This ain't your mama's glossy web 2.0 orange. Learn how being deliberately "sloppy" and imperfect can add organic charm to a creation. Pick up some great uses for everyday filters. Then integrate it all into a large design.
Second Place Tutorial Winner
This is the second place winning tutorial form the PSDTUTS First Tutorial Writing Contest. See the results of the contest here. Congratulations to Michelle Regan and enjoy the tutorial!
Final Image Preview
Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. Click the screenshot below to view the full-size image. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via our PSDTUTS Plus membership.
Step 1
Start with a black canvas for the sake of simplicity. Create a layer called "orange," and draw a quick rough circle. The color doesn't matter; we're about to cover it up anyway. Now, you could have made something with the circle marquee tool, but where's the fun in that? Imperfection makes it look more natural!
Step 2
Lock transparency on the orange layer and pick two natural orange colors, one lighter and one darker. Avoid construction zone oranges and other neon or unnaturally bright colors. I chose #fa9c28 and #ca5812. Then go to Filter > Render and hit clouds.
Step 3
Now create another new layer called "core." Set the color to black and white, and render Clouds again.
Step 4
Run the clouds through the Sponge Filter (Filter > Artistic > Sponge), and use the following settings.
Step 5
Finally, use the Plastic Wrap filter (Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap). Use the following settings. Hey, do you see where I'm going with this?
Step 6
Clip the "core" layer to the "orange" layer by pressing Alt + Command + G in CS3, or by clicking Create Clipping Mask from the Layers palette.
Step 7
Set the layer mode of the now clipped "core" layer to Soft Light. Look at that!
Step 8
Time to make the outer peel and inside membrane. Create a new layer named "peel," and clip it to the "orange" layer (just like you did for the core layer). Then draw a rough border around the edges of the orange.
Step 9
Now Use the Blur and Smudge tools to soften the edges. Don't use an overall filter such as Gaussian Blur. This isn't a uniform blurring, and you want some areas more blurred than others.
Step 10
Draw in the "pie slices." Be deliberately sloppy with the lines! They don't need to be straight, or divided evenly, as they aren't in nature either.
Step 11
Once again, use Blur and Smudge to soften the edges. It looks more convincing if you leave one side harder, and mostly soften the other. Note that I haven't completely finished the blurring in this image.
Step 12
Now darken and shade the edges of the peel. I did this on yet another new layer, although you can keep it all on the same one if you like. Anyway, I used two darker colors here. Then use the Eraser to dab out little spots, which will roughen up the texture when you blend in the next step.
Step 13
Again, pull out the Blend and Smudge tools and don't over blur. It's important not to just blur all the details into oblivion. The contrast between hard edged areas and fully blurred areas is what makes the texture look organic, rather than plastic.
Step 14
On a layer called "detail," I used a small fine brush with a dark color to scribble on some shading in the peel. By the way, this is a seedless orange, but if you like, you could add seeds as well in the detailing stage.
Step 15
Guess what comes next? Right, Blur and Smudge! When you're done blurring, add some noise by going to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and set the Amount at 2.
An interesting concept to consider when you're blurring is that the parts you don't blur are just as important as the parts you do. Again, contrast is key. I left some edges unblurred, and dabbed out some areas with the Eraser.
Step 16
On a layer named "color," I take a large soft airbrush set to Hard Light at 20% opacity, and I brush in some broad colors. Use lighter yellows near the center and darker oranges near the edges. This is a subtle yet effective way to give anything more depth.
At this point the orange is ready to be used in any sort of design! And you're probably better at the whole designing part than I am, because I'm a digital painter and illustrator, not a graphics designer per se. But I'll give you a quick example that will perhaps get the ideas flowing?
Step 17
First, keep in mind that you can, of course, follow the above steps again to create more slices in various colors. I made a lemon and lime slice using the same technique as the orange. The nice thing about using Clouds as a main filter of any technique is that the result will be slightly different every time.
Moving along here, I created a canvas at 1200 px by 1200 px. For the background, I made a radial gradient with black and dark grey. Then I placed the slices on the canvas, using Edit > Transform > Scale to alter sizes where needed. I also applied an Outer Glow around each slice. The Outer Glow was set to Multiply, with a Spread of 0, and a Size ranging from 20 px (for the lime) to 38 px (for the orange).
Step 18
I took photos of orange blossom illustrations from one of my plant copyright-free plant books (yes photos, and not scans). I love the book, and didn't want to mess up the binding. I put the blossom image on its own layer, called "back blossom."
You can download the hi-res picture I took. As you can see, the original image is black ink on white paper, but I wanted white ink on black paper. So I hit Command + I to invert the colors. Then I set the layer mode to Screen. The black will be hidden, leaving just the white lines. I still had to do a bit of erasing on blemishes, but that generally saves me a lot of cutting-out work!
Step 19
Do a little weed whacking using a Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool.
Step 20
Duplicate, resize, and rotate the "back blossom" layer three times.
Step 21
For now, I turned off the "back blossom" layers. Then I took another orange blossom photo from my book. This image is also black on white, so I prepared it in the same way as the image in Step 18.
Step 22
Turn back on the "back blossom" layers. It's all coming together!
Step 23
Time for some finishing touches, like this rather predictable caption. I used a font called The King and Queen, and applied some Layer Effects, such as a green-yellow-orange gradient and an outer glow (black, set to multiply, Spread at 10px, and Size set to 30px.)
Step 24
Now merge all the "blossom" layers together, and create a new layer on top. Clip it to the merged "blossom" layer (remember Step 6?). Then fill it with an orange, yellow, and green gradient.
Step 25
I set the mode of the "gradient" layer to Overlay. Then set the Opacity to 80%. You can see what this has achieved: coloring the underlaying lineart, but not the grey background.
Step 26
And of course, what juicy fruit image would be complete without water drops? Let's make some! Create a new layer called "drops," and with a little black brush, draw some drip and drop shapes.
Step 27
Now set the Layer Styles as shown below. When you're done, you should have shiny little black drops that (disturbingly enough) resemble oil.
Step 28
Here's where the magic happens. Adjust the Fill (that's different from Opacity!) down to 0%, and suddenly the oil drops turn into water. Woot!
Finished!
Last of all, I brightened the background just a pinch. It's finished! Click here to see the final full-size version.
You know, a project like this really brings out all the benefits of digital creation; you can take advantage of filters for precise effects, but you can also enjoy a little good ol' fashioned, uncomplicated freehand action, in a way that's undemanding. It's relaxing to not have to worry about precision, isn't it? I hope you had fun following this!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Bye Tom August 6th
Really an awesome one!
koen buysse August 6th
nice tut! it’s fun to see something created from scratch, instead of being manipulated from a stock photo.
also: i like the drops techique !!!!
nice tut !
(and just between you and me, I like it better than the winner tut (altough that one was awesome to) )
Andrew Houle August 6th
Awesome tut! I like this one better than first place.
Julio Fragoso August 6th
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice … and yummy (ACID MODE=ON)
LOL
Simona August 6th
I love this one…
Mark Abucayon August 6th
wow u guys are very creative, I really like it, two thumbs up again for this one. Thank you for sharing.
Tom Ross - PSDFAN.com August 6th
Very nice tutorial. I particularly enjoyed the freehand drawing parts, really creative!
inspiration deco August 6th
très impressionnant!
JPH August 6th
Awesome. Great looking citrus.
andi August 6th
pretty neat techniques, i thought they were photos of fruit at first!
Clemson Donnatucci August 6th
very cool
Dan August 6th
Holy Shoot, and this is a quick one too. Nice. My hat is off
Alex August 6th
pretty impressive.
Lucas August 6th
Looks great, and quite realistic.
The link for the full preview doesn’t seem to work here though.
godonholiday August 6th
Thats cool. I really liked the water drops!
Dan August 7th
I’m getting a 404 on the pictures you said
Chuck August 7th
This is a great tut, and I like the message in the last image…
I guess the author is a fan of Atmosphere :P.
If admins read this, I would like to ask… can I pay for “+” membership w/ Alertpay or Paypal only?!
Thanks.
Grant Friedman August 7th
Great tutorial! My personal favorite in the contest.
Zim August 7th
This is a GREAT tutorial. Very very nice.
Nate August 7th
Very nice. Thanks
BORABORA August 7th
Excellent.
Carl August 7th
That water drops trick is killer! Nice tut and congrats!
Joefrey Mahusay August 7th
First, when i saw the Final Image Preview, I thought it was a real citrus image but then when I drag down the scroll, and I saw, it was a from scratch design. Really nice and its like a real citrus image..
Shaw August 7th
I don’t really comment on tutorials, but this one i had to. A job well done! One of the best tuts iv’e seen on here in a long time. Keep em up!
Maurits August 7th
Wow, really amazing! The waterdrops are also awsome! Nice job!
Matthew Johnson August 7th
This is by far one of my favorite tutorials on PSDTuts. You should have gotten 1st place!
Keep it up, great job!
DJ Delos Santos August 7th
Straight up awesome outcome! I also like the way you explain the steps, so…Jolly.
It makes you feel the fun in doing it. Great one, surely one of my faves.
Fabio Sasso August 7th
Man, that’s awesome, no words…. I’m really impressed. Thank you very much for sharing that.
All the best
Gustavo Lemos August 7th
nice one
pica August 7th
wow, this is sooo cool
…i get thirsty….
and there is actually a lot to learn from it
MissCookie August 7th
Fabulous tut! However, I was not able to view your high res photos; the links didn’t work. What is the name of the book you got them from? TIA
Craigsnedeker August 7th
Amazing! This was my favorite tutorial on the contest, but the links to the images aren’t working.
SC August 7th
terrific! based on the many tuts i have seen on lots of sites i cant belive how many effects/textures are made using the CLOUDS effect, an indispensable filter!
Seraphim Collective August 7th
Whoa… This is truly inspirational.The imperfect circle helps to sell the final results.
Mark Bowen August 7th
Very nice tutorial,
Excellent result. Not sure if it’s just me though but none of the download links are working? Specifically the final image and also the hi-res background texture.
Great tutorial though, keep up the great work.
Best wishes,
Mark
metk5031 August 7th
awesome! personally I feel that this tutorial should have won 1st place, not 2nd.
Sean Hodge August 7th
I got the image downloads and high res preview working. Thx.
Lardman August 7th
Where’s the first place tut?
However your’s is really awsome! Create a citrus from scratch! Awsome <3
Daniel August 7th
really amazing, great one ! and so….refreshing.
Sean Farrell August 7th
that is very very nice
Digital Revolutions August 7th
This is a pretty spiffy tutorial. I’d say it deserved first place.
BroOf August 7th
;D supercool ;D!
Jin August 7th
very nice. it’s actually a real “from scratch” tut
matthi August 7th
yeah, this one rocks….
Pat Weiss August 7th
Woah! This is awesome…as said before…this is one of the best tus! the technique and the realism of those fruits! Seems to me, there should be more contests, to get a great tutorial
i was missing it the last few months. hope to see more of thos contest tutorials like this! and btw. the waterdrops are…omg! its my favourite …yet 
Jacob August 7th
This was a great tutorial! Extremely well done and very practical. Hope to see more of your articles!
Hennessy August 7th
great tuts ! thanks again, again, and again..lol
leandra August 7th
I really liked this one best of the finalists. It’s realistic but still illustrative-looking, very well done… and I love the easy water droplets.
Marian August 7th
actually, i’ve been wondering for quite some time now:
what does it mean? Create something from “scratch”??
loswl August 7th
BRILLIANT TUTORIAL!!…I like this one better too (although it is not as difficult), I love the ease of the tutorial and the final outcome is incredible…very vibrant colors and the droplets of water is a wicked final touch!! :o) thanks for sharing.
K.Brown August 7th
Absolutely wonderful!
nkhat August 7th
amazing effect thank you so much .
Moksha August 7th
its really wonderful and really beauty
thanks
Ariel August 7th
wow amazing stuff
Zeb August 7th
Wow, marvelous !
Quan Vu August 7th
Very nice!!
Jamie Le Souef August 7th
Holly Crap! When i sore the first image final image at the top i thought, ‘meh what’s so great about that, 3 photos of fruit and some background’. Then going over the tut found out that the fruit was made from scratch!!! Very, very impressed!
Braden Keith August 7th
It was nice that you walked through creating the elements instead of finding premade work. That’s what makes a tutorial from cool to awesome.
Brandon August 7th
Very nice design. I love the fact you did that from scratch. Its so well done.
JD August 7th
Super awesome! I think this should’ve been first place!
Max | Design Shard August 7th
That is one awesome tut, thanks
Max | Design Shard
insic August 7th
its awesome. good job guys!
Abdul Akbar August 7th
this is really really out of the box tutorial.
yamaniac August 7th
easy and really nice! 5 Stars
Ariful Alam Khan August 7th
The water drops technique is great. Thanks for this tutorial
Ruben August 7th
Wow! Better than I expected!
mightee_mouse August 7th
Terrific tut and result was great. Thank you!
RUGRLN August 7th
Dude this rocks, now if only I can do effect of the peels on the side, cuz I can’t make it aaaaaah!!!! Help, anybody???
JiRo August 8th
one word. AMAZING.
zooley August 8th
Really great tutorial, indeed!
dlv August 8th
great one…so real the shape
congrats!
crazyart12 August 8th
bow.. bow.. bow.. (with both hands raise up)
NGP August 8th
Let me start off by saying that I must commend you on an excellent tutorial and congratulations on winning the second place prize!
And while I don’t usually give constructive criticism on the tutorials, out of respect for the person that gave their time to write them, I would like to mention something about this one only because it is meant to portray realism.
1. The “sponge effect” technique that you have shown is great for the outisde skin of the orange. But if you look at a real photo of an orange, the fibres on the inside actually radiate out from the centre of the orange. Perhaps if 2 simple steps were added, namely after the sponge filter has been applied, the image can be transformed vertically to get more elongated unfibres, and then the plastic wrap filter applied. I would then use polr coordinates to have the fibres come out of the center of the orange.
2. I would also suggest doing the veins on the inside of the orange first before the pee/membrane. The reason is that looking again at a real orange wheel, the slices actually bow into the membrane a little bit, varying the thickness of the peel. If you draw the veins first, you can then make an arc shape between the points on the veins.
Once again thank you very much Michelle for a very awesome and “juicy” tutorial. I look forward to more submissions from you!
Tom August 8th
Yes indeed. A very nice and juicy effect.
aGS August 8th
WOW! Very well done… I will give it a try… // I like it better than the first place :o) //
andi August 8th
this is way better than the pillar pic that won 1st place :/
Shane August 8th
Firstly, congratulations on winning second prize.
Secondly, thanks for the tutorial - very nice work and end result.
runway republic August 9th
i love it…
Raj August 9th
Congratz m8:) Great tutorial, really enjoyed it. Thanx!
bleak August 10th
that’s amazing! I love it!
ben August 10th
awesome and very realistic
Adaar August 10th
WOW! I love this tuto! If you, the author, see my comment… I urge you to make more of these fantastic pieces!! You touch a lot of fan-tas-tic techniques… if I were to vote for best tuto… this would get the 1st spot! :-p
Michelle Regan…. you rock!
samuelmq August 11th
Awesome, this tutorial is fantastic.
Onlineworx Web Design August 12th
Fantastic effect, never thought of doing something like that before!
smartguy August 13th
I can’t stop spamming but this is toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Good
Ben Swift August 13th
I like oranges =]
No, but really, this has to be one of the most realistic pieces of fruit ever that was digitally drawn. Well done!
Sizzle August 13th
really nice work,
so many thanks for this tutorial
The Photoshopper August 14th
WOW. That should pretty much sum it up :). Unfortunately, my blurring and smudging is not too good right now, but I think I got pretty close to it.
check out my try at my blog.
[http://thephotoshopper.blogspot.com]
wyldfyer August 16th
very good…great tutorial
Sumesh August 16th
Really great tutorial
wickido August 19th
WOW! Sickning… it actually is pretty is to creat, but those citrusfruits almost look the real thing! The drops across make it look yawdropping. To too fond of the font and background assets, but that is a matter of taste. Great job!
wickido August 19th
My english! :O pretty EASY… CREATE… my humble apologies.
Avangelist August 19th
Unreal!
How many hours?
khadija August 21st
Very very nice !! thank you
Noorahimi August 21st
Wel done, man………
i really like it & keep this continious
boundle of thanx
Carma August 24th
Awesome design, but my Photoshop won’t let me render clouds… anybody got a clue why? (There is a bunch of drop-down menu options that are grayed out.)
Knight August 27th
@Carma - You some times get this when your document is set to CMYK. Try changing it to RGB if that is the problem.
H.C August 28th
Awesome tutorial! I’ve seen a similar one in a ps magazine, but i thought i was pretty hard to follow, and this was so easy! I also added a b&w gradient, and set it to soft light, it gives lots o’ contrast.
ProtocoL August 28th
Simply amazing!
Rick August 29th
Awesome tutorial, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
Nacho September 1st
Just awesome
Jesse September 6th
Great tutorial. I like the way you work too, actually drawing things out and using Photoshop to supplement the art. I tend to go in the same direction, so it’s great to see new ideas in the range of work I myself do.
Keep the tuts coming.
Leo (Healthy Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle) September 12th
I’ll say it again: WOOOOOOOOOOW!!!
Great tips!!
10++++
tarak September 16th
Creativity in action! Awesoooooooooooome!
Saint September 28th
BRO!!!!! You are A-W-E-S-O-M-E, ese, you are the man!.
See you, carnal.
Martin September 29th
How did you render orange clouds? My clouds are always in grayscale…
Alex October 21st
Great tutorial. Some parts were a little hard to understand though
novil October 23rd
nice and add some extra designs
tin myo aung October 31st
great water spot!
WAQAS November 20th
great great great great great great great Water Drops
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