| Oops? |
 |
| If you've found an error in this tutorial (or elsewhere on the site) or you feel that something's not quite right with it, I'd like to know so I can address it. Send me the details. When writing, please include the tutorial name and where you believe the error lies. Thanks. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
06 | Create highlights
This next step will add a subtle highlight to our nearly complete creation. Create a new layer above GRADIENT and name it HIGHLIGHTS.
Select the Ellipse Tool and click once on the artboard on or near the circle in the COLOR layer visible below. In the dialog box that appears, enter a value of 90 for the width and 65 for the height. Click OK. Fill the elliptical shape with white (R:255 G:255 B:255).
Double-click the Rotate Tool in the toolbox and enter a value of 330 for the Angle in the dialog box that appears. Click Ok.
On the Transparency palette, set the blending mode to Soft Light and lower the opacity level to a range between 25-35%. The image below uses a value of 35%.
Use the Selection Tool to position the ellipse somewhere near the top center of circle in the COLOR layer. Use the image below as a reference.
07 | Glint! Glint!
I can now answer, "Yes!" to the question, "Are we there yet?". The final step for the Son of AquaBallz effect is to add teeny-tiny white highlights on top of the ellipse highlight we just made. You can place these on the HIGHLIGHTS layer or create another layer above if you wish.
Select the Ellipse Tool again and draw a flattened ellipse and a smaller circle next to it. Fill both of these shapes with white (R:255 G:255 B:255). If these appear faded or washed out, they may have retained transparency settings from the first ellipse we drew. If so, change the blending mode to Normal and set the opacity level to 100% for these two new ellipses.
Next, position these where will generate an appropriate level of excitement from amazed onlookers.
Feel free to pat yourself on the back for a job well done but don't get too carried away! There's a companion tutorial that shows how to enhance the Son of AquaBallz with a cool metallic ring -- COMING SOON!
To Top of Page |
The Inner Glow stylize effect in Step 2 can be replaced with an Opacity Mask. The results are almost identical but require a few more steps to complete and the mask would be above the COLOR layer rather than below. One benefit of the mask is more control of the shading around the edges.
