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Photoshop Guides - Default Layer Styles - aFreeArtwork.com
Photoshop Guides - Default Layer Styles
One of the most common problems today is people utilizing default layer styles. This should be avoided at all costs.

Welcome to the Default Layer Style Guide. This section will basically explain what to avoid, why to avoid it, and tips. A layer style is a set of pre-made styles to help improve production speed. (Eg. Bevel, Outer Glow, Drop Shadow, Stroke...)

In the earlier versions of photoshop there were no styles available. Practically every style was manually created by hand until you achieved the desired results. Today, there is a large selection of styles and settings to choose from, in which will cut time and increase productivity.

The first thing to always know is "never" use or come close to default style settings. Photoshop does not create the default settings for you to use, but more so you do NOT use them. Remember that photoshop is no secret, so when using default settings, every artist, developer, client, you name it... will assume you have no experience. Either that or you don't care.

 

As you may of already noticed, The three shapes you see to the left all utilize default layer styles. Outer Glow, Bevel and Inner Glow.

The photoshop settings are defaulted to look like this because they encourage you not to use them. Every style must be adjusted perfectly for its purpose.


The image left contains text and objects that use default layer styles. By browsing the web, More than likely you have came across numerous artwork and designs that contain default styles.

 

 

Below are examples of work that utilize layer styles to help perform the overall visual effect.

The framed box represented left was originally created to hold screen shot thumbnails for a game. From looking at this image, you may of noticed the styles below.

  • Bevel and Emboss
  • Outer Glow
  • Drop Shadow
  • Stroke

This is a relatively simple logo for an online game. Pretty much all the text effects you see in this image are done with layer styles.

The text RoboWars (left) uses similar styles to the "Glowing Text" effect.

  • Bevel and Emboss
  • Outer Glow
  • Inner Glow
  • Gradient
  • Satin
  • Stroke
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