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Heavy
metal
Creating metallic images in Adobe Photoshop
Artists have been simulating metal in their drawings for decades. Many painstaking
hours were spent hand illustrating even the smallest metallic design. The use of the airbrush
allowed artists to take the metal look to new heights, creating realistic renderings —
although it was still time-consuming. Today, the tools available to computer artists have
not only given artists an easier method of creating the look of cold steel, but they have also
cut the effort and time to a minimum.
By Rick Hutchinson
T
he time-tested appearance of metal is used in
designs of all kinds, from entertainment
icons to automobile symbols, from rock
band emblems to garden tool logos. Metal is
a symbol of power, strength, wealth, permanence,
solidity, durability, quality and value. Dragon Optical,
makers of quality contemporary sunglasses, decided to
upgrade their look and incorporate the metallic
appearance and its significance in their stylized logo.
Bright Ideas was inspired to feature different metal
looks when Dragon Optical came to us requesting a
metallic revamp of their logo. This comprehensive
workshop shows how we forged this logo, including
beveled steel, liquid metal and chrome. You can follow
these how-to techniques with your own logo design,
and even add custom variations to create outstanding
metallic effects.
Before you get started, you’ll need some materials.
First, we’ll be working in Adobe Photoshop. No thirdparty filters are needed. You’ll also need a texture to
incorporate into your design. We’ve provided you with
the textures seen in this workshop. Find these background textures as TIFF images in the Demo folder on
your July Bright Ideas CD-ROM.
As with all the metal effects in this workshop, simple images work best. Words, letters or icons are ideal
for these effects. The values for the variables given are
based on the size and resolution of our examples; you
may enter your own values for your particular design.
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Creating Beveled Steel
The first step is to create a beveled unpolished look,
simulating brushed aluminum or forged steel. You’ll
accomplish this through channel operations.
If you are not familiar with using Photoshop’s channels, don’t shy away here. This is a great example of
channels’ versatility and power. Think of channels as
stencils for a decorative painting job. It takes longer to
cut out the shape than it takes to spray the paint
through it. Use Figure A for palette functions throughout the workshop.
This step-by-step outline is based on a 2.5 by 2.5
inch document at 300 ppi. You’ll need to operate in
RGB mode for some filters to work. Here’s how you
get started.
Figure A
Delete Channel
Show/Hide
New Channel
Load Channel
as Selection
1. Paste a background texture into Photoshop. This
creates a new layer; name this layer “Beveled Steel.”
We used BrushStl.tif from the CD-ROM. Background
0799049 in this volume’s collection is very similar
and would be adequate for larger areas.
2. Create a New Channel and name it “Original,”
Figure B.
3. Place or make your logo in white in this channel.
Our example here focuses on the dragon’s head.
Save Selection
as Channel
10. From the Filter menu, choose Stylize/Emboss. In
the Emboss dialog box, choose 124 degrees,
Height: 10, Amount: 500. Click OK. This gives you
a grayscale embossed logo, Figure D.
11. Duplicate the ”Highlight” channel and name it
“Shadow.”
12. With the “Highlight” channel selected, go to the
Image menu and choose Adjust/Levels. In the
Levels dialog box, choose the white eyedropper
(the one on the right), and click on a gray area of
the image. Click OK. From the Image menu,
choose Adjust/Invert. This creates the template for
your logo’s highlight, Figure E.
13. With the “Shadow” channel selected, go to the
Image menu and choose Adjust/Levels. In the
Levels dialog box, choose the black eyedropper
(the one on the left), and click on a gray area of
the image. Click OK. This creates the template for
your logo’s shadow, Figure F.
Next, you’ll need to create some basic channels to be
used in several steps.
4. Duplicate the “Original” channel and name it
“Image.” You duplicate a channel by dragging the
channel to the New Channel button on the bottom
of the Channel Palette. NOTE: Remember the two
commands of this icon button: clicking it creates a
new channel; dragging an existing channel duplicates that channel.
5. With the “Image” channel selected, load the selection into itself. To load, drag the channel to the
Load Channel as Selection button.
6. Stroke with white, 12 pixels, center.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6, Figure C.
These steps show how to create the highlight and
shadow templates for your logo.
8. Duplicate the “Image” channel and name it
“Highlight.”
9. With the “Highlight” channel selected, go to the
Filter menu and choose Blur/Gaussian Blur. In the
Gaussian Blur dialog box, choose Radius: 12 pixels.
Click OK.
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Figure B
Figure C
Figure E
Figure F
Figure D
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Figure G
Figure H
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Final result of Beveled Steel
with shadow.
Now you’ll make the bevel template. This will be used
to fine-tune your highlight and shadow templates.
23. Load the “Image” channel. From the Select menu,
choose Inverse. Then delete.
14. Select the “Image” channel. Duplicate it and name
the copy “Bevel Mask.”
15. Load the “Original” channel into “Bevel Mask”
and fill with black.
16. Select All and Invert. This gives you an outlined
version of the logo to be used as your bevel
template, Figure G.
You now have a beveled steel object! Add a color to
the “Background” layer to customize your design.
When you save your document, be sure to convert it
to CMYK if required. You can eliminate the layers
and channels by simply choosing Save As under the
File menu.
Next, use the “Bevel” channel to streamline your
“Shadow” and “Highlight” channels.
17. Select the “Highlight” channel. Load the “Bevel
Mask” channel and fill with black.
18. Select the “Shadow” channel. Load the “Bevel
Mask” channel and fill with black.
Whew! Most of the grunt work is done. You have all
the stencils you need to create the bevels. You will
have a beveled steel shape in no time.
19. Activate the Composite Channel.
20. Use the Airbrush tool to paint hot spots along the
edge of your image, Figure H. This step is a creative
procedure that lets you customize your logo. You
can click on the Show/Hide Channel of the
“Image” channel to view the image shape for
position over the metal texture.
21. Load the “Highlight” channel and fill with 18
percent white. Use Levels to lighten further (Input
Levels: 0, 1.00, 212).
22. Load the “Shadow” channel and fill with 18
percent black. Use Levels to darken further (Input
Levels: 20, 0.48, 255). For extra detail, try using
the Airbrush tool to paint deep shadows on the
inset sections of the shadow areas.
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MAKE YOUR LOGO POP
To really make your logo stand out, add a simple shadow.
This technique can be used on anything you make to add
extra dimension. This same shadow will be applied to the
other examples in this workshop.
Start with the “Background” layer active.
1. Create a New Layer. This positions the shadow above
the background and behind the object. Name this
layer “Shadow.”
2. Set layer mode to Multiply and Opacity to 85 percent.
3. Load the “Image” channel and fill with black.
4. Select All and add a Gaussian Blur of 3 pixels.
5. Deselect and choose the Move Tool from the Tool Palette.
Offset the shadow down and to the right.
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Figure J
Liquid Metal
This technique gives your shape a unique metallic
effect that simulates a shiny liquid metal reminiscent
of the cyborg in the second Terminator movie.
This step-by-step is based on a 2.5 by 2.5 inch document at 300 ppi. You’ll be creating a whole new set of
layers and channels for this section. First you need to
create a logo in both channels and layers.
1. Create a New Channel and name it “Image.”
2. Place or make your logo in white in this channel.
Our example here uses the dragon’s head.
3. With the “Image” channel selected, choose
Edit/Select All and the Edit/Copy.
4. Switch to your Layers Palette and create a New
Layer. Name it “Liquid.” Turn off the visibility of
the “Background“ layer (click on the eye in the
Layers Palette).
5. Paste the “Image” copy into the “Liquid” layer.
6. From the Image menu, choose Adjust/Invert.
Figure K
15. Load the “Image” channel. From the Select menu,
choose Inverse. Then delete.
16. Duplicate Layer. Choose Hard Light and 70
percent Opacity in this layer.
17. From the Image menu, choose Adjust/Hue and
Saturation. In the Hue and Saturation dialog box,
choose Colorize with Hue: 200, Saturation: 12,
Lightness: 7. Click OK.
You’ve now completed your liquid metal! Finish your
creation with a shadow, described on page eight. Add
a color to the “Background” layer to customize your
design. When you save your document, be sure to
convert it to CMYK if required. You can eliminate the
layers and channels by simply choosing Save As under
the File menu.
Now, you’re going to create “pools” of color to give
your logo that liquid look.
7. Duplicate the “Liquid” layer and name it “Liquid
2.” Set the opacity of the new layer at 40 percent.
8. In “Liquid 2,” choose Select All. From the Edit
menu, choose Transform/Flip Horizontal. NOTE: If
your image has some large areas that do not overlap, use the Lasso tool to make some “pools” and
fill with black then Select All again, Figure J.
9. From the Filter menu, choose Blur/Gaussian Blur.
In the Gaussian Blur dialog box, choose Radius: 12.
10. From the Image menu, choose Adjust/Invert.
11. From the Filter menu, choose Distort/Wave. Set
the variables in the Wave dialog box, Figure K, and
click OK.
12. From the Layers Palette, Merge Visible — this
Combines “Liquid” and “Liquid 2.”
13. From the Filter menu, choose Sketch/Chrome. In
the Chrome dialog box, choose Detail: 7 and
Smoothness: 7. Click OK.
14. From the Image menu, choose Adjust/Invert.
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Final result of Liquid Metal.
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The next few procedures create a displacement channel
and second file, each used in later steps.
Figure L
4. Duplicate the channel and name it “Displacement.”
5. With this “Displacement” channel selected,
load the channel into itself.
6. Stroke with black, 10 pixels, center.
7. From the Filter menu, choose Blur/Gaussian Blur.
In the Gaussian Blur dialog box, choose Radius: 12
pixels, Figure L. Click OK.
8. Select All and Copy.
9. Create a New Document and Paste in the copy.
10. Flatten the image and Save as a grayscale
Photoshop file. Name this file “Displacement Map.”
11. Close that document and return to the
Chrome document.
Now you’re going to use several filters on existing and
new layers to create your chrome effect.
Figure M
Creating Chrome
12. Select All in the RGB composite channel, “Reflect”
layer.
13. From the Filter menu, choose Distort/Glass. In the
Glass dialog box, choose Distortion: 20,
Smoothness: 15, Texture: choose Load Texture.
Under Load Texture, choose the “Displacement
Map” file you just made, Scaling: 100 percent.
Click OK.
14. Create a New Layer and name it “Shine.”
15. Select All and fill with white.
This technique creates a shiny, polished metal surface.
The key feature to chrome is its smooth rounded
bevels and refraction distortions, meaning it acts
almost like a mirror and reflects objects around it. You
can create various looks from one logo by substituting
different backgrounds as the reflectant. Your background choice is crucial to the outcome of the project.
Landscapes of all kind work great. Airbrush paintings,
gradients and fractals also make excellent chrome and
metal reflectants.
This step-by-step is based on a 5 by 5 inch document
at 300 ppi. You’ll need to operate in RGB mode for
some filters to work. Here’s how you get started.
1. Paste a background image into Photoshop. This
creates a new layer; name this layer “Reflect.” We
used Nature1.tif from the CD-ROM in the Demo
folder. Background 0799052 is similar and would
be adequate for larger areas.
2. Create a New Channel and name it “Image.”
3. Place or make your logo in white in this channel.
Our example here shows the Dragon Optical logo.
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16. From the Filter menu, choose Render/Lighting
Effects.
17. Choose a few lights with light pastel colors appropriate for your background image. We chose all
Omni lights, one white, two light blue in the sky
area and one brownish orange at the bottom. Click
on “White is high” and choose the “Displacement”
channel as the Texture Channel, Figure M. Click OK.
18. From the Filter menu, choose Artistic/Plastic Wrap.
In the Plastic Wrap dialog box, choose Highlight
Strength: 20, Detail: 14, Smoothness: 10. Click OK.
19. Set the “Shine” layer mode to Overlay. Extra highlights can be achieved by creating exaggerated
curves on the “Shine” layer, with
Image/Adjust/Curves.
20. Load the “Image” channel. From the Select menu,
choose Inverse. Delete this selection on all layers.
Finish your chrome image with a background and a
shadow to make it pop. Add a color to the “Background”
layer to customize your design. When you save your
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document, be sure to convert it to CMYK if required.
You can eliminate the layers and channels by simply
choosing Save As under the File menu.
Creating Variations
This technique lends itself to a thousand variations.
We’ve covered a classic polished chrome look that
works well as logo lettering, logo icons, titles, names
and symbols. Less reflective and dull chrome or steel
can be accomplished by reducing the opacity of the
“Reflect” layer and adding a layer underneath it filled
with gray.
Perhaps you don’t want chrome or steel at all. It’s a
snap to create gold, silver, titanium or bronze. Simply
start with an appropriate background. We’ve provided
backgrounds for these metals in the Demo folder on
your CD-ROM.
You don’t have to like electric guitars to be into
heavy metal! Have fun forging steel, or titanium, or
gold, or silver, or . . . 1
Rick Hutchinson is the Workshop Supervisor for Bright Ideas
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