Post pobrano z: How to Draw Stone and Rock Textures

The texture of rock is deceptively simple, but it gets quite complicated when you try to get it right. In this tutorial I will show you how to draw a texture of a single rock or stone, and a texture of a structure made of stones, like a road or the wall of a medieval castle.

What You Will Need

• HB pencil
• 2B pencil
• 4B pencil
• 6B pencil
• Pencil sharpener
• Kneaded (or normal) eraser
• Blending stump (optional)

It’s very hard to draw a rock texture from imagination. You may do better if you take a look at some photo references first, for example:

• Rough stone 
• Smooth stone
• Rocks  

1. How to Draw a Rock

Step 1

Draw a top of the rock using the HB pencil. It should be roughly an oval, but not round at all.

Step 2

Add a side of the rock by drawing the bottom and connecting both parts.

Step 3

Gently sketch the edge of the rock to make it blunter. The wider these edge, the rounder the rock. You can even go all the way to the top, to create a dome shape.

Step 4

Add more guide lines to see the 3D form of the rock before you start shading. Use the eraser to make them barely visible.

Step 5

Slightly tilt your pencil and shade a side of the rock. Don’t cover the guide lines completely—leave a suggestion of them by pressing harder.

Step 6

Take the 2B pencil and shade the part of the rock that won’t be directly illuminated. This time, don’t tilt your pencil so much, but try to draw little details: shadows between the „layers” of the rocks. You can create a very convincing texture just by drawing long, horizontal X shapes.

Step 7

Take the HB pencil again, tilt it, and draw rough „waves” on top of the rock. A rock surface is never smooth, and this will help us show this.

Step 8

Add more details to both the top and the side using the 2B pencil. The texture of rock is all about chaos that can’t be planned, so you need to be really creative with your strokes here.

Step 9

Take the eraser and brighten the illuminated edge with it. A bright edge is a great way to accentuate the shape of the rock.

Step 10

Take the 4B pencil and use it to draw fine crevices and scratches. Think about this part of the drawing as negative space—you don’t want to draw dark lines, you want to accentuate the bright parts.

Step 11

Use the 2B pencil for the details on top. This is the illuminated side, and we don’t want too much contrast here.

Step 12

Look at your drawing from a distance and try to see what else can be improved by seeing the whole rock, not a set of strokes. Good shading does wonders, but don’t use too many details—they may drag attention from the rock as a whole.

2. How to Draw a Stone Wall/Road

Step 1

Just like with the rock, draw the top of the structure first. Since it’s man-made, it should have a rather regular shape. Feel free to use a ruler for this, and draw using the HB pencil.

Draw the height of the structure…

… and connect it with the bottom.

Step 2

Divide the height into as many parts as you need. The height of each part will be the height of a stone.

Step 3

Draw the rows on every side. The stones in this structure will not be as neatly placed as bricks, but they still should follow this rhythm as well as possible.

Step 4

Imagine the stones are already on the side. Draw the width of their top.

Step 5

Sketch the rhythm of the stones. Again, they won’t be as regular as bricks, but a regular placement is required for durability of the structure.

Step 6

Luckily, such regularity is not required within the first row. First, sketch a chaotic rhythm on top…

… then draw the outline of the rocks inside. Here they don’t need to be as regular. Instead, try to place them very tight, with small rocks between the big ones.

Step 7

Time to add some form to each stone. Follow the perspective of the whole structure to decide which sides of the stone should be visible. Also, don’t forget to make the edge blunt—this will make it more primitive in look.

Step 8

Fill the spaces between the stones by pressing harder. Don’t make it too regular, but rather use it to „cut” some parts of the stones for a more natural look.

Step 9

Take the 2B pencil (sharpen it well) to make the filling between the stones less uniform.

Step 10

Take the HB pencil again, tilt it, and shade the top of the stones. Don’t fill the sides by accident!

Step 11

Shade the sides of the construction, keeping the edges white.

Step 12

Take the 2B pencil and make the shadowed sides darker, both of the whole structure…

… and of each stone on top.

Step 13

Take the 4B pencil to darken the sides even more and accentuate the details during the process.

Step 14

Take the 6B pencil and shade the stones on the shadowed side with more detail. Pay attention to the crevices that have no way to be illuminated.

Step 15

Shade the side of each top stone with the same pencil. This will increase the contrast of the whole structure.

Step 16

The illuminated side must stay light, but not without any details. Use the 2B pencil to add some.

Step 17

Finally, take two steps back and look at the drawing as a whole. How can it be improved? In my case, I’ve used the blending stump to remove any trace of whiteness on the shadowed side, brightened the front with the eraser, and darkened the back of the top.

Good Job!

You did it! If you enjoyed learning this way, check out other tutorials from this series:

• 

  How to Draw Fur

  Fur can be very simple to draw, if you just learn one secret of it! In this tutorial I will show you how to draw long and short fur, but you can use these…
• 

  How to Draw Wood

  Drawing is not just about lines and shades, but also about textures. Today I’ll show you how to draw a log and a wooden surface with a few pencils.
• 

  How to Draw Glass

  Transparent glass is incredibly hard to draw from imagination. That’s because we know it’s "invisible", so what is there to draw? But the correct…

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Brazil-Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a Brazil-inspired text effect in Photoshop, using a layer style with a pattern that we will create. In the process, you will learn basic things about the Pen Tool and Convert Point Tool, and some keyboard shortcuts that I use every day.

If you’d like to skip this tutorial but still wish to buy the style, you can head over to GraphicRiver and buy Countries Styles.

Tutorial Asset

The following font was used during this tutorial:

• Ash Font

1. How to Create the Pattern

Step 1

Download the zip that is attached to this tutorial and open the Draft Pattern in Photoshop. If you already know how to use the Pen Tool and want to skip some steps, you can use this draft to continue with the tutorial. Just open it in Photoshop and then skip to step 12.

Step 2

Press Control-Shift-N to create a new layer, and name it Shape 1. Then pick the Pen Tool (P) to start drawing.

Step 3

Zoom in on the image to make it easier to work with it. You can do that by pressing Control-Space-Click (to zoom out press Alt-Space-Click). 

There are many ways to use the Shape Tool. I’m going to show you how to make one shape using a very simple technique, and then you can use the same technique for the other shapes. 

In order to better see what we are drawing, we need to change the color of the shape. So with the Pen Tool selected, change the color of the Fill to blue #130eef. Then select the layer Shape 1 and change its Opacity to 50%.

Step 4

Start clicking on the edges of the shape with the Pen Tool (don’t drag the mouse, just click). This will create anchor points. We have to place them on every sharp corner and where there is a curve. Keep doing that until you close the shape.

Step 5

Now pick the Convert Point Tool and click and drag on every anchor point that is on a curve, but don’t touch on the ones that are on sharp corners. It doesn’t have to be 100% like the original shape because it is an abstract thing, but try to do it as in the original image.

Here are some tips for this step.

• If you need to move an anchor point, you need to hold Space while you are clicking on the anchor point, and then move it where you think it will fit better.
• To remove an unnecessary anchor point, you have to click on it with the Pen Tool (P). To add a new one, just click with the Pen Tool where you need it. 
• To select an anchor point with the Convert Point Tool, hold Control and click on it. Same thing for the Pen Tool (P).
• When you select an anchor point, two handlers appear. You can hold Alt and click and drag to change only one handler.

Step 6

After all shapes are completed, change the Opacity of every layer to 100%.

Step 7

Create a new layer and name it BG. Then place it below the shapes. 

Step 8

Change the Foreground color to #e2e2e2 and press Alt-Backspace to fill the layer BG with that color.

Step 9

Now pick the Pen Tool (P) again to change the color of the shapes to the correct color. You can use the original image and the Eyedropper Tool to pick the colors, or copy from the image below. Select the layer of the shape for which you want to change the color, and change the color just like in step 3.

Step 10

Select all the layers except the Background layer, and then press Control-G to group them. 

Step 11

Select the Group layer and press Control-Alt-Shift-E to merge everything into a new layer. Then rename this new layer to Base Pattern and hide the other layers by clicking on the eye icon.

Step 12

Go to Image > Canvas Size and change the Width to 512 px.

Step 13

Pick the Move Tool (V) and move the layer Base Pattern 128 px to the left.

Step 14

Duplicate the layer Base Pattern by pressing Control-J. Then press Control-T to activate the Free Transform. Then move the layer 256 px to the right. After that, right-click the image and choose Flip Horizontal and press Enter.

Step 15

Select the layers Base Pattern and Base Pattern copy, and press Control-E to merge them. Then rename this layer to Base.

Step 16

Go to Image > Canvas size and change the Height to 994 px.

Step 17

Move the layer Base down by 249 px. Then make a copy of the layer Base and press Control-T to activate Free Transform again. Then right-click on the image and choose Flip Vertical. After that, move the layer Base copy up by 497 px and left by 256 px, and press Enter.

Step 18

Now make a copy of the layer Base copy and move it 512 px to the right.

Step 19

Go to Edit > Define Pattern… and name it Abstract – Brazil Pattern, and then press OK. After that, save and close the document.

2. How to Create the Layer Style

Step 1

Go to File > Open... and open the background image that is in the zip.

Step 2

Pick the Type Tool (T) and write BRAZIL using the font Ash. 

Step 3

Right-click the text layer and choose Blending Options to create the Layer Style.

Let’s start with Bevel & Emboss:

• Style: Inner Bevel
• Technique: Smooth
• Depth: 1000%
• Direction: Down
• Size: 250 px
• Soften: 0 px
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 90º
• Altitude: 50º
• Gloss Contour: Choose the Brazil Contour (zip file)
• Anti-aliased: Unchecked
• Highlight Mode: Screen
• Highlight Mode Color: #ffffff
• Highlight Mode Opacity: 93%
• Shadow Mode: Multiply
• Shadow Mode Color: #0084ff
• Shadow Mode Opacity: 100%

Step 4

Now add a Stroke:

• Size: 1 px
• Position: Inside
• Blend Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 100%
• Overprint: Unchecked
• Fill Type: Gradient
• Style: Linear
• Reverse: Unchecked
• Align with Layer: Checked
• Angle: -90º
• Dither: Unchecked
• Scale: 100%

Now click on the gradient bar and add a gradient with these settings:

• First Stop Color: #106a00
• First Stop Position: 0%
• Second Stop Color: #7cdc00
• Second Stop Position: 49%
• Third Stop Color: #ffffff
• Third Stop Position: 100%

Step 5

Add an Inner Shadow:

• Blend Mode: Overlay
• Color: #000000
• Opacity: 88%
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 90º
• Distance: 0 px
• Choke: 12%
• Size: 21 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-aliased: Unchecked
• Noise: 0%

Step 6

Add an Inner Glow:

• Blend Mode: Linear Dodge (Add)
• Opacity: 48%
• Noise: 0%
• Color: #ffffbe
• Technique: Softer
• Source: Edge
• Choke: 0%
• Size: 5 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-aliased: Unchecked
• Range: 50%
• Jitter: 0%

Step 7

Add a Gradient Overlay:

• Blend Mode: Vivid Light
• Dither: Unchecked
• Opacity: 100%
• Reverse: Unchecked
• Style: Linear
• Align with Layer: Checked
• Angle: 90º
• Scale: 100%

Now click on the gradient bar and add a gradient with these settings:

• First Stop Color: #00688e
• First Stop Position: 0%
• Second Stop Color: #ffde00
• Second Stop Position: 51%
• Third Stop Color: #53ba00
• Third Stop Position: 100%

Step 8

Add a Pattern Overlay:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 100%
• Pattern: Choose the pattern that we created (Abstract – Brazil Pattern)
• Scale: 25%
• Link with Layer: Checked

At this point, you can move the Layer Style window to the side and left-click on the image and drag the mouse to move the pattern.

Step 9

Add a Drop Shadow:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Color: #00233a
• Use Global Light: Checked
• Angle: 90º
• Distance: 4 px
• Spread: 52%
• Size: 3 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-aliased: Unchecked
• Noise: 0%
• Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Checked

Step 10

Click on New Style… to save the layer style. Name it Brazil Layer Style and check the Include Layer Style Effect and Include Layer Blending Options boxes. After that, click OK to close the Layer Style window.

Congratulations, You’re Now Done!

In this tutorial, you learned how to create an abstract pattern and use it in a layer style in Adobe Photoshop. We started out by creating the pattern, and then we created a layer style.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and feel free to leave your comments below.

This text effect that we just created is part of Countries Styles.