don't know how I should start my blog or what introduction phrase I should use... ok I will use HELLO WORLD!
Ok WORLD, my name is Andrei Bilan (yes, that's also the name of the blog), and I am a graphic designer for about 4 years now. What I would like to talk to you about is the great mix of creativity, skills, fun, colors, magic (yes, like in The Lord of the Rings), logic, and with a twist of sugar usually known as Photoshop. Why would I want to talk to you about Photoshop? Well because I simply love it. I am working in Photoshop for about 5 years and I am an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CS. I really think I can teach you some things you will find very interesting about this program.
First of all, I will show you some of the works I previously done (these were done using only the functions and filters Photoshop offers and not other photo, only some textures here and there)... here we go:

This blog tries to be a guide to the world of Photoshop and clever use of everything this program has to offer. Here you will find Photoshop tutorials, suggestions, advices, and tons of tips and tricks. I will try to keep the tutorials I will present here 100% original and I will do my best to come up with things you never ever saw before on the Photoshop tutorial sites you find on the internet. Of course, you are free to ask me questions and I will try to answer as soon as I can.

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

autumn leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to make realistic autumn leaves with this photoshop tutorial

Things are moving faster then I ever thought so here is another Photoshop tutorial, in this tutorial we will learn to create very nice coloured autumn leaves, like the one you see below. First we need to obtain a leaf brush and then use it to creat those wonderful, very nice coloured leaves.STEP 1
Start by searching a leaf photo or something similar, I have a maple leaf photo.
Now, this maple leaf must be separated from it's background and then use it to define a new brush preset. First we need to take the Magic Wand Tool and select the white parts of the image.

Then we need to double click the background layer in the Layer Palette (or go to the Layer menu and select New and then Layer From Background) in order to make it a normal layer.Then click delete key to ge rid of the white parts of the photo and keep only the leaf.
After this we need to increase the contrast a little so go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 25 and Brightness to -5. Now it's time to define our leaf as a Brush so go to Edit > Define Brush Preset and click OK.
STEP 2
Now with a few brush present we can do that cool flying autumn leaf effect you see below. Open the Brushes Palette and let's start: from the Brush Presets select our leaf brush we just created (it's the last brush on the menu), then from the Brush Tip Shape set the Spacing to 250%-350%, from Shape Dynamics set the Size Jitter to 40%-60%, Minimum Diameter to 25%-35% and Angle Jitter to 35%-65%, leaving the rest of the options default, from the Scattering option set the Scatter to 450%-550% and Count to 2 or 3 and in the end from the Color Dynamics set the Hue Jitter to 10% and the Saturation Jitter to 5%.
For a better understanding, here are some printscreens of what these presets should look like.

Now set your foreground color to #e89d1a and start drawing. You should have something very close to this:You can play with backgrounds and colors to obtain very nice effects like you see below. Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this new Photoshop tutorial.
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

All my Photoshop tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Digital flower
Learn how to create a digital flower with this photoshop tutorial.

Realistic ice effect
Learn how to create a realistic ice effect with this photoshop tutorial.

Silk pearl in photoshop
Learn how to create a silk pearl with this photoshop tutorial.

Quest for the magic wand
See how I work and think, and watch step by step how I create one of my works from concept to completion with this photoshop tutorial.

Create realistic rocks
Learn how to create realistic rocks and then how to blend them into an underwater scene with this photoshop tutorial.

Create alien-looking water in photoshop
Learn how to make realistic alien-looking water with this photoshop tutorial.

Bling Bling your logo
Learn how to pimp your logo with diamonds and gold with this photoshop tutorial.

How to create a blueberry
Learn how to draw a blueberry with this photoshop tutorial.

Learn how to create a sparkling effect
Learn how to create a sparkling clean stars effect with this photoshop tutorial.

Unleash the Power Within Adobe Photoshop
Some of my works are presented here.

Create a coloured kite shield
Learn how to create a coloured kite shield with this photoshop tutorial.

10 tips & tricks to make your work easier in Photoshop
Learn how to optimize your work in photoshop with this tutorial.

Autumn Leaves
Learn how to make realistic falling autumn leaves with this photoshop tutorial.

Create realistic ice effect in photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn How to create realistic ice effect with this photoshop tutorial

Digital flower

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:07:00 -0700

Learn how to create a digital flower with this photoshop tutorial

Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 1 May 2008 12:51:00 -0700

A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.

All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website.

Download The Plugin
You'll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin to export to the .ico file format. You can download the plugin from Telegraphics. The plugin reads and writes ICO files in 1, 4 and 8-bit Indexed and 24-bit RGB modes, and also reads and writes 32-bit "XP" icons (with 8-bit alpha channel). Make sure to install the plugin before you begin this tutorial.

Let's Begin
Because 16 x 16 is such a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to be creative. So instead start your project with a canvas set at 64 x 64 (always use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File>New, and opening a new canvas that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.
The Design

If you already have a logo you should reduce it to the 16 x 16 size to see if it holds up. If it doesn't look good at this size, work with the 64 x 64 canvas and try creating a simple design that incorporates colors from your website's palette.

When you're ready to test the design select Image>Image Size menu and enter 16 x 16. Click on Resample Image and choose "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu (CS only for this step). This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur as it's being resized.

If you feel the icon is not quite what you wanted, just keep tweaking it until it is perfect. At this tiny size it can take a few tries before you get it right.
Saving The Custom Icon

Go to File>Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under Format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin. In the next step you'll need to upload this new file to the root folder of your website, so it's a good idea to navigate and save it to that location on your hard drive now.

Uploading The Favicon.ico File
Connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. You must place it into the same directory as your home (index) page, and leave it loose, making sure not to put it in an images directory or other folder.

Some browsers will look for a direct link in the HTML source code to your site's favicon.ico file. You can help these browsers by adding this link in the head section of each page on which you want the Favicon.ico to appear.
Here is the link code to include:
Once you've added this code, upload all of your modified pages.

Testing
If your new Favicon does not show up right away, try refreshing the page — or put a '?' at the end of the url, which will trick a browser into thinking the page is new and not cached.

Troubleshooting
Browser Issues: Microsoft IE 6 for Windows will not display the favicon until the URL has been added to the favorites, and Safari for the MAC will not display an updated favicon until the browser cache has been cleared. But choosing ‘empty cache’ from the menu won't help because Safari stores favicons in a separate cache. You must empty the icon cache yourself. Look for it in User>Library>Safari>Icons.
File Format Not Available: The Windows Icon (ICO) file format will not be available until you have downloaded and installed the plugin, and then Quit and Restarted Photoshop.

Troubleshooting Update
One person who had trouble with Internet Explorer 7 has sent us a little tip:
I had some trouble with IE 7 — but the addition of these 2 lines of code solved the problem:

I found the info here:
www.webmasterworld.com/html/3251565.htm

Inspiration
If you need some inspiration have a look through this nice collection of favicons. Also look at the nice categorized list of 50 remarkable favicons at Smashing Magazine. You might find something that triggers an idea for your own.

That's it. Enjoy your Favicons!

Photoshop guru leaves Adobe for Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:30:00 -0700

Mark Hamburg, a programmer who worked on Photoshop since version 2.0 and helped lead development of the newer Photoshop Lightroom, has left Adobe Systems for a new job at Microsoft.

Martin Evening, a Lightroom expert and author, reported Hamburg's new job on his blog Friday, saying Hamburg will be involved in user experience work. A Microsoft representative confirmed the new hire but didn't share further details.

Hamburg was named inventor of the year by the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association in 1999 and entered the National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Hall of Fame in 2003.

Parenting: All The Fun Is In The Top Half

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

What will your baby be like? Will she have any legs?
Ten things you can do that don't need a lower body.
Half the child, twice the fun.

Thanks to Tami. Sorry, no bigger a/w.

Curves Cereal: The Lid Said Flesh Tone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

Can't... find... words...

Update: Looks like we're #1 on Reddit! Thanks to Jessica.

Maxim: OMG I Have X-Ray Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

This hottie from Maxim's 2007 Hometown Hotties apparently cooled a little too quickly.

Thanks to Lindsey!

LiLo: I'm Not Bad I'm Just Photoshopped That Way

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

La Lohan gets the pneumatic-airbrush Jessica Rabbit treatment in this UK version of her latest cartoon.

Thanks to gregorysl for the tip. Original here.

This Internet Sure Is Shiny

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

Boss: Yeah, great, laverly. Just one thing. Let's have a reflection in the screen.
Designer: Wot?

Original is here. Thanks to Marcio Toledo!

Motorola: You Know Whats Great About Women With Huge Hands?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

Remember when Apple was dragged over hot coals for using a well-endowed hand model to make their iPod look smaller? Motorola throws caution to the wind and brazenly scales up their RAZR model's mitts. (As if the image wasn't video-card-packaging bad anyway.)

Much respect to Nadya at Coilhouse.

Snakes On A Plane: Logical Flaw Surfaces

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:23:00 -0700

I'm sick of these motorboating snakes on this motorboating plane!

What? I watched it on TBS. Thanks to the 35 people who have sent this to me over the last three weeks.