Experiment 138: Eye

(Click the image to view it larger)

Seems like I have to give up any regular postings in the styles project, at least for now, have started working and don't have enough time to do it on a regular basis, at least not with all the other things I want to do :P I'll try to post an image every now and then though and if/when I have more time I might continue with the regular postings. For now I've created this Good Friday inspired piece as a general experiment, it's created using only gradients and warps (and resizing layers, and made easier thanks to smart objects, but apart from that :) ).

Another bonus while I work on other things

(Click the image to see it bigger)

Am still working on other things, but after seeing today's Photoshop User TV episode I got inspired to do the above. Or rather, I got an idea for how to do things better =) Or at least simpler. I'm using just a layer style to do what Dave Cross there needed two smart objects and a filter to do. Read on for more info on how I did it.

Bonus experiments

As you may guess I took a break from the 100 Styles series this week as well, and I'll most probably take next week off as well. As a small bonus while you wait I've taken these past experiments and posted them for your enjoyment. Both utilize Smart Objects to a large extent, but I haven't considered them worthy of their own posts, but together they're interesting enough in my humble opinion. If you're interested in knowing more about how they were made, please post a comment and I'll tell you more.

A break

I'm taking a break from the 100 Styles series this week, not only did last weeks posts go into this week, but more importantly I'm going to take some time to fix some other things. More info will come later, but as a clue I can tell you my website has got a "Down for maintenance sign"...

100 Styles 20 - Shadowy Creatures - Shadow

Shadow effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

A simple name, and some simple layer styles, but what really makes this effect are a couple of Smart Objects. Read on for info on how I created this shapeshifting shadow, as well as to be able to download the PSD file (just a style file doesn't really cut it for this effect).

100 Styles 19 - Shadowy Creatures - Shadow text

Shadow text effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

What is left when you remove the text? Is it just the shadow? Today's effect is the shadow of a text in either case. Makes me wonder what's left to explore for the last image on this theme tomorrow, but that's a question for tomorrow. Read on for info on how the effect is created and to be able to download the style file to experiment with yourself.

100 Styles 18 - Shadowy Creatures - 3D again

Another Pseudo 3D Effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Played around a bit, and ended up creating another pseudo 3D effect, this time using the Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow to create a nice, soft look. Read on for more info on how it was created as well as to be able to download the style file to experiment with.

100 Styles 17 - Shadowy Creatures - Pseudo 3D

Pseudo 3D effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Today I'm using a Drop Shadow to create a Pseudo 3D text effect, so shadow yes, creature no. Read on for more info about how to recreate the effect, as well as a chance to download the style file to experiment with yourself.

100 Styles 16 - Shadowy Creatures - Shadowy Creature

Shadowy creature effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

This weeks theme is called "Shadowy Creatures", and will feature just that, or at least something vaguely related. (It's more likely that there will be a shadow related effect without a creature than a creature without a shadow though. So, a focus on shadow effects in other words.) To start off the week I've taken the theme quite literally and created a shadowy creature: a creature made of a shadow. Read on for info on the effect, and to download the style to play around with yourself.

100 Styles 15 - Lovely Lines - Water

Water effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

To finish off the week I've chosen to interpret the "lines" in yet another way, this time I'm thinking of the lines around the text in this water-like effect (though there is a stroke effect as well, so there's actually multiple meanings to it). Read on for info on how the effect was created and to be able to download the style file.

100 Styles 14 - Lovely Lines - Wavy Lines

Wavy Lines effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Something not too different from yesterday, using a Patter Overlay to create a text effect. There are a bunch of different things, and another use of the Hard Mix Blend Mode. Read on for the details and how to download the style.

100 Styles 13 - Lovely Lines - Stripes

Stripes effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

I'm stretching the concept a tiny bit here with stripes rather than lines, but if you want to be strict there is a line per se in the stroke around the letters. Read on for info on how the effect was created as well as some tips for how the background was created. As well as to be able to download the style of course.

100 Styles 12 - Lovely Lines - Abstract Multi Lines

Abstract Multi Line effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Following up on yesterday's post in two ways, first because the above effect is also utilizing other effects than the Stroke to create lines, second because it's in a small way inspired by something I realized yesterday, more on that below though. Read on for more info on how the style is created and to be able to download it.

100 Styles 11 - Lovely Lines - Basic Lines

Basic line effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

This weeks theme is lines, and it's important to notice that it's "lines" and not "strokes", as strokes isn't the only way to create line, and as evidenced by today's post, not always the best way to achieve the effect you're looking for. With that said, let's not waste any more time on words, read on to get info on today's effect and to be able to download the style file.

100 Styles 10 - Gradients - Pearls

Abstract effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Today we've come to the final gradient, it's only indirectly using a gradient, but still, it's an option if you need five gradients. Now this effect doesn't, but it's a reminder that things can be used in ways you don't think of if you just judge them after what the description says they do. (Now, in one sense the above image includes a large number of gradients if you count the individual representations, but I mean in the sense of places where you can use gradients.) Read on for info on where this gradient is, as well as for how to recreate the above image, and to be able to download the style file to experiment with yourself.

100 Styles 9 - Gradients - 3D Frame

3D Frame Effect using a gradient on the stroke (Click the image to see it bigger)

 Today's effect is described by my sister as "lovely unstructured and weird", and "the colors disagree so much that they agree". Say what you want, but in either case it's a demonstration of what you can do with a gradient in the Stoke effect, as well as a bunch of other effects. Read on for more info on how it's done and to download the style file.

100 Styles 8 - Gradients - Wood

Wood grain effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Today it's all about the Inner Glow filter, at least for the main effect, which consists of two shapes, each with an Inner Glow layer style applied to them, one with a gradient and another without. Read on for more info on how it (and the background for that matter) was done as well as to be able to download the style file to experiment with yourself.

100 Styles 7 - Gradients - Fire

Fire effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

Today I was playing around with the default gradients and the Outer Glow effect when I came upon this effect. Or rather the beginning of it as there is more to the above image than the Outer Glow. Read on for info on how I created the above effect and to be able to download the style for yourself to experiment with.

100 Styles 6 - Gradients - Ball

3D ball effect created using the gradient overlay effect (Click the image to see it bigger)

This week I'm going to try and answer the question "In how many places can gradients be used in Photoshop Layer Styles?". Though to make it more interesting I'm off course not just going to do it as a list, but try to find more interesting effects than that. Because of that this is probably not going to be the best place to learn the basics of gradients in Photoshop as I intend to try and experiment to do things I didn't know about before. (That said, I'll try to explain things where I can so everyone can at least reproduce the effect, and hopefully learn something in the process as well.) Starting off the week is a way to make a simple circle look like a ball, just using the Gradient Overlay effect (and a stroke around it, but that's just icing on the cake).

100 Styles 5 - Black and White - Chess (Text effect with background)

Checkerboard text effect + background effect (Click the image to see it bigger - I really recommend you do this as it's hard to make out all the details in the tiny preview image above.)

To compensate for being a couple of days late I offer a bonus style for the background in this image, enjoy :) (Though admittedly part of it depends on an effect on the text layer, more on that in a moment.) Now it's not every day you need a checkerboard effect, but I'm going to try and put some useful tips into the description so it's worthwhile even if you're not needing this specific effect.

100 Styles 3 + 4 - Black and White - Photo effect with scalable snow

Photo Effect with scalable snow

Again it's two styles in one, the first one is an interesting way to use a layer style to turn a color photo into a black and white photo, the second is an easy, reusable, and last but not least scalable (as well as movable) snow effect.

How to load a custom style into Photoshop

For each post in my new series "100 Styles" I will post the file needed to recreate the styles in that days post, this post describes how to load that file into Photoshop to be able to use it and experiment with the style. The screenshots are from Photoshop CS4, but the process should be more or less the same in older/newer versions. Also, I'm using the Windows version of Photoshop, but as far as I know the only thing that's different on a Mac is that the dialogs look a bit different so that shouldn't make any difference. First download the file to a place that's easy to find, the Desktop is usually a good place (you can delete the file as soon as you've loaded it into Photoshop, so no need to be afraid of cluttering up the Desktop).

100 Styles 1 + 2 - Black and White - Text Effect with background

Text effect with background

As you may guess from the title this is the first of what will (hopefully) be a 100 posts where I experiment and showcase different effects you can create with Photoshop Layer Styles. I want to do this both to challenge myself and to provide something for others to be inspired by and learn from. The former will be achieved by me trying something new in each "stylistic experiment", and the latter will at least be helped by me posting screenshots of the settings used - as well as providing the style files for anyone interested to download and check out and experiment with.

My plan is to do one each week day until I'm finished, which means that unless something unexpected happens you can expect five per week (each week on a different theme) the coming 20 weeks. I'm going to start off by somewhat breaking that order and post two styles today (as it's technically the second day of the week even though I still haven't gone to bed the first), but in general that's how things will be.