Tutorial Draw A Beautiful Menu

[Lelouch]

ATTENTION: THE RESULTS ARE IN LINKS BECAUSE IT EXCEEDS THE IMAGE LIMIT

 

RESULT

 

 

Step 1: Background

 

Choose a color scheme. I chose #3e1d1c as the background color. On top of that color, fill a new layer with black color to create a shadow on a circle background. Then cut the oval area in the center.

 

 

 

 

Put the layer of black effect Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the parameters as in the screenshot below.

 

 

 

 

Then, add a little bit of brightness in the center. To do this, fill a white circular gradient with Gradient Tool (G) and transform it to a slightly oval shape.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit style overlay layers Overlay, if necessary duplicate it to give even more brightness of the background in the center and set the parameters of transparency of how you need it.

 

 

 

 

To smooth the gradient, apply Filter > Filter Gallery and set the following parameters:

 

 

 

 

You can also add any texture you want to ti, for example wood or stone, just like we did it here:

 

 

 

 

The background is finished !

 

Step 2: Simple Menu

 

The menu that we are doing is in a horizontal position. First, draw a rectangular background, then round off the corners and frame our menu in beautiful patterns. Fill the background with a gradient menu, we did purple shades, with colors #573f4d and #68475a. Choose the font and enter the menu itself.

 

 

 

 

Then, draw a blank for future work. To do this, highlight the area of purple background menu and apply Stroke with parameters shown below. Frame Color #8b7c6e. Create a frame on a new layer, we will need to work with it in the future, so make it seperate from the background menu.

 

 

 

 

Right now, our menu should look something like this.

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Applying styles to menu texts.

 

For our menu to look beautiful and complex, it is necessary to apply the appropriate styles for the background, text and frames. For the text layer, we applied a Gradient Overlay with the following parameters:

 

 

 

 

And Drop Shadow with these parameters:

 

 

 

 

As a result of these styles, our text should look something like this:

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Menu Background Processing

 

For the menu to look interesting, we decided to add a little bit of volume with the help of Light on the menu. Allocate an oval area under the menu and fill from the top with a white transparent gradient.

 

 

 

 

Then apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and on the sides, erase a little bit with Eraser Tool (E) to achieve a similar result:

 

 

 

 

Apply overlay style Overlay, duplicate the layer and put a different style - Soft Light with 75% opacity. It should give a beautiful light:

 

 

 

 

Now we will work directly with our purple menu background. To start, draw a highlight at the top of the background. To do this, highlight the menu background area, fill it white and drag the selection 1px down and cut the selected area.

 

 

 

 

Here's what you should have:

 

 

 

 

Put overlay style Overlay, opacity to 40%. Select the area of the layer and use the Radial Gradient paint in the center of the main area of the word and put style Overlay.

 

 

 

 

Select the menu background area and draw on top of the Radial Gradient white. Then, strecth it horizontally.

 

 

 

 

Put overlay style Overlay, with opacity 60%. So, we decided to add a Glossy Effect on the bottom of the menu background and a stone texture in the form of oblique lines.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Frame Processing

 

 

Select the menu background area and apply Stroke with the following parameters.

 

 

 

 

Thus, we get a volumetric frame with a slightly darker edge inside. Now, add a highlight to the top of the frame using a Radial Gradient, as we did earlier with the background of the menu.

 

 

 

 

The results should look something like this.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6: Drawing Beautiful Patterns

 

 

So our frame would look beautiful in the corners, we have to draw beautiful metal patterns. Patterns are drawn best with a tablet, but it is also possible to make them using Pen Tool (P) or, even easier, download an already-made brush with patterns, but in that case, you will need to select the pattern that you need in forms. To begin making the basis of our patterns, we take colors on our patterns, with dark shades that are shown below to make them as realistic as possible.

 

 

 

 

Now, draw a "glare" on the patterns. With the layer style Bevel and Emboss making nice highlights will not work out! We usually draw the "Glare" with the help of 2 colors, with as vibrant color as close as possible to the white, but with a touch of Color Pattern, we draw closer to the center of the flare. It should turn out something like this.

 

 

 

 

Now, merge all layers of our Pattern and sharpen it using Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen.

 

 

 

 

Duplicate the layer with the pattern and place them in the cornors of our menu.

 

 

 

 

Also, in the brightest areas of our patterns, you can add some Glow. To do this, use a fine brush 1px white color small lines and apply style Outer Glow. Well, that's all - a beautiful horizontal menu is ready for a website!

 

 

RESULT

 

 

You can also download the result PSD etc. through 4Shared

 

Made by: DKArts
Translated by: FalconHQ

Edited February 10, 2015 by Lelouch

[GODLike™]

Very beautiful, thanks for sharing!

[FthinaHlektronika]

Really easy to understand! good guide :)