How To Design Your Own Logo From Scratch Using Photoshop Pro

This tutorial was originally published in July 2012 as a Tuts+ Premium tutorial. Information technology is now bachelor gratuitous to view. Although this tutorial does non utilise the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, its techniques and process are still relevant.

In this tutorial, nosotros'll start with a photographic reference, then through some manipulation in Photoshop and careful tracing by manus, pare it down to its essential elements. The result is a stylized marking that is representative, notwithstanding bold and graphic. Permit's become started!

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1. How to Create the Initial Concept

Step one

When approaching any logo consignment, information technology's best to do a fair corporeality of research before you fifty-fifty put pencil to paper. Sometimes yous'll become a detailed artistic brief, and other times, the client will have a vague notion of what they're afterwards, and let y'all practice the rest. Regardless of the scenario, enquiry should exist the first pace in the process. Even if the customer already has equally logo basically done and wants you to polish information technology, I believe that the more than knowledge you bring to the chore, the more than successful information technology will be.

For this imaginary consignment, the client wanted a lion's head for their logo. Lions often correspond royalty, pride, strength and leadership. I decided on a proud lion in profile, and made a few very rough thumbnail sketches. I decided to exercise something that was more realistic than stylized, yet bold and graphic.

My sketches looked like a cross between a sheep and a kitten, so it was time to do some research. I hit upwards the usual image searches for a lion in profile. At this point, I was just looking at images and absorbing visual information. I wanted to go a skillful sense of what a lion really looks like, and behave that with me when working on the logo.

In guild to make a realistic vector logo, I wanted to detect a good photograph on which to base my pattern. I want to state emphatically that you should ever go the lensman's permission when using a photo as a source image. Fifty-fifty though your cease result will be quite stylized, it'south simply not OK to use a copyrighted photo without permission. There was a case several years ago regarding the logo used on the Kentucky license plates. A German photographer claimed the logo was based on his photograph. He sued and the license plates had to exist changed. And so stay on the right side of the law and get permission.

Step ii

The other aspect of logo research involves seeing what'due south already been washed. It can be tricky to await at lots of logos and try not to be influenced by them, but information technology's also adept to know what'south already out there. You don't want to spend hours on a logo simply to observe that it looks very similar to another ane. I beginning did a Google paradigm search for "lion caput logo." It'south a popular motif, and the designs run the gamut from realistic and detailed to stylistic or cartoony.

I didn't see annihilation quite like what I had in mind, and so it was on to the initial prep work.

2. How to Set up the Reference Paradigm

Step 1

I found an splendid source photo at PhotoDune (no longer available), and got permission to utilize it. Since this is an imaginary consignment and no money is changing hands, the photographer was kind enough to let me utilize it for demonstration.

Big Male African Lion by EcoSound

Pace 2

Since my logo will exist high dissimilarity, I first desire to arrange the photo so I can more than easily see the highlights and shadows.

Open the photo in Photoshop, and go to Epitome > Adjustments > Black & White. Since my image consisted of mainly yellow tones, I chose the Yellow Filter preset. Using the Black & White Aligning rather than merely converting to Grayscale gives you more control over how the gray tones will look. You lot tin kickoff with a preset and fine melody the colour sliders.

Step 3

Now convert the image to grayscale. Become to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Adapt the sliders to add dissimilarity to the prototype.

Step iv

Now that your image is prepared, impress it, then use tracing newspaper to draw out the lines and shapes past manus with pencil. You may think information technology would exist faster to just outset drawing in Illustrator, but drawing past hand allows you to make decisions about which shapes and lines are of import to go on and which can be discarded. Keep your pencil strokes smooth and deliberate. In my tracing, I've added hatch marks to larger areas of black, just as a reminder when I'm creating the vector shapes after. The finished pencil trace is below.

3. How to Depict Vector Shapes

Footstep 1

Begin cartoon the lines and shapes with the Pen Tool. Yous could use the Pencil Tool, the Brush tool, or even the Blob Brush Tool, merely we're going for precise paths, with but the essential points.

It can aid to increase the line weight of your paths. Doing and then can help you lot more easily see potential problems. In the examples below, sharp angles and points stand out better on a thicker stroke. Carefully adjust the handles to correct issues like this.

Step 2

Keep working in this style, smoothing and simplifying paths forth the way.

four. How to Add Color

Step 1

Fill in the shapes with solid colour. Keep simplifying paths where necessary, and smoothing points.

Step 2

Draw a path for the white surface area. This will somewhen be cutting out of the overall logo, or volition be filled with a different color. The path is shown in green beneath.

Stride 3

Draw in the highlights. Over again, these may be eventually cut out, merely for now keep them a lighter color.

five. How to Refine the Logo

Step 1

At this point, it's down to miniscule decisions. Take away everything that's non necessary for the paradigm to read as a lion. Simplify!

Some changes I made were simplifying the ear shape and removing some of the shapes on the mane. I also enlarged the centre a bit and so it would withal exist visible at smaller sizes, and I made the dots on the muzzle larger and more uniform.

Stride 2

When y'all've made all of the tweaks and refinement and y'all're sure it'southward done, you can reduce the illustration to only the paths that make upwards the highlights. Use the Divide part on the Pathfinder panel, or the Shape Builder tool to remove all simply the lighter colors, creating one chemical compound path. The finished logo is shown in Outline fashion below. This footstep is optional, yous tin always proceed bother colors. WIth a highlights-only vector shape, withal, you lot can easily place the object on a differently-colored background to create dissimilar color schemes.

Conclusion

Tweaking and perfecting each path is important and can take hours to get everything in its optimum place. Exist sure to view the prototype at different sizes along the style. Building a solid foundation through paw drawing can brand the process a lilliputian easier and faster.

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