Glossy Button In Adobe Photoshop

Here is a quick and easy tutorial on making a nice, glossy button in Adobe Photoshop.

Here is what the image of the button will look like when we are finished with this tutorial.

DRAW THE BUTTON SHAPE

Using the Ellipse Tool, draw a circle. It doesn’t matter what color it is, that will all be changed in the Layer Style.

ADD LAYER STYLES TO THE BUTTON SHAPE

Double click on the button shape layer to bring up the Layer Style palette and apply the following specs for Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Gradient Overlay. As for the Gradient Overlay, you can use any color you would like,  as long as it goes from light to dark.

ADJUST HIGHTLIGHT

While in the above palette, click and hold on the highlight area of the shape. Pull down the highlight area of the shape until it is down towards the bottom of the shape.

CREATE THE BASE FOR BUTTON

To create the base for the button, duplicate the button shape layer and scale it up so that is larger that the original button shape.

CHANGE THE LAYER STYLES FOR THE BASE SHAPE

Double click on the base shape layer to bring up the Layer Style palette and change the specs for Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Gradient Overlay. For the Gradient Overlay, change it to a metallic gradient that will work well as a texture for the button base.

CREATE THE GLOSSY HIGHLIGHT

Above the button shape, draw a white oval shape using the Ellipse Tool and position it towards the top of the button shape. Set the blending mode of this layer to Multiply and set the opacity to 40%.

Double click on this layer and apply the below layer style for the Gradient Overlay as seen below, making sure the Blend Mode is set to Screen.

FINISHED IMAGE

This technique can be used with any shape you can create in Photoshop. Have fun experimenting with it!