Long time no hear, eh? Well I’m sorry for not posting for so long but I was really busy with some other work I had so I will try to pay off once again. Today I have writen a tutorial about how to create a very nice stylish glossy button in Photoshop.
I have decided to go for one color but later when you create this tutorial you can repeat it in any color you like or need. There are a lot of ways to do some things but this is the way I’m doing it. This tutorial is going to show all the details so even noobs should be able to understand it. But if you have a problem, or a suggestion or any kind of question, feel free to contact me on my e-mail admin@coregfx.org .

Let’s cut the talking and get down to business. So once you’re done this is how it’s going to look like:

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Nice? Hehe. Let’s begin. Open up a new document size 250×150 and fill the background out with #252a38 .

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Now let’s create a shape. Now get any color you want (we are going to change it later anyway) and get your “Rounded Rectangle Tool” (Rounded Rectangle Tool Photoshop Icon).  On the top of the screen you’ll have some properties and I have made a screenshot on which ones to select:

Rounded Rectangle Tool Photoshop Properties

If you have put those properties you can continue making a shape. Create a new layer and just make a shape on the middle of your screen.

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Now we are going to fill it with some gradient. We will need two colors though:

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As you can see on the image above the two used colors are #3a4056 and #303548. Now Ctrl+Click on the layer where you made the shape (in your layers panel, CTRL + click on the image next to the layer name and it will be selected). Now the outline of that layer should be marked. Grab your “Gradient Tool” (Gradient Tool Photoshop Icon) and while holding “Shift” on your keyboard make a gradient from top to bottom of your shape:

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Now let’s add a Drop Shadow to that layer. Right click on the layer and select Blending Options. Now apply these ones to the layer:

Drop Shadow Photoshop Effect

Now we’re going to add a Stroke but on one different way. Hold Ctrl and click on the shape layer. You should see a selection on your screen. Now go to Select>Modify>Contract , put it to 1px and press OK. Now create a new layer and fill it with any color you want and put the “Fill” to 0%. Now right click on that layer and go to Blending Options and apply these ones:

Stroke Photoshop Effect

If you followed the tutorial carefuly you should be having three layers (Background, Shape and Stroke) and your button would look like this:

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Now let’s make our button a bit stylish as I said in the title. For this you are going to need Dodge (Dodge Tool Photoshop Icon) and Burn (Burn Tool Photoshop Icon) Tool. For both you are going to use the following properties:

burndodgeproperties

I have used the Soft Brushes which you get in every Photoshop. Now select your Shape layer. I have made an image to show you were to use your Dodge and Burn Tool. Please note that you should press your mouse a few times before you get the amount of brigthness/darkness you wanted.

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If everything turned out well, you should be having something like this:

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Let’s add some more light to make it look glossy. Ctrl+Click on your shape layer and grab your “Elliptical Marquee Tool” (Elliptical Marquee Tool Photoshop Icon). Now while holding Alt cut down a bit of the selection. My example:

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Grab your “Gradient Tool” (Gradient Tool Photoshop Icon) and press your keyboard the letter “D” and than “G”. Now you should be having white (#ffffff) as your first color. Now at your Gradient Properties select “Foreground to Transparent” like shown on the picture below:

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Now use your gradient like this (from bottom to top):

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After your done you can deselect the layer (Ctrl+D). Now put the layer to “Overlay” and “Opacity” to 40%. It should look like this:

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Looks perfect, doesn’t it? I think it’s the time to add some text and icons. First will go with the text. I have chosen the font “Arial”, Regular, 25 pt, Smooth; and the color of the font is #ffffff. Write something down and add these Blending Options to the text:

txtstyle1

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This is how my text looks like now (I have moved it a bit to the right because the icon will go left):

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I have added another small text underneath this one as a description with a size 11pt:

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It’s time to addthe icon. You can chose which ever you want but I have decided to use the ones by Free Icons Download (they are Spyware free don’t worry). Grab the icon you need (I have chosen the home button for the obvious reason) and paste into your design. Now go to Image>Adjustements>Hue/Saturation (Ctr+U) and put the “Saturation” to -100:

Hue/Saturation Photoshop Effect

After that just put your icon to “Overlay” and your done. Note: If your icon is too bright (too hard to see), you can duplicate it and just change the opacity of the duplicated layer. This should be your final image than:

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Well believe it or not we’re all done. As I sad in the begining, you can change to colors to which ones you want and add any icons. Here’s an example of just a few variatations:

buttons

If you want you can download the source .psd files.

Thank you for reading this tutorial. Please do not redistribute this tutorial without any written permission by me. If you want it, please contact me on admin@coregfx.org .

This tutorial was sponsored by: