In this tutorial you will be learning basic techniques in Photoshop, such as using layer styles, brush and pen tool and effects. The end product will be a glossy pill icon, useful as a logo or an illustration. The tutorial is suitable for absolute beginners.

1. Create a new document
Create a new document by hitting Ctrl+N or Cmd+N on Mac with following values.

For easier workflow make sure you have Auto-Select Layer and Show Transform Controls ticked.

2. Place and trace
Drag and drop the sketch.jpg file into the canvas and resize it with transformation tool to fit. Hit enter.

Lock the sketch bitmap layer by selecting it and clicking on the padlock icon.

Select the pen tool and click on ‘Shape Layer’ in the toolbar.

Start tracing by clicking on any edge of sketch and adding points. Photoshop will create a new shape layer. Try to follow sketch lines to fill one part of the pill icon.

After closing the shape by clicking on the first point, select Direct Selection Tool (Ctrl+Shift+A) to manipulate any misplaced points. You can move them around by clicking twice.

When you’re happy with the shape, click on the layer and name it something descriptive by double clicking on name and click on eye icon to hide it.

Do same with the other part of the pill and get them aligned. Move the right part layer on top of the other by dragging and dropping. Hide the sketch layer.

Now select colors you’ll be using and fill shapes with them by double-clicking layer thumbnail. Colors used in tutorial are RGB(221, 62, 62) and RGB(224, 220, 220).

Select both layers and click ‘Duplicate layers’ in right-click menu. Merge duplicates into one rasterized layer by selecting ‘Merge’ from same menu.

Double click on created layer and click on Color overlay. Select white color and hit OK.

Resize and rotate the shape so it covers a little less than half of the pill.

Ctrl click on one layer’s vector mask thumbnail and hold Ctrl+Shift while clicking on another. This will select both layers’ pixels. Hit Ctrl+Shift+I to inverse selection and hit Delete with ‘highlight’ layer selected. Set layer’s opacity to 25%.

3. Effects
Select the Brush tool and apply the following settings in right-click menu:

Now select pill layer’s pixels once again and paint a highlight on a new layer. Set its opacity to 50%.

With same selection create another layer, set brush size to 200px and select black color. Paint on the bottom of the pill.

Apply following settings:

Paint on the end of the pill. Then set brush size to 400px and touch for highlight. Then paint another line of highlight on top edge of the pill.

Double click on the Right part and Left part layers and apply these layer styles:

Time to sort out our layers. Name them, group them, and let’s move on to final touch.

4. Drop shadow
Duplicate and merge Right and Left part’s layers once again and move it behind them. Overlay it with black color with layer styles.

Choose Edit -> Transform -> Perspective and modify layer according to perspective.

Then fo under Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and type in 40px. Take layer’s opacity down to 80% and you’re done.

Get the PSD

[tweet2download file="files.zip" tweet="Creating a Pill Icon in Photoshop http://su.pr/4004am on @teamtutorials" follow="@teamtutorials" /]

This tutorial was written by Heidi Pungartnik, web and graphic designer. You can follow her on twitter (@ashocka18) or visit her website at aShocka.com.

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In our latest Adobe Photoshop tutorial, I will show you how to create a professional looking layout for a construction company. This tutorial that will take advantage of simple gradients to produce a nice effect. It is a pretty long tutorial, but it should be simple enough for newer Photoshop users to follow along.

Here is what the finished layout will look like.

First let me include links to all of the files used in this tutorial so that you can gather everything now.

Photoshop Add-ons:
DezinerFolio Ultimate Web 2.0 Gradient Pack

Images (all are available for free, but require you to sign up. It is worth it trust me):
Gears
Blueprint
Construction Site
Cool Building

Ok, so now that you have all of the tools that you need open Photoshop and create a 900×800 pixel image with a white back ground. Create a new layer and use the Rectangle Marquee tool to draw a rectangle like below and fill it in with any color.

Now right click on the layer in the panel and select blending options. Apply the following gradient (this is included in the gradient pack):

Here is the gradient. (If I don’t include this I will get flamed because somebody will over look this simple link to download all of the gradients here. That’s a hint guys)

Create a new layer and draw another rectangle using the marquee tool and fill it in with any color.

Right click on your new layer and add the gradient layer style shown below.

Here is the gradient

Create another new layer (we will be doing this quite often) ad draw another rectangle like below. Fill your rectangle with wjite (#FFFFFF).

Make another new layer and another fancy rectangle. This time we will fill the selection with a #697b86.

Next we will add the logo. Create a new layer and go get the gears picture from sxc.hu. Paste the picture into Photoshop. With the image selected choose Edit > Free Transform from the menu in Photoshop.

First we are going to Constrain Proportions by clicking the change link at the top, this keeps the image from becoming distorted. Then grab a corner of the image and shrink it down to size.

Then mouse your mouse out slightly until you get the rotate arrows (looks like a curve double sided arrow). Rotate the image so that it looks like this.

Apply your transformation. Select the layer in the layers pane and change the blend mode to Pin Light.

The gear image should now look like this.

Next we will add our corporate logo. Using the text tool with Arial Black 40 point as you font type the CorporateAmerica logo.

Now apply the following gradient by going to blending options. This gradient is also included in the download I mentioned earlier.

Here is the gradient. Make a note that some of the markers are covered by other markers. Those markers have arrows drawn to them. If you downloaded the gradient kit just click on gradient name “White Gloss 4”.

Now use the text tool again to add the tag to the logo. This time the font we are using is Arial Black 14 point with the color set to #b7d4e6.

Next we will create the menu. Create a new layer and draw another rectangle using the marquee tool. Fill this rectangle with #697b86

Now grab the text tool with Verdana 18pt Bold as your font and #ffffff as your color add the following links. Note that there are 4 spaces in between each sections link.

Select the rectangle layer again. Using the single column marquee tool select a section in between each link and then delete it. Your end result should look like the menu below.

Now use the magic wand tool to select the rectangle behind the home link. Fill the rectangle with #b7d4e6. We are going to use this color to show what page the user is currently on.

Now go back to your text layer for the links. Edit the links and change the color of the home link to #124c6f by highlighting only the word home and clicking the color box on the top menu. The menu should now look like this.

Create a new layer and draw another rectangle like below. Fill the rectangle with the same #b7d4e6 that we used to fill the rectangle for the home link.

Now we are going to add a magazine quote that describes the awesomeness of our company. We will use the text tool and Verdana bold 24pt for this with the color set to #124c6f.

We will also attribute the quote to the magazine using Verdana Bold 10pt in #124c6f.

Ok. Now we have to add the images that show a little bit about what our company stands for. We want to have three images equal in size. The easiest way I find to do this is to first create a new layer and draw another rectangle. Fill it in with any color.

Next break the square into three equal portions. I will use the same technique that I used for the menu. Using the single column marquee I will delete two columns in between each square. You should get something like the picture below.

We will use this as a template for the images we downloaded earlier. First we will add the Blueprint image. We are going to paste the image in Photoshop. Then on the menu go to Edit > Transform > Resize. Constrain the proportions again (click the little chain links) and resize the image so that it is just slightly bigger than the blue square.

Now go back turn off visibility on the layer with the blueprint picture by clicking the eye in the layers panel.

Select the blue square layer and use the magic wand tool to select the first square.

Now on the menu at the top go to Select > Inverse. This will select everything but the blue square.

Now select the layer with the blueprint picture and turn visibility back on. Then make sure the blueprint layer is still selected and hit delete. The image should look like this now.

Now we are going to add a border. Right click on the layer in the layers pane and select blending options. Apply the follow stroke settings.

The image should now have a nice inside border on it.

You will have to repeat those steps with the construction image and the cool building image using the 2nd and 3rd squares as a template. Also remember to apply the same blending effects. You can delete the blue squares layer when you are done. You should get something like this when you are done.

Now we will add a little caption to the images. Create a new layer and make a selection using the rectangle marquee tool on top of one of the images, but inside the border like the one shown below.

Now select # 697b86 as your foreground color. Then select the gradient tool.

On at the top of the screen click the gradient drop down and select “Foreground to transparent”.

Now hold down the shift key if you are on windows (sorry I don’t know Mac shortcuts) and click and drag from slightly inside the left of the box ending outside the right side of the box. The illustration below shows where I started and finished

The fill should look like this

Right click on the layer and duplicate it. Use the arrow keys to position the new layer on the next image. Repeat this for the 3rd image. Your site you now look like this.

Next use the text tool with Verdana 20pt bold as the font. Add the text below to each of the images.

Create a new layer. Make another rectangle and fill it with white.

Go to the blending options for the final rectangle and apply a 1px stroke.

Now use the text tool to add the title to the about page. The font is Verdana Bold 20pt and color is # 4d5359

Next we will add the description. Since I don’t feel like making up a description we will use the lorem ipsum generator (http://www.lipsum.com/ ). If you don’t know what lorem ipsum is. It is supposed to simulate what standard writing would look like. I generate 5 pargraphs and added it to my image using Verdana Regular 12pt as the font.

The last thing we will do is add our tag to the footer so that people will know who the site was designed by. The font is Verdana 12pt regular and the color is # 35393d. The puzzle piece is a default shape that you can find using the shape tool.

We’re finally done. Here is our finished layout. Click the image for the full size.

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This tutorial will walk you through using PHP to select entries from a database based on the text that is entered into a textbox on the site. This guide will also walk you through making the insert script to insert the comments into the database as well as help you make the database.

First we need to create our database that we will be using. The following code will set our table that we will be using up automatically. **NOTE** change DBNAME and tutorial to the database name and table name respectively. As shown, I called my table tutorial, so for the sake of following this tutorial, you may want to do the same.

CREATE TABLE `DBNAME`.`tutorial` (
`id` INT( 4 ) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
`name` VARCHAR( 30 ) NOT NULL ,
`topic` VARCHAR( 30 ) NOT NULL ,
`comment` VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL ,
PRIMARY KEY ( `id` )
) ENGINE = MYISAM

As you can see, this will create a table called tutorial on our database with 4 fields of data:

Id – Primary key and auto increment. (Will increase by one for every entry inserted)
Name – name of the user making a comment
Topic – A heading/title for the comment
Comment – The actual comment from the user.

Now that we have our table prepared, let’s insert a sample entry to it to make sure it is ok. Once you verify that, we are ready to start preparing our scripts to write and to read from the database. Let’s start with our insert script first. I called this file index.php.

<?php
$conn = mysql_connect ("localhost","dbname_username","password") or die ('cannot connect to database error: '.mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("databasename");

The first thing in our file will be the connection string. This connects to our database. Make sure you insert you DBname, username, and password into the appropriate places in the string. You can now save the file and launch it in a browser. If the screen comes up blank the connection stream worked. If it throws an error, it will tell you the error and you will need to troubleshoot it.

$name = $_POST['Name'];
$topic = $_POST['Topic'];
$comment = $_POST['Comment'];

Next we declare the variables that we are going to use. We will make a form in the php file later that will store these variables on submit. As you can see, we have a variable for the name, the topic, and the comment.

if (isset($name) && isset($topic) && isset($comment))
{

This line checks to see if all of the variables that we need have indeed been set. This allows the page to see whether the user has already inserted data, or if this is the first time the page has been loaded.

if(($name=="") || ($topic=="") || ($comment=="")) {
echo 'One or more field has been left blank. Please use your browser back button and correct this. Thank-you.';
die ();
}

This section runs if the variables are set. Just because they are “set” does not mean they contain information. This snippet checks for there to be valid characters in all the variables. If there is not, it throws an error and ends the PHP so that erroneous data is not entered into the database.

$sql = "INSERT INTO
`DBNAME`.`TABLENAME` (`id`,`name`, `topic`, `comment`)
VALUES (NULL,'".$name."','".$topic."','".$comment."');";
mysql_query($sql);
$commentno = mysql_insert_id();

This code inserts the values they entered into the fields into the database. Again, make sure your DBNAME and TABLENAME are properly inserted into those places. The last line returns the primary key (the one that is set to auto increment) so that we can display the comment number to the user.

echo 'You comment has been successfully submitted with the following values: <br />';
echo "<br /><B>Comment #:</B> $commentno";
echo "<br /><B>Name:</B> $name";
echo "<br /><B>Topic:</B> $topic";
echo "<br /><B>Comment:</B> $comment";
echo '<form method="post" action = "index.php">';
echo '<Input Type="SUBMIT" value="Submit Another?"></form>';

}

This code simply displays the values back to the user in formatted text so they can see that there comment went through the way they intended. The submit button simply redirects to the same page so that you can insert another comment if you would like. When you click the button and reload the page it will clear the variables. If you just reload the page it will keep submitting the variables to the database. The trailing end bracket ends the If statement.

else{

echo '<h2>Please leave us your comments: (All Fields Are Required)</h2>';
echo '<form method="post" action="index.php">';
echo 'Your Name: <br /> <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="Name" size="35" maxlength = "30"><br /><br />';
echo 'What is your comment about?: <br /> <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="Topic" size="35" maxlength = "30"><br /><br />';
echo 'Comment: <br /> <TEXTAREA NAME = "Comment" rows="7" cols = "35"></textarea><br /><br />';
echo '<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Submit Comment"> <br /><br />';
echo '</form>';
}
?>

This is the else statement that runs if the first IF statement if not true (the ISSET one). It simply shows the form to the user and tells it to reload this page on submit. Note how the names of the input boxes are the same of the variables that we declared in the first sections. Now you should be able to run you file and use it to submit a comment.

You should see the form that we created since none of the variables have been set yet. Fill out the form saying whatever you would like it to say and hit submit.

When you hit submit, the form should simply reload the page and you should be greeted with the success message. Submit several different types of comments so that when you run a select later you can see that it is functioning the way that it should.

Now we need to make our file that will pull the data back from the database for us. We are going to make it so that we can put the text that we are looking for into a textbox and pull the data back based on that. I called this file lookup.php

<?php
$conn = mysql_connect ("localhost","dbname_username","password") or die ('cannot connect to database error: '.mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("databasename");

This file starts off with the connection string again. It should be identical to the first one as it is pulling from the same database that we were inserting to.

$method = $_POST['method'];
$text = $_POST['string'];

Then we have our variables. This time we only have two to work with; method and text. Method is going to tell the query where to look for our text (name, topic, comment, or id). The text is going to be the text that we are looking for within that column.

if (isset($method) && isset($text)){

echo '<table cellspacing="2" cellpadding="6" border = "2">';
echo '<tr>';
echo '<th style="text-align:left;">ID #</th>';
echo '<th>Name</th>';
echo '<th>Topic</th>';
echo '<th>Comment</th>';;
echo '</tr>';

This section simply checks for the variables to be set and sets up the table to show our results once the query is ran.

$sql ="select * from `tutorial` where $method like '%$text%'";
$query = mysql_query($sql);

This is the select statement to pull the data from the database. Note that the where clause contains the variable $method. This variable is whatever is picked from the drop-down menu that we will be creating. Also, notice how we are using like instead of the equal sign. This tells the database to look for that text in ANY part of the field. It is not case sensitive either.

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)){
echo "
<tr>
<td>".$row['id']."</td>
<td>".$row['name']."</td>
<td>".$row['topic']."</td>
<td>".$row['comment']."</td>
</tr>";
}
}

This bit of code simply sets the variable to the query that was just ran and echo’s the variables that were returned by the previous query until the variable no longer contains information. The first close bracket ends the while loop and the second ends the IF statement.

echo '<h2>Enter your search criteria</h2>';
echo '<form method="post" action="lookup.php">';
echo 'Search which area? <br /> <SELECT NAME="method"><br /><br />';
echo '<option value="id" style="text-align:left">id </option>';
echo '<option value="name" style="text-align:left">name </option>';
echo '<option value="topic" style="text-align:left">topic </option>';
echo '<option value="comment" style="text-align:left">comment </option></select> <br />';
echo 'Search for what? <br /> <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="string" size="35" maxlength = "30"><br /><br />';
echo '<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Search">';
echo '</form><br /><br />';
echo $sql;

?>

This final bit of code simply creates our form to fill out that will allow us to create the selection stream. It sets up the HTML form to go back to this page on submit. Then it creates the drop down with the options of ID, name, topic, and comment. Then it creates an input box for you to type the text that you are trying to locate. Then it gives us the submit button. Finally it shows the query that was run in order to retrieve the results. I did this so that you can see what the query looks like when it is run. This completes this form. You should now be able to launch the form.

The above form will be displayed. Pick what you would like to search in. In the picture above I am looking for comments that were submitted by a person who entered Michael somewhere into the name box.

This picture shows all the results of the options that I selected. Take note of the query that is displayed right above the table so you can see what the query actually looks like. This form is set up to show you the selection boxes on the results page again so that you can keep looking for multiple things. This concludes this tutorial. I hope it was easy to follow and will benefit you in some way. Thanks for reading.

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This is tutorial will demonstrate a very simple way to change color using Adobe Photoshop. We will be changing the color of the “racing stripes” on a car. Here is a what we will accomplish.

First you will need to download an image of a car. I have provided a link to download one from sxc.hu, the site requires that you register, but it will be worth it. They offer tons of royalty free images under various licenses. Download the image of the mustang.

Copy the image into Photoshop. On the menu select Image > Adjustments > Replace Color.

Using the drop tool, select the cars hood stripes.

Now adjust the Hue value to the color of your choice.

Select OK and your image should look like this. If you want to make the color either brighter or more dull you can go back to the replace color tool and adjust the Saturation.

That’s it all it takes to change the color of the stripes of a car. This tutorial can also work for changing the entire color of a car. Keep in mind that this will work best on brighter colors. Try to avoid using stock images that are black or white. While this isn’t the only color change technique, it is the easiest. If there is any interest in more “photo chopping” aka Car Modification tutorials I would be clad to write a few.

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This tutorial is a little different form our standard Photoshop tutorials. Normally I would show you how to make a web layout or menu in Photoshop, but I never really went into detail on how to make the layouts work on the web. In this tutorial I will show you how to make a simple menu using Photoshop, slice the images, and how to write the code for a functional menu.

The menu I have decided to create a menu similar to the one I used on Computer Systems Solutions website.

As you can see we have a simple menu. All we really need to create are two fill images for the menu and the mouse over. So we will go into Photoshop and create a new image. I am going to make the canvas 700x100px with a white back ground.

The first we need to do is create a new layer. Then draw a 20px tall square (you can make it as large as you want, but you will have to adjust the css later on) using the marquee tool. The length doesn’t really matter and you will see why later. Fill the square with any color, since we will apply layer styles to it.

Now we can apply our layer styles. Right click on the layer and select blending options. Apply the following options.

Stroke:

Apple the style and you have your basic menu.

Normally for a layout I would use the Photoshop slice tool for this next step, but since we are only working with one image, zoom in and make a selection that is the exact height of the menu and 1px wide like below.

Next, on the menu in Photoshop go to Image > Crop. You should then have a 1px wide image.

Now go to File > Save > Save Image for web and save it as menu.jpg

Now we have a background save. Next we will change the gradient to create the blue highlight when the button is hovered over. Return to the image and select the Blending Options again. Change the gradient to this color

Now go to save for web again and save this one as menu-over.jpg

Now we have the two images we need to make our menu. The next step is coding the menu itself, and then applying some CSS to make it look pretty.
Open you favorite editor and and create a basic unordered list in HTML and attach a style sheet in the head section. We will use the style sheet later.

<html>
<head>
<title>Test Menu from Teamtutorials.com</title>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
	@import url( style.css );
</style>
</head>

<body>

<ul class="solidblockmenu">
       <li><a href="#">TeamTutorials</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 1</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 2</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 3</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 4</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 5</a></li>

</ul>

</body>
</html>

As you can see the ul tag has a class of solidblockmenu. You will assign style to this element later. Save the file as test.htm and open it in your browser. It should look something like this.

So we have a pretty basic menu. Now we can spice it up with some CSS. Open a new document in you favorite editor (I like notepad).

I will try to explain each section of the CSS the best I can using comments in the code, the full CSS source is available toward the bottom of this post.

.solidblockmenu li{
	display: inline; <!-- display items as blocks-->
}

.solidblockmenu li a{ <!--styling the links-->
	color: black; <!--sets font color to black-->
	padding: 2px 11px; <!-- we apply padding to our links to make the buttons wider than the text-->
	text-decoration: none; <!-- no style(underline, etc) for the links. -->
	border-right: 1px solid #ababab; <!-- this sets the right border of the the link. It creates the divider between buttons-->
}

.solidblockmenu li a:visited{
	color: black; <!--Jus changes the visite link to be black instead of the default color-->
}

.solidblockmenu li a:hover, .solidblockmenu li .current{
	color: black; <!-- font color you could  also change this if you want-->
	background: transparent url(menu-over.jpg) center center repeat-x;<!--this sets the link to have our menu-over.jpg ad the background when it is hovered over-->
}	} 

Here is the full CSS code without comments.

.solidblockmenu{
	margin: 0;
	padding: 0;
	font: bold 13px Arial;
	width: 700px;
	height: 21px;
	background: url(menu.jpg) center center repeat-x;
}

.solidblockmenu li{
	display: inline;
}

.solidblockmenu li a{
	color: black;
	padding: 2px 11px;
	text-decoration: none;
	border-right: 1px solid #ababab;
}

.solidblockmenu li a:visited{
	color: black;
}

.solidblockmenu li a:hover, .solidblockmenu li .current{
	color: black;
	background: transparent url(menu-over.jpg) center center repeat-x;
}

Save the source code. Open the HTM file in your browser and you should have a functioning menu.

Now if you noticed in the last line of the CSS I setup a class called current. You can use that to highlight the button on the current page by default. So for example if this was the Sample3 page you would change your menu code to look like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Test Menu from Teamtutorials.com</title>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
	@import url( style.css );
</style>
</head>

<body>

<ul class="solidblockmenu">
       <li><a href="#">TeamTutorials</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 1</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 2</a></li>

       <li><a href="#" class=”current”>Sample 3</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 4</a></li>

       <li><a href="#">Sample 5</a></li>

</ul>

</body>
</html>

Then Sample 3 would be blue, but the other options would still highlight when you hover over them.

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In this tutorial we will create a “web 2.0” (I’m sorry I had to say it) style rounded button.

Start with a 150×150 pixel image with white as the background. Create a new layer. Select black as your foreground color. Using the circle marquee tool, hold down the shift key and draw a perfect circle.

Press alt + backspace to fill the circle with black.

Now we will apply some layer style to the circle of course. I will be using a blue gradient that I found online in a web 2.0 gradient pack. Go to the site and download the gradient pack by clicking here.

Download the file and extract the gradient. Then simple drag the gradient file into photoshop and drop it on the background. Then open the gradient tool and youw ill see that we now have some sweet web 2.0 gradients.

Now we will apply the layer styles for our circle. Right click on the layer and go to blending options.

Apply the following drop shadow settings:

Next apply the gradient settings. I will be using the dark blue gradient from the gradient pack we downloaded earlier.

Then we will use the following settings for the gradient

For the final touch we will add a stroke.

Apply the style and your image should look like this

Now we are going to add a little more gloss to the picture. First we will add the ring. Create a new Layer. Then alt click the circle layer to make a select the same size as the circle.

Fill the new layer with white keeping your circle selected.

Now go to Select > Modify > Contract

Contract the circle by 3 pixels

Now your circle select is smaller. Use the arrow keys to move the circle down to off set it form the original like below. Then delete the select.

Now we will set the transparency for the layer to 51%.

Your circle should look like this now.

Looks good, but web 2.0 requires more gloss (lol). Using the default photshop shapes draw the shape below.

You circle should look like this now.

CTRL + click on the circle layer again to make a circle selection. Then go to Select > Inverse on the photshop menu. Then delete your selection.

Now we are going to change the layer blend mode to overlay and the opacity to 43%.

The circle looks like this.

Now we will add a circle using the default Photoshop circle shape tool.

Draw the circle like on a new layer.

Now apply a 1px stroke inside using the blending options.

The image should look like this.

To finish it off add your logo. I also changed the circle layer to be 65% opacity. Here is the final result

You could go back and play with some other gradients to see what you can come up with.

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This tutorial will show how to create a very simple abstract shape using a few brushes and effects. For this tutorial I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS3. If you have an older version of Adobe Photoshop, you may still be able to follow this tutorial.

Keep in mind that it would be nearly impossible to duplicate this exact object, but this tutorial should give a guide to creating your own unique object. You should end up with something like this.

The first thing we need to do is download the brush set for this tutorial. You can download the free Trance Brushes from Brusheezy.com by clicking here..

After you download the brushes, extract the .abr file from the .zip and save it.

Open Adobe Photoshop and create a new document 700×700.

Fill the background layer with black (#000000) and select the brush tool.

Load the brush set that you just downloaded by clicking the drop down next to the brush > the arrow point right > then the load option.

Select the Trance Brushes and load them. You will see the new brushes appear at the bottom of the brush set.

Reset the color swatches so that white is the foreground color and black is the background color. Create a new layer and use some of the brushes to create an abstract shape. When you are painting with these brushes, do not drag the mouse like you normally would. Instead click once to create the shape. There is really no science to this. First I will use brush 305 to create this.

Next I will add a few more with #213.

Then I will use 215 to make a tail.

To complete this shape I will dab a couple times with the brushe that is numbered 380 for me.
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Like I said before, there is no set way to do this, just come up with a shape you like. Now to add a little bit of color I will apple a purple glow. Right click on the layer in the layers pallet and select blending options.

Apply an outer glow using the color #7200ff.

I also added an inner glow using the same color #7200ff.

Apply the changes and you should get something like this.

Now we are going to distort the image using the polar coordinate filter. Click Filter > Distort > Polar coordinates.

Make sure that Rectangular to Polar is selected and click ok

You will get something like this.

Where the object is located on the canvas will effect how it is distorted. If you do not like the way it came out, undo the filter and move the object. Then try to apply the filter again. Mine looks ok, but I think it is a little blurry.

I am going to apply the Smart Sharpen filter to sharpen up the image. Click Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

You will have to play with the settings to see what looks the best for you, or you could skip this step completely. Here is what I used.

This is what my image looks like now.

That is all it takes to create a simple abstract shape using brushes. If you do a search online you can some great free brushes to play around with. You could also add some text to this and make into a background or something.

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This tutorial will show you how to create a website header similar to the on use on the social book marking site digg.com. I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS3 for this tutorial.

Start off with a new document 900×125 with # e5ecf3 as your background color.

Select #e5ecf3 as your foreground color and press CTRL+Backspace to fill the background with the blue/grey color.

Create a new layer. Select the Rounded Rectangle tool with the following settings.

Set your foreground color to # 1b5790 and draw the rounded rectangle. Draw from the bottom up so the top part of the Rounded Rectangle gets cut off.

Now hold down the CTRL key and click on the layer with the Rounded Rectangle in the Layers Palette.

This will select the rectangle you just drew. Now, Using the Marquee tool, hold down the ALT key and drag the mouse over the top section like below.

When you let go you should have a selection like the one below.

Now you will need to download the FFF Forward font. Add the dig logo using the text tool bar and FFF Forward 21pt sharp as your font. The color should be white (#FFFFFF).

Using the text tool again add the “Join Digg”, “About” and “Login” links. The font I used was Arial Bold 14pt and the color is #d2dcf3.

Create a new layer and draw a 1 pixel line between the links using the same color.

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This tutorial will show you how to create a layout for a web hosting company using Adobe Photoshop.

This is what the finished product will look like

Open a New Document 800×700 with white as your background color

Create a new layer. Using the rounded rectangle tool, with a 10px corner radius, draw a square in the middle of the page.

Right click on the layer and select blending options. Apply the following Layer Styles:

Stroke

Outer Glow

Save these settings to use them later by clicking the New Style button. When the box pops up name your style and save it.

Your image should look something like this.

Ok now you will need to download the following graphics so you can add them to the header. These are all available for free from sxc.hu.

Ok now that you have the images saved to your hard drive you can open them in Photoshop. Copy and paste the call center image into the layout document. On the menu in Photoshop go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. You image should look like this

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This Adobe Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create a clean looking layout for your personal portfolio website. The effects use here are very simple and novice Photoshop users should be able to follow this tutorial fine. I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS2 for this tutorial. I plan to upgrade to CS3 later this week, so look for more CS3 tutorial in the future.

Start with a new document 900×900 pixels with a background color of white.

Now fill the background with #b2b2b2 by selecting the color as your foreground color and press ALT+Backspace. Then create a new layer and draw a large rectangle using the Rectangle Marquee tool. Fill your square with white.

Now right click on the layer and select Blending Options to open the Layer Styles window.

Apply the following layer styles to your rectangle layer:

Drop Shadow:

Gradient Overlay:

Here is the gradient I used (double click the gradient bar to open this window):

Now create a new layer. Draw a small rectangle through the white part of you gradient. Fill the rectangle with black (#00000).

Now open the Blending Options and apply the following settings:

Drop Shadow:

Gradient Overlay:

Here is the gradient:

Apply the changes and your image should look something like this.

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