Although Adobe Photoshop does not have any actual 3D components in the software, it is possible to create an illusion of 3D elements using art techniques such as shading, perspective, and depth. This tutorial will help you understand how to use some of these techniques in your own art so that you can create some stylish 3D designs in Adobe Photoshop.

What we will be creating

Although 3D design has almost always been a popular form of graphics design and art, this tutorial was inspired by one of our own community forum members, "Maka", who created some stylish 3D Abstract Blocks. I thought it would be a cool subject to write a tutorial on to show you a similar effect to the one he accomplishes in some of his work.

Lets Begin - Creating the Outline

First, we need to create the outline for our 3D Abstrack block. To do this, select the polygonal lasso tool from the toolbar in photoshop, and begin to make a selection in a document. Here is what my example selection looks like:

I filled my selection simply to make it visible, you do not need to fill your selection quite yet.

Create a new layer in PS, and fill it with a color of your choice. I have chosen a vibrant orange color for my own design:

Dividing the Parts of your Block

Now we need to divide our block into several different parts. Make several selections over different parts of your shape as shown in the diagram below. The areas you are selecting are going to give your object some depth by adding shadow to them, so keep this in mind.

You may notice that I actually went over the edges of the object with my selections. Before we continue, we need to correct this by cutting out the areas which are not part of our object. While holding Ctrl + Alt + Shift, click your layer with the block in it to have the selection only stay in the areas with the block in it.

Adding Shading to provide your Block with Depth

Create a new layer, and fill it with a darker color that the one you chose for your abstract object. Now, using the Burn Tool, start darkening these areas just enough so that you can see the difference between them and the original object.

Pull out your polygonal lasso tool again, and cut off areas of shading (and the part of the object in the layer below it) which seem to throw your object off. For example, areas like the one shown in the diagram below can be cut out to improve your object (those which the sides of the shading seem to go right into the non shaded region).

And the Result looks like this so far:

Add Some Highlights

Want to make your abstract block even more interesting? Try adding some highlights to it using the Dodge Tool! Think about the direction of your light source before doing this (our seems to be coming from the top right based on the fact that the shadows are on the bottom left):

Final Touches

You are done with your abstract block! However, why stop here? You can keep adding more effects to your design such as tears, or texture to make it even better in Photoshop.! Be sure to experiment!

Good Luck!