Create a Motorola Droid Style Phone in Photoshop

Create a Motorola Droid Style Phone in Photoshop

Tutorial Details
  • Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4+
  • Difficulty: Advanced
  • Estimated Completion Time: 4 Hours
Download Source Files

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Recreating electronic devices in Photoshop is a great way to learn. Today, we will demonstrate how to create a Motorola Droid style phone in Photoshop. Let’s get started!


Step 1

Start by creating a new 2000 x 2000 px canvas and save it as "phone.psd." Use the Pen Tool to the outer silhouette of the device. Make sure it is black. Name it MAIN BG.


Step 2

With the Pen Tool, draw a shape for each main section of the phone. Notice that we are leaving a small gap between the shapes to give the illusion of separate parts. Organize your shapes in groups ( Cmd/Ctrl + G ), and rename the layers as seen below.


Step 3

Now make the side of the phone and again organize and rename them as shown below. It is very important to keep your layers organized because this project requires many layers.


Step 4

Now that we have defined the main parts of the phone, let’s start adding some shading. Double click the "Front / bottom / 1" layer , and apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings shown on the image below. Drag the mouse onto the canvas, and with the Layer Styles Window open and Gradient Overlay selected, reposition your gradient.


Step 5

Duplicate the "Front / bottom / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J), rename the duplicate to "2", and apply a Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow with the settings shown on the image below. Press OK.


Step 6

Close the "Front / bottom" group. Select and double click the "Front / center / 1" layer. Apply a Gradient Overlay with the same settings on the picture below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 7

Duplicate the "Front / Center / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J), rename the duplicate to "2", and double click to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the following image. Press OK.


Step 8

Close the "Center Group" and select the "Front / Top /1" layer. Double click it to apply the Gradient Overlay with the settings of the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

Remember you can drag on the stage to move the gradient while the Layer Style Window is open and Gradient Overlay is selected.


Step 9

Duplicate the "Front / Top /1" layer ( Cmd/Ctrl + J) , rename the duplicate to "2", and double click to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK.


Step 10

Close the "Front " group, double click the "Side / Side_Bottom / 1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay as seen in the following image. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 11

Now, double click the "Side / Side_Back / 1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay as seen in the following image. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 12

Duplicate the "Side / Side_Back / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J). Rename the new layer to "2", double click it to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Notice that now the blending mode of the gradient is set to Multiply because we are making a shadow (not a light) on the right left corner. Drag the gradient to reposition it to the corner. Press OK.


Step 13

Duplicate the "Side / Side_Back / 2" (Cmd/Ctrl + J) layer. Rename the new layer to "3", double click it to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen in the following image. Again, notice that now the blending mode of the gradient is set to Multiply because we are making a shadow (not a light) on the bottom left corner. Drag the gradient to reposition it to the corner. Press OK.


Step 14

Close the "Side / Side_Back" group and double click the "Side / Side_Center/1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 15

Close the "Side / Side_Center" group and double click the "Side / Side_Top/1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 16

Now, close the "Side" group, and with the Pen Tool, make the shapes for the buttons and the speaker. Make a small circle with the Ellipse Tool (u) for the microphone. For the center part of the speaker make a shape and paint it grey (bfbfbf). Organize all shapes following the image below.


Step 17

Double click the "Buttons / 1" layer, and apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 18

Do the same with the "Buttons / 2" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 19

Do the same with the "Buttons / 3" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 20

Do the same with the "Buttons / 4" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 21

With the "Buttons / 4" layer selected, create a rectangle anywhere on the space using the Rectangle Tool (U). Rename the layer of the rectangle you just created to "All". Now select the Path Selection Tool (A), select the path of the "Buttons / 4" layer, copy it (Cmd/Ctrl + C), and paste(Cmd/Ctrl+V) it onto the path of your "All" layer. Do the same for "Buttons / 3" layer, the "Buttons / 2" layer, and the "Buttons / 1" layer. This may be a little tricky to understand, but following the image below illustrates how it is done.


Step 22

Now double click the "All" layer and apply a Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow following the settings of the image below.

 

 


Step 23

Close the "Buttons" group and select the "mic / Mic" layer. Make sure it is Black and its Fill is at 100%. Apply a Bevel and Emboss with the settings of the image below. Press OK.


Step 24

Close the "mic" group and select the "speaker / Speaker" layer. Apply an Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay with the settings shown on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window, turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.


Step 25

Now lets make the center part of the speaker. Create a new document with size 4 x 4 px. Zoom in as much as you can. With the Mask Tool (m) make a selection like in the picture below. With the Paint Bucket Tool fill the selection with black. Deselect all (Cmd/Ctrl + D) and go to the menu Edit/ Define Pattern , a window will prompt for you to write a name for the Pattern, write any name and press Ok.


Step 26

Go back to the file phone.psd and double click "speaker / Speaker center" layer. Add a Gradient Overlay, Inner Shadow and Pattern Overlay with the pattern we just created. Check the picture below for the settings.


Step 27

Let’s create the HDMI plug. Start by selecting the Pen Tool (P) and drawing the outer shape of the plug. Rename it to "1" and press (Cmd/Ctrl + G) with the layer selected to make a group. Rename the group to "HDMI plug". Then apply a Bevel and Emboss style to the "HDMI Plug / 1" layer following the settings on the picture below.


Step 28

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one, make sure its color is CCCCCC and apply an Inner Shadow Style with the same settings as those on the following image.


Step 29

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one. Make sure its color is 797979 and apply an Inner Shadow Style with the same settings as those on the following image.


Step 30

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one, Make sure its color is 343434.
And your HDMI plug is done.


Step 31

Let’s make the USB plug. With the Pen Tool, draw the outer shape of the plug. Make its color 0e0e0e. Rename it to "1" and press (Cmd/Ctrl + G) with the layer selected to make a group. Rename the group to "USB plug".


Step 32

With the Pen Tool, draw the inner shape of the USB plug. Make it black 000000. Rename it to "2". Apply the Inner Shadow, Inner Glow and Gradient Overlay styles following the image below.


Step 33

Let’s make the display screen. Start by drawing the outer part of the screen. Make it black 000000.


Step 34

Draw the inner part of the screen name it "2" and hide it. Paste the image you would like to be in the screen over the "Display / 2" layer and rename it to "wallpaper" (I am including a beautiful image with the source files in case you wish to use it). With the Cmd/Ctrl key pressed, select the Vector Mask Thumbnail of the "Display/2" layer. That will make a selection. With your "wallpaper" layer selected, press the Add Layer Mask button to hide the part of the wallpaper that is outside the screen. Now click the small chain links that appear on your "wallpaper" layer to disable the link between the layer and its mask With the thumbnail of your "wallpaper" layer selected, press Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform it, and press the Cmd/Ctrl key to distort the image you are using as wallpaper to match the phone’s perspective. Press Return key when you are done. Apply a Gradient Overlay and an Inner Shadow style to your "wallpaper " following the settings shown at the bottom of the image below. Press OK. Finally, again enable the link between your "wallpaper" layer and its mask.


Step 35

Let’s do the glare of the screen. With the Pen Tool, make the shape of the glare over your "wallpaper" layer. Rename the layer to "glare" and apply a Gradient Overlay Style following the settings of the image below. Turn the Fill of the layer to 0%. Press OK.


Step 36

Now go and download the USB, HDMI, and MOTOROLA logos. Paste them into your "phone.psd". Using Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform, and the Cmd/Ctrl key while transforming to distort your logos to match the perspective of the phone. Place all the logos in a group named "Logos". All the shapes of the logos should be color grey 959595.


Step 37

Now do exactly the same with the icons. The only difference is that you will have to draw them with your Pen Tool using a reference image. Make sure the four icons are color grey d7d7d7. Make a group with all the icons and name it "Big Icons". Do the same with the three big icons, but make them color white FFFFFF, and set their Fill to 50%.


Step 38

If you are still here with me, it means you are an extremely patient and detail-oriented person, so let’s take it a little bit further and add more detail to make our phone look even more life like. Make a new 100 x 100 px document with a black background. In the menu, go to Filter/ Noise Add Noise following the settings on the image below. Press OK. In the menu go to Edit / Define pattern, and name it "Noise".


Step 39

Go back to your "phone.psd" file. Double click the first layer you created, "MAIN BG", and apply a Pattern Overlay style with the pattern "Noise" that you just created following the settings on the image below. Press OK. This will add some texture to the plastic.


Step 40

While pressing the Cmd/Ctrl key, select the Vector Mask Thumbnail of that same "MAIN BG" layer. This will select the entire phone. Now press the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" button at the bottom of the layers window and select "Foto Filter.” This creates an adjustment layer named "Photo Filter 1" over the "MAIN BG" layer. Drag "Photo Filter 1" to place it between the "USB plug" group and the "display" group.

Double click the thumbnail of the "Photo Filter 1" layer and the "adjustments" window will pop up. Apply the same settings as those on the image below.


Step 41

Using the Shift Key, select all layers and groups, from "MAIN BG" to "Big Icons", and press Cmd/Ctrl + G to make a group with everything inside. Name that group "Final Phone". Drag the "Final Phone" group to the "Create a New Layer" button at the bottom of the layers window. This will duplicate the "Final Phone" group. Select the new "Final Phone Copy" group and press Cmd/Ctrl + E to merge all layers inside that group into one layer. Rename it to "Reflected". Select the "Reflected" layer and go to the "Edit / Transform / Flip Vertical" menu.


Step 42

Now drag the "Reflected" layer to its final position. Press the "Add Vector Mask" button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Ensure you have white as your foreground color and black as your background color. Within the Mask Thumbnail of the "reflection" layer selected, drag from top to bottom. Finally, paint the Background layer with gray "c2c2c2".


Final Image

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Discussion 41 Comments

  1. God says:

    Wow! Very nice!!!

  2. Binggeba says:

    Good tutorial, but one thing that bugged me to no end was how the mic is not tilted right compared to the rest of the phone.

  3. alcoop says:

    Great tutorial. Steps are really clear and final product is amazing. Good work, keep it up.

  4. Ferry says:

    That reflection just isn’t right. The angle is wrong and you should see the back of the phone.

    • Diego Monzon says:

      You are right
      I don’t know how could I do that reflection, I will try to fix it next time :-)

      • flyingfox says:

        Just lay a mirror on your desk, hold a phone on top of it in that specific angle, and look at the reflection (or take a reference photo of it and import it into photoshop for an accurate outcome).

        Or:

        If i want to model something in perspective i usually use a 3D app (the free Blender software f.e.) and model a box, which wraps my main object i want to construct in Photoshop. After that i import the render (just basic lighting, nothing fancy) into PS and go on from that. This way i am sure that the perspective is correct and looks good and convincing. Reflections a not harder to accomplish

        This step only takes a few minutes and can save you hours of detail work on an incorrect image.

      • Diego Monzon says:

        @ flyingfox I know how is made the reflection .
        I meant that I don’t know what was I thinking when I made that mistake

      • vivianjust says:

        dont care about the reflection, this is really good.

  5. nicoschneider says:

    Excellent tutorial, thanks for sharing!

    @Binggeba: Yep, same here. Noticed it on the first screen :<

  6. Nice tut, but the phone is a little to elongated for me. Also the mic is not titled. The angle should be 75 not 90.

  7. Very beautiful this tutorial(all yours tutorials are fantastic), but the text “HDMI” and the simbol of usb are inverted. There’s a little observation. This model is fantastic. Congratulates for this work!!!

  8. Melle says:

    Nice tut!

    BUT, I think the use of photoshop as a drawing app is way overestimated!! Illustrator is 10 times better to do that, photoshop is in the very first place something to correct and manipulate photos..

    Cheerio,

    • Diego Monzon says:

      Well.. this tutorial is under Illustration category on psdtuts.
      I know what you mean but Photoshop has all the tools we need for this tutorial. I did not find convenient to add Illustrator to the tutorial because that would translate into more steps and It has 42 already.

    • Cookie says:

      It’s the end product that matters, not the tools used.

  9. André Silva says:

    Really nice tutorial. I really like the way you worked with multiple layers and how you used the layer style effects!
    Congratulations and Keep the good work!

    Cheers
    André

  10. aMs says:

    this is nice, but hey, haven’t we all seen like tons of tutorials about creating phone? tho i like the detials i must say that’s really nothing new…

  11. aMs says:

    Ahh, and the reflection is waaaaay wrong

  12. Kasper says:

    omg, sweet stuff!

  13. Rich says:

    Nice use of layer styles, good job.

  14. imran khan says:

    ok someone already noticed about the reflection thing!!!

    very nice and detailed tutorial!!! i will try that for sure

    Thanks

  15. logolitic says:

    great tutorial, very realistic!

  16. John Paul says:

    Well done ,nice post !

  17. SCX says:

    very very very good tutorial…. awesome one!! 2 Thumbs Up… + \m/

  18. controlzee says:

    Beautiful… The best tutorial i’ve seen in a while

  19. The ports look absolutely fantastic, but I have to agree with certain elements not following the angle of the peice. Well done, though.

  20. Zephyr Ion says:

    I love the final outcome. Great work!

  21. ella says:

    Great tutorial. Love the final output! =D

  22. C says:

    One of the best recreation tuts that i have seen in a while, it looks life-like which to be fair, was the aim, but still an achievement never the less! If it wasnt for that reflection thing and (correct me if im wrong) the angle of the microphone, it would be even better!

  23. Ahmad Y says:

    Hey,
    Amazing job my friend :D
    But… if you would have added radial gradient in the bg… it would enhance it… Anway, It tottaly rocks :D

  24. Craig says:

    Thanks for sharing your techniques and tips with the Motorola Droid Phone tutorial, great end result!

  25. Nadeem says:

    Mind-blowing! great performance

  26. harvestwages says:

    Good one here, i couldn’t imagine i could create something awesome in photoshop. keep up!

  27. Cdesignz says:

    Just one word to describe this “premium” this is a high quality tutorial that i would describe as a premium tutorial. Keep up the good work

  28. Max says:

    Great Tut ! Thanks

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