Click on the image for full size view

Resources:

You will need to download and install the following font and gradient set to complete this tutorial:

Asenine Font from dafont.com NOTE: You only need to install the Asenine Thin file

Sabor’s Metal Gradients from deviantart.com

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Step 1

Open a new file using the following settings:

Step 2

Select the Type tool and Asenine Thin font, size 200pt, foreground colour black

Type the word you require

Right click on the layer in the layers palette and click on Rasterize Type

Make the background layer active

Select>All

Make the text layer active

Select the Move tool

Click the Horizontal and Vertical Centre alignment icons at the top of the screen:

Step 3

Duplicate the layer twice

Rename the layers – the names and order they should be in palette is shown below:

Step 4

Make the toptext layer active

Ctrl + T to transform the object

*Right click within the transform box and click on Perspective

Place your cursor over one of the top corner handles and push the top of the text in – aim for about 63° on the H scale at the top of the screen:

Right click within the transform box and click on Free Transform

Place your cursor over the top centre handle and drag the text up – it should reach it’s smallest point then widen out again – you need the top to be about the same width as the original text:

Hit the Enter key to accept the transformation

Step 5

Make the bottomtext layer active

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Right click within the transform box and click on Flip Vertical

Right click within the transform box and click on Flip Horizontal

Repeat Step 4 from *

Step 6

Turn off the visibility of the text and toptext layers

Make the bottomtext layer active

Create a new layer (should be above the bottomtext layer)

Select the Line tool, set to 3px width, foreground colour black

Where the letters have stayed intact, you need to create a line to correct that as shown below:

Create a new layer for each line you have to draw

When you have drawn the lines, make the bottomtext layer active and using the Eraser tool, erase the parts of the letters not required.

Now you can move, rotate and otherwise adjust each line to fit nicely to the existing lines

When everything is aligned, select all the line layers and the bottomtext layer by holding down the Shift key and clicking on each layer

Right click on the selection in the layers palette and click on Merge Layers

Make sure the layer is still called bottomtext

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and make a selection that includes the lines you drew that are longer than they should be

Hit the delete key

Your bottomtext should now look like this:

Step 7

Repeat step 5 for the toptext layer

Restore visibility to all layers

Step 8

Make the text layer active

Double click on the layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay, Drop Shadow, Bevel & Emboss and Stroke settings:

Step 9

Make the toptext layer active

Double click on the layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, Bevel & Emboss, Color Overlay and Gradient Overlay settings:

Step 10

Copy and paste the layer style from the toptext layer to the bottomtext layer

Double click on the bottomtext layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options

On the Gradient Overlay screen, check Reverse, as shown below:

Step 11

With the bottomtext layer still active

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – set the radius to 2, click OK

Apply the same blur to the toptext layer

Step 12

Fill the background layer with blue #17429A

Create a new layer above the background

Drag out a horizontal guide and place it where the top transformed text crosses itself, ie: the narrowest part

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool

Drag out a rectangular selection from the top of the canvas to the guide, the complete width of the canvas:

Set the foreground colour to very dark blue #081B43

Select the Fill Bucket and fill the selection

Ctrl + D to deselect

Step 13

Drag the guide down to the narrowest part of the bottom text

Create a rectangular selection from the bottom of the canvas to the guide, full width of the canvas

Fill with the same very dark blue

Step 14

Create a new layer above the background layer

Select the Brush tool and a round, soft brush – set the size to around 500px

Foreground colour set to very dark blue #081B43

Place the brush in the centre of the canvas and click once

Click on the image for full size view

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The Transform tool in Photoshop is very useful and can produce some weird, wonderful, interesting and delightful effects, apart from just what it appears to do at first glance. Most of Photoshop’s tools and filters can produce much more than it would first appear – the thing to do, most definitely, is play, play then play some more!

I was very surprised to discover, from compiling this list, that so many graphic design websites and trendsetting companies don’t have an inspiring 404 error page.

It is considered politically correct to never blame your visitor for straying off course, although, of course, the fault could lie with them, or could be due to a broken link. However, these days some sites lay the blame entirely at the feet of the visitor, flying in the face of convention – and those are usually the funniest 404 error pages.

This list is made up of more than 30 individually designed 404 error pages, some are clever, some are funny and some are just better than a blank white page declaring 404 Error page not found!

Due to the width restrictions here, some images are not great – so please click on any image to view the page in all its glory.

DevWebPro

These guys have incorporated the concepts of an informative 404 error page with a little joke.

I Love Typography

Unsurprisingly a good use of typography. Apologetic with clear instructions for redirection.

Naldz Graphics

Ronald Bein seems to have the Midas touch! He is good at everything he does, and his 404 error page is just another example of his good work!

Spoon Graphics

The big green monster got hold of the page you were looking for! Another example of good design with clear redirection back to the site – and you’d want to go back… how could you refuse that cute monster?!

David Airey

This 404 error page with variations can be seen on a few websites, and it’s still cute each time you see it!

Sohtanaka

This design makes me wonder if the author was born under the sign of Capricorn?

Design Informer

There are many 404 error pages that are torn holes in paper, but this one is a little different.

PV.M Garage

A handwritten-effect note to the visitor, with clear redirections back to the site

Product Planner

This chalkboard theme runs throughout the Product Planner website

Chelmsford Library

Well, how could I not include this excellent page? Chelmsford, Essex is the area I originally hail from! Just a shame that Graphics Tutorials is missing from their shelves!

Scythe

Hmmm the Grim Reaper up to tricks again?

Surfing on Static

The best play on words I came across – save our souls or Surfing on Static – take your choice!

Twurn

These two little tweeters are the logo for the Twitter app Twurn (as in ‘whose twurn is it to…..’)

Warhammer Online

This is the website to go to if you want to play Warhammer online – a battle game set in some far distant mythical era, hence the 404 error page is totally apt.

Coca-Cola

You may expect amazing things from such a global company…. Well don’t! This is different and functional, but not overly exciting!

Irn Bru

This was a decent idea, and I’m not sure if the squirrel has appeared in an Irn Bru ad (maybe someone could let me know?), but a dreadful example of Photoshop work particularly on the squirrel’s arm – unless that is by design, and I wouldn’t put that past Irn Bru!

Virgin

Just another custom 404 error page really – but I haven’t seen this one used by anyone else, so suggest it may be unique?

Mattel

Hands up who remembers the Magic 8 Ball toy! They are still available, but are now themed, ie: Toy Story and Spongebob Squarepants. When you click on the 8 ball, it turns and you get one of about 15 different answers such as: ‘My sources say no’, ‘Ask again later’, ‘It is decidedly so’.

Dribbble

The Dribbble website uses basketball terms throughout. After research, I discovered that an ‘air ball’ is a shot that completely misses the net, rim and backboard – so if you know the first thing about basketball this 404 error page will all make sense!

Toffeenut Design

There are a few nasty ninjas lurking on 404 error pages around the web, but this one must be the cutest?

Kilian Muster

The server must have been looking for a long time don’t you think?

Tympanus

This is quite a strange page in my opinion – it did not make me want to go and see what Tympanus do…. I felt the need to find out what the Higgs Particle is – so I left the site – which I wouldn’t think should be the aim at all!

Anyway,  according to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia , this is what it is:

I didn’t read further, but I understood the idea from this explanation, and it is very clever – however, I still felt no compulsion to revisit the site!

Big Stock Photo

An unexpected design for this site ‘Big Stock Photo’ sounds almost as if it should be a ‘Wild West’ theme – not an oversized hamster – but how cute!

Carsonified

Yes, they’re searching for that page for you! A helpful abridged menu to take you back to the site is on the right-hand side of this image

Design Bombs

A very amusing message – and the blame is not directed at either the visitor or the site.

Pet Shop Box Studio

Another cute monster!

Shay Howe

This page gives clear redirection back to the site, along with a few reasons for why you may have lost your way – with the help of Officer Hackie

Onextrapixel

A nice design – you can’t miss the fact that you have reached a 404 page! I like the reserved tag on the 4.

Mark Dijkstra

Have you been unfortunate enough to receive a beach towel, a mug or some such gift item from some holidaying friends or family declaring ‘Someone went to Benidorm and all I got was this lousy mug/towel’? This scrawled note is derived from those awful, tatty gifts!

31Three

The missing butterfly – number 404, a lovely design. If you hover your mouse anywhere on the design, a label reading ‘Take me home’ pops up.

Stuff and Nonsense

This is a very plain page, but the dialogue is quite amusing.

Wake Interactive

Another good use of words on this page – I love the line ‘We don’t get too many visitors in these parts. Perhaps you should go home.’

I hope you have enjoyed this list and maybe even been inspired by it. I would love to see more custom 404 error pages, especially on the sites of designers. They are a very important part of the site and could mean the difference between your visitors staying on your site or wandering off in the belief that what they are looking for is not available from you: tired, bored, frustrated visitors often won’t bother staying to look further if there is not something to hold them there, and when they are tired, bored and/or frustrated is the most likely time they will end up on your 404 error page!

Further reading and Resources:

Importance of 404 Pages

5 Tips to Make Your 404 Page More Usable

The Importance of Error Pages

Templates from Theme Forest (Search term: 404)

FOOTNOTE:

Please don’t bother trying to look at my 404 Error Page – as this is a WordPress hosted blog there isn’t a custom page attached to this site. However, that will all soon be changing, so please watch this space!

Click on the image for full size view

Resources:

Hard Rock Font from dafont.com

Hibiscus Font from dafont.com

Swirls and Flowers Brushes from qbrushes.net

Step 1

Open a new file – in this instance the size is totally dependent upon the amount of letters required for your text input – I used size 800 x 600, 72ppi resolution, white background.

Step 2

Create a new layer

Select the Type tool, Hard Rock font set black as the foreground colour, set the size to 200pt

Type the first line of your text

NOTE: For the purposes of this tutorial my text only has one line, so you will have to repeat everything from here on for each line of text.

Right click on the layer in the layers palette and click Rasterize Type

Rename this layer ‘bottomtext’

Duplicate the layer – name it ‘toptext’

Step 3

Turn off the visibility of the bottomtext layer

Working on the toptext layer

Select the Eraser tool

Erase the outline from around the text as shown below:

Step 4

Double click on the toptext layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay and Bevel & Emboss settings:

Step 5

Restore visibility to the bottomtext layer

Double click on the layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Color Overlay and Drop Shadow settings:

Step 6

Merge the 2 text layers together

Step 7

Create a new layer

Select the Type tool, Hibiscus font, size 90pt, foreground colour black

Place each flower on a separate layer

I used characters: lower case a, f, h, k, o

Place the flowers as required around the text

Merge all flower layers together (you will have to rasterize them first)

Rename this layer ‘flowers’

Duplicate the layer – name it ‘glitter’

Step 8

Turn off the visibility of the glitter layer

Double click on the flowers layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Color Overlay and Drop Shadow settings:

Step 9

Restore visibility to the glitter layer

Change the layer mode to Dissolve

Reduce the layer opacity to 60%

Filter>Noise>Add Noise – apply the following settings:

Step 10

Merge the flower layer and the glitter layer together

Step 11

With the merged layer active

Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap – apply the following settings:

Step 12

Fill the background layer with red #B82323

Step 13

Create a new layer above the background layer

Select the Brush tool and Swirls and Flowers brushes

I chose the swirls without flowers – Decorative 13 and 11

With white as the foreground colour, place each swirl on a separate layer

Ctrl + T to transform the object and resize and rotate each swirl as desired

Step 14

Create a new layer

Select the Decorative 5 brush (circles)

Place the circles as desired on the canvas

Optional Step

I wanted to remove all overlapping parts of the swirls – but this is entirely optional

Turn of the visibility of the text and flowers layers

Reduce the opacity of one of the swirls layers to around 50%

With the Eraser tool, erase the parts that overlap – you will have to hop between the swirl layers – until you are happy with the result

Restore visibility to all layers

Step 15

Double click on either of the swirls layers to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow settings:

Copy and paste the layer style to the other swirl layer

Step 16

Double click on the circles layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow settings:

Step 17

Merge the 3 swirls and circles layers together

Step 18

Turn off the visibility of the flowers layer

Working on the text layer

Select the Pen tool using the following settings:

Create a path around each letter of the text, right click on or within the path and select Make Selection – be sure to check the Add to Selection option before clicking OK:

Make the swirls layer active and hit the delete key

Optional Step

If you would like to add ‘sparkles’ to the shiny bits of the image this is how:

Create a new layer at the top of the layers palette

Select the Brush tool and Assorted Brushes, foreground colour white

Select Crosshatch 4 brush

Place a ‘sparkle’ wherever required on the flowers and/or the text

Reduce the layer opacity to 80%

The finished Project. Click on the image for full size view

Click on the image to go to download page

I hope you enjoy these gradients!

Click on the image for full size view

Step 1

Open a new file using the following settings:

Step 2

Create a new layer and fill it with black

Filter>Render>Lens Flare – apply the following settings:

Rename the layer ‘swirl’

Step 3

Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap – apply the following settings:

Step 4

Filter>Distort>Swirl – apply the following settings

Filter>Swirl (the top item in the drop-down menu – this will apply the same effect again)

Step 5

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool and drag out a selection around the twirl as shown below:

Step 6

Make the background layer active

Select the Gradient Fill tool with the following settings:

Select Radial Gradient and check the Reverse option

Place the cursor at the centre of the swirl, click and hold the mouse button and drag to any corner of the canvas

Step 7

Apply a layer mask to the swirl layer by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the layers palette

Use a large, soft, round brush with foreground colour black and mask out the edges of the image to blend it with the background

Step 8

Make the swirl layer active

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Reduce the height quite substantially to alter the perspective of the swirl and make it look ‘flat’

You can widen it if you wish also

Step 9

Create a new, empty layer above the swirl layer and merge the two layers together to rasterize the mask

Step 10

With the swirl layer active

Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation – apply the following settings:

Step 11

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Right click within the transform box and click Warp

Drag the middle section down a little to create a slight dip in the centre, as shown below:

Other Options

You can change the hue/saturation settings, and/or the perspective of the swirl.

You can apply the twirl filter more times to create a different effect

There are very many possibilities – this is a good opportunity to play around and discover the effects of many of Photoshop’s filters, layer styles and blending options – definitely a tutorial to have fun with!

Click on the image for full size view

Click on the image to view full size enhanced image

Resources:

Photograph from sxc.hu

Skin Glow Enhancement Action by iscarlett from deviantart.com

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Step 1

Open the photograph – either the one I have used or your own.

Make sure it is 72ppi resolution.

Duplicate the background layer

Name this layer ‘repair’

Step 2

Zoom right into the image – 200% – 300%

Select the Healing Brush Tool and apply the following settings:

Place the brush right next to the area you want to ‘heal’

Hold down the Alt key and click the left mouse button

Move the brush over the imperfection and click once

Continue in this way all over the face and neck

I chose to only remove the imperfections – not the freckles, but it is up to you how much or how little repairing you carry out.

Step 3

When you are happy with the results – and don’t worry if you can see slight colour differences on your photo, that will be corrected in the next step

Duplicate the layer

Name this layer ‘blur’

Step 4

Turn off the visibility of all layers except the blur layer

Apply a layer mask by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the layers palette

Using a large, soft, round brush and with black as the foreground colour, mask out everything except the face and neck – mask out the eyes and mouth also.

Create a new, empty layer and merge the blur layer and empty layer together

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – for my image I set the blur to 3, but you may have to play around to find the best setting for the image you are working on.

Set the layer opacity to 60%

Merge the blur layer and the repair layer together

Step 5

Image>Duplicate – rename the document if you wish, click OK

Open the Actions palette and Skin Glow Enhancement action – this will either have to be loaded from wherever you have stored it on your computer, or added from the list of actions if you have installed it into the Photoshop actions folder.

Click on the small arrowhead to the right of the action in the palette and then click on the first item (action1byiscarlett)

Click on the run button – the arrowhead at the bottom of the actions palette – and the action will run through

You should now be left with just a background layer

Select>All

Edit>Copy

Step 6

Back to the original canvas

Edit>Paste – make sure this new layer is at the top of the layers palette

Reduce the layer opacity to around 45% – or whatever looks best on your image

Rename this layer ‘enhanced’

Duplicate the layer

Step 7

Restore the opacity of the duplicated layer to 100%

Select the Pen tool and make a path around one of the eyes as shown below:

Right click within the path and click Make Selection

Do the same with the other eye

In the Make Selection dialogue box, check Add to Selection:

Select>Inverse

Hit the delete key

Step 8

Using the Eraser tool and a round, soft, brush around 100px

Erase the area around the eyeball so it blends in with the image perfectly

Click on the image for full size view

Click on the image for full size view

Resources:

Evanescence Font from dafont.com

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Step 1

Open a new file 1000 x 800, 72ppi resolution, white background

Fill the background with black

Step 2

Place guidelines as shown below:

NOTE: I have my rulers set to pixels, so that is what is shown in the above screenshot.

Select the Line tool, set the width to 3px, foreground colour white

Use the guides to draw lines as shown below

TIP: Hold down the shift key while drawing the line to keep it straight

Now get rid of the guides – the corners may need to be tidied up, so zoom into the image and use a square brush to do that

Your image should now look like this:

Rename the layer ‘Frame’

Step 3

Create a new layer

Select the Custom Shape tool and select Registration Target 2, foreground colour #F6AE7F

Set the size of the shape as below:

Click once on the canvas to create the shape

Using your preferred method, delete all but 10 segments of the target (I used the pen tool to select all that I didn’t require, made into a selection and deleted the selection):

Now delete the outside line between the segments:

Rename this layer ‘Fan’

Step 4

Drag the Fan layer below the Frame layer

Place the fan as shown below:

Merge the two layers together, make sure the merged layer is called ‘Frame’

Step 5

Turn off the visibility of the Frame layer and the background layer

Select the Type tool, Evanescence font, size 300px, foreground colour black

Type your required words each on a separate layer

Right click on each text layer in the layers palette and click Rasterize Type

Optional Step

This next step is down to personal preference: I wanted the first T of the word Text to be in front of the word Deco and the last T to be behind it, so I duplicated the layer containing the word Text, deleted the Tex from one of the layers and deleted the last T from the other layer (doing it this way keeps it all in place without the need for realignment)

Step 6

Double click on any of the text layers in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Color Overlay and Bevel & Emboss settings:

Step 7

Using the Move tool, arrange your text as required, also arranging the order of the layers in the layers palette to obtain the required effect.

Merge all text layers together

Rename this merged layer ‘Text’

Step 8

Restore visibility to all layers

Duplicate the Frame layer

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Right click within the transform box and click Flip Horizontal

Place the two halves to make the top part of the frame

Merge the two layers together

Duplicate the layer

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Right click within the transform box and click Flip Vertical

Move the frame to the bottom of the text, keeping it in line with the top frame

Reduce the layer opacity of both frame layers to 85%

Click on the image for full size view

Click on the image for full size view

Resources:

Stenha Font from dafont.com

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Step 1

Open Illustrator and select Web Document, accept the default size

Select the Type tool and Stenha font, size 200pt

Select white as the foreground colour – you won’t be able to see what you type at this point

Type your required word

Click on the Selection tool in the tools sidebar menu

Effects>3D>Extrude and Bevel – check the preview box to be able to see the text and apply the following settings:

Duplicate the layer and turn off the visibility of the original layer

Click the Appearance icon on the right sidebar to view the fly-out palette

Double click Extrude & Bevel

Check the preview box and apply the following settings:

Select>All

Edit>Copy

Step 2

Now open Photoshop

Create a new file 1000 x 800, 72ppi resolution, white background

Fill the background with black

Edit>Paste>Smart Object

Hit the Enter key to accept the placement

Right click on the layer in the layers palette and click Rasterize Layer

Rename this layer ‘Text2’

Step 3

Back to Illustrator, turn off the visibility of ‘Layer 1 copy’ and restore the visibility to ‘Layer 1’ and make it the active layer

Select>All

Edit>Copy

We are now finished with Illustrator

Step 4

Back to Photoshop

Edit>Paste>Smart Object

Hit the Enter key to accept the placememnt

Right click on the layer in the layers palette and click Rasterize Layer

Rename this layer ‘Text1’

Step 5

Turn off the visibility of ‘Text2’

Working on ‘Text1’, apply a layer mask by clicking the icon at the bottom of the layers palette

Using the Pen tool or your preferred method, mask out the bottom part of the text. If any letter is not divided, you will have to divide it yourself – you should end up with something like this:

Step 6

Now turn off the visibility of ‘Text1’ and restore the visibility to ‘Text2’ and in the same way, mask out the top part of the text to end up with something like this:

NOTE: Some repair work may be required for some letters, but don’t worry too much about the last letter on the Text2 layer as much of it will be under the text on Text1 layer.

Restore visibility to all layers.

Step 7

Double click on ‘Text1’ layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay settings:

Copy and paste the layer style to ‘Text2’, double click on ‘Text2’ in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and change the angle of the gradient overlay to 60°:

Step 8

Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation – apply the following settings:

Apply the same Hue/Saturation adjustment to ‘Text1’ layer

Step 9

With ‘Text2’ layer active

Ctrl + T to transform the object

Rotate the text a little and move it down slightly as shown below:

Step 10

With either of the text layers active

Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap – apply the following settings:

Make the other text layer active

Filter>Plastic Wrap (the top item on the drop down menu – this will apply the same effect)

Step 11

Duplicate the background layer

Filter>Render>Lens Flare – apply the following settings:

You need to get the flare behind the top of the first letter – you may have to redo it a couple of times – use Ctrl+Alt+Z to step backwards, then try again until it is in the correct place

Repeat this step on the same layer to get a flare behind the bottom of the last letter

Click on the image for full size view

Click on the image for full size view

Resources:

Patterned Spheres Brushes from mediamilitia.com

Adoralyna’s Golden Metal Gradients from deviantart.com

_____________________________________________________

Step 1

Open a new file 1200 x 800, 72px resolution

Fill the background with black

Step 2

Select the Type tool, Copperplate Gothic Bold text, size 300pt, foreground colour white

Type your required text all on one layer

Rename the layer ‘Text bg’

Right click on the layer in the layers palette and click Rasterize Type

Duplicate the Text bg layer and turn off the visibility of this copy

Step 3

Working on the Text bg layer, select the Eraser tool and erase every other letter of your text

Step 4

Select the Brush tool, foreground colour black and the Patterned Spheres brush set. Select the one before last brush – number 22, set the size to 320px

Create a new layer above the Text bg copy layer

Rename this layer ‘pattern1’

Place the pattern of the brush over the first letter and click once

You will now have to erase any parts that overlap any other letters:

Click over each letter

Ctrl+Click on the thumbnail of the Text bg layer in the layers palette to select the pixels

Select>Inverse

With the pattern1 layer active, hit the delete key

Step 5

Repeat steps 3 and 4, working on the Text bg copy layer (erase the letters that weren’t erased last time), with the visibility of both Text bg and pattern1 turned off

Name your new layer ‘pattern2’

Don’t forget to erase the overlapping parts of the pattern as before.

Restore visibility to all layers

Step 6

Make pattern2 layer active

Hold down the shift key and select pattern1 layer also

Right click and click Merge Layers

Rename the layer ‘pattern’

Duplicate the pattern layer twice

Merge the 3 pattern layers together

Double click on the layer in the layers palette and apply the following Gradient Overlay (using Adoralyna’s Golden Metal Gradients Set) and Bevel and Emboss settings:

Duplicate the layer

Step 7

Merge the two layers Text bg and Text bg copy together

Duplicate the layer

Drag the new layer to just below the pattern copy layer and merge those two layers together

Rename this layer ‘rust’

Step 8

Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple – apply the following settings:

Double click on the layer in the layers palette and apply the following Bevel and Emboss and Color Overlay settings:

Duplicate the layer and rename the layer ‘highlights’

Step 9

Double click on the highlights layer and change the color overlay settings as follows:

Create a new layer and merge the empty layer with the highlights layer to rasterise the effects.

Image>Adjustments>Invert

Step 10

Double click on the highlight layer and apply the following color overlay settings:

Reduce the layer opacity to 59%

Step 11

Finally, reduce the layer opacity of the rust layer to 83%

Click on the image for full size view

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This tutorial appears to go some very long ways around creating the end result, for example, creating the pattern layer – since we need the pattern to be much darker than the brush puts it onto the canvas, it has to be done this way rather than creating a pattern and applying it as an overlay or using pattern fill – by duplicating those layers the pattern does not become darker hence the result will not be so effective.

This effect was actually stumbled upon by accident – I started out trying to make a ‘beaten metal’ effect, but became sidetracked and wandered off that path and along the rusty metal track – these diversities happen often when playing with Photoshop tools!

I hope you find this tutorial enjoyable and informative.