So I was on stumbleupon looking through graphic design websites and came across this amazing example of Pixel Art. The image spans horizontally and vertically through the screen meaning you have to scroll the screen to see more. I was amazed when I found this and think it is the best form of Pixel Art I have seen so far.

Be sure to take a look at this - you won’t be disappointed.

I picked up this method when following a tutorial a few months ago, it is quick and easy to do and is really useful!

Step 1 :: Open the document you will be working on. I will be working on a pixel style building which I created, I chose this because it demonstrates best the kind of situation where this techinique proves useful.

Next go to Window > Arrange > New Window for ‘documentname.psd’

Step 2 :: Now just arrange the two windows in whatever way you want! Any changes made on either of the windows will show on the other.

Yesterday I came across this rather quirky design competition from Nokia. The idea is to create a unique Nokia headset design inspired by a piece of music - there are no limits to what the design can look like, the winning design will be created to fully work and be available in Nokia’s flagship stores. Final designs will be chosen by designers who will then work with the designer of the headset to turn their design into a fully functioning headset.

More information on the competition can be found here.

This is a brilliant competition showing Nokia’s passion for creativity - below I have selected a few of my favourite designs so far.

(Click to view full size)

My design

Click here to vote for it

(Click to view full size)

This week I came across this post by Notcot, this is a post about an advertising campaign for EDF. With climate change being one of the biggest problems of the century, companies are trying their hardest to convey their ‘green’ attitude towards the issue. These ads by Publicis Counseil are very original and use stunning imagery to make people stop and think.

(Click to view larger)

This effect which can be seen above can be created in several easy steps. In this tutorial I will be using the album cover LSVO by Stereophonics to work on.

Step 1 :: Get the album cover file, you can copy the image from here. Once you have the image open Photoshop and create a new document, this should have the settings from the image on the clipboard so just press OK, then paste the image onto the canvas.

Step 2 :: Using the marquee tool, select the whole of the album cover and then go to Select > Inverse and then press delete - this gets rid of the border around the cover which would overlap on the reflection.

Step 3 :: Duplicate the album cover (Ctrl + J), we need to flip this vertically. Select the album cover layer and press Ctrl + T to transform it, right click on the copied cover image and select ‘Flip Vertical’ > OK.

Step 4 :: At this point we need to make the canvas height a bit bigger so we have more space to work on the reflection, go to Image > Canvas Size > Change the height to ‘570′ (making sure your background colour is set to white). 

Next drag the upside down album cover below the main one, drag it so it is in line with the image above, but there is a small gap below.

So far you should have something like this >

Step 5 :: Now we need to make it look like a reflection. With the second upside down layer selected press the ‘Layer Mask Button’. Next select the gradient tool, your colours should change to black and white, if they don’t press D to reset them. Drag the gradient tool from just where the reflection starts to where you want it to end.

Next change the opacity of this layer in the layer palette to 40%, when using reflections the opacity of the layer will depend on what colour background you are working with, so just change this until you think it looks right.

Voila! You should now have this >

Step 1 :: Load up Photoshop

File > New > Create a 200px by 200px document with default settings, create a new layer (a new layer can be created by pressing Ctrl + Shift + N). Name this layer ‘circle’, now using the ellipse tool create a circle (any colour) on the square canvas, make sure to hold down Shift whilst creating the circle to maintain the correct aspect ratio.

Right click the ‘circle’ layer in the layers palette and select ‘Blending Options‘, then apply the following ::

Gradient Overlay - The gradient overlay should be set to the ‘Radial style‘, to change the colour of the gradient double click the gradient colour bar which can be seen below. The colour I have used is #99CC00 and #669900. The lighter colour should be in the centre of the circle if this is not the case clicking the ‘reverse’ button will swap the colours round.

Stroke - The only setting that needs to be changed for the stroke is the Fill Type, this is changed to gradient.

If you have followed the instructions then you should now have a design similar to the image below

Step 2 :: Glossy overlay
Now we need to add a glossy look to the button, this can be done easily in Photoshop. This is a great technique which can be used on almost anything.
New Layer > Make sure white is selected as the foreground colour (Press D, X on keyboard) name this layer ‘glossy’, using the ellipse tool drag an ellipse over the top half of the circle. Next hold down Ctrl and click the circle layer > Select, Inverse > Delete
Your button should now look like this ::

Now the opacity needs to be lowered. From the layers palette lower the opacity on the ‘glossy’ layer to 15%.

Voila! Now you have your glossy button.

Step 3 :: Reflection (optional) If you wish you can add a reflection to the button like in the example at the start of this tutorial. Click here to read the reflection tutorial.

Basic shortcuts

All of the tools in the ‘tools palette’ are linked to different letters, when a letter is pressed on the keyboard the linked tool will become active. You can easily see what tool is linked to each letter by hovering your mouse over it in the tools palette.

Generally the letter for every shortcut should be the first letter of each tool, however this only applies to a few tools.

Working on a document

There are various shortcuts which help you to work on a file in Photoshop, these shortcuts are a lot quicker and efficient to use than searching for the function in Photoshop.

Zoom in……………… Ctrl & +

Zoom out……………. Ctrl & -

TAB - Pressing tab when working on a document will hide all palettes and menus, this will leave you with just the document on show, this is very useful when working on large scale documents.

SPACE BAR - Pressing and holding the space bar enables you to ‘grab’ your document and move it around using the mouse. This will only work however if the canvas is larger than your monitors visible screen, or you are zoomed in.

F - Full screen mode, this is also useful when working on large scale documents, this also comes in handy when working on a graphics tablet through Photoshop.

Ctrl + R - Show/Hide ruler

Ctrl + : - Show/Hide guides, guides are really useful when designing, guides can be dragged out from the rulers at the top and left of the screen.

Ctrl + ‘ - Show/Hide grid

Ctrl + 0 - Fit on screen