Author: James Qu

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I took to create this really cool, golden flame text effect with soft smoke texture and some layer blending skills in Photoshop. I was recently invited to write a Photoshop tutorial for webappers.com and this is what I came up with :)

Along the way, we will using the technqiues such as layer blending options, selection tools, applying layer masks and more. This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the method I use to create a stylish, clean and shining button for your website in Photoshop. This method is extremely simple with no more than five steps, yet it’s very effective since you can use the button for a wide range of occasions.

Along the way, the tools we will be using include the shape tool, layer blending options, brush and eraser tool. This tutorial is suitable for beginners as the steps are quite easy to follow in my opinion. As for advance Photoshoppers, I would love to hear you the methods you use to achieve such effect, just drop me a comment below.

Have a try, let me know if you have any problem, I will try my best to help you out :)

Hello and Welcome to the new Interview section I set up here on PSD Vault! In the section, I will publish a series of interviews I have with some turely amazing web and graphic designers around the world, and share their experiences and stories with the readers here. It’s also my wish to help promote those fine designers at international level, based on the decent amount of traffic PSD Vault generates on a daily basis.

In this first interview, we have Elena Savitskaya – an Amazing and Aspiring Graphic and Web Designer from London, UK. I came across her work from flickr and was immediately impressed by the skill and talent displayed in those works, not to mention that her work has been featured on Advanced Photoshop Magazine!

Here goes Elena’s story, hope you enjoy this interview and if you wish, check out Elena’s website for more!

You may have already heard of this application called “Cinema4D” – For those who hasn’t, it’s a “commercial, cross-platform, high-end 3D computer graphics application, produced by MAXON Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. Noted for its flexible interface and ease of use, it is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modelling, animating, lighting, texturing and rendering.” – From Wikipedia.

Cinema4D, together with Photoshop, is able to produce some visually stunning designs that simply can not be created seperately in each application. In this post, I will show you 20 Astounding Artworks Demonstrating the Combined Power of Cinema4D and Photoshop from DevaintArt. Although most of them are abstract designs, they’re absolutely amazing and I’m sure they will inspire you deeply!

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used in creating this horror style text effect with Dirt and Splatter Texture in Photoshop. I’ve got the inspiration from the game “Prototype” title typography and decided to have a bit experiment with it myself.

Along the way, we will be using a lot of layer blending options, image adjustments, selection techniques, custom brushsets painting and filter effects. This is an intermediate level tutorial and beginners may find it a bit tricky to complete, but why not have a try :)

In this tutorial, I will show you a rather useful technique I use in Photoshop to make perfect human selection, which requires the combination of channel mask and the quick selection tool available in Photoshop CS3.

I have received a number of emails lately in regards to this topic and I have decided to post this short tutorial with a step-by-step guide for beginners. Once you master this skill, you can apply it to pretty much every human image you want to selection/extract.

Meanwhile, if you have any tips/tricks about making selections, you’re more than welcome to share your experience with us, just drop a comment below :)

Welcome to the tenth volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly here on psdvault.com featuring some fantastic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

If you have been a PSD Vault reader for some time, you might have already sensed that I’m a fan of space artworks – having written numerous photoshop tutorial about planet creation, nebula design, and many other similar space concept tutorials :)

I love the fact that space art always conveys a sense of mystery, and the endless boundary to be pushed and discovered. For me, those space artworks are also a source of inspiration, because they always help me when I’m lack of creativity and imagination.

In this post, I will include 30 Incredible, Simply Stunning Space-Themed Artworks that I collected from deviantArt.com. Hopefully those works will inspire you as they did for me and boost your creativity!

In this post, I will introduce 7 Highly Practical Photoshop Site Mockups I have came aross on the net from a variety of sources, plus 1 Amazingly Detailed Tutorial About Converting Them into Working Web Pages.

For the 7 mockup tutorials I have selected, although they all aim towards the same objective, the techniques used during the process can be seen differently, mainly because the difference in genre (e.g. corporate design v.s watercolour design). Interesting to see the methods the authors use to achive the end result :)

As for the convertion tutorial I included here, I personally think it’s the best and most detailed one on the net! I’m sure you will find it useful, too. Enjoy!

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to design this awesome space dancer scene with Nebula Texture in Photoshop. The inspiration of the tutorial in fact came from the latest “Prince of Persia” game cover (and yes, I do love this game very much!)

Together we will be using image adjustment options, layer blending, masking and filter effect. I will also like to emphasise that it’s very importance to choose the right stock texture for your design, as they will contribute and improve your final effect dramatically.

This is an fairly easy tutorial and I hope you enjoy it! Have a try!

In this tutorial, I will show the processes involved in designing a God of War III Inspired Cracked Text Effect in Photoshop. I personally have been a fan of the God of War Series for a long time and got the inspiration for this tutorial from the game title text effect, and thought I could make a tut for it :)

Along the way, I would like to show you the use of custom brushsets in Photoshop and how to use them to create eye-catching effect for your design work. There are also techinques such as layer blending mode, masking and image adjustments. Have a go!

Welcome to the ninth volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly here on psdvault.com featuring some fantanstic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

You can click on the images to view them on Flickr and access the author’s photostream from there.

Here goes the list, enjoy!

Have you ever come across an amazing looking photo that has vibrant colour and huge depth, and you wondered how on earth could this image be created in the first place? If you have, you probably bumped into one of those HDR (High Dynamic Range) images.

In this post, I have included 30 Mind-blowing HDR Images + 10 Articles that I found useful on How to Generate Them. Hopefully those wonderful works would inspire you, and the articles can get you started on HDR image processing.

I would love to hear from you about the experience you have for this respective, simply drop me a comment below and we can all learn together!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create the Super Sleek, eye-catching text effect with Water Drop Texture. This effect is simple but effective, and would be suitable for any water/rainy/ocean themed designs you’re creating.

Along the way, we will be using Photoshop techniques such as make selections, layer blending effects, image adjustment tools and a bit of masking. This is a beginner level tutorial and the steps are really easy to follow, have a try!

Futuristic City Themed artwork is a style I always love looking at. I’m alwasys attached by the emotions that are expressed in those artworks, and this amazing creativity and telent those artists displayed in those artworks.

In this post, I will include 30 Magnificant, Simply Stunning Urban City Matte Painting Artworks for you to browse through. They’re wonderful works done by some awesome artists with tons of effort.

Hope you enjoy them and if you wish, share your thoughts with us : )

“An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files—menu commands, palette options, tool actions, and so on. For example, you can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies a filter to the image for a particular effect, and then saves the file in the desired format.” – From Photoshop Help File.

The above says it all: By using Photoshop Actions, you can greatly improve your productivity and efficiency, especially if you would like to apply the same effect over and over again. I use it all the time

In this post, I have included 10 Highly Useful Articles (Intro + Roundups) that Talk About Photoshop Action, which I have in my personal collection for you to go through. Get ready for some actions!

Welcome to the eighth volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly here on psdvault.com featuring some fantanstic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

Regardless whether you’re an Apple fan or not, it is no doubt that iPhone is a revolutional product that has taken mobile communication to a brand new level. Meanwhile, there are many graphic designers/digital artists utilised their creative flares to produce some truly awesome design works for iPhone.

In this post, I included 22 highly creative, ultra-stylish Advert designs for iPhone from deviantArt.com. The majority of those works were not done on paid basis and are just purely for fun/experiments, but no doubt they are of very high quality and the techniques used in those iPhone designs are simply superb :)