lets Make a Spray Cane in Photoshop

In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to combine Illustrator and Photoshop to create a 3D, textured spray can. This tutorial requires some basic understanding of Illustrator and Photoshop as well as the pen tool. Let’s get started!

Step 1

Open Adobe Illustrator. Create a new document. The first step is to create all the materials and elements that will appear on the can. Most of them are basic shapes and text. I created the spatter and the shield for this tutorial. You can use them or you can find free similar vector elements over the Internet.
Note that I included measurements for you to have an idea of the size and proportion, but you don’t have to be exact. You can always resize things later if you need to.

Step 2

In the menu, go to Windows / Symbols to open the Symbols Window. Drag each of the elements you just created to the Symbols Window to convert them to symbols.
In the Symbols Window open the menu from the top right corner and select "Large List View.
Select the Symbol Options button at the bottom of the window and rename each of the Symbols as seen in the following image. Finally you can delete them from the stage

Step 3

With the Pen Tool (P) create a shape like in the image below. Try to respect the amount of anchor points.

Step 4

Go to the menu and click Effect > 3d > Revolve. Enter the values of the following image.

Step 5

On the 3D Revolve Options Window click the Map Art button. Check Shade Artwork and check Invisible Geometry. For now we will only use the Red and Grey boxes that we converted to symbols. Use the arrow buttons to navigate through each surface. Following the Image in Step 6, apply the corresponding material, selecting it from the Symbol list menu.
Note that the wireframe turns red on the surface that is selected. If the material/symbol is too small for the surface, click the Scale to Fit button. Finally click OK on the Map Art Window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

Step 6

You should have something like this.

Step 7

Now open the Layers Window if it is not already open. Rename the <Path> to MAIN.

Step 8

Select your main shape; duplicate it by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new MAIN path to WHITE BIG.

Step 9

Hide the MAIN path. Select the WHITE BIG path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button.

Step 10

First remove all the Symbols from all the surfaces. If you created exactly the same amount of anchor points you have to select Surface 5. If not, don’t worry, just find the surface that matches the one in the following image and position the White Big symbol as seen in the following image.

Step 11

Now we will repeat steps from 7 to 10 several times to position all the different elements. You may be asking: What is the advantage of placing the elements in several overlapping paths over making only one symbol with everything inside?

1. You can copy each individual element to Photoshop as individual layers.
2. This allows for a more efficient use of computer resources because you can hide all unused elements if you need to.

Duplicate the WHITE BIG path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new WHITE BIG path to WHITE SMALL.
Select the WHITE SMALL path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces. Find the surface that matches the one of the following image and position the White Small symbol as seen in the following image. Finally click OK on the Map Art Window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

 

Step 12

Duplicate the WHITE SMALL path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new WHITE SMALL path to SHIELD.
Select the SHIELD path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
Find the surface that matches the one of the following image and position the Shield symbol as seen in the following image. Finally click OK on the Map Art Window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

Step 13

Duplicate the SHIELD path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new SHIELD path to PRESSURIZED.
Select the PRESSURIZED path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
Find the surface that matches the one in the following image and position the Pressurized Smoke symbol as seen in the following image. Finally click OK on the Map Art window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

Step 14

Duplicate the PRESSURIZED path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new PRESSURIZED path to BRAND.
Select the BRAND path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
Find the surface that matches the one of the following image and position the Brand symbol as seen in the following image. Finally click OK on the Map Art Window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

 

Step 15

Duplicate the BRAND path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new BRAND path to NOZZLE1.
Select the NOZZLE1 path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
Find the surface that matches the one of the following image and position the Nozzle1 symbol as seen in the following image. Finally click OK on the Map Art window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

 

Step 16

Duplicate the NOZZLE1 path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new NOZZLE1 path to NOZZLE2.
Select the NOZZLE2 path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
Find the surface that matches the one in the following image and position the Nozzle2 symbol as seen there. Finally click OK on the Map Art Window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

 

Step 17

Duplicate the NOZZLE2 path by dragging it to the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Rename the new NOZZLE2 path to SPATTER.
Select the SPATTER path. Open the Appearance Window and select the 3D Revolve (Mapped) Link. Click on the Map Art button. Remove all the symbols from all the surfaces.
This time I am going to apply the Spatter symbol to 3 of the surfaces; in this example, it will be surfaces 10, 11 and 12. Take the following image as a guide to identify the surfaces in your case. Finally click OK on the Map Art window and on the 3D Revolve Options Window.

 

Step 18

Reveal all paths, and by now you should have something similar to what is seen in the image bellow.

 

Step 19

Now open Adobe photoshop and let’s make a new 600 px x 1000 px file. If your "background" layer is white press Command/Ctrl + I to invert it. The background must be black. Duplicate the background layer by dragging it to the Create a New Layer button. Rename your new layer to "MyBg". Double click your "MyBg" layer and apply the Inner Glow and Gradient Overlay Styles with the settings of the following image. Press OK

Step 20

Go to your Illustrator file and copy (Command/Ctrl + C) your MAIN shape and paste it (Command/Ctrl + V) on your Photoshop file as a Smart Object.

 

Step 21

Go to your Illustrator select WHITE BIG and WHITE SMALL shapes and copy them (Command/Ctrl + C). Paste them (Command/Ctrl + V) on your Photoshop file as a Smart Object. And rename the layer to WHITE.
Do the same for the rest of the shapes one by one. Rename all the layers as seen in the following image.

Blending Techniques in Photoshop

Download PSD

Make a Barcoding Scane bar in Photoshop

In today’s quick tip tutorial you will learn how to create a barcode sticker and a paperboard background texture. Let’s get started!

---

Step 1

First, we will set up our brush preset for the barcode. Create a new document with a width of 1 px and a height of 100 px. Now pick the paint bucket tool and fill the document with black. Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, choose a name for your brush and click OK.

---

Step 2

Create another new document, I chose 600 x 400 px for width and height. Select the brush tool and open the brush preset panel. Scroll down and select the brush preset you just created. Switch to the brush panel, make sure "Brush Tip Shape" is selected on the left-hand side and change the "Spacing" value to about 120 %. (Tip: By changing the spacing value you can determine how close the lines of the barcode will be together) Next, click on "Scattering" just below "Brush Tip Shape" and increase the count jitter value to 100%.

---

Step 3

Now make sure the foreground color is set to black, and paint from left to right while holding the shift key, which straightens your barcode line automatically. Select the text tool and add some random numbers below the barcode. Press Cmd + T and increase the vertical scale just a little bit.

---

Step 4

Switch the foreground color to white, pick the rounded rectangle tool with a radius of 4 px and draw a sticker-like shape around the barcode. Drag this shape layer behind the text and the barcode.

---

Step 5

Double-click on the shape layer and add the following layer styles (leave unmentioned parameters at defaults):

• Drop Shadow: Opacity: 25%, Distance: 2px, Size: 3px;
• Bevel and Emboss: settings see image;
• Gradient Overlay: settings see image;
• Stroke: Size: 1px, Color: #d6d6d6;

---

Step 6

Now we are going to create the paperboard texture. Create a new layer, drag it behind the others, and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise with an amount of about 65% and check "Monocromatic". Then, make sure that the foreground color is set to white and the background color to black, go to Filter > Sketch > Torn Edges and apply it with the settings as seen on the image below.

Press Cmd + L to access the levels adjustments and drag the left handle of the "Output Levels" to about 115. Press Cmd + U, make sure "Colorize" is checked and apply the following values: Hue: +40, Saturation: +49, Lightness: -39. Then, apply the "Add Noise" filter again with an amount of about 7%. Go to Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply it with a radius of 0.3 px.

---

Step 7

Create another new layer filled with black, change the foreground and background color to white and black again, and apply the "Add Noise" filter with an amount of 120%, then again the "Torn Edges" filter with the following settings: Image Balance: 1, Smoothness: 11, Contrast: 19. Set the layer’s blending mode to "Screen" and lower the opacity to about 50%. So far, you should have something like the image below.

---

Step 8

To add a little bit more depth, create another new layer, fill it with white and apply the "Add noise" filter with an amount of about 120%. Go to Filter > Sketch > Bas Relief and apply it with the settings as seen on the image. Set the blending mode to "Overlay" and lower the opacity to 25%.

---

Conclusion

Congratulations, you are done! I added a simple vignette effect to my final result as you can see here.

Here are some additional examples that I created using this technique.

How To Paint Cat in Photoshop

Learn how to create this stunning painting by Hatice Bayramoglu. This tutorial will guide you through the painting techniques and process the author used. You’ll learn how the author paints, manages layers, and make changes as she paints.

Painting “The Clever Cat” Photoshop Tutorial

For this tutorial I will be using Adobe Photoshop and Wacom Tablet to create the painting. I will also be using techniques and methods that I feel most comfortable with when coloring. I suggest that after following this tutorial that you find out what works best for you. In this tutorial, I will describe to you the process of how this image was created. I will go into detail about the brushes I use and so forth so you can have as a clear understanding of my process. This painting was made entirely in Photoshop CS2

Step 1

Start by creating a new document in Photoshop. It should be about 2000x1000 pixels.




 

Step 2

Create a new layer called “sketch”. This layer is used to hold the sketch for a painting and is only temporary to help with the painting. A sketch is the starting point for many types of paintings. You can create this sketch in Photoshop or on paper. Most people find it easier and faster to create the sketch on paper then scan it into Photoshop. After you created the sketch layer, change the blending mode to Multiply and always keep it as the top layer so that you can see it as you’re painting.

 

Step 3

Before you start on the painting, decide on the colors you’ll use. Here are the colors used for this artwork. You can use the same colors and load them into the Swatches palette in Photoshop. If you don’t like the color scheme, you can always make some fixes to change it later.

Step 4

Before you begin painting, you’ll need to set your brush settings. Start by selecting the Brush tool then using a standard brush such as the one shown below.

 

In the Brushes palette (Window > Brushes), you’ll find many settings that you can adjust for your brush.  I’ll show you the settings I used for this painting. In the Other Dynamics settings, I set the control to Pen Pressure. This is important if you are using a pen tablet for your painting. A pen tablet, such as the Wacom pen tablet, is essential for painting in Photoshop. It lets you paint using a pen instead of a mouse and adjust the strength and angle of your stroke. Set your brush settings to the one shown in the image below and try painting to see what it is like.

 Here is what the brush looks like with the settings shown in the above image. I want my brush to be smooth and soft with pen pressure sensitivity. It’s important to choose the right brush settings in the beginning as it can significantly affect the quality of your painting.

How to Create a Roadmap Poster in Photoshop

• 1digg

Today we will show to you how to create a very simple but a pretty roadmap poster in Photoshop. In this tutorial we’re gonna use layer styles, blend modes and a little of adjustments layers. Let’s get to work!
Now, the first thing you need is the background image, that will be our road. You can download it here.
Open the Photoshop and create a new document with the settings at your choice. Mine will be the following ones:

Import the image to the document and scale it as you wish.

After these steps, we need to give a darker look to the texture, and for that, create an adjustment layer. That adjustment layer will be the Hue/Saturation. Set the following values:

Next, duplicate the background layer and place it above the adjustment layer.

And we’re done with the background. Let’s now proceed to the yellow stripes. Draw the two shapes, one larger than the other, with the color #ffd800 and select both. Set the blend mode of it to overlay and still with the two layers selected the free transform(or CMD+T and then CMD+click) tool to distort both shapes at the same time!

Before adding some text to the main stripe, we need to add an important detail. Outer Glow effect in the blending options. This will help us making the shapes more realistic and more rough, instead of so regular.

To add some text, select the text tool, and set the color to #999999. The font that I used on my document was Impact and Italic. Write whatever you want and place it somewhere the larger yellow stripe. Display the blend mode to Multiply.

The text looks like crap isn’t it? To get this better, we need to delete the text area in the larger stripe layer. To do that, rasterize the larger stripe layer by clicking on the right mouse button and selecting rasterize layer. Press CMD and click the thumbnail of text layer, to select the text. Then, with the selection of the text, select again the stripe layer and press Delete. Now we should have a better look.

To make the tire print we will use a brush, but you can use anything else such as a texture, just be creative! You can download the brush here. If you don’t know how to import a brush to photoshop, learn how to do it here. Import it to photoshop, leave all settings as they appear and change only the brush size and its spacing.

Now, select the Pen tool, and draw a path like in the image bellow, and then opening the Paths tab, select the path and stroke the path with brush.

To complete the tire detail, set the layer blend mode to soft light, down the opacityaround to 75% and apply a gaussian blur filter with about 2px.

The funny thing in this tutorial is that we can come up with nice results without following every detail in tutorials. Some time ago I’ve checked this tutorial. The result was very nice, applying some great techniques. What we learn here today is that if we don’t follow the tutorial in every single line, we’re being creatives and have some excellent results too.
So, moving foward, grab the text tool, and type “4×4″ or anything you want (remember, be creative!). Try different settings on the character panel, by reducing the letterspacing or so. In this case, we have different font-sizes on the same layer text. The letter “x” is smaller than the other ones, and the letter spacing has been decreased to join the letters. The font is TS BLOCK and you can download it here. The color of the text doesn’t matter since we gonna use gradient overlay on the blending options.
Open the blending options panel for this layer and apply this settings.



The gradient used on stroke is the same used on gradient overlay.

Here’s the result of the layer style we applied.

Now our composition is done. Anyway, the image is not so that dramatic, so let’s add some more things to improve it. First, create a new layer on top of all layers. And then make a selection of the “4×4″ layer by pressing CMD and clicking the layer’s thumbnail. Grab the brush tool, set it to 50px and 0% of hardness. The color is white. Paint the whiter area of the text like shown bellow.

Press CMD+D to deselect the area and apply a gaussian blur filter around 7px. The result should look like this.

Again, create a new layer, and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare, and set up the value to 165% after choosing the first option on Lens Type menu. Next, set the blend mode of the layer to Overlay.

Final Result

This is my final result. We could even add a metal texture to the “4×4″ layer to look a little bit more realistic and a countless options as well. Now it is all up to you! Do not forget to show us your version!