Make Web Buttons in Adobe Photoshop
Make Web Buttons in Adobe Photoshop
In a new layer, select a circular area with the selection tool. (Holding down Shift will
make the selection stay circular, rather than being elliptical.)
Fill the area with the paint bucket. This is the curved end of your web button
Zoom in (Ctrl +) and select a one-pixel wide area in the centre of the circle. You can
use the normal Selection Tool to do this, or you can hold down on the Selection Tool,
and choose the Single Column Marquee Tool
3 – Extending the button shape
With your one-pixel sliver of the web button selected, press Ctrl+T to "Free Transform"
the selection. Extend the selection to the left as far as possible
Press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation properties of the layer. Click "Colorize".
Drag the sliders around until your web button has a nice colour
In the layers list, double-click this layer. Give your web button a Drop Shadow and a
Bevel
6 – Texturising the button
Click Filter, Texture, Texturizer. Choose Sandstone. I use this texture for most web
buttons I do these days
Click Filter > Render > Clouds (If your background isn't white, you'll first need to select
the area of the button, by holding Ctrl and clicking on the button's layer in the layers list.
This keeps the clouds inside that area.) Click Image > Adjustments >
Brightness/Contrast. Set the contrast to maximum. (This turns the random grey clouds
into equally random patches of black and white.)
Change the new layer from Normal to Overlay. (This changes the layer from solid colour
to a kind of illumination, as if it were cellophane over the web button layer, instead of
coloured paper.)
Choose the Gradient tool. Click on the visual representation of the gradient.
On the visual representation of the gradient, put in several tabs. These tabs should be
in a black, white, black, white pattern.
Apply the gradient to your image, and change the layer's Mode from Normal to Overlay.
This should give the button some nice illumination
Using the Text tool, add some text to your button. Some useful tips for button text
are:
Double-click the text layer. Give it a Bevel and a white Outer Glow. I've also put a black
outline on the button layer, to make it stand out more, but that's optional