Drawing Basic Shapes in Photoshop: Pearly Button -- Tutorial by Janee Page 1 of 9

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Basic Shapes in Photoshop:

Pearly Button

Although the screenshots for this

beginners' tutorial were done with Photoshop v.7,
there are not many differences for users of earlier
versions.

There are a couple of things that you need to do

differently if you are working with Elements. I'll tell
you about them, when you get there!

My keyboard shortcuts are for PC. If you are using

a Mac, you need to convert these. Essentially, Alt =
Option and Ctrl = Command.

I know that there are other ways to make shapes,

including the Shape tool. I cover that tool in some In this tutorial, you will make the pearly button!
depth in my Shape tutorial, "Get into Shape." This
tutorial will teach you many valuable Photoshop
skills involving selections. Beginners' TIPS:

You may find helpful clues if you hover over the

pictures. Also, if there is an item in purple that you
want to read more about, click it.

You will find that the last two projects depend upon
knowledge you will have gained from working
through the first one, so if you do start anywhere
but the beginning, and run into difficulty, you will do
well to start over at the beginning. :)
Here are some things you will learn as you work
though this tutorial:

How to fill a selection with two different kinds

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of gradients.
What it means to stroke a selection and how How to save a file in PSD format.
to do it. How to save a file in JPG format.
How to use multiple layers to create an effect. About quality levels in JPG's.
Using Layer Styles to create a bevel and a Keyboard shortcuts
Drop Shadow. Ctrl-S to save.
Using Brush Options to make an Airbrush. Ctrl-D to deselect
How to use the Dodge tool. Ctrl-Z to undo
Pearly Button

Ok, now we are going to fancy things up a bit and

you are going to make something that you will think
is cool enough to save. This project will combine all
of what you did in Basic Shapes 1, and add a
couple of other neat little tidbits as well. I will not go
into a great deal of detail on the parts that you have
already done. I want you to have to think about
what you are doing. :P

1. File > New and make your canvas 300x300. 72

dpi is fine, and you should be in RGB mode.

Make a new layer, by clicking the Create a New

Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Double-click its name in the layers palette and

name it "Square".
2. Choose your Rectangular Marquee tool and be
sure that your Feather in the Options bar is set to 0.
Make a SQUARE selection in the middle of your
canvas.

Now before you fling me an email saying that i

didn't tell you HOW to make a square, reread the
rectangle how-to in Basic Shapes 1, and answer
these:

How is a square similar to a rectangle?

How is an ellipse similar to a circle?
How is a square similar to a circle?
Sample SAT question: Ellipse is to circle as
rectangle is to ______.
How did you get from an ellipse to a circle?

Now do your square. :)

File > Save As .. and think of a name for this.

Leave the file type as PSD. Although PSD files
tend to be large, this is because they will maintain
your layers and keep the quality of your file intact.

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3. Now let's fill the square with a gradient! Choose

the Gradient tool.

Choose your favorite color for your foreground In earlier versions than 7, your gradient options bar will look a
color. I chose a medium blue. bit different from this options palette of version 7, but it will still
work the same way.
In the Gradient Options bar, be sure that you are
using the Foreground to Background gradient, as i
have to the right.

Choose the Diamond Gradient.

4. Beginning in the center of the square, drag the

gradient out to one of the vertices (corners) of the
square. If you hold the shift key, what happens?

5. Edit > Stroke to outline the selection to make that

border around the square. Choose your own pixel
width for this. Ctrl-Z to undo if you don't like it, then
redo it. When you get the outline as you like it, Ctrl-
D to deselect.

Ctrl-S to save.

6. Now for the round button in the middle. We'll

make this on a new layer, so click the Create a
New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers
palette.

We begin by making a circular selection centered in

the middle of the square. Refer to the circle part of
my Shapes 1 tutorial if you need help getting
started on this.

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Drag your selection from the CENTER of the

square, holding the Shift and Alt keys as you drag.
What do these each do? Try it without holding them
to see.

7. From your gradient tool, choose the Radial

Gradient Tool. Switch your foreground and
background colors by clicking on the arrow above
and to the right of the color squares in your
toolbox.

8. Drag a gradient from about where i have the red

dot in the circle along the red arrow to the far edge
of the circle. If you don't get this the first time, just
do it again. :) Ctrl-d to deselect.

Ctrl-s to save.
9. Now this is pretty cool already, but we have just
a few more things to do before it is ready to send to
SBS Digital Design.

Look closely at the finished example to the right.

What does it have that ours doesn't have? (I
identified five things. Hover over it for the answer.)

10. See that shadow under the center circle? If you

have Photoshop, you do that by clicking on the
If you are working in PS Elements 2, click the tab
circle layer in the layers palette and then click the
for Layer Styles (go to Window > Layer Styles, if
little f button at the bottom of the layers palette to
you don't see the tab) and, in the dropdown,
bring up the Layer Style dialog box. Choose Drop
choose drop shadow. You can adjust your Layer
Shadow by clicking the words Drop Shadow in the
Style options by double-clicking the little f that
list.
appears to the right in your Layers palette.
Adjust the options there. My settings are just below.

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11. The outer part in the finished example has a

neat beveled effect. Again, layer effects to the
rescue! Click the square layer before adding your
layer styles to that layer. My settings for the Bevel
In Elements, you'll find the Bevel under that
appear below. The Size of the bevel will depend
dropdown at the top. You don't have as many
upon how large you made your stroke. You can get
options for your layer styles as PS folks do, but
that nice hard "chiseled" edge by choosing
you have some other neat stuff too.
Chiseled Hard for Technique.

(Also, you can play around with some of the other

layer effects as well. You cannot hurt anything.)

12. Now let's tackle that almost magical glow

around the button. We will do that on a separate
layer under the button.

Make a new layer, name it "Glow" and drag it

beneath the circle layer in the layers palette.
Choose a light yellow for your foreground color and

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the paintbrush tool. In the Brush options (see

palette to the right), set up your brush. Begin with a
round soft brush. Turn off shape dynamics and
check the box to turn ON airbrush.

For Elements, you change your brush options in the

Options bar at the top.

13. Using the ] and [ keys, adjust the size of your

brush till it is almost the same width as your button.
Then hold it in the center of the button and hold it
till the ball glows!

Ctrl-S to save.

You can also do a glow around the button by using

the layer effect "outer glow". Try this and see which
you like better! Turn off the "eye" for the glow layer
to see what it looks like without that.

Starting at the bottom, you now have 4 layers:

Background
Square
Glow around the circle button
Circle button.You actually made these,
beginning at the bottom, and building on,
except for the glow layer, which you added
after you had the button.

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13. Now for that final touch.. the glowing white on

the bottom part of the round button. Select the
circle layer in the layers palette and choose the
Dodge tool. It is between the pencil tool and the
type tool on the burn tool's flyout. It looks like a
black magnifyer. Use a fairly large soft brush, and
stroke repeatedly over that area till you have the
effect you seek.

Ctrl-S to save your work in PSD form.

14. Now if you want to send this work to your Aunt

Bertha, submit it to the Artist-of-the-Week contest,
or print it out to frame for your desk, you will want to
make a copy of this in JPG format.

(Notice that i said "a copy". Do not get rid of your

PSD files as you finish your work. The reason for
this is that JPG files will degrade everytime you
change something and save it again. Also, saving
the PSD file will preserve your layers so that if you
want to later change that yellow glow to purple, you
can do that too!)

The catch here is that your file size increases

dramatically as you go to better qualities. The size
of this little file varies from 2K to 8K, 4x the size,

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depending on where I put the quality setting! You

will have to compromise some quality in order to
get reasonable load times on the web.

To save as a jpeg for printing, do this:

For how to Save for Web, see my Save for Web
tutorial.)
File > Save as... and choose .jpg from the format
types in the dropdown box. Find a suitable place for
it and then click save. Congratulations on completing the Basic Shapes
Tutorial! I hope you enjoyed it and learned a thing
or two too!
It will ask you for a quality setting. If you have
"preview" checked, you can watch your artwork
degrade before your very eyes as you slide the
slider down toward 0, and then get better as you
move up toward 100!
Student work:

David Park Monica Renée

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Angela Crawford Alexandra Elizabeth

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http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/shapes/shapes2.htm 1/18/2007