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Graphic design and web design are two distinct visual fields that have different requirements, best practices and methodologies.

For example, it’s much easier in web design to use pixel-based/raster-based file formats (like JPG, GIF or PNG). Conversely, vector files such as EPS and AI — which are scalable without leading to pixelation — are better suited for graphic design, for things like logos that might be used in a variety of sizes. As of yet, vector-based graphics designed for the web (such as SVG or HTML5 Canvas) are not universally and uniformly supported in all browsers.

In addition, graphics meant for web use have certain best practices associated with them. One of these best practices is that you should be conscious of file weight because you want your web pages to be as fast as possible. As a web designer, you have to try to reduce the amount of HTTP requests done by your graphics — whether through lowering the amount of images you use or combining some of them into a CSS sprite — as well as make sure you pick the right image format that strikes a perfect balance between file size and image quality.

Photoshop is an industry-standard tool used by both graphic designers and web designers. What follows are some simple tips to follow as you create graphics meant for use on websites.

1. Save Your Graphics with the "Save for Web & Devices" Command

In web design, you have to make sure that your images are as small in file size as possible. But it’s more than that — your images need to look good as well.

The perfect approach to creating graphics in Photoshop is by balancing image quality and file size.

A common mistake that web designers make is using the Save as command instead of the Save for Web & Devices command in Photoshop.

The Save for Web & Devices command creates files optimized for web design, in terms of image quality, image resolution, browser compatibility and file size.

The command additionally has a dialog window that you can use to fine-tune your images. While you tweak the settings of your graphic, it will show you its effects on file size and image quality.

In comparison, the Save as dialog window doesn’t have as many options and often creates images that are larger in terms of file size.

Below is a comparison of the same image saved using the Save for Web & Devices command and the Save as command. Notice that the file size difference is significant.

2. Consider Using Web-safe Colors

Web-safe colors will display correctly in most browsers and on most monitors, ensuring your website looks the same no matter where it’s viewed.

The two easiest ways to guarantee that the colors you use are web-safe are as follows.

"Only Web Colors" Option

In the Color Picker dialog window, check the "Only Web Colors" option located at the bottom-left corner. This will limit the colors being displayed in the window to just web-safe colors.

Convert a Color to a Web-safe Color

Convert any color into the closest web-safe color by clicking on the little cube in the Color Picker (next to the "Current" and "New" color boxes).

3. Consider Using the "Progressive Scan" Option for JPG

The JPG file format is ideal for photographic and high-resolution images. Depending on your projected audience, a progressive scan JPG can be the way to go, as the image will gradually render as the site loads (though on modern broadband Internet connections, this type of wait time is rarely an issue). This allows the user the ability to quickly see the image before it fully downloads, making the web page feel more responsive.

For a more extensive guide on the subject, read JPEG 101: A Crash Course Guide on JPEG.

4. Save Graphics with Transparency as PNGs

The PNG image format is great for images that need to be rendered with transparency.

PNG transparency is supported in most mainstream browsers but watch out if you find yourself having to cater to IE6: parts of your PNG that are meant to be transparent will show up gray. There are workarounds to avoid this issue (e.g., IE PNG Fix JavaScript library) but they can be a hassle to implement.

For more information on PNGs, read the Web Designer’s Guide to PNG Image Format.

5. Save Animated Graphics as GIFs

The GIF image format, while now mostly replaced with PNG, is still useful for one thing. While they are noticeably grainier than PNG and JPG files, one important feature of the GIF image format is its ability to be animated.

While there is an extension of the PNG image format called APNG (which stands for Animated Portable Network Graphics), it lacks browser support.

If you’re choosing between PNG and GIF, it’s usually a good idea choose PNG unless the image is to be animated.

6. Pay Attention to the "Download Time" Information

It’s vital to make sure that a site loads quickly and looks good, which is why saving and optimizing your graphics is important. Below, see what a simple change in a file-saving option can do to an image’s file size.

JPEG at Maximum Quality

JPEG at Low Quality

A good practice to follow is to lower the quality until you visibly notice degradation in image quality.

When you’re optimizing your images, always pay attention to the Download Time, which is displayed on the lower-left corner of the Save for Web & Devices dialog window. Below, you can see that the image being saved will take approximately 2 seconds to download on a DSL Internet connection at its current settings.

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About the Author

Jen Stroman is part of the DWUser.com education team (led by Nathan Rohler) and the primary contributor to this article. Indianapolis-based DWUser.com offers software tools for developers and designers, including an easy and free jQuery slider builder, EasyRotator.

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Photoshop is a popular web design tool. With it, you can create web design mock-ups that can later on be converted to a functional HTML/CSS template.

This collection of tutorials features top-notch techniques on how to create web design layouts using Photoshop.

1. Clean Style Portfolio Layout

A step-by-step Photoshop web design layout tutorial using basic techniques.

2. Clean Blog Layout in Photoshop

Learn how to make a dark-themed blog design layout in this Photoshop tutorial.

3. Create a Portfolio Web Layout in Photoshop

Discover how to use patterns in website layouts through this Photoshop tutorial.

4. How to Make a Vibrant Portfolio Web Design in Photoshop

This Photoshop tutorial uses 960 Grid System for laying out the web page.

5. Create an Elegant Photography Web Layout in Photoshop

This simple tutorial shows you how to apply background textures in your web designs.

6. Photo Gallery Website Layout in Photoshop

Learn to make a dark-themed photo gallery via this excellent Photoshop tutorial.

7. Create a Movie Video Streaming Website

In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll use layer styles to create great web design elements.

8. How to Build a Stylish Portfolio Web Design Concept

Learn techniques for creating elegant web designs in Photoshop through this tutorial.

9. Create a Modern Lab Theme Web Design in Photoshop

This tutorial will show you design techniques for making slick web layouts.

10. Create an Extremely Simple Dark Web Design in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you’ll learn plenty of techniques such as how to make a web button.

11. How to Create a Sleek Grid Based Website Design

From paper to Photoshop, learn how to lay out a web design on a grid.

12. How to Create a Vintage Photoshop Website Layout

Make a stylish vintage-themed design by reading this awesome Photoshop tutorial.

13. Create a Simple Clean Portfolio Layout in Photoshop

This Photoshop layout tutorial is perfect for portfolio sites as well as web app sites.

14. 3D Portfolio Dark Layout in Photoshop

You’ll use Photoshop guides, layer styles and more in this web design tutorial.

15. Design a Clean and Colorful Ecommerce Layout in Photoshop

This tutorial will walk you through the creation of an e-store product page design.

16. Design an Innovative Portfolio Site Using Alternative UI/UX

This tutorial shows you the creation of a web page that has a unique user interface.

17. Design a Sleek Mobile App Website

Create a simple dark-themed web design layout using basic Photoshop techniques.

18. Design a Warm, Cheerful Website Interface in Adobe Photoshop

This superb web layout tutorial has a PSD to HTML conversion follow-up.

19. Impressive Videographer Website Portfolio Layout in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you’ll use the Custom Shape Tool to make a background pattern.

20. How to Create a WordPress Theme in Photoshop

Learn to make a simple blog layout using Photoshop.

21. Design a Bold and Vibrant Portfolio

This web layout tutorial walks you through the creation of a colorful portfolio site.

22. Create an Elegant Patterned Web Design in Photoshop

Among the things you’ll learn in this tutorial is the creation of Photoshop patterns.

23. Design a Clean Corporate Website Layout

Learn how to incorporate stock photos in your website layout’s header in this tutorial.

24. How to Create a Colorful Business Web Layout

This Photoshop tutorial will demonstrate how to incorporate icons in your web designs.

25. Design a Textured "Coming Soon" Web Page in Photoshop

Learn to make a simple web design with beautiful textures in this Photoshop tutorial.

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About the Author

Marcell Purham is the founder of Webdevtuts, where he writes tutorials. He is also a freelance web developer and designer, check out his portfolio. If you would like to keep in touch with Marcell, follow him on Twitter: @marcellpurham.

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Retro and vintage designs are valued for nostalgia and sentimental memories. You can notice that retro and vintage design is created by using rich colors, grunge elements and various textures. In this collection, you’ll find 50 retro and vintage related Photoshop tutorials. These tutorials are useful and unique, so you will learn some new techniques that you can use in your next projects.

1. Make a Retro-Space Typography Poster with Colorful Lights

2. Create a Funky Retro Wavy Text Effect in Photoshop

3. Design a Retro Styled Poster

4. How To Create a Retro Apple Wallpaper in Photoshop

5. Design a Colorful Retro Futuristic Poster in Photoshop

6. Design a Retro Summer Poster Illustration

7. Create a Mock-Retro Poster Concept

8. Super Cool Retro Poster in 10 Steps in Photoshop

9. Design a Retro Futurism Space Scene

10. Retro Wallpaper Photoshop Tutorial

11. Create a retro grunge typographic poster in Photoshop

12. Create a Stunning Retro Futuristic Typography

13. How to Make a Worn Vintage Beach Ad in Photoshop

14. Tutorial: Create A Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop

15. Create A Retro Typography Design

16. Creating the new retro

17. How To Create a Retro Grunge Apple Wallpaper in 5 Easy Steps in Photoshop

18. Retro Modernist Poster Design with 3D Typography

19. Create a Retro Design Poster in Photoshop

20. Create a Texture Based Vintage TV Poster in Photoshop

21. Create an Abstract Retro-Pop Wallpaper

22. Amazing Retro Rainbow Curves

23. Design a Stylish Retro Game Boy Poster in Photoshop

24. Creating a Space-Helmeted Future Retro Illustration

25. How to Create a Retro Boxing Poster in Photoshop

26. Retro Geometric Vectors in Space with Illustrator and Photoshop

27. Creating an Awesome Retro Collage

28. Create a Retro Pop Art in Photoshop

29. Create a Retro Photo and Background

30. Creating A Retro Grunge Poster

31. Craft a Vintage Fifties Letter

32. Creating A Cool Vintage Collage Design In Photoshop

33. How to Design a Rockin’ 80′s Party Poster

34. Hot Chick on a Muscle Car

35. Gigposter Design: The New Sex

36. Photoshop Serigraphs

37. Super Retro Game Cartridge Design

38. Mix Cool Retro Curves Into Your Photographs

39. Retro SunFlower Design

40. Retro Lighting – Ford Mustang

41. Retro Text

42. How to Quickly Create a Stylish Retro Text Effect

43. How to Make a Planet Terror Style Poster in Photoshop

44. Create A Simple And Effective Retro Logo With a Soft Grunge Background

45. Creating a Stunning Old-World Look in Photoshop

46. Create a Wicked-Worn Vintage Pop Art Design

47. Create Vintage Traveler Diary in Photoshop

48. Designing a Typographic Concept Poster

49. Create a Vinyl Record with Retro Photo Sticker in Photoshop

50. How to make a Typographic, Retro, Space Face

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About the Author

Tomas Laurinavičius is interested in web design, graphic design and web development, based in Lithuania. He’s also the founder of Iniwoo, a site about photoshop, web design, wordpress and inspiration. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter.

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If you are looking to learn about grungy metal, glass, water, clouds, fire, wet ink Photoshop text effect tutorials, you will find some by reading up on these tutorials. Try to play around with settings and colors on each of these to end up with your own look and feel.

Hopefully you find something that inspires you, plus maybe a trick or two on how to do something a bit different from what you’re used to. Here the best Photoshop tutorials for making text effects.

This is a follow up to a post that was published a while ago called 30 Beautiful Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials that you should also check out.

Enjoy!

1. Wooden Type Treatment

2. Remarkable 3D Text

3. Cool Wet Ink Typography Effect

4. Copper Text Effect

5. High Quality Metal 3D Text

6. Vanity License Plate

7. Transparent Text Effect with Fresh Grass

8. Retro Text Effect

9. Torn Paper Edges

10. Gooey Text

11. Starry Text Effect in Photoshop

12. Patriotic Text

13. Ice Text Effect with Photoshop

14. Stylish Retro Text Effect

15. Colorful Glow

16. Semitransparent Amorous Text Effect

17. Eroded Metal with Photoshop

18. Horror Style with Dirt and Splatter

19. Papercraft

20. Grungy Metal

21. Luminous Glass

22. Burnt Wood

23. Abstract Text Effect

24. 3D Layered Text Effect

25. Metal Text Under 12 O’clock Spot Light

26. Folded Typo

27. Cloudy Text

28. Glowing Text in Space

29. Patch on Clothes

30. Easy Neon Style

31. Jelly Fish Delight

32. Advanced Glow Effects

33. Maddening Text Effect – Unlimited Variations

I hope you enjoy these tutorials and find them useful. Thank you for reading!

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Hilde Torbjornsen is a graphic designer/freelancer from Norway. She owns the website Designer77 and is especially interested in Photoshop, Illustrator, freelancing and photography. Follow her on Twitter: @hildy77.

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There are quite a few reasons why having basic Photoshop skills beyond slicing PSD’s to XHTML/CSS is essential to any web developer.

I have discussed some of those reasons in this article on my blog, but to make a long story short, there are times when you just need to do minor image editing tasks but don’t want to hassle your web designer for it.

Here are common tasks and processes that web developers often need to deal with when working on a web design/web interface using Photoshop.

1. Changing the background color of an icon

As a web developer, one of the most common tasks I encounter is changing the background color of an icon or making its background transparent.

Let’s take an RSS icon for example. RSS icons come in different shapes and sizes.

When you finally find the "perfect” icon, you sometimes need to modify it. One common issue is that if your site’s background color is one color and the icon’s background is another color, to make them seamlessly match, there is a little work we need to do to it.

If the image is in GIF format, I recommend converting it to PNG because they’re similar, but PNGs will usually be smaller in file size. Read about the pros and cons of using GIF versus PNG at W3C.

To do that, open the image in Photoshop, then go to File > Save for Web & Devices (Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + Shift + S), then select either PNG-8 or PNG-24 under the Optimized file format drop-down on the right-side. You’ll have to see which one is better in terms of quality and file size.

(See a guide on how to save images for the web.)

Then close the original GIF file because we are done with it, and then open the image with the new format you have just saved.

Now if you look at your Layers Panel (if it’s not visible, hit the F7 key to toggle the panel’s visibility), you might see that there is a layer called Background.

Right-click on that layer, select Layer from Background from the menu that appears, and then click OK.

Second step: use the Magic Wand Tool (W) from the Tools Panel.

1. Click on the Magic Wand Tool.

2. Make sure that the Tolerance value is set to about 20 and that the Anti-alias and Contiguous options are checked as demonstrated below.

Then click on the white (or whatever color) background area surrounding the icon.

Make sure that the selected area doesn’t "eat" too much of the shadow below the icon. If it does, play with the tolerance value a bit (and reselect the background again with the Magic Wand Tool), until you get the desired result.

To delete the background color

To delete the background and make it transparent, simply press the Delete key to clear the area below the selection. Then save it again as a PNG by going File > Save for Web & Devices, making sure that the Transparency option is checked.

To change the background color

1. Click on your Foreground color, select the desired color from the Color Picker dialog window, and then click OK.

2. Click on the Paint Bucket Tool (G). If you don’t see the Paint Bucket Tool, right-click on the Gradient Tool icon and choose the Paint Bucket Tool from the menu that appears.

Then, click inside the selected are around the icon to apply the color you chose.

2. Selecting a layer with Auto-Select

Selecting a layer may seem obvious: you click on the layer’s name in the Layers Panel (press F7 if you don’t see it).

However, finding the relevant layer can be tedious when there are many layers in your work or if the layers aren’t named intuitively.

One option is to enable the Auto-Select option:

1. Click on the Move Tool (V) in the Tools Panel.

2. Choose Layer from the Auto-Select drop down.

3. Make sure to check the Auto-Select box.

After enabling Auto-Select, clicking anywhere in the canvas itself will activate the relevant layer.

3. Selecting a layer with Ctrl/Cmd + click

A second option for selecting a layer is to use the Move Tool (V)—leaving the Auto-Select option unchecked this time—and then Ctrl/Cmd + clicking on an object in the canvas to select a specific layer.

4. Isolating a layer

After selecting a layer, you may want to copy it to a new document where you can save it as a separate image.

One way to do it would be using the Crop Tool (C).

However, there is a quicker way that preserves the accurate size of that layer:

1. Hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click on the layer’s thumbnail. This should make an automatic selection around the objects in that layer.

2. Press Ctrl/Cmd + C (shortcut for Edit > Copy)

3. Press Ctrl/Cmd + N to create a new document. Photoshop detects the size of the layer you want to copy and creates a new document with the same size.

4. Click Ctrl/Cmd + V to paste into the new layer.

5. Copying a layer from one document to another by drag and drop

There are many ways to copy a layer or a group of layers from one PSD file to another. However, the easiest method is simply to drag and drop them.

1. Select a layer from the Photoshop document you wish to copy from. If you need to copy multiple layers, hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click on the layers in the Layers Panel.

2. Select the Move Tool (V).

3. Click anywhere in the canvas and drag the layers up to the tab of the document you want to copy the layers to.

The window will switch to the second document. Release the mouse button in the canvas where you wish to place the copied layers in the second document.

6. Refining a selection by contracting or expanding it

In the first tip, I demonstrated how to select the background of an icon. In some cases, the selection is inaccurate and you may want to expand or contract that selection from all directions.

First, to get a closer look at your selection, press Ctrl/Cmd + + which will zoom into your work.

Go to Select > Modify > Expand or Select > Modify > Contract.

Type the number of pixels you wish to expand or contract your selection by, and then click OK.

7. Using Layer Comps

When working with many layers, it is more efficient to capture different layer visibility states. In other words, it’s best to set a layer’s visibility to display only the layers you want to.

1. Display the Layer Comps Panel by go to Window > Layer Comps.

2. Click on the Layer Comps menu and select New Layer Comp or click on the Create a new layer comp button at the bottom of the Layer Comps Panel.

3. Type the name of your Layer Comp, check the Visibility option and click OK.

Toggle Layer Comps

To hide and show your layer comps, just click on the icon on the right side of the layer comp.

8. Basic image manipulation: changing colors

Another common task in Photoshop is duplicating a part of a layer for color changes or transformation.

Here’s an example. The following icon is used as a menu button:

How can you create a duplicate version of the house (only), and make it black and white? This is a situation that often occurs when you need to create mouseover effects on a web page.

1. Click on the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M).

2. Select the house on the canvas. Then press Ctrl/Cmd + J to duplicate it into a new layer.

3. Click Ctrl/Cmd + U to adjust Hue/Saturation for the new layer. Scroll the saturation left to turn the house to black and white.

The result:

Remember that you still have the colored version of the house. To view it, just toggle the duplicated layer’s visibility.

9. Using measurement tools

As a web developer, you often need to measure objects for pixel-perfect accuracy when rendered on a web page. A common example is calculating menu item sizes for creating CSS sprites.

Here are two methods to measure elements:

Rulers (Ctrl/Cmd + R)

1. Click, hold, and drag from the top left corner of your rulers towards the canvas.

2. Release the mouse button where you want to start the axes.

3. Zoom in (Ctrl/Cmd + +) to view finer increments of the rulers.

Tip: To change the measurement units of the rulers (from inches to pixels for example), double- click on the ruler itself to open the Units & Rulers Preference dialog window (or go to Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers) and select the desired measurement unit.

The Ruler Tool (I)

1. Click on the Ruler Tool’s button on the Tools Panel (if you don’t see it, right-click on the Eyedropper Tool and switch it to the Ruler Tool).

2. Click and drag from the start to end-point that you wish to measure.

3. Check the width and height indications.

Got Photoshop tips for web developers of your own? Please share it with us in the comments.

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About the Author

Omer Greenwald is a web developer, blogger and WordPress enthusiast. He specializes in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. You can check out his blog called WebTechWise, which shares tips and tutorials for bloggers and site administrators. To connect with the author follow him via Twitter as @WebTechWise.

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Looking back this year (2009), we have had some incredible tutorials that have taught hundreds and thousands of people new skills in Adobe Photoshop. We’ve been searching the web from America to Germany to the UK and have managed to compile a list of the 50 of the very best Photoshop tutorials this year.

Happy learning and wishing you all the luck in 2010!

1. How to Mold Paint Splatter to a Face in Photoshop

Use various tools such as the Cloning tool to remove facial features and the Brush tool to create a realistic splatter merged with professional blending techniques to mould the paint splatter over a face.

2. How to Create a 3D Text Photo Manipulation

Learn how to combine vector art with pixel art in this superb tutorial here at Six Revisions. Use various blending modes and manipulation techniques to make a flat-looking 3D object really pop out.

3. Manipulate Smoke to Create Hyper-Real Images

Learn to apply the Warp tool effectively (as well as a few other tricks) to manipulate real smoke to look like a skull. You can use the technique on other various mediums such as water and clouds.

4. Combine Photo Elements to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation

Use color balances and levels to change the overall feel of a stock photo, and the Burn tool to make certain areas of an image darker than others to make them appear correctly in any given environment. Select areas of stock photos using the Magnetic Lasso tool or a quick mask and merge them into your composition.

5. Design a Vintage Radio Icon in Photoshop

Use gradients and custom strokes to make flat objects appear three-dimensional – combine this with stock photography and textures to produce a vintage and very realistic radio icon. The same technique can also be used to produce other icons such as guitar amplifiers and televisions.

6. How to Create a Retro Hippy Van Poster in Photoshop

Learn how to combine vector art with pixels, add texture to clean artwork, and play with blending modes. A little bit of shameless self-promotion here, but this tutorial did get me a lot of great feedback, and the first part of the tutorial (the vector van) is going to be featured in a top French Design magazine!

7. Create a Funky Perspective of a Model Riding Digital Volume

Use professional manipulation and editing techniques with various stock photos to make a beautiful composition. Use the Warp tool to change angles and shapes to make them fit exactly how you want them in your composition.

8. Create a Realistic Space Scene from Scratch with Photoshop

Follow this tutorial and work with textures, levels and layer styles to create a realistic and incredibly awesome space scene.

9. Create a Vintage Traveler Diary in Photoshop

Learn how to combine stock photos, photography and textures to create a vintage composition whose primary elements are a world map, a diary and a cup of coffee to finish things off.

10. How to Create an Abstract Business Card in Photoshop

Make use of Photoshop’s guides and custom type settings to create an abstract typography-based designer’s business card.

11. Create a Simple Vibrant Light Effect in Photoshop

Get your torch and SLR camera out for this tutorial as you’ll be needing it to create some superb lighting effects. Combine that with Photoshop’s excellent selection of image adjustment tools such as levels, curves and the hue/saturation level to produce a stunning vibrant light effect.

12. Create a Cool Wet Ink Typography Effect in Photoshop

Combine neat and tidy typography with gradient splats, a handful of coffee-stained textures and some ink brushes, and what do you get? A modern and very cool wet ink typography effect!

13. How to Create Retro Art in Photoshop

Retro/vintage art is one of the most-loved design trends of 2009 and we’re sure that’s not going anywhere quickly! In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to manipulate stock photographs, work with the Pen tool and make your overall composition look retro!

14. Create a Slow Motion Bullet Shot Effect

In this extremely detailed tutorial, you’ll learn how to make various components of a television remote control including the back, front, individual buttons and even the circuit-board. Why? Because you’re about to combine the lot together to make an almost life-like motion bullet shot effect!

15. Design a Stunning Sneaker Advert

Use the Eraser tool to remove areas of a stock image to nicely combine it around another object. You’ll also create custom lines with the Pen tool and learn how to stroke and skew them and turn them in to little colorful beams of light.

16. How to Create Remarkable 3D Text in Photoshop

Learn how to duplicate layers by nudging them down to create a remarkable 3D typography effect in Photoshop without the aid of 3D software. Learn how to create a drop shadow and add realistic lighting effects to finish off your newly learned text effect technique.

17. How to Design a Vintage Horror Movie Poster in Photoshop

In this tutorial you’ll learn various techniques and effects on how to reproduce a legendary film poster for the popular horror movie called "Day of the Dead". You’ll be using and manipulating various textures and stock photos to create a great composition.

18. Combine Textures with Vectors

Sometimes vector art can look a little too crisp and unnatural. In this tutorial, Derek Lea will be teaching you how to combine your vector art with textures to give it an awesome worn-and-torn look!

19. Awesome Milk Typography Effect in Photoshop

After learning how to create some custom typography in Illustrator, you’ll be instructed in great detail how to merge stock photographs of (splashing) milk with your custom type to produce this great milky typography effect.

20. Extinction by Chanito

With some help from Cinema 4D to create your text, you’ll be using brushes, motion blurs and various stock photos and textures with different blending modes to create this wonderful piece of typography art.

21. How to Create a Clean Web 2.0 Style Web Design in Photoshop

Learn how to correctly use a grid layout template when designing a new website. Combine various tools and effects to create a clean and modern "web 2.0" style web mock-up.

22. Create a Trendy Galactic Poster Design in Photoshop

In this tutorial by Chris Spooner, you’ll be learning how to use advanced lighting techniques and stock photography manipulation to produce a trendy galactic style poster design.

23. Retro Geometric Vectors in Space with Illustrator and Photoshop

Effectively combine vector files with pixel art in this great tutorial by Fabio Sasso. You’ll learn how to create custom geometric shapes in Illustrator and then merge them with some great Photoshop lighting effects and noise filters.

24. Colorful Glowing Text Effect in Photoshop

Create some custom-sized type in Photoshop and manipulate it using various techniques such as adding glows, playing with motion blurs, modifying colors and adding reflections.

25. Design a Modern and Sleek Web Design Mockup in Photoshop

Follow through the detailed web design tutorial to learn how to create a simple but modern and sleek mock-up in Photoshop.

26. Design a Clean Portfolio Site in Photoshop

Learn how to correctly and effectively use guides to your advantage when designing for the web, and pick up several tips and tricks along the way whilst you pay attention to every single tiny detail in the design.

27. Space Explosion Photoshop Tutorial

This incredible and inspiring tutorial by Tyler Bramer published on Smashing Magazine is probably one of the most detailed of the year. You’ll learn an endless amount of techniques in the tutorial including photo manipulation, blending techniques, lighting effects and much, much more!

28. How to make a Typographic, Retro, Space Face

Create a slightly freakish typography and retro "space face" in this tutorial by following through the detailed steps on how to manipulate typography, add extreme bursts of color and how to effectively use light to make your image stand out.

29. 3D Typography Tutorial in Photoshop & Illustrator

Once again you’ll be using both Illustrator and Photoshop in this tutorial: Illustrator to create the 3D typography, and Photoshop to add some great lighting effects, gradients, shadows and an awesome HDR effect.

30. Create a Furious Pink Panther Poster

In this tutorial you’ll be manually tracing a stock photograph in Photoshop (graphics tablet recommended!), adding some awesome colored grungy and splattered areas followed by some great halftone brushes and some strong, bold typography.

31. Make a Vintage Magazine Ad in Photoshop

Deconstruct and reproduce a vintage magazine advertisement in Photoshop by following this superb tutorial by Danny Outlaw at his blog Outlaw Design. Learn how to professionally combine grungy textures with a clean and professional stock photograph.

32. How to Create a "Worn Paper" Web Layout

Follow this great tutorial written by Matthew Heidenreich to produce a trendy and modern paper-themed web design mock-up. Use various textured photographs and scanned images to make a realistic paper look.

33. Creative Photoshop Animal King Photo Manipulation Tutorial

In this detailed and (probably) very recognized manipulation, you’ll learn how to manipulate and merge a lion’s head and various other items and creatures into a famous portrait painting of Napoleon.

34. Create a Winter Theme Web Design in Photoshop

Although this tutorial by Ionut Ciursa is relatively new, it lands a well-deserved place in this list. You’ll learn some very handy techniques such as making a frosted header banner and how to effectively use guides when designing for the web.

35. iPhone Gift Ribbon Tutorial

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create an Apple-inspired application gift ribbon (as seen in Apple’s latest Christmas promotional period). You’ll be using various tools such as the Warp Transform tool and the Gradient tool.

36. Design a Stylish Mail Icon in Photoshop

Use the Pen tool and several layer styles to produce a modern and stylish mail icon in Photoshop. Icons created using this technique are suitable for the web, print documents, and even application icons.

37. Very Easy Heroes Eclipse in Photoshop

The popular TV show, "Heroes", has become a hit for the catchy storylines and the fantastic art that is associated it. This tutorial shows how to produce the eclipse in very simple and easy to understand steps. You’ll learn some great lighting techniques as well as how to apply grungy textures.

38. Master Special Finishes

This could ultimately be one of the best and most helpful tutorials you’ll ever read. Learn simple but superb techniques on how to add special finishes to your print work such as spot colors, spot varnishes and more!

39. Creating an Abstract Watercolor Wallpaper

To make this great watercolor wallpaper effect in Photoshop, you’ll need to know how to use advanced layer mask techniques. Not too sure how to do that? This tutorial teaches it perfectly.

40. How to Create a Cool and Stylish Green Poster Design in Photoshop

Combine various blending modes and manipulation techniques in this tutorial to create a stylish and modern green planet with wavy lines.

41. Killer 3D Poster Design with 3DS Max & Photoshop

This tutorial combines both 3D Max (20%) and Photoshop (the remaining 80%) but can, however, all be produced in Photoshop. You will be learning techniques on the basics of lighting, mapping, rendering, applying textures blurs and various other tips and tricks to produce this galactic style poster design.

42. How to Create a Severed Arm in Photoshop

If you want a way to freak out your other half or one of your friends, this is a great technique to learn. Taught by Simon Rudd, he walks you through the steps on how to separate limbs (nice!) using various tools and techniques such as how to use the Heal tool, how to use layer masks and how to use adjustment levels.

43. Design a Slick 3D Ice Text Effect

Andrew Houle talks you though how to create some great 3D typography in this tutorial. You’ll learn how to color 3D illustrations by using gradients and how to use hue, saturation and lightness levels to productively change the feel of the final image.

44. Creating ‘Broken Link’

In this tutorial, David Cousens takes you through the design process of his digital painting "Broken Link" from sketch to the finalized digital piece of art. Throughout the tutorial you’re bound to pick up on hundreds of little techniques such as light sources, basic drawing techniques and how to add a bit of a dirty feel to your final image.

45. Create a Realistic Grunge Peeling Sticker in Photoshop

In this awesome tutorial you’ll learn how to make a realistic and grungy peeling sticker from scratch using Photoshop’s simple tools such as the Ellipse tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool and feathered brushes. This tutorial is great for making your own icons for web and print, or even for designing your own real stickers!

46. Letterpress Text Effect

This effect is known as the "letterpress text effect" and has been a huge design trend of 2009 – the effect is still expanding and I can’t see it going very far in 2010. For that reason, this tutorial by Chris Spooner made it into the list with a well deserved place. Use very simple techniques to create this stylish and effective text effect!

47. Super Cool Watercolor Effect in 10 Steps in Photoshop

This piece of art was inspired by the master Scott Hansen. Fabio Sasso walks you through how to create your own digital wallpaper like Hansen’s using a combination of layer masks and watercolor brushes.

48. How to Create 3D Text Blocks in Photoshop

In this tutorial, university lecturer Eren Goksel will teach you how to use the 3D Orbit tool, the Mosaic filter and various other techniques to design a 3D text block type effect in Photoshop.

49. How to Create Stunning and Bold 3D Text

To create your own stunning and bold 3D text you will use a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop to create your 3D type and several layer styles and tools such as the bevel and emboss style, Gaussian blurs and layer masks.

50. Create a Leather-Textured Realistic Briefcase Icon

Combine the use of textures, rendered clouds and loads of great tools and techniques to produce a realistic briefcase icon that can be used for various projects, both web and print.

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About the Author

Callum Chapman is a freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator Cambridge, UK. He is the creative mind behind Circlebox Creative and Circlebox Blog. He’s written for publications such as Smashing Magazine and other well-known design blogs. You can reach him via Twitter or Facebook.

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Using Photoshop brushes can be a quick and effective way to beautify and improve a design. Though there are many Photoshop brushes available on the web free for you to download, you can also make your own to guarantee that you’ll have something truly unique.

Creating Photoshop brushes is easier than you think; if you don’t know where to start, check out these handy tutorials on Photoshop brush creation.

1. Create Photoshop Brushes for Coffee Stains and Splatters

Learn how to compose Photoshop brushes using a scanned-in photo of coffee stains and splatters, giving you insight on how to use your own photos to create reusable brushes.

2. Creating Grunge Brushes

Belgian graphic/web designer Verle Pieters shows her readers how she makes grunge brushes that can be applied on design projects to create a worn look.

3. How to Create Your Own Brushes

Discover a method for creating reusable floral brushes in this step-by-step Photoshop tutorial on PhotoshopStar.

4. Building a Lego Bricks Photoshop Brushes Set

In this Photoshop brush creation tutorial, you’ll take a stock image of Lego blocks and transform it into a brush set.

5. Photoshop Brush Tutorial

This 4-step Photoshop brush tutorial on deviantArt will introduce you to the art of creating brushes in Photoshop.

6. Photoshop Brush Tutorial

This tutorial illustrates a process for making a beautiful grunge corner brush using a stock photo and layer masking.

7. Creating Your Own Grunge Brushes

In this tutorial, you’ll see a process for creating grunge brushes in Photoshop using a standard default brush that’s modified with the Displace filter.

8. How to Create Your Own Photoshop Brushes

In this detailed Photoshop brush creation tutorial, you’ll discover the basic techniques for using stock images to create truly unique brushes.

9. How to Create a Set of Photoshop Grunge Brushes

Sometimes you want to create Photoshop brush sets either to group your brushes for organization or to share them with others – this tutorial will show you how.

10. Creating Your Own Custom Adobe Photoshop Brushes

This tutorial gives you an introduction to creating your very own custom Photoshop brushes using stock imagery.

11. How to Make A Photoshop Brush

Designer and blogger Jay Hilgert of BittBox shares his techniques for making custom Photoshop brushes.

12. Creating Your Own Fractal Photoshop Brush: Tutorial

Fractals are popular in digital art compositions and if you’d like to learn how to make reusable fractals for use in your Photoshop projects, check this tutorial out.

13. Leaf Brush Tutorial

Create unique leaf brushes using stock photos by following along this excellent web tutorial on Spoono.

14. Creating Photoshop Brushes Tutorial

This tutorial, which is also available as a downloadable PDF that you can print out, walks you through the making of a Photoshop brush.

15. How to Make a Brush in Photoshop CS3

This tutorial takes a vector illustration made in Adobe Illustrator and converts it to a Photoshop brush.

16. How to Create and Define Photoshop Brushes

Learn the basics of making and defining Photoshop brushes so that you can easily use them throughout your digital art projects.

17. Create Photoshop Custom Brush

In this Photoshop brush creation tutorial, you’ll discover a method for generating your own brushes using palm trees.

18. Make Photoshop Brushes

This Photoshop tutorial on producing brushes takes a high-resolution photo of a flower and with the help of the Pen (or Lasso) Tool isolates and converts the subject to a brush.

19. Adobe Photoshop CS3: Brush Creation for Dummies

This beginner level brush creation tutorial on Instructables will take you on a step-by-step journey into producing your very own Photoshop brushes.

20. How to Make a Brush and How to Use It

This Photoshop brush starts by creating a Photoshop pattern; the result is a brush that you can use as a tiled pattern in your designs.

21. How to Create Photoshop Brushes? Complete Tutorial

This Photoshop brush creation tutorial shows you how to create a brush using default shapes included in Photoshop.

22. Custom Brushes Tutorial

Richard Carpenter, a regular author here on Six Revisions, shows readers of his Photoshop design blog (hvdesigns) how he creates custom Photoshop brushes.

23. How to Make Photoshop Brushes

In this Photoshop brush creation tutorial, you will learn how to produce custom brushes using default brushes.

24. Creating Custom Brushes

This Photoshop brush creation tutorial shows you how to make an interesting brush by using a royalty-free (and downloadable) image.

Do you use Photoshop brushes? Where do you get your Photoshop brushes? Do you usually create your own or to you prefer to download them? Join the discussion in the comments! *edited by Jacob Gube

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About the Author

Tomas Laurinavičius is interested in web design, graphic design and web development, based in Lithuania. He’s also the founder of Iniwoo, a site about photoshop, web design, wordpress and inspiration. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter.

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Adobe Photoshop is the go-to tool for digital artists when it comes to professionally retouching images. Enhancing and retouching photos in Photoshop is an effective way to "work with what you’ve got".

There are many tips, tricks, and techniques for improving things like skin tone and imperfections, and enhancing the photo subject’s features. This article shares a huge variety of photo retouching tutorials for Photoshop users with brief descriptions of each.

1. Super Fast and Easy Facial Retouching

Learn how to improve a poorly taken photograph by reducing its noise in this Photoshop subject-enhancing tutorial. You will also discover a fast and simple way for smoothing out a person’s skin with realistic results.

2. Reducing 5 O’Clock Shadow And Beard Stubble In Photoshop

You can learn how to lower the amount of beard stubbles a person has by reading this excellent Photoshop retouching tutorial. The tutorial covers layer masking techniques, effective usage of the Healing Brush Tool, and layer blending options.

3. Virtual Makeup in a Snap

This tutorial goes over an easy method for digitally applying makeup on a subject for a beautiful and realistic outcome. Some Photoshop tools and features used are the Reduce Noise Filter, the Paint Brush Tool, and the Eraser Tool.

4. Eye Color Change

You can use Photoshop to change a photo subject’s eye color by reading through this tutorial that shares a simple method for doing so using Quick Mask Mode and Color Balance Image Adjustments.

5. Increase Breast Size

Learn a technique for augmenting the photo subjects breast size (often used in print magazines) using the Liquify Filter and the Bloat Tool in this quick and easy Photoshop tutorial.

6. Basic Retouch and Colorization

Learn the basics of photo retouching and enhancing a photos color by way of the colorization method. The Gaussian Blur filter, Curves image adjustment, and the Smart Sharpen filter are just some of the options applied in this Photoshop tutorial.

7. Applying Realistic Tattoo

If you would like to apply a digitally placed tattoo on a subject’s body – perhaps either to cover up imperfections or to make them look badass – this tutorial goes over a method that offers realistic results.

8. Age Progression

Retouching usually aims to reduce aging in someone’s features, but what if you wanted to do the opposite? In this retouching/enhancing tutorial – you’ll learn a method for realistically aging someone’s facial features.

9. Whiten Teeth to Improve a Smile in Photoshop

Learn to brighten the subject’s teeth for a pearly-white smile in this Photoshop tutorial that uses the Quick Selection Tool for easy area selection and a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer to get the job done.

10. Professional Photo Retouching Bikini Model

In this tutorial, you’ll learn professional methods for enhancing a bikini model photo. Find several Photoshop techniques such as removing unwanted skin blemishes and a digital airbrushing process.

11. Change Hair Color

You can enhance a photo subject by altering their natural features. One way to end up with eye-grabbing results is by changing a person’s hair color; this Photoshop tutorial shows you how to do it with basic masking tools and layer styles.

12. Superb Skin Airbrush Technique

Airbrushing is used by professional makeup artists to prepare subjects for photo shoots. In this retouching tutorial, you’ll discover how to perform this process digitally with the help of Photoshop tools such as the Surface Blur Filter and the Paint Brush Tool.

13. Face Makeover

This professional-level Photoshop tutorial goes over the ways in which you can give someone a full digital makeover, including how to whiten eyes to make the subject look more vibrant, using the Paint Brush Tool in conjunction with lay blending modes.

14. Simple Facial Photo Retouching

The Spot Healing Brush Tool, the Warp Transform option, and downloadable Photoshop brushes are some of the things this excellent facial retouching tutorial on Grafpedia utilizes to enhance the eye area of the photo subject.

15. Create Digital Makeup

In this Photoshop photo-enhancing tutorial, you will find out how to apply makeup digitally onto a photo subject using a couple of Photoshop filters, masking tools, and Image Adjustment options.

16. Artificial Smooth Skin

This quick and easy beginner level Photoshop tutorial goes over some basic masking methods using the Quick Mask Mode and the Paint Brush Tool to smoothen a person’s facial skin for a flawless surface, a technique used in many print magazines.

17. Professional Photographic Retouching

In this video tutorial on Abduzeedo, you’ll observe methods that professionals use in order to enhance the subject of a photograph. Color correction, reshaping of body features, and adjusting depth of field are just some of the things covered in here.

18. Easy Digital Nose Job in Photoshop

This detailed, step-by-step Adobe Photoshop tutorial covers a technique for enhancing a person’s nose. The Lasso Tool, Free Transform, and the Healing Brush Tool are the main Photoshop features utilized in this process.

19. Professional Photo-Retouching

In this Photoshop retouching video tutorial, you will get to see a method for digitally adjusting someone’s hair. The tutorial goes over removing unwanted parts of the hair, adjusting tonal values, and working with blending modes.

20. Quick and Effective Facial Retouching

What’s great about Photoshop is that you can often get exceptional results in a short amount of time. This step-by-step Photoshop face retouching tutorial goes over how to achieve realistic and impressive results in a matter of minutes.

21. How to Digitally Paint Lip Gloss with a Tablet

Apply lip-gloss to a photo subject by reading through this Photoshop retouching tutorial that uses the Liquify Filter and Photoshop brush techniques to add some sheen to a person’s lips.

22. Remove Blemishes in Photoshop

The Spot Healing Brush Tool, the Gaussian Blur Filter, and the Paint Brush Tool are the subjects of this easy to follow and highly illustrative Photoshop retouching tutorial featured on Tutorialboard.

23. How To Get Perfect Skin!

This easy-to-follow and extremely detailed Photoshop tutorial shows you how to improve a photo subject’s skin features with just two tools: the Healing Brush Tool and the Clone Stamp Tool.

24. Glamour Model

This photo-retouching tutorial outlines several handy techniques for improving an image, such as taking advantage of the Patch Tool for skin blemishes and using the Turbulence Tool for smooth pixel scattering and for blurring out imperfections.

25. Really Cool Digital Make up in Photoshop in 10 min

Here is a Photoshop tutorial for applying realistic makeup on photos; it utilizes the Dust & Speckle Noise Filter as a layer mask and Shadow/Highlight Image Adjustments to enhance your images swiftly and painlessly.

26. Retouch Yellow Skin

You can lighten and soften a person’s skin tone and texture by following along this excellent Photoshop tutorial that uses options such as the Soft Light layer mode, Selective Color Image Adjustments and Curves Image Adjustments.

Got a photo retouching tip?

If you know of a good resource or tip on how to digitally-enhance a photo subject, please share it with the rest of us in the comments. * Edited by Jacob Gube

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About the Author

Tomas Laurinavičius is interested in web design, graphic design and web development, based in Lithuania. He’s also the founder of Iniwoo, a site about photoshop, web design, wordpress and inspiration. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter.

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Posters are excellent examples of art with a purpose: an effective poster must not only show, but must also tell. With the following tutorials, not only will you be shown how to create beautiful digital art pieces, but also get to learn a hodgepodge of digital art techniques and methods that you can adapt later on into your design projects.

In this article, you’ll find top-notch tutorials for creating posters. Not only will you be learning specific procedures for creating posters, but also Photoshop and general design practices such as photo-composition, illustration, coloring processing, typography effects, working with custom shapes, using Filters in unique ways, and much more.

1. Shoe Advertisement Poster Using Floral Elements

Using some popular design trends (floral elements) and masterful use of the Burn Tool to amicably integrate them into the poster’s subject, you will learn several great Photoshop techniques by following along this well-written tutorial.

2. Retro Boxing Poster

Make a vintage/retro styled design by following along this excellent step-by-step Photoshop tutorial. You’ll be able to learn the methods involved in adjusting images sourced from different assets so that they are similar to each other.

3. Space Invaders Poster

This Photoshop poster design tutorial exposes some great techniques –  most notably – a technique for applying a beautiful and unique type treatment to the design’s text. You will also discover a great use for the Brush Tool: adding details to your art pieces’ subject.

4. Furious Pink Panther Poster

Although this tutorial is for drawing a "pink panther", the stock photo used is of a tiger; that fact does not take away anything from the quality of the instructions and the end-result of this tutorial by GoMediaZine.

5. Grunge Rock Poster

Rock out in this Indie band theme grunge poster design tutorial that utilizes a "Displacement Map" technique for creating the tattered and colorful background and the popular "starburst" element to create a design that truly pops out to its viewers.

6. Fragmented Golden Phone

In this tutorial, you will be creating a cool-looking poster that uses a mobile phone as the subject; the photo-effects are stunning: smoky elements, and the top part of the subject fading into text.

7. Vector Political Poster

In this Photoshop design tutorial inspired by Sheppard Fairey’s political poster series, you will see a method for recreating a very similar effect onto your artwork that involves the skillful use of the Pen Tool to select different sections of the canvas.

8. Earth Day. Green Planet

This Photoshop tutorial goes over some beginning-level methods for achieving a professional poster look that centers around an environmental theme. You’ll be using Layer Styles, transforming objects using the Warp Transform Tool, and a whole lot of other processes for making beautiful digital artwork.

9. Artistic Poster with Drawn Elements

Learn about Photoshop techniques involved in the creation of beautiful and digitally drawn works of art in this step-by-step tutorial based on the unique style of Digital Illustrator and Graphic Artist Alex Beltechi (the tutorial writer).

10. Poster Celebrating the Passing of Spring

Masterful Photoshop artist Simon Hubbert shows us how to create a one-of-a-kind poster design that uses the theme of the spring to summer transition period. You will discover how to use the Radial Blur filter to create a unique color transition.

11. Awesome Colorful Poster

Create a stunning and eye-catching poster based on the Ray-Ban Colorize ad campaign using several Photoshop techniques such as tweaking Image Adjustment settings and quick/hassle-free selection using the Magic Wand Tool.

12. Colorful Pastel Typo

Learn to create a nice-looking poster that is centered around a unique, retro-inspired typography set against a textured background for extreme contrast.

13. Cool Movie Poster

In this Photoshop tutorial, you will witness the use of techniques such as color correction and manipulation, and adjusting an object’s perspective for accurate superimposing to create a beautiful movie-like poster.

14. Dark and Grungy Poster

By reading through this awesome Photoshop tutorial, you can learn about a wide array of techniques including blending images together to create a harmonious and one-of-a-kind worn-and-torn grunge-themed poster.

15. Awesome Grunge Poster

Study and discover the Photoshop techniques used in the creation of grunge art piece in this tutorial that has a remarkable finished product. What’s great about this tutorial is that you can learn in two ways: watching the screencast or following along text-based tutorial.

16. Futuristic Abstract Poster

Learn the techniques required in creating an enigmatic and captivating futuristic poster by following along this excellent Photoshop tutorial that utilizes basic techniques such as the Radiant Blur and Cloud filters to create a surreal and unique poster backdrop.

17. Portable Gaming Device Poster

This beautiful poster design benefits from the use of free and downloadable stock images to give the design a unique and eye-catching look. In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll also learn techniques for preparing and retouching photo subjects that will be used as digital art components.

18. Impactful Child Welfare Poster

Many posters portray shocking scenes to grab peoples’ attention to the message it is trying to convey. Such a poster is featured in this Photoshop tutorial that will test your skills with the Path Tool and show you a technique for giving text a nice drop shadow.

19. Skateboarding Poster

In this Photoshop tutorial, you will witness a cool technique for creating stacked, multi-color silhouettes on the art piece’s subject. You will also learn how to use the Pen Tool to create a nice trail to add the feeling of motion and dynamism onto your designs.

20. Retro Poster

This retro/grunge themed design uses various techniques and design trends that results in a beautiful poster. You will learn the basics of using Perspective Transform to create a three-dimensional look-and-feel using the popular multicolor retro ribbons.

21. Stylish Fashion Advert

Learn some unique Photoshop techniques by following along this Photoshop tutorial. Particularly, you will learn to use the Clone Stamp tool to apply a distinctive type effect treatment onto your poster’s text.

22. Amazing Diamond Advertisement Poster

This Photoshop poster design tutorial involves the use an array of intermediate level photo-editing techniques such as using the Brush Tool with custom settings and masking using the Pen Tool. Several free and downloadable stock images (over 10 of them from different sources) are applied and modified to create a unique and eye-grabbing poster.

23. The Ocean’s Freshness

This ocean-inspired poster design utilizes the Clouds Filter to create an underwater, deep-sea overlay. What’s cool about this tutorial is that you can also discover a way to use the Soft Brush tip to add a hazy mist that gives the design a unique design element.

24. Typographic Concept Poster

This Photoshop tutorial outlines a time-intensive but very eye-grabbing method of creating a unique type treatment (by positioning words to spell out letters). Set against a dirty grunge background, the outcome of this piece is a vintage/grunge look and feel.

25. Constructivist Propaganda Poster

In this Photoshop poster design tutorial, you will learn to create a collage composition using one of a kind design elements.

26. War Movie Poster

Learn how to create a scene that involves faux rain set against a beautiful backdrop using Photoshop techniques such as the Noise filter with Layer Styles (to add in the rain) and a Chrome Adjustment Layer to add a weathered effect on the art piece’s subject (the soldier).

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About the Author

Tomas Laurinavičius is interested in web design, graphic design andweb development, based in Lithuania. He’s also the founder of Iniwoo, a site about photoshop, web design, wordpress and inspiration. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter.

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A current trend in design is adding lighting effects to enhance your digital art. In this article, you’ll find 30 dazzling lighting techniques that you can use to add a bit of sparkle into your work.

Expressive lighting effects

Engulf photo subjects with glowing lights by following along this top-notch tutorial.

Adding Light Streaks to A Photo

Add light streaks to photos using Photoshop’s Pen Tool and some simple Layer styles.

Super Slick Dusky Lighting Effects in Photoshop

Enhance your photos with a surreal light effect via this excellent tutorial.

Lighting Effects in Photoshop

Enhance your photos by using the Liquify and Gaussian Blur Filters to lighting effects.

How to Create Intense Light Streaks in Photoshop

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how introduce light streaks around your artwork’s subjects.

The Ocean Girl Photo Effect

Learn how to create a brilliant and dreamy scene in this excellent Photoshop tutorial.

Luminescent Lines

Create luminous light streaks by leveraging the power of Photoshop’s Brush Tool.

Add Another Dimension

You’ll be able to download supporting files involved in this stunning Photoshop tutorial.

A Cool Lighting Effect In Photoshop

A mix of simple Photoshop techniques will lead you to a beautiful lighting effect finish.

Create a Glowing Light Painting Effect

This Psdtuts+ tutorial shows you how to add a unique light effect to photos.

How to Create an Interplay of Abstract Light Streaks

Make abstract light streaks for use as a background and for other design elements.

Design a Coldplay/Apple Inspired Portrait in Photoshop

Recreate a stunning Coldplay-inspired portrait using Photoshop.

Electrifying Energy Beams

Add glowing light streaks around photo subjects using the Brush Tool and Layer styles.

Use lighting effects to make photos sparkle

This tutorial shows you some advanced lighting effect techniques in Photoshop.

Light Effect On A Model

Learn to embrace a model with a unique light streak by reading through this tutorial.

Awesome digital bokeh effect in Photoshop

Recreate the Bokeh photo technique in Photoshop.

Fiery Photoshop Space Explosion Tutorial

Make an out-of-this-world space explosion by reading this Photoshop tutorial.

Space Lighting Effects in 10 Steps

Create a space lighting effect using a combination of Photoshop techniques.

Creating a Rocking Silhouette in Photoshop

Make your photos rock with silhouettes in this excellent Photoshop tutorial.

Mysterious hell gate

Add a bit of mystery and suspense into your photos by following along this tutorial.

Energize Your Graphics with Abstract Energy Lines

This tutorial from Tutorial9 shows you how to add abstract glowing energy lines.

Advanced Glow Effects

In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn some advanced Photoshop glow effects.

Fire Lines V2

Learn to add smokin’ fire lines into your images through this Photoshop tutorial.

Lighting effects in Photoshop

Digital Arts online shows us how to create a surreal scene using lighting effects.

Swirls Tutorial

Learn how to create glowing swirls that you can incorporate to existing digital artwork.

Light and glow effect in Photoshop

This tutorial mixes several popular lighting and glow effects into one stunning piece.

Windows Vista Aurora Effect Photoshop Tutorial

Remake the Aurora effect that Vista features as a default desktop background.

Really cool Eclipse Effect in Photoshop

Use a mix of Photoshop options such as the Lens Flare Filter to create this cool effect.

Creating light motion trails & glowing sparks

Make dynamic artwork with motion trails/sparks effects; Learn how in this tutorial.

Mysterious Lighting Effect Tutorial for Photoshop

Add an enigmatic lighting effect onto your work by following along this tutorial.

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