In addition, it helps give a visual for your product, so that customers are more likely to purchase.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the steps in making a fake software box.
Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Open Photoshop.
2. Click File > New from the Main Menu.
3. Fill in the values below:
4. After the page loads, you should have a 500×500 dimension square canvas to work on.
5. Make sure to create a layer titled “Box”. All the work you do on the box will be done on this layer.
6. Now we’ll start building the box. Click the Polygonal Lasso tool.
7. With the Polgonaly Lasso tool selected, draw a trapezoid like the one below:
(remember that you can hold down the shift key as you draw with the lasso and it will make your lines perfectly straight).
8. Next, select the Paint Bucket tool and fill in the trapezoid with a color of your choice.
9. Click the Polygonal Lasso tool again and draw another trapazoid selection like the one below:
10. Select the Paint Bucket tool and fill in the trapazoid with a lighter value of the same color you used in Step 8.
11. Use the Polygonal Lasso tool and draw a border for the front of the box.
12. Click Select > Inverse from the Tutorials to reverse the selection.
13. With the selection reversed, you can now select the Paint Bucket tool and color in the outside border of the front of the box.
14. Click the Polygonal Lasso tool again and draw a border for the side of the box.
15. Click Select > Inverse form the Tutorials as you did in Step 12, to reverse the selection.
16. Select the Paint Bucket tool and fill in the outside border of the side of the box (be sure to use a darker value color than the border on the front of the box.
17. Next, we’re going to add a gradient to the Background layer. This will create a “White Limbo” effect. This effect is useful so that you don’t have to create a surface for the box to be resting on. To create this effect, select the Gradient tool.
18. Be sure that the gradient goes from a gray to white.
19. Select the Background layer.
20. Use your Gradient tool to draw straight down from the very top of the canvas down to the bottom. When you are done, the background should look similar to the image below:
21. Now it’s time to add some shadow behind the box.
22. Create a new layer titled “Shadow”. Make sure this layer is ordered below the “Box” layer.
23. Select the Polygonal Tool and draw the selection area for the shadow of the box (on the “Shadow” layer). See image below:
24. Now using the Paint Bucket tool, fill in the selection area for the shadow with a dark gray color.
25. Select Filter > Blur > Gausian Blur.
26. Adjust the slider at the bottom of the Gausian Blur window until the blur of the shadow looks realistic.
27. Click OK to close the Gausian Blur window. Your image should look similar to the one below:
28. Finally, the last thing we need to do is add the cover art to the front of the box. In this tutorial, we’ll use the GraphicMentor logo and add it along with some text. So, first thing to do is copy and paste the logo into a new layer that is above the Box layer.
29. As you can see, just copying and pasting the image doesn’t make it look real. The box is at an angle and we’ll need to adjust the logo to match this angle. Click Edit > Transform > Distort from the Tutorials.
30. Now adjust the shape handles for the logo so that they match the angle of the box.
31. At this point, you are basically done; however to make the box look more realistic, simply add more graphics and text all over the box. Just keep following Steps 28, 29, and 30 until it is covered completely. Keep copying and pasting different text and graphics into new layers over the “Box” layer, then distort them to fit the angles of the box.
*One important note: If you want to distort text, it needs to be rasterized first. To do this, right click the text layer and select “Rasterize Layer”. Then you will be able to distort it.
