In this tutorial we'll create a simple box with lines and gradients.

Start with a new blank image 400X400 with a white background.

Select the preset shapes tool - Rectangle and check the box next to retain style. Be sure to have white as the background color and black as the foreground color in the color picker.

Select the Draw tool and set it to a single line with a width of 1. Draw the connecting lines to finish the box dimensions.

Set both foreground and background color to white. Select the preset shapes tool again and uncheck the retain style box. Draw a rectangle over the overlapping lines so your image looks similar to the one above.

Choose the gradient style in the color picker with black and white again.

Create a new layer and name it gradients. From here on out we'll be switching back and forth on layers. On the layers palette select the background layer. Choose the magic wand tool and click in one of the square areas. On the layers palette select the gradients layer and using the flood fill tool fill the selected area. Continue in this manner until all but the back of the box is filled.

Choose the background layer and select the back of the box. Select the color picker tool and pick a medium gray from one of the gradients in the box. Set the color picker to solid and with the gradient layer selected, fill the back of the box with a solid color.

Select the background layer. Using the magic wand tool click anywhere outside of the box. Go to Selections>Invert. Create a new layer and name it color. Choose a box color from the color picker and fill the selection on the color layer.

On the layer palette set the transparency of the color layer to 56.

Your layer palette should now look similar to the one below.

Create a new layer and name it top flap. Create a new layer and name it tf gradient. Create a new layer and name it tf color.

Create a new layer and name it bottom flap. Create a new layer and name it bf gradient. Create a new layer and name it bf color.

Follow the same steps we did above to fill in the flaps.

You should now have something similar to below.

Select the tf color layer on the layers palette and set the layer blend mode to hard light and set the transparency to 80.

Select the bf color layer on the layers palette and set the layer blend mode to hard light and set the transparency to 80.

Your layers palette should now look similar to the one below.

You might notice some white space inside your box outline. If you do you can, create a new layer and name it clean up lines, select a color slightly darker than your box color and using the draw tool set to single line and width 3, fill in the white space.

Your layer palette should now look similar to the one shown below.

The final project should look similar to the one shown below.

This was a very simple tutorial to give you an idea how to create a 3D object using just lines and gradients. You can apply this knowledge to a lot of different projects.

Have fun!

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved