Graphics Zone - Photoshop 5 2

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Photoshop 5 Course Part 2

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

Designing a Logo: Part Two
Now we are going to add more effects to our simple metallic steel text logo that we designed in week one of our course. During this tutorial we will turn our simple logo into a more complicated complete design suitable for our website.

Make sure that you have your text 'BONDAGE' layer selected, if you don't... just click on the layer name 'BONDAGE'.

First we want to add a red line around our text logo to make it stand out more from the page. To do this we need to use the 'Marquee' tool. Select the 'Marquee' tool and then click in the top left corner of your image and drag the marquee to the bottom right of your image so that the marquee surrounds your text logo. To see how this should look like click here.

Then nudge your marquee left then right one pixel using the arrow keys on your keyboard. The marquee will snap to the outline of your text and will no longer be a rectangle.

Then go to the 'Select' menu at the top of the screen, choose 'Modify' then 'Expand'. The 'Expand Selection' menu will appear, we want our line to be spaced a little from our lettering so enter a value of 4 in the 'Expand by... Pixels' box. Click OK and your marquee will expand by 4 pixels!

We don't want our red line on the same layer as our text so we need to create a new layer... At the bottom of the 'Layers' menu is a little symbol (Shown on the left), just click this to add a new layer. This layer will be named 'Layer 1', double click on this layer to bring up the 'Layer Options' menu and change the name to 'Red Logo Border'. You do not need to rename your layers but it is always good practice as this will help when editing your images especially if you return to your work after a few months!

Now we need to change our foreground color to red. We need the 'Swatches' menu so if you can't see this just click on the 'Window' menu at the top of the screen and select 'Show Swatches'. Go to the 'Swatches' menu and select red (top left corner) for your color.

Select your 'Paint' tool and click in the middle of your marquee to paint it red.

As we want only a small thin line surrounding our text we need to delete most of the red you have just filled so... Go to the 'Select' menu at the top of the screen again and this time choose 'Modify' then 'Contract'. This will bring up the 'Contract Selection' menu. Enter a value of 1 in the 'Contract by... Pixels' box. Click OK and your marquee will contact by one pixel... just press 'Delete' on your keyboard and you will be left with a thin red line surrounding your text.

Our line is a little sharp and jaggy so we want to blur it slightly. To do this you need to use another filter... Select the 'Filter' menu from the top of the screen and choose 'Blur', then 'Blur'. This will soften your border line slightly making a more suitable effect for our logo. To see our example click here.

As our final touch to out text this week we will add a bevel effect to make our text look more three dimensional... To do this we will use one of the 'Photoshop Effects'... Right click on the 'BONDAGE' text layer and choose 'Effects'. From the 'Effects' menu that appears select 'Bevel and Emboss', make sure that no other effects have 'Apply' checked.

Select the following 'Highlight' mode 'Screen' and 75% 'Opacity'... 'Shadow' mode 'Multiply' and 75% 'Opacity'... 'Style' Outer Bevel, 'Angel' 135, 'Depth' 5, 'Blur' 2. Click OK and your text will have a bevelled edge 3d effect! Click here to see our example.

This week's To-Do Assignment:
Follow this weeks tutorial and add a thin red line border and a 3d bevel effect to your logo. You will now need to save your image as a jpg. To do this flatten your image file by clicking on the 'Layer' menu at the top of the screen and selecting 'Flatten Image'... DON'T FORGET TO SAVE YOUR IMAGE AS A PSD FILE FIRST... Then from the 'File' menu at the top of the screen choose 'Save As'. This will bring up the jpg compression menu, set the compression to 7 or 8 and click OK to save your image.