Custom Zip Icon in Photoshop: Glass Icons Tutorial
This guide will walk you through creating a conceptual icon, a “zip” icon. I’ve seen these in several places, and they always look cool because they cleanly illustrate a point and include some nice glass effects that remain ever-popular.
To create this icon, you’ll need a copy of Photoshop (7 through CS2 will work fine) and this article. If you’ve not used Photoshop often, you may find this tutorial to be a bit more advanced, but should be able to work your way through it if you have some patience and a sense of adventure.
Part One: Glass Orb
One: Open a new canvas (File, New) that is sized about 500 x 500 pixels. You can always make your icons smaller as you go on – start large and you’ll be able to keep a much higher quality to your work. Then, set your foreground color to #1849ad and use your elliptical (circle) shape tool. Hold your shift key down on your keyboard when you draw the circle out, so that it stays perfectly round. Finally, right-click the layer your new shape is on and choose “Rasterize Layer”. Even if not specifically stated, always rasterize your shapes as you perform this tutorial.
Two: Set your background color to #102c66 (leave your foreground color at #1849ad). Then, go to your Layer Styles (Layer, Styles) and choose “Gradient Overlay”. In the dialogue that appears, choose your light-to-dark blue gradient (click the arrow pointing down and click the first gradient in this menu). Then, set the “Style” to Radial, and the “Scale” to 123%. Everything else will remain the same – click OK.
Three: Now, change your foreground color to white. Using your elliptical (circle) shape tool, draw a long oval on the upper 1/3 of your blue circle. Rasterize (Right-click and choose “Rasterize Layer), and then lower the “Fill” of this layer to 0%. It will make the oval seem to disappear – that’s what you want. Finally, go to your Layer Styles and again choose “Gradient Overlay”. This time, choose the white-to-transparent gradient.
Part Two: The Zipper
One: Make sure that you’ve saved your glass orb, and then minimize it – we won’t be using it for a few minutes. Then, open a new canvas (File, New) sized about 200 x 200 pixels in size. Set your foreground color to #858585 and your background color to #dadada. Now, using your rectangle shape tool, draw a tall rectangle on your canvas.
Above the rectangle, draw a circle shape by holding your shift key down while you draw the circle. Rasterize both.
Two: With your rectangle shape selected, go to your Layer Styles and apply an “Inner Glow” at default settings. Then, select your circle shape and apply a “Gradient Overlay”. Change the Style to Radial and the Scale to 111%.
Three: Turn your background layer off by clicking the “eye” icon beside it, and then right-click one of your other layers. Choose “Merge Visible”. This puts everything, including layer styles, on one single layer. This will be one of the teeth of your zipper. You can drag it right over to your glass orb now – click the layer and drag it on to the glass orb canvas before letting go. The zipper tooth will be added right in.
Four: We’re going to continue using this canvas, but so that we don’t get confused, turn off the zipper tooth layer. Then, grab your rounded rectangle tool to create the base for the zipper pull. Once again, apply an “Inner Glow” with default settings.
Now, to start the zipper pull. This step will take a few minutes, but is very easy. First, create a circle with your elliptical shape tool. Rasterize the layer, and choose your “Move” tool. Then, press the “Ctrl” and “Alt” keys on your keyboard. Keep them held down while you click your down arrow key. What this does is create a copy of your circle and move it one pixel downward. Keep doing this until you have a long zipper pull. Then, turn off the background and zipper base layers, and Merge Visible.
Five: Our last step on this and we’ll pull it on over to our glass orb, too. First, we need to get the pull looking … well, more like a pull than a straight shape. To do this, click “Edit”, choose “Transform”, and click “Skew”. Then, pull out the bottom handles so that the bottom of your pull is wider than the top.
Next, apply the same “Inner Glow” (default settings) that we’ve been using, and then erase a circle at the top and bottom of your pull.
Finally, create a thin rectangle that attaches the pull to the base. Turn off the background layer and Merge Visible. Then, drag this layer over to your glass orb, too.
Part Three: Finishing Touches
One: If we’re going to have a zipper, we need to have something to “zip”, right? So, our first step is to create a sort of jacket for our glass orb. To make it really easy, duplicate your glass orb (Right-click the glass orb layer and choose “Duplicate Layer”). Then, set your foreground color to # and your background color to # . Edit the gradient overlay so that it reflects these dark grays.
Now, grab your polygonal lasso tool and select a v-shape for the “neck” of your orb. Once it’s selected, hit the backspace key on your keyboard to erase this space.
Two: From here out, it’s all about placement. First, move the zipper pull into place, at the bottom point of the V. Then, select your zipper tooth. Click “Edit” and choose “Free Transform”. Hold the shift key down on your keyboard while you resize the tooth so that it keeps its proportions intact.
Three: This is our very last step. Duplicate your zipper tooth layer 8 – 10 times. Then, move them into place, trying to space them evenly. Make sure that the zipper pull layer is at the top, so that the teeth closest to the pull seem to go “behind” the pull.
Finally, go through each tooth and click “Edit”, choose “Transform” and click “Rotate”. This will allow you to rotate the teeth into proper alignment, without them resizing.
I ended up playing a bit more, adding a drop shadow here and there, and ended up with the icon in Illustration One.
