In a recent course, I covered the full process of creating a professional digital painting using Adobe Photoshop. In this short video tutorial, I'll show you one of the steps in that process: completing a more refined line drawing on top of the initial sketch. This is the ink layer, and it helps us clean up our idea and make a much sharper line drawing that can be presented to a client for approval.

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The full course, Professional Digital Painting in Adobe Photoshop, will teach you how to create professional digital paintings using Adobe Photoshop. I'll cover the entire process in detail, from blank canvas all the way to final presentation. 

You’ll learn many easy techniques for creating high quality digital artwork, and no matter what skill level you start with, you’ll take your art to new heights. You’ll complete two complete projects: a painting of a character’s face and then a full body character illustration.

In this tutorial we’ll go through the process of creating a horizontal, tileable background that is perfect for side-scrolling 2D games (action, adventure, hack & slash) for PC, mobile and browsers. We’ll be using the basic vector tools of Affinity Designer, and you'll see how we can make the image seamless in a fun and convenient way. Let’s begin!

In this particular case we’ll be designing a stylized forest with a mysterious color scheme, giving it a proper gloomy atmosphere suitable for mystic adventure games or quests. However, you can apply these techniques for any other kind of background, whether it is a sunny meadow or a seaside for casual games, or maybe some dark, deep caves or even alien planes for a scrolling shooter or platformer. It’s up to you to decide! 

Feel free to gather as much inspiration as you can, and for this purpose check out the game backgrounds section of Envato Market, which will help you to find some interesting solutions and original ideas.

1. Build the Composition

Step 1

Let’s start by making a New Document. Select the Web Type and find the 800 x 600 px Preset.

Step 2

Here we have our horizontal canvas, and let’s start filling it up from the top left corner. We’ll start with the trees, which will cover all the top area of the image with their bushy crowns.

Take the Ellipse Tool (M) and make a 170 x 170 px circle, holding down Shift.

Step 3

Continue holding down Shift and make more circles, varying their sizes from big to tiny, making them look like foam bubbles.

Select all circles and head to the upper context toolbar. Use the Add Operation to merge all the circles into a single shape.

Step 4

Fill the shape with dark-purple color, using the color wheel in the Colour panel.

Step 5

Take the Ellipse Tool (M) again and let’s make another layer of circles, using the same technique and varying sizes. Merge the circles together with the help of the Add Operation.

Step 6

Fill the created shape with lighter purple color and Move it to Back (Shift-Command-[), beneath the darker layer.

Step 7

Now let’s move to the bottom part of our background. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to form the dark-purple shape for the ground. Convert it to Curves from the upper context toolbar. Now we can edit the shape, changing its form.

Step 8

Take the Node Tool (A), select the upper left corner and drag it up a bit, making a slope. Double-click on the upper edge of the shape to add a new node. Move the right node handle down to form a light curved line, depicting a smooth hill. Add another node on the opposite side of the ground, making another hill.

Step 9

Add another shape beneath, forming another ground shape in the distance. Make this shape a bit lighter. This way we’re showing the aerial perspective of our image, making it look more three-dimensional.

2. Render the Trees

Step 1

Now we’ll start rendering the trees, making a deep forest. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to make a narrow, vertical stripe for the tree-trunk. Convert it to Curves, take the Node Tool (A) and move the upper nodes closer to each other, making the top of the trunk much narrower.

Step 2

Let's add some small branches at the top of the trunk. Use the Pen Tool (N) to make a curved line. Set the Width to 10 pt in the Stroke panel, making the branches somewhat thicker.

Step 3

Make some more branches and add a group of smaller dark-purple circles to cover the blank tip of the branch, forming stylized leaves.

Step 4

Continue adding trunks, varying their width and rearranging the branches to make more trees. Remember to Group (Command-G) similar objects to make them easier to work with.

Step 5

Make another tree and fill it with the same light-purple color as the distant ground layer. Move the light tree to Back (Shift-Command-[), making the elements blend. This way the tree seems to be farther than the darker trees in the foreground.

Step 6

The distant area of our background still looks blank. Let’s fill it up with some additional elements. Start by making an even 150 x 150 px circle with the Ellipse Tool (M). Make this shape lighter to create some more air and distance between the objects. This contrast will be noticeable when we place the new elements in the back a few steps later.

Step 7

Make some smaller circles, creating a bush, and use the Add Operation to merge the shapes.

Step 8

Now we can select our bush and Move it to Back (Shift-Command-[), hiding it behind the trees. Add more bushes, forming them from circles, filling the empty spots of the background.

Step 9

Let’s add some more trees in order to make the forest thicker and, hence, the whole image more detailed. Make them even lighter and put some of them in front of the bushes and some of them behind the bushes, making the composition more balanced and versatile.

Step 10

The white area in the background can be very distracting, so let’s dim it a bit. Create an 800 x 600 px rectangle and Moveit to Back (Shift-Command-[), at the very bottom. Fill the shape with greyish-blue color, adding a misty atmosphere to our fantasy forest.

Step 11

Let’s add some minor elements that will enliven our forest a bit more. Use the Ellipse Tool (M) to create tiny wisps of grass or leaves, consisting of three ellipses each.

Step 12

What we can also do here to spark the viewer’s interest is to add even more details. The more detailed the background is, the more interesting it is for the viewer. Try adding another shape in the bottom of the image, making a darker layer of ground. Speckle small ellipses above it, depicting stones and creating an illusion of the ground being sliced like a pie.

Add more branches or leaves or bushes, whatever is needed to make the composition more filled and versatile.

3. Make the Background Seamless

Step 1

Now let’s see how can we make our background seamless and repeating.

First of all, select everything (Command-A) and Cut (Command-X) it. Make an 800 x 600 px rectangle (of any color). Keeping it selected, go to Edit > Paste Inside. Now we have our forest framed inside the rectangle, as if inside a clipping mask, which allows us to move it around easily.

Step 2

Let’s move our image 400 px to the left. To do this, head to the Transform panel and apply the -400 px value to the X axis. The Y axis should be set to 0 px.

Step 3

Duplicate the image (Command-C > Command-V) and now we need to move the copy to the right. Set the X value to 400 px in the transform panel.

Now if you look at your picture, you’ll see that its left edge matches its right edge. As a result, if we stick several images together, they will create a long, seamless panoramic image that can be repeated endlessly. This is so that we can form a scrolling horizontal video-game background.

The only thing we need to do here is to fix the central part of the image, making both halves match.

Step 4

Now we can drag both forest groups out of their mask rectangles in the Layers panel. And let’s start combining the darkest bottom layers of the ground. 

Select both shapes and merge them with the Add Operation. Take the Node Tool (A) and select the dimple that appeared on the upper edge of the ground. Delete (Backspace) it, making the shape smooth.

Step 5

If the ground spots on the left side of the image turned out to be somewhere beneath, find them in the Layers panel and drag them on top.

Step 6

Repeat the same for the next layer of the ground—select the two halves and use the Add Operation to merge them. Delete the unneeded node using the Node Tool (A).

Keep using the same technique for the third layer, creating a single shape with the Add Operation.

Step 7

Select one of the bushes that popped out in the foreground and Move it to Back (Shift-Command-[). Then move it one position up, placing it right above the greyish-blue background (Command-]).

Step 8

Now that we’ve stitched all the parts together and rearranged the elements, our image should look like this. We can’t really see the edge between the pictures, which makes it perfectly seamless. 

As you may notice, I’ve added some small circles above the bushes in the background in order to make the composition more busy and balanced. You can add more stones in the bottom part or more grass if you feel that you need to cover any empty spots of the image.

4. Using Gradients to Make the Background Vivid

Our background is already complete by this stage, and you can leave it as it is and proceed to export. However, we can tweak it even more, adjusting the colors and enlivening the whole scene. Let’s go on and try out the Fill Tool (G)!

Step 1

First of all, select the top dark-purple layer of the tree crowns and take the Fill Tool (G). Click and drag over the object, placing the gradient in a vertical position. 

Now you can select the upper marker of the gradient fill slider (the circle tip) and set the color you want using the color wheel in the Colour panel. Make the top of the shape lighter and brighter, applying a pinky-purple color.

Step 2

This method works only for the shapes, but not for strokes and outlines. So if we want to apply a smooth gradient fill to the trees, first of all we need to turn their branches into shapes. Let’s select those trees in the background and go to Layer> Expand Stroke.

Great! Now if you select any expanded branch and check the Colour panel, you will see the fill color applied. However, if you face the problem that your branches are still strokes, then you may need to select the branches inside each tree group, using the Layers panel. And then expand them. Try both options and see what works for you.

Step 3

Use the Fill Tool (G) to apply a vertical linear gradient to the trees. You don’t need to apply it to every tree one by one—just select the entire group in the foreground and drag the slider of the Fill Tool (G). Adjust the colors, making the top of the trees a bit darker than the bottom.

Step 4

Apply the gradient to the distant bushes as well, making their top a bit lighter.

Step 5

As for the ground, I’ve decided to apply a gradient only to the first, darker layer in order not to make the image overloaded with gradients. Make the difference between the gradient colors of the ground barely visible, just adding a bit more depth to the picture.

Step 6

Let’s add a few more details in order to finish the background. Use the Ellipse Tool (M) to add a group of circles in the upper part of the image, filling the top of the tree crowns. Leave some space between the circle groups and keep them away from the edges, so that the image remains seamless.

Apply a pinky-purple vertical gradient to the circles, slightly darker than the tree crowns. This will make the trees a bit more three-dimensional, without making the image overloaded with details.

Here’s what you should get.

Step 7

You can File > Export the picture in the desired format and combine several copies together in order to get a seamless result. Or you can extend the width of the document in Affinity Designer, using the Document Setup in the upper control toolbar.

Copy the picture and move it 800 px to the left and to the right, making sure that it is perfectly seamless.

Awesome! Our Seamless Game Background Is Finished!

We’ve finished designing the background and did a great job, using basic shapes, gradients and some simple operations to make a balanced forest composition for a nice, seamless game background.

Feel free to use these techniques to create various backgrounds, such as green forests, rocky mountains, sandy deserts, or whatever you can imagine.

If you want to get this particular background in other vector formats, such as EPS, that are ready to be imported in a game and also include alternative color schemes, then feel free to take a look at this seamless game backgrounds pack, which might be useful!

Have fun with Affinity Designer, and don’t forget to share your results!

Regardless of the product, most everything needs some sort of packaging, and the better the design of that packaging is, the more likely a consumer will be to buy it. Enter the packaging designer. In this article we'll explore their roles as designers, who they work for, what projects are like, and more, thanks to several interviews with some fantastic artists. Consider this your guide to working as a packaging designer.

What Do Packaging Designers Do?

Let's start with a breakdown of some of the roles packaging designers take on in their everyday work lives:

• Concept Design: No matter the role, designers start with concept work for it. Concept design can range from the entirety of a packaging design or product to something like graphic work for an already established template or brand.
• Branding: Perhaps the product doesn't yet have an established brand. The designer would conceive of the product's packaging as integral to the overall brand, creating logos, style guides, packaging concepts, and more in line with the vision of the product or client.
• Graphic Design: All of the graphic work involved with packaging design. Logos, layout, illustration, typography, and more. Designers may have to contribute to any of those or even all of those facets of the design process.
• Packaging Template Design: This one requires some industrial design know-how. Designing the template itself means knowing how an object or product's packaging (box, label, bag, display, etc.) needs to function in the real world and how to it needs to be manufactured.
• And More... Anything else the job entails not covered above. It may range from having print media knowledge to creating other media related to the brand, product, or project. Designers have a tendency to do more than just a simple job description, especially where a brand's product is concerned.

"My role in package design typically starts at birth and goes into conception and then into raising the design-child like it was my own. Typically I only take on projects that have a blank slate, no prior branding, thus I am responsible and/or collaborate with my clients to create the brand name, the visual foundation, the concept, the design, and the brand execution." — Chad Michael, Designer

Who Needs Packaging Designers?

If a company or client is seeking to create a product, they'll likely need a packaging designer along the way in order to make it consumer-ready. So really, most everyone needs packaging designers. Consider any store you've ever walked into: it's filled with various products with a variety of packaging and label types. Even something as simple as a hang tag is designed by a designer.

Some designers work in-house for a company designing all of their packaging needs, either by themselves or on a team. These positions have a narrower scope of design, focusing entirely on that company's products and needs.

Some designers work in a studio or agency that creates packaging for a variety of clients. They may also take on the task of branding and other graphic design duties that contribute to the product as a whole. Additionally, their reputation is often built upon their ability to (pun intended) create the whole package: branding, graphic design, package design, etc.

"I am a designer who primarily has a focus on brand and identity that I apply to a broad range of deliverables ranging from packaging design to websites. Apart from Fieldwork, I have worked for a few agencies as an intern when I graduated which include The Vast Agency, Rabbit Hole and Golden. Again all of these companies are not primarily focused on packaging design however they all have an impressive client list. For example Golden does a lot of work for Nike and Rabbit Hole have been working on Coldplay's current album campaign. 

"However at Fieldwork we have a broader clientele ranging from big clients like National Trust, RSPB, United Nations, Gates Foundation, Catch 22, ONE and Sustrans to smaller clients like The Wild Network, Voltalab Sound Studios in Rochdale to Dough Lover; a gluten free baker based in Brighton. " — Eve Warren, Designer

Some designers are freelancers, creating packaging designs for various clients and agencies. While their job is varied, working on a variety of products, many of them work on smaller contracted jobs, contribute to existing brands or products, or take on a variety of design work in order to fill in their client roster.

Really, any of these positions could fill the roles discussed previously. Of the designers I interviewed, a lot of their experience makes up what I've outlined in this section and may be something you can expect with in-house, studio, agency, or freelance jobs.

"Since the company I work for develops various licensed products, I was able to experience creating toys and accessories for big companies such as Hasbro, Mattel, Disney, Sanrio, and MGA. These products can be found in many retail stores throughout the globe! This is a very proud feeling of which I am glad to be a part." Chelsey Schmitz, Designer and Illustrator at Fashion Angels Enterprise

What Is a Typical Project Like?

Once a project is sorted out (contracts, goals, deadlines, etc.), designers often begin their roles with research into the product, brand, or product's industry. Knowing what the product is, where it would be sold, how consumers expect a product to look, and what the limits of the product are all help designers create packaging in a more effective and efficient way. It takes time to not only consider the box something would be packed in, but how a product will look on a shelf next to its competitors or how to get a consumer to pick it up and check it out.

As with any design project, clients will be sent concepts, mock-ups, and assorted design work during the process on the project. Depending on how many people are involved in the project's process, different people may assume different roles, resulting in a larger presentation for a design or maybe smaller presentations along the way. Some clients prefer a full concept to be presented to them, while others want to be heavily involved in the project, working with designers as they create.

"First, we research the product and the needs of the packaging. Second, we build mood boards and rough ideas for structure. Thirdly, we begin design concepts, and take those into renders to visualize the packaging for the client." — Hylton Warburton, Designer

Of the designers I interviewed, most experienced projects with the following process: research, concept work, first draft, edits, and final draft, with some variation along the way. Additionally, some projects involve the designers creating packaging themselves as mock-ups and preparing packaging designs, templates, and files for printers and manufacturers.

Finally, something for designers to consider is not only their design budget but the budget of the company for whom they produce the product and packaging itself. Since packaging is often a part of marketing materials versus just the product itself, budgets may be low and limit the packaging's materials or printing process. 

Then again, it's the creative designer that can work with a small budget and make something interesting and unexpected. For some, this is a fantastic challenge to have.

"A typical project is packaging design that often comes as an urgent task with a small budget. In our segment customers do not always have money for marketing research and an advertising campaign so it’s impossible not to take these things into account while working on a project so we try to do research ourselves and help our clients as much as we can." — Regina, Art Director of Logo Machine

What Do Designers Need to Know in Creating Printed Media?

Whether a designer is working directly with printers and manufacturers or handing their designs off to others, they need to understand how the packaging may be produced and printed. This can range from knowing the printing process itself (digitally printed, screen printed, sublimated, etc.) to understanding or preparing for the materials being used.

All graphics need to be at the correct resolution a printer calls for, designs need to be on the intended template for printing and manufacture, and designers need to make sure they know if the colors they see on their monitors will match those the printer creates. Often printers work with Pantone colors and inks since they're a manufacturing and art industry standard easily referenced by clients, designers, and manufacturers without any surprises from concept to completion.

"In design there is a fine line between good and great. Most often the ‘great’ really comes through during print. There is so much value in a successful print job, which can take a design to a whole different level." — Chad Michael, Designer

Next comes paper, plastic, and other packaging materials types. Designers have to understand the limits in manufacturing and know if a certain paper or cardboard will rip more easily than others, not take ink in the same way another would, or be unable to fold into the box design properly. 

Often mock-ups and various concept experiments made by the designer or with the printer or manufacturer, as well as experience, solve some of these design problems, allowing designers to create more freely as they learn what can and cannot be done with their work and the product for which they are creating.

"In the past I have worked both directly with printers as well as with a middle man who sends all my artwork to the printers. I prefer to work directly with a printer though as I feel like I have a lot more control and I can visit them proof check and make samples." — Eve Warren, Designer

What Are Some Key Factors of Good Packaging Design?

Nearly every designer that I posed this question to came back with the same start to their answer: good packaging makes the product easily understood by the consumer; good packaging makes the product clear to the consumer.

Logos and branding should be easily recognized and seen, the product shouldn't be confusing (unless that is a part of the branding itself in some way), and all of the information the product's creators want the consumer to have should be on the packaging itself. 

Whether it's a product's description, a company's message, or even just the packaging's contents, a consumer should be able to pick up the package, look at it, and understand everything the creator wants them to know. Bad packaging will make it difficult for the consumer to understand what is inside and how to interact with it.

"Direct the product at the public and define your composition to concentrate the highest amount of information to the consumer in a specific way. Formatting also helps. Making a label for shampoo isn't the same as making a label for soap. It's good to know the who and how of a project." — Nacho Huizar, Designer

For instance, when you think of cleaning supplies, chances are you think of bubbles or citrus fruits or images of a sparkling counter-top. If someone packages a floor cleanser in a box with bubble gum and stripes and party balloons on it, the consumer may glance at the packaging and think it's candy or some children's product inside. Sure, they could read the copy on the packaging itself, but often a consumer is shopping in a store, gathering their week's worth of groceries, and doesn't have a ton of time to wonder if a box contains a clown or something with which to clean their floor.

While packaging can subvert a consumer's expectations, and designers are often applauded for doing so in an interesting and effective way, more often than not clients will want packaging that fits in with their industry. Good designers make this a part of their research and concept process when creating packaging for clients or their company.

"Know your target group. Don't be too focused on the actual look. A package should portray emotion. Only with emotional work can you attract a potential customer. Personally I believe in simplicity and out-of-the-box thinking." — Tom Jueris, Designer

Advice for Designers

"The majority of young designers are afraid to start doing real work. A good way to start doing a scary, incomprehensible task is to try and make everything the worst way possible. It’s a lot of fun, it’s liberating and helps you to overcome the critical thinking. Then you can break the task into smaller components and try to improve the result. Do not demand a perfect result immediately and don’t be afraid to fail. It brings nothing but anxiety, loss of confidence and depression. Refer to the process as a game in which any result is positive." — Regina, Art Director of Logo Machine

"Creative blocks happen to everyone. If you are feeling blocked, switch over to another project or at the very least another portion of the current project. When you have the feeling of success in one area, most often, the success will spill over." — Chad Michael

"Never stop experimenting and learning. Illustration and typographic skills are hugely valuable in packaging design. If you can master those two things, you can gain a major advantage in the industry. And finally, do your research, take time to soak up inspiration, and never just go with your first design." — Hani Douaji

Conclusion

The experience of packaging designers may vary, but the desire to present products in an interesting and engaging manner seems to unite most, if not all packaging designers regardless of industry or role within the design world.

As with most other design jobs, creativity, organization, dedication, and a desire to design are necessary skills for designers. Projects, clients, and products may vary, but the need for packaging for said projects will remain, in which case designers like you will be called upon to create. 

The artists I interviewed had a lot to share about their experiences, which you can find in quotes and various work examples throughout this article. Their work showcases not only their skills but their know-how when it comes to fantastic packaging design, and I hope you've found it interesting and inspiring.

Many thanks to the brilliant designers who took time out of their busy schedules to answer my questions. You can, and definitely should, check out their work in the links below!

• Eve Warren
• Chelsey Schmitz
• Hani Douaji
• Logo Machine
• Chad Michael
• Hylton Warburton
• Nacho Huizar
• Tom Jueris

In recent years 3D printing has received much attention, promising to revolutionise manufacturing, and completely overturning the way we produce items. As with many emerging disruptive technologies, a lot of the coverage in the popular press is exaggerated, more like a Star Trek replicator than the actual processes. 

However, whether some of the wilder claims pan out or not, for designers 3D printing does offer a tantalising prospect: the capability to produce objects without the constraints of traditional manufacturing, the capability even to fabricate objects on your desk without traditional making or engineering skills.

By the end of this article you will have been introduced to the terminology of 3D printing and have an idea which method is best for you. First we will discuss the three most common technologies, and then some options in designing a model.

3D Printing Technologies

It would be incorrect to think of 3D printing as a single technology. Instead it is a set of technologies following a shared idea of additive manufacturing driven by software. 

So what is additive manufacturing? Many manufacturing techniques start with a block of material and selectively remove it until we are left with the desired object. Additive manufacturing turns this on its head, starting with a blank canvas and adding only what is required for the final object. 

In itself this additive manufacturing is nothing special—a child building sand castles on the beach is using additive manufacturing. It is the addition of using digital technology for a reliable and accurate result that makes 3D printing special.

Typically this works by slicing an object we wish to create into thin sections and building these slices one at a time, stacked on top of each other. Think of building a pyramid as a series of square buildings, each smaller than the last, stacked up to make a 3D shape.

FDM: Extruding Filaments

The first technique we will look at is FDM, Fused Depositional Modelling, or FFF, Fused Filament Fabrication if we want to avoid trademarked terms. It relies on “extruding” a filament of material, i.e. heating it to a point at which it can be squeezed through a nozzle, producing an even thinner filament. This nozzle is moved over a surface, drawing the outline of the slice we want to create, then filling this outline with a pattern of material. 

Because the material is hot as it is extruded, it bonds to any filament already laid down, forming a solid slice of material. Once complete, the nozzle moves up a small amount and starts extruding the next layer.

This is the technique you will find in most hobbyist 3D printers, typically with the material being ABS or PLA plastic. The technique produces a “wood grain”-like surface with slight grooves between each layer (although this can be removed by sanding, polishing or acetone vapour). Imperfect calibration of a machine can result in strands of filament protruding in places or blobs of molten material.

The technique can struggle with overhanging shapes. Since it is building on top of the layer below, anything overhanging is extruded onto nothing but air! As long as we don't need to overhang too far, the material will support itself and not sag too much. However, commercial machines tackle this with a support material that is extruded from a second head, built as a scaffold to support any overhangs which can be snapped or dissolved off afterwards. There are some hobbyist attempts to replicate this, but they tend to be less reliable.

SLA: Setting Resins

The next technique, Stereolithography or SLA, relies on photo-sensitive resins, photopolymers, materials which change from liquid to solid when exposed to (usually ultra violet) light. By exposing each slice of the object on the surface of a thin layer of the liquid with ultra-violet (UV) light, we can harden just the parts we want. This hardened resin is repeatedly flooded with another thin layer of liquid and then exposed with UV light in the shape of the next slice of model, to leave a hardened 3D structure once we drain off the fluid. 

The method of UV exposure differs: some SLA printers use a laser, steering it over the surface to draw the slice, while others use a DLP projector to expose an entire layer at once.

SLA more easily produces a smoother, higher resolution print, but tends to be more expensive. It has the same issue of overhangs, and parts tend to be built on a scaffold made of the same resin as the built object, necessitating quite a bit of clean-up sanding. 

A lot of “model making” type prints in the professional world of 3D printing tend to use this technique, and there are a lot of photo-polymers now available mimicking different materials. Until recently patents limited this technique to professional machines, but machines accessible to hobbyists have appeared over recent years, and with this, cheaper resins have also appeared. That being said, the technique uses gloopy chemicals with limited life, so I don't think it'll completely replace FDM in the hobbyist sphere.

SLS: Melting With Lasers

The very best 3D printers again use a laser, but this time at a higher power, either melting or sintering powders together (sintering is when you heat a material enough to fuse it together, but not quite enough to fully melt it into a liquid). 

These powders can be engineering grade plastics such as Nylon, or even metals, allowing 3D printing of parts suitable for machinery. If you see a news article aboutFormula 1 racing teams or rocket manufacturers using 3D printing, this will be the type they mean. Very high resolution and very strong, but typically rather expensive. 

These types of machines are usually used as an alternative to traditional engineering techniques and, although expensive, can be cheaper than traditional techniques for one-off parts or small production runs.

Other 3D Printing Technologies

These three technologies are in no way exhaustive. You can get printers that deposit drops of wax, producing a model that can be cast into a mold for metals (often used for jewellery). You can use technology similar to an inkjet printer over a vat of powder, to deposit a binder and pigments, making full colour models. Or a very similar technology followed by glazing to make ceramics (plates, cups, etc.). Even more specialist 3D printers can lay down bio-compatible materials to print living tissues for implantation, nanoscale objects to make tiny machines, and giant machines building sections for architecture.

3D Printing Materials

For the widest range of materials, look to a 3D printing service with a range of machines, for instance Shapeway's offering. You're looking at a number of plastics, metals and ceramics with different properties to suit what you're trying to make. 

Excellent, you may think—I don't need to care how it works, as long as it works! But there's the catch: look at each material they offer and you'll see they all have different requirements, minimum wall thicknesses, minimum surface detail sizes, minimum clearances, etc. You might find you need to tweak your design to work with the material you're using.

If you go the other direction, getting a hobbyist 3D printer, you are a bit more limited, but not as much as you might expect. There's a range of filaments out there now that'll work on this kind of machine. There are flexible filaments, wood-like filaments, translucent materials, and plastics with all sorts of differing characteristics. 

Beware, however: these materials will usually need a bit of tinkering with temperatures and possibly even alternative parts in the printer. Most people with these sorts of machines like to tinker with such things, however.

Modelling for 3D Printing

There are two big approaches to 3D modelling: surface modelling and solid modelling. 

• Surface modelling typically represents an object as points, edges and faces. 
• Solid modelling instead, as the name suggests, maintains a representation of the inside of the object. Solid modelling is typically harder for the programmer to write and more limiting to the designer to model in, and for this reason most modellers aiming just to render images from a 3D model will use a surface modelling package.

For 3D modelling, either can be used, although there are caveats to that. Remember that the software will aim to slice the model into sections and must know which is the inside and outside of those sections. Obviously a modelling package which represents objects as solids will be unambiguous which is which, but surface modelling can produce files where it isn't so obvious. 

There is a very strict approach you must take to produce valid files with such software, quite unlike the usual approach for making a model to render. In brief the file has to be “manifold”, i.e. no intersecting faces, no internal faces, no holes, and all vertices welded not just very very close. The model would have to be water tight if you made it from plastic sheets. Try following this guide for more details.

So unless you're already skilled with surface modelling, I'd suggest having a go with a solid modelling package. Although they are less expressive, there is less to go wrong for your first attempt! 

I tend to use Solidworks, but it is rather expensive. Thankfully with the rise of 3D printing comes a matching proliferation of free solid modelling packages. The company that produces AutoCAD, another expensive but very powerful 3D package, offers a few packages. Of these, some of most useful for this purpose are Tinkercad, a basic browser-based CAD package, and 123D Design, an offline tool with similar capabilities. 

My free go-to tool is usually Trimble Sketchup, which is free for non-commercial use, but you will need an extension to get the right kind of file.

Whichever tool you use, you'll typically need to end up with one or more stl files. This is a very basic file format, but what most 3D printing tools will accept.

Producing Your 3D Print

So you know some of the technologies, you know some of the software, perhaps you've even made a file, and you just want to know how to get it printed already! There are a few ways you can go here: you can invest in a machine, you can use a 3D printing service, or you can find somewhere to use a 3D printer. Each has pros and cons.

Buying your own machine can be quite an investment, although a lot less than in the past. You'll be limited to the one technology your machine uses, and hence the one (or a few) materials used in that technology. Assuming you're not made of money and have been able to get a professional machine, you may have to delve into the techy side of your machine if anything needs to be replaced or recalibrated, although many hobbyist machines have excellent online communities to support this. 

However, having said all that, you'll have the cheapest option per part you want to make, so if you get hooked you can churn out parts to your heart's content. And you'll be able to rapidly iterate parts—if you're anything like me and you're making multiple parts to join together, you'll get something wrong the first time you make it!

Another option is 3D printing services, either online or your local 3D printing company. This has the benefit of no upfront cost (although it is considerably more expensive per part), and a range of technologies and materials available. The other main downside beside the cost is time, because you'll have to wait for them to make it and ship it to you. There are a few big services out there, such as Shapeways or iMaterialise, but shop around and find the solution that has the best balance of price and speed for you.

The third option is a halfway house between these, but is dependent on finding a 3D printer you can use locally. The maker movement has resulted in lots of local maker spaces, which may have machines available at the cost of entry and material, or even just someone who's willing to trade time on a machine for 3D modelling skills for their projects. Look into it!

Or you can do what I do, and do all of these! Quickly test models on your own machines, send files off for alternative materials, and get involved with local makers and students to make things.

Conclusion

So you now know a bit of the terminology, some of the options, and the pros and cons of each. Go forth and 3D print something interesting. Also be sure to keep your eyes open for future tutorials delving into some of the details more closely. If you have any questions, post them in the comments!

For your first step into 3D printing, why not try using a 3D printing service. Try out our tutorial on creating a 3D printed mobile phone case.

Preview image credit: Seth Woodworth via Flickr

3D text effects can be created in many different ways, but Photoshop's 3D tools and settings are a fun way to do it. This tutorial will show you how to play around with the material textures and settings, as well as the lighting, to create a shiny wrapped text effect. Let's get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

• Franks font
• Apartment Stock 13 by AreteStock
• Premium Blur Backgrounds bundle by raspanky
• Deep Space 10K Backgrounds Vol2 by Dreamlancer 

1. Create the Background and the Text

Step 1

Create a new 1250 x 1000 px document.

Then, create the text in All Caps using the font Franks Regular, and set the Size to 280 pt.

Step 2

If you have more than one line of text, change the Leading value to 250, and change the Tracking to a value that you like. Here, the Tracking value of the second line of text is set to 100.

2. Create the Shape Layers

Step 1

Right-click the text layer and choose Convert to Shape. Duplicate the shape layer and rename the copy to Stroke.

Step 2

With the Stroke layer selected, pick the Direct Selection Tool.

In the Options bar, change the Fill to None, the Stroke Color to #e5bf25, its Size to 2, and click the Set shape stroke type icon to change its Align to Outside.

3. Create the 3D Layers

Step 1

Select each shape layer you have and go to 3D > New 3D Extrusion from Selected Path, to convert it into a 3D layer.

Step 2

Select both 3D layers and go to 3D > Merge 3D Layers.

Step 3

To access the 3D mesh settings and properties, you’ll need to open two panels: the 3D panel and the Properties panel (both found under the Window menu).

The 3D panel has all the components of the 3D scene, and when you click the name of any of those, you’ll be able to access its settings in the Properties panel. So make sure to always select the tab of the element you want to modify in the 3D panel before you change its settings in the Properties panel.

4. Adjust the Mesh Settings

Step 1

Select the text mesh tab in the 3D panel, and change its Extrusion Depth in the Properties panel to 70.

Step 2

Click the Cap icon at the top of the Properties panel, and then change the Bevel Width to 2%, the Contour to Cone, and the Inflate Strength to 10.

Step 3

Select the Stroke mesh tab and change its Extrusion Depth to 35.

5. Create the Front Inflation Material Texture

Step 1

Select the text's Front Inflation Material tab, and then click the Diffuse texture icon in the Properties panel, and choose Edit Texture.

Step 2

This will open a file with the shape layer used to create the 3D mesh.

Change the shape layer's Fill color to #61129d.

Step 3

Pick the Rectangle Tool, and then create a thin (a Height value of 15 px) horizontal rectangle across the top of the text. Fill the rectangle with the color #e5bf25, then duplicate it.

Step 4

Press the Command-T keys to enter Free Transform Mode, and drag the copy rectangle a bit downwards, depending on how much space you want to leave between the stripes.

Hit the Return key to accept the changes.

Step 5

Now press the Option-Command-Shift-T keys a couple of times, to duplicate the rectangle with the transformation, until you cover the text.

When you're done, select all the rectangle layers, go to Layer > Merge Shapes, and rename the merged layer to Stripes.

Go to File > Save to save the changes made before you move on to the next step.

6. Create the Reflection and Bump Textures

Step 1

With the texture file still open, go to File > Save As, and save a copy of the file with the name Reflection.

Make sure to save this in your project's folder so that it's easier to locate later on.

Step 2

Change the text shape's color to #535353.

Step 3

Double-click the Stripes layer to apply a Pattern Overlay effect using the Satin Pattern.

Step 4

Save this file.

Step 5

Save the file as a copy with the name Bump.

Step 6

Change the text shape color to #1c1c1c, and save the changes.

So now you should have two files, one for the Reflection texture with the light gray color, and one for the Bump texture with the dark gray color.

7. Adjust the Material Settings

Step 1

Go back to the original 3D Scene document, and select the text's Front Inflation Material tab.

Click the Reflection folder icon and choose Load Texture, and then open the Reflection texture you created in the previous step.

Repeat that to load the Bump texture as well.

Step 2

As for the rest of the material settings, change the Specular color (in RGB) to (75, 55, 9), the Shine to 25, the Reflection to 70, and the Bump to 2.

Step 3

Select both the Bevel and the Back Inflation Material tabs for the text mesh, and then change the Shine to 25 and the Reflection to 70.

Step 4

Select the text mesh Extrusion Material tab, and then click the Diffuse texture icon and choose Remove Texture.

Step 5

Change the Diffuse color to (70, 9,93), the Specular color to (207, 178, 75), the Shine to 35, the Reflection to 35, and the Refraction to 1.656.

Step 6

Select all the Stroke mesh material tabs, and change the Shine to 30 and the Reflection to 50.

Step 7

Select the Stroke Extrusion Material tab, remove the Diffuse texture, and change its Fill color to (229, 191, 37).

8. Move the Meshes and Change the Camera View

Step 1

Select both mesh layers, click the Coordinates icon at the top of the Properties panel, and change the X Rotation Angle to 90.

Then go to 3D > Move Object to Ground Plane.

Step 2

Pick the Move Tool, and use the 3D Axis to place the stroke in the middle of the text mesh.

Step 3

Select the Current View tab in the 3D panel, and then pick Top from the View menu in the Properties panel.

9. Adjust the Lighting

Step 1

Select the Infinite Light 1 tab, change its Intensity to 50, and uncheck its Shadows box.

Step 2

Click the Add new Light to Scene icon at the bottom of the 3D panel, and choose New Point Light.

Step 3

Change the Point Light's Color to (249, 247, 238), its Intensity to 30, its Shadow Softness to 30, and check the Light Falloff box.

Set the Inner value to 470 and the Outer value to 830. You can use any other values you like depending on the result you're looking for.

Step 4

Use the Move Tool and the 3D Axis to move the lights around, and adjust the settings until you like the result you get.

You can change the camera view to do that, and then go back to the Top view once you're done.

Step 5

Click the Environment tab in the 3D panel, and then click the IBL texture icon in the Properties panel, and choose Replace Texture.

Load the Apartment Stock 13 image, and change the Intensity to 50.

Step 6

You can use the Move Tool to move the texture image around until you like the result you get.

Step 7

Place image 17 from the Premium Blur Backgrounds bundle below the 3D layer, and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.

You can use a simple gradient fill for the background, or add a Gaussian Blur to an image you have, or use any other texture you like.

After you add the background, take some time to adjust the different lights, move them around, and even move the meshes, until you get a result you like.

10. Render the Scene and Create a Copy

Step 1

When you're done, go to 3D > Render. The rendering might take a while, but you can stop it any time by pressing the Esc key.

Step 2

Once the rendering is done, right click the 3D Scene layer, and choose Convert to Smart Object.

Step 3

Duplicate the smart object layer, make it invisible by clicking the eye icon next to it, and then right-click the copy and choose Rasterize Layer.

11. Fix the Edges of the Jagged Stripes and Adjust the Coloring of the Text

Step 1

If you zoom in a little bit, you can see that some of the stripes have jagged edges. We'll fix those to get a more polished final result.

Step 2

Pick the Spot Healing Brush Tool, choose a slightly soft round brush tip, and then paint over the jagged areas to remove them.

It's important to paint small areas as precisely as possible, and not go over the whole line at once.

Step 3

You can also use the Stamp Tool when necessary, but the Spot Healing Brush Tool should do the job just fine.

Step 4

Just make sure to zoom in on the stripes you have, and fix any jagged edges, until you have nice, clean text.

Step 5

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Levels.

Step 6

Click the Clip to layer icon, and change the Shadows value to 3.

12. Add the Stars Texture

Step 1

Open the second image from the Deep Space 10K Backgrounds Vol2 images in Photoshop. Because these images are huge, you'll need to go to Image > Image Size, and set the Resolution to 72.

Duplicate that image on top of all the layers you have in the original document and rename its layer to Stars.

Right-click the Stars layer, and choose Convert to Smart Object, and then resize it as needed.

Change the Stars layer's Blend Mode to Screen and its Opacity to 50. Then duplicate it, and change the copy's Opacity to 30.

Step 2

With the copy Stars layer selected, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Iris Blur. Click-drag the transition points to the center of the pin you have.

Step 3

Set the Blur value to 15, and then, under the Effects tab, change the Light Bokeh to 80%. This will create a nice bokeh effect. You can play around with the values to get different results.

Step 4

This is optional, but we're going to remove the original stars below the bokeh.

To do so, select the Stars layer and click the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Then, pick the Eraser Tool, choose a soft round brush tip, and set the Foreground color to White. Select the mask thumbnail, and click to remove the light under each bokeh circle you have.

Step 5

Again, feel free to use any textures or effects you like. You can even change the text and stripe colors, change the camera view, change the lighting, etc. Just have fun with it and make it your own!

Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we created a piece of text and converted it into shapes, and then into 3D meshes.

We worked on the 3D meshes' settings, textures, and materials to create the main effect. Then we worked on the lighting, rendered the scene, and added some textures for the background and the bokeh effect.

Finally, we used a blur filter and a layer mask to enhance the final result.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.

Photo manipulation is the art of transforming ordinary photos into something alluring, unexpected and totally out of the box. In our new course, How to Create a Surreal Scene With Photo Manipulation, you will create a surreal scene using photo-manipulation techniques in Adobe Photoshop. 

In 12 comprehensive video lessons, Envato Tuts+ instructor Lewis Moorhead will cover everything from adjusting lighting and composition to creating atmosphere and sharpening your image ready for print or web.

You can take our new course straight away with a free 10-day trial of our monthly subscription. If you decide to continue, it costs just $15 a month, and you’ll get access to hundreds of courses, with new ones added every week.

You can find some great source images to use for photo manipulation in our new Unstock gallery.

The pattern we are exploring today, also known as "the Heavenly City", is not one that appears in the art of any culture. Long-forgotten, and reconstructed by geometer John Mitchell in the 1970s, it is said to be the ground plan for several sacred sites built according to principles of sacred geometry. The reason for this would be that it encodes several number ratios making up the universe. Without going into the numbers themselves, which are quite literally mind-boggling, here is how Mitchell describes it:

"The Heavenly City is a geometer's name for the traditional diagram that represents the order of the universe and the numerical code that underlies it. [It] contains the numbers, measures, shapes, proportions, and musical harmonies that are constant in nature." — How the World Is Made: The Story of Creation According to Sacred Geometry, pXVI.

The reason it is called the Heavenly City, and also New Jerusalem, is that it was reconstructed from the detailed description of St John's vision in Revelations, where an angel showed him "the perfect pattern of creation". He described it as a city with, among other things, three gates on each of its four walls (the full description is in Revelation 21:9-14).

Anyone keen on finding out more about the mathematics behind the diagram will find them detailed at length in the book quoted above. Here, we are going to concern ourselves with its construction, which begins with the division of a circle into 28, and can be finished in a number of ways. The pattern has the unusual feature of twelve circles arranged in four groups of three, rather than equally distributed. This could make it, for instance, a geometric backdrop for art on the theme of the twelve months, or the zodiacal signs, and so on.

And now, grab your compass and a large sheet of paper, as this is going to involve many construction lines.

1. Prepare the Inscribed Circle

Step 1

Draw a large circle on your paper, with one diameter through it, and find its bisector.

Step 2

Proceed to divide the circle in 8 (see Working with 4 and 8).

Step 3

Draw the surrounding square and clean up all lines that are no longer necessary. This is the basis we will work on.

2. Divide the Circle in 28

To divide the circle in 28, we will need to divide it in 7, four times.

Step 1

Draw the equilateral triangle whose base is one side of the square.

Step 2

Join the points where the triangle cuts the circle, to the middle of the side. These are two sides of a heptagon (seven-sided polygon).

Step 3

Use your compass to transfer the length of that side and mark another two points of the heptagon.

Step 4

Repeat once more to mark the last two points of the heptagon.

Step 5

Join the points.

Step 6

Number the points as follows. We are not used to working with a seven-fold division, so it's quite important to do this now, and exactly as shown.

Step 7

To draw the second heptagon, start with the equilateral triangle opposite the first, which defines two sides in the same way.

Step 8

Walk the measurement around the circle.

Step 9

Join the heptagon and number the new points as follows.

Step 10

Now repeat step 7 with one of the vertical sides of the square.

Step 11

Find all the points of this third heptagon, join them, and number them.

Step 12

Finally, repeat with the triangle on the last side of the square.

Step 13

Complete the heptagon and number the points.

3. Draw the Heptagrams

Step 1

For the first heptagram (seven-pointed star), join the numbers 1 to 7 only, in that order. Then join 7 back to 1.

Step 2

Now join 8 to 14, ending with 14 back to 8.

Step 3

Now join 15 to 21, ending with 21 back to 15.

Step 4

Finally, join 21 to 28, ending with 28 back to 21.

Step 5

The circle, divided by the power of 7 and 4.

4. Add the Circles

Step 1

The twelve circles, or "fruits", are not tangent to each other, but to the nearest sides of the heptagrams, as shown in the first four drawn below. Now, on an aesthetic basis, you could make them tangent if you wanted. But there is a deeper reason for this specific circle size, and it will be revealed further down.

Step 2

Draw the remaining circles. The base grid is complete.

5. Two Simple Ways to Finish

Here are examples of two different finished versions of the diagram, achieved through two different inking patterns, without additional construction.

Version 1

Ink the heptagrams in full, then the circles as if they were behind the stars. Finish with the square in the far background, marking the tips of the triangles in the corners.

Version 2

Only ink the outer outlines of each heptagram, taking it one at a time so they look clearly layered. Then ink the "fruits", and finally the original circle at the very back.

6. "Earth and Moon" Version

Even though the end result is (deceptively) simple, this requires a little more construction.

Step 1

Taking out all the heptagram lines and the four triangles, we are working with the original circle-in-square, and the twelve fruits.

Step 2

Draw the central circle tangent to the twelve fruits.

Step 3

Construct the square around this circle.

Step 4

Ink as follows.

What's remarkable about this diagram is that the central circle symbolizes the earth, and the twelve small ones the moon. This is quite literal, because their ratio, which is of 3 to 11, is exactly the ratio of the size of the moon to that of the earth. This is a same-scale diagram of the two physical planets.

7. Full Detail Version

Finally, one more version for the hardcore construction enthusiasts:

Step 1

I've highlighted the triangles to show their intersection. Draw a circle that passes through the intersection shown below. The lines of the triangles contained in that circle form two squares.

Step 2

To draw a third, static square, mark its corners on the circle using the diagonals of the original square.

Step 3

Ink parts of the three squares to achieve the effect below.

Step 4

Draw another smaller circle passing through the point below, which is an intersection of heptagrams.

Step 5

Complete the inking. The ring with the three squares, interrupting the lines of the heptagrams, gives the effect of separate, layered shapes.

Here's how it would look without the moons, if you fancy.

Step 6

Colour to taste!

Awesome Work, You're Done!

Today we've had just a taste of the dimension of geometry that is reserved for architecture and may end up inhabited, rather than looked at. Despite handsome results such as that exemplified above, it leans more towards hard maths than art, so we will leave it there.

In our next lesson, we will return to infinite tiling patterns, with a lesser-known Islamic design, light-hearted and flowery.

Welcome to our Photoshop in 60 Seconds series, in which you can learn a Photoshop skill, feature, or technique in just a minute! 

This time around we're looking at Content Aware Fill. Whether you are editing your own photo or working on one from Envato Market, this automated feature can save you precious retouching time!

Content Aware Fill

There are several tools in Photoshop designed to help remove unwanted objects from an image and replace those objects with choice pixels from other portions of the image. Most of these tools require manual strokes. But the Content Aware Fill feature can automatically sample pixels from the area surrounding a selection and seamlessly fill that selection with new pixels. It seems almost magical! 

If you've got just a minute, I'll show you just how it works.

A Bit More Detail

Learn more about Adobe Photoshop on Envato Tuts+.

• Photo Retouching in Adobe Photoshop with Content Aware in 60 Seconds
  
• Photoshop Tutorials for Beginners tutorial series
• Mastering Light & Shadow in Adobe Photoshop free course
• Photoshop Essentials course
• Advanced Photoshop Techniques course

That image of Monument Valley is available in our stock site, Envato Market.

60 Seconds?!

This is part of a new series of quick video tutorials on Envato Tuts+. We’re aiming to introduce a range of subjects, all in 60 seconds—just enough to whet your appetite. Let us know in the comments what you thought of this video and what else you’d like to see explained in 60 seconds!

Designing a logo from scratch can seem like a daunting task. In this article I’ll walk you through the process of creating memorable, unique and distinctive logos that exceed your clients' expectations. 

From what you need to think about before you even begin drafting ideas to how to integrate market research into your design process and how to refine your final logo design, I’ll take you through the whole process from A to Z. 

Using this handy logo design checklist, you’ll always feel ready to tackle a branding project head-on, and produce results that fit the bill every time.

1. Before You Hit the Drawing Board...

Remember: A Logo Isn’t Just Any Ol’ Graphic

A logo brings together the ethos, legacy, ambition and values of an organization, and gives it visual expression. 

You want your logo design to reflect the company faithfully. Keep in mind that the latest trends in logo design might not be suitable if the design doesn’t add anything significant to how the company is perceived by a consumer. 

Get to Know Your Client 

Learn everything about the company before you begin designing. 

A questionnaire can be a helpful place to start—pose questions about the managers’ and employees’ impressions of the company, and try to extract the essence of what it is like to work for and buy from that company. You’ll find that the client is more likely to see you as trustworthy as a result, and be much more likely to get on board with your ideas.

Once you have the completed questionnaires, you can put together a design brief for the logo project, which you can have to hand while you brainstorm ideas.

Do Your Research

Look at the logos of companies in similar industries, and your client’s competitors—do they share any traits in common*? It’s good to get a broad overview of the industry, to help channel your creativity down the right track. 

* A word of caution—avoid reinventing elements of other logos just to make something look slightly different, and it goes without saying that you should never copy somebody else’s logo. Your research should inform your creative process, but treat it as background research, not direct inspiration for your own designs.

2. Start Brainstorming!

Arm Yourself With a Pencil and Sketchpad

This is not the time to be staring vacant and drooling at a computer screen—your creativity will be at its most fluid when you work with old-fashioned methods.

Pull out some big sheets of paper and seek out a calm, quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Give yourself a couple of hours to let your ideas flow. When you start to get tired or frustrated with a particular idea, step away from the paper and step outside for a break. You’ll come back feeling more refreshed and with your creative juices ready to flow again.

Explore Lots and Lots and Lots of Ideas

Dedicate a fresh sheet of paper to exploring one design concept. Fill up each sheet with tons of rough sketches and written words that will help prompt you later on. 

When you’ve filled up the page, move it out of the way and start with a completely new concept on a fresh sheet. Even if you loved the first idea you came up with, force yourself to consider the brief from a completely different angle. Aim for the opposite of the idea before—for example, if your first idea was more illustrative, draft some ideas for a typographic logo instead.

Aim for Symbolism and Distinctiveness

Every great logo will have both of these qualities. If you’re drafting ideas for an illustrative or abstract logo style, think about how that logo can behave like a sort of pictogram. Can you connect a visual symbol to the services offered by the company? 

Take inspiration from some of the best symbolic logos, like the Tour de France design (spot the cyclist!)...

... or the tech-inspired cleverness of the Sony VAIO logo.

You also want to make sure that your logo designs are distinctive—that is, they are both memorable and unique. 

Successful logos are instantly recognizable. If someone tells you to think of McDonald's, you can picture the logo in your mind right away. That cheerful yellow ‘M’ is lodged in the brains of millions of consumers. It’s hugely memorable and it doesn’t look quite like any other logo out there—it’s utterly distinctive. 

For more symbolic logo inspiration, take a look at this round-up of some of the weird and wonderful logos that have turned out be successful branding examples:

• Inspiration
  20 Weird Logos That Work (and Why They Do)
  Chris Spooner

The McDonald’s logo is successful for another reason—because it’s also incredibly simple...

Repeat This Mantra: Simple Is Best

Fussy photos or complex illustrations simply don’t work for logos. When scaled to small size they become unclear, and they lack the symbolic punch of a simple graphic- or type-based logo. 

When drafting your logo ideas, aim to keep the designs minimal, simple and fuss-free. Remember that awesome logos owe more to great ideas than great artists. 

Let's take an example. Say you’re designing a logo for a coffee company. Rather than drafting a complex sketch of a coffee cup, try focussing on the simpler elements that make up that coffee cup. How about the swirl of cream in the cup, or the curved stem of the handle? These are simple elements that could interact well with the company’s name, and help to achieve that desirable pictogram style.

Note That Symbols Aren’t Always Suitable

For big companies that have a wide consumer audience and a national or international circulation, symbolic or ‘abstract’ logos can work really well. But they often need to be supported with ad campaigns and marketing exposure.

Sometimes, a simple type logo will meet the brief more successfully than an abstract design. Typographic logos may not be reinventing the wheel, but they can be just the ticket for local companies or sole traders. 

Designing for a law firm, for example? Setting the firm’s name in a serious serif typeface will communicate a sense of trustworthiness and credibility, without the need for a supporting image. Setting the name of a bakery in a jaunty script will give consumers the immediate impression of a friendly, community-facing local brand.

Learn how to use typography effectively in your logo designs with this tutorial:

• Logo Design
  Typography in Action: Design Simple & Effective Type Logos
  Grace Fussell

3. Refine Your Ideas

Take a Time-Out

Once you’ve done your brainstorming, set aside your sketches and have a breather. If you can afford the time, only come back to your sketches the next day. You’ll be able to see your work with a clearer mind; after a break, it’s often immediately apparent what works and what doesn’t. 

Commit Your Ideas to the Computer

Choose your strongest sketch from each page of ideas, and refine it further. Create more sketches by hand before you scan the designs into your computer. At this initial stage, use the software that you feel most comfortable with using to create refined versions of your sketches, whether that’s Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or CorelDRAW, among others. You can vectorize the final logo at a later stage.

At this stage, you don’t want to be spending huge amounts of time on perfecting your logo designs; after all, the client will only choose a few to proceed with. Now is the time to experiment with easily changeable elements like color. Ensure your designs work just as well in black-and-white (silhouetted), grayscale and full-color. If your designs work equally well in all three colorways, you’ve got a design that’s going to be ultra-flexible and easy to work with.

Present Your Ideas in a Clean, Uncluttered Proposal Document

Aim to refine five to eight ideas that have variation between them. Don’t simply rehash the same idea into five separate logo proposals—if the client doesn’t like it, that’s five wasted logos. But also don’t be tempted to include second-rate designs, or designs that you personally don’t like—there’s always a risk that this will be the logo the client chooses.

Create a PDF proposal document, and give a whole page to each design. Don't be tempted to crowd designs together on the same page; they will be too distracting for the reader.

If you want to subtly support a favorite design, place it at the front of the proposal. The image will stick in the client’s mind as they read through the rest of the proposal. Have two favorite designs? Place your other preferred logo at the end of the proposal—images seen on the final page will leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Arrange a meeting with the client so you can discuss, face-to-face, the ideas behind each design. This also gives you first-hand knowledge of how the client reacts to each design, which can be helpful if you need to defend a particular design, or suggest refinements to a design that you like but they are less keen on. 

4. Get Accurate Feedback and Use It

Be Prepared for Disappointment... But Make Critique Constructive

The client is paying you to produce a good logo design, but that doesn’t mean they need to listen to all your advice. If they simply don’t like a design that you’re pushing for, don’t feel downcast. This is just a necessary part of the design process, and it may actually lead to focussing on a design that turns out to be a better reflection of their company identity. 

On the other hand, if you feel strongly that a particular design is perfect for the company and the client is not seeing eye-to-eye, be prepared to confidently but politely fight your corner. 

After all, you are the designer, and a client lacking an eye for design might need a bit of guidance. Explain your thinking behind the design, and justify it. Explain how the logo would present the company in a fresh light and reach a wider consumer market. 

Are there minor elements about the design that are off-putting to the client? Will a subtle change of color or type style make them change their mind? Don’t clam up and feel gutted if they don’t like a design from the outset; instead, offer constructive solutions to negative critique. 

Your final logo design will ultimately benefit from discussions like this and will be an accurate reflection of both your design skills and the client’s instinctive knowledge of their own company.

Get the Opinion of Many

It’s not just the CEO, managers or employees of the company who need to have an opinion about your logo before you finalize it. A logo design will be judged a success or failure by the target consumer, so make market research a key part of your refinement process. 

Work with the client to narrow down your designs to a few options, perhaps just three, in a range of subtly different colors and typefaces (if used), and present these to a sample of potential consumers. If the company has a dedicated market research team, make use of it!

Try to gauge the emotional response of the test sample to your logos—how do they feel about each design? Does it seem exciting or dull? Does it inspire trust or suspicion? Does the logo make the company look luxurious or budget-friendly? Is it immediately clear what industry the company is in, and what services they are likely to provide? If you adjust some design elements like color or typeface, is the response from the sample radically different? 

Avoid Family and Friends

Not in your daily life, of course, but in simply showing them your logo designs at this stage. Individuals who have emotional investment in you are less likely to be completely honest in their critique to spare your feelings. 

Your mum might be so bursting with pride that she’d even say that Yahoo's logo is amazing (when it clearly is not). 

It may be tempting to share your work with people you love, but try to keep it between you and the client for now.

Come to an Informed Decision

Based on both the client feedback and the feedback of the market sample, you should now be in a position to decide which logo design you’re going to refine further and develop into the final logo. 

Yes, you are the designer, but it’s the client who will ultimately have the final say (they’re paying you after all!). Your market research should lend support to the right decision and help to narrow down to one logo design.

5. Perfect Your Design

Choose Vector

Your logo needs to be scalable, and elements like color need to be easily editable by the client’s in-house design or marketing team. You should make sure your final logo design is in a vector format (.EPS or .AI), and you should use vector drawing software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW to achieve this. 

You can use your original design as a template for creating the final vector logo. Place the original design on a locked layer in the program and build your vector on top of this, using the image as a tracing aid. Although it’s not ideal, if you’re lacking in confidence with vector software, there are ways of ‘cheating’—try out the Image Trace window (Window > Image Trace) in Adobe Illustrator. The result might not look quite as fluid and natural, but it’s not bad at all. 

For more in-depth advice about which software to use for designing your logo, take a look at this article:

• Logo Design
  Which Software Should I Use for Logo Design?
  Grace Fussell

Discover how Roberlan Borges vectorized the logo for our in-house Design and Illustration team, 'Team Awesome':

• Logo Design
  Team Awesome: From Hand-Lettered Logotype to Vector in Adobe Illustrator
  Roberlan Borges

Incorporate the Company’s Branding

If the company has an existing brand, don’t dismiss it—try to adapt the logo to work seamlessly alongside the other brand elements, such as brand colors and fonts.

On the other hand, a new logo might be an opportunity to give the company’s whole brand identity a makeover. A client on a tight budget might be looking to avoid this, but others might be open to the idea. 

Either way, your logo is an integral part of the company’s brand identity, so you need to either adapt to an existing brand or propose a new one is created, using your logo design as a starting point.

Polish, Polish, Polish 

The devil’s always in the details, and with logo design this is certainly the case. Perfection doesn’t come easy, but continuing to refine your design until it's the best it’s going to be is the only way to make sure your logo will stand the test of time.

Look at making subtle tweaks to the logo, and create multiple versions of the same design. Tiny changes to color, typeface, and even kerning (see Google’s 2014 logo redesign) can transform your design for the better and make it absolutely perfect.

Expand Your Design

If you want your logo to be used successfully by the client, you should provide them with multiple versions of the same design that can be used for different purposes. 

Expand your finalized logo design into a horizontal format, which will work for letterheads and web banners...

... plus a vertical or square format for business cards and promo items...

... and finally see if you can transform your logo into a very simple icon, which will be perfect for favicons and social media.

The more flexibility and versatility that you give your logo design, the more likely it is to become indispensable to the company. They will be less likely to seek out a rebrand after a short time... which leads us to the sticky issue of rebranding, but it needn’t be a disappointing prospect...

6. Your Logo Design Checklist

Designing a logo can seem like a daunting task, but don’t panic! Follow this fail-safe checklist every time you tackle a new logo project, and see your designs come to life...

• Get to know your client and research their industry and competitors before drafting ideas.
• Brainstorm ideas with pencil and paper, and develop one unique idea per sheet.
• Aim for symbolism, distinctiveness and simplicity in your preliminary designs.
• Avoid abstract logos for local or small-scale businesses.
• Refine your ideas on the computer, using software that you feel comfortable with.
• Present a proposal document with your initial ideas to the client for feedback.
• Encourage constructive critique and test your ideas on a market sample.
• Vectorize your final design to make it scalable.
• Incorporate the company’s existing brand identity into the final design, if they have one.
• Polish the logo, making subtle tweaks until you are happy with the final look.
• Expand your design into a set of flexible, multi-use logos and icons and hand these over to the client.
• Don’t be afraid to rebrand if the logo dates or doesn’t meet original expectations.

Explore logo design in more depth with our selection of helpful tutorials:

• Logo Design
  How to Customize Logo Templates in Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW
  Mary Winkler
• Designing
  The Logo Design Process for Ultimate Potential
  Jacob Cass
• Web Roundups
  The Process of Designing a Killer Logo
  Jonathan
• Web Roundups
  10 Principles of the Logo Design Masters
  Chris Spooner

For this article in the international artist series we turn to Germany, featuring seven illustrators and designers who create fantastic work from digital paintings to textile design and more! I asked each artist how their country and culture inspired their work, and they delivered fantastic answers. Enjoy!

Cloudy Thurstag

Cloudy is an illustrator and designer in Berlin, Germany. Her work, which you can check out in her portfolio, is wonderfully stylized in muted tones and excellently designed. Check out a selection of it below!

Let it Be

"I guess where we're born will unconsciously influence creativity. Other countries always seem to be more interesting than our own, but with the world being so connected through the internet, you can be influenced by other nationalities, stories, music, photos, art, news, etc...

The Royal Tenenbaums

"It is my city rather than my country that influences my work. Berlin is a melting pot of nationalities and cultures. It's the big range of variety that keeps influencing my whimsical and urban work. It's the smells, sounds, places, landscape, and, of course, the faces I see every day [that influences me].

A Morning Without Coffee

"Where we come from is not everything that makes us who we are. Rather, it's what we absorb through ever day interactions in social networks, the ideas passed on to us, and the landscapes in our dreams."

Tom HRVB

Tom is an illustrator and street artist in Berlin, Germany. His work, which you can see more of in his portfolio, is so fun and humorous. I've selected a few pieces to share with you below.

Jungle Fever

"The influence of my country and its culture on my work becomes visible at a second glance. So, when developing characters, I consistently become addicted to a composition seeking order and harmony. In the end, the seemingly confused chaos is an elaborate system of shapes and colors, down to the last detail.

Spray, Spray, Spray

"Dental Demolition" Selected Walls

"The patience and cleanliness with which I accomplish my work are likely as a result of cultural influence. My colorful and odd compositions are rather contradictory to how I think of Germany. However, when implementing my ideas, stereotypes like order, cleanliness, and discipline become efficient in my work."

Elena Belokrinitski

Elena is a Russian-born textile designer and illustrator who moved to Berlin, Germany, last year. Her work, which you can check out in her portfolio, is vibrant and fun. Check out a small selection of it below!

Just Rhyse

"I am Russian-born, lived most of my life in Israel, and moved to Berlin only a year ago.  The move allowed me to finally take a courageous step of leaving my day job ( as a swimwear designer) and working for myself. Berlin is very good for freelancing, I think."

Paisleys

"You are in the middle of Europe and able to travel all around for shows and fairs. You have plenty of materials, inspirations, museums, a beautiful climate with very intense seasons, and generally a very relaxed atmosphere; it's easy to work by yourself here."

Tea House, Chinoiserie-Style Textile Design

"Because I am not German, but Russian and Israeli, most of my influence is drawn from those two. I am very disciplined and a hard worker, as a true Russian, and always finding alternative solutions for problem, as a typical Israeli. And Berlin gives a sense of a relaxed artistic atmosphere. It's much easier to be a freelancer here than in Israel, I think. 

"To sum it up, if you want to try freelancing as an independent artist or designer, Berlin is definitely the place to be. Plenty of galleries, events, and mixed culture allows you to blend in easily, and live and work creatively."

Barbara Dziadosz

Barbara is a Polish-born resident of Hamburg, Germany. Her work, which you can check out in her portfolio, takes on the look of vintage print-making with a whimsical style you're sure to enjoy. Check out a small selection below!

Fruity Patterns

"Germany is a country with a long and partly disturbing history, but also a country of immigration and hospitality. My family moved to Germany a long time ago and this has definitely influenced my point of view on a lot of things.

Illustrations November '15

Illustrations February '15

"Talking creatively I see no boundaries between countries. Especially with the internet it's fascinating to see what kind of illustrations have been created these days."

Santi Zoraidez

Santi is an Argentinian-born art director and designer living and working in Berlin, Germany. His work, which you can check out in his portfolio, is imaginative and makes such great use of texture, giving viewers a sense of tangibility with rendered work. Below you can check out a small selection of his work.

Android

"Before I moved to Germany in 2015 I lived in Copenhagen for two years. I think this is a great plus for my work. My artwork feels wild and colorful, with things I assume I kept from my home country, and also simple and bold.

Revolution Department

"I have always loved the design in Europe. Not just graphic design but also industrial and interior design and the way they use materials, color and typography. 

Berlin!

"Berlin is full of art and inspiration. Here are some of the best studios in the world with strong personalities and style. I'm lucky to here now and have this city influence my work!"

Marie Beschorner

Maria, aka Company of Wolves, is a freelance illustrator in Bielefeld, Germany. Her work, which you can check out in her portfolio, transports viewers into some of the sweetest scenes of nature. View a few selections of her work below!

A Tale of Crows and Foxes

"I never really thought a lot about my country when I was thinking about my art, but I just realized that there are things about Germany and its culture which actually have a strong impact on what I am doing.

Alexander Trout's Amazing Adventure

"On a cultural level there is this rich tradition of storytelling. There are the Grimms' Fairy tales for example, which are full with deep forests and enchanted beasts. Fairy tales are definitely a source of inspiration for my art and I believe that the tales which surrounded me during my childhood shaped my interest in this subject a lot.

Spring Is Coming!

"I also think that Germany offers a lot of beautiful and diverse landscapes. The Alps with their majestic mountains, the Black Forest, the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, or the open, low growing vegetation of the Heathlands, for example. 

"Nature is my overall topic and I doubt that I would have gotten such a deep connection to it without the appreciation of the nature surrounding me in this country."

Lara Paulussen

Lara is an illustration student in Hamburg, Germany. Her work, which you can check out in her portfolio, is fantastically textured and stylized, playing on fairy tale styles perfect for illustrated print work and more. You can enjoy a small selection of her work below!

Der Brauch im Remix

"My country has only an indirect kind of influence. My illustrations are very much influenced by what I see in daily life. 

Reise Durch Deutschland

"The landscapes, the plants, the people, the weather...If I would've grown up somewhere else the things I would've seen would have been different and therefore also my work.

Fairy Tales & Mythology

"I think my work has been kind of influenced by German fairy tales. I really loved to read those as a child and always try to create a bit of a fairy tale-like atmosphere on my pictures."

Many thanks to the wonderful artists featured above. You can follow them further around the web at the links below:

• Elena Belokrinitski
• Cloudy Thurstag
• Tom HRVB
• Lara Paulussen
• Marie Beschorner (Company of Wolves)
• Santi Zoraidez
• Barbara Dziadosz

Chrome text effects are used quite a lot in different design projects. This tutorial will show you how to use a couple of layer styles and texture images to create a very easy, 1950s-inspired, chrome text effect. Let's get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

• Dymaxion Script font
• Vintage retro car interior (Small) by deyangeorgiev
• Luxury vintage car side (Small) by ponsulak

1. Create the Background

Step 1

Create a new 600 x 350 px document. Place (File > Place Embedded) the Vintage retro car interior image on top of the Background layer, and resize it as needed.

Step 2

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and set the Radius to 10.

Step 3

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation.

Step 4

Click the Clip to layer icon, and change the Saturation value to -20.

2. Create the Text Layers

Step 1

Create the text using the font Dymaxion Script. The Color is #a4a4a4 and the Size is 150 pt.

Step 2

Duplicate the text layer, change the copy's Fill value to 0, and duplicate the copy layer.

3. Style the Original Text Layer

Double-click the original text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Technique: Chisel Hard
• Size: 7
• Gloss Contour: Cone
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
• Opacity: 50%
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 50%

Step 2

Add a Contour with these settings:

• Contour: Cone - Inverted
• Check the Anti-aliased box

Step 3

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Opacity: 90%
• Distance: 3
• Size: 7

This will style the first text layer.

4. Style the First Copy Text Layer

Double-click the first copy text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 7
• Gloss Contour: Rounded Steps
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
• Opacity: 50%
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 20%

Step 2

Add a Contour with these settings:

• Contour: Cove - Deep
• Check the Anti-aliased box

This will style the second text layer.

5. Style the Second Copy Text Layer

Double-click the second copy text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 7
• Gloss Contour: Ring - Double
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
• Opacity: 70%
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 20%

Step 2

Add a Contour with these settings:

• Contour: Cone
• Check the Anti-aliased box

Step 3

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Opacity: 70%
• Distance: 3
• Size: 7

This will style the last text layer, adding more details and finishing off the chrome-like effect.

6. Add the Text Texture

Step 1

Add the Luxury vintage car side image on top of all layers and rename its layer to Text Texture. Resize it as needed, and then Command-click a text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.

Step 2

Click the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to remove the parts of the texture outside the text selection.

If you want to move the texture around, you can click the link icon between the layer and mask thumbnails to remove it, and then click the layer's thumbnail, and move the texture inside the mask.

Step 3

Change the Text Texture layer's Blend Mode to Color Burn and its Opacity to 30%.

You can pick the Move Tool to move the texture until you like the result you get.

The texture will add some nice coloring and detailing to the effect, and make it look more realistic.

7. Adjust the Coloring of the Final Result

Step 1

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon and choose Gradient Map.

Step 2

Choose the Violet, Green, Orange gradient fill and check the Dither box.

Change the adjustment layer's Blend Mode to Color and its Opacity to 15%.

This will add a more vintage-like feeling to the final result.

Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we used a stock image to create a simple background for our text effect. Then we created a couple of text layers and styled them to achieve the chrome-like effect.

After that, we used another stock image to add some subtle texturing and detailing to the chrome text. Finally, we added a gradient map adjustment layer to create a more vintage-like coloring for the final result.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.

Whether you’re looking for a position with a new company or looking to collaborate on big projects as a specialist, one thing’s for sure: You’re going to need a resume. And not just any old resume, of course. If you want to stand out in today’s marketplace with a memorable first impression that opens doors, you’re going to need a resume website.

A whole website just for your resume? Yes. And with the slew of amazing resume website templates available nowadays, it’s much easier to create that you may think. So let’s get to it.

Why You Need a Resume Website

If you’re a creative working in one of the many (and expanding) digital fields such as web design, graphic design, web development, coding, animation, photography, or music production, among many others, then the necessity of an online resume should be pretty self-evident. You can’t form part of the digital workplace without a digital identity card. That would be like a journalist trying to gain backstage access to an exclusive event without a press pass—not going to happen!

Web resumes, however, haven’t quite substituted a traditional paper resumes (yet!), and it’s important to understand their use and role in today’s marketplace so you can select the right online resume template for your needs.

What to Include On Your Resume Website

Web resumes are versatile tools that can serve many purposes.

To begin with, you can place the link to your online website on your regular resume that most employers ask for. But not to showcase the same resume in HTML format rather than Word or PDF. That would be pointless. The reason to add the link to your resume website would be to showcase things you can’t show on your regular resume.

For example, if you’re a web developer, web designer, or video editor, you can’t really showcase your work on a traditional resume. But on your online resume you can include screenshots, live links to websites, and even videos you created for easy and direct access.

There are, moreover, employers who’ve already started requesting that applicants submit online resumes. That means your resume website shouldn’t simply be an addition or an afterthought to your “regular” resume. It should be a stand-alone piece containing all the information that a proper and complete resume needs to convey in order to get you hired.

But there’s an even more important reason why you need to create a resume website today. And it’s called Google. What do you think is the first thing a future employer or an HR manager will do once your name makes it passed the first slush pile of resumes and into the shortlisted candidates? Google you, of course! 

And no, they won’t (simply) be looking to see if you have any “inappropriate” photos on social media, or if your name comes up in relation to any suspicious activity. They’ll be mostly looking to get a glimpse of you—trying to better understand who you are and what you do and whether you may be a good fit for their company culture.

But letting the fragmented representation of yourself on social media and other online resource do the talking means taking a big risk. Because that haphazard pastiche of yourself that Google turns up probably doesn’t correspond to the real and professional you. The best thing you can do, instead, is take things into your own hands by creating a resume website for yourself containing all the right information in one place.

So how should you create this increasingly important document that can potentially open many online doors for you? By finding and selecting the best online resume template for your personality and purposes and customizing it to your specific style!

And below I have 7 creative resume ideas to help you get started with making your own online resume. All of the resume ideas come with example screenshots and links to online resume templates that you can begin customizing right away!

Creative Resume Website Ideas

1. The Sectioned One-Pager

Since your resume is the story of you, the first resume idea I’d like to propose is the one-page resume that’s based on the popular website style called parallax. Now as you know, a single web page can be a thousand miles long, if you want to, so don’t worry about your resume being too short.

The benefits of the one-pager is that it allows you to tell your story to the viewer in a specific order. Whether you want to start with your professional achievements, your education, your previous positions and collaborations, or some interesting fact about yourself, it’s up to you. But by choosing the scrolling one-page resume idea, you’re choosing to say something important about the order in which you present your story.

That’s not to say of course, that scrolling should be the only navigation of your web resume. That would simple be annoying and impractical. Your online resume template should still provide a menu to help viewers quickly and easily navigate to specific places on your page.

In the one page resume template below, the static menu at the top provides an anchored navigation, while the alternating background colors help break up the long page into easily viewable and digestible sections that the visitor can take in with a glance.

Not a big fan of much too much color and fanfare? This personal one page resume website template allows you to implement the same idea in a sleeker version that still adds a dash of color (of your choice) to a clean, modern design.

2. The Timeline

Another creative resume idea is to build your resume website using a timeline. Something like the old facebook newsfeeds, if you remember those.

The benefits of the timeline is that you can build quite a rigorous storyline for your viewer to follow. Perhaps there’s much to be said about the development of your work and career, or maybe you want to outline the outstanding path of your education. Whatever it is, the timeline structure of this structured resume template can offer your reader a line to follow on your story, but in a more flexible and even “messier” layout than the parallax style.

3. The Tiles

But what if your story isn’t so structured? Or maybe your entire thesis as a creative rests on deconstruction and broken storylines? Then neither of the resume ideas above will serve you well.

The wonderful thing about resume websites, however, is that unlike paper resumes you can structure them any way you want. And tiles is one of your many creative options.

Have a look for example, at the tiles on this responsive resume template that allow viewers to choose their own journey through your resume by clicking what interests them most.

Want an even more tiled experience? How about breaking up your face or a featured work you’ll choose as your cover photo into the menu tiles? You can easily do so with this interactive, online cv/resume template.

4. The Slide

Don’t fancy all that scrolling and want to offer a more “grounded” experience? How about staying “put” on the page and simply doing a left-to-right slide with your content? This way you can keep your reader’s attention focused to just that one page at a time and the information it contains.

In the online resume template featured below, you can choose a nice image of yourself as the backdrop to your information to emphasize the connection to the details of what make you a real person.

5. The Dancing Resume

Another awesome feature the web provides and paper doesn’t is movement and animation. If you’re a high-energy person, or in general identify with movement in your work and life, why not choose a resume website template that subtly communicates this aspect of yourself?

In the resume website template below, which is built similarly to the sectioned one-pager we saw above, all the elements come sliding in or popping up onto the screen as the reader scrolls down. They really capture the attention creating a fun and unique experience!

Want even more action? Check out this creative resume template that literally drop out of nowhere (including the profile pic!). This template also features color-changing photos that go from black-and-white to colorful when mousing over them.

More of a “riser” than a “dropper”? Check out this fun and colorful online resume where all the elements surface from below as you scroll down. This resume website template also displays an animated mouse-over picture feature, but this time the selected colorful pictures gets a slight grey film over it.

6. The Screen Play

Looking for creative ways to break up the screen view for a new experience? How about a mixture of a stable page and scrolling parts all in one?

Check out how the menu of online resume template of responsive resume and portfolio template builds itself up as the user goes along! That means you have to go through the experience as presented but can also choose to jump around later to what interested you the most. Quite brilliant!

The next online resume template example also includes a nice play with images as the tiles in the main beehive formation open up when clicked to offer more information.

7. In Full Swing

Another thing that paper can’t do? Play video of course!

So why not use your resume website to feature a short video about yourself or your work? Video playing capabilities can play a definitive role in the presentation of the work of people who create and produce videos. But it can also serve other creatives who want to showcase their fun and friendly personality, or even those who want to make a video with finished products of their work.

The creative, online resume template below opens with a fullscreen video of your choice and a discreet menu that allows the viewer to focus on the video undistracted before moving on to other sections of your resume.

Don’t want your video to feature so prominently? This bold template allows you to link videos into your portfolio with a play button ready to go when the viewer scrolls over them. The videos open in a pop-up box allowing comfortable viewing.

Do You Need a Resume Website?

How will you build your resume website? And which creative idea do you consider most important to showcase your work and personality to future employers? Have a look through the online CV and resume templates on GraphicRiver to find the best fit for you to stand out online.

To coincide with the release of "Grease: Live" in 2016 I will be creating a piece of fan art inspired by the 1978 "Grease".

Here's what I will be covering:

• creating a rough background to draw the focus to the characters and create a light source
• rendering the characters using three textured brushes from the Gouache & Acrylic Photoshop Brushes
• showing tips and tricks of blending modes, masking and layer effects
• a little chat about colour choices and brush stroke economy—getting the brushes to do most of the work for you!

This tutorial will also include a low-resolution, smaller version of the .psd with just the flats and sketch so you can have a go on your own! 

Assets

For this illustration I will be referencing the film Grease. The assets I have used for this illustration are:

Brushes from Envato Market 

• Gouache & Acrylic Photoshop Brushes

Specifically: Sponge_Acrylic_ArtistMef hereon referred to as Brush A.

The Liquid_Acrylic_2_ArtistMef hereon referred to as Brush B.

and the Medium_Dense_Acrylic_ArtistMef hereon referred to as Brush C.

Along with this stock image from Envato Market:

• Beach Sunset 

... and this Poster Mockup set.

1. Set Up Your Illustration

As this tutorial is about rendering using acrylic and gouache brushes and colour choices, I have prepared a sketch. This is based on the start of the film Grease where Danny & Sandy are having a romantic moment on the beach. I wanted to capture the soppiness of the moment, so I drew the couple in a heart shape—Danny's hair was a fantastic help to the composition! 

I have kept the characters and the background on their own layers so I can focus on each element independently. 

Unless you intend to use the line art in your finished illustration, this part can be lovely and loose. The whole piece should have a spontaneous feel to it, so please do not spend too long perfecting your idea!

Set your line art Blending Mode to Multiply in the drop-down at the top of the Layers panel.

The document was set to Width: 420mm, Height: 420mm, Resolution: 300PPI (Pixels/Inch) and Color Mode to CMYK (For print).

2. Brief Flats Overview

Flatting is a process I use for every illustration I do. I cover this in most of my Envato Tuts+ tutorials. A particularly good example is in my Create a Digital Painting of a Zombie From Scratch in Adobe Photoshop tutorial. 

For Danny and Sandy plus the sunset, I have painted the flats in shades of grey as I have not decided on my final palette. Here I have used Brush C. This is so you can make sure the shapes are appropriately defined.

3. Colour Choices

Below you can see the final colour choices I went for with Danny and Sandy's moment of Summer Loving. To fill your flats, use the Paint Bucket Tool (G) set to your chosen colour, ensure that Lock Transparency is set on the layer, and simply fill by clicking your pen or mouse. 

My thought process from this was to reference the feel of the scene from the film with warm tones and generally feel-good colours. I also loved the oranges and rust colours in this Beach Scene image.

My choices for the shirts was a sky blue. Although Sandy's top is white in this scene, I made the base match Danny's blue shirt. This means as I layer highlights onto her shirt I can make it appear whiter and still feel part of the piece with a strong colour relationship to Danny's shirt. This also translates into making the couple seem unified. Although not shown here, the actors both have grey-blue eyes, so I will be picking from the blue later.

I kept Sandy's skin tone slightly warmer than Danny's, as she has blonde hair and Danny has a cooler complexion which complements his majestic black quiff.

At the beginning I like to keep my colours fairly neutral in tone, especially with hair as it's easier to paint in layers of brighter and darker hues. 

Next I will move on to my colour choices for the shadow and highlights and talk about how and why I use Multiply and Soft LightLayer Blending Modes.

4. Multiply and Soft Light Layer Blending Modes

As a rule I have found that I like to use Multiply layer blending modes for shadows and Soft Light for highlights. This can vary from piece to piece, so have a play and see what works best for you. 

The colours I will be using for this are a deep burgundy red and a cooler variant for shadows, and for highlights an orange, a warm peach and a pale yellow. Here's how the colours appear over our character colour flats. I think these will end up working great as the highlights really convey warmth and love!

5. Sandy's Base Shadows

Step 1

Here we have Sandy's colour flats. Over each flat I have created a New Layer which is set to Clipping Mask and the layer Blending Mode to Multiply. For these shadows I have picked the redder purple and Brush C set to 80% opacity.

Step 2

On the clipping layer above the shirt, I begin to paint in the shadows of the shirt. Rule of thumb is that these shadows fall on the furthest edge away from the light source. To get a good rough texture, use your stylus lightly and build up areas. 

Step 3

Next, to ensure I get Sandy's bone structure correct, I make her line art layer visible. Taking the same Brush C and purple, I boldly paint in strong strokes in her eye socket, below her cheekbone, under her hairline and under her chin. Be bold with your marks! It will make the most of the brushes. For the less bold, remember you can always press Control-Z to undo!

Step 4

Here I add a tiny amount of definition under her lips. I set the brush's opacity to 100% as I wanted a strong contrast to draw the viewer's attention.

Step 5

On Sandy's hair Multiply layer, I have very messily painted in the dark areas. I know she looks brunette here, but bear with me. These darker tones will help her blonde really pop! 

To tidy the area up, I create a mask by clicking the Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, which is a rectangle with a circle. Here I paint out shadow from the areas that face the light.

Step 6

Next, to aid my painting later, I select all of Sandy's layers (by clicking all the layers while holding Shift) and drag them to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, which is a square with the corner turned. Next I press Control-E to merge all these layers. This is to make painting the highlights stage and doing future effects much easier, plus we have the original layers if we require them.

Next we move on to Danny's shadows!

6. Danny's Base Shadows

Step 1

Before I get started on Danny's shadows, I need to make a slight edit to his sideburn. I felt that adding the strokes would give a funky graphic quality to his hair, but I feel it's already awesome enough so I remove them with the Eraser which is E on your keyboard.

Step 2

As with Sandy, I have Danny's shadow layers already set up. These are the layers with the blue tabs. I start off with the back of his neck, his eye socket, the edge of his nose and corner of his mouth. Remember, shadows are on the opposite side to the light source.

Step 3

Even if a man's face is freshly shaven, there will be a slight bluer tone on the lower part of his face. This is due to the hair follicles under the skin. To achieve this, I paint in the stubble using grey-blue on a new clipping layer under the skin shadow layer. I want this to be messy, so remember to take advantage of the brush's texture! 

Step 4

Our Danny is looking a little rough, so I take the opacity of the stubble layer to 29%. Looking much more cool now!

Step 5

Go through all the layers, adding in the purple shadows. Keep the colour the same so the whole piece is unified. Loving the hard, graphic lines I can get with Brush C!

Step 6

As with Sandy, collect all your Danny layers and drag them to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel (which is a square with the corner turned). Next I press Control-E to merge all these layers.

Next, move Danny and Sandy's layers together and merge them. Select both by clicking and holding Shift, and then press Control-E to merge. 

Here are your base shadows ready for the base highlight application. Let's start off with Sandy.

7. Sandy's and Danny's Base Highlights

For the base highlights I am using Brush C at 100% opacity and a pale yellow on a Soft Light layer. I have been bold with these strokes and focused them around where I want the viewer's attention: the gaze. I have pulled the layer's opacity down to around 80% for a less harsh effect. 

As Danny's hair is slicked back and glossy, the shadows are not too pronounced, but the highlight areas will really need to pop. Glossiness is shown by high contrast to the surrounding area with bright highlights (which we will add later). I've also painted a highlight round the back of Danny's head to show the volume of his awesome do.

Here's how Sandy and Danny are looking without the line art. See how the forms are now becoming more readable!

8. Create the Loose Background

Now we have painted in as much as we can without having the light from the background, so let's move on to painting in that glorious sunset! 

This is our stock image from PhotoDune. I love the colours and how the sun catches the clouds and the ripples of the ocean—perfect for Sandy and Danny. 

Step 1 

Here I've picked some colours from our reference image by holding Alt to bring up the eyedropper while using the brush. I've kept this rough and quick as I want the focus to be on Danny and Sandy. 

Step 2

On a New Layer set to Clipping Mask above the sky base layer, I colour pick some of the sea and beach colours (the purples) and brush them across the top. Brush B is perfect for this and creates a wonderful chalky, subtle atmospheric texture.

Down towards the horizon, I colour pick some of the pale yellow and tease that across the sky. 

Step 3

Now we paint the lower edge of clouds with the bright yellow bounce light from the sun. Use vertical strokes to show the light going upwards. 

Note: All these layers are set to Lock Transparent Pixels, which can be activated from the chequerboard at the top of the Layers panel.

Step 4

We need a bit of ethereal glow to the clouds, so I am going to show you an easy way to do it! 

Duplicate the clouds layer and double click the bottom layer. This will bring up the Layer Style dialogue box.

Select Blending Options: Custom and set Fill Opacity to 0% and check the box which says Layer Mask Hides Effects. This is a crucial step!

Step 5

Next select the Outer Glow setting and set the colour to a warm orange.

This will create a solid line of glow around the cloud, which is what we do not want. On a mask layer, paint out areas where you do not want the glow to appear. This is only possible if the Layer Mask Hides Effects box is checked.

Step 6

Paint a slight bright-yellow gradient on the sun for heat.

Step 7

In the Outer Glow settings, click on the coloured square below Noise to change the glow colour. For the glow, pick a peachy orange.

Step 8

Back in the Outer Glow settings, set Opacity to 95%, Noise to 0% and the Size to 169 px.

Ooh, summer sun, something's begun! Check it out! Look how warm that now looks!

Step 9

Next, we paint in the sun's reflection using a burnt orange over the sea layer. Make sure to paint strokes in perspective to give the ocean some depth.

Step 10

For the finishing touches, paint in some small dots and waves using the darker yellow from the sun. Next, we add some very pale yellow along the shore edge for where the waves meet the sand.

9. Create Sandy's Hair

Painting hair is a very organic process. These brushes are great as you can create large sweeps of colour. For the midtone highlights, I have used a pale yellow and Brush C to sweep colour in the direction the hair goes in. I also change the opacity to somewhere between 20-40%, which works along with the brushes' built-in pressure settings. 

I constantly change the size of my brush by pressing the [ and ] keys. As I add strong highlights to the edge of the fringe, I increase the opacity of the brush to around 80%.

For the extreme edge highlight, feel free to colour pick the brightest part of the sun by pressing Alt while you have the brush selected.

Add in random wispy lines for fly-aways—even Sandy's hair wouldn't be perfect after a day of frolicking on the beach with a handsome young man! I love how these brushes are creating a chalky feel. Practice moving the stylus to get the most of the textures in these brushes.

10. Create Danny's Hair

Here I use narrow, bright strokes of intense, very pale yellow to create shine using Brush B. I love painting hair! You can go as crazy as you like, and I find it very soothing. 

Step 1

I've colour picked the dark of Danny's hair (by pressing Alt while having the brush selected) and I add in some dots and stray, overlapping hair onto the skin on the side of his head, his eyebrows and his sideburns. This helps to connect the hair with the head. You can also pick the skin tone from around the area and draw into the hair to break up the hard edge.

Step 2

Move on to his sideburns and at the nape of his neck. Keep it rough, keep it loose!

11. Detail the Eyes and Mouths

Use browns for details such as the eyes, edges of the nose and the smile. Do not use black as that is far too harsh for the look we are trying to create. Even the pupils are not black but a dark grey-blue.

Add highlights to the underside of lashes and everything that the light hits from below. I have not used pure white highlights: like black, these will overpower the picture. Pick colours from around the scene to keep everything unified.

12. Detail the Clothing

Step 1

The clothing does not need a lot, but the edges of Danny's collar would catch the light. Add some yellow to these and a pale yellow over his t-shirt.

Remember: Colour pick from colours already on the canvas to unify them. Introducing new colours at this stage will throw the piece off. 

Step 2

Moving on to Sandy's top, I kept it simple and added a pale yellow streak down the front using a large Brush C. This took me a few goes to get right. In Photoshop, click Control-Z to Undo.

13. Darkest Shadows: Illuminating Using Shade

At this point I have flattened Danny and Sandy's layers to have both of them in one layer. I did this as I wish to have the deeper shadows as a blanket layer that I then pull their features out of using a mask. I want the lighting to be soft, yet picking out key parts of their faces.

Step 1

Create a New Layer and fill it with the cooler shadow colour. Right click and select Create Clipping Mask. Then set the blending mode to Multiply.

Step 2

Here I feel the shadows are a bit too cold, so I press Control-Shift-U to bring up Hue/Saturation and make the plum a more berry hue. 

Step 3

Here I have reduced the berry shadow colour and I am beginning to mask out areas with Brush A. This will help to give a soft, romantic feel to the edges. Notice how I have made Danny's edges sharper than Sandy's. Generally speaking, male faces tend to be more angular than female.

Step 4

Here I have cheated a little and used one of Photoshop's default soft brushes in the mask to give the feeling of delicate sunlight catching their faces. I have concentrated this around their neck and lower faces—the black areas in the mask show where the light is shining through. The brush's opacity has been set fairly low at 15% so I can gradually pull out their features.

This is my preferred method for painting in light, as I feel I can control the direction more easily and create more drama. If you try this technique, please let me know how you get on!

14. Finishing Touches

The last thing I do to this piece is smooth out a section of Sandy's cheek with a Photoshop default soft brush. On a low opacity at 15%, I colour pick some of the skin tone and gently blend any harsh edges using a circular motion. 

I'm really happy with how the artwork has turned out, but I feel the heart is a little lop-sided. I would prefer the heads to be a little more balanced.

Step 1

Duplicate Danny and Sandy's layers by holding Shift while clicking on the character and shadow layers. Then drag these layers to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a copy.

Step 2

Merge the copied layers by pressing Control-E.

Step 3

To give us a little more room to play with, I wish to increase the size of the document by 25%. To bring up Canvas Size, press Alt-Control-C. Here I change the unit to Percent and make the width and height 125%. Ensure that the Anchor is set to the centre and click OK.

This will make the document look like this:

Step 4

Select the Polygon Lasso Tool (L) and select the whole Sandy layer. Press Control-X to Cut her out and Control-Shift-V to Paste her in place on a new layer.

Step 5

Press Control-T to bring up the Transform controls and turn Sandy in a little, and increase her size until the couple look a little more balanced.

Step 6

Here I have changed the layer order to bring Danny to the front.

Step 7

With Danny selected, press Control-T to transform and turn him so the composition is more pleasing. Press Enter to finalise the scaling.

Step 8

Here a little part of the background is sticking out through the back of the characters. To quickly fix this, I create a mask on the background folder and paint black in the area I wish to hide.

Awesome! That's Our Summer Lovin' Illustration Completed

To give context to the final design, I downloaded this poster mockup template from Envato Market. Presenting digital artworks like this can make your work more sellable.

In this tutorial you have learned how to create a rough background to draw the focus to the characters and create a light source, how to render the characters using textured brushes, and how to utilise blending modes, masking and layer effects to your advantage!

I've really enjoyed painting this piece. I would love to see what you create.

Remember to check out all the fantastic Envato Tuts+ Design and Illustration Tutorials! 

Today’s tutorial is part of the Grease-inspired series that will try to bring a little of the 50s back to life. Believe me, it’s going to be awesome. 

In this tutorial I’m going to take you through the step-by-step approach of recreating the iconic logo that Danny Zuko and his boys wear during the movie, using some of Illustrator’s basic shapes and the powerful Pen Tool.

In the end we will see how the logo would look when it's applied onto a nice black T-shirt using one of the many available mock-ups from Envato Market.

1. Set Up the Document

Since the idea behind the project is to be able to recreate and then use the final product as a print or patch on an actual piece of clothing, we will have to make sure that we create a document that is intended for that kind of a job. 

So, assuming you already have Illustrator up and running, start by creating a New Document, either by going to File > New or by using the Control-N keyboard shortcut, and then let’s go through some of the settings that you’ll need to adjust:

• Number of Artboards: 1
• Width: 24 cm
• Height: 24 cm
• Units: Centimeters

And from the Advanced tab:

• Color Mode: CMYK (since we’re creating with the intent of printing the final result)
• Raster Effects: High (300ppi)
• Align New Objects to Pixel Grid: disabled (since this time we’re going to keep things looser)

2. Layer the Document

We’re going to use a couple of layers, since the logo itself will be white, which would be kind of hard to create without a background since the Artboard itself is also white. We will also need to use a couple of guide lines to help us position the different elements that make up the design.

So, bring up the Layers panel, and create three layers and name them as follows:

• background
• guide lines
• reference images
• actual design

3. Set Up the Reference Grids

Once we have our layers, make sure to position yourself onto the guide lines one, and then let’s divide our Artboard into a couple of sections in order to get a sense of where things need to go.

Step 1

First, turn on your Rulers by pressing Control-R, and then drag a horizontal line and align it to the top of the Artboard using the Align panel's Vertical Align Top function.

Quick Tip: By default, the Distribute Spacing and Align To options are hidden, which means that you will have to click on the little down-facing arrow from the panel's top right corner and enable Show Options.

Step 2

Next, select the guide and hit Enter in order to bring up the Move tool panel which will allow us to position the guide at a specified distance.

Now, since we only want to move it vertically, we will leave the Horizontal value field at 0 and enter 16.2 into the Vertical one.

As soon as you hit Enter, Illustrator will reposition the guide using the values that we’ve just entered. We will use the same steps to position the second horizontal guide and the vertical one.

Step 3

Create a second horizontal guide, and position it vertically at about 10 px from the top side of the Artboard.

Step 4

Using the Vertical Ruler, drag to create the third and last guide, which we will position 18 cm from the left side of the Artboard. Since this time we will be moving the guide horizontally, input the value into the Horizontal value field, leaving the Vertical one set to 0 cm.

Once you’re done positioning your guides, you should have something like this.

4. Add the Background

First, make sure that you’re on the background layer, and then use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a 24 x 24 cm black (C: 0%, M: 0%, Y: 0%, K: 100%) square and center it both vertically and horizontally to the Artboard.

Now, keep in mind that the background itself will be used only as a visual aid system designed to help you create the logo itself, and will not be part of the final print file.

5. Create the Actual Logo

From this point on, you can lock all the other layers except for the one titled "actual design", since we will be focusing on building the iconic logo, and we will do that by working on the letter “T”.

Step 1

Start building the “T” by creating a 5.6 x 1 cm white rectangle, which we’ll use as the base, and position it just above the second horizontal guide towards the center of the surface created by it and the vertical guide.

Step 2

Create a 3.2 x 10 cm rectangle, and position it just above the base, making sure to align the taller shape to its center. In typography, this section of the letter is known as the “stem”, and it represents the main, usually vertical stroke of a letter form.

Step 3

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 12.4 x 1.8 cm shape and position it towards the top of the stem (the vertical shape that we created in the previous step).

Step 4

Draw two 1.6 x 1.4 cm rectangles, and position them underneath the top line of the letter, one on each side.

Step 5

Since the letter itself uses a serif type style, we will have to add the top and bottom serifs to the main horizontal lines, by drawing them using the Pen Tool (P).

Once you’ve added the serifs, select all of the letter’s elements and group them using the Control-G keyboard shortcut.

Step 6

Once we’ve finished working on the “T”, we can start working on the bottom section of the logo, which houses the word “birds”.

Now, to be honest, I tried finding a premade font that we could grab and use, but I haven’t managed to find one. So this part of the process will require us to grab a reference image of the actual logo, and vector trace the letters using Illustrator’s Image Trace tool.

First download the image and place it onto the reference images layer.

I recommend that you lock the topmost layer, since it might get in the way, and then select the image and go to the Image Trace panel and click on Preview to make your trace visible. Then, simply play around with all of the different settings until you get a smooth enough trace of the bird's letters.

Quick Tip: By default, Illustrator doesn’t show the Trace Tool panel, which means that you will have to go over to the Window top menu and click on Image Trace to make it visible.

Once you’re happy with your trace, click on the Expand button located on the top bar, next to Tracing Result. In a couple of seconds, Illustratorwill transform your reference image into a vector, allowing us to remove certain bits and pieces.

Step 7

Now, the problem is that we only want the bottom letters, since we already have the “T”, and we will recreate the bird by tracing over the image using the Pen Tool (P) since this way we’ll have a much cleaner shape.

So, using the Direct Selection Tool (A), click and select all five letters while holding down Shift, and create a copy (Control-C) which we will paste (Control-F) over the actual design layer. Then, simply remove all the other elements of the traced images by selecting and deleting them using Delete.

At this point, I’m probably sure that some of you might be saying, “Well, you could have traced the entire image and used that as the actual logo." But that would have taken all of the fun out the project, and it wouldn’t have ended up looking so good, since the Trace Tool can only do so much when it comes to creating clean lines.

Step 8

So we now have all the letters, but we’re missing the little bird silhouette, which we will need to create by placing another copy of the reference image, and tracing over it using the powerful Pen Tool (P).

For this task, I recommend you set your fill color to blank, and choose something that is easily visible for the stroke, since you will be staring for some time at it, which could make you dizzy if the contrast with the background is really hard.

Since we want it to look good, take your time and adjust the final trace by selecting the different anchor points and adjusting their handles until you get a nice smooth line.

It’s been a while since I’ve played around with the Pen Tool (P), and although my trace might not be perfect, I think it’s good enough since the original shape has a hand-drawn feeling to it.

Quick Tip: Now, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could create your own version of the bird, but for this example I decided to keep it in line with the original.

Step 9

Now, once you have your finished trace, flip its Stroke with its Fill by pressing Shift-X, and set the color to white.

As you can see, I’ve positioned my bird so that its head touches the first horizontal guide, while its bottom right tail feather slightly touches the intersection created by the two guides.

Step 10

Finally, the last missing details that we need to add are the quote marks that go on each side of the “T”.

To create them, select the Pen Tool (P) and draw some simple diagonal lines using a thicker Stroke Weight with a Round Cap and you’re pretty much done.

That Was It!

So there you have it—an almost exact replica of the original logo of the movie that made history with its characters and charm.

If you’re wondering which mock-up I’ve used for the final project preview, it’s one of the numerous ones available over at Envato Market in the Product Mock-Ups category. Most of them are really easy to use and come pre-packed with an instructional file, a couple of different backgrounds, and options that can make any logo pop. So make sure you check them out, since you never know when you might need one.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and managed to learn something new along the way.

You don't have to have lived through an era to understand its design aesthetic. Here are 10 tips for creating fantastic 1950s-inspired designs, from illustrations to icons to photos. We'll explore shapes, colors, patterns, textures, and more! Let's get to know what makes a design fit in with retro style!

1. Choose Your When and Where

This one's easy for this article: 1950s America. The principles of this article, though, remain the same for any decade or era. Once you know when and where you want to place your design work, you can then draw upon its design aesthetic to add classic and well-understood references into your work. 

Think of it this way: when you choose an era to draw upon for design inspiration, you're suddenly giving your work a context in which to exist. 

Let's take a look at the kitchen render above. Note the colors, patterns, textures, shapes, and technology showcased. Most everything in the image points to the 1950s as being the setting for this scene. From the mint cabinets to the bright red vinyl and chrome kitchen accessories, you can get a real sense of what 1950s-inspired design may contain. 

By choosing your "when" and "where", you'll be able to create your design's context for viewers, giving you more to work with when sourcing inspiration for era-centric work.

2. Consider Your Color Palette

Your color palette alone can change a modern design to something inspired by years past. In terms of 1950s design, colors were often muted, with reds, teals, mints, and taupe tones being used often. Using these colors in your design is especially beneficial when you're trying to make it obviously inspired by the decade to your viewers or clients.

Note the swatches above and how many instances of teal, yellow-orange, red, and neutral tones there are. This palette was inspired by the first image in this article and is a good starting point for some colors used heavily within the decade. Notice that while there are some bright colors, you're not likely to find palettes overly saturated and filled with rainbows as you would with the 60s, or filled with pastels and neons like the 1980s.

You'll see hints of those things to come, but this decade's design sense is more closely related to the Art Deco era of the 1920s than it is to the psychedelic design aesthetic of the following decade. It's also important to note that depending on where you are in the world, color palettes for particular eras may differ.

3. Work With Appropriate Shapes

The image below is an excellent example of what sort of shapes were common with graphic design in the 1950s. Lots of rounded corners and fun sharp angles point the viewer's eye in the direction of more design or an advertisement's copy.

Lights were used a lot in signage in the 1950s. Note how much this design element is being used above. Metal, chrome, painted metal, lights, and other resources that would've previously been caught up in war efforts were suddenly free to be used in advertising, products, and various industries relating to design and designers.

You'll also see these shapes in the products and various technology from the decade. Think about the kitchen we looked at previously and how rounded the corners of the table, refrigerator, and breadbox were. If those edges were squared off, the kitchen would look far more modern than the cute and quaint style of the 50s. 

Another shape style to note is found with various styles of four-sided figures. It's not all rectangles and squares in the speech balloons above. Instead, there are various angled objects, some asymmetrical and some more diamond-like. As we run through this list of design elements, I'll make a note of additional, common shapes used throughout the decade.

4. Use Patterns in Retro Design

Coordinating patterns were used in a variety of design in the 1950s. From textiles to wallpaper to notepaper, patterns were meant to complement the design of the world around them. If a chair was upholstered with a patterned material, chances are the carpet, foot stool, walls, lights, and other furniture and accessories around it matched some of the color or shapes within it.

Geometric patterns were in style. In the image below, I've gathered a few examples of retro-inspired patterns that make great use of angles, circles, and sparkle-like design elements. Note the color palette as well: plenty of reds, mints, and neutral colors again.

Sparkles, ornaments, four-sided figures, and elements of nature were all commonplace in patterns used in retro design. If you're illustrating a room, for example, or a fashion drawing, knowing what sort of elements would be found within patterns keeps your design from looking out of place (or out of time).

5. Give Your Design Some Texture

A common way of giving something an instantly retro touch is to include some sort of texture. Whether it's paper, the look of an old photograph, or some sort of fabric like tweed, adding texture to an image makes it seem more tangible or even just old.

If the viewer feels as if they found your design in an attic or as if they could reach out and touch it because it doesn't look digitally created, you're much closer to creating a vintage design aesthetic than you would be if you left texture out of it. 

While the easiest way to create artwork with texture is to use traditional media (canvas, textiles, and paper all create fantastic bases for textured artwork), using a digitally created or scanned texture can do the trick to morph a modern design into a rather retro one. 

Note the textures above for their look of textiles common to yesteryear. Doing research on what sort of materials were commonplace in the decade you'd like to place your design aesthetic will do wonders for giving your work context in the minds of your viewers.

6. Use Appropriate Fonts and Typographic Styles

We've had a preview of typographic design styles of the 50s with the speech balloon signs used to discuss shapes. Noting those icons and the sweet Valentine's card design below, it's obvious slab serif fonts, script fonts, and sans-serif fonts with small flourishes were all the rage. Most notably, these types of fonts remind me of the embroidery you'd find on a varsity jacket or other university-related typographic design.

You're not going to find a lot of gradients in typography like this. Instead it's a lot of outlines, offset printing styles, and additional graphic elements. This is likely due to the technology of the time and a lot of print design work being screen-printed, lino-printed, and done on printing presses still.

Other sources of typographic inspiration can be found in signage and advertising. Consider the classic diner, neon signs, pinstriping on cars, and the bouncing type often used to catch the eyes of the consumer. All of these inspirations can be found in a variety of retro typographic design and often serve as a good starting point for reference when creating this design style.

7. Use Era-Appropriate Imagery

I've mentioned a variety of elements that contribute to era-appropriate imagery, and I think the image below showcases several of them quite well. Note the vector texture, ornament style, script font style, colors, screen-printed look, and appearance of sparkle elements. 

It's not that these elements are always necessary, but it's that this looks like a design that could have been created in the 1950s (although not as a vector graphic, of course). The design itself doesn't betray the designer for their anachronistic design, and instead seems era-appropriate.

Other imagery to consider may include retro diner elements, poodle skirts, leather jackets, makeup of the era, plastic combs, cars, and various clothing elements, all of which we'll discuss in a bit more depth below.

If you are creating something that's just a slight reminder of the 1950s rather than something that looks as if it was created in the 1950s, then feel free to pick and choose elements from yesterday and today. But if you're illustrating an image showing a person in a specific setting, for instance, their world needs to match the era in which you're placing them, and you need to get to know what sort of images were created at the time as well as what people used to look like or dress like or do back then.

8. Use Era-Appropriate Technology

This is a big one and goes hand-in-hand with era-appropriate imagery. If you are illustrating a greeting card featuring a woman talking on a phone and it's supposed to be a 1950s-era housewife, she'd probably not be on a touch-tone phone or a cordless phone, seeing as they didn't exist at the time. Instead, she'd use a rotary phone like the vector illustration below.

While anachronisms can be filed under "artist's license" for whether or not they fit into a design, if your client is expecting something to only feature technology of a certain era (such as the retro kitchen from the beginning of this article), then including a microwave, which wasn't really in households across America until the late 1960s, would be a huge mistake. Even if it seems silly, knowing what sort of technology has its place in history can be a boost to your design work.

9. Dress and Style Hair for the Decade

While it may be difficult to pinpoint the hairstyles that will define our current decade (we're just too close to it), when you look back it's likely certain styles will pop out to you. Hair can make or break an illustration or design in keeping it rooted in the era you're trying to set your work.

In the case of women's hair in the 1950s, think of victory rolls, tight coifs, ponytails, and cute flipped hair (we're not yet in Hairspray territory, but we're getting there). Hair in the 1950s is thought of as being "put together".

Men wore short hair with pomade or other control substances. Think of James Dean and Elvis Presley with their pompadours or how popular a conservative side-part was. Illustrating an asymmetrical bob or crimped, 80s hair would look incredibly out of place unless you were drawing some fantastic time travelers.

Then we come to clothes! Clothing combines a good deal of the previous tips: colors, patterns, shapes, hair, and imagery. From the cut of a dress or suit to the materials it's made of, clothing can make or break a design in placing it in the appropriate context.

Take the dresses seen below. They're 1950s-inspired with tulle petticoats to make the skirts large and fluffy, pearl accessories and headbands to keep the ladies below looking put together, and simple details like a belt or swooping neckline.

For men's clothing, we can look at a variety of styles: tweed suits, fedoras, wingtip shoes, and leather jackets all made the cut for a variety of well-dressed men. Think of Elvis and Frank Sinatra: two very different men, but both had quite iconic styles for the decade (and beyond).

Of course there are tons of variations of clothing depending on the people you're illustrating and where they live, as well as when they live, but having some guidelines and search terms to kick off your research into creating era-appropriate design should be a great help in designing the perfect soda-shop illustration!

10. Let Music Inspire You!

Check out the music of the decade and the imagery that goes along with it. Album design has always been a great source of design inspiration, no matter the decade. When you want to place your work in that decade or if you're working on an album design that's inspired by the past, what better way to research that design than by looking back at the real thing?

As an example of retro-inspired design, see the band poster below. While it may showcase some modern design styles and technology, the typographic design and use of textures are pitch-perfect for the style of some album design of the late 1950s. 

Check out the Dave Brubeck Quartet's album Time Out, which was released in 1959. Note the typographic design and how similar the spacing and placement is to the retro-inspired poster above.

As a couple of other examples, check out Frank Sinatra's Songs for Young Lovers, released in 1954, and Little Richard's debut album, Here's Little Richard, from 1957. Note the font usage of Sinatra's album cover and how similar it is to the poster seen above. Additionally, the clothing styles showcased on Sinatra's album go along with our previous tip.

If we turn to Little Richard's album, you'll notice that while the album itself is full-color, his photo is in black and white; technological limitations of the era at work! While color images were possible, black-and-white photography was far more cost-effective at the time. It wasn't until the following decade that everything, from photo to film, really exploded with affordable color images for the masses. The more you learn about the history of art and design, the more effective your retro-inspired work will be!

Let's Break It Down!

Now that we've run through all ten tips for creating great retro design, check out this handy checklist:

1. Choose the where and when of your design. Doing so gives you and your viewers context for an image.
2. Consider your color palette. Choosing the right palette, inspired by your decade, can bring life to a design!
3. Work with era-appropriate shapes. When you create designs with popular shapes from that era, you're reinforcing the aesthetic in your viewers' minds.
4. Use patterns and pattern styles that were common to your chosen era.
5. Give your design some texture. Photo, paper, and textile textures add a lot to retro design styles.
6. Use appropriate fonts and typographic styles. Perhaps research what fronts were popular and what fonts were created when so you have a good grasp on what to use.
7. Use era-appropriate imagery. Along with shapes and patterns, subject matter can also lend itself to great retro design.
8. Use era-appropriate technology. Matching the technology of that decade to your design gives your work context for viewers and more for you to work with on a creative level.
9. Dress and style hair for the decade. Take note of popular hair styles and clothing styles to help define your decade.
10. Let music be your guide! Check out the popular design styles of album artwork to further explore pop culture and design in your chosen era.

In this tutorial we’re going to take a journey back in time and create some high-school-related objects from the 50s. During the process we will see how easy it is to use some of Illustrator’s basic shapes along with the Offset Path tool to create some great looking assets.

If you want to add your own icons to this pack, but you don’t know where to start, you can find inspiration by taking a look at Envato Market where you can find tons of good packs by searching using “high school” as keywords.

That being said, open up Illustrator and let’s get started.

1. Set Up the Document

Assuming you already have Illustrator up and running, let’s quickly go through the process of setting up our document.

First, go to File > New or press the Control-N keyboard shortcut, and adjust the different options as follows:

• Number of Artboards: 1
• Width: 800 px
• Height: 600 px
• Units: Pixels

And from the Advanced tab:

• Color Mode: RGB
• Raster Effects: Screen (72 ppi)
• Align New Objects to Pixel Grid: checked

2. Set Up the Layers

Once we’ve created the document, we have to prep it by creating a set of individual layers for each of our icons. By doing so, not only will we foolproof our workflow, but we'll also make things a lot more straightforward, since we can build one asset at a time without worrying that we might move or edit another one by mistake.

So, assuming you know how to use the Layers panel, open it up and create seven layers, naming them as follows:

1. grids
2. backpack
3. notebook
4. writing tools
5. pennant
6. stopwatch
7. football

3. Adjust the Grid

Since Illustrator allows the use of Grids, you should know that it gives you the option to snap your design to its Grid / Pixel Grid. That means that your shapes will look super crisp as long as you use the Snap to Grid / Snap to Pixel options found under the View top menu.

Because there are different situations that require different Grid settings, sometimes you might find yourself in the position where you need to adjust the settings that come prepackaged with Illustrator.

I personally have gone with the lowest and at the same time the most accurate values, since this allows for better control over my designs.

To change these settings, you have to go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid. There you will be greeted by a little popup, which will allow you to adjust the following:

• Gridline every: 1 px
• Subdivisions: 1

Once you’ve adjusted these settings, all you need to do in order to make everything pixel crisp is enable the Snap to Grid option located under the Viewmenu.

Quick tip: you should know that the Snap to Grid option will transform into Snap to Pixel every time you enter the Pixel Preview Mode, but that’s totally fine, as most of the time you will be going back and forward into this display mode.

Now, if you’re used to moving things around with the help of your keyboard’s directional arrow keys, you might want to change the Keyboard Increment to something more pixel accurate (1 px) to get it as precise as possible. You can do this by going to Edit > Preferences > General > Keyboard Increment.

If your version of Adobe Illustrator has the value set to pt (points), just go to Units and change the General and Stroke values to Pixels and you’re good to go.

If you want to learn more about the Grid, and how you can use it to create pixel-perfect artwork, you can take a look here:

• Understanding Adobe Illustrator’s Grid System
• How to Create Pixel Perfect Artwork Using Adobe Illustrator

4. Set Up the Base Grids

Usually when you start working on any new icon, there are a couple of things that you should take into consideration, one of those being the Base Grids.

By definition, a Base Grid is a precisely delimited reference surface that is constructed and used in order to guide you through the process of creating your icon pack’s assets. The size of the Grid is subjective for each and every project, which means that sometimes you might need to create smaller icons, while other times you might find yourself in the position of needing to use larger ones.

Usually the shape of the Base Grid is a perfect square, since it allows for a better planning and structuring of your shapes and lines compared to a circle, giving you full control over the pixel count.

In our case, we’re going to keep things simple and create six 96 x 96 px squares (#CCCCCC) using the Rectangle Tool (M) which will define the size of our icons, and add a smaller 92 x 92 px one (#E6E6E6) to each of them which will act as our active drawing area, thus giving us an all-around 2 px padding.

Group each of the two Grids using Control-G, and then position them 60 px from one another, creating two rows of three Grids.

As soon as you have all the Base Grids in place, you can lock their layer so that you won’t accidentally move them, and then we can start working on the first icon.

5. Create the Backpack

First, make sure that you’re on the correct layer, and then lock all the other ones, and zoom in on the first Base Grid so that you have a better view of what you are going to be building.

Step 1

We will start by creating the backpack’s main body, onto which we will start adding all the other details, one at a time.

First, grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a 64 x 80 px shape with a 6 px Corner Radius, which we will color using #6D645E and then position over theBase Grid so that it’s horizontally center aligned to the smaller inner square, leaving a gap of 4 px between it and the square’s bottom side.

Now, since we want everything to be as precise and sharp as possible, I recommend that you turn on Pixel Preview mode (View> Pixel Preview or Alt-Control-Y). This way you’ll be able to see the underlying pixel grid, which will give you full control over the positioning of your shapes.

Step 2

At this point some of you might be wondering why we left that 4 px gap between the bottom section of our shape and the Base Grid itself.

Well, if you’re new to Line Icons, then you should probably know that there are two different methods that you can use in order to create them: offset paths andstroke lines.

I won’t go over them right now, since I already have a written piece that explains pretty much everything that you need to know.

What I will do is tell you that the entire tutorial will rely on using the Offset Path tool in order to create the outlines for each icon, and since each outline will have a 4 px weight, you can now understand why we need to leave a gap with the same value towards the sides where the shapes would normally touch the Base Grids.

So let’s create the first outline for the backpack’s main shape.

First, select the shape we’ve just created and then go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the Offset value to4 px, leaving all the other settings as they are.

As soon as you click on the OK button, you’ll see that Illustrator has created a larger copy of the shape, by adding 4 px to each side, and positioned it underneath.

Step 3

Every time you create an offset, it will always use the color of the shape that you used in order to make it. Since our outline has to stand out, we will have to change its color to something darker (#544F4B).

I recommend that once you have both your main fill shape and its outline, you group them using the Control-G keyboard shortcut, making it easier to access different parts of your design when you need to.

Step 4

Once we have the main body of our backpack, we can start working on the top section.

First, grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a 68 x 38 px shape (#8C7970) with a 4 px Corner Radius and position it towards the top section of the backpack, leaving that 4 px gap between it and the Base Grid’s top side.

Step 5

Next, we need to slightly adjust the bottom corners of the shape by changing their roundness from 4 px to 12 px. To do this, simply select the bottom anchor points using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and then use the Live Corners tool to adjust their value.

Quick Tip: If you’re using an older version of Illustrator, you will have to recreate the shape by drawing two rounded rectangles, one with a 4 px Corner Radius and another one with a 12 px Radius, and then adjust and unite them.

Step 6

Once we have the top section, we need to add an outline to it as we did with the backpack’s main shape.

So, with the shape selected, go to Object > Path > Offset Path and give it an offset of 4 px. Don’t forget to change the outline’s color to #544F4B in order for it to stand out.

Step 7

Start working on the top handle by creating a 20 x 14 px rounded rectangle with a Corner Radius of 7 px. Then create another smaller 10 x 16 px one with a 5 px Corner Radius, position it just above the larger one, making sure to vertically and horizontal align them, and then use Pathfinder’s Minus Front option to create a cutout.

Color the resulting shape using #B29580 and then, using an overlapping rectangle, cut off its top half.

Finally position the handle towards the top section of the backpack, and give it a 4 px outline (#544F4B).

Step 8

Next, add the little stitch line by creating a 62 x 41 px rounded rectangle with a 9 px Corner Radius, which we will adjust by removing its top-centered anchor points. To do this, grab the Direct Selection Tool (A) and then drag and select the anchors and press Delete.

Then, simply flip the resulting shape’s fill color with its stroke by pressing Shift-X, and set the Stroke’s Weight to 2 px.

Fine tune the stitch line by setting its Cap to Round Cap and adding a Dashed Line effect to the stroke, using a 2 px dash and a gap of 4 px.

Step 9

Once you’ve added the stitch line, we can start working on the little strap that holds the lid.

First, grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a 4 x 46 px shape with a 2 px Corner Radius (1).

Color the shape using #B29580 and then adjust it by removing its top-centered anchor points using the Direct Selection Tool (A) (2). Once you’ve removed them, don’t forget to use the Shift-J shortcut to close the path.

Then, give it a 4 px outline and add a 20 x 4 px rectangle (#544F4B) towards its top section (3).

Start adding some details by drawing seven 2 x 2 px circles (#544F4B) positioned 4 px from one another (4).

Finish off the strap by adding the buckle. First draw a 20 x 20 px square (#544F4B) (5) and then add another smaller 12 x 12 px one (#DDD2CA) over it (6).

Use an 8 x 8 px rectangle to create a cutout from the lighter colored square (7) and then finally add a 2 x 6 px rounded rectangle with a 2 px Corner Radius (8).

Step 10

Finally group all the strap’s elements together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut and position them over the backpack’s lid, somewhere towards its bottom section, so that in the end you’ll have a gap of 8 px between its outline and the bottom section of the backpack’s main shape.

Step 11

Next, add a small 8 x 2 px rectangle (#544F4B) and a slightly longer 12 x 2 px one (#544F4B) and position them towards the left side of the lid, leaving a gap of 2 px between them.

Once you have the top lid with all its details, you should group all its composing elements together (Control-G) since in the next step we will need to add a couple of details to the main section of the backpack.

Step 12

Since at this point we’re pretty much done with the basic composing elements of the backpack, we’ll start adding a bunch of details to its main body.

First, double click on the backpack’s body to enter Isolation mode (or right click > Isolate Selected Group) and then create a 64 x 2 px rectangle, which we will color using the same value used for the outline (#544F4B) and then position it towards the bottom side of the backpack, leaving a gap of 2 px between it and the main shape’s outline.

Step 13

Continue adding details by creating a couple of horizontal lines that will give the backpack a little more pop.

To do this, grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and create 20 shapes of 64 x 1 px size and #665C57 color, which we will position 1 pxfrom one another.

Group all the lines together (Control-G) and then position them towards the bottom section of the backpack, just above the previously created element, leaving a gap of 1 px between them.

Step 14

Finish off this icon by adding a little name patch towards its bottom right corner.

First create a 10 x 4 px rectangle, color it using #DDD2CA and then give it a 4 px outline (#544F4B). Group the two together (Control-G) and then simply position them leaving a gap of 2 px between them and the right side of the backpack’s outline.

Keep the same space gap between their bottom section and the horizontal divider that we created a couple of steps ago.

Then finally group all the icon’s elements together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut, and you’re good to move on to the next one.

6. Create the Notebook

Since we’re now done with the first icon, we can lock its layer and move on to the next one, which is the notebook.

Step 1

We’ll start by creating the main body of the icon, and then gradually add subtle details as we did with the backpack one.

First, grab the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a 66 x 84 px shape (#DD7A7A) with a 4 px Corner Radius which we will adjust by selecting and removing its left-centered anchor points using the Direct Selection Tool (A). Once we’ve removed the anchors, we need to close the path by pressing Control-J.

Now we can give the shape an outline and position the two towards the center of the Base Grid.

Step 2

Next, we will add a darker section to the main body by creating a 6 x 84 px rectangle which we will color using #BC6161 and position towards the left side of the main shape that we created in the previous step.

Step 3

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), add a 4 x 84 px vertical divider (#544F4B) to the right section of the shape that we created a few moments ago.

Step 4

Get a little creative and add a couple of decorative detail lines to the notebook.

Step 5

Finish off this icon by adding the name tag, which we will create using the Rectangle Tool (M). First, draw a 28 x 14 px rectangle (#DDD2CA) and then give it a 4 px outline (#544F4B) by going to Object > Path > Offset Path and entering the specified value into the Offset field.

Add a bunch of decorative line segments, and then group all the tag’s elements together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut.

Finally don’t forget to select all the notebook’s composing sections and group them as well, so that they won’t get misplaced by accident.

7. Create the Writing Tools

As before, once you’ve finished the notebook icon, don’t forget to lock its layer and move on to the next one, so that you can keep a clear focus on what you’re currently working on.

Step 1

Before we start, I wanted to point out that this icon is a little bit different since it’s actually composed of three smaller objects, namely the pencil, the wooden ruler and the eraser.

We will start working on the ruler since it occupies the full height of theBase Grid, thus making it easier to position the rest of the icon’s composing parts.

So first grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 22 x 84 px shape which we will color using a light brown (#A3876F) and then give the usual 4 px outline (#544F4B).

As you can see, the shapes are positioned slightly towards the left side of the Grid, but you don’t need to worry about this now, since once we have all three elements, we will center them to the center of the Base Grid.

Step 2

With the main shapes of the ruler in position, we can start adding details.

The first thing that we will need to add is the little white plastic section that was used back in the day. Select the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 6 x 84 px shape (#DDD2CA) and position it over the brown section of the ruler, towards its left side.

Step 3

Once you’ve added the plastic segment, create and add a little 4 x 84 px divider to its right side, coloring it using #544F4B.

Step 4

At this point we can start adding the little measurement indicator lines to make it look like an actual ruler and not a bar of chocolate.

So, using the Rectangle Tool (M), create about thirteen 4 x 2 px line segments (#544F4B), and position them one under the other at a distance of 4 px between each piece. Then adjust the width of some of the segments to just 2 px,so that you have one longer segment, then three smaller ones, and then one longer one again.

Step 5

Using the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 4 x 4 px circle and position it over the brown section of the ruler, towards its bottom.

Step 6

Since we have all the necessary details to make this look like a ruler, we can start creating the wooden pattern.

First, select the Pen Tool (P), set the stroke color to that of the outline (#544F4B) leaving the fill blank, and then, using a 2 px Stroke Weight with a Round Cap, get creative and draw a couple of lines to make a nice little pattern.

Since we don’t want the lines to go outside the ruler’s outline, try to keep the anchor points confined to its surface.

Once you’re done, select all the wood lines, and group them together (Control-G) so that you won’t move them around by accident. Do the same for the ruler to make sure that none of its composing elements gets misplaced.

Step 7

Since we now have the ruler, we can start working on the pencil.

First, select the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 4 x 56 px shape which we will color using a pale yellow (#DBC07B) and give a 4 px outline (#544F4B). Then, with both shapes selected, position them towards the left side of the ruler, leaving a gap of 4 px between the two.

Step 8

Once you have the main shapes of the pencil, work through the details, and start by adding the bottom eraser.

Using the Ellipse Tool (L), create a 4 x 4 px circle, which we will color using #E29F9F and then give a 4 pxoutline (#544F4B), making sure to position both towards the bottom of the pencil, underneath its main shapes.

Step 9

Next, use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a 4 x 4 px shape, color it using #DDD2CA and position it towards the bottom section of the pencil’s body (the yellow shape).

Step 10

Add a couple of lines to the previously created shape to make it look like the metal case that holds the eraser.

Step 11

Once you’re done with the eraser’s casing, add a couple of details to the yellow section of the pencil to make it look more interesting.

Step 12

Finally, finish off the pencil by adding the little sharpened tip.

This time you’ll have to select the Pen Tool (P) and first create the outline, by drawing a little triangle (#544F4B), making sure to make its tip round.

Then, once you have the larger shape, you can create the fill section by drawing a little trapezoid (#CEC0B7).

Once you’re done, group the two (Control-G) and select all the pencil’s elements and do the same to them, so that you won’t misplace things by accident.

Step 13

Now that we have both the pencil and ruler, we need to start creating the little eraser.

First, using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 12 x 22 px shape (#DDD2CA) and give it the usual 4 px outline.

As you can see, we need to position the two shapes onto the right side of the ruler, at the same 4 px distance, making sure to Vertical Center Align them to the main body of the ruler.

Step 14

Next, add a 12 x 22 px rectangle onto the eraser’s main shape, and position it towards the bottom, making sure to color it using #DD7A7A.

Step 15

Then add a 12 x 4 px horizontal divider towards the top side of the pink section, and a couple of detail lines to make it more interesting.

Once you’ve done that, simply group all the eraser’s elements together (Control-G) and then create another group using the pencil, ruler and eraser and center them to the Base Grid.

8. Create the Pennant

Assuming you’ve managed to create the writing tools icon, lock its layer, and then move on to the next one so that we can start working on the little pennant.

Step 1

Start by drawing the stick section, which we will create using a 4 x 84 px rectangle that we will color with #DDD2CA, and then give it a 4 px outline (#544F4B).

Don’t worry about the positioning of the two shapes, since you will center the icon once it’s finished.

Step 2

Create three little 4 x 2 px rectangles distanced vertically at 2 px from one another, and position them over the fill shape of the pennant, towards its bottom section.

Then, select all the stick’s shapes and group them using the Control-G keyboard shortcut.

Step 3

Start working on the pennant's banner by creating a right-pointing triangle using the Pen Tool (P). Color the shape using #DD7A7A and then give it a 4 px outline by going to Object > Path > Offset Path and entering 4 into the value field.

Once you have both shapes, position them towards the top section of the stick, making sure that its outline overlaps that of the banner.

Step 4

Start adding details to the banner by creating a row of 1 x 48 px rectangles positioned 1 pxfrom one another, that you will position over the pinkish triangle, and mask using it as a Clipping Mask.

To create the mask, simply make a copy (Control-C) of the banner’s right-pointing triangle, paste it (Control-F) over the detail lines, and then right click > Make Clipping Mask.

Step 5

Next, create a 34 x 24 px ellipse (#DBC07B) and put it inside the Clipping Mask that you’ve just created for the vertical lines. Then give it a 4 px outline (#544F4B) and add three little 2 x 2 px circles (#544F4B) to give it a little pop.

Finally, select all the pennant’s elements and group them together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut, and then make sure to center the icon to its Base Grid.

9. Create the Stopwatch

Before we start working on the stopwatch icon, make sure that you’ve locked the previous layer and positioned yourself onto the right one.

Step 1

Start defining the main shape of the stopwatch by creating a 60 x 60 px circle which we will color using a light brown (#A3876F) and then give a 4 px outline (#544F4B).

Then, with both shapes selected, position them towards the center of the icon’s Base Grid, making sure that the outline touches the bottom side of the smaller grid.

Step 2

Next, create the inner section of the stopwatch, by drawing a 44 x 44 px circle (#DDD2CA) and giving it a 4 px outline (#544F4B). Then position both shapes over the light brown body segment, making sure to center align them.

Step 3

Before we start working on the stopwatch indicator itself, let’s get a bit creative and add a nice wood texture to the brown circle, making sure to keep the lines constrained to the ring.

Use the same 2 px Stroke Weight as before with the Round Cap,and take your time since you want to get it right.

Once you’re done, group all the wood lines together (Control-G) since it will be easier to access and modify in case you need to at some point in the future.

Step 4

Start working on the indicator gauge, by adding the main reference time points, so the top, bottom, left and right center lines.

To do this, simply create a pair of 4 x 10 px rectangles (#544F4B), one positioned towards the top and one towards the bottom, and then create a copy (Control-C > Control-F) and rotate it so that the lines will now be laid out horizontally.

Once you have all four of them, don’t forget to group them (Control-G) so that they won’t go flying around.

Step 5

Now add four little 4 x 4 px circles (#544F4B) to each corner of the gauge, making sure to group them together (Control-G).

Step 6

Finish off the gauge by adding the indicator and a couple of circular shapes, giving the middle piece a little pop using #DD7A7A.

You don’t really have to follow the exact style of the reference piece that I’ve built, since it could be interesting to see what you can come up with, so that in the end you’ll give it a little personal flavor.

That being said, once you have all the pieces of the stopwatch’s main body, group them together (Control-G)so that you’ll have everything secured in place.

Step 7

With the watch gauge and main body finished, we can now move on and start working on the top ring that you would normally use to put a string around and secure it along your neck.

First, create a 10 x 4 px rectangle (#8C7970), give it a 4 px outline, and then with the two shapes grouped (Control-G), position them towards the top section of the watch, making sure that they’re positioned underneath it (right click> Arrange > Send to Back).

Step 8

Continue adding details to the stopwatch’s ring holder by creating an 8 x 8 px circle (#A3876F) with a 4 px outline (#544F4B), which you will group (Control-G) and position under the rectangle piece (right click > Arrange > Send to Back) that we created in the previous step, making sure that more than half of its bottom section gets hidden by the overlap.

Step 9

To finish off the icon, simply create a ring holder, whether it’s an actual ring or a more rectangular one like I have. Color the inner section using #DDD2CA and then as usual give it a nice 4 px outline (#544F4B).

Finally, select all the stopwatch’s elements and group them (Control-G) so that they won’t get misplaced.

10. Create the Football

We are finally down to our last but not least icon, the football. I know it has been a pretty long road, but hang in there since we’re just a couple of steps away from finishing this pack.

Step 1

Assuming you’re on the right layer, which is actually the last one, grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a 50 x 84 px shape that we will color using #8C7970 and then give a strong 4 px outline (#544F4B), making sure to center align the two to the icon’s Base Grid.

Step 2

Add some texture to the ball’s surface by creating 22 rows of 15 circles (size 4 x 4 px, color #6D645E), positioned 2 px from one another, and overlaying them on the icon.

To make it look more interesting, create a pattern where one row is pushed slightly more towards the right, which in the end will create a bunch of diagonal point lines.

Once you have them in place, don’t forget to select and group them (Control-G) since you’ll want them to be easily accessible if you decide that you need to edit them.

Step 3

As you can see, the texture is now in place, but it goes outside the football’s inner fill shape, which is something that we don’t want it to do.

So grab a copy of the light brown ellipse (Control-C) and then paste it (Control-F) over the texture itself so that we can use it to create a Clipping Mask by right clicking > Make Clipping Mask.

Step 4

Add a thick vertical divider by drawing a 4 x 88 px rectangle (#544F4B) and centering it over the football itself.

Step 5

Add the top and bottom colored sections of the ball by creating two 56 x 52 px ellipses (#DD7A7A) with 4 px thick outlines (#544F4B) and positioning them inside the texture’s clipping mask by selecting it and right click > Isolate Selected Clipping Masks.

Once you’re done, exit Isolation Mode by pressing Escape so that we can add the final touches to the icon.

Step 6

Finish off the icon by adding three golden (#DBC07B) 10 x 4 px rectangles with a 4 px outline (#544F4B) positioned 2 px from one another to the center of the football itself.

That Was It!

Thanks for sticking with me for the ride, since I know long reading sessions might make you feel tired, but don’t forget learning requires patience. And I’m hoping that after finishing this tutorial you’ve discovered some new tricks that you can use to further develop your own skills.

See you next time!

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The American 1950s were an influential time in pop culture. From Hot Cars to FabulousWomen, the 50s gave us a very recognizable style that is still celebrated today. Perhaps nothing encapsulates that nostalgic style more than the beloved film Grease. In that film, one of the most emotional and iconic scenes is a forlorn Danny signing in front of a glowing drive-in theater screen.

Adobe's latest release of Creative Cloud 2015 included an exciting new application called Adobe Fuse. This fun little application allows for easy character creation and customization. The fact that it works seamlessly with Photoshop through the use of the CC Libraries makes it an ideal candidate to help recreate one of the most emotional scenes in Grease.

1. Begin With Adobe Fuse

If you've updated your Adobe Creative Cloudto the latest 2015 updates, you've probably also installed a new app called Adobe Fuse. It's a 3D character creator that works seamlessly with Photoshop. We will use that as the primary means of creating our Danny figure.

Step 1

Launch Adobe Fuse and use the Assemble tab to select the Male Fit A model for the Head, Torso, Arm, and Leg sections of the model.

Step 2

Go to the Customize tab and open the FACE settings. Set the Cocky and Worried settings to 50 to reflect the state of mind of our Danny character.

Step 3

Switch to the Clothing tab and scroll through the TOPS section to find the Open Jacket.

Step 4

Open the BOTTOMS section and apply the Belted Straight Pant preset to give our Danny a pair of jeans.

Step 5

Next look through the SHOES section to find Boots 1.

Step 6

Danny's hair is very specific to his character, and the Fuse library doesn't have his exact hair style. So instead we will use a close approximation and make adjustments later. Open the HAIR section and apply the Alpha Short Bouffant style.

Step 7

Danny's hair is jet black (and greased!) so the hair of our model needs to be changed to match. Switch to the Texture tab and click on the actual hair of the model. The parameters will change to reflect the settings for the hair. Open the Color portion of the parameters.

Click on the color chip to open the color picker and change the color to solid black. Press OK.

Step 8

His jacket also needs to be solid black. Click on the jacket to reveal the individual fabric materials used to make up his jacket. Expand each Leather material and change its color to solid black.

Step 9

Danny really needs to have a big square chin for that classic chiseled jaw. Switch to the Customize tab and open the Head parameters. Set the Chin Square/Round to -100 and the Chin Down/Up to -50.

Step 10

Press the Save to CC Libraries button. Name the model "Danny" and select a library to save it in. This makes this model available in Photoshop CC 2015. After the file is saved, close Adobe Fuse.

2. Continue in Adobe Photoshop

Now that we have our 3D Danny model, it's time to place him into the drive-in scene. There are not too many drive-in theaters that are still operational today, but I happen to live near one and was able to get some shots of the facility before it closed for the season. It looked just like the type of place a love-struck Danny would croon over his failed date.

Step 1

Launch Photoshop CC 2015. Then download and open the file attached to this tutorial, DriveInTheater.jpg. 

Step 2

Add a Curves AdjustmentLayer and give the curve a deep downwards curve to darken the scene significantly while keeping the screen bright.

Step 3

Use the Crop Tool (C) to crop the scene in tight so the background is mostly the movie screen.

The background composition should end up looking like this.

Step 4

Open the Libraries panel through Window > Libraries. Be sure to look in the correct library for the model that was saved from Fuse. Simply drag the Danny model from the library onto the canvas to add it to the scene as a 3D object.

Step 5

Open the 3D panel (Window > 3D) and click on the Tops_Skeleton object. The Properties panel will reveal a library of poses and animations that can be applied to the character. Type "reclined" in the search box.

Step 6

Apply the Reclined Looking Downwards pose. Then use the Move Tool (V) to turn and position the model towards the edge of the frame. Be sure the position creates a strong profile for the character as the final version will be nearly silhouette. 

Step 7

Danny should be severely back-lit here as the primary light source should be that giant movie screen behind him. In the 3D panelselect the Infinite Light 1. In the Properties panel set the Intensity to 15%. Then use the Move Tool (V) to adjust the direction of the light to match the position of the screen.

Step 8

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to create a simple selection around the character and press the Render button at the base of the 3D panel so Photoshop will render out the lighting and textures more accurately.

Here's what the finished render should look like.

3. Illustrate the Swings

We can't have our distraught Danny sitting on thin air. I've never been certain why swing sets are a frequent installment at drive-in theaters, but they do tend to be pretty common. Let's use a bit of illustration skill to add them in here.

Step 1

Use the Pen Tool (P) set to Shape with the Fill set to black and the Stroke set to null. Then draw out the basic shape of a tilted swing seat.

Step 2

Add another shape to outline the vertical faces of the swing board. The shape can overshoot the outline of the swing base. This shape should have a lighter color #2e2f36 as these faces will receive more light than the visible bottom of the swing.

Clip the new shape to the swing base by going to Layer > Create Clipping Mask (Alt-Control-G).

Step 3

Group the swing layers together with Layer > Group Layers (Control-G) and position the swing beneath Danny so that he appears to be sitting on it.

Step 4

Use the same technique to draw out the other swings in the scene.

Step 5

Instead of illustrating each link in the chains for the swings, it's much easier to create a custom brush and use it instead. Start by using the Ellipse Tool (U) set to Shape to create a horizontal oval with a Fill of black and a Stroke of null.

Step 6

Use the Path Selection Tool (A) to select the ellipse path. Copy (Control-C) the path and Paste (Control-V) it on top of itself. Then go to Edit > Free Transform Path (Control-T) and Scale the copied path down to about 67%. In the Path Operations, set the mode to Subtract Front Shape. This will hollow out the inside of the ellipse, forming a single chain link.

Step 7

Switch to the Move Tool (V) and Control-click on the thumbnail of the chain link layer to create a selection around it. Then go to Edit > Define Brush Preset and call the new brush Chain Link. Then go to Select > Deselect (Control-D) to cancel the selection.

Step 8

Hide the ellipse layer that was used to create the custom brush. Add a new layer with Layer > New > Layer (Control-Shift-N) and change to the Brush Tool (B). Open the Brush panel (Windows > Brush) and make the following settings under the Brush Tip Shape:

• Size: 35 px
• Spacing: 151%
  

Engage the Shape Dynamics and make the following settings:

• Angle Jitter: 1%
• Angle Jitter Control: Direction
  

Engage the Scattering and make the following settings:

• Check the Both Axes box
• Set the Scatter amount to 10%
  

Click on the Create New Brush button at the bottom right of the Brush panel. Name the new brush Chain Brush.

Step 9

Use the new Chain Brush to create the chains for the swings. Hold down the Shift key to keep the lines straight.

Step 10

The chain Danny is leaning against should be bowed from the weight against it. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to create a selection around that chain. Then go to Edit > Transform > Warp and drag the lower warp intersection to the right to change the direction of the chain. Apply the warp and then cancel the selection with Select > Deselect (Control-D).

4. The Finish Effects

The major elements are in place, so now it's time to add in the final effects to give this piece that Grease personality.

Step 1

The movie screen should have something playing on it. In the film, the screen shows an animated ad for the theater's concession stand. Instead of that, I opted to use a classic film countdown slide. This one is available on Envato Market for purchase.

Step 2

Go to File > Place Linked and select the movie countdown card. Photoshop inserts the image as a Smart Object. Right-click on the object and choose Distort. Position the corners of the image to match the projection on the movie screen, and press Enter to apply the transformation.

Step 3

Make sure the projected image layer is just above the curves adjustment layer and below the 3D model and swing layers. Then set the blending mode to Hard Light.

Step 4

The figure doesn't really look like Danny without his signature hair. Use the Pen Tool (P) set to Shape and black Fill to draw out the curls in front of his forehead and include a shape for his sideburns in front of the ear as well.

Step 5

Draw out another shape to create his arched hairline. Double-click the shape's thumbnail in the Layers panel to get the Color Picker. Sample a color from his face so the shape blends in seamlessly.

Step 6

Add a Curves Adjustment Layer just over the 3D model layer. Clip it to the model with Layer > Create Clipping Mask (Alt-Control-G). Then use the Curves to create a very dark appearance for Danny's figure. It should be nearly silhouette.

Step 7

Click on the mask thumbnail next to the Curves adjustment layer to make it the active selection. Then use the Brush Tool (B) with a Soft Round tip and black paint to gently paint away the effect of the curves along his face and shoulders. The idea is to create the appearance of the light subtly splashing over onto his face.

That's It!

And there we have our distraught Danny!

If you would like some more Photoshop tutorials along with some photo-manipulation projects, custom brushes, and even more fun, check out my profile here at Envato Tuts+ for my other tutorials, quick tips, and courses. 

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How do you paint details realistically? In this video from a later part of the course, you'll learn how to incorporate texture brushes into the painting for an instant realistic effect.

Painting Realistically: Woman, Fish, and Water

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Everyone feels a certain passion for retro style! Those extraordinary clothes, those fancy hairdos, the music and, of course, the cars! In this tutorial we’ll combine our love for the 50s, cinematography and games, creating a crazy mix. We’ll make an aerial view of a stylized Greased Lightning retro car, using basic shapes, various types of gradients and blending modes, working with the Pathfinder panel and other functions of Adobe Illustrator.

Grease is the word. It is a movie that represents the pure essence of the 1950s—a story of love, joy, beautiful things and marvelous cars. Those retro cabriolets with smooth rounded shapes and folding roofs. They definitely remain stylish and unforgettable. 

Inspired by this movie, we’ll be making a top view of a retro car with lightning-shaped patterns. You can actually use these techniques to create any kind of a car—be sure to check the cars top view section of Envato Market to make it easier to imagine the vehicles from such an aerial angle of view. Browsing through retro cars at Envato Market may also be quite useful in order to get a nice detailed reference of a vehicle.

Ready to start drawing? Let’s begin!

1. Create the Basic Outlines

Step 1

We’ll start by making the main parts of our car. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and let’s shape the top view of the chassis. Make a 130 x 300 px ellipse, switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag both side anchor points down, making the bottom part flat and wide.

Step 2

Continue by making a smaller 55 x 155 px ellipse and placing it at the left side of the chassis. This will be the base for the headlights. Drag the side anchor points up, making the bottom part of the shape more pointed.

Step 3

Now let’s shape the bottom part, which is for the back of the car. Make a 130 x 125 px rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (M). Select both bottom anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and use the Live Corners feature to make the bottom corners rounded, by pulling the Live Corners circle markers up.

If you’re using earlier versions of Adobe Illustrator, feel free to apply Effect> Stylize > Round Corners. However, it affects all the corners of the shape. You can then use the Eraser Tool (Shift-E) and hold down Alt to delete the upper part of the shape, making the upper corners sharp again.

Step 4

Now add a narrow shape with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, forming the top-view of the wing. And let's add the same elements to the right half of the chassis. 

Select both the oval and the wing and double-click the Reflect Tool (O) to open the options window. Select the Vertical Axis and hit the Copy button. Place the copies on the opposite side of the car, making them fit the chassis.

Step 5

Now let’s make a windscreen for our car. Make a small rectangle of about 110 x 18 px size, placing it inside the chassis. Go to Effect > Warp > Arc Upper and set the Horizontal Bend value to 20%, making the shape arched at the top. Object> Expand Appearance to apply the effect.

Then go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the Offset value to -5 px, creating a smaller shape inside. Click OK.

Step 6

Finally, let’s add the interior parts of the car. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to make two small rectangles, fitting the inner space of the car. Those will be for the seats. Make the outer corners of the shapes rounded, using the Live Corners feature.

Finally, form a simple steering wheel, made of three ellipses, one inside the other.

Great! Now all the main parts are ready and we can move on to coloring!

2. Apply Colors and Add Details

Step 1

First of all, let’s select the largest element, the base of our car, and apply a bright radial gradient from vivid red in the center to darker red at the edges. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to shrink the shape of the gradient, making it more oval, this way adding subtle shadows to the edges of our car.

Step 2

Select the headlights ellipses and use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the red gradient color from the car base. Switch the Type of the gradient to Linear and place the gradients vertically from lighter red on top to darker red at the bottom.

Add a small rounded rectangle beneath the chassis (press Shift-Control-[ to Send it to Back) and fill it with similar red colors, filling the gaps on the front side of the car.

Step 3

Apply the same red linear gradient to the wings of the car as well, positioning it at 90 degrees angle in the Gradient panel.

Step 4

As for the bottom element (the back of the car), let’s apply an oval-shaped radial gradient as well and Send this part to Back (Shift-Control-[), placing it beneath the base of the car.

Step 5

Now let’s apply the colors to the windscreen. Make the outer shape light red, slightly lighter than the base of the car, making it pop out. As for the inner shape, apply a light-blue vertical linear gradient, depicting the glass surface.

Step 6

Let’s add some glossy highlights to the windscreen. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to make two narrow vertical stripes of any color (just to make them visible above the white background). Set the Blending Mode to Screen in the Transparency panel. 

Hold down Shift and rotate the shapes 45 degrees, placing the stripes above the windscreen. Now select the stripes together with the blue glass shape and take the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M). Hold Alt and click the unneeded pieces outside the glass to delete them.

Finally, set the Fill color to white in the Color panel and here you have it!

Step 7

Now we’ll make the striped pattern for the seats in order to make them look more realistic and textured.

Make a 13 x 60 px rectangle and fill it with horizontal linear gradient from white to light grey.

Hold down Alt-Shift and drag the shape to the right, making a copy. Press Control-D several times to make seven more copies. Group (Control-G) the shapes.

Step 8

Now let’s head back to our car, select the seats, Copy (Control-C) them and Paste in Front (Control-F). Place our texture beneath the seats (press Control-[ a few times to move the object several positions down). Hold Alt-Shift and drag the texture up, creating a copy for the second half of the seats.

Now select the bottom piece of texture and the seat-shape above it, click the right mouse button and Make Clipping Mask.

As you can see, now the texture is hidden inside the seat-shape, creating a nice puffy texture.

Repeat the same for the second half of the seat, placing the texture inside the Clipping Mask.

Step 9

Now let’s create some additional shadow in order to make the seats more three-dimensional. We still have two more outlines of our seats (the copies that we created a few steps before).

Select the upper half and fill it with the same white-grey linear gradient as we had for the seat’s texture (you can use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the color), but this time place the gradient vertically. Switch the Blending Mode to Multiply, making a darker semi-transparent shape.

And repeat the same for the second half of the seats.

Step 10

The two halves of the seats look equal now, but let's add a bit more variety here. To do so, select the elements of the lower half and shrink them, making the seat narrower. As for the second half, let’s do the opposite: extend the shapes, making the seat much wider, creating contrast between the shapes.

Step 11

Now let’s move on to the steering wheel. Select the two circles (which are for the wheel), right click and Make Compound Path (or simply press Control-8). Fill the created donut shape with a squashed radial gradient, consisting of three colors: dark grey, white, light grey. Fill the center of the steering wheel with a simple radial gradient from light grey to darker grey.

Step 12

Now let’s modify the back of our car, adding a folding roof. Copy the bottom shape and Bring it to Front(Control-C > Control-F> Shift-Control-]). Fill the shape with vertical linear gradient from white to light grey.

Make the shape much smaller and place it as shown in the screenshot below: the light-grey shape should fit nicely inside the back of the chassis, so that the dark-red bottom of the chassis creates a thin outline around the shape, making both shapes match perfectly.

Finally, duplicate (Control-C > Control-F) the light-grey shape that we’ve created, make the copy smaller and reverse the colors of the gradient, creating the inner part of the folding textile roof of the cabriolet.

Step 13

Now let’s form the inner part of the car, making it much darker. Select the base of the car and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset value to -5 px, creating a smaller shape inside the base.

Now select the new shape together with the outer part of the windscreen (the red one), take the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M), hold down Alt and click on the top piece to delete it. This way we have formed the interior of the car.

Step 14

We already have the base for the headlights, but we haven’t yet made the headlights themselves. Let’s shape them out!

Make a 35 x 8 px oval shape using the Ellipse Tool (L). Fill the shape with vertical linear gradient from light grey to white.Copy it and Paste in Back (Control-C > Control-B).

Select the bottom anchor point of the back shape with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag it down, holding Shift.

Finally, fill the extruded shape with bright-red radial gradient by picking the color from the chassis, using the Eyedropper Tool (I).

Voila! Now we can attach the headlights to the car.

Place the headlights on the top part of the car. They should look like this.

Step 15

Now let’s add a shiny chrome element to the front part of the car. Take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and form a narrow vertical stripe at the top of the car.

Apply a linear gradient with the following colors: light grey, white, dark grey, light grey. Place it horizontally, as shown below, giving the shape a true-to-life metal look.

3. Add the Lightning Pattern to the Car

Step 1

Now it's time to make our retro car look unique and associate it with the Grease movie! Get ready to grab the Pencil Tool (N) and draw those flowing lines, creating a fancy lightning pattern for our car. Try to keep it simple. 

You can double-click the Pencil Tool (N) to play with its Fidelity settings, making it smooth. I’m drawing these shapes with just a mouse and, as you can see, Adobe Illustrator copes perfectly well with making the lines smooth.

Step 2

Make three more different shapes of lightning.

Step 3

Start applying the lightning shapes to the left half of the car. Rotate them and move them around, making them fit the elements of the car perfectly. Remember to use the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) to delete the unwanted pieces of lightning outside the car.

As soon as you’re happy with the position of the elements, select them and use the Reflect Tool (O) to flip the shapes over the Vertical axis, making mirrored copies and attaching them to the opposite side of the car. 

Step 4

Now let’s add a bit more dimension here. Select the two mirrored lightning shapes on the front part of the car and Make a Compound Path (Control-8). Apply a bright radial gradient from white to greyish-pink, making the pattern silver and glowing. Apply the same color to all the other lightning shapes.

Step 5

Now let’s add some highlights to the car, making its surface look glossy and polished. Select the biggest element of the chassis and apply Object > Path > Offset Path with -7px Offset value. Fill the new shape with vertical linear gradient from pink to black and set the Blending Mode to Screen. You will see the black part becomes transparent, creating a nice glossy effect.

Do the same for the oval shapes beneath the headlights.

Step 6

Add a similar highlight to the back of the car. Be sure to place the lightning patterns beneath the highlights.

Step 7

Now let’s add another important element of any car: the exhaust or the tailpipe. We’ll actually make two of them to make our car look cool.

Make an 8 x 35 px rectangle for the tailpipe and fill it with the same chrome linear gradient as the decorative stripe at the nose of the car (use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the gradient).

Hold Alt-Shift and drag the shape to the right, making a copy. Select both tailpipes and Send them to Back (Shift-Control-[).

Step 8

Now we’ll depict flames being thrown from the exhaust.

Start by making a 7 x 30 px ellipse of black color and attach it to the tip of the tailpipe. Create a smaller oval on top, filling it with bright-orange color.

Step 9

Select both ovals and go to Object > Blend > Make. This way we make a smooth transition between the colors, creating a flame effect.

We can still edit the elements inside the Blend group in the Layers panel. For example, you can add a smaller yellow ellipse on top and drag it inside the Blend group to make the flame even brighter.

Drag the side and bottom anchor points of the shapes down, using the Direct Selection Tool (A) to extend the flame.

Step 10

To get the semi-transparent flame effect, firstly we need to create any kind of background beneath our car. For this purpose, create a grey rectangle of 800 x 600 px size and place it beneath the car (Shift-Command-[).

Select the flames and switch the Blending Mode to Screen.

4. Form the Background and Add Finishing Touches

Step 1

Now that we’ve already started making the background, let’s proceed with that, making our composition look complete and balanced.

We already have an 800 x 600 px rectangle beneath our car. Apply a radial gradient from grey to dark grey, depicting the asphalt surface.

Step 2

Now let’s return to our car and tweak it a bit, adding a gentle flat-style shadow. Select all parts of the car, duplicate them (Control-С > Control-F) and Unite in Pathfinder, creating a single silhouette.

Use the Line Segment Tool (\) to draw a red vertical line across the car.

Step 3

Let’s align the objects. Select both the red line and the car silhouette, hold Alt and click the silhouette to make it a Key Object. You will see a thick selection stroke, indicating that all the selected elements will be aligned to this object. Head to the Align panel and click Horizontal Align Center.

While both objects are still selected, go to the Pathfinder panel and click Divide in order to split the silhouette into two equal halves. Delete the right half and apply Multiply Blending Mode to the left half, making it semi-transparent and thus darkening the left side of the car.

Step 4

Let’s make the ground beneath the car textured for more realism. Duplicate(Control-C > Control-F) the background rectangle and head to the Swatches panel. From here, click the Swatch Libraries menu icon and find Patterns> Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures. Apply the USGS 22 Gravel Beach texture to our rectangle.

Step 5

Now let’s add a shadow cast by our car. Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to make an oval of a slightly larger size than the car. Place it beneath the vehicle and apply a squashed radial gradient from greyish-pink in the center to white at the edges. Switch it to Multiply Blending Mode, forming a blurred shadow on the ground.

And here is what we have!

Greased Lightning, Go, Greased Lightning!

Great job guys! We’ve successfully crossed the finishing line of our race and created an aerial view of a retro car, inspired by the Grease movie. These techniques can be used to create any other top-view vehicle or symmetrical object, which is perfect for simple racing games and easy to animate.

Feel free to go further and adjust our result image even more. For example, here I’ve duplicated the car that we created and played around with the colors, creating alternative palettes, which can also be found in the original Grease movie. You can get these top-view retro cars in AI, EPS and PNG in order to see how they were made or to edit them your liking.

Keep creating fancy things and share your results! Good luck!