Whew.. been a while since I’ve posted, hasn’t it?  Guess it’s about time I throw something out there.  I know, I know.. I really do need to catch up, but hey.. the time it takes to gather up the screenies and post this tutorial should sort of make up for my lack of writing… right?

Ah well.. this tutorial isn’t as super simplified as I normally make it, but then again, screenshot-ing did start to annoy me, but I tried to detail as much of the steps as possible.  Any questions, definitely comment and I’ll try to clear things up!

All right, I’ll beg for forgiveness later, let’s get on with the tutorial ^^

- Start a new file
- Press and hold the Shape Tool > Ellipse Tool
- Press and hold Shift + while using the Ellipse Tool (holding Shift makes it a perfect circle)

- Right click on the layer with the circle and choose Rasterize Layer

- Press and hold the Shape Tool > Rectangle Tool
- Make a rectangle towards the top of the circle
- Right click on the layer with the rectangle and choose Rasterize Layer
- Ctrl+Click on the Layer Thumbnail (the picture thumbnail of the rectangle) to select the rectangle
- At the top menu, choose Select > Modify > Smooth
(the amount you smooth depends on how big your image is, so you may have to experiment with what looks right for you)
- Press Ctrl+I to Invert the selection
- Press Delete to erase the bits off the corners, leaving a smooth edge instead of sharp pointies
- Press Ctrl+D to deselect (get rid of the marching ant line)

- Press Ctrl+T to Transform the rectangle (here comes the tricky bit…)
- Press and hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt and drag the corner circled in the picture to the right.  This should stretch just the bottom points outwards, giving a house roof looking trapezoid.
- Press Enter when done to finish the Transform

- Right click on the rectangle layer and choose Duplicate Layer
(My shortcut is Ctrl+J, but I can’t remember if that’s a default shortcut, or if I changed it…)
- Choose the new layer and press Ctrl+T to Transform
- Right click on the image and choose Flip Vertical
- Move the shape down to the bottom of the circle (check out the pic above for reference)
- Right click on the layer and choose Merge Down (now both ‘teeth’ should be on the same layer)
- Right click on the ‘teeth’ layer and choose Duplicate Layer
- Choose the new layer and press Ctrl+T to Transform
- Hold Shift and move the cursor to the corner of the image till you see the Rotate arrows.  Click and Rotate 45 degrees
(or two snaps to the right)

- Repeat the Duplicate Layer > Transform > Rotate two more times till you get the image above
- Choose the topmost layer and Merge Down 3 times (so that all the ‘teeth’ are on one layer)

- Choose the layer with the original circle and Duplicate Layer
- Drag the duplicated circle to the bottom of all the layers
(this is a good template we use to contract from when we want to make circles within the cog)
- Now we can choose the topmost ‘teeth’ layer and Merge Down the ‘teeth’ and the circle to make one cog layer
- Ctrl+Click on the Layer Thumbnail (the picture thumbnail of the template circle at the bottom) to select an outline of the circle
- Remember to click back onto the cog layer
- At the top menu, choose Select > Modify > Contract to shrink the marching ants
(Again, you’re going to have to guesstimate just how much you want to shrink it down to depending on the size of the image)
- Press Delete

(You can stop and use the cog you have now, or continue to contract and fill in the marching ants which will give you the cog image above)

- Right click the cog layer to bring up the Blending Options (double clicking the layer should also work)

- Choose Gradient Overlay
- Click on the Gradient section (the part with the color) and try your best to match the image above
(it’s an alternating color scheme of grey/white/copper (grey with a bit of yellow))
- Press OK on the Gradient Editor

- The real meat of the cog comes with Bevel and Emboss
(Again, depending on the image, play with the size to find which looks best)
- Choose Contour right below it and fiddle with the Contour and Range to find the best cog look you want
(Below are examples of what Contour does to change the look of the cog.  Click the images to see them bigger!)

Extra

- Further embellish the cog by making another Rectangle Shape on a New Layer > Rasterize Layer > Duplicate > Rotate > Merge Down > Rotate > Merge Down
(if that confuses you, feel free to comment, and I can further explain it a bit more)

(Which gives you this lil’ piece!)

(This one just has an extra hole Deleted from the middle (use the circle template!) You can make all sorts of interesting cogs by changing up what holes or bolts are in the middle)

Well, that’s it for the tutorial!  I hope this helps.

Feel free to comment if you’ve any suggestions, questions, or whatnot!

Similar Posts

• Photoshop Tutorial: Making A Folder Icon
• Kitn’s Version Of A Photoshop Clear Tape Tutorial
• Photoshop Tutorial: Mail Envelope Icon
• Tutorial: Chunky Diagonals In Photoshop
• WoW Addon Tutorial: How To Make A TGA File With Transparency

Post a comment.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website