Drawing a Christmas Card

Hello guys. In this tutorial you will learn how to create your own nice and stylish Christmas card.
First create a new 1000px X 500px document.
As a background apply a nice dark red gradient.
If you don't know which colors to use, just import the picture in Photoshop and use the Color Picker Tool (I) to get them.
Now, in a new layer, using the Elipse Tool, draw in the right part of your canvas a circle.
Hold down shift to make it a perfect circle.
The color it does not matter as we will be applying some Blending Options.
So go ahead and open the Blending Optins Panel - right click on the thumbnail and select Blending Options.
Apply a 16 Opacity "Drop Shadow" filter. Leave the other settings for this as default.
Next apply a Gradient Filter.
Make sure to select "Radial" and use the settings below:

Create a new layer and make a selection as shown:

Select white as foreground color.
Go to your gradient tool options and select "Foreground to Transparent":

Now from top to bottom, holding down Shift, create your gradient.
Set the Opacity to 39% for this layer:

On the bottom of your orb, create the path shown below, using the Pen Tool:

Create a new layer and fill your path with white.
Go to Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur, set the Radius to 5 and hit OK.
Place the shape on the very edge of your orb and set the Opacity to 25%.

For the next step, create a new layer and place it just above the background layer, below the others.
Create a rectangle just as shown. Color doesn't matter.

Apply the following settings:

For the colors used for the gradient, import the picture and use the Color Picker. It is a good exercise to use this tool.

You should have something like this:

Create another layer, and place it below the last one.
Using #ddaa1f draw this line, from somewhere behind the rectangle, up to the top of your canvas, to make it look like the orb is hanging.

Merge down all the layers, except the background. In order to do that, select them and press CTRL+E.

Duplicate the group twice, change the size and the position as shown:

For the next step, I'm gonna tell you how to define your own brush in Photoshop.

Open a new 20px X 20px document, with transparent background.
Select Custom Shape Tools, and browse through the shapes until you find the Snowflake2 shape.
Now holding down the Shift key, draw it as big as the canvas allows it. Make sure to stay within the borders of the canvas.
Go to Edit->Define Brush Preset, name it snow or whatever you want, and hit Ok.
You can close the document without saving it.
Go back to our document.
In a new layer, select the new brush - in should be placed lastly in your brush list - and use the brush allover your canvas, while increasing and
decreasing the size ([ and ] are the shortcuts).
Create different layers to set different opacities for your snowflakes.

For the last step, find a nice hand-drawing font and draw the text as shown.
I've used FlemishScriptBT , 132px size.
I don't know if it is a default Windows Font or not, but if it's not, browse it through Internet and read this tutorial to find out how to install it.

This is my result:

If you’ve enjoyed this tutorial don’t forget to subscribe, like us on Facebook , follows us on Twitteror distribute it using the sided button...it’s just that this is a simple thing to do and it will keep this blog running.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Ela. xx

Beautiful Clean Online Store Layout. Part II.

You can read all the tutorial! Check out the parts A,B,C,D! ENJOY!

	Clean beautiful online store layout. Part D		Clean beautiful online store layout. Part C
	Clean beautiful online store layout. Part B		Clean beautiful online store layout. Part A

Hi.

This is supposed to be a tutorial about how to create an awesome online store layout using Photoshop.

But since I don’t have the time to write it entirely right now, I will split it into more tutorials.

This is the final result:

This layout will be splitted into 4 parts, each part will be widely explained and written, so you – guys - can understand better.

PART A

PART B

PART C

PART D

PART E

In the previous tutorial I have shown you how to create the header of this layout. You can find it here , if you haven’t read it yet.

Today I’m gonna show you how to create part B, which is:

If you haven’t read the previous part of this tutorial it means that you don’t have the old Photoshop file so you will need to create another one so:

Create a new 800px * 200px Photoshop document.

Fill it with white.

Open a couple of pics and place them into the canvas (try to find some pretty heavy coloured ones)

and place them as shown:

Create a new layer. Set the Foreground color to #a40e10.

Grab the Custom Shape Tool, pick the Seal Shape, and draw a small shape somewhere on your first pic as shown:

Now select the Text Tool, set it to:

Arial->Regular->14px->Strong->#FFFFFF.

Now write something inside of your seal.

I wrote 50% off shipping:

Now with the Text Tool still on, change the writing color to #fe6600.

Add more writing..

Next: select the Regtangle Tool and draw a small rectangle as shown in the picture:

Apply the following settings:

Now you should have a beautiful sleek glossy button.

Grab the Text Tool  and write Sign Up NOW:

Using same Text Tool, write some more text using the settings as follows:

Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to win

THOUSANDS of prizes..

ARIAL->REGULAR->14px->#a5a5a5;

US$1000

ARIAL->REGULAR->38px-># fe6600;

SHOPING

SPREE

ARIAL->REGULAR->14px-># fe6600;

Next step:

*Create New Layer. Grab the Marquee Tool(M), and draw a little square. Fill it with #c9e9ef. Open the Blending Option Panel and apply a 1 px #b2b2b2 outside Stroke.

Repeat the step above, but instead of #c9e9ef, fill in the layer with #ffff.

Duplicate the layer 2 times and place them as shown in the pic below:

Now add some numbers and place them over the new created squares.

This is the result:

EnjoyJ! This is the second part of my tutorial. Hopefully I will be able to create the next one sooner than I did with this oneJ

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or/and Facebook to stay connectedJ!

Thx for reading my blog.

Bye.

You can read all the tutorial! Check out the parts A,B,C,D! ENJOY!

	Clean beautiful online store layout. Part D		Clean beautiful online store layout. Part C
	Clean beautiful online store layout. Part B		Clean beautiful online store layout. Part A

How to draw a Christmas Tree.for a Christmas card!

Hello guys. Because the Christmas is near, I want to show you how to draw a little piece of it: a Christmas TreeJ

Create  a new 250x350 px Photoshop document. Fill it with gradient. Use these settings:  

With the help of the pen tool (P), draw a shape like this one:

Set  your brush size to 9px and make sure it’s a hard brush selected. Create New Layer.Pres P again(or select the pen tool), right click -> Stroke Path->Brush. Make sure you have the “Simulate Pressure” checkbox, checked. Ok.

Now use your Smudge Tool (R), and try to obtain something like this:

Repeating the same steps, draw to more shapes, and smudge them like this:

TIP: If you need/want more accuracy  draw shapes with the pen tool, and stroke the path with a low sized eraser, with the Simulate Pressure checkbox active.

Every shape must be placed below the previous one. (Check the final version!)

Let’s draw a stack:

First thing to do is drawing a white rectangle, using the rectangle tool. Like this:

Right-click, rasterize the layer, and smudge it like this:

Let’s add some glowing starsJ:

Draw a little line with the pen tool:

Create a new layer.

Using a 2px hard brush, stroke your path.  Simulate Pressure checkbox active.

Duplicate the Layer. Select the Marquee Tool(M)->Right click -> Free Transform, and rotate your layer, to be perpendicular on the previous layer. Like this:

Ctrl+E to emerge the two layers, open the Blending Option window, and apply an Outer Glow filter, with the default settings. Duplicate this layer several times, rotate each of them in different angles, increase and decrease their size, and place them like this:

Select the Custom Shape Tool (U), and select the 5 Point Star.

Make sure you have the “Shape Layers” option selected.

 Using white as a foreground color, draw a star:

Apply an Outer Glow effect, with the default settings.

Place the star on top of your Christmas tree.
And you are doneJ

Check up on my result:

Share it if you like it. Cheers!