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RAWZ Light Effects in Photoshop
Last Friday we launched our new way for users to submit work for the Daily Inspiration at Abduzeedo. We call it RAWZ or Abduzeedo Raw Inspiration. Anybody can submit their work and we will select some to be featured on Abduzeedo. We also created a logo in Illustrator and then this cool effect in Photoshop, inspired by Tron. So in this tutorial I will show you how to create the RAWZ light effect in Photoshop. It's a beginner/intermediate tutorial and it will take you 45 minutes to go through it. I hope you have fun doing it as much as I had. Step 1 Open Photoshop and create a new document. With the Paint Bucket Tool (G) fill the background layer with black. Step 2 To create a carbon fiber texture is quite simple. Create a new document and using the Rectangle Tool (U) create squares in black, grey and dark grey like the image below. That will be the base for our pattern. Notice that the size is really small. Step 3 With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a square selection like in the image below. Step 4 Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Name it Carbon Fiber. That was it for the pattern part. Step 5 Back to the document of our design, add a new layer and fill it with black too. Then go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use dark grey for the colors. The darker one will be at the bottom. Also change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Step 6 Select Pattern Overlay, then for the Pattern select the Carbon Fiber we created in the previous steps. Also change the Scale to 60%. Step 7 Here is our carbon fiber background. Step 8 Import the logo you would like to use. In my case I am using the RAWZ logo I created in Illustrator. Step 9 Go to Layer>Layer Style. Select Drop Shadow. For the Blend Mode use Color Burn at 50% Opacity, 90• for the Angle, 2 pixels for Distance and 5 pixels for the Size. Step 10 Select Stroke and then use 3 pixels for the Size, Inside for the Position, 95% for the Opacity and then for the color use #5c7a92, #000000, #5c7a92, #5c7a92, #000000, #5c7a92. For the Style use Linear and for the Angle use 90º. Step 11 Here is the logo with the Layer Styles. Step 12 To create the neon light in the middle is quite simple. I did that in Illustrator and imported to Photoshop. Step 13 Select the layer you want to apply the neon effect and go to Layer>Layer Style. Select Drop Shadow. For the color use black, with Color Burn for the Blend Mode at 100% for the Opacity. For the Angle use 90º and then 2 pixels for the Distance and 3 pixels for the Size. Step 14 Selec Outer Glow. For the Blend Mode use Screen, for the Opacity use 100% and blue (#00a2ff) for the color. Change the Spread to 0 and the Size to 9 pixels. Step 15 Select Inner Glow. Use Lighten for the Blend Mode with cyan for the color. Also select Edge and change the Size to 10 pixels. Over the Quality change the Contour to the same as in the image below. Step 16 Here is the result after the Layer Styles. Step 17 Add a new layer and group it into a folder. Change the folder's Blend Mode to Color Dodge and then with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, 0 hardness, and then paint some spots ver the neon to create those light spots you can see in the image below. Step 18 Add a new layer inside the folder with color dodge and fill it with the carbon fiber pattern. Create a marquee selection of the neon layer by clicking on the thumbnail of the layer holding Command (Mac)/Control (PC), then with the layer with the carbon fiber pattern selected, go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. That will create really nice light effect on the neon. Step 19 Here is what we have gotten so far. Step 20 Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the new layers into one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius. Step 21 Duplicate the blurry layer again, and change the Blend Mode of the one that is underneath to Overlay and the one on top to Screen. Step 22 Group both layers into a folder and change the Opacity to 50%. Step 23 Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter. Use Cyan for the Filter with 50% Density. Conclusion Here is the final result. As you can see, the whole process is quite simple and this technique is very versatile, I use it all the time. The cool new thing I believe we learn here is how to create the carbon fiber background. So now it's up to you. Download Photoshop File Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial
Easy iOS Style Wallpaper in Photoshop
I have received quite a few emails asking me how to create that sort of linen texture effect we see in the iOS on iPads and iPhones. I like that effect but had never stopped to think about how I could do that in Photoshop, so last week I decided to give it a try. For my surprise it was much easier than I thought. So in this tutorial I will show you how to create the linen texture effect in Photoshop and also the metal/glass effect we see in the Apple logo in the iOS. Step 1 Open Photoshop and create a new document. I'm using 2560x1440 pixels for the size. After that fill the background layer with black. Step 2 Add a new layer and go fill it with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (G). After that make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground color, then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Use 100% for the Amount, Gaussian for the Distribution and select Monochromatic. Duplicate this layer once. Step 3 Select one of the layers with the noise filter and then go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use 90º for the Angle and 50 pixels for the Distance. Step 4 Select the other layer with noise and go again to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use 90º for the Angle and 50 pixels for the Distance. Step 5 You will have to layers with the blurry effect, one will be with a vertical texture and another with horizontal. Select the one that is on the top and change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Group the 2 layers into a folder and then change the opacity to 40%. Because we applied the motion blur, the edges get a bit transparent so select both layers and go to Edit>Transform>Scale. Increase a little bit the size of the layers so you can hide those edges. Step 6 Now import a symbol to use in your wallpaper. I'm using the Abduzeedo symbol. Place it in the middle of the document. Step 7 Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Click on the gradient colors to open the Gradient Editor. Then use a color scheme like the image below. Step 8 Now back to the Gradient Overlay options, change the Style to Radial and increase the size to 150%. Then click on the symbol hold the button of the mouse and move it to move the gradient position. Use the image below for reference. Step 9 Select Bevel and Emboss. Use Inner Bevel for the Style, 150% for the Depth, Down for the Direction, 1 pixel for the Size and 2 pixels for the Soften. For the Shading use 103º for the Angle, 40º for the Altitude. For the Highlight Mode use Screen with white at 100% Opacity, then for the Shadow Mode use Multiply with black at 30%. Step 10 Select Inner Shadow. Use Screen for the Blend Mode with white for the color, -90º for the Angle, 5 pixels for the Distance, 25% for the Choke and 5 pixels for the Size. Step 11 Now select Drop Shadow. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode with black for the color. For the Angle use 90º with 5 pixels for the Distance, 0 % for the Spread and 15 pixels for the Size. Step 12 This is the effect you will have after these 12 steps. Step 13 Add a new layer on top of the symbol. Select the symbol area by clicking with the right button of the mouse over the thumbnail of the layer, then select the option Select Pixels. After that go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. Then with the Brush Tool (B) with a very soft brush and white for the color, paint in the center of the symbol. Also change the Opacity to 40%. The idea of this step is to create a reflection in the metal effect. Step 14 Now add a text, in my case I added the Abduzeedo logotype. Then go to Layer>Layer Styles. Use grey for the color with Multiply. Step 15 Then select Inner Shadow. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode with black for the color. For the Angle use 120º, 2 pixels for the Distance, 0% for the Choke and 2 pixels for the Size. Layers Order Conclusion Here is the final outcome of the tutorial. The idea of this tutorial was show you how to create the line texture but I decided to add the logo with an Apple style effect in it. The whole process is very straightforward and if you want to use different colors for the linen texture you will have to change the background color or the opacity of the 2 layers with noise/motion blur, the ones we created in the steps 2 to Darker Version Download the Photoshop File Click here to downlaod the Photoshop file used for this tutorial
25+ Super Useful Paper Textures
After working a while on a project that I need some textures, I remembered how important it is to have good resourcers at hand. I went looking for some paper textures, and it took me some time, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a selection of the best I found. It's amazing, but some of the greatest textures sites I know don't have paper textures, so I ended up going to DeviantART as usual... and geez, I wonder if there's something I can't actually find there... what a great resource! So here are the texture I found, and I really hope you enjoy them. Don't forget to check out DeviantART for more (but really, these are the best in my opinion). Cheers! ;)