Creative Chit-Chat

Drop shadows are an excellent way to add dimension and interest to a design piece. However, making them look truly realistic is a more applied process than simply adding the “drop shadow” layer effect. This cool technique is something I picked up from David Adams, the Art Director of Weiser Creative Group.

First, I made a new document and drew a yellow box by making a new layer, using the selection tools to draw a box, filling it with bright yellow, de-selecting those pixels, and using the free transform tool to rotate it slightly and move it off the canvas a bit.

I then duplicated the layer I just made by selecting the layer and pressing Command + J. I filled the box on the new copied layer with black by right clicking the layer, selecting the pixels, and using the paint bucket tool to fill the selection with black.

Next I gave this black layer a gaussian blur (under the Filter > Blur) of about 3-5 pixels. The amout you use will depend on the size of your object and the amount of shadow you want. Once you have done this, move this layer underneath the original layer (in my case, the yellow box).

This is what you should have after moving the shadow layer under the original layer. It looks very similar to the drop shadow effect in the Layer Style menu. We’ll fix that in the upcoming step. Before we do that, we need to select the shadow layer and give this layer a layer mask (the icon that has the box with the circle on the bottom of the Layers palette). With the shadow’s layer mask selected, use the paint bucket tool to fill the layer mask with black. Black areas of a layer mask prevent the layer from showing through; white areas allow the layer to show. What you should have now will look exactly like what you had in the first step: your original object with no drop shadow.

This is where the fun begins. Using a very soft, small brush, paint with white (a low opacity somewhere between 10-30%) the areas where you want the shadow to occur with your layer mask selected. Think about what the object would look like in real life, and how it would curl in some areas and lie flat against the surface in other areas. Go back and forth between black and white brush strokes and different opacities until you get the effect you are looking for. If you are having trouble making straight lines with your brush strokes, use the shift key by clicking on where you want a line to start, hold shift, and then click where you want a line to end. This helped me make gradual shadows along the lines of my square, which appears to be lifting off the screen in the corners.

Here is what my object would look like with just the drop shadow effect in the Layer Style menu. Boring, huh? This looks much less realistic and interesting. Take control of your drop shadows and use layer masks instead!

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