Making Email & Home buttons Programs Used: Photoshop 6 Skill Level: Basic
One of the most elusive techniques that I eventually learned
was the easiest technique to create great looking HOME and EMAIL buttons
without having to resort to CLIPART or a FREE GRAPHICS Site. It's always
best to custom make your graphics so that they fit in with your site.
HOW TO QUICKLY MAKE A HOME BUTTON
1. Open a new 200x200 pixel canvas in Photoshop
2. From the VIEW menu click on SHOW GRID. Also make sure that
"Snap to Grid" is ticked, if not, click on that too.
3. Choose the Rectangle Marquee tool
and then draw a square using the grids as a guide.
4. Create a new layer and then fill your selection with black.
5. Choose the Line tool
and make sure that "ANTI-ALIASING" is turned on and that the width
is set to 10 pixels. Draw two diagonal lines from the top middle to the
two sides.
6. Using the Zoom tool, increase the percentage to about 200-300%
so that you can easily see the middle bit.
7. Use a mixture of the Paintbrush tool
and the Pencil Tool
to fill in the gaps.
8. Once you have done this you can use a variety of effects or techniques
to make it look more homely and ready to be inserted into your layout.
Finished
HOW TO QUICKLY MAKE AN EMAIL BUTTON
1. Open a new 200x200 pixel canvas in Photoshop
2. From the VIEW menu click on SHOW GRID. Also make sure that
"Snap to Grid" is ticked, if not, click on that too.
3. Choose the Rectangle Marquee tool
and then draw a rectangle using the grids as a guide.
4. Create a new layer and then fill your selection with
black.
5. Go to SELECT >> MODIFY >> CONTRACT and enter
a value of 5 pixels then hit <DEL> on your keyboard to delete your
selection.
6. Use the Rectangle tool and draw a "postage stamp"
then fill it with black.
7. Use the line tools to draw the "address" onto the letter.
and then draw a square using the grids as a guide.
and make sure that "ANTI-ALIASING" is turned on and that the width
is set to 10 pixels. Draw two diagonal lines from the top middle to the
two sides.
and the Pencil Tool 
to fill in the gaps.
