1 Create From Scratch in Photoshop

If you have a tablet, you can simply draw the sketch by using the brush tool.

Don’t Have a Tablet?

If you don’t have a tablet, you can create the artwork in Adobe Illustrator and then imitate a hand drawing effect in Photoshop.

First draw a vector illustration. Then import it in Photoshop. Use a grungy brush and gently erase select parts of the image. Use the Blur tool to create the smug effect.

2 Scan It

The easiest way — scan the drawing and set the layer blending mode to Multiply.

Invert Color

If you want to have a white color stroke instead of black — go to menu Image > Adjustments > Invert (or press shortcut Cmd+i) and then select Screen blending mode.

Step It Up: Create Color Gradients

What if you want more than just a black or white stroke (ie. colors gradients)? Then you will have to extract the drawing from the white background. A simple way to do this is by using alpha channel.

• Copy (Cmd+C) the drawing.
• In the Channels palette, create a new channel. Then paste the drawing in the new channel.
• Invert (Cmd+i) the channel layer.

Go back to the Layers palette, create a new layer. Go to menu Select > Load Selection. In the Load Selection prompt box, select Channel: “Alpha 1″ (which is the name of the alpha channel I created earlier).

Shortcut Tip: the shortcut for loading a channel selection is Cmd + Opt + any number key (ie. 1, 2, 3). Learn more Photoshop shortcuts.

Fill Selection

With the channel selection loaded, you can fill it with any color.

Using It In The Design

For the purpose of this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to incorporate your hand drawing on a female model (the photo was purchased from iStock).

1. First, cut out the model.

2. Fill the background with some sort of light glowing gradients.

3. Paste the drawing on top of the model. Lock the layer transparency. Play around with the color gradients.

4. Duplicate the drawing in the background to add more details to the image.

Note: this article is written in Mac Photoshop format. If you are using PC, Cmd = Ctrl and Opt = Alt.

1. Drag selection
   With the Marquee tool, drag on the document (do not release the mouse yet), now hold down Spacebar, it will let you drag the undefined selection.

   

2. Navigate the document left or right
   Hold down the Cmd key and scroll up or down allows you to navigate the document left or right. For example, hold down Cmd + scroll up will navigate to right.

   

3. Browse the font list
   Put your cursor in the font list dropdown, you can browse the font list by pressing arrow Up or Down key.

   

4. Scale font size
   Select the text that you want to scale the font size, press Cmd + Shift + > or < to increase / decrease font size.

   

5. Zoom with the scroll wheel
   You can zoom in / out by Cmd + Opt + scroll up or down.

   

6. Drag to adjust numberic value
   Mouseover the input box, hold down Cmd + drag left or right to increase / decrease. Hold down Cmd + Opt or Shift key and drag can change the value in decimal or 10 interval. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.

   

7. Scroll to adjust numeric value
   Put the cursor in the input box, scroll up or down to increase / decrease value. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.

   

8. Arrow up / down to adjust numeric value
   Put the cursor in the input box, press arrow Up or Down to increase / decrease. Hold down Shift and press arrow Up or Down will change value in 10 interval.

   

9. Zoom to 100%
   Double click on the Zoom tool will zoom document to 100%.

   

10. Collapse or expand all layer groups
    You can collapse or expand all root-level layer groups by holding down Cmd + click on the triangle icon. Hold down Cmd + Opt + click on the triangle icon will collapse or expand all level layer groups.

    

11. Show / hide in a row
    If you need to show / hide more than one layers, instead of clicking one by one, you can click on the visibility icon and drag in a row.

    

12. Hide other layers
    Hold down Opt + click on the visibility icon will hide all other layers.

    

13. Navigate layer blending mode
    Opt + Shift + “-” or “+” key allows you to navigate through the blending mode dropdown.

    

14. Set specific blending mode
    Opt + Shift + C, N, M, S, D… allows to set layer to specific blending mode.
    For examples:
    Normal = Opt + Shift + N
    Screen = Opt + Shift + S
    Multiply = Opt + Shift + M
    Color = Opt + Shift + C

    

15. Lock layer transparency
    Press forward slash (“/”) to lock layer transparency.

    

16. Load Channel selection
    You probably know that Cmd + number keys (1, 2, 3) will activate the channels in sequent. Press Cmd + Opt + number keys will load the selection. For example, press Cmd + Opt + 4 will load Alpha channel 1.

    

17. Tool panels
    Press Tab to toggle tool panels.

    

18. Precise cursor
    Caps lock will display tool cursor in precise mode.

    

19. Navigate the tool list
    You can navigate through the tool list by pressing Shift + tool shorcut. For example: B = Brush tool, if you press Shift + B again, you will switch to Pencil tool.

    

20. Increase / decrease brush size
    With the Brush tool selected, you can increase / decrease the brush size by pressing [ or ] key (square bracket key). Press Shift + [ or ] will increase / decrease brush hardness.

    

21. Opacity
    You can set the layer opacity by pressing the number keys (ie. 1 = 10%, 2 = 20%…). When you have the brush tool selected, pressing the number keys will adjust the brush opacity.

    

22. Duplicate layer
    There are several shortcuts to duplicate layers.
    1. You can hold down Cmd + Opt + drag to duplicate the active layer.
    2. Cmd + Opt + arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).
    3. Cmd + J will duplicate the active layer in exact position.
    4. Hold down Opt + drag within the Layers palette can also duplicate layers.

    

23. Copy visible and paste in a new layer
    Press Cmd + Opt + Shift + E will copy the visible layers and paste in a new layer.

    

24. Change workspace background
    By default Photoshop use grey for the workspace background color. You can change that by:
    1. select your favorite color
    2. choose the Paint Bucket tool
    3. Hold down Shift + click on the working area (outside the document area)

    

    Update: right-click on the workspace area to get a dropdown menu – allows you to set the background to black, grey, or a custom color (commented by Todd Patrick).

25. Fill background or foreground color
    Opt + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with foreground color.
    Cmd + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with background color

    

    Update:
    Cmd + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with background color
    Opt + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with foreground color
    (commented by André Dion)

26. Switch between document windows
    Ctrl + Tab will switch between document windows.

    

27. Load layer transparent
    Cmd + click on the layer thumbnail will load its transparency.

    

28. Scale proportionally from center
    When you are using the Marquee tools or Free Transform, hold down Opt + Shift + drag will scale proportionally from the center.

    

29. Shortcut to Eyedropper
    If you have the Brush tool selected, hold down Opt key will quickly activate the Eyedropper tool. Hold down Opt + Shift will activate the Color Sampler Tool.

    

30. Finally…
    Finally, if you want to check or set your own custom shortcuts, press Cmd + Opt + Shift + K will bring up the Keyboard Shortcuts panel.

    

Additional from the comments

• In some dialog boxes, holding the Opt key will turn the “Cancel” button into a most useful “Reset”. (by Miguel Tavares)
• To stroke a path, first select the path, then change to the brush tool, select a brush, and type Enter or Return. This works with all of the brush-like tools (eraser, clone, blur, etc.). (by buddhistMonkey)
• To turn a path into a selection, type Command-Enter or Command-Return (doesn’t matter what tool is selected). If there is already a selection, then Command-Shift-Return will add your path’s shape to the selection, Command-Option-Return will subtract it, and Command-Option-Shift-Return will select the intersection. (by buddhistMonkey)
• If you are adding a “Drop Shadow” layer effect, and you have the Layer Style dialog open to the Drop Shadow settings, you can move the shadow around by clicking and dragging in the image. This also works with the “Inner Shadow” effect. If you hold down the Option key, you can also adjust the Gradient Overlay, Pattern Overlay, and Satin effects by clicking and dragging. (by buddhistMonkey)

Do you know more shortcuts?

Do you know more Photoshop shortcuts that are not listed in this article? Please post them in the comment form. Make sure they are “secret” (not documented in the Photoshop menus).

Download Photoshop file

1. Create a new document

In Photoshop, create a new document 14 x 14px size with transparent background.

2. Draw shape outline

Use the Pencil tool, select 1px brush from the palette. Pick a dark gray color and start drawing the outline of the page icon. To draw a straight line, first click at the starting point, then hold down shift key and click at the ending point.

Tips: At any time if you want to erase the pixels, use the Eraser tool, select Pencil mode and 1px brush size.

3. Base gradient

Make a selection of the empty cutout by the Magic Wand tool. Create a new layer. Set your foreground color to light gray and background to white. Use Gradient tool, drag from top corner to lower corner diagonally.

4. Highlight and shadow

Create a new layer. Draw a 1px white inner top border to create the highlight effect. Then, draw a medium gray inner bottom border.

5. Group all layers

In the Layers palette, select all layers and press Cmd+G to group all layers in a folder.

6. Draw a pencil

Again, start drawing the outline first and then fill the inner area with either solid color or gradient. When you are done, group these layers in a separate folder.

Tips: If you want to have consistent color throughout the icon set, store the colors that you have used in the color swatches.

7. Re-use them

Here shows how I re-used the layer groups to create entire collection:

8. Export for web

After you’ve done entire set, toggle (invisible / visible) the layer groups and save them for web (Cmd+Alt+Shift+S).

Too lazy to do this tutorial? You can download  free mini icon set.