Step one:
Start with a large white canvas, in your layers window make a new layer set. Name it Custom Head Mascot Web Graphic.
Create a new layer then draw a 30 x 22 pixels, #7400FF ellipse using your ellipse tool. Use the fixed size setting under ellipse options to make the exact circle.
Add the following layer styles:

Step two:
Now make the head, first create a new layer then draw a 60 x 97 pixels, #DF87FF ellipse using your ellipse tool. Use the fixed size setting under ellipse options to make the exact circle.
Add the following layer styles:

Step three:
Create a new layer then draw a 13 x 29 pixels, black ellipse using your ellipse tool. Use the fixed size setting under ellipse options to make the exact circle.
In your layers window set the layers blending mode to soften light and add the following layer styles:

Step four:
Duplicate your glassy ellipse from step four.

Step five:
In a new layer add two black circles. This will complete the eye structure of your mascot.

Step six:
In a new layer create a 8 x 14 pixels, black ellipse. This will be the nose like structure.
Add the following layer styles:

Step seven:
Create a new layer then draw a 25 x 12 pixels, black ellipse. Use your ellipse tool to make the ellipse so you can use the fixed size setting under ellipse options to make the exact shape.
Add the following layer styles:

Final Image:
Custom Head Mascot Web Graphic.

In this tutorial we will create a Cool Blue Header Design for our website. Having a cool header really spices up the overall look of the site and it is essential to have a good looking header.

Step one:
Start with a 1000 x 130 pixels, #007EA2 canvas.

Create a new layer then draw a 1000 x 30 pixels, black rectangle across your canvas. Use your rectangle tool to make the rectangle so you can use the fixed size setting under rectangle options to make the exact rectangle.

In your layers window set your layers blending mode to lighten and add the following layer styles:

Step two:
In a new layer draw a 1000 x 5 pixels, #C6ACE2 thick line across your canvas. Use your rectangle tool to make the rectangle so you can use the fixed size setting under rectangle options to make the exact line.

Step three:
Now below all your current designs applied to your header add a 1000 x 30 pixels, #006C92 rectangle across your canvas.

Add the following layer styles:

Step four:
In your layers window make a new layer set, name it Navigation. In a new layer 19 x 19 pixels, black circle. Use your ellipse tool to make the circle so you can use the fixed size setting under ellipse options to make the exact circle.

Add the following layer styles:

Step five:
Create another layer. Inside your last circle draw a 10 x 10 pixels, white circle.

Add a stroke layer style to your circle layer.

Choose your text tool and type in your first navigation link using font Arial, bold, 11 pt, none and #FF0000 for color.

Step six:
Now complete your navigation system. Just duplicate your navigation layer sets and modify the texts.

Step seven:
In a new layer seperated from your layer sets draw a 1000 x 6, black line across your canvas.

Duplicate your thick line and nudge it below your original line, set the layers blending mode to Soft light at 28%.

Step eight:
Again in a new layer draw a 1 pixel white line located on the bottom edge of your last thick line. In your layers window set the layers blending mode to Soft light.

Step nine:
In a new layer draw a 1000 x 35 pixels, black rectangle across your canvas. Use your rectangle tool to make the rectangle so you can use the fixed size setting under rectangle options to make the rectangle.

In your layers window set your layers blending mode to lighten and add the following layer styles:

Step ten:
Just at the bottom of all your designs so far draw a 1000 x 11 pixels, black rectangle across your canvas. Use your rectangle tool to make the rectangle so you can use the fixed size setting under rectangle options to make the rectangle.

In your layers window set your layers blending mode to lighten and add a gradient overlayer layer style:

Step eleven:
Make a new layer set, name it Line detail. In a new layer draw a 1 pixel black line.

In another layer, draw a 1 pixel white line. Set your white line layers blending mode to Overlay at 37%.

Step twelve:
Add a line separator for all your navigation links.

Step thirteen:
Create a new layer then draw a 100 x 46 pixels, black rectangle above your second link. Note your second navigation might be different from this tutorial so your black rectangle should be different as well. Use your rectangle tool to make the rectangle so you can use the fixed size setting under rectangle options to make the exact rectangle.

In your layers window set your layers blending mode to lighten and add a gradient overlayer layer style:

Step fourteen:
Add the same black rectangle structure on your other links.

Step fifteen:
Choose your text tool and set the font type to Arial, bold, 22 pt, crisp and white for color. In a new text layer type your name.

Add the following layer styles:

Step sixteen:
Now type your slogan using font arial, bold, 10 pt, crisp and #FF0000 for color.

Final Image:
Cool Blue Header Design.

Step 1:

Start a new document of size 400×400 pix. Keep the Background colour as white i.e. #FFFFFF. You will now get a new canvas with a white back ground.

Now select the Rectangle Tool (U), hold shift and draw a square like this. Colour of the square doesn’t matter because we will change it in next step by using a gradient over it. This is how my square looks like.

Now select the layer and go for blending options. In Blending option select Gradient Overlay In gradient overlay select the following settings. I have selected the #e8e8e8 as the left gradient colour and #f9f9f9 as the right gradient colour. Here are my Gradient Settings.

Now we are done with our gradient settings, it is time we add Stroke of 5 pixel to give a border to the face of the digger. Here is the my settings of stroke.

This is what I got after these settings. Our Diggers face is now ready, it is now time for us to design the rest of the body and his spade.

Step 2:

Now we will draw is body. To draw his body we will need two rectangles. Draw with these size, doesn’t matter how accurate it is just it should match the body proportion. Once we have drawn both the rectangles we will merge both the layers and them give them common blending settings. Now let us do it. I will first draw the hands and shoulder region by drawing a horizontal rectangle. This is what I got.

Both the horizontal and vertical rectangles are in there respective layers. Move them so they match the body i.e. move the vertical rectangle and horizontal rectangles as lower body and upper body respectively and arrange them. So it appears like a human body. This is what I did.

Now we will select both the layers and Razterise it so we can merge both the layers that way. Hold shift and click on both the layers on the Layer window, press right click you will get an option to Rasterize the layers.

Now select the top layer , right click and you will get an option to Merge Down. This will merge both the layers into a single layer. Now select the top layer, the head part of the layer press right click and select Copy Layer Style.

Now right click on the now merged layer and press Paste Layer Stlye. This will copy the exact Blending option of the head part and paste it across the whole body. This is what I got after doing this step.

We are 60% done. Now we need to draw legs and his Spade which he uses to Digg . Ok now select the pencil with pixel size 5 Pix and Color #969696. Hold shift and draw a line up. Holding shift will give you a straight line. This is what I got.

Step 3:

Now we have to make his digging tool. Select the Ellipse tool and Draw a vertical Ellipse and make the layer Rasterize so we can delete the unwanted portion.

after Razterzing the layer make the selection as shown here using the Rectangular Marquee Tool and press delete key on your keyboard. This will eliminate the bottom portion of the Ellipse and now perform the same copy paste of the Layer Effect as we did in step 2. I also used the Pencil of 10 Pixel and drew the handle part of the Digging tool. This is what I got.

Now use a rounded rectangle tool and draw the handle. Just draw a small rectange at the end of the spade extension. Apply the same Blending effects by copy – paste the layer Style as we did before. This is what I got. Now our digger is ready, it is now time to add some shadow as in the real digg logo.

Step 4:

Now draw an ellipse at the back of the diggers legs i.e. the layer below the body of the digger and fill it with gray colour. Like this

similarly add shadow to the digging tool too. If you want you can make the space of the digging tool with a harder or darker gradient. This is how our final digg logo looks like.

So let’s get started wasting any further time. As usual fire up your Adobe Photoshop. Create a new canvas of size 308X261, keep the background color as White.

Step 1: Select the Round Rectange Tool.

Now as you hold down shift draw a Rrectangular over the canvas. You will notice that your rectangular is actually drawing like a square. Now you should get a rounded edge square. This is what I got after performing this step.

Now we are going to add some blend to the rounded square to make it look more glossy and neat. Select the square ( ctrl+click on the layer). In the layer window you will find blending options, just drop down it.

Select Gradient Overlay.. from the dropdown box and use these settings.

In the blending options give a stroke of one pixel. This is what I got after filling out round edged Square with Gradient and 1 pix Stroke.

Now lets rotate the shape. Press cntrl and click on the layer and it will get selected. Now press Ctrl+t, this helps us to oerform free transform on the the Shape. You can also do this by Edit>Transform. Now hold shift and rotate as shown in the below screenshot. Just practice it a bit and you will be comfortable soon. Very handy function in Photoshop.

Rotate in 3 steps. This is what I got after rotating the shape.

Step 2: Now we will duplicate this layer so that we don’t have to do it all over again. But we will only play with the gradient and rotation. To duplicate layer, go to layer window , right click on the layer and press Duplicate this Layer option. This will duplicate the current layer.

We will get a new layer which you can see are present in the layer window above. I have duplicated the layer twice. So I have two layers above the current layer. Now select the top layer and select the Gradient Blending option and use the following settings.

This is what I got after applying the Gradient and Rotating it a bit.

These are the Gradient Overlay settings for the 3rd Layer that we duplicated form the first layer.

This is what I got after applying the Gradient and Rotating it a bit.

Step 3:

Now you can see we are done with the coloring , now they look me crisp and neat. Let us now add a talking bubble. This shape you can find in Custom Shapes. It comes by default in Photoshop.

I selected the tool and drew it over the right top corner where there was white space. This is what I got after doing that.

Now we will add gradient to this bubble too. You are free to use any, but I chose to use these.

This is what I got after adding this gradient to the bubble.

We are almost done. Now it’s time we add the text i.e. our blog Name etc. Keep the name short as web2.0 has smaller names. I have just added my name with some fancy font.

For the Blog 2.0 I have used Trebuchet MS font. This is the Gradient Overlay setting I have used.

That’s it. We are done. My logo is ready. You can add a picture, of your name anything in this. I have added my name little shy to add my pic lol.. Anyways this is what I got.

Step 1: Create a new document of size 200X56 pix. Keep the background color as white (#FFFFFF). Select the rounded rectange and draw a new rectangle like this.

Step 2: Select the rounded rectangle layer and click on gradient overlay.

and use the following settings this is what I got, also ad 1 pix black color stroke (outside).

Now out basic button base is ready, it is now time to add a text. Let us add something like Homepage. You can use anything for that matter. I will use Homepage use any font of your choice. Create a new layer and now ctrl+click on the rounded rectangle layer. This will make the selection now fill it with black color so this will cover the complete button with black color. Now select only the starting part because we will animated with varying colours there. I guess you would have seen lots of similiars buttons at myspace.

Now press ctrl+shift+ (inverse selection) and press the delete button. This is what I got after doing the above step.

Now work with photoshop is over. Now we will animate it using Adobe Image ready. Make sure you have saved the file. Now press File>Edit in Image Ready. This will open the button in Image Ready. Where we can perform layer animation.

Now select duplicate current frame

now select the top layer and select color over lay and use this color #3B2424, again duplicate this layer and select a more ligher color like #4F4242. Now try animating the effect you can already see some nice effects don’t you . To make the animation more smooth make more layers and lighten the color slightly in every frame. Once done then reverse the process. i.e. after completely light make it dark all over again. All depends how many frames you use, the more frames you use more smoother animatiion also big file size. This is how my frames looks like.

This is what I got as my button when I play the animation this is what i get. Now go to File>Export>Macromedia Flash (SWF). Now this is what i got.

View the flash animated button

Step 1:

Start a new document of size 460×68 pix. Use the foreground colour as #B39E75 and background colour as #EFD8AB.

Use the gradient tool and do a gradient fill as background.

Step 2:

Create a new layer and select the eleptical Marquee tool and fill it with this gradient.

Now use the following settings in Blending Option. Stroke>1 px Black Colour.

Step 3:

Now Create a new layer and use the rectangular marquee tool to select a long rectange at the bottom and fill it with white colour with a 1 pix black colour stroke. This is what I got.

Now let us fill in the price and some advertisement text. Use a Bold and Colour ful font as the main intention of a banner is to attract the visitors. This is what I have choosen.

Step 4:

Now let us create a simple logo for the banner. I just typed a text and used a small icon over it to make a simple logo. Usually your client will give there own logo so you can use it instead.

Step 5:

Now it is time for some animation. Type 3-4 ad text and use the visibility mode of the layer to turn them on of off. The visibity mode can make a layer visible or hidden on the canvas. You can select or deselect the visibility anytime by click the “eye icon” on or off.

Now it is time to fire up Image Ready. File>Edit In Image ready (Ctrl+Shift+M ).

In the animation window duplicate the current layer

Now select the layer visibility of the ad text layer to make the first ad text appear and the second layer disappear. This is how to do it.

Now duplicate the existing layer again and make the current ad text disappear and make the new ad text layer visible. Press the play button and this is what I got my animation as.

This is what I got as the Final Result. Hope you liked the tutorial.

Today we will learn how to make a sleek looking button.

Step 1:

Start a new document of size 220×260. Fill it with a background colour as Black #000000.

Step 2:

Create a new layer and select the Rounded rectangle shape and draw a rectangle, like this

Select the layer and choose gradient overlay.

and select the following Gradient Colours.

This is what I got my result as

Step 3:

Now let us try to give some effect and text to the button to make it look more attractive. Select the Eleptical Marquee tool and draw a ellipse like this.

Create a new layer and fill it with white colour and reduce the opacity of the layer to 27% you should see something like this.

Now draw another ellipse using Eleptical Marquee tool like this and move the selection to the left this will cut the top white layer.

Now press the delete button and you are left with only the part in the right. Now ctrl+click on the button layer and press ctrl+shift+i to make the reverse selection and press the delete button. This is what you should get after doing it.

Now you can see our button is taking some shape. let us add some text and shine to make it look more sleek. You can choose a pixel font to make it look more futuristic. This is what I have got.

Now let us add some shine. Create a new layer above the text layer that we just created and draw a eleptical selection and use the single transparent gradient and deleted the extra part by inverse selection. You see this for the detailed instruction here . This is what I got

Now just duplicate the layer set and change the text to add more similar buttons. You can also experiment with different colour to give it different looks.

Step 1: Fire up photoshop and start a new document of size 680×700. Select the background color as #525252.

Step 2: Create a new layer and Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a rectangle and fill it with #2C2C2C. Here is the preview.

Create a new layer and draw another similiar rectangle and fill it with #5B5B5B. Make the width of this rectangle smaller than the previous one.

Step 3: Now select the previous rectangle i.e the layer that contains the first rectangle that we drew. Now go to Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur and select the Radius as 8 pixels. This is what you get.

Here you can see our background is ready. Next we will add a header.

Step 4: Create another new layer select the rectangle marquee tool and fill it with the gradient. You should get this

Let us add some banner logo and text there. Now this part depends on individuals creativity.

What I have done here is created some layers and drew some basic shapes like circle etc and filled it with black + back ground colour gradient.

Step 5: Now that our header is ready let’s make the menu. Create a new layer and draw a rectange and fill it with the gradient as showing in the screenshot.

Rather than the usual menu i.e with bullets I have tried to add it with text itself like this Homepage >> About Us >> Portfolio >> Tutorials >> Wallpapers >> Affiliates the font that I have used is simple Arial Black. You can select any font depending on the font the layout’s appeal may change. Here is what I got

Step 6: Now out header and menu is done. Now we need to make a place where we can put out body. Create a new layer and select the rounded rectangle shape and draw it below the menu. This is what I got. This is also an important step. You can make the layout darker or lighter. This is what I did.

That is is we are done. Our layout is done. I would like to keep it simple. You can add some more boxes in the content area. I Hope you found this tutorial useful.

I found this effect on a band picture of an indian band and was very much puzzled as to how they did that stuff. Anyway, I when I learnt about Layer masks, it “revealed all” to me…(a fellow photoshopper would know why those two words are in quotes).

Level: Intermediate

Step 1:
Open your image. An artistic picture would do just fine. Dunno about close range portraits.

I don’t smoke, which is why some of them regular smokers might identify my fake smoking…

Step 2:
Duplicate the background layer by dragging it to the New layer Icon in the layers pallette itself, or Pressing Ctrl+J, or by going to Layers>New>Layer via copy

Step 3:
Select your background layer again. Desaturate it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+U or by going to Image>adjustments>Desaturate. This will make your background layer appear in shades of gray. nothing will change in the document window though.

Step 4:
Click the Top layer (should be called layer 1 or background copy). Then click the “add layer mask” button at the bottom of the layers pallete. You can also add a layer mask by going to Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All. This should display a white layer next to your duplicated layer. Make sure it is selected by clicking on it.

Step 5:
Select your Gradient Tool (G) from the toolbox. Now, select the radial gradient in the options bar on the top. Also, make sure that Foreground to Background is selected in the Gradient picker. Now hit D to reset your colours. Keep the settings at mode: normal, Opacity: 100, and the last two checked.

Step 6:
Now, just drag from where you want the colour to where you want to fade into grayscale. Keep trying until you get what you desire. (use ctrl+z to get back to the previous state, or colours will tend to invert if you keep using gradients)

Step 7: (touchups)
Use the Brush tool to add colour or gray tones to your image. Select the brush tool. Reduce your Opacity and flow to about 40%. Paint with Black if you want to reveal graytones. Paint with white if you want to reveal colour.

Step 8:
Right-Click on the layer mask (the black-n-white layer like thing next to your duplicated layer), and select apply layer mask. That’s it. You’re done!

Tips:
- Don’t stop with graytone image backgrounds. Your background layer could have a nice filter or maybe a sepia tone..
- Use the linear gradient if you want a more one sided effect. Maybe for a portrait.
- You could experiment with other blend modes for the gradient (step 4)
- If you have daylight image, or if it is too clean, then the grayscale might not look so cool. To remedy this, just add a little noise by going to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. I recommend adding noise to the bottom layer but these are just guidelines.

My final Image:

Step 1:
Open two images in photoshop. One a background(img1), and another, the foreground (img2). Make sure that both images are almost the same size, if not, resize.

Step 2:
Ctrl+A (select all) on the Img2 and ctrl+C (copy). then select img1 and ctrl+v (or paste).

step 3:
Select the “move tool” (or press v on the keyboard). Move your image to reveal half background or wherever you want it to be.

step 4:
Select the Rectangular Marquee tool. Then in the options bar on top, give it a feather radius (about 50-60 pixels for an image of size 1024X768). The feather depends on your image size, the bigger the image, the more feather.

Step 5:
then, do a selection right where the borders on the two images are. Press “del” on the keyboard. If you find there is a trace of both images not blending, just move the marquee around and press del again.

Step 6:
in the layers pallette, just change the blend mode of your layer1 to see what fits best. Different blend modes give different effects. I used the Luminousity blend.

Here is my final image: