Many styles and trends have been used throughout the years in car advertisement design, from simple black and white illustrations to beautiful watercolor paintings and great photography to clear, bold typography.

The advertisements are displayed by the car make/brand in alphabetical order. What’s your favorite?

Audi

This is what the Audi is all about (1973)

Audi CoupŽ B2 (1980)

Audi (1984)

Audi (1985)

Austin

Austin Automobile Parade (1960)

Austin Mini 1275 GT (1971)

Austin 1300 (1971)

BMW

BMW 02 (1974)

BMW 5er (1980)

BMW 320 E21 (1980)

Kamei BMW E21 (1980)

BMW 3er E21 (1981)

Cadillac

Emerald Cadillac Phaeton (1927)

Cadillac – Unchallenged for Quality (1946)

Cadillac Automobile Ad (1953)

Eldorado Cadillac (1956)

1970 Cadillac (1970)

Chevrolet

Chevrolet Six (1930)

Chevrolet – The Hot One’s Even Hotter (1953)

Chrysler

PowerStyle Chrysler (1956)

Chrysler ‘68 (1968)

Chrysler Dodge Challenger (Unknown)

Citroen

Citroen ID19 (Unknown)

Dodge

Dodge Dart (1964)

Dodge Charger (1968)

Dodge Polara 4DR (1969)

Dodge Adventurer Pickup Truck/Camper (1969)

Fiat

Fiat (1966)

Fiat (1966)

Fiat (1967)

Ford

Ford Tudor (1930)

Ford V8 (1937)

Ford Fairlane Convertible (1966)

1967 Ford (1967)

Ford Mustang (1978)

Ford Mustang (1983)

GMC

GMC Trucks and Trailers (1936)

Jaguar

Jaguar XK-E (1962)

Jaguar Leyland (1978)

Lincoln

Lincoln (1926)

Maserati

Maserati Merak (1975)

Mercury

Mercury Comet (1966)

MG

MG MGA (1962)

MG ‘Some Day’ (Unknown)

Morgan

Morgan ‘A Winning Team’ (Unknown)

Morris

Morris Mini (1967)

Nash

Nash (Unknown)

Plymouth

Plymouth Fury (1968)

Pontiac

Pontiac Silver Streak (1935)

Porsche

Porsche 911 Sportomatic (1967)

Porsche 911 2.4 (1971)

Porsche (1986)

Renault

Renault R-10 (1967)

Rover

Rover 2000 (1965)

Toyota

Toyota Corolla SR-5

Triumph

Triumph (1973)

Valiant

Valiant (1962)

Volkswagon

VW – Think It Over (1964)

VW – One Of The Nice Things (1964)

VW – Has The VW Fad Died Out? (1966)

VW – Strong Bodies (1967)

VW Golf GTI (1983)

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Psd Plus Membership

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Tutorial and Series Details

Below are the five icons we are creating in this series. In this tutorial we’ll be making the paint brush icon.

Take at the look at the finished icon in this tutorial, which combines a touch of realism and a touch of fun. They both never hurt!

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Later
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Step 1

We will need two wood textures for this icon so let’s download them from StockXchng: first texture and second texture.. Start Photoshop and create a new blank document that is 512 pixels by 512 pixels. Set the foreground color to a pale yellow then type P to select the Pen Tool. Make sure the Shape layers mode is active (1a) and draw the outline of the palette (1b). Name the layer “palette.”

Step 2

In the Pen Tool options choose Subtract from path area (2a) and draw an ellipse. It will be subtracted from the main shape, thus creating a hole (2b).

Step 3

The palette’s shape is complete. Duplicate the layer then hide it. We will keep working on the copy. We are satisfied with the shape so we can right-click on it and choose Rasterize.

Import the first texture into the document, place it above the palette. Scale it and rotate it so it’s slightly bigger than the palette and its grain runs at an angle. Command-click the palette to load its contour as a selection, then mask the texture by clicking on the mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette (3a). The palette is starting to look good (3b).

Step 4

We want the texture to be much lighter than it is so hit Command + M to bring up the Curves window. Click the curve directly in the middle and drag up (4a) to lighten the texture (4b). At this point you might want to adjust the rotation like I did here (4c).

Step 5

We can now merge the two layers, “palette” and “texture,” together. Select the “texture” layer, right-click on the mask and choose Apply Mask. Then hit Command + E to merge the layer down. A dialog will appear asking what you want to do with the palette’s mask. Choose Apply. Now we have a single layer (5a).

Let’s give the palette some thickness by adding a Bevel and Emboss layer style. Make sure you pick a dark brown color for the shadow instead of the default black (5b). The palette now looks much better (5c) but it’s not finished yet.

Step 6

Add a Gradient Overlay style (6a) so the top is lighter (6b). Now duplicate the layer, naming the copy “palette shadow.” Clear all styles. Move the shadow below the palette and make it a bit smaller (6c). Fill it with dark brown, set it to Multiply mode and reduce the Opacity to 65% (6d). Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and experiment with the values until the shadow looks similar to image 6e.

Step 7

Let’s add the paint dollops now. Using the Pen Tool in Shape layer mode draw a few colored blobs around the palette (7a). Select the blue one and add a Bevel and Emboss style (7b). The paint now looks thick and shiny (7c).

Let’s add some ambient reflections by adding an Inner Glow style too (7d). Now it looks more realistic (7e). Right-click on the blue paint layer in the Layers palette and choose Copy Layer Style. Now right-click on the other paint layers and choose Paste Layer Style. Change the settings to achieve some variation (7f).

Step 8

The paint dollops need a shadow. Let’s create one for the blue dollop then apply the same workflow to the others. Make a copy of the paint layer and rasterize it. Fill it with black (8a). Apply a 2px Gaussian Blur filter (8b). Set the layer to Multiply at 60% Opacity (8c) and move it behind and below the paint dollop. Image 8d shows the result for all paint colors. Note how the shadows are short, blurry and variously transparent. At this resolution some variation is always advisable.

Step 9

Let’s go back to the palette now because I am not satisfied with it. It’s too polished! Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use the settings shown in image 9a to add a fine grain to the texture. Now it’s finished (9b). Group all layers together as “PALETTE” and hide them.

Step 10

Let’s create the brush now. Draw a long, thin ellipse down the middle of the canvas. Use either the Pen Tool (and rasterize the shape once you’re satisfied with it) or the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M). Fill the ellipse with a subtle reddish-brown gradient. Make the left side darker (10a). This is of course the handle of the brush. Since it’s rounded we need to add a highlight across its length. Make a copy of the layer and scale it down horizontally (10b). Set it to Screen blending mode (10c).

Step 11

The handle is tapered at each end so we need to make the highlight conform to that shape. Hit Command + T to select Free Transform, then right-click on the highlight directly on the canvas, and choose Warp. In the Option bar at the top of the window choose these settings: Arc, toggle on the axis chooser and set Bend to -5 (11a). The highlight now bends to the right (11b). Duplicate the layer a few times then merge all copies together. This will make the highlight stronger (11c). Apply a 2px Gaussian Blur (11d).

Step 12

It’s time to add a wood texture to the brush. Drag the second downloaded texture into the document and scale it to fit the handle (12a). Mask the texture to the handle (12b). Apply the mask and merge the texture down. The result is nice but too dark (12c). With Command + L bring up Levels and drag the right slider to the left until the wood is light enough (12d). Adjust the highlight by making it brighter and less opaque (12e and 12f).

Step 13

Now we need to add the metal grip where the bristles are attached. Draw a black rectangle about 3/4ths down the handle (13a). With the Elliptical Marquee Tool select the top edge and delete a half ellipse (13b). Now make another selection at the bottom edge and fill it with black (13c). The result is shown in image 13d.

Step 14

Adjust the length of the metal grip if you need to. Use a horizontal Gradient Overlay to simulate reflections on metal, use the colors shown in image 14a. Now make a copy of the grip, move it behind the original and nudge it up a few pixels. Command-click the grip and erase the selection from the copy (14b). Now add a Drop Shadow pointing downwards (14c). The result is a small indented ring (14d). Make a few copies and distribute them across the metal grip. When you’re done merge all layers together (14e).

Step 15

Let’s create the bristles now. Erase the bottom part of the handle, or just mask it out (15a). Draw the outline of the bristles with the Pen Tool in Shape layer mode (15b). Rasterize the shape when you’re satisfied with it and name it “bristles.”

Step 16

On a new layer select a thin horizontal stripe (16a), hit D to load the default black and white colors then Alt + Backspace to fill the selection with black. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and choose the settings shown in image 16b. Activate Preserve Transparency for the layer (16c) and go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic and choose a Cell size of 5 (16d). Now the strip is filled with random grayscale pixels (16e).

Step 17

Type Command + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation window. Activate Colorize and move the sliders (17a) until the strip turns brown (17b). Stretch the layer vertically (17c) and squash it horizontally (17d). Copy it horizontally a couple of times until it covers the bristles (17e).

Step 18

Reduce the Opacity temporarily so you can see the outline of the bristles. Activate Free Transform (Command + T) and select Warp from the right-click menu (18a). Manipulate the points until the vertical lines match the shape of the bristles below (18b). When you’re done bring the Opacity back to 100%. Alt-click between the two layers to mask the lines with the bristle outline and merge the two layers together (18c). Group the bristles, handle and metal grip together as “BRUSH” (18d).

Step 19

Now let’s compose the palette and brush into the final view. Squash the palette vertically and move it to the bottom of the canvas. Rotate the brush 45 degrees counterclockwise (19). Let’s examine the shot. The light comes from the top of the palette, the paint dollops and the brush’s handle and metal grip are lit accordingly. The bristles are not though. Let’s correct that immediately.

Step 20

Select the Burn Tool (O) and set it up as in image 20a. Paint the base and the bottom of the bristles to darken them (20b). Now select the Dodge Tool (O), set it up as in image 20c and paint a highlight across the middle of the bristles, where the light falls (20d).

Step 21

On a new layer draw some blue paint on the brush with the Pen Tool (P) and position the blue paint dollop directly below the bristles of the brush. Now it looks like we just dipped the brush in the blue paint (21a). Apply Bevel and Emboss to the paint on the brush (21b) to match the lighting (21c). The brush is finished so we can merge all its layers together.

Step 22

The last thing to add is the brush’s shadow on the palette. Duplicate the brush and make the copy black (22a). Move it below the brush and modify its shape so it lies flat across the palette. To do that enter Free Transform (Command + T) and use a combination of Skew and Distort, both accessible from the right-click menu (22b). Mask the shadow to the palette (22c). Shadows are generally set to the Multiply blending mode and their Opacity varies from 40% to 70%. Pick 40% this time to keep the shadow subtle (22d).

Step 23

Now let’s apply a 3px Gaussian Blur to the shadow (23a). Type Q to enter Quick Mask mode. Paint a black-to-white gradient from the top-left to the bottom-right corner. You will see a red gradient fading out: that represents the part that will be masked out (23b). Hit Q again to exit Quick Mask mode and the gradient will now be a selection. Apply it as a mask to the shadow. As you can see the shadow now fades away from the tip of the brush (23c). The icon is finished.

Conclusion

This was the third installment in the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series. We employed textures, vector shapes, layer styles, filters and brushes: a well-rounded workflow that exploits Photoshop’s many tools. Until next time, when we will create a digital tablet icon, have fun painting!

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This Plus Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

Again we have decided to collaborate for another great tutorial that will help you improve your Photoshop skills, Negreu Andreas is a young friend of mine, at only 18 years old he is starting on the right side of the road, working his way up to creating great Graphics.

Together we are learning new techniques that we are very happy to share with you. We both have different ideas and ways of working, and interesting techniques to show you that will help you improve your Photoshop abilities.

This tutorial is about creating a car dashboard using simple techniques like Dodge and Burn, with black and white brushes, gradients and strokes. The techniques used for this tutorial are similar to the technique we have used to create the icons that you can check out at Create a Glossy Sports Car Seat Icon in Photoshop – Psd Plus Tutorial and How to Create a Virtual Auto Using 100% Brush Techniques, but in this tutorial everything has been applied on a larger scale. We’ll share with you tips on how to apply these techniques to larger artwork.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Photoshop CS3
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: Around 2 days

A preview of the final image is below.

Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

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

PSD Plus Membership

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

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

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Make a Highly-Textured Site Layout in Photoshop and the video version is below.

Final Image Preview

Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 60 minutes

Take a look at the site design we’ll be creating below.

Materials Needed

• Download grunge texture
• Download wood seamless texture
• Flower stock image (included in the Psd Plus source files)
• Leaf stock image: (included in the Psd Plus source files)

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

In this tutorial we’ll use some stock images to create a highly-textured web layout. Let’s start by creating a new document with the following size: 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels.

Step 2

Now go ahead and download the seamless wood texture from Grafplus.com. Here you can find the download link: Download wood seamless texture. Open the “texture-small.jpg” in Photoshop and then go to Edit > Define pattern. Choose a name for your pattern and click OK. You can now close the image with the wood texture.

Step 3

Select the “background” layer and press on Command + J. This shortcut will duplicate the “background” layer. Select this new layer and from the top menu select Layer > Layer Style > Pattern Overlay… Use the pattern you created a few seconds ago.

Step 4

Use the Rectangle Tool to create some vertical bars with different colors/

Step 5

Select all these shapes in the layer palette by holding down the Command key and with your mouse click on each layer). In this way you will select all the shapes.

Step 6

When you have all shapes selected press on Command + E (this shortcut will merge all the layers into a single one). Change the blending mode to Color Dodge, and the Opacity value to between 40% and 50%.

Step 7

Now it is time to add another great stock image. Visit grafplus one more time and download the following image: grunge texture. Place this image in your document at the top. Go to File > Place, and select this nice grunge texture.

Step 8

Be sure you have this layer selected and then apply a simple drop shadow. Layer > Layer styles > Drop Shadow.

Step 9

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to make a selection as shown.

Step 10

Be sure you have the layer with the grunge texture selected, and then press Command + J (this shortcut will create a new layer via cut). Select the new layer and rotate the layer 180 Degrees (Edit > Transform > Rotate 180. Place this new layer on top of the layout with the Move tool. Go ahead and add your logo now as well. For this tutorial I’m using the text: “PSDtuts+.”

Step 11

Change the blending mode for the text logo to Color Burn.

Step 12

Use the same technique to cut some buttons and a footer. Here you can see the result.

Step 13

If you want to create a distinct button with another color you have to select the layer with the button you want to make it unique, and then press Command + U to bring up the Hue/ Saturation settings. Check the Colorize checkbox, and move the sliders to the right or left until you’re happy with the result.

Step 14

On the right side, create a white shape with the Rectangle Tool.

Step 15

Use the Line Tool to create some thin lines and place them over the white shape. The color used for the lines is #d3d1d2.

Step 16

Select the white shape and the lines in your layer palette, and then press Command + E to merge down all the layers. Select the Eraser Tool and with a small, round brush delete some parts of the layer until you have a realistic piece of paper.

Step 17

Now add the following layer styles.

Step 18

Use the Horizontal Type Tool to add some text. I used the Myriad Pro font (you will find the font in windows 7 and vista).

Step 19

Now add another image in the middle of the layout, and on the right side of the image add two arrows. The arrows you will find under the Custom Shape Tool.

Step 20

Together with the PSD file you will find two stock images in the Psd Plus source files for this tutorial. Of course, if you’re not a Plus Member then you can search for equivalent images on the web. The first one is a leaf, and the second one is a red flower. Open both images in Photoshop and remove the background. Both photos are very high quality at around 4000 pixels, and you can remove the background with the Magic Eraser Tool, or use your preferred method.

Step 21

Place the image with the leaf on the right side of the layout under the white piece of paper.

Step 22

Duplicate the layer with the leaf several times and place these multiple leafs in different positions as shown.

Step 23

The last step is to place the red flower over the green leaves.

Final Result

Here is the final result. Have fun creating your own highly-textured Photoshop site layouts.

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Tutorial Details

Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

• Program: Photoshop CS3
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating.

Organizing the Stock Images

The final photo manipulation in the tutorial was created using the following stock-images:

• Ocean Sunset, by flordelys-stock
• Sky by causticstock
• Hamster in Bowl by linepotter-stock
• Shark by krayker
• Flag by dollieflesh-stock
• Pirate Hat by Mizzd-Stock

Step 1

I won’t insist on the easy parts because this is pretty obvious. First, open the two pictures that are going to form our next background and flip them horizontally (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontally) and just place them like I did in the image. It’s not necessary to mask anything because the pictures fit just perfect one to the other.

Step 2

Now let’s give this background a dynamic sensation with the Warp Tool (Edit > Transform > Warp).

Step 3

Since the warp tool gives the image a flat look, we need to do some waves so go to Liquify (Filter > Liquify). Use the picture below as a reference for how the waves should look after manipulation with Liquify.

Step 4

Cut out the funny hamster with the Pen Tool and place them in the middle of the ocean.

Step 5

Go to Edit/Color Range and click on the lightest color in the image (the highlight on the glass). Arrange the fuzziness value like in the image below.

Step 6

Click OK on the Color Range dialog box and you will see the selection active. Then make sure you are on the glass layer and click Command + J to create a copy of the highlights from the glass. If you hide the glass layer your selection should look something as in the image below.

Step 7

Hit Command + D to make sure there is nothing selected, and then go on the glass layer and make a duplicate (Command + J) and lower the opacity of the copy layer to around 60% like in the image below. You will see the highlights are now sharp and white like on real glass not transparent and gray.

Step 8

Now we must bring the mouse back. You could use the Pen Tool and cut him out, but there is a faster way and the result is just as good. Bring the original glass layer in front of the highlights layer and glass copy layer. Make a mask and paint with black, leaving the mouse with white. Make sure you don’t go near the mouse with a soft edge brush.

Step 9

Select the three layers (”original glass,” “glass copy,” and “glass highlights”) and hit Command + E to merge the three layers. Then create a mask and mask the lower part of the glass so it looks like it’s underwater. If you are not very satisfied with the result, you can use a low opacity brush and mask some areas on the glass that you think should be more transparent.

Step 10

Add the flag. You will have to change the highlights on the flag pole. Select them like in the image below, hit Command + J and move the highlights to the left of the pole and then paint with a brown color (use the eyedropper on the pole) on the original highlights.

Step 11

Using the brush with a black color, make a shadow like in the image below and lower the opacity to 45%.

Step 12

Cut the pirate hat and arrange the size to fit on the head of the hamster (1). Then on a new layer just under the hat layer, paint some shadow on the head of the hamster using a soft edge and low opacity black brush (2). Then on a new layer in front of the hat layer paint some shadow on the hat, again using a low opacity and soft edge brush (3).

Step 13

In this step we will add the shark to make this image more funny. Cut out the shark’s fin and place it under the “hamster” layer. Cover it on the mask and paint a shadow with black on another layer. Set its opacity to 30-40%.

Step 14

Next cut out the sea behind the ball and place it like I did in the image. This is how the water is seen through a round glass like the ball

Step 15

Now let’s give this image a cool look with some filters and adjustment layers. First go to Adjustment Layers > Curves (Input 91 Output 41), then Erase the middle of the mask.

Apply an Adjustment Layers > Photo filter (orange at 30%).

Apply an Adjustment Layers > Gradient Map (Opacity at 60%).

Apply an Adjustment Layers > Hue/Saturation (Saturation at +57).

Apply an Adjustment Layers > Color Balance (Levels at -19, -16, and -34).

Step 16

Grab the Smudge Tool (strength at 90% and brush size 2-4 px), and start smudging the hamster’s fur like I did below.

Step 17

Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur (6 px) and change the blending mode to Soft Light. Use the image below as a reference for how the layer mask should look for this step.

Step 18

Go to Filters > Blur > Radial Blur and use the settings in the image below. Click OK, lower the Opacity of the zoom layer to 50 and mask it in the center. This will give the image some light dynamics.

Conclusion

The final image is below.

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This Plus Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

Having the ability to produce a fantasy map is a great addition to any Illustrators’ arsenal. Fantasy maps are used extensively in role playing games, in both digital and print media. Although there are some specialist map generator applications available, their results often appear lackluster and uninspiring. In this tutorial, we’ll adopt a hands-on approach and modify existing source material to conjure up the magical Kingdom of Nyan!

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS2 or later
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 3 hours

A preview of the final image is below.

Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

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

PSD Plus Membership

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

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

Buy Now

The marketplaces have been built around a depositing system – you prepay money and then you go buy lots of things. This is pretty cool for most buyers, but there has been a lot of customers over the years who would have much preferred to just pay for one thing and then be on their way. So last week we introduced a new way to buy items – Buy Now!

We still have the option to pay with deposits, and in fact it’s $2 cheaper on every item if you go that route. But for people looking for a quick or one-off purchase, you’ll now have the flexibility to just purchase the item straight off the bat!

Learn more about Buy Now and how it works.

CodeCanyon + 3DOcean

I’d also like to introduce two new marketplaces to the Envato family: CodeCanyon and 3DOcean! As with our other five marketplaces, it’s the same familiar interface, community and system – but now available for code and 3D!

CodeCanyon is the new home of our PHP and Javascript categories. These two have been on fire over at ThemeForest, so Jeffrey is taking them out and adding ASP.NET and Java to the mix to create what we hope will be the best marketplace for code snippets and scripts online!

After a quick beta to get some initial content onto the marketplace, we’re letting 3DOcean out into the wild. It’s still early days but we’re looking forward to building the site into a must-visit marketplace for 3D Models, Materials and Shaders and Textures!

Tumblr Themes, Email Templates, Powerpoint + Keynote …

In our quest to make available pretty much every form of digital goods known to man, we’ve added four more categories of awesome files:

1. Email Templates – These things have been selling like hotcakes since we launched a couple of weeks ago
2. Tumblr Themes – Check out the first three themes by the guys at Metalab
3. PowerPoint Templates – So you can get your presentations looking all spiffy and nice!
4. Keynote Templates – For those of us making non-Microsoft presentations

Happy New Year

With all that said, I’m about to finish up for the year and head off on holidays. But I wanted to leave you with one last piece of news … believe it or not, we still have one more site launch left for 2009, and it’s going to happen over on AppStorm. David and Derek are working on a small redesign, a hub site and a new blog all to be launched in the next couple of weeks!

As for me, I’m going to sign off and say thanks to everyone in the Envato community for making 2009 such a wonderful year. It’s the best job in the world working on these sites and I’m going to be spending all holiday dreaming up new plans to make 2010 even bigger

Final Image Preview

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

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
• Difficulty: Intermediate

Step 1

We are going to open up Adobe Illustrator, (using CMYK as your color settings) to start creating our 3D text.

Type out the word “Escape”, (I am using the font Impact) and change the color to blue (#1A98BB). This color will be easier to work with, and it will roughly be the color we will be using in our final outcome.

Step 2

Typically, we would use the Extrude & Bevel Tool to create a 3D version of our text, but since Illustrator can’t really handle what we want to do, we are going to create it ourselves. (Shown below is what we would get if we used the Bevel & Extrude tool)

Click on your text, and go to Type > Create Outlines. Now copy the text with Command + C and Paste In Place with Command + F. Darken the text using the black slider in your Color window.

Now we are going to shrink the text down and keep it in the same spot at the same time. To do this we are going to click on our dark text and hold down Alt and Shift, then bring one of the corners of the box in.

Step 3

Highlight all of the letters, open up your Pathfinder (Shift + F9). In the Window drop down menu, (if you don’t already have it open) and click the Add to Shape Area icon. Click Expand. This will make the two "Escape" words into one shape.

Step 4

Click on the Pen Tool (P) and where there were corners and now "L" shaped areas, click on the corner anchor to delete it.

Step 5

After you get rid of all the "L" areas you can do Command + F, this should bring back your original text. Once you do that, you may notice that some of the rounded edges don’t look right. To fix these rounded edges, you can delete the original text we just pasted, click on the Pen Tool (P) and delete the points on the curve until you get an angle that looks right.

Step 6

Now we are ready to bring our text into Photoshop. Create a new document (Command + N). We are going to treat this as a cover design, so we are going to change our settings to 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall and the color setting of CMYK. We will change our resolution to 300 dpi, so it will be print quality. Once we open our document we want to Click and Drag guides a half-inch from each edge (using our ruler—Command + R). This will work as our bleed.

Step 7

Go to stock.xchng to get the image we are going to use for our background. Open up the image in Photoshop, we are going to adjust it a little to suit our purposes.

Step 8

Go to Image > Adjustment > Replace Color. Click on the part of the grass area that is the most yellow and use the Hue to adjust it so it has more of a green look. You can also drop down the Saturation to give it more of a realistic look.

Step 9

Drag our photo into the Photoshop document we made, and resize the photo to fit in the area with the Transform Tool (Command + T).

Step 10

For the background, we are going for a more desaturated look, so we are going to open up our Hue/Saturation with Command + U and drop down the saturation to -20.

Step 11

Now we can bring in our text. We are going to bring in the face of the text first, and then the 3D part, so that we can work with each one individually. So Copy and Paste (Command + C, Command + V) each one into our Photoshop document. If you don’t resize the text or zoom in/zoom out of the document at all, both of the text layers should line up perfectly.

Step 12

Now that you have the text and background image in place where you want them, we can start adding in the grass.

Let’s start off by creating a new folder (clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette), we’ll call it "grass", then create a new layer within the folder.

Using the Square Marquee Tool (M), Click and Drag a box around the bottom half of the document, below the photo (make sure there is no white gap in between the photo and the box) so that the photo isn’t selected. Now click on the foreground color and click on the grass in the photo until you find a dark green. Fill the Marquee box we made with that color.

Step 13

Click on the Brush Tool (B) and change the brush to the generic one-blade grass brush that comes with Photoshop. Now click on the Foreground color and then click on the grass on the background photo. Do the same with the Background-color. This should give you two different but similar greens.

Using F5, open up the brush settings and adjust the Hue Jitter, in the Color Dynamics tab to 20%.

Step 14

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder, and start painting from where the background photo ends with a 125px brush. As you move towards the bottom of the document make the brush larger ( ] ), so you end up with about a 200px brush when you get to the bottom. This should be quick so that it leaves holes for the future layers to cover up.

We are going to make this color a little bit darker because this will be under another layer. So go in to the Curves (Command + M) and adjust the Input to 47 and the Output to 55.

Step 15

We are going to repeat step 14, except this time we are going to fill in most of the rest of the holes that we missed the first time around. We don’t need to adjust the Curves on this grass layer.

Step 16

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder. Now to add some highlights to the grass we are going to use our grass Brush (B) with the same color and paint in just a few areas. Go into the Curves again (Command + M) and adjust the input to 58 and the output to 39.

Step 17

We are going to create a new layer (Command + Shift + N), above the lettering, so we can paint on some grass so it looks like it is going in front of the letters.

After you paint the grass in front of the letters create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and do a light pass of grass, we are going to darken this layer with the Curves (Command + M), adjust the input to 42 and the output to 56.

Step 18

Now that we have our grass finished, we are going to start working on our lettering.

Create a new folder called "text face" and a new folder called "text shadow" put the text face and the text shadow in the corresponding folders.

Now we are going to Command + Click on the text face layer to create a marquee outline around it, create a new layer in the "text face" folder with Command + Shift + N and fill it (Command + Delete) with #EDE6DA.

Step 19

Go into the "text shadow" folder and create a new layer (Command + Shift + N).

Since our sunlight is coming from the right, as you can see with the trees in the photo, we have to make the brightest part of our text on the right side of each letters. To create our highlights, we are going to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the areas that are supposed to be highlighted, the areas that would get hit by the sun.

Step 20

Using a white 90px Rounded Brush (B), with 0% Hardness at 20% Opacity, start painting strokes onto the areas that we selected. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

To get rid of the excess area, Command + Click on the text shadow layer, Command + Shift + I to get the inverse selection, then delete.

Step 21

Now we are going make our shadows the same way we made the highlights in step 19. Once you have your shadows selected, repeat step 20, except this time we are going to use a black brush for our darkest areas.

Step 22

To add in some darker shadows and give our letters more contrast, we are going to repeat step 21, but instead of changing the Blend Mode to Overlay, we are going to change it to Multiply. Also, It will be easier if we change the brush to about at 5% Opacity, this way you can darken the shadow slowly, and it will also blend smoother.

Step 23

The text can be worked on a lot more and have a lot more shadow/highlight details added, but since this is a tutorial we are going to leave it as is and start working on the shadow the text casts on the grass.

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and put it above the "grass" folder. Using a 200px black brush (B) at 100% opacity, and 0% hardness paint under the text, trying to make sure that the black doesn’t go under the grass that is in front of the letters too much. Change the blend mode to Multiply.

Step 24

Now we can start tackling the face of the text. We are going to start off by giving it an Inner Shadow. Click on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and then click on Inner Shadow.

Now go to Bevel and Emboss, on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette, and adjust your settings, something like what I have. These two settings will give the text face an edge.

Step 25

We are going to Command + Click on the text face layer and create a new one with Command + Shift + N. Using the Gradient Tool (G) with a black to 0% Opacity, click on the left side of the text and drag it to the right. This should give the text a gradient that is black on the right. Drop down the Opacity all the way down to 5%.

Step 26

With the text face still selected create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the "text face" folder and change your Foreground color to a yellow-orange color (something like #FFC600) and create a Gradient (G) so it is on the top edge of the letters. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 27

Create a new layer in the "text face" folder, and take a 200px black Brush (B) with 5% opacity and 0% hardness and click and drag a line just above the grass. This will give us a subtle shadow just above the grass.

Step 28

Now we are going to give our text face a weathered look.

In the "text face" folder, create a new layer, and then using the Square Marquee Tool (M), create a box that covers the "Escape". Fill the box with black.

Step 29

Go to Filter > Render > Fibers and adjust your settings to something like what I have.

Step 30

Deselect the area with Command + D and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Command + Click on the text face, then Command + Shift + I to get the Inverse Selection, delete and change the Blend Mode to Multiply with an Opacity of 5%.

Step 31

Click on the second icon on the bottom of the layers palette to add a Mask to our fiber layer. Using a black to 0% Gradient (G) click and drag from the bottom up so the bottom half of the fibers are gone from the text.

Step 32

And now to finish it off a little bit, we are going to click on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette and open up the Color Balance.

Step 33

And now open up the Photo Filter on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 34

Now we are finished, I am going to add some finishing touches with a footer that will bleed over the edge.

Final Image

And that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tutorial.

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Tutorial and Series Details

Below are the five icons we are creating in this series.

In this tutorial we are aiming for a digital SLR camera complete with pun-riddled brand and model name.

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2 and later
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 2 hours

Step 1

Create a new blank document and as usual set both width and height to 512 pixels.
Select a very dark gray foreground color and create the shape of the camera’s body using the Pen Tool (P) in Shape layers mode. Pay attention to the fact that the shape is not symmetrical and the corners have different radiuses.

Step 2

Using brush strokes in selected spots we’ll add three-dimensionality to this flat shape. Make the foregound color white. Select the Dodge Tool (O) from the toolbar and set it up as in image 2a. If you have a pressure-sensitive tablet, then paint very lightly to add roundness to the right edge (2b). If you don’t have a tablet, you need to reduce the Dodge Tool’s exposure to a very low number and use successive strokes to achieve a similar effect. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough. On the left there’s a bulging grip barrel. Paint vertical strokes with the Dodge Tool near to but not on the edge (2c).

Step 3

Now let’s switch to the Burn Tool (O) to add shadows. Set it up as in image 3a and darken the spots marked in image 3b. Now the convex grip barrel is more visible and the bottom is darker. The brush strokes are visible, too, and it’s not a pretty sight. We want the camera to be smooth.

We can use a blur pass on the whole surface. In order to keep the edges sharp we must toggle on Preserve Transparency in the Layers palette (3c). Now we can go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose a moderate value (3d) to smooth the surface (3e).

Step 4

Let’s create the lens now. First set up a few guides to mark its center (4a). Now create a medium, dark gray circle. It will be the outer rim of the lens (4b). Create a smaller, darker circle by duplicating and scaling the first one (4c).

Step 5

Add a radial Gradient Overlay style to the first circle (5a) with tightly placed color spots (5b) to create a couple of rings (5c). Once satisfied with the result rasterize the layer style. Command-click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers window to create a layer below the one selected (5d). Now Hit Command + E to merge the outer rim down with the empty layer (5e).

Step 6

Using the Dodge and the Burn tools add some reflections to the outer rim. Refer to image 6 for the detailed instructions.

Step 7

We will now add several smaller rims and circles to the the lens and we will simulate reflections with the Dodge and Burn technique explained before. Add a smaller rim (7a), add reflections (7b) and use the Gaussian Blur filter set to 1px (7c).

Step 8

Create a smaller rim (8a), erase the top-left part with the Eraser Tool (E) set to a big, soft brush. Enhance the lighting with a dab of the Dodge Tool (8b).

Step 9

Add a smaller, dark circle (9a) and two smaller, half-erased rims (9b, 9c).

Step 10

Add a dark gray circle (10a) and the shutter hole. The shutter hole is a black circle with a medium gray thin stroke (10b). Finally use Dodge and Burn on the circle created in image 10a to make it look convex (10c).

Step 11

Let’s add some cool highlights on the lens. Using the brush tool set to a soft, round preset and low opacity paint a few colored highlights near the shutter hole: a purple one (11a), a green one (11b) a white one and a yellow one (11c).

Step 12

The lens has a glass cover. Create a white circle above all highlights (12a) and set it to Screen blending mode, 15% opacity (12b). Now a little adjustment: increase the contrast on the body by using Levels, Brightness/Contrast or Curves (12c). I used Levels (Command+L) and moved the left slider (black point) to the right and the right slider (white point) to the left (12d).

Step 13

The lens is finished so we can group all its layers together. Make a duplicate of the group and hit Command+E to merge it down to one layer (13a). Hide the original group and keep it for later tweaking. Add a Drop Shadow style to the lens layer (13b) so it casts a shadow onto the body (13c). The shadow must not be visible outside the contour of the body so Alt-click between the lens layer and the body layer to mask the first with the latter (13d). Now the shadow doesn’t stick out from the bottom of the camera anymore (13e).

Step 14

We’ll create the shutter button now.
Draw an ellipse above the convex grip barrel on the left side (14a). Fill in the gap between the body and the ellipse (14b)

Step 15

Duplicate the ellipse and align the copy to the top of the camera’s body (15a). Fill the bottom ellipse with a horizontal gradient. Use the values indicated in image 15b. Now grab the Blur Tool from the toolbar and blur the bottom of the ellipse to remove its hard edge and blend it with the main body (15c).

Step 16

Add a Stroke style to the top ellipse (16a, 16b). Right-click on the “fx” icon on the layer and choose Create Layers (16c). The Stroke style has been converted to a separate layer masked to its “parent.” We can now erase most of it and just leave the bottom part to create a front highlight (16d). Merge the stroke down (Command+E) when you’re finished. The highlight is too sharp so blur it a bit (16e).

Step 17

Draw a very dark ellipse on top of the ones you have: it will be the hole where the shutter button sits (17a). A smaller, lighter ellipse will be the base of the shutter (17b). Select the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move the top point up a bit (17c). Duplicate it and scale down the copy to create another shape (17d).

Step 18

Create the shutter button itself by scaling down yet another copy and making it white (18a). We want our button to be made of polished metal so let’s add a couple of layer styles. First let’s simulate a shadow cast onto the button from the bottom with an Inner Shadow style (18b). Then add a Satin style (18c) to give it a metallic look (18d).

Step 19

Copy the shutter’s styles to the base and modify the Satin as in image 19a. The reflection has a different angle now (19b). Blur the flat ellipse at the base of the button by 1px to eliminate the sharp edge and simulate a soft shadow (19c). The left side of the camera is complete (19d).

Step 20

Let’s create the flash sensor now.
Create a small circle next to the grip barrel (20a) and add a Drop Shadow (20b) and a black-to-white Gradient Overlay style (20c). Now it looks like it’s protruding from the main body (20d).

Step 21

Let’s draw the actual sensor. Create a white circle on top of the previous one (21a). Add a Pattern Overlay (21b) and a Satin style (21c). Now it looks ok (21d).

Step 22

Let’s create the function dial on top of the camera. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and set the Radius to 3 pixels (22a). Draw a small rectangle above the flash sensor, at a slight distance from the camera’s body (22b). To create the ribbed surface add a Gradient Overlay (22c) with alternating light and dark color spots (22d).

Step 23

Add an Inner Glow style (23a) to fillet the edges (23b). Finally connect the dial to the body by creating a smaller black rectangle behind it (23c).

Step 24

The pentaprism is where the magic happens. Let’s add it. Using the guides as reference draw the right half of the pentaprism with the Pen Tool (P) (24a). Mirror the shape to the left, join both halves and brighten them a bit (24b).

Step 25

Let’s use layer styles again to create some geometry instead of using multiple shapes. Add an Inner Glow style. Pay attention to all the settings shown in image 25a: there’s a 6% noise that will add grain to the surface and the 2-ridge contour has been activated. Also add a Gradient Overlay (25b, 25c) to darken the middle part. The result (25d) shows a thin internal border and a fine grain on the surface.

Step 26

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) make a wide selection around the lens (26a). Hit Shift+Command+I to invert the selection (26b). With the pentaprism layer selected hit Command+J to create a new layer from the selection. Clear all layer styles from this new layer (26c).

Step 27

Add a drop shadow to the new layer (27a). Create a layer from the style and scale the shadow down vertically (27b). Mask it with the main body so it doesn’t bleed outside the camera (27c).

Step 28

Go back to the top of the pentaprism and add a Bevel and Emboss style (28a). In the result (28b) you can see that the top is now convex.

Step 29

The camera is finished so we can add a few tweaks.
A fictional brand and model name have been added as well as a couple of extra buttons. These were created by cloning the flash sensor and changing the colors in the layer styles. Pay attention to the grip barrel on the left: the top ellipse has been lightened to medium gray and the right edge of the barrel has been enhanced by another stroke made with the Dodge Tool (29a). The icon is finished (29b).

Conclusion

This was the second installment in the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series. We created a simple but effective SLR camera with an array of subtle gradients and the occasional brush stroke. Next time we’ll create a paint brush, the most important weapon in the digital artist’s arsenal.

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