How to Add Texture to a Flat Illustration in Adobe Photoshop

Summer heat is a perfect time to have a
cold glass of fresh homemade lemonade to detox and refresh ourselves. In this
tutorial you’ll learn how to make a trendy flat-style illustration of a lemonade
jar, using basic shapes and working with layers and Blending Modes in Adobe
Photoshop. Then we’ll make our image look detailed and unique by adding grainy textures with the help of grungy Adobe Photoshop brushes, which you can purchase from Envato Market or select from the default sets.

You can use your graphic tablet for more
convenience, but there are no hand-drawn elements in this illustration, so
you can easily make it with your mouse! What is more, these techniques can be
applied not only to make a flat jar with drinks, but also flat meals and dishes
or even flat cityscapes or any other kind of flat style illustration. These
effects will make any of your artworks look fancier. Let’s try it out!

1. Create the Glass Jar Base From Geometric
Shapes

Step 1

Make a New
Document of 2480 x 1748 px size
(horizontal orientation of A5).

Arm yourself with the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and let’s make the body of the jar from
a 585 x 820 px shape.

Head to the Properties panel (Window
> Properties) and from here we can adjust some parameters. Our rectangle
remains a vector Live Shape, until we rasterize it manually, so we can change its size
without quality loss. 

We can also change its Fill color here by clicking the Fill color square and selecting one from the swatches
or from the Solid Color panel, if we
click the colorful icon in the top right corner of the drop-down swatches menu. Let’s set the Fill color to a very light turquoise.

Finally, we can change the Corner Radius of the rounded corners.
Let’s set it to 85 px, making the
corners of the jar smooth.

Press Control-J
to Duplicate the shape layer, so that we have two identical shapes one above
the other. We will need the copy a few steps later.

Step 2

Let’s add a 350 x 85 px shape on top for the neck of the jar. Set its Corner Radius to 20 px. Keeping the Rounded
Rectangle Tool (U) selected, select both shapes and click the right mouse button to open the context menu. Click Unite Shapes, merging them
into one Live Shape.

Step 3

Now we’ll add a glass rim on top of the
neck. Make a 395 x 40 px rounded
rectangle with 20 px Corner Radius.
In the Properties panel, change its Fill color to a lighter turquoise.

Press Control-J
to duplicate our shape and move it on top of the rim. Let's make the shape a bit larger. You can do this by changing its size in the Properties panel. Otherwise, press Control-T for Free Transform Path and make the copy a bit larger by holding Alt-Shift and using
the Move Tool (V) to expand the
shape. 

Step 4

Make a 340 x 80
px orange rectangle with 20 px
Corner Radius for the cap of the jar. Send
the shape To Back by either pressing
Shift-Control-[ or dragging it down
in the Layers panel, thus placing the shape beneath the glass rim.

Step 5

Now it's time to use the copy of the jar body that
we made in the very first step! Find it in the Layers panel and drag it on top of the body. Change the Fill color of the copy to light blue.

Step 6

Keeping the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) selected, decrease the size of the
shape, depicting water inside the jar.

Step 7

Now create another rectangle, covering the
top of the water shape. Keeping the Rounded
Rectangle Tool (U) selected, select both shapes and click the right mouse button to open the
context menu. Subtract Front Shape,
making the top of the jar empty.

By the way, our shapes are still editable! And we can change the size of the subtracted shape if we click it with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and press Control-T for Free Transform Path.

Step 8

Now switch to the Rectangle Tool (U) and make a 35 x 1110
px light-yellow vertical stripe for the straw. Select all shapes in the Layers panel and Align their horizontal
centers from the control panel on top.

Now select only the straw and press Control-[ several times, moving the
layer down, until you place it between the jar body and the glass rim.
Now the straw looks as if it is inside the jar.

Step 9

Let’s shape the handle of the jar. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) to make a
turquoise shape and then another, smaller shape on top of it. Select both
shapes, while the Rounded Rectangle Tool
(U) is still selected, and Subtract
Front Shape to cut the top shape out. Send the handle to Back by pressing Shift-Control-[, and make its fill color a bit darker than the body of the jar.

2. Make a Lemon From Basic Shapes

Step 1

Now let's prepare the main ingredients for our
lemonade. Take the Ellipse Tool (U)
and make a 320 x 320 px yellowish-orange circle. 

Duplicate
(Control-J) the shape and use Free Transform Path (Control-T) to make the copy smaller. Fill the
copy with light yellow for the flesh of the lemon. Then add a third shape
on top, making it a bit darker and smaller.

Step 2

We need to divide the top circle in order
to shape the segments of our lemon. Make the top circle invisible, so that it doesn’t distract us, by clicking the tiny eye icon in the Layers
panel.

Take the Line Tool (U) and make a thin vertical stripe of 9 x 400 px across the lemon. Align the
shapes, if needed, to make the centers match.

Duplicate
(Control-J) the stripe, press Control-T and rotate the shape 90
degrees, placing it horizontally across the lemon.

Step 3

Make two more copies of the stripe,
rotating each of them 45 degrees. Finally,
select all the stripes and, with the Line
Tool (U) selected, click the right mouse
button and Unite Shapes, merging
all the stripes into a single layer.

Step 4

Now make our lemon circle visible again in the
Layers panel. Select both the circle
and the merged stripes. Keeping the Line
Tool (U) selected, press the right mouse
button and Subtract Front Shape
to cut out the stripes.

Great! This way we’ve formed the segments
of our lemon.

Step 5

Let’s also shape the body of the lemon. Duplicate (Control-J) the biggest orange circle and move the shape to the right.

Take the Rectangle Tool (U) and make a narrow 86 x 340 px shape, placing it above the duplicated
circle.

Step 6

Keeping the Rectangle Tool (U) selected, select both the circle and the
rectangle, click the right mouse button and Unite
Shapes. Finish up with the body of the lemon by forming a tiny bump on the
right side of the shape with the help of the Ellipse Tool (U).

Step 7

Let’s make one more detail for our lemonade: a leaf of fresh mint. Take the Custom
Shape Tool (U) and find the Raindrop
shape in the drop-down list of Shapes,
which is located in the control panel on top.

Make a 190 x 300
px shape and fill it with dark turquoise.

3. Paint the Objects With Textured Brushes

Step 1

Now that the basic shapes are ready, let’s
add a touch of texture to make them more detailed and three-dimensional. 

First of all, let’s select the parts of the
lemon circle and Group (Control-G)
them. Then group the lemon’s body and, finally, group these two groups into
one. Keeping our layers neat and organized will help us to find and edit the shapes faster.

Now let’s select the lemon’s body layer,
hold Alt and click the Create a new layer
button at the bottom of the Layers
panel. In the pop-up New Layer
window, tick Use Previous Layer to Create
Clipping Mask. Now the new layer will be linked to the lemon’s body layer.
You will see a tiny arrow next to our new layer in the Layers panel, indicating a linked layer.

Such layers allow us to paint inside the
edges of the selected shape, which helps to speed up our work, as we don’t need
to use the Eraser Tool (E) in order
to clean up the edges. Let’s try it out!

Select the linked layer and take the Brush Tool (B). Click the Right Mouse Button to open the list of
brushes. Select any
grungy textured brush to your liking, either from your collection of default Photoshop brushes or by trying out one of these amazing textured brushes from Envato Market, which will give your artwork a new fresh look.

I’ll be using a Dry Brush 1 #2 from the default M Brushes set. You can Append
or Replace the brushes by clicking the tiny cog icon in the top right corner of the brushes list. Just find your set and there you have it!

Select a dark-orange color in the Color panel and try making a few
strokes above the lemon’s body.

Step 2

If you want to add more variety to the
brush strokes, try playing with the settings in the Brush panel (Window > Brush). Here you can change the Spacing or make the brush textured or even wet-edged.

Add more textured strokes to the body,
varying the color from dark orange to light yellow.

Then select the biggest circle of the lemon,
hold Alt and make a new linked layer.
Paint over the orange circle of the lemon to make it textured, too.

Step 3

Now let’s make the segments of the lemon
textured as well. Add a linked layer to the segments and use the textured brush
to paint over it, using dark orange and bright yellow. 

You can vary the Opacity and Flow of the brush in the control panel on top, making the brush
strokes light and transparent. I’m using a graphics tablet, so I keep the
Pressure for Opacity function turned
on. If you’re working with your mouse, that’s totally fine—just play with
the Opacity to adjust the thickness of your strokes.

We can also use the [ and ] keys to change
the size of the brush faster.

Step 4

Make a New
Layer for the minor details. Now I open a Dry Media Brushes default set and use the Charcoal Pencil brush to draw a few tiny red strokes above the
segment. Continue adding strokes, making the lemon spotty. Use other colors as
well to add variety to our image by switching to orange, bright yellow and
white.

Step 5

Add a few spots to the lemon’s body as
well. Now it looks complete!

Step 6

Let’s add a couple more variations of the lemon slices. Duplicate the lemon circle group by selecting it in the Layers panel and pressing Control-J. Let’s cut it in half, making
a slice. Keeping the group selected, click Add
layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layer
panel to add a Clipping Mask to the
whole group.

Now use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the upper half of the lemon.
Click the mask in the Layers panel
and use the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to
fill the selected area with Black color. This will make the top of our lemon
invisible. Now we have a nice slice of half-lemon!

Step 7

Let’s apply our techniques to the leaf.
Create a new linked layer and use a textured dry Brush to paint over the leaf.
Make one of its halves lighter. Add darker blue strokes on the bottom of the
leaf.

Step 8

Add a gentle highlight on top of the leaf,
using a light-turquoise color. Use the Charcoal Pencil brush to draw the veins
of the leaf: dark blue on the dark half and light turquoise on the light half.

Step 9

Now let’s color our jar. Select the body
shape of the jar and add a Linked Layer. Use the Dry Brush 1 #2 (or any other textured grainy brush to your liking)
and start painting with dark turquoise along the edges of the jar.

Step 10

Add more turquoise along the edges and then
switch to dark blue. Paint above, adding more contrast and color.

Step 11

Add a Linked Layer to the water shape and make the water shape textured by painting above it. When you’re happy
with the result, work at the handle of the jar, adding dimension to it.

Step 12

Now move to the glass rim. Remember
to add a new linked layer to every shape that you want to color. Make the
elements three-dimensional by using the darker color at the edges and adding a gentle
highlight in the center.

Step 13

Now let’s make a polka-dot pattern on the
cap of the jar. Select the cap layer and add a new linked layer to it.

Select a Pastel Rough Texture brush from the Dry Media Brushes set or use any other round brush to your liking.
Make a white spot on top of the cap. Add more spots, forming a pattern.
Finally, selected the pattern layer and set its Blending Mode to Overlay
on top of the Layers panel. Lower
the Opacity of the layer to 78%.

Step 14

Let’s shape the straw. First of all, make a
new Linked Layer and draw diagonal pink stripes, using the same textured grainy
brush as you did before. Now let’s make the straw more three-dimensional by adding a
couple more linked layers.

Switch one of the linked layers to Screen Blending Mode and paint along
the left edge of the straw with yellow to make a highlight. Switch
another linked layer to Multiply Mode
and paint along the right edge with pink to add a gentle shadow.

Lower the Opacity of the layers if the shadow or highlight turns out to be
too intense.

Step 15

Let’s add a touch of blue to the part of the stroke inside the jar. This way we’ll show that it is behind the
glass surface. Add a new linked layer to the straw. Take the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and select
the bottom piece of the straw, which is inside the water. Fill the selected
area with light-blue color and switch the layer to Multiply Mode.

We can add one more linked layer to the
straw and this time fill the whole shape inside the jar with light-blue color.
Switch it to Multiply Mode, too, and
lower the Opacity a bit.

4. Build a Balanced Composition

Step 1

Let’s see, what do we have to make fresh
lemonade? We have a whole lemon (I’ve made it by attaching two parts of the
lemon body to each other), a half-lemon, a lemon circle, a slice and a mint leaf. Let’s mix everything together!

Step 2

Let’s place some lemons on both sides of
the jar. Use the Shift-Control-[ and Shift-Control-] key combinations to
rearrange the shapes as needed.

Duplicate the lemon circle and put a couple of copies inside the jar. Let’s edit these shapes a bit. Copy
the biggest circle of the lemon and place it on top of the other circles. Change
its fill color to blue and switch to Multiply
Mode, lowering the Opacity to
about 60%. This subtle touch of blue
gives our lemons a realistic look, showing that they are floating in the water.

Step 3

Add more slices inside and outside the jar.
Start decorating the whole scene with leaves.

Step 4

Now duplicate the water shape and place the
copy on top of the lemons. Switch to Multiply
Mode, making it look a bit more true to life. Add more leaves to balance
the composition.

Step 5

Use the Charcoal Pencil brush to make a thin, arched stroke for the stem of
the plant. Attach a few berries by making circle spots. Duplicate the
plants and decorate our jar. Use Edit
> Transform > Flip Horizontal to mirror some of the shapes.

Step 6

Let’s finish up our illustration,
making the composition look balanced. Fill the Background layer with
light-yellow color. Create a New Layer
on top of the Background layer and use a textured brush to make a gentle shadow
underneath the jar.

Wonderful! Our Glass Jar of Fresh Lemonade
Is Ready!

Great job, my friends! We’ve learned some
useful tips and tricks while working with geometric shapes, linked layers,
clipping masks and making our image unique by applying grainy textures with the
help of the brushes.

As you can see, a touch of texture gives a
really nice look to a flat illustration, making it look unique and detailed. You
can apply this knowledge not only to creating a fancy jar, but also to making any
other kind of flat illustration look different.

Check out the following tutorial and see how you can make simple flat weather icons look different, when you apply a grainy texture!

• 
  Icon Design
  
  
  How to Create Flat Weather Icons in Adobe Photoshop
  
  
  Yulia Sokolova

Have fun!