How to Draw Apple iCloud Icon – Photoshop Tutorial

iCloud, the newest cloud storage service introduced by the Apple has a pretty simple yet beautiful logo. The icon is made from metallic material and has an extruded cloud icon on top of it. You may not know it, but creating this type of icon is actually very easy, and below is the iCloud icon that we will teach you how to draw in this post, using Photoshop!

Looks a bit complicated, but in fact all we need is some Layer Styles, basic vector shapes, and a bit of manual drawing. Let’s get into it!

Step 1

Start by creating a new file with size 512 x 512 px. Activate Rounded Rectangle Tool. On option bar, set its radius to 75 px. Click and drag to draw a rounded rectangle. Set its color to #5d5d5d.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Double click on the layer to open Layer Style dialog box. Add Gradient Overlay with default gradient, black to white, and reduce its Opacity to 76%.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 2

Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer shape. Click Edit > Free Transform or press Ctrl + T to perform transformation. From the option bar set its size to 98%.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

In Layers panel, delete Layer Style by dragging fx icon onto the trash icon, which is at the bottom right of the Layers panel. Next, double click the layers’ thumbnail to bring up Layer Style dialog box. Add Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

In the Gradient Overlay’s setting, set gradient’s Style to Angle. Click the gradient’s preview box to open gradient editor and use color combination of #8e8e8e, #a5a4a4, and #d8d8d8. Feel free to play around with each marker position, just make sure to set same color in the first and the last marker.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

This is the result after adding Layer Styles.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 3

Create new layer. Fill it with Radial Gradient from white to black.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Hold Alt and drag vector mask from previous layer to current layer. The gradient is now fit inside the icon.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Open the Layer Style and change its blend mode to Screen.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 4

Draw a rounded rectangle inside the icon. Set its radius to 75px with color #2a2a2a.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Add 2 more circle shape (Choose Ellipse tool, then hold Shift and drag it). From the option bar, set path mode to Add to shape area.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Double click cloud’s layer and then add Inner Shadow, Bevel and Emboss, and Stroke.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 5

Duplicate the cloud’s layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Remove its Layer Style by dragging fx icon from its layer thumbnail onto trash icon. Resize it (Ctrl + T) to 89%.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Change shape’s color to #5d5d5d. Reorder each shape’s position until the small cloud size is proportional to the bigger cloud.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Double click cloud’s layer and add following Layer Styles.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

For Gradient Overlay, make sure to use exact setting from Gradient Overlay in Step 2.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Here is what we have after adding Layer Styles to the small cloud.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 6: Add Metal Texture

Current design is very flat and too clean. Let’s add a subtle metal texture onto the surface. Create new layer. Click Edit > Fill and select Use: Black to fill the new layer with black.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Click Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Click Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Select Blur Method: Spin and Quality: Best.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

This filter will spin the noise and creates a circular wave.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 7

Click Image > Adjustments > Level or press Ctrl + L. In the dialog box, drag black slider in the Output Levels to the center to lighten the circular wave.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Hold Alt and drag vector mask from the icon’s base layer to the current layer. The circular wave is now inside the icon.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Activate Path Selection tool and select cloud path that we created in Step 4. Press Ctrl + C to save it to clipboard. Press Ctrl + V to paste it onto the circular wave’s vector mask. Set its path mode to Subtract.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Finally, copy and paste smaller cloud path that we have created in Step 5. Set its path mode to Add to Shape.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Here’s the result. The circular wave is inside the icon’s surface.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Change the layer’s Blend Mode to Screen.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Step 8: Shadow

Create new layer and place behind all layers. Create an elliptical selection (using ellipse tool) under the icon. Fill selection with black.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Soften shadow using filter, Gaussian Blur. Click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Duplicate shadow by pressing Ctrl + J. Add another Gaussian Blur, for this time use bigger Radius to get softer shadow. If the shadow is still too harsh, you can turn down its layer’s Opacity.

How to Draw an iCloud Icon in Photoshop

Final Result

This is the result of our tutorial. As you can see, the process of creating this icon is very easy. We just need to use some basic vector shapes and Layer Styles. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. If you have any question, feel free to ask!

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Download PSD

Can’t achieve certain step? Here is the result’s PSD file for you to test and play with.

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