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How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon – Photoshop Tutorial

Posted by Harshad

How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon – Photoshop Tutorial


How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon – Photoshop Tutorial

Posted: 27 Sep 2011 06:13 AM PDT

iCloud, the newest cloud storage service introduced by the Apple has a pretty simple yet beautiful logo. The icon is made from metallic material and has an extruded cloud icon on top of it. You may not know it, but creating this type of icon is actually very easy, and below is the iCloud icon that we will teach you how to draw in this post, using Photoshop!

icloud photoshop tutorial How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Looks a bit complicated, but in fact all we need is some Layer Styles, basic vector shapes, and a bit of manual drawing. Let’s get into it!

Step 1

Start by creating a new file with size 512 x 512 px. Activate Rounded Rectangle Tool. On option bar, set its radius to 75 px. Click and drag to draw a rounded rectangle. Set its color to #5d5d5d.

icloud tutorial 01 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Double click on the layer to open Layer Style dialog box. Add Gradient Overlay with default gradient, black to white, and reduce its Opacity to 76%.

icloud tutorial 02 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 2

Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer shape. Click Edit > Free Transform or press Ctrl + T to perform transformation. From the option bar set its size to 98%.

icloud tutorial 03 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

In Layers panel, delete Layer Style by dragging fx icon onto the trash icon, which is at the bottom right of the Layers panel. Next, double click the layers’ thumbnail to bring up Layer Style dialog box. Add Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay.

icloud tutorial 04 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

In the Gradient Overlay’s setting, set gradient’s Style to Angle. Click the gradient’s preview box to open gradient editor and use color combination of #8e8e8e, #a5a4a4, and #d8d8d8. Feel free to play around with each marker position, just make sure to set same color in the first and the last marker.

icloud tutorial 05 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

This is the result after adding Layer Styles.

icloud tutorial 06 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 3

Create new layer. Fill it with Radial Gradient from white to black.

icloud tutorial 07 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Hold Alt and drag vector mask from previous layer to current layer. The gradient is now fit inside the icon.

icloud tutorial 08 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Open the Layer Style and change its blend mode to Screen.

icloud tutorial 09 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 4

Draw a rounded rectangle inside the icon. Set its radius to 75px with color #2a2a2a.

icloud tutorial 10 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Add 2 more circle shape (Choose Ellipse tool, then hold Shift and drag it). From the option bar, set path mode to Add to shape area.

icloud tutorial 11 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Double click cloud’s layer and then add Inner Shadow, Bevel and Emboss, and Stroke.

icloud tutorial 12 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 13 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 14 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 15 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 16 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 17 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 5

Duplicate the cloud’s layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Remove its Layer Style by dragging fx icon from its layer thumbnail onto trash icon. Resize it (Ctrl + T) to 89%.

icloud tutorial 18 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Change shape’s color to #5d5d5d. Reorder each shape’s position until the small cloud size is proportional to the bigger cloud.

icloud tutorial 19 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Double click cloud’s layer and add following Layer Styles.

icloud tutorial 20 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 21 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 22 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 23 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

For Gradient Overlay, make sure to use exact setting from Gradient Overlay in Step 2.

icloud tutorial 24 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Here is what we have after adding Layer Styles to the small cloud.

icloud tutorial 25 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 6: Add Metal Texture

Current design is very flat and too clean. Let’s add a subtle metal texture onto the surface. Create new layer. Click Edit > Fill and select Use: Black to fill the new layer with black.

icloud tutorial 26 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

icloud tutorial 27 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Click Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

icloud tutorial 28 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Click Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Select Blur Method: Spin and Quality: Best.

icloud tutorial 29 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

This filter will spin the noise and creates a circular wave.

icloud tutorial 30 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 7

Click Image > Adjustments > Level or press Ctrl + L. In the dialog box, drag black slider in the Output Levels to the center to lighten the circular wave.

icloud tutorial 31 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Hold Alt and drag vector mask from the icon’s base layer to the current layer. The circular wave is now inside the icon.

icloud tutorial 32 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Activate Path Selection tool and select cloud path that we created in Step 4. Press Ctrl + C to save it to clipboard. Press Ctrl + V to paste it onto the circular wave’s vector mask. Set its path mode to Subtract.

icloud tutorial 33 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Finally, copy and paste smaller cloud path that we have created in Step 5. Set its path mode to Add to Shape.

icloud tutorial 34 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Here’s the result. The circular wave is inside the icon’s surface.

icloud tutorial 35 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Change the layer’s Blend Mode to Screen.

icloud tutorial 36 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Step 8: Shadow

Create new layer and place behind all layers. Create an elliptical selection (using ellipse tool) under the icon. Fill selection with black.

icloud tutorial 37 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Soften shadow using filter, Gaussian Blur. Click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

icloud tutorial 38 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Duplicate shadow by pressing Ctrl + J. Add another Gaussian Blur, for this time use bigger Radius to get softer shadow. If the shadow is still too harsh, you can turn down its layer’s Opacity.

icloud tutorial 39 How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Final Result

This is the result of our tutorial. As you can see, the process of creating this icon is very easy. We just need to use some basic vector shapes and Layer Styles. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. If you have any question, feel free to ask!

final How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon   Photoshop Tutorial

Download PSD

Can’t achieve certain step? Here is the result’s PSD file for you to test and play with.

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