Painting a Logo
Turn a sketch into a digital logo in Photoshop.
Summary
The goal in digitizing a logo from a sketch is to create a version that is clean and visually balanced.
For the purposes of this project:
- Outlines should be in solid black and make with neat edges. Avoid sketchiness.
- Colors should be carefully selected and smooth in appearance. Avoid splotchiness.
Preparation
Get a copy of logo-tutorial.psd from the Outbox. This is a playful sketch I created for the purposes of demonstrating logo creation techniques. It is not intended to be a serious design for a logo.
- Rename the file with your last name and first initial.
- Open the file in Photoshop.
- Add a new layer above the background layer and name it Color.
- Add another new layer above the Color layer and name it Outlines. Make this the active layer.
- Press D on your keyboard to set your foreground and background colors to the default of black and white.
- Select the Brush tool. In the options bar, set the brush to 25 pixels and a hardness of 100%.
- Save your file.
Outlines
Paint the Outlines
- Make sure the Outlines layer is active.
- Trace over your black outlines with the Brush tool.
- Use the eraser tool to erase/fix any mistakes.
- Change the size of your brush as you see fit. Use the [ and ] keys on your keyboard to quickly change the brush size.
- Save your file.
Straight Lines
To paint a straight line with the Brush tool:
- Click once at the beginning of the line.
- Hold the Shift key and click at the end of the line.
- You can keep adding line segments using Shift-click.
Ellipses and Rectangles
You can use the Elliptical and Rectangular marquee tools to paint neat outlines for circles, ovals, squares or rectangles.
- Select the Elliptical or Rectangular marquee tool.
- In the options bar, make sure that the Feather is 0.
- Draw the shape you want on the Outlines layer. Rememer to hold down the Shift key after you begin drawing to get a perfect circle or square.
- Make sure that black is the foreground color.
- Add a 25px stroke (Edit > Stroke). Make sure that Center is selected before you click OK.
- Deselect using Ctrl-D.
Color
Paint the Fill Color
- Make the Color layer active.
- Decide which part of the logo to paint first.
- Click on the foreground color in the toolbox to select a color.
- Adjust the brush size to paint your first logo section.
- Use the brush and eraser tools to paint the color.
- Save your file.
Painting Shortcut
Sometimes painting an area can take a while and leave white gaps. In logo sections that are completely enclosed by black outlines, you can try the following shortcut:
- Make the Outlines layer active.
- Select the Magic Wand tool. In the Options bar, make sure that Contiguous is checked.
- Click with the Magic Wand in the section you want to color. This should make a selection outline where you want to put your color.
- Expand the selection by 5 pixels (Select > Modify > Expand.)
- Click on the foreground color in the toolbox to select a color.
- Make the Color layer active.
- Fill the selection with your color (Alt-Backspace).
- Repeat steps 1-7 to color another section.
- Save your file.
Text
If you want to use any of the fonts installed on your computer to create text, you can add that too.
- Make the Outlines layer active so that you can add a text layer above it.
- Select the Text tool on the toolbox.
- In the options bar, select an appropriate font and a font size of around 24 - 72.
- Choose a font color in the options bar before you begin typing. Choose left, center or right alignment.
- Click on the image and begin typing.
- Click the checkmark in the options bar to finish typing.
- Play with other fonts in the options bar if you are not satisfied with the first one.
- You can warp the text:
- Select the Text tool.
- In the Options bar, click on the Create warped text button.
- Play with the options until you get something you like. Click OK.
- You can rotate the text:
- Ctrl-T
- Move your mouse just outside a corner so that it becomes a curved double-arrow.
- Click and drag to rotate.
- Press Enter to finish the transformation.
- Save your file.
Make Ready for Client
- Add a new layer above the background layer and name it White.
- Make sure the foreground and background colors are black and white.
- Press Ctrl-Backspace to fill the layer with white so that the original sketch is hidden.
- Make any last changes to the Text, Outlines, or Color layers.
- Save your file.