In this tutorial you will learn how to construct a cool academy icon by putting together simple shapes in Illustrator and then applying layer effects on them in Photoshop. I’m using a German versions of both Illustrator and Photoshop, so some screenshots are in German. You should be able to understand it fine though, as I provide detailed instructions and numerous sample images. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

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Tutorial Details

• Program: Illustrator CS3 and Photoshop CS3
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 60 minutes

Step 1

Open up a new Illustrator document and switch to Outline mode (Command + Y). Begin creating four rectangles of the same size, using the Rectangle Tool (M). These will be the columns of our academy.

Step 2

Now add three more rectangles to each column. These will be the fluting of the column. Make the inner rectangle slightly bigger to give a little perspective.

Step 3

Create rectangles at the top and the bottom of each column. These will be the capital and the base of the column.

Step 4

Create three rectangles below the columns. These will be the stairway of our academy.

Step 5

Create a rectangle above the columns. This is the architrave of the academy.

Step 6

Create three small rectangles on each side of the architrave.

Step 7

Use the Pen Tool to create a triangular shape on top of the architrave. This is the roof.

Step 8

Create a smaller triangular shape within the roof.

Step 9

Place text in the center of the architrave. Choose a font you like, I chose Avenir Heavy.

Step 10

Create a pen icon with the Pen Tool and place it in the middle of our roof. You may want to draw one half, then flip a copy by going to Transform > Reflect > Vertical and hit copy. Then line up the two halves and use the Pathfinder tools to Merge them.

Step 11

Now there are several ways to create a sunburst effect in Illustrator. I usually do it this way: Create a small circle. Give it a dashed stroke with a really big Weight (250pt in this example). Now set the dash to a value that suits you (this determines how many beams your sunburst will have). I set it to 1,3pt. Set the gap value if you want to, I didn’t. Make sure to set Align Stroke to Outside.

Step 12

Expand Appearance and place the shape beneath the pen shape.

Step 13

Duplicate the smaller triangular shape. Crop it with the sunburst shape via the Pathfinder.

Step 14

Clean the sunburst shape up a little so that nothing of it is visible inside the pen shape.

Step 15

Create a rectangle behind the columns. This is the background of the academy. Create a rectangle that matches the dimensions of your document. This is the image background.

Step 16

Now we’re done with the Illustrator part of this tutorial. We will now export our academy into a PSD file. However, there are certain things to take care of when exporting into PSD.

Illustrator merges all paths in a group into one single layer making it impossible to edit them separately. To avoid that we need to place every path in a group of its own. It is very helpful to then name the groups correctly, it makes it much easier to work with them in Photoshop. After grouping and naming everything correctly your layers window should look something like that shown below.

Step 17

Select all paths and give them a white fill with no stroke, colors will be applied later in Photoshop. Then go to File > Export and export into PSD. Use the following settings.

Step 18

Open the exported file in Photoshop. What you see will be a completely white image. Luckily we have named everything properly so we can begin with applying layer effects. Start by giving the background layer a Color Overlay of 80% gray. Give the academy background layer a Color Overlay of 40% gray and a Gradient Overlay of Multiply, Opacity at 60%, black to white, and linear at 90°.

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