Final result
Using a simple black and white drawing, you can create images of jewelry like this.
Any black and white line art, like this, can be used.
Since we’re going to be using Layer Styles, our black and white art needs to be on an empty layer (see above). The surprising part of Nathan Smith’s method, to me, was that the shiny gold in his images starts out as black. Once you have your art on an empty layer by itself (not surrounded by white or other colors, that is), just the art and the checkerboard pattern, you’re ready to go. In the Layers palette, click on the icon at the bottom that looks like “fx”, or double click on the layer itself. This opens the layer styles palette. Here’s what it will look like when we’re done. Notice the check marks on the left side. By clicking on the name of each of these items, the middle area changes, so you change the settings for that item.
When the Layer Styles dialog first comes up, usually the main “Blending Options: Default” is active. We won’t be changing anything here. Click on the words “Gradient Overlay.” This changes the middle area to the gradient overlay dialog. It also puts a checkmark next to “Gradient Overlay” for you. If you decide you don’t want this gradient overlay stuff later on, you can just uncheck it, and the effects here are cancelled. But you do want to see some gold, so let’s leave it on. Let’s take a look at the middle area.
The only option we’ll change here is the gradient. Click on the little triangle next to the gradient, and a drop-down of your currently-loaded gradients appears. None of the delivered gradients create a gold effect, so we’ll have to make it. Double-click right on the gradient image itself, and the gradient dialog opens.
See those colored squares (stops) running underneath the gradient? That’s what you change here, nothing else. To start, click and drag the existing stops away, and they are deleted. You’ll be left with two, one on far left, one on the far right. When you click on a stop, the color drop-down below is activated. Click on the color there to get the color picker. Change it to a color similar to what I have here. Add stops in-between by clicking once in a blank area under the gradient; change the color of each as you go. It’s not easy to understand at first, but trust me, it does make sense after a while. Once you have something resembling the gradient shown above, click okay, and you’re returned to the Gradient Overlay. You’re done here, too, so click on Ok, to see the result so far. Your black and white line art should look something like this. (Keep in mind that the white is on a separate, bottom layer. The artwork and layer effects are on an empty layer above the white layer.)
Double-click on the word “Effects” over in the layer palette, to bring up the Layer Effects dialog again. Next we’ll add that crinkly look. (I know nothing about jewelry, so laugh all you want, you jewelry people!) In the left-side column click on the words “Bevel and Emboss.” Change the settings to match the screenshot below. The result should look like what you see here. Sort of like stamped gold foil. (I hear you people laughing and I’m ignoring you.)
Okay, time for the crinkly part. Stay on the Bevel and Emboss dialog. Notice the Texture option sort of nested below? Click on the word Texture. In this Texture dialog, click on the drop-down there in the middle. You should see a list of textures. (If not, click on the triangle to open the Load dialog, and go find your texture files.) You can use any of the standard textures that come loaded with Photoshop. Try them out and see how they affect the gold surface. Find one that looks “real” to you (I thought mine looked good, but what do I know?). Set the scale to 75% (though you can adjust that for different looks). Set depth to +100%. Here’s what it should look like now.
Crinkly close-up. We've struck gold!
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Notice the empty oval area in the middle of the butterfly. That’s where we’ll add a jewel. We’ll use the shape of that oval to create the jewel, first by creating a “setting” for it, and then the gemstone itself. Take a look at the Line Art layer, below. We’ve added four Layer Styles to this layer, but the actual line art itself is unchanged. It’s still black and white.
The Line Art layer and its four Layer Effects.
A close-up of the line art, with the Layer Styles turned off.
With the new gold setting layer active, we’ll use the “FX” icon again at the bottom of the layers palette, with a difference.
The gold setting created by applying a Gradient Overlay to the black oval.
Bevel and Emboss and (inset) Contour Layer Styles for the gold setting.
Cont’d…
The setting is done, so now let’s create the jewel that goes inside it. Once again, we’ll use the Magic Wand tool to select the inside (white) area of the oval. Make sure the Gold Setting layer is active, NOT the Line Art layer, or your oval selection will be too big. Insert a new empty layer above the Gold Setting layer. (We’ve created a selection using the contents of one layer to use on another layer. Selections “apply” to whichever layer is currently active.) With the Gradient tool (which is nested with the Paint Bucket), draw a dark to light gradient. (Use the Linear Gradient mode). You can use whichever color you like. There are just two stops in this gradient: near-white and a good dark, solid color, on opposite ends from each other.
Since the light part of this gradient is on the left, it will begin with that color. If you want it to be dark on top, start drawing from the bottom.
Change the blending mode for the Overlay Dark layer to Overlay. Now it should look good and round, with a deep coloring, like this:
To finish the jewel, insert one more layer, choose a soft white brush, at high opacity, and add a highlight. You can add a star shape, too, on top of that, for extra pizazz. And that’s it! If you’ve followed this tutorial all the way through both parts, congratulations! If you got stuck, or something wasn’t clear, please leave a comment, and we’ll get it straightened out pronto.
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