Draw Realistic 3D Cube (Exclusive Tutorial)

Whether or not Valentine was a saint and a martyr from third century Rome matters little to today’s consumers. The day named in his honor has been popularly celebrated since around the seventeenth century in Britain and has been commonly a day for friends and lovers to exchange tokens of affection since the eighteenth.

We at WDL consider this tutorial and our shared time-spending our Happy Valentine’s Day gift to you. So, it is with respect and affection that we turn our thoughts to the project at hand.

Prepared with beginners in mind, the first half explains how to draw a realistic 3D cube (a box). The second half, intended for experienced Photoshop artists, explains how to decorate our previously drawn box with bows and shadows.

1. Select Rectangle Tool (U) (make certain that you have selected Shape Layers ) and draw a red square (I used #E00000). Then transform the object to the needed perspective – one of the planes of the cube (Edit>Free Transform or press Ctrl+T). You should get something similar to this:

2. Repeat the first step for the remaining planes of the cube (for the upper plane I used # FF5445, for the second side #FF3725). As a result, you will have approximately something like this cube:

3. The resultant cube is not very realistic-looking. To enhance the cube and heighten the realism, it is possible to add gradients to the planes of the cube. In Layers panel select the first plane of your cube (Left Click with your mouse on the desired section of the red square). Then click on the button ‘Add a layer style' and select Gradient Overlay…

Add gradients according to suit your taste. I used the following settings:

 

4. Repeat the third step for the two remaining planes. For the right bottom portion I used



And for the upper one I used



As a result I got this cube:

.

 

Looks pretty realistic, doesn't it? ;)

Take a look at the next page about how to draw ribbons and bows, light and shadows.