Create a Magnifying Glass Icon in Photoshop CS4
My latest tut on Psdtuts+ shows you how to create a stylized magnifying glass with the usual array of shapes and layer styles.
This tut concentrates on workflow and techniques rather than a complicated outcome.
It employs Photoshop’s Pen Tool, the ubiquitous layer styles and some clever brush strokes to obtain a nice fat magnifying glass. The simple object lends itself well to understanding how to lighten and shade an icon.
Take a look at some screenshots then check out the full article.
You should read the full tutorial on Psdtuts+ for the whole explanation. There’s also a video tutorial, cool! Hope you like it!
Hello!
Excellent blog, but I can not see screenshot in potics recently.
Example: http://floomby.ru/content/OrzWTk9yrk/
LegendMAN,
that happens when blogs post direct links to my images, stealing my bandwidth. They end up showing a banner of my website instead. Google Reader works perfectly, though.
Ciao Andrea! Grazie per il tutorial. It was my first attempt at using PSD. The result is pretty much the same as yours! :-) Now… I put a picture under the glass, but I don’t know how to make the lens transparent. Can you help me, please?
Thanks a lot from Italy!
Ehi basta diminuire l’opacità del layer della lente e diventa trasparente.
Gulp! Tutto qui?! Che imbranata! Ti spiego: ho fatto la lente, l’ho messa sopra una foto creando 2 tracciati (uno di ritaglio, e l’altro delle selezione della lente). Qui dovrei eliminarla per vedere sotto… ho sbagliato?
Per lavorare sul layer, dovrei prendere la m. glass di partenza prima di portarla sulla foto, giusto? E lì diminuire l’opacità?
Grazieee!!!
Basta diminuire l’opacità dei layer che costituiscono il vetro. Ovvio no?
Beh, tu stai suggerendo ad una persona che apre per la prima volta PSD!!!! Sono un pò ambiziosa… e con la testa dura…. e sono riuscita ad ottenere il risultato che volevo. Non sono riuscita però a agire sul livello… non mi veniva… mi veniva bianco…. così ho selezionato, copia elementi uniti, incolla…e voilà! :-)
Comunque, ti faccio i complimenti perchè i tuoi lavori sono stupendi….sembrano foto!
Esagera! Ti ringrazio comunque.
hello.. great tutorial. please just wanted to know if there is any chance of you giving a tutorial on developing icons for the android platform based on your recent experience.
Thanks
I might but Android icons have only three sizes close to each other and the guidelines are pretty strict regarding shading and materials so it is rather pointless to do a tutorial on that since Google has pretty much decided everything already. I’m designing icons for an Android app right now, though, so they might give me insights. Stay tuned.
thanks for the response. yeah.. that will be great and googles’ guidelines are kind of strict. as a professional, i wanted to ask your opinion, do you think its possible or good designing the icons for android with a 3d package. because judging from what i read in their guidelines, it might look easier doing it from there. what do you feel?
Manuel, I think 3D applications should not be used for icons. Icons need to be controlled at the pixel level, colors, perspective and antialiasing are best created from scratch in 2D. Working in 2D might seem harder at first but trust me, you don’t want to leave the shading in the hands of a 3D package.