Create Cartoon Effects By Photoshop CS4

Well, in this Photoshop tutorial we’ll be designing a very cool, cartoon-themed navigation set!

Photoshop CS4 Cartoon Effects

1. New Document & Background

First of all, make a new document that we can follow this tutorial out in. I’ve used 500×500 or so, but my images in this tutorial will be 340 x 380 to save you loading time etc.
So after you’ve created your document, make a background that will suit the tutorial (cartoonish, fun, etc.) In the background I’ve made a #61b3d9 to #2678bc gradient and a double scan lines pattern.

2. The Heading
We’ll start off with the header. Create a new layer and make a selection near the top around 200×120 in size.

Fill the selection with a nice, lightish orange. I used #edab0d.

Apply the following layer styles to the ‘header’ layer.

Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

Create a new layer then select the main header layer again. With the gradient tool make a radial white to black gradient from the top left of the selection to the bottom right like so:

Change the layer mode for this gradient layer to Overlay, and change the opacity to 40%.

That will make it look nice and vibrant.

Again select the main header layer and make a new layer. Right click the selection and apply Stroke.

Use the following options for the stroke:

Now you should have a fairly large, white stroke around the inside of your header.

Apply this

Outer Glow

to your Stroke layer, and we get a nice, subtle glowing effect like this Lastly, add in some text for the header. I used some very simple text with a solid Drop Shadow.

Group all of your header layers together into a group called ‘header.’
2. Onto the Navigation!

At last we get to the navigation! So far this seems like a 2-step tutorial
First of all, create a new group/folder underneath the ‘header’ group, call this group ‘navigation.’ Create a new layer and call it ‘main,’ now what you need to do is create a selection, about 160×200, note that I have 10 pixels of my selection underneath the header.

Fill this selection with #ee6402.
Apply the following layer styles to this layer:

 Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

Now you can either apply the Stroke thing now or later, I’ll go ahead and do it now. Just do it exactly the same as before.

Zoom in a little bit on the main area. Now what you need to do is make a 120 x 1 pixel selection in the middle area like so:

On a new layer fill this selection with white (#ffffff)

At the bottom of the layers palette, click the little square with a little circle button to add a layer mask.

Now fill the layer mask with a scan line pattern. I used a 6 x 6 pattern.

Apply the Layer Mask to the layer, duplicate the layer and move it down about 20 or so pixels, repeat this a couple more times.

I also added a Drop Shadow effects on the line layer.

I did the same for the text that I just added.
For the text I used the following settings: Tahoma, 11 pt, #ffffff.

Photoshop CS4 Cartoon Effects

Completition
Well, that just about does it for this tutorial, I hope it was sufficient enough for your tastes! If you need anything at all, you can either download the PSD file from this tutorial, or you can leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.  Download PSD of this Tutorial.