Creating a Folder Icon

Step 1

Alright guys, Let's start off by creating a new document, 500px by 500px.

Set your foreground color to #ebe4ac and and grab your Rounded Rectangle Tool. Make sure the Radius is set to 10px. In the middle of the canvas, carefully draw a rectangle, like so:

Name this layer "Front".

Step 2

Duplicate your first Rounded Rectangle, and move the duplicated layer behind your current layer. Set the duplicated layer's (from now on we will be referring to it as "Back") color to #ccc591. Here comes the tricky part, with "Back" selected, go to Edit -> Transform Path -> Skew and carefully slant the top part to the right, like so:

Apply those changes, then with "Back" still selected, go to Edit -> Free Transform and squish it down a bit, to show perspective:

Step 3

Now we have a passable folder. How easy was that!? Switch back to layer "Front" and go to Edit -> Transform Path -> Warp (Is this starting to feel a little familiar?) This is probably the trickiest part of the tutorial. Carefully drag out the dots to create a similar path to the one in this image below:

Be very careful, make sure the paths line up and look nice before you commit the changes. After you've weathered the "Front" Layer, switch back to "Back" (Hehe) and create a similar curve. This is what you should have at this point:

Step 4

Congratulate yourself, friend. The hard part is over, all that's left is creating some nice shadows/gradients.

Switch back to "Front", right click it in the Layer Palette and select Blending Options. Give it these settings:

Apply the same Gradient Overlay setting to "Back" and you're set!

Step 5 (Optional)

Let's use some of the techniques we've learned previously to add some paper into the icon! Grab your Rectangle Tool and draw a rectangle (You did this with the Rounded Rectangle Tool in Step 1, remember?) Make sure the rectangle is between layers "Front" and "Back". Use the Skew technique we learned about in Step 2. Lastly add a Drop Shadow (Step 4).

Final Image

I added in a background color to make the icon pop and a second sheet of paper.

Thanks for reading, I truly hope you learned something! Be sure to subscribe to us using the form below to get updated on new tutorials when they come (they come often!)