Software used: Adobe Photoshop
Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion Time: 2 Hours

Alright, you know what is one of the most sought-after types of graphics demanded from freelancers around the world?

…Logos. Mmkay, so logos can be used on a bottle, on a shirt, on a banner, on a site header…in 10,000 places. But today, let’s focus on the kind that can be used on screen – that is either in a signature (forum, e-mail), on advertisements or on headers and so on.

Let’s make a glossy, glowy, fancy logo, shall we? ^_~

For this piece I decided to use the color combination of red and black, since they always provide a classy yet fiery feeling. You can bet a good red/black combo is bound to catch the eye anywhere!

So, this is what we will be creating:

Okay, now grab a piece of chocolate & a bottle of…whatever and let’s get to work

Step 1:

Press Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + N to create a new document. Choose…600px width and 450px height, let’s say.

Then take the Gradient Tool (G), set it to Radial Gradient, set your Foreground red color to #7b3c43 and your background black color to #000000, and positioning your cursor in the center of the canvas, hold down Shift key and drag to the right until you reach the edge of the canvas.

Step 2:

Now go to http://axertion.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1xocd7 and download his awesome-tastic patterns pack <3
After you’ve saved and unzipped them, load them into Photoshop and then double-click the layer on which you used Gradient in Step 1, and you’ll get into its Blending Options. Add these settings (note that the pattern used is “Dark Hex Carbon”):

Step 3:

Click OK and then let’s move on to adding some text to this, shall we? ^__~

If you don’t have it already, go and download the font named My Fox from here: http://myfox.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1l95iy and install it to your computer (the fonts named Rez, Alba, Evolution and Alta also look really good with logos from my experience, though mind the commercial license).
Nooooow….set your foreground color to #6e0000 and using the Type Tool (T), type the text you want your logo to have. For mine, I chose the word “design”

Kaaay, now, click on “Toggle the Character and Paragraph Palettes” icon, and add these settings:

Step 4:

Now press Ctrl (Cmd on Mac)+T to use Transform on your text. Skew it a bit, about 75 degrees to the left, then resize it vertically a little. To be honest, this step is very much about intuition and what looks best for the font you want to use, so just…go with the flow and with what you think looks best ^_~

Once you have transformed it, it’s time for…magiiiiic to happeeeen ^__^

Make sure your text layer is your working layer….that is, it is a dark blue in the layers palette ^^
Then press Alt (or Option on Mac)+the down arrow (from the top-left-bottom-right set of 4 arrows)…press this combination 24 times and the text will become…3D =D
Heh, who said we need some fancy 3D software for text art? ^_~

Now your image should look something like this:

Step 5:

Ooookay, more magic coming this way =D

Hehehe, now merge aaaall those text layers – except the original one, which should be your bottommost – into a single layer, and move it under the original in the layers palette….good! Name it “24 Layers Bundle”.

Make sure your “working on” layer is the original text layer…..and double-click it (or go to Layer->Layer Style->Blending Options) and add these settings:

Okay, so now your pic should look similar to this:

Step 6:

Mooooo-vin’ on

Now comes the part with a lot of paperwork…err…I mean, styleswork ^_^
Make the 24 merged layers into one your working layer (now you should have 3 layers in total, the background one, then the 24-merged-into-one layer, and on top the original text layer, which is still a “Type” layer).

Kay, now like I said, make your “merged” layer your working one and get into its Blending Options…and add these styles:

Step 7:

Pfffffft! Okay, now, your stuff should look like this..somewhat ^^

Good job until now!
Now, mooo-vin’ on ^__~

Ctrl(Cmd)+click on your Text layer’s thumbnail in the layers palette to obtain a selection of it ^__^
Now make a new layer, move it under the text one and name it “Underglow”.

We want our text to have a niiiice glassy feel to it, right? So, let’s simulate transparency =D
On the “Underglow” layer, with your Foreground color set to #de0a0a, take the Bucket Tool (G) and fill the selection with the red you have as foregound. Deselect.

Goooood….now lower the layer’s Fill to 40% and set it to Color Dodge, then zoom in to 2-300% and with the Move Tool (V) move…of course…the red thingy lower…lower…until it reaches the “base” of the 3D text, okay? Like this:

Step 8:

Kay, now that we got that done, let’s add more “realism” to the Underglow layer, shall we?

Make a new layer on top of it. Name it “Underglow Border”.
Obtain a selection of your Underglow layer, then with the same Foreground color go to Edit—>Stroke—>Center and 1pixel.
Set the layer to Color Dodge blending mode and lower its Fill down to about 18%.

Now let’s take care of our Text layer a little bit, shall we, it’s feeling kind of neglected ^_~

Step 9:

Kaaaay, now make your Text layer your working on layer…(you know, the one with the black-gray gradient, right?)

Give it these Bevel and Emboss (in addition to the Gradient Overlay we gave it earlier, so now it has 2 layer styles) :

Kay, now make a new layer above it, name it “Text Top Border”….then obtain a selection of your Text layer and go to Edit–>Stroke–.Center and 1px…with the Foreground color of #de0a0a .
Now set the “Text Top Border” layer to Color Dodge and lower its Fill to about 40%

Good! =D

Now your piccy should look somewhat like this:

Step 10:

Oookaaay…take a deep breath…slow…slow….pfffttt.

Now back to work >___o

Hehehe, now it’s time for a little…finesse ^_~

See, now our little 3D section looks 3D…but not really. We can do better, can’t we?

So, make a new layer on top of your “24 Layers Bundle” layer. Name it “24 Bundle Shadows”. Set your Foreground color to #1c1112 and take the Gradient tool (G) and set it to “Foreground to Transparent”. Also set it to Radial Gradient……

Obtain a selection of your 24 Layers Bundle layer, and zoom in to about 300%. With the gradient tool, drag a liiittle, -and I mean it, a little. Just like…10-20 pixels for each drag- in the areas that are selected here:

This is a very important step in making our logo look 3D and credible, so take your time n___n

Step 11:

Okay, so now your thingy should look…something like this:

Okay, more “finesse” on the way xD
So, make a new layer and move it right under your Text layer, okay?
Name it “24 Bundle Highlights”.

Now zoom in to about 400% or more.
Take the Brush Tool (B) and choosing a round, hard brush 1 pixel in size, hold Shift key and drag down on the “edges” of the letters, like this:

Okay, now set the layer to Soft Light and lower its Fill to 60%

Step 12:

Okay, almost done..well not really but still xD
We are one Step closer ^___~

Now your piccy should look similar to this:

Now! Use the Shift key to select ALL your layers (excluding the background one) and go to Layer–>Duplicate Layers.
After your duplicated them, merge them all in a single layer. Name it “Reflection”. Move it in the Layers Palette so that it is your first layer on top of the background one.

In other words, you have the background at the base of the layers palette, and the first layer after that should be the one you just created by merging.

Use the Move Tool (V) to move the merged thing (on the canvas this time) so that it is “under” the other 3D body, like this:

Step 13:

Now go to Layer–>Layer Mask—>Reveal All.
Take the Gradient Tool, set it to Foreground-to-Transparent, Linear Gradient, set foreground color to black (#000000) and working on your Layer Mask drag from bottom upwards so that the bottom of your “Reflection” layer…vanishes…wooo..spookyyy O____O;

Hahaha, okay, so now set the Gradient tool to Radial Gradient, and click & drag here and there with both black and white, to hide or make visible the bits of the “Reflection” layer that are riiight underneath the “24 Layers Bundle” bottom, like this:

Lower its Fill to about 50%.

Step 14:

Now, more finesse time.

We are going to make our text have more highlights and shadows, just like real glass.

Set your Foreground color to #e69898
Then take the Brush Tool (B), set it to a 15-20 pixels brush with a 50% hardness and about 40% opacity. As tip, you can easily increase or decrease the brush size by pressing the “[" and "]” keys.
Now brush lightly on the arease selected (you can hold down Shift key to make straight strokes, and make sure you don’t go outside of the 3D body!) in the pic below:

Set the layer to Color Dodge and lower its Fill down to 50%

Step 15:

Now duplicate this layer, and set the duplicate to Screen, lower Fill to 15%.

Okaaaaay….now! Let’s enter the Realm of the Shadowssss… ooo……
…ahem, I mean, let’s deal with the shadow-y part ^_~

Okay, take the same brush as before, and set your Foreground color to #650f0f
Now brush in these areas:

Set the layer to Multiply, then duplicate it and set the duplicated layer to a Fill of 30%.

Step 16:

Okay. Now on to the fine-tuning
Create a new layer, and move it so that it is the first layer on top of the Background one in the layers palette.
Set your Foreground color to #f00606 and take the Gradient Tool (G), set it to Foreground to Transparent, Radial Gradient.
Click & drag to get 3 “spotlights”, like this:

Set the layer to Color Dodge, and lower its Fill to about 60%. You can then merge it with your Background layer (Ctrl+E)

Step 17:

Now, click on your text layer (aka, the “face” of your 3D type, the gray gradient one) and obtain a selection of it. Go to the small “Create new Fill or Adjustment Layer” icon at the base of the layers palette (the icon that looks like a Yin-Yang symbol, sort of) and from there choose Photo Filter, add these settings:

Set the layer to Color Dodge blending mode and lower its Fill to about 30%.

Step 18:

Okay..now comes the fun part ^^
…Well actually it’s kinds boring and repetitive in itself, but the result adds a lot of eyecandy xD

Now we’ll add Gleam =]
So go on top of all your layers and create a new Layer. Make sure this new layer is on top of all your others, okay? Name it “White Gleam”.

Now, go to the Brush Tool (B) and set it to a hard, round, 2px brush.
Go to the Pen Tool (P) and set it to Paths. Okay, now let the fun begin….

Make paths on the edges of the letters, where the light seems to touch the text, like this (zoom in is highly advised):

When you’ve made a path, right-click and Stroke Path….add these settings:

Delete the path (right-click—>delete path).

Repeat this many times, until you “stroke’ all the edges where light hits.
In the end you should have done something like this:

Set the layer to Color Dodge and lower its Fill to about 50%.

Step 19:

Duplicate the White Gleam layer and give it a 1.7 Gaussian Blur filter. Then duplicate it another two times. Move all these 3 layers under the White Gleam layer and merge them all into one. Set them to Color Dodge and lower Fill to about 50%.

Make a new layer above all your others, and taking the Brush Tool (B) and set it to about 8 pixels, soft, round.
Set your Foreground color to #fce3e3. Now use the Brush to make “light points” here and there, where the light hits most, like this:

Step 20:

Set the layer to Overlay blending mode and lower its opacity to 70%.

Now, on top of everything in your Layers Palette, go to the Create new fill or Adjustment layer icon at the bottom of your Layers palette, and choose Hue/Saturation.
Increase the Master Saturation to about 65%.

Now you should have something like…this:

Step 21:

Extra bonus, for who likes their logotypes shinier:

Hide the Background layer, then go to the top of your layers in the layers palette and go to Image—>Apply Image.
Then go to Filter–>Motion Blur, give it a 70 motion blur…set it to Linear Dodge and lower Fill to about 15.

This will make the logo shinier, and more bright.

Okay, we’re done
Your result should look somewhat similar with this:

See you next time, hope you enjoyed the tutorial ^__^
Check my portfolio here