Rectangular Gel Banner

February 2nd, 2015

How to make a shiny, 3D banner. It can make a great layout header!

Prequisites

Please know how to do the following before using this tutorial.

• Exercise: Selections – Be sure you know how to load a selection.

Objective

Tutorial

1. Make a new canvas. I will be using a 400x200px one.
2. Make a New Layer . I am going to name it base.

   

3. Use the Rectangular Marquee tool to make a rectangle selection, and then use the Paint Bucket to fill it with a color that is duller than the color you want to end up with. (Trust me, it’ll look better later.)

   

4. Make a New Layer . I will name this one lower light.

   

5. Select the Gradient tool and use the following settings. Choose a Linear Gradient that goes from white to transparent.

   

   Make a gradient from the bottom to about half-way up.

   

6. Set the Opacity of lower light to around 30-50%. The amount depends on your color.

   

   But you basically want something like this:

   

7. Make a New Layer , which I will name shadow.

   

8. Use the Paint Bucket to fill layer shadow with black.

   

9. With the selection still around your rectangle, go to Select >> Modify >> Feather (old versions use Select >> Feather) and choose 15px.

   

10. Press Delete on your keyboard and then deselect (Ctrl+D) your selection.

    

11. That gives us a nice shadow around the edges, but it’s a bit too strong. So, set the Blending Option of layer shadow to Overlay.

    

    Now we have this:

    

12. Make a New Layer . I’m naming it highlight.

    

13. Use a Paint Brush that is about 5px round. Hold Shift and draw a straight line near the top. There should be a bit of space on the left/right sides and at the top.

    

14. Go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur, and set it to 2px.

    

15. Hide the Background layer…

    

    …then select layer base, and Merge Visible (Ctrl+Shift+E or Layer >> Merge Visible) so that the layers are all together.

    

16. Duplicate layer base (Ctrl+J or Layer >> Duplicate Layer).

    

17. Load a selection on layer base copy. (Tutorial: Exercise: Selections, step 6)

    Then apply a Gaussian Blur by going to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur. Set it to 1px.

    

18. Set the Blending Option of layer base copy to Overlay.

    

    This will give us a nice bright color. (See? I told you it’d look better!)

    

19. Add whatever you want to the banner, and you’re done!