Carlos Valenzuela is a professional illustrator and comicbook cover artist from Chile. He has worked with companies in the entertainment field like Fantasy Flight Games, SQP Publishing, Comics Buyer’s Guide, Pyranha Bytes, Avatar Press, Overcast Studios, Arcana Comics, etc. Working on projects from book cover illustrations, posters, interior book art through artwork for collective card games.

A huge fan of the sci-fi and horror movie genre from the 40′s and 50′s, Carlos is heavily influenced by master illustrators Frazetta, Corben, Wrightson and Elvgren plus the classic publications from EC and Warren.

So ladies and gents please regard me as I present you with this vintage and retro feature, enjoy! (And don’t forget to share!)

Retro and Vintage

Terror from Outer Space

The Curse of Dracula

The Curse of the Vampire Queen

Sleep Well, Sleep Forever

Queen Amidala

The Huntress

Jessica Rabbit

Late Edition

The Visitor

A Bat-Note

Super Heroes and Villains

Heroes Attack

Gotham Girls

Fantastic Four

Enter the Green Goblin

The Usual Suspects

Batman

Gotham Babes

DC Heroes

M.O.D.O.K.

Marvel Heroes 3

Horror and Fantasy

Homage to Lovecraft

Red Sonja II

John Carter of Mars

Classic Monsters

The Mummy Rises

Do not enter

Soulrender

Waiting in the Dark

The Barbarian

Princess of Mars

If you’ve enjoyed Carlos Valenzuela’s master pieces you can have the chance be a proud owner of his prints or why not commission him to incorporate you in a classic rendition of a horror or crime noir movie poster, just head on over to his portfolio site to find out more. (Don’t forget to share this article with your friends.)

Where to find Carlos Valenzuela on the web

Portfolio: @artworkfolio.com, @deviantart.com

Social Networks: Google+

The main idea of this project is to create a deck of 54 unique playing cards. Artists and illustrators pick a card each and design it in their own style. When all designs are submitted, the deck is printed in a strictly limited number of copies, which are distributed between the members of the project. In short “The Creative Cards Project” is 54 unique playing cards from 54 top artists with one addition for the backside!

It’s the brainchild of the guys at digitalabstracts.com whose aim is to create something useful, collectable, pretty and unique. For artists and designers to collaborate on an interesting project and show off their unique style and techniques.

Two of Diamonds by Jonathan Foerster

Author’s Website

Three of Spades by Raphaël Vicenzi

Author’s Website

Four of Diamonds by Kervin W Brisseaux

Author’s Website

Five of Hearts by Matt Jones aka Lunartik

Author’s Website

Six of Clubs by Vitalik Sheptuhin

Author’s Website

Seven of Spades by Brand Nu

Author’s Website

Eight of Clubs by Andreas Preis

Author’s Website

Nine of Hearts by Hello Monday

Author’s Website

Ten of Spades by Simplevector

Author’s Website

Knave of Hearts by Jonathan Wong

Author’s Website

Queen of Clubs by Lucas de Alcântara

Author’s Website

King of Clubs by James White

Author’s Website

Ace of Clubs by David Delin

Author’s Website

Joker by Kenny Lindström

Author’s Website

As of this posting the contest that would decide whose design would be used for the backside of the entire deck is still ongoing but will soon end on March 23, 12:00 GMT.

Based on the highest Facebook likes this design seems to be in the lead…

Backside by Giga Kobidze

Author’s Website

Visit Vote for your favourite backside! to check out the competition and make it count by voting for the design you think should win.

The CGSociety is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists. They support artists at every level by offering a range of services to connect, inform, educate and promote digital artists worldwide.

Aly Fell

A freelance concept artist and illustrator from the U.K. He’s into drawing pin-ups, flying things, winged things and spooky things, and Steampunk!

Pirate Girl

The Absinthe Fairy

Lady Frances Drake

Glen Angus Tribute

Judith and Holofernes

Visit Aly Fell’s Website

Jeff Miller

Jeff is a Freelance Character Artist from the U.S. he has an extensive experience in the entertainment industry. With clients that includes Apple, Microsoft, Lucasfilm, Ubisoft and more. His work has graced the pages and covers of publications such as Wired Magazine, 3D World, and 3D Artist.

Brute Chieftain #2

Cover: Ghost Recon for Wii

The Black Eyed Peas tour poster

Cobra Commander

Sparrow

Visit Jeff Miller’s Website

Jaime Jasso

Jaime Jasso works as a digital matte artist for ILM in San Francisco, USA. Enough said!

A Spiritual City

Roman Stone Temple

MULTI CITY

Thekno City

Mayan City

Visit Jaime Jasso’s Website

Steven Stahlberg

With 11 years cg experience Steven was born in Australia, lived in Sweden, Hong Kong, USA, Malaysia, 3 years art school, a freelance artist that has an accumulated experience of 21 years.

Psycho Girlfriend

Squishy (and Girl)

Fairy And Snake

Ghost Child

3d School Ad

Visit Steven Stahlberg’s Website

Soa Lee

Soa Lee is a 3D artist from Korea but is currently working in the US.

Tears

Angel’s time

Taurus

Grace of the snow

Suphia

Visit Soa Lee’s Website

Jean-Sebastien Rossbach

French Illustrator, Concept artist, and author of the book MERLIN (Soleil)

MERLIN cover

Succubus Blues

all the windwracked stars

the Vixen – InQuest Gamer #137 cover

Hrolf Kraki

Visit Jean-Sebastien Rossbach’s Website

Visit CGSociety for more mind numbing inspirational digital works of art. Or if you think you have what it takes or passionate enough about your digital master pieces why not join the society and maybe your work will grace our pages in the near future. Goodluck!

Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.

I’ve gathered a few celebrity caricatures because they are easily identifiable wherever you’re from and the masters behind these works are also celebrities in their own right.

Celebrity caricatures by John Kascht

John is among a handful of caricaturists whose work is collected by The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. His work is included in several monographs about caricature and portraiture, notably: “The History of Caricature” and has also appeared on book covers, billboards, Broadway marquees and more than a few cocktail napkins.

John Kascht’s satirical drawings can also be found on the pages or covers of: Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, Forbes, W, Oprah, Glamour, and MAD magazine, to name a few.

Keith Richards for Entertainment Weekly

Woody Allen for Reader’s Digest

Whoopi Goldberg for The National Portrait Gallery

Joni Mitchell for Rolling Stone

Jack Nicholson for GQ

Jay-z for Entertainment Weekly

Eminem for Entertainment Weekly

Daniel Radcliff for Entertainment Weekly

The Beatles for Entertainment Weekly

If you are hungry for more of John Kascht’s creations head over to his website johnkascht.com or bring him along anytime and anywhere you want to go with “Above & Beyond: John Kascht” app available on iTunes!

If you think that was awesome, sit back because there’s more! I just can’t let you go wandering off without seeing the rest of what the internet has to offer.

More celebrity caricatures from around the web!

Mr. Bean by mazhear

James Hetfield by Steveroberts

Dr. Gregory House by macpulenta

Dr. Jones by crisdelara04

Meryl Streep by Nelson Santos

Clint Eastwood by fillengroovy

Bruce Lee by AndrewMok

Agent Smith by mazhear

Joan Jett by Nelson Santos

Inglorious Basterds by Nelson Santos

He was cool enough to sit down with Prodigal Concepts over digital coffee and it’s a treat I’m sharing with all of you a short Q&A with Jirka Väätäinen.

Q: Can you give us a brief bio of how you got into design?

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always done a lot of arts related stuff. Being creative and designing is what I am most passionate about, so it was a natural choice for me to get a higher education degree in design and turn my interests into a career.

Q: And who were your inspirations if you have any? People you look up to for inspiration?

There are so many talented people, and so much inspiring stuff out there that I don’t think I can just name a few people! Different people have inspired me at different times.

Snow White – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Q: Aside from your creative imagination where do you go to or what do use to stimulate creativity?

I draw inspiration from all areas of design and visual culture, whether it is movies, fashion, photography, graphic design or so on. So give me anything visual really, and I am good to go!

Princess Aurora – The Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

Ariel – The Little Mermaid

Q: What was your creative design process while working on the Disney characters?

The design process has been very casual, since the project was self-initiated and it was just something I explored for fun. Being familiar with all the characters and having a clear idea on what I was looking to portray, the process has simply involved finding appropriate inspiration from real life people and photos, and then just working towards achieving my vision in photoshop!

Ursula the Sea Witch – The Little Mermaid

Belle – Beauty and the Beast

Meg – Hercules

Q: Can you share with us (*aspiring creatives) some words of wisdom on how we could harness our creativity and standout from the multitudes of creatives out there?

I would just suggest everyone to have fun and find out what the things are that you genuinely enjoy doing – since after all, standing out will require you to do your own thing!

Jasmine – Aladdin

Esmeralda – The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pocahontas

Mulan

Rapunzel – Tangled

Tiana – Princess and the Frog

I hope you guys enjoyed this post as I have enjoyed working on it, be sure to share it with your friends. And I would like to thank Mr. Jirka Väätäinen who has been generous enough to share his time and his work with us today.

Where to find Jirka Väätäinen on the web

Portfolio: @Behance.net

Blog: Jirka’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, LinkedIn

When Captain America throws his mighty shield,

All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield.

If he’s led to a fight and a duel is due,

Then the red and white and the blue’ll come through

When Captain America throws his mighty shield.

- opening theme from the 1960′s Marvel animation series

Captain America “The First Avenger”, is the latest Marvel live action incarnation. This will feature Chris Evans as Steve Rogers “Captain America”, and Hugo Weaving as the “Red Skull”.

Captain America first appeared in March 1941, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Steve Rogers, was a sickly military recruit enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum to aid the United States war effort against the “Axis” powers in World War II. Wearing an American Flag themed costume and wielding a disc shaped shield made of an experimental alloy called “Vibranium”, which was originally intended to be made into tanks. The vibranium was created by accident and never duplicated, attempts to reverse engineer it resulted in the creation of “Adamantium”. Which was later bonded with Wolverine’s skeleton and bone claws.

The movie “Captain America – The First Avenger” will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is scheduled for release on July 22, 2011 in 3D. I hope you all enjoy and find inspiration with this roundup. After all “Cap’n” is known for being relentless, surrender is not a part of his vocabulary, a good trait to have for start-up’s in the web design arena.

ninjaink

cruzaderazn

Ashmantle

herobaka

mbreitweiser

ANDREA11179

isikol

hobo95

agustin09

xzykho

Valzonline

deadhead16mb

sneedd

Ceshira

FlowComa

buchemi

zenithuk

Konjur

xxnightblade08xx

NineteenPSG

Jam-Wah

drawsgood

lovetherobot

Cinar

RentonAlex

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.

Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was widely considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources.

Michael Myer’s (a.k.a. drawsgood) illustration’s falls nothing short of awesome. I first got a whiff of his genius when he did an illustrated series of the characters from the T.V. series “LOST”, immediately I became an instant fan and I’ve been stalking him ever since.

Today I bring to you his rendition of DC heroes and villains (note: actually it’s just one villain but I’m looking forward to more and will update this post when Michael is ready with them. ) He creates them in the styles of modern art deco minimalists which caught my fancy this last couple of years. I’ve been seeing them around a lot lately, mostly cult classics of movies or TV and comic book characters. The layout is simple, the color is flat, the font is classic, the texture is vintage or grunge the impact is jaw dropping, well at least for me it is. But I’m hoping to convert some of you today with the help “drawsgood” himself.

Check them out and enjoy! And may you find inspiration in these masterful works of art by Michael Myers!

DC Heroes

Superman

Batman

Robin

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Flash

Green Lantern

“as featured in Green Lantern in 30 graphic inspirations”

Green Arrow

DC Villains

This is the only DC villain Michael has illustrated so far, but I’m sure he’s working on something and when he’s done we’ll post them here. Besides Lex Luthor is all the super villain you need! He’s a genius, unforgiving, conniving, sneaky, rich, no one knows what he’ll be up to next.

Lex Luthor

One day I will have one of this framed and adorn the walls of my personal office, but for now I’m happy just to be able to check them out from time to time.

If you like Michael Myers creations you may purchase a print copy at imagekind.com or make a statement with his wearable artwork as shirts at threadless.com

Find Michael Myers on the web

Website: www.drawsgood.com

Blog: Drawsgood Illustration and Design Blog

Portfolio: Deviantart, Bēhance, Society6

Social Network: Twitter, Facebook, Linked

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In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan. – wikipedia

Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan the first human “Green Lantern” and “Thaal Sinestro” will be played by Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) at the directors chair sits Martin Campbell (Casino Royale).

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light! – Green Lantern Oath

All comic-togists know there’s been quite a few human Green Lanterns in the DC Universe timeline but the most famous of them all aside from he’s really my favorite is Hal Jordan. Dude, it’s like asking who’s the best James Bond, Sean Connery or the other guys. I tried my best to make this roundup as Hal Jordan-ish as possible, but there’s just too many kick-ass graphics out there that I can’t help myself but include them here. Not to mention that the maestro Alex Ross is much into the Golden Age of the DC Universe. So it doesn’t matter if it’s Hal Jordan or Alan Scott, even Guy Gardner or John Stewart at the most you may find some Kyle Rayner in the mix but look past into the character background and you will still have the “Green Lantern”.

Alex Ross

For me Alex Ross can make any comic book super hero come alive with depth. His style of painting, his attention to detail and the way his characters are always staring off into some far away place is uncanny.

FrodoBacchi

A kick-ass fan art painted in Photoshop Essentials

drawsgood

Michael Myers illustrations was first featured here @prodigalconcepts in LOST – Michael Myers (the animated series) awhile back. Some of his work are grungy vintage art deco minimals like this “Green Lantern” poster.

xzykho

I’m guilty of self promotion here, I got inspired during my search of graphic materials for this article and decided to include it.

Grasset

A scanned sketch rendered in Illustrator and colored in Photoshop.

sinccolor

A mighty fine collaboration I’ve seen so far. Art by Jim Lee, Inked by Scott Williams, colored by sinccolor.

hyzak

Created in Zbrush, Cinema 4D, PsCS4 and a few hours later, tadaaa, even comes with a tutorial it’s in Spanish though so better ready that trusty Google translate.

strongstuff

A commissioned art deco poster of the Green Lantern corps, I’m really loving this minimalistic stuff.

xXNightblade08Xx

Another collaboration giving new life to an already awesome line art.

thincage

Simply hand drawn oldschool with a brush pen, white colored pencil, and Copic markers on 8.5 X 11 textured cardstock.

Cinar

What pure unadulterated talent can do with a sketch pad, markers, white ink and correction pen.

Thuddleston

Pencils -n-inks done in Manga Studio colored in CS4.

joshwmc

A cool attempt on a teaser poster, pretty early on after the announcement I suppose. The year’s a bit off but the result is brilliant.

Heartattackjack

More minimals, I don’t think I will get enough of this wonderful pieces of art. They’re so simple, just lines flat colors but still comes out with a power punch.

JimOfRapture

And another one, two in a row, this one done in a stained effect to give it more of a vintage feel.

SaintYak

I don’t feel Hal Jordan here, maybe it’s the hair style but the sketch and colored markers work for me.

Hungrysparrow

A Photoshop 7 creation, brings a lot of memories.

Cinar

Another marker masterpiece from Cinar.

xzykho

It’s still me, this time with mask and lantern logo, a bit self indulgent I suppose because I even included my sites URL, my bad. I hope you guys appreciate it though.

FrankDa

I love how the eyes and the chest insignia seems to be glowing.

Bakanekonei

“Green Lantern 41″ alternate cover penciled by Eddy Barrows, colored by Bakanekonei.

Cinar

It’s like hearing sweet music, Cinar’s work is unmistakably his, a commission piece. Done with markers and correction pen.

Wallpapers

Official “Green Lantern” movie freebie desktop wallpaper from their website, just click the image to grab yours.

rodolforever

I think this is the last minimal for this set, admire it one more time, the lines, the flat colors, the textures, ahhh this must be love.

by Alex Ross

No need for an intro, this is Alex Ross country. Not exclusively Hal Jordan or “Green Lantern” for that matter, in fact I think it’s way better. Featuring the Green Lantern with other members of the Justice League making their appearance together. Grab em while you can.

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…

The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
—Marvel.com

Stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Kenneth Branagh directs and is scheduled to be released between April and May 2011 in 3D.

I have compiled 30 of the best graphic illustrations and portrayals of the thunder god himself viewed through the imagination of those artists and fans who holds a special connection with the “Mighty Thor”. Enjoy this weeks round-up!

Mike Mayhew

diablo2003

YamaO

MCornelius

thisismyboomstick

nesmosfactory

MiaCabrera

Meredyth

LordMishkin

harveytsketchbook

earache_j

ashasylum

anjum

ANDREA11179

MCornelius

Reau Wimberly

Sasin

wildlifehoodoo

Wallpapers

More Marvel “Thor” Wallpapers

comicwallpapers

desktopia

arts-wallpaper

avengers wallpaper

And if this roundup still doesn’t fill your appetite for the god of thunder, be sure to get your weekly dose of Thor at Jarreau Wimberly’s Thor Thursday

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…

For the first part of the year 2011, I would like to thank each and everyone of my friends and regular readers who drop by here every now and then to check out what’s new at prodigalconcepts.com and I wish you all good things this year and please continue to support my site and help me spread the word by sharing the articles you find interesting with your friends!

Today we will be creating a very cool “Pin Wheel” in Photoshop with the help of the Pen Tool. And to make it easy for us we will borrow this image of a pinwheel from the NewarkLibrary blog or download it here!

Final Image

Difficulty: Beginner – Intermediate

Duration: 45 mins (plus or minus)

Basics

Open your pinwheel image in Photoshop. Then create a new layer above it and rename it “Outline” now grab your Pen tool from your tools pallete or just hit (P) on your keyboard.

Try to zoom in (Ctrl +) to see the edge of the “Pin Wheel” clearly, now start tracing the outline of the “Blade” or the “Leaf” (I have no idea what it’s called). Start wherever it’s comfortable for you, I’m going to start from the top left going down. Just click on a point in the outer part of the Pin Wheel “Blade” (I decided to call it Blade for duration of this tutorial) and trace the edges point to point (if it’s a straight line).

If it’s a curve,try to get a wide area from your outline and without releasing your mouse drag its handles out to match your images curve.

To continue working on your path, hold Alt key and Click on your original point to cut a corner, (while holding Alt key hover your mouse to the last point you created it should show ^ symbol, click on the point.) Your drag handle will disappear so you can now continue tracing your outline.

Once you have outlined the entire “Blade” you can close your path by joining your last point with your original anchor point, you should see a small circle, like a degree symbol ° this means your are about to close your path.

If you are satisfied with the outline of your shape, turn your path into a selection (Ctrl + Enter). Turn off your Pin Wheel “Background” layer image by poking the eye next to it and you should have something like this.

Then make sure you have your “Outline” layer selected, fill this selection with a nice Pastel Green like #9ffc71.

Next we will trace the outline of the part of the blade I’m calling Flap (for lack of any other word for it). I see 2 ways we can do this, the Hard way is to retrace the part of the flap using the Pen Tool the same way we did the “Outline” which is a good exercise. Then there is the easy way which will cut corners and save us some time, since I’ve already shown you how to trace the entire outline I’m cutting corners for the “Flap” and take the easy way.

First duplicate your “Outline” layer and rename it “Flap” bring down its Opacity to around 50%, then turn off your “Outline” layer and then turn on the Pin Wheel “Background” layer.

Get your Pen Tool out, and use the Pin Wheel “Background” layer image for reference, trace the inside curve of the Flap. We are only after the curve, so here it’s OK to go outside the “Flap” layer and once you have cleared the image just circle around the rest of your image to close off your path.

Then turn it into a selection, we only need the part of the image inside our selection and discard the rest. So you can do two things add a layer mask to hide the unselected part or use Select > Inverse (Ctrl +Shift + I) and delete the part we wont need.

Now we can bring the Opacity back to 100% for our “Flap” image layer. And begin adding details. Use a nice light color to make a background of our work area so we can better see what were doing while adding details. Mine will be #fefdfd for the Foreground and #cefbb8 for the Background then apply it with a Radial gradient effect starting from the middle going out. Something like this.

Colors and shades

So we are ready, first lets give our “Outline” layer a bit of light and shade. To do this, create a new layer on top of the “Outline” layer and rename it “Outline-light” make a selection with your “Outline” layer by (Ctrl + click) your image from the Layers panel you will see the running ants will start marching.

Make your Foreground color a light shade of green like #d7fbc6, then set your Gradient tool to Linear gradient and your gradient picker is set to Linear to Transparent. Start outside the selection from the lower right of the image in a diagonal motion going in. This will give your image a nice 2 tone green.

We need to add some shadows, create a new layer on top of the “Light” layer and rename it “Shadow”. Then make a selection with your “Outline” layer again by (Ctrl + click) your image from the Layers panel one more time. This time set your Foreground color to Black #000000, and with the same Gradient tool settings as the light (except for the color) apply the gradient starting from the opposite direction, upper left diagonal motion going down. Then bring down your “Shadow” layers opacity to around 75%.

Time to give the “Flap” layer a light effect too by repeating the steps we made for the “Outline-light”, create a new layer on top of the “Flap” layer and name it “Flap-light” add the same gradient effect but from the opposite direction by starting from the upper left going down in a diagonal slice.

One piece of the puzzle is complete, time to group all your layers except for the “Background” layer that we made, you can also discard the original Pin Wheel image, it has served its purpose. Select all the layers thats part of the “Blade” by selecting the top most layer then while holding the Shift key click on the last bottom layer. Now that all your layers are high-lighted drag them down to the Folder looking button below your layers panel. This will group all the “Blade” layers into one folder, rename this group “Blade-green”.

Grouping

Take the group folder “Blade-green” and duplicate it, rename the copy “Blade-blue”, while this group is still selected go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90° CW. Move this group and use your judgement to position it as the second blade. We will need to change this groups color scheme. Expand the “Blade-blue” folder and locate the layer “Outline copy” while this layer is selected go to Blending options and apply a color overlay use #71fcbf, then copy this layer style to your “Flap copy” layer. Do the same Blending option adjustment for the “Outline-light copy” layer but you should give it a lighter shade of blue like #bcf7fb, then copy this layer style to the “Flap-light copy” image layer.

Here’s a neat trick, read carefully moving forward because this might start to get confusing as we go back and forth the two folder groups. As you can see the two “Blades” are missing a shadow where they are joined together so do this, first create a new layer above the “Shadow” layer of the group “Blade-green” and rename this “Shadow2″ then make a selection using the “Outline copy” layer from the group “Blade-blue” fill this with Black #000000 apply a Gaussian blur with 50px Radius bring down the Opacity to 50% while “Shadow2″ layer is still selected turn the layer “Outline” from the group “Blade-green” into a selection and then invert the selection hit Del you should now have a nice shadow between the 2 “Blades”.

Now repeat this steps a few more times starting from (Grouping) until you have 4 multi colored “Blades” like this.

We will now add a Pin to our image to complete our Pin-Wheel project, create a new layer on top of all the grouped layers and name it “Pin”. Take the Ellipse tool from the Shapes pallette and make a nice little circle and turn it into a selection. Make your Foreground color #cbfab9, and your Background color #3399ff, set your Gradient tool to Radial and the gradient picker to Foreground to Background, apply the gradient starting from the center going out. Next lets give it a shadow effect, (Ctrl + click) your “Pin” image and create a new layer below it, rename this “Shadow” fill it with Black #000000, then go to your Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and make the Radius: 10px then change the opacity to 75%.

Last but not the least is the nice looking handle. Create a new layer below all the grouped layers and rename it “Handle”. Get your Rectangular marquee tool and create a long vertical rectangle. Fill this with #3399ff, create a new layer and name it “hilite” (Ctrl + click) your “Handle” to make a selection, then fill it with White #ffffff, reduce it’s width to around 50% or less. Give it a Gaussian blur with a Radius of 5px, keep it a little to the left.

Time to admire your work

I hope you all like this and put it to good use, share it with your friends and if you happen to use it in one of your projects give me a shout out and I will include it here. Thank you all very much. PEACE!

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