In this tutorial we’ll use a combination of craft and Illustrator’s 3D tools to create a first aid icon. You can use the techniques you learn in this tutorial to create realistic rounded box icons of your choice. This works well for complex icons at large sizes and scales down nicely.

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour

Step 1

Open up a new document and select the Rectangle Tool (M). Create a rectangle and fill it with red.

Step 2

Got to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and apply a radius of 30pt to the rectangle. Go to Object > Expand Appearance. This will apply the rounded corners. Make a copy of the shape, as we’ll need it again later.

Step 3

Now go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel and apply the settings you see in the image below. Make sure you add an extra highlight and a bevel.

Step 4

Go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and choose the settings you see in the image below.

Step 5

Create a rectangle filled with gray. This will become the cross for the first aid icon. I filled it with gray for now, but later we will change it to white.

Step 6

Select the rectangle, hit Command + C + F (this will paste the object on top) and then select it with the Selection Tool (V) and rotate it 45 degrees.

Step 7

Select the two rectangles and apply the Unite option in the Pathfinder Palette.

Step 8

Apply another round corner effect (see Step 2) and set the radius to 12pt.

Step 9

Once the shape has been expanded (Object > Expand Appearance), fill it with white.

Step 10

With the cross still selected, open up the Symbols Palette and drag the cross into it. Name it "Cross" and set the type to Graphic.

Step 11

Go back to the red box and open up the Appearance Palette. There, double-click the 3D Extrude & Bevel layer to edit the effect. In the pop-up window, click on Map Art, choose “surface 1″ and select the "Cross" we just added into the Symbols Palette. Place it into the middle of the box top.

Step 12

This is what we have so far for the first aid icon.

Step 13

Let’s create an illusion of a separation to the box, so it looks like it has a top and a bottom that opens up. Take the copy of the rectangle we made in Step 2 and set the fill to none and the stroke to 1pt red.

Step 14

Select the object and go to Object > Path > Outline stroke.

Step 15

Apply the same 3D Extrude & Bevel Settings from Step 3, but add no Bevel and set the Extrude Depth to 5pt.

Step 16

Create a rectangle and fill it with a white to black gradient. Place it on top of the rectangle we just created. Make sure you set the gradient direction like you see in the image below. We will add an Opacity Mask and the black will hide the object and the white color will show it.

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The Internet world exploded with the news of the Apple tablet launch last week. Named the iPad, it’s set to bring yet another revolution to the way people access and browse the web. An iPad icon would be a sensible addition to any web designer’s resources toolbox, so let’s fire up Photoshop and create our very own detailed iPad icon graphic.

The icon we’ll be creating features the typical front view of the iPad. Using the Apple website for reference, let’s get started.

Create a new document, and use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to draw a portrait shape onto a new layer. Set the corner radius to 20px and the fill to white.

CMD-click on the layer thumbnail to load the selection, then go to Select > Modify > Contract and enter 3px. Create a new layer and fill this new selection with black.

Double click the first layer, with the white rectangle to open up the Layer Style options. Add a grey Inner Glow just 3px in size, with the blend mode of Normal.

Next, double click the black rectangle’s layer. This time add an Outer Glow using a lighter grey, also set to 3px in size and a blend mode of normal.

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a thin 1px buttons on the top edge and side of the body to represent the lock and mute switches. Fill these with a subtle grey gradient.

To create the volume button, draw a thicker rectangle to begin with, then use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to delete out a central portion.

The main screen of the iPad often features a vibrant background wallpaper graphic. An amazing Creative Commons photo from Flickr user Arnar Valdimarsson fits pefectly. Use the marquee tool to crop down the photograph to the screen dimensions.

Drag a guide to identify the centre of the iPad body, then draw a circle with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Fill this circle with a black to grey gradient to simulate the depth of the button.

On a new layer, use the Pencil tool in 1px size to draw a square, then delete out the four corners using the Eraser. Lower the opacity to around 25% to blend in the icon.

No Apple product would be complete without it’s reflections and light casts. CMD-click on the thumbnail of the main body to load the selection, then fill this with a white gradient spanning from the top right. Reduce the opacity of this layer to suit and move it to the top of the layer stack so that any underlying elements are affected by the light cast.

Onto the main iPad interface. Draw a thin selection across the top of the screen and fill with black to recreate the status bar. Lower the opacity to allow the background to show through.

Use the pencil tool to draw a simple battery icon, then add a simple selection of text elements.

Fill a rectangular selection with grey at the bottom of the screen, then press CMD-T to transform. Right click and select the Perspective option, then move the top corners inwards to create the basic shape of the iPad dock.

Double click the dock layer to add new Layer Styles. Add a gradient spanning from dark grey to light grey, then back to the dark grey. Set this to run horizontally across the dock.

Add an Inner Shadow to represent the tiny edge of the dock. Set the options to a light grey with the blend mode of normal. Use a -90 degree angle, a distance of 1px, a choke of around 27% and a size of 2px.

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Icons are inseparable part of a GUI (graphical user interfaces) design. I was downloading, buying and creating icons for ages, then one day I decided to make my own usable icon set. Something to help other GUI designers make work faster and better. This article explains in detail the process of creating and phases I was going through with this project, and may act as guidance when you decide to make something similar. I went down more than one creative path before finalizing this “GUI Design Icons” font.

Chapters

Since this article is little bit longer, I’ve split it into chapters. You can use these links to jump to desired chapter.

• The Idea
• Drawing icons in Adobe
  Illustrator
  • Locked padlock
  • Unlocked padlock
  • Adjustments, changes and
    fine-tuning
  • Loading icon
  • Combinations
  • Dividing lines
  • Preparing icons for final
    product
• Stencil ruler is
  finished, well, almost
• How the stencil ruler
  become a font
  • Export icons
    for FontLab
• Creating the font in FontLab
• Conclusion
   

The Idea

I was drawing sketches of graphic user interfaces literally for ages, and this idea was the whole time in my head. I thought about making a ruler – stencil – with every frequently needed icon used in GUI design?

Let’s face it – I have missed the chance of being the first. Somebody else had already made this. I found a nice, stainless ruler (stencil) from DesignCommision (see photo), which you can buy at uistencils.com.

I immediately ordered it. After seeing it live, I was even more determined to make one on my own. My idea was to execute this a little bit differently – with plastic. There is nothing wrong with stainless steel. It is shiny, modern, it’s nice. But you can not see though it, the edges are sharp, and it destroys the pencils and scrape your fingers (it’s not that bad, but working with it is not very comfortable).

At the beginning was a paper, loads of paper, pencils, felt tips and a lot of time. In the meantime (in the non-drawing time) I was exploring various GUIs, searching what can come in handy, and ended up with many papers full of drawings. These you can also see here (click for bigger photo). Once I decided that I had enough of sketching, I marked all the icons that I might try to recreate on computer. This is where I jumped into the second phase.

Drawing Icons in Adobe Illustrator

The time needed for sketches was nothing compared to time spent in Adobe Illustrator. As you can see, the icons are quite simple, but you have to care about maximum accuracy, as few point as possible (no needless points) and – the most important thing – consistency in style.

If you take a closer look at the ruler from DesignCommision, this is the biggest imperfection – the icons don’t have a unified style. Most of the icons are simple, but user icon have a very detailed outline. Most of the icons have similar size, but the play button is too big (and wide). Most of the icons are made from straight lines, but the "i" and book icons are unreasonably rounded… and so on.

Let me show you the process of creating two icons: the lock icon and loading animation icon. In the beginning, I created two guides (quite randomly) in the document – and I’ve tried to keep the icons sizes along these guides. Not that every icon is from the first guide to the second, but to roughly keep the scale the same.

Locked Padlock

The fastest to create icons is to imagine the icon as a compound of basic shapes. It’s always faster to delete half of a circle than to draw the half circle by hand (with the Pen Tool). Keeping the work with the Pen Tool to a minimum will help you create accurate shapes in a short amount of time. Instead of using the Pen Tool, try to think used basic shapes and the Pathfinder tools to break them apart as needed.

1. Lets start with making a Rectangle with a Round Corners effect applied (Menu > Effect > Stylize) applied to it. We could also draw the rounded rectangle with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, but this way the corners will keep the Radius even after resizing.
2. Now draw the base of the keyhole with the Ellipse Tool (hold Shift when drawing the circle). For perfect alignment use the button in the top bar, or use buttons in the Align palette.
3. The bottom part of the keyhole is drawn with the Rounded Rectangle Tool (press the up and down arrow keys to adjust the radius).
4. Also the top part of the padlock is drawn with this tool, here we just swap the fill and stroke (Shift + X). This means no fill and a bold stroke. Since the keyhole is not transparent but white, all you need to do to hide the bottom part of this last rounded rectangle is to send this object to back (right-click on the object, choose Arrange > Send to Back. We don’t need to worry about this for now though.

Unlocked padlock

The unlocked padlock icon is even simpler (and faster) to create.

1. First select and drag the whole icon to the side. While dragging, hold the Alt key to duplicate the object (or you can use Command + C and Command + V).
2. Move the top part leftwards and a little bit upwards (just like when you’re opening the real padlock).
3. And with the Pen Tool, add a new point (be sure the path is selected and the cursor shows a plus sign, otherwise you will not add the point to the current path).
4. Now choose the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow), select the unwanted point and hit the Delete key to delete them.
5. Find the Stroke palette and check that the path style is set to Round Cap.

Adjustments, Changes and Fine Tuning

Don’t think that you can make everything perfect on the first try – just like the padlock icons. In fact I’ve printed a lot of papers to see the icons in bigger size and on paper (believe it or not, paper is still better for adjustments). After that, I’ve added some details, adjusted some areas and deleted some parts. And then applied these changes in Illustrator.

The images below show my process. After printing the icons in a bigger size, I’ve picked the marker in the same color (don’t ask why gray, I just like it) and added some parts where I wasn’t satisfied. I’ve also
marked other imperfections with a red marker (like change of size, weight of stroke, etc). For deleting, I’ve used the white correction tape or just a piece of white sticker.

As you can see below, simpler icons are just lines in various lengths and angles, but with the same Weight.

Now back to the creation. Let’s look at how to create another icon – used for loading animations.

Loading Icon

1. Start with a line as show (use the Line Segment Tool). In the Stroke palette choose rounded ends (Round Cap) and same Weight as usual (in my case 4 px).
2. Copy this line and move it to the bottom – it can overreach the guide a little. The fastest way how to do this is to drag the line with the Shift and Alt keys pressed. Then select both lines and group them with Command + G – this step is very important! Otherwise the following transformation would change every line separately.
3. Select the Transform effect (Effect > Distort & Transform).
4. And all you need to do for the final icon is to set the copies to 5 and Angle to 30°. And that’s it.

Adjusting this icon is even simpler because it’s created from just two lines, all you need to do is:

1. Select one point in the top line.
2. Move it upwards.
3. Select one point in the second line, and move it downwards.
4. According to the duration of movement you can have icons from short lines, long lines or just small dots.

Combinations

One of main advantages of these icons should had been the possibility to combine them. For example to place a small plus sign beside the user icon to have an add user icon, or a small cross over the folder icon to create a remove folder icon. And so on. Below shows one example of a magnifying glass, which you can combine with a plus and minus sign.

My original plan was to add numbers, which could be placed for example over the calendar icon or into the comments bubble icon.

Here is how it looks in Illustrator – icon, in/over/beside which I’ve placed some example small icons to test the appearance.

To avoid the confusion between which icon is drawn and which is just copied, I’ve changed the color of the copied one to a lighter gray.

And now for testing…

…and printing, adjusting and changing.

I will briefly mention a very useful function in Adobe Illustrator. Artboards, which were introduced in Illustrator CS4 allow you to have multiple pages in one document. You can say – nothing new in competitive products, but consider the possibility of different sizes of the pages and different positions. You can add the pages, as you are adding the pages in your work. And so I was adding and adding the artboards…

…and I was moving unused icons sideways, while moving the final ones into the new artboards.

It helped me a lot, especially with printing and corrections. Without artboards, I would have to use layers, or one big document (but you can’t print just a part of this big canvas easily).

Dividing lines

I wanted to make the ruler really multi-purpose. I was thinking about every possible way how to make it even better. For example with adding dividing lines. In Illustrator it’s really simple, just draw a line and then, add a Zig Zag effect to make a jagged line (a), zigzag line (b), properly set the options in the Stroke window to make the lines dashed (c), or dotted (d).

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Learn how to create a simple three-dimensional icon of a paint bucket, complete with paint splotches, with this colorful tutorial. Harnessing the power of paths, layer effects and consistent lighting we’ll obtain an effective, shiny icon.

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

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 30 minutes

Step 1

Open a new blank document and choose 512px for both width and height. This is the maximum size required for icons (Mac OS X Leopard). Create an ellipse above the center and to the left and name it “outer rim” (1a). Make two copies and scale them down (1b). Name the first “inside.” Move the other copy down, naming it “bottom” (1c).

Step 2

Create a new copy of the smaller ellipse and make it yellow, which will make the paint’s surface (2a). Position it inside the bucket, erasing the unnecessary pixels (2b). Name this layer “paint.” Now make a rectangular selection with the Marquee Tool (M) on the “bottom” layer and fill it to complete the bucket (2c). With the “bottom” layer selected hit Command + T to invoke the Free Transform Tool. Right-click and choose Perspective. Now drag the bottom corners towards the center to apply the correct perspective deformation (2d).

Step 3

Let’s shade the bucket. Light will come from the right side. Apply a Gradient Overlay (3a) and an Inner Glow (3b) layer effect to the “bottom.” The base color is a medium gray with lighter bands that simulate reflections, as shown below.

Step 4

Double-click the “outer rim” layer to open the Layer Style window and apply Inner Glow (4a). On a new layer below, paint a shadow for the rim using a big, soft brush. Choose black and paint lightly with one single stroke, following the rim’s curve. Shadow layers are always set in Multiply mode with their opacity turned down (4b). Name this layer “rim shadow.”

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Welcome to the second tutorial in the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series. This time we’ll create a digital SLR camera, a tool digital artists often use to take pictures to create textures or for reference. We will construct a rather simple camera, but we’ll make it interesting through judicious use of brush strokes and shadows. Let’s get to it!

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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).

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This is the first tutorial in a series called “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons.” We will design five icons that depict common tools associated with digital painting: a sketchbook with pencil, a camera for taking reference pictures, a paintbrush, a pen tablet and a large screen with a complete matte painting displayed on it. Let’s get started with the sketchbook icon!

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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 and Series Details

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

Here is the icon we will create in this tutorial. Every artwork starts with the most basic combo, pencil and paper, so let’s do that first.

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour

Step 1

We’ll create the pencil first because it’s the trickiest item in our icon. Draw a small green circle at the center-top of the canvas using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M). Then make two smaller copies, one on each side.

Step 2

Activate Snap from the View Menu (Shift + Command + and create guides for the pencil. Snap to the three circles to mark where the pencil’s vertical edges will be. Draw a light yellow triangle on a separate layer below the circles using either the Pen Tool (P) or the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L), snapping to the guides to ensure symmetry. Name this triangle “tip.”

Step 3

Draw a black circle on top of the “tip” on a separate layer and name it “lead” (3a). Command-click the “tip” layer and use this selection to mask the “lead.” Right-click on the mask in the Layers palette and choose Apply Layer Mask to crop the “lead” to the “tip” (3b).

Step 4

Add two gray ellipses at the bottom guides, right where the metal clasp will be, using the Ellipse Tool (U) (4a). Copy the bottom ellipse, name it “eraser” and move it down. Change its color to a pinkish orange then rasterize all three shapes. With a simple rectangular selection fill in the gap between the bottom gray ellipse and the “eraser” (4b).

Step 5

Move the bigger green circle down a bit, then using the Pen Tool (P) draw the shape for the pencil’s body, snapping to the guides (5a). Adjust the position of the three circles so they look like a crown on top of the main shape then merge all green shapes together (5b).

Step 6

Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and snapping to the edges of the circles at the top, select each vertical side of the pencil’s body then hit Shift + Command + J to create a new layer from the selection, or go to Layer > New > Layer via Cut. You will thus obtain three layers. From left to right name them as follows: “top”, “front” and “bottom.”

When we rotate the pencil so it points to the sketchbook, the left side will be on top, the middle side will be at the front, and the right side will be at the bottom (6a). Let’s imagine that the light comes from the left so when we rotate the pencil to make it write on the sketchbook it will appear to be coming from the top. To comply with the light’s direction we have to make the “top” layer lighter and the “bottom” layer darker. You can use the Brightness/Contrast, the Hue/Saturation (Command + U) or the Levels window to accomplish that. It’s your choice (6b).

Step 7

Let’s shade the tip now. Add a pale yellow-to-orange horizontal Gradient Overlay style to the “tip” layer (7a) so the right part, which will be the bottom once the pencil is rotated, is darker (7b). To enforce the lighting we must also brighten the left side of the “lead.”

Lock its transparency so you won’t be able to paint inside the existing pixels (7c). Hit B to select the Brush Tool and make sure the color is pure white. Then paint a single stroke along the left side with a big, soft, white brush, while keeping the opacity to a low number (7d). This adds a nice, subtle highlight.

Step 8

Type D to activate the default colors (black and white). Create a black square on a new layer between the “tip” and the “lead” and name it “wood texture” (8a). Go to Filter > Render > Fibers and choose the same values as in image 8b. The resulting texture (8c) hides the “tip” so we reduce the Opacity to 50% and choose the Overlay blending mode (8d). The wooden tip now has a nice color and a realistic grain (8e).

Step 9

All we have to do now is deform the “wood texture” so it follows the contour of the “tip.” To do that type Command + T to activate Free Transform, then right-click the texture on the canvas and choose Perspective. Drag the top anchor points inward to fit the texture to the “tip” (9a). Take a look at what we have so far (9b). We want to add a bit of shininess to the pencil so let’s paint the main highlight on the “tip” on a new layer, using a soft, white brush. Reduce the highlight’s opacity to let the texture shine through (9c).

Step 10

Let’s introduce some color variation on the pencil’s body, it looks flat right now.

Select the Burn Tool (O) from the toolbar and set it up as in image 10a. It’s important to use a large, soft brush and very low opacity. Use several brush strokes to darken the top and the bottom of all three sides, making the bottom darker (more brush strokes). Try it on the “bottom” layer first to get a feel for the Burn Tool. Once you’re satisfied with the shading (10b), repeat this for the remaining two layers. Make sure the pencil becomes progressively darker as you go to the right and to the bottom (10c).

Step 11

Let’s make the edges pop out. With the guides showing and Snap active, draw a path along the left vertical side (11a). In the Paths palette double-click it to name it “edge” (11b). Now set up a 3px, hard-edged, white brush (11c). Create a new layer on top of the three sides and select it.

In the Paths palette right-click on the “edge” and choose Stroke Path. From the pop-up window select the Brush and toggle on the “Simulate Pressure” option (11d). This is what it looks like: a nice, tapered highlight (11e). Name the layer “edge.” Create a second edge by copying the first one. Make the copy a bit transparent since it’s closer to the bottom where less light arrives (11f).

Step 12

On to the metal clasp now. Hide the “body” and “tip” layers. Darken the top ellipse. It will be the hole where the wooden pencil inserts. Fill in the lighter ellipse to close the gap (12a). Apply a Gradient Overlay style with many highlights to get a nice metal surface (12b).

Step 13

Duplicate the “hole” ellipse. Name the copy “ring,” reduce its Fill to 0% then add a dark Stroke (13a). Erase the top half (13b). Now add a white Drop Shadow (13c) to simulate a highlight (13d). Make a bunch of copies of the “ring” and arrange them over the metal clasp (13e). Group all similar layers together.

Step 14

Before we move on let’s take a look at the layer structure we have. It’s important to keep files tidy. We can easily toggle layers on and off, which speeds up productivity. It also makes complex layer structures less scary to look at (14a).

Move the “CLASP” group above the “BODY.” Add an internal shadow by painting with a soft, black brush on a separate layer (14b). To complete the pencil we have to shade the eraser. First let’s scale it down a bit so it’s smaller than the metal clasp. Then lighten the left part and darken the right part. How do you do that? Just like we did for the “lead,” lock the eraser’s transparency then paint with low opacity brushes along the edges, white to lighten and black to darken (14c).

Step 15

The pencil is complete. Select all layers and group them as “PENCIL.” Duplicate the group and hit Command + E to merge all layers into one. Keep the original group for later adjustments, just in case, but work on the single layer from now on (15a). Rotate the pencil 135 degrees clockwise so it points down diagonally (15b). Lock this layer to avoid messing it up. You can see now that the shading suggests light coming from the top. Let’s keep that in mind.

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Icons can come in incredibly handy for both web and print design. They are a great and very simple way to add graphics to text areas, overall making it a much easier and better experience for the user.

There are a lot of icon tutorials on the web that are specifically for Adobe Illustrator, mainly because its vector image capabilities allow you to scale your finished icon up and down to the size of a pin-head or the muscles of the Incredible Hulk. However, if you know what the purpose for your icon is going to be (i.e. you know you’re not going to want it any bigger than, lets say, 128×128px) designing it in Photoshop is not a problem, in fact, in some cases, it’s a lot easier! Therefore in this article I have collected 31 magnificent icon tutorials specifically for those who know the purpose of their icons, only have Photoshop to work with or are simply more confident and skilled in Photoshop. Enjoy!

1. USB Hard Drive Device Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use Gradient and Shadows to add depth to otherwise very simple shapes.

2. How to Design Mini Icons

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Pencil Tool to make simple custom shapes.

3. Skype Icon Design

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use different Blending Modes to add highlights and shadows to certain areas.

4. Create a 32×32px Social Media Icon

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Modify > Contract Tool to create pixel-perfect highlights.

5. How to Create a Basic House Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use plenty of Layer Styles such as Gradients and Shadows to give your icon a 3D appearance.

6. Vintage Mac Icon

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use Layer Styles such as Glows and Satins to give your screen a glossy effect.

7. Leather Textured, Realistic Briefcase Icon

Difficulty: Advanced
Skills: Use Blending Modes and Levels to blend a texture into your icon.

8. Unique and Funny Digg Icon in a Bottle

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use Gradients to make realistic blends and shadows to make your bottle appear 3D.

9. Postal Packet Logo Icon

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create simple out of proportion but funky shapes.

10. Vintage Radio Icon

Difficulty: Advanced
Skills: Use textures and patterns to create a photo-quality and life-like icon.

11. Detailed Compass Icon

Difficulty: Advanced
Skills: Use the Free Transform Tool to edit and combine simple shapes to make them appear three-demensional.

12. Animated RSS Feed Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use Photoshop’s built-in animation tool to animated your RSS Feed Icon.

13. Traffic Cone Icon

Difficulty: Advanced
Skills: Use the Pen Tool to create custom shapes and edit them with the Direct Selection Tool.

14. RSS Icon

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Pen Tool to create curvy lines to add depth and interest to your icon.

15. XP Style Monitor Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use the Distort Tool to change the overall dimension and angle of your icon, making it appear 3D.

16. Hand-Drawn Social Media Icons

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Hue/Saturation Tool to add color to your hand-drawn elements.

17. Glossy RSS Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use the Direct Selection Tool to reshape simple shapes such as circles.

18. Shiny Lock Icon

Difficulty: Intermediate
Skills: Use the Path and Direct Selection Tools to modify shapes and make them pixel perfect.

19. Watercolor Social Networking Icons

Difficulty: Easy
Skills: Use the Brush Tool to create “hand-drawn” like elements.

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I bet most of the designers love free icons, The value of icons lies in their ability to communicate with visitors or users in a more intuitive and effective way, User-friendly icon sets are always nice to look at and useful to have ready to hand,

one of the most amazing thing is, many icon designers create absolutely amazing icon sets and give it away for free download, there are many beautiful icon set out there, here i’ve collected 50 of the most beautiful icons packs for you to download , i hope everybody will find something useful.

1. ) Lovely Website Icons Pack

2. ) Oldschool Icon Set

3. ) Kidaubis Chinese Wind Icon

4. ) Yoritsuki Icons

5. ) Colorabo Png

6. ) Office Space Icon Set

7. ) Fritidsresor Icons

8. ) W-shop Icon

9. ) Stock Icons

10. ) Seotime Icons

11. ) Archigraphs Collection Icons

12. ) Pirates Icons

13. ) Smashing Retro Icon

14. ) Antique Icon

15. ) Web Icons

16. ) Mountain Bike

17. ) Islamic Icon

18. ) Carbon Gloss

19. ) AEROSOL Icons

20. ) Elite Soldiers

21. ) Night Vision

22. ) Pioneer Camp

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Our goal for this tutorial is to draw a realistic leather briefcase entirely from scratch. We’ll use Photoshop’s amazing layer styles and incredible brush engine to create textured leather, convincing stitches and gold-plated locks. Let’s get started!

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

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: 2 hours

Video Tutorial

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

Step 1

Let’s start by creating a new RGB blank document, choosing a 512 px square canvas. Activate Snap from the View Menu (Shift + Command + Semicolon key). Set up two guides to mark the center of the canvas.

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), choose Shape Layer and set the Radius to 10 px in the Options bar (1a). Draw a brown rectangle by Alt-clicking and dragging from the center of the canvas (1b). This is the briefcase’s main body, so name it “main.”

Step 2

Let’s achieve a higher realism by introducing some color variation. Set up the foreground (2a) and background (2b) colors to brown hues, then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. This will create an irregular stain pattern with the two colors that simulates leather’s natural color variation (2c).

Step 3

Let’s add a real leather texture. Download this image and place it in the document, naming its layer “texture.” Scale it down proportionally until it’s slightly bigger than the briefcase (3a). Command-click the “main” layer to select its pixels then add the selection as a mask to the texture (3b).

Set its blending mode to Soft Light and reduce the Opacity to 50% (3c). It looks a bit dull, doesn’t it? Let’s add some life to it. First bring up Levels by entering Command + L and move the right-hand slider closer to the center (3d). This raises the white levels, making the texture look brighter.

Step 4

Now select the “main” layer and double-click on it to bring up the Layer Style window. First add a dark brown Stroke to mark the perimeter (4a), then Inner Glow to simulate concavity around the edges (4b). It looks better already (4c).

Step 5

Now duplicate the layer and scale it down, clearing all styles (5a). Add an Inner Glow style to simulate a full pocket (5b). The hard edge is wrong, though, so go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose 3 px. Now there’s a smooth color transition (5c). Now back to the “main” layer, add a Gradient Overlay to darken the top part as it is shadowed by the flap that we’ll draw later (5d).

Step 6

Now we’ll use a clever technique to create the stitches. Draw a small rounded rectangle (6a), then from the Edit menu choose Define Brush Preset and name the brush “stitch” (6b). You can erase the rectangle now.

In the Brushes palette set the brush’s properties. Set its Diameter to 8 px and the Spacing to 550% (6c). These values were found by trial and error using the preview at the bottom of the palette. The brush is ready to be put to good use.

Step 7

Choose a pale yellow color for the stitches (7a). Now create a rounded rectangle (choose the Path option for the Rounded Rectangle Tool) sized between the “main” and “main copy”. The stitches will run along this path (7b). In the Paths palette you’ll see the path you just created, double-click on its generic name and enter “main-stitches” (7c).

Now create a new layer and make sure it’s selected. Back to the Paths palette, right-click on the “main-stitches” path and select Stroke Path. A dialog will pop-up. Choose the Brush Tool and uncheck the Simulate Pressure option if it’s not already. Here’s the result (7d).

As you can see, the brush doesn’t conform to the path so the little dashes are always horizontal. We need to erase the vertical sides. Then marquee-select the dashes at the corners and rotate them 45 degrees (7e, 7f). It’s OK if they don’t look symmetrical, as that looks more natural.

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In this tutorial, you’ll go through easy steps and techniques to design a simple yet attractive house icon. It’s easy to follow and to play with. There are no intricate curves or complex brush work. Just simple shapes along with layer styles will do the complete job. The aim of the tutorial is to get familiar with the correct use of colors and efficient use of layer styles. I am sure you’ll enjoy following it. Let’s jump in!

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

• Program: Photoshop CS and newer
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Estimated Completion Time: 30-45 mins

Step 1

First of all, create a new 500px by 500px document with white background. Drag out some guides at the center of the document for convenience. Select the Pen Tool (P) and make a shape like the one shown below.

Step 2

You need to add some colors and a thin-white strip to the shape. To do so, double-click on the layer and apply the following Layer Styles.

Step 3

Duplicate the shape (Command + J) and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal, move the duplicate shape rightward so that the sides join each other as shown.

Step 4

Due to similar colors, the two shapes give a flat look to the roof. There’s a need to fix that. Open the Layer Styles of the duplicate layer, and apply the following changes.

Step 5

Set foreground color to “830F00.” Draw a shape like that shown below with Pen Tool (P). Name the resulting shape “roof left”.

Step 6

Duplicate the shape and name it “roof-right”. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal and move the duplicate shape rightward so that you get something like this.

Step 7

With Pen Tool (P), draw another shape like the one shown below, name it “body.”

Step 8

Double-click on the layer and give it these Layer Styles.

Step 9

You need to put the roof’s shadow on the body of the house. To do so, Command-click on the “roof left” layer, then Command + Shift-click on the “roof right” layer to sum up the selections of the two layers. Move the selection down and on a new layer fill the selection with the color “5F5343.”

Step 10

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, enter 10px and click OK.

Step 11

You might notice that after the filter has been applied, the shadow is flowing outside the house’s body, which doesn’t look right. To fix it, Ctrl-click on the “body” layer, and press Command + Shift + I to invert the selection. With the “shadow” layer selected, press Delete.

Step 12

You now need to add a prominent part of the house – that is the door. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), and on a new layer fill a selection with black.

Step 13

Give the door the following Layer Styles.

Step 14

Now we need to add some details to the door. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (Shift + U) and draw a black rectangle with a 3px radius.

Step 15

Go to its Blending Options and apply these settings.

Step 16

Duplicate the shape and move it down so that you have something like this.

Step 17

A handle can now be added to the door. Use the Ellipse Tool (U) to make a small circle on the door.

Step 18

Give the circle a Drop Shadow and a Radial Gradient.

Step 19

You can add a slab above the door. Use the Pen Tool (P) to make a shape like the one shown below.

Step 20

Go to its Blending Options and give it a Gradient Overlay of a similar tone as that of the roof.

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