Tutorial Grosgrain Ribbon
Program Photoshop Elements 3.0
Author Annette Farrelly
Date 13th January 2006

This tutorial will teach you how to create grosgrain ribbons. To make the tutorial easier to follow I’m going to break it up into 3 sections:

  1. Creating a plain ribbon
  2. Adding ribbing to the ribbon
  3. Adding a ripple/sheen to the ribbon

You can stop after any of these sections, as each section will produce a slightly different ribbon.

Creating a plain ribbon

  1. Create a new document (File -> New -> Blank File…)
  2. In the popup that appears, set the Width = 12 inches, Height = .5 inch, Resolution = 300 pixels/inch, Color mode = RGB Color, and Background Contents = Transparent.
  3. Now set your Foreground colour to the colour you would like your ribbon to be – to do this, in the toolbar along the left-hand side of your screen, there should be a 'Set foreground color' button, usually at the very bottom. Click anywhere in the first box and the Color Picker dialog will appear where you can choose your colour by clicking anywhere you fancy, or, if you know the hexadecimal value for your colour, you can enter it in the last field next to the #. When you're done, click 'OK'.
  4. You should now also set your background colour, which should be a few shades darker than your foreground colour. Click on the box behind and the Color Picker dialog will appear. Your background colour may already be set to a different colour altogether, so the easiest way to choose a slightly darker shade to your foreground colour is to move your mouse cursor awat from the dialog window and over the ‘Set foreground color’ button. You should notice your cursor change to an eye dropper icon. Click anywhere in this box to set it to the same colour, and then back in the dialog window, just click a bit further down from where the cursor is sitting to choose a slightly darker shade – make sure you can visibly see enough difference. When you’re done, click ‘OK’.
  5. Now fill your document with your foreground colour. To do this, you can either click on your ‘Paint Bucket Tool’ found in the vertical toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen (looks like a paint bucket, funnily enough!). Your cursor should also change to a paint bucket – you should now move the cursor over your document and click your left mouse button anywhere within it. NOTE: Another way you could have done this is to follow the menu path Edit -> Fill Layer…, and in the dialog that appears, make sure the ‘Use’ field is set to ‘Foreground Color’, and click ‘OK’.
  6. To make it easier to see what you’re working with, zoom in to your document, say to 100% - to do this, click on the ‘Zoom Tool’ button located near the top in the vertical toolbar found on the left-hand side of your screen (looks like a magnifying glass). The horizontal toolbar above your document should now display the zoom options, so make sure the ‘Zoom’ field is set to ‘ 100% ’. NOTE: You can also zoom in and out by clicking on the buttons showing the magnifying glass with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign in them, and then clicking on your document as needed.
  7. We’re going to add some edges to your ribbon to make it look more like a real fabric ribbon, but first (and importantly!) we should create a new layer to draw the edges on. To do this, press ‘Ctrl-Shift-N’. The ‘New Layer’ dialog should appear – enter a name for your layer, eg. Edges, and press ‘OK’. You should be able to see the layers in your document on the bottom right-hand side of the screen, under the heading ‘Layers’ (you may need to expand the folder first). You should have 2 layers, called: Layer 1, and Edges, and the Edges layer should be highlighted indicating that it is the active layer.
  8. To add the edges to the ribbon, toggle your foreground and background colours by pressing the ‘x’ key (so that the darker shade is now your foreground colour), and with the Edges layer active, click on your ‘Brush Tool’ (amazing I know, but it looks like a paint brush) – it should be above your ‘Paint Bucket Tool’. The horizontal toolbar above your document should change to display the brush options. Locate the ‘Show selected brush presets’ button (it’s longish, and shows the currently selected brush stroke). Click on the down-arrow next to this button, and next to the ‘Brushes’ field, make sure it says ‘Default Brushes’. If it doesn’t, click on the down-arrow next to this field and choose ‘Default Brushes’ from the list (should be at the very top). Now set your brush size in the ‘Show selected brush presets’ dialog, and choose the brush that says ‘Hard Round 19 pixels’ by double-clicking on it.
  9. Use your scroll bar underneath your document to show the far left of your ribbon (from the start). Now move your cursor over the very TOP LEFT corner of your ribbon – your cursor should display a round circle, which is your brush size. Starting at the top left-hand side of your ribbon, you’re going to click and draw a straight line horizontally from the left to the right top edge of your document, by clicking and holding while you move your mouse from one end to the other. TIP: To draw a perfectly straight line, press and hold your ‘Shift’ button down while drawing with your brush.
  10. Now repeat step 9, but this time starting at the bottom right-hand side of your ribbon and brushing towards the left. You should now have a document that looks something like this:
  12. To make the edges look a bit more realistic, we’re going to apply a bevel. Make sure your Edges layer as the active layer. Locate the ‘Styles and Effects’ heading on the right-hand side of your screen, and make sure it is expanded. You should see two drop-down fields just under the heading – the first field should be set to ‘Layer Styles’, so use the drop-down next to the field if you need to. The second field should be set to ‘Bevels’, so click on the drop-down next to it, and you should see it at the top of the list.
  13. In the buttons below these fields are all your bevel options. We want to apply a ‘Simple Inner’ bevel, so click on that button. You should notice the edges on your ribbon look more 3D now.
  14. TIP: Under the ‘Layers’ heading on the right-hand side of your screen, you should now notice a little icon (Indicates layer styles) next to your Edges layer. By double-clicking on it, you can adjust any settings that are relevant to the layer style.
  15. You now have a plain ribbon, which you can save if you wish. TIP: You should save your ribbons as .png files, but also always save a copy as a .psd file which will include all your layers in case you want to work on it again later.

Adding ribbing to the ribbon

  1. Well, the hard part is done now – this is the easier, more rewarding part! To make your ribbon have a ribbed effect, first we need to rotate the whole document 90 degrees to the left. To do this, follow the menu path Image -> Rotate -> 90 degrees Left.
  2. Next, the layer named Layer 1 should be set to your active layer (click on it under the ‘Layers’ heading on the right-hand side of your screen).
  3. We’re going to apply a filter now, so follow the menu path Filter -> Sketch -> Halftone Pattern…. This should display the ‘Halftone Pattern’ dialog – you should set the following: Size = 3, Contrast = 20, and Pattern Type = Line. Then click ‘OK’.
  4. Voila! A ribbed ribbon, which you can now save as a .png and .psd file if you wish, but before you do, you might want to Image -> Rotate -> 90 degrees Right first!

Adding a ripple/sheen to the ribbon

  1. To add a lovely sheen to the ribbon, we’re going to use the ‘Gradient Tool’. Let’s zoom out first so that you can see your whole ribbon, say to 16%.
  2. You can usually find the ‘Gradient Tool’ in the vertical toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen (under the Paint Bucket Tool). It looks like a box shaded from light to dark.
  3. When you find it, click on it, and the horizontal toolbar above your document should display the gradient options. The first field ‘Click to edit the gradient’ should be set to ‘Soft Stripes’. To do this, click on the drop-down next to this field and you should see another little arrow on the right-hand side of the dialog screen. Click on this arrow and choose ‘Special Effects’ from the list (near the bottom). You should then see ‘Soft Stripes’ listed in the dialog (should be the second one in the list) – double-click on it.
  4. The next group of buttons should default to having the ‘Linear Gradient’ selected, so if it isn’t, click on it.
  5. Click on the drop-down next to the ‘Mode’ field – this should be set to ‘Multiply’.
  6. Now when you move your cursor over your ribbon, you should notice that it is a small cross. You’re going to click at the very far left end of your ribbon (anywhere as long as it’s from the end) and drag to the very far right end of your ribbon – it will display a line as you do this, so before you release your mouse button, try and make the line straight.
  7. All going well, your ribbon should now have a ripple or sheen to it. Don’t forget to save it as a .png and .psd file.

 


copyright 2006 pickleberrypop