Trendy Circle Brush in Photoshop

There's a design trend that's blown up over the past year and it's based around one simple shape - the circle. Not just one circle, though, lots of them. In fact, it's circles within circles. After looking at these designs at least a 100 times, it hit me that we could do this with a custom brush in Photoshop and create some really cool effects. So here goes:

1. Create a new document

Let's start off by creating a brand-new blank document (File>New). If you want to follow along, make your document 1000x1000 pixels at 72 ppi. One thing to remember here is that it's always good to start off a little larger then you'd ever want to use this brush. You can always reduce the size of the brush later.

2. Draw a circle

Select the Ellipse tool from the Toolbox (it's grouped with the Shape tools). Make sure you have the Shape Layers option selected at the top left of the screen in the Options Bar. Press D to set your Foreground color to black and draw a circle on the canvas. To constrain the ellipse to a perfect circle, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

3. Duplicate and transform shape layer

Duplicate the shape layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Double-click on the duplicated shape layer's thumbnail in the Layers panel, change the color to white in the Color Picker, and click OK. Now we need to make this circle smaller, so click the Edit menu and choose Free Transform Path. Hold down Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift) and drag one of the corner handles inward to make the new copy smaller. Keep dragging until you have what appears to be a thick black stroke around the white circle. Press Enter when you're done, to commit the transformation.

4. Create additional circles

Repeat Step 3 a bunch of times, each time varying how much you decrease the size of the circle as well as the color. Usually, I switch between black and white, but you can also try using shades of gray. Just make sure that it's either black, white, or gray, as colors won't work when creating a custom brush.

5. Define circle as a brush

We now have the makings of our circular design element but it's several layers, which would be a pain if we wanted to add a lot of these to an image. Let's turn this into a brush so we can paint it on quickly. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and drag a square selection around the circle, then click the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. (Note: If Define Brush Preset is grayed out, click on another layer in the Layers panel to activate the command.) Give your brush a descriptive name and click OK to save it.

6. Create new file; fill background

Okay, at this point we've got a new brush and now we'll use it in an image. First, create a new document. As ours is going to be a banner for a website, we'll make it 800 pixels in Width and 150 pixels in Height (72 ppi). Next, click on your Foreground color swatch and in the Color Picker, set your color to R:225, G:224, and B:206, then click OK. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the Background layer with that color.

7. Select your new brush

Now we get to the fun part - our brush. We'll need the Brushes panel for this, so switch to the Brush tool (B), then click the Window menu, and choose Brushes to open it. On the top-left side, click on the words "Brush Tip Shape." Then, scroll through the list on the right to find the Circle Brush you just created. Change the Diameter setting to 65 px and the Spacing setting to 75%. Now click on the words "Shape Dynamics" to see those settings. Change your Size Jitter setting to 60%.

8. Set scattering and color dynamics

Click on the word "Scattering" from the list on the left. Change the Scatter setting to 300%. Finally, click on the words "Color Dynamics" and set both Foreground/Background Jitter and Saturation Jitter to 50% (make sure everything else is set to 0%). You're done in the Brushes panel for now and all that's left is to set your Foreground color to R:84, G:109, and B:131 and your Background color to R:0, G:45, and B:84 (you can pick your own colors here if you want).

9. Paint with your new brush

Before you start painting with the brush, go ahead and click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new blank layer; that way all of our brushing stays off the Background layer. Now just click with your mouse and start dragging across your image. You'll see the circles appear randomly scattered and in different sizes wherever you paint. The color even changes slightly because you turned on Color Dynamics and adjusted the Foreground/Background Jitter. This tells your brush to vary between your current Foreground and Background colors. Cool, huh?

10. Place other graphical elements

Put your final elements into the image. Here, we've added a photo on the right as well as some text. To change things up a bit, we've also created a few different brushes using Steps 1-5 and varying the circle transformations for different styles (thick lines and thin ones). Finally, we used an ornamental scroll shape in the background from www.iStockphoto.com (file number 4619009).

Metallic Tubes and Wires

This is an advanced Photoshop tutorial. Do not attempt this if you are not sufficient with the basic functions of the Photoshop Interface. My Lighting Effects tutorial is recommended reading, so if you don't have experience with the Photoshop Lighting Effects filter.

1. Start with a new image, 250x250 pixels. Select a dark gray as the foreground color. Create a new layer, and with the Pen or Paintbrush tool, draw a wire shaped line on it, 15 pixels thick.

Gradual curves look nice. This may take a few tries to get right.

Name the layer Wire.

2. Make a copy of Wire, by dragging it onto the New Layer button. Double click on the new layer, and rename it Cut Wire.

Hide the original layer Wire, by clicking on it's eye icon in the Layers window. We'll use that layer later on.

Now, grab the Eraser tool, set the brush size to about 5 pixels, and cut the line up.

3. Hold down Ctrl, and click on the hidden Wire layer in the Layers window.

This will create a selection out of the layer Wire's transparency

Next, go to the Channels window, and click the Save selection as channel button .

Select the new Channel in the Channels window, then double click on it and rename it Wire Bevel.

4. Gaussian Blur the selection by 9 pixels, then by 6 pixels, then by 3 pixels, and finally 1 pixel.

AutoLevels Ctrl+Shift+L, the selection.

Then, go back to the Layers window, hold down Ctrl and click on the Cut Wire layer to select it's transparency. Return to the Channels window, click on Wire Bevel, press D to reset colors, invert selection Ctrl+Shift+I, and finally clear the selection. Del

Deselect. Ctrl+D

5. Go back to the Layers window, and select the Cut Wire layer.

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects...

Click on the image to the left to enlarge.

Create a white Directional light, and aim it down, from the top. Then, create a blue directional light, shining up, from the bottom.

Set the Properties to:
Gloss: 100 (Shiny)
Material: -100 (Plastic)
Exposure: 39
Ambience: -21

Set the Texture Channel onto Wire Bevel, and the height to 15.

Now, tweak the positioning and direction of the lights to achieve the desired effect.

6. Now, click on the hidden Wire layer to expose it. Click on it again holding down Ctrl, to create the selection.

To make the line 1 pixel thinner, invert the selection Ctrl+Shift+I, go Select > Modify > Expand... 1 pixel, and clear the selection Del, and Deselect Ctrl+D.

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects...

And set the Texture Channel to Wire Transparency.

Hit OK, add a dropshadow, and you're finished!

Creating a Desk-Top Composition

The first thing we will be doing is creating the wooden desk-top.

Once we have a table, we will begin to add the sheets of paper. Make a selection like so:

Add a new layer and we'll fill it with an off-white/blue color, then goto Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Choose a value no more than 1 or 2:

Next, we want to add a fine drop shadow, so open up Layer Styles for this layer. Because we are going to pile sheets on top of each other, we may find it beneficial to add a very fine Outer Glow to the sheets, in addition or instead of the Drop Shadow. For the first sheet, we will add just the Outer Glow:

Next, we will draw lines on the paper. Add a new layer and then open up a new document, 10px by 10px. Add a new layer to this document and hide the background:

Now zoom in and draw a 1px line at the very top, across, in a color you desire. I chose blue:

Press Ctrl+A to select all, and then goto Edit > Define Pattern. Give it a name and click Ok. Now we can close this document and go back to our original composition. Make a selection of the paper by Ctrl-clicking that layer, and then in our new layer, choose the Paint Bucket tool and choose the Pattern instead of Foreground, in the toolbar options. From the patterns drop-down menu, choose the one we just created, which should be at the bottom. Then fill in the selection:

Now, remove the top two lines with the eraser tool, and also the bottom line, so we have this:

Next, make the same selection (Ctrl-click the paper layer) and then choose a red color and paint a 1px line down for the margin. You can hold Shift whilst painting to make straight lines:

Reduce the opacity of the lines layer to around 35%. We should now have two layers for the paper - the background color and the lines. We want to duplicate these two layers a couple of times - or however many you want, and transform them (Edit > Transform):

To increase the depth of the other pages of paper, we can add a Drop Shadow as well as the Outer Glow, I used the following settings:

For the sticky pad, we simply make a small selection, create a new layer, fill it with yellow, rotate it slightly, and add a Drop Shadow. To give the illusion of the pad being taller than the paper, we give it a larger shadow:

To make it even taller, we can duplicate the layer, remove the styles from the duplicate (which will be on top), and then add a color overlay to the original layer (underneath) to make it a much darker yellow:

This is a subtle change, but aren't subtle effects the best?

Finally, we can add some text to the stickynote (and the paper, if you want) with your favorite handwriting font:

Making Cool Vector Cartoon Character with Adobe Photoshop

First step is to make a new document sized 280px on 230px.

Then, paint it in gray: #888888 by using the 'Paint Bucket Tool'.

Making the cartoon head of the character

Important note: whenever you make a new object in photoshop- choose the 'Shape layers' option so it will be vector and you'll be able to edit it later.

First thing you need to do is to choose the 'Ellipse Tool' (U) and make an ellipse in the general shape of the head.

Please note that you need to change the Foreground color to #FAD1BB before making the ellipse(one click on the currect foreground color, and then paste the desired color in the '#' filed)

Here's the result you need to get at this moment:

For making it a bit more human but still cartoonish, go to 'Edit-Transform Path-Warp' and choose the 'fisheye' option from the list:

.

Don't change anything in the parameters in the top bar- 50% in the Bend and 0 in the rest.

Currect result in this step should be like this:

Now, go to the 'blending options' of this layer and add stroke effect of 3px in black (#000000) color.

Click on the 'new style' button in there because we'll use this style again.

Choose the 'ellipse tool' again and draw a new ellipse, paint it in the same color like before, change the mode to Multiply and make it 50% opacity.

Next, choose the 'Path Selection Tool' and select the new ellipse path.

A new top bar will be shown in front of you. choose the 'subtract from shape area'option:

One click on the layer and then click 'ctrl+alt+g' for making the clipping mask.

Choose the 'Pen Tool' (P) and start drawing the hair. after finishing- click 'ctrl+alt+g' and add this shape to the clipping mask. Paint the hair shape in black (#000000).

Next thing you should do is making the eyes shapes. this will be done with the next method:

1. Choose the 'rounded rectangle tool' and change the 'radius' to 10px.

2. Change the shape color to #B91919.

3. Go to 'edit-transform path-skew' and change it so it will look like below image.

4. Choose the ellipse tool and make a perfect circle by holding on shift and dragging the mouth. do it 3 times in different sizes and paint those circles in white (#ffffff).

5. Select the red eye layer, duplicate it and then make it smaller but still in the same ratio as the right one. then go to 'edit-transform-flip horizontal' and move this layer to the left area of the face.

6. Select again from the layers group the 3 white circle layers (hold ctrl and click on each layer), duplicate them and transform them a bit so they will fit into the left smaller eye.

And you're done with the eyes part. here's the desired result you should get after doing the above steps:

Last part of the face you need to do is making the mouth. This will be done very easily..

All you need to do is to choose the 'Line Tool' (U) and draw a simple 10px horizontal line. then, go to 'edit-transform-warp' and then choose the 'Arc' option from the list.

Change the values to the ones in the next image:

Then rotate it a bit: go to 'edit-transform path-rotate' and change the values like below:

Congrats! You're done with the whole face part. the result till now should be like here:

Hands part with the message.

First thing you should do in this step is to make a bourdeaux rectangle (#7b0d0d).

Duplicate this layer, paint it in a bit lighter color (#b91919) and transform this layer to 60% height.

Now, you need to make your message. I chose 'futura' font colored #fdffce and wrote "TUTORIALSHOT".

And now to the hands making part:

1. Choose the 'rounded rectangle tool' (U) and leave the values at the top bar like before (10px radius).

2. When the path of this rounded rectangle is selected, choose the 'rectangle tool', choose the 'subtract from shape area' in the top bar:

And "remove" the right rounded side of the rounded rectangle.

Paint this layer in #f7bea2.

Apply the style we have done in step two with the stroke.

Next, duplicate this layer (right click on the layer > duplicate layer), go to 'edit-transform-flip horizontal' and move it to the left size of the message.

Select the whole message layers (I count 5) and rotate all of them (edit-transform-rotate) with the next values:

Last nice effect is the message drop shadow on the character face. this will be done by the next steps:

1. Duplicate the bourdeaux colored layer.

2. Move the duplicated layer to the clipping mask you made before.

3. Paint in #fad1bb.

4. Change the mode to Multiply.

Here's my final result: