Tutorial
Click on thumbnailed images to enlarge
You can find similar tutorials elsewhere, but I liked this one because it's pretty simple compared to the rest of them. I found this on another tutorial site, but I tweaked it a little.
1. Create a new, square document with a white background. I used 400x400. Create a new layer called 'Base' and take your circle marquee tool. While holding down Shift, click and drag to create a circle. Fill this circle with the color 2B2B2B. Don't deselect!
2. Create a new layer and name it 'Base2'. Go to Select>>Modify>>Contract, and enter in 2 for the value. Then Select>>Feather, and enter in 5. Fill your selection with the color 5F5F5F. Don't deselect!
3. Create another new layer called 'Base3'. Take your gradient tool, then press D, then X on your keyboard. Choose the 'Foreground to Transparent' gradient on the selector at the top. Drag the gradient from the top of the circle to the bottom.
This is what yours should look like after steps 1-3:
4. Create a new layer called 'Orb1'. Take your circle marquee tool, and make a circle for how big you want your orb to be, and fill it with 3D6D9C. Remember to hold Shift while you make the circle selection.
5. Duplicate your 'Orb1' layer by pressing Ctrl-J. Move the 'Orb1 copy' layer underneath the 'Orb1' layer. Ctrl-click the copied layer and fill the selection with black. You can't see the black right now. You should be on the 'Orb1 copy' layer right now. Go to Select>>Modify>>Expand, and enter 2 for the value. Go to Edit>>Fill, and choose black for the color.
After doing steps 4-5, this is what yours should look like:
6. Double click the 'Orb1 copy' layer. Choose 'Gradient Overlay' from the left menu, and enter these settings.
7. Now double click on your 'Orb1' layer. On the menu on the left, choose 'Inner Glow' and apply these settings. Make sure everything looks exactly the same.
8. On the menu on the left, choose 'Inner Shadow'. Apply these settings.
9. In the layers palette, ctrl-click your 'Orb1' layer. Click the brush tool, and choose the 100px soft brush. (The one that looks fuzzyish and blurry). Make your foreground color 3D6D9C. Find your brush settings (at the top of the screen). For mode, choose Linear Dodge, for Opacity, choose 30, and for Flow choose 60. Color the bottom half of your orb. It will look light at first, but to make it brighter, color over it again.
After following steps 6-8, this is what mine looks like:
10. Create a new layer called 'Reflection'. Take your circle marquee tool again, and make a selection like this:
11. Press D, then X on your keyboard, and choose your gradient tool. Choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient. Drag the gradient from the top of the selection to the bottom, and set the opacity of the layer to 57.
Mine looks like this:
Now you can add effects to yours. I merged layers 'Orb1 copy', 'Orb1', and 'Reflection'. Then I opened up the Blending Options and added a Pattern Overlay on Soft Light mode at 18% opacity. I also made a new layer and used the Rectangle Tool on 100% opacity, then I tweaked the opacity of the layer to 45% and changed the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay, and used the eraser tool to erase the overlapping edges. Then I added some text to mine. You can do whatever you want with your orb; be creative!
This is my final product:
My reflection came out a little too bright, but yours won't be as opaque.
Here's an example of something I made using this technique and a couple other ones:
1. Create a new, square document with a white background. I used 400x400. Create a new layer called 'Base' and take your circle marquee tool. While holding down Shift, click and drag to create a circle. Fill this circle with the color 2B2B2B. Don't deselect!
2. Create a new layer and name it 'Base2'. Go to Select>>Modify>>Contract, and enter in 2 for the value. Then Select>>Feather, and enter in 5. Fill your selection with the color 5F5F5F. Don't deselect!
3. Create another new layer called 'Base3'. Take your gradient tool, then press D, then X on your keyboard. Choose the 'Foreground to Transparent' gradient on the selector at the top. Drag the gradient from the top of the circle to the bottom.
This is what yours should look like after steps 1-3:
4. Create a new layer called 'Orb1'. Take your circle marquee tool, and make a circle for how big you want your orb to be, and fill it with 3D6D9C. Remember to hold Shift while you make the circle selection.
5. Duplicate your 'Orb1' layer by pressing Ctrl-J. Move the 'Orb1 copy' layer underneath the 'Orb1' layer. Ctrl-click the copied layer and fill the selection with black. You can't see the black right now. You should be on the 'Orb1 copy' layer right now. Go to Select>>Modify>>Expand, and enter 2 for the value. Go to Edit>>Fill, and choose black for the color.
After doing steps 4-5, this is what yours should look like:
6. Double click the 'Orb1 copy' layer. Choose 'Gradient Overlay' from the left menu, and enter these settings.
7. Now double click on your 'Orb1' layer. On the menu on the left, choose 'Inner Glow' and apply these settings. Make sure everything looks exactly the same.
8. On the menu on the left, choose 'Inner Shadow'. Apply these settings.
9. In the layers palette, ctrl-click your 'Orb1' layer. Click the brush tool, and choose the 100px soft brush. (The one that looks fuzzyish and blurry). Make your foreground color 3D6D9C. Find your brush settings (at the top of the screen). For mode, choose Linear Dodge, for Opacity, choose 30, and for Flow choose 60. Color the bottom half of your orb. It will look light at first, but to make it brighter, color over it again.
After following steps 6-8, this is what mine looks like:
10. Create a new layer called 'Reflection'. Take your circle marquee tool again, and make a selection like this:
11. Press D, then X on your keyboard, and choose your gradient tool. Choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient. Drag the gradient from the top of the selection to the bottom, and set the opacity of the layer to 57.
Mine looks like this:
Now you can add effects to yours. I merged layers 'Orb1 copy', 'Orb1', and 'Reflection'. Then I opened up the Blending Options and added a Pattern Overlay on Soft Light mode at 18% opacity. I also made a new layer and used the Rectangle Tool on 100% opacity, then I tweaked the opacity of the layer to 45% and changed the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay, and used the eraser tool to erase the overlapping edges. Then I added some text to mine. You can do whatever you want with your orb; be creative!
This is my final product:
My reflection came out a little too bright, but yours won't be as opaque.
Here's an example of something I made using this technique and a couple other ones:
Tutorial Comments
Showing latest 2 of 2 comments
awesome!
By cupcakeXlyts on Jul 27, 2008 12:58 pm
nice
By JRock-Layouts-and-Graphics on Jun 29, 2008 3:23 pm
