Carbon Fibre Style Metallic Icon Design

Happy new year everyone! Welcome back, in todays tutorial I'll be showing you how to create a metallic carbon fibre 3D icon.

What We’ll Be Creating

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Lets Get Started!

Create a new document (Ctrl + N) with the dimensions 800 x 600 pixels, change your background color to a color which will make the icon more visible. Select the “Rounded Rectangle Tool” (U) with a radius of 20px.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Drag out a small rectangle in the middle of the canvas.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Once you’ve created the rectangle duplicate the layer by right clicking and going to “Duplicate Layer”. The layer which is at the bottom of the stack, move down once by selecting the “Move Tool” (V) then hold down the shift key on the keyboard and press the down arrow key.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Adding The Metallic Surface

Select the top layer from within the layers window then add the following layer styles.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Your top layer should look something like this.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Now to the bottom layer add a gradient overlay using the settings below.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

You should now have something like this.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Creating The Top 3D Part

We now need to create the top 3D part which is like a beveled edge which can be see from the inside of the rectangle. Start off with a rounded rectangle using the “Rounded Rectangle Tool” (U) this time change the radius to 15px. Create the rectangle in the middle of the first rectangle we created only this time make it about 8 pixels smaller.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Still with the “Rounded Rectangle Tool” (U) only this time select the “Subtract From Shape Area” button from the toolbar.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Now drag another rounded rectangle inside of the one we just created, make the rectangle slightly smaller height wise you should have something like this.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Finally select the “Rectangle Tool” (U) using the “Subtract From Shape Area” option again then drag a rectangle across the bottom of the rounded rectangle. Leaving just the top rounded part of the rectangle.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Now add a gradient overlay using the settings below.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

You should have something like this.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Adding The Carbon Fibre

Create a new document (Ctrl+ N) 4 pixels by 4 pixels, select the the “Zoom Tool” (Z) then zoom in 1600%. Using a the “Rectangular Marquee Tool” (M) make eight 1 pixel by 2 pixel selections filling each selection with the colors listed in the image below.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Once you have something like the image above go to “Edit > Define Pattern”. Save your pattern pattern as “Carbon Fibre”.

Adding The Carbon Fibre To The Icon

Using the “Rounded Rectangle Tool” (U) make another rectangle inside of the icon. The rectangle should be directly underneath the 3D bevel and the area around the rectangle should be equal on all sides.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Add the following layer styles to the rectangle.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

You should have something like this.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

You now have a blank icon to add your desired logo or symbol. I went ahead an created my photoshop plus logo inside of mine.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

The logo was created using the same layer styles and techniques explained in the tutorial.

Adding The Shadows

To give our icon a bit of depth, lets begin to add some subtle shadows. Select the “Elliptical Marquee Tool” (M) then drag out a small ellipse over the bottom of the icon.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

On a new layer at the bottom of your stack fill (G) the marquee with the color black #000000. Once filled go to “Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur”, blur the ellipse by 2 pixels then set the layers opacity to 50%.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Repeat the process for the top part of the icon, only this time add a layer mask to it and drag a linear gradient from the bottom of the ellipse towards the top, making the shadow fade at the bottom.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

Conclusion

Thanks for taking part in this tutorial, if you managed to finish this tutorial I’d love to see some of your results. Feel free to post them up on our Facebook Fan Page Or Tweet them via twitter @photoshop_plus.

Learn How To Create A Metallic Carbon Fibre Icon

About Author

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.