The three pictures you see around here are actually those pictures that I used the glass effect jars for. I’ll be talking more about how I created the glass jars in Photoshop down below.
Ok then, without further ado, let’s get started with this Transparent Glass Effect Photoshop Tutorial!
How do you make something look like glass?
Well, the crux is that glass actually doesn’t look like anything, right? If you have a clean sheet of glass you basically just look through it!
So, since glass is transparent, creating the basic glass texture of a jar consists in simply outlining its rims.
When I started out creating a glass effect in Photoshop, I first of all sketched the glass jar contour in a darker color.
How do you create a reflection effect in Photoshop?
As glass is translucent as such, creating a glass effect in Photoshop is all about adding reflections.
You can create a reflection effect in Photoshop using different techniques. What I did was using blending modes to create the first reflection effect.
Use Blending Modes To Create A Reflection Effect
First of all, I added light grayish lines on a new layer all around the insides of the jar.
In order to make the lines blend nicely with the jar, I switched the blending mode to Hard Light and reduced the Opacity of the layer.
This is how I created the first shiny glass effect in Photoshop!
how do you draw a glass reflection?
Adding blending effects is not all that it takes to create a glass effect in Photoshop.
To create more glass glare effects, I used a small, medium-hard brush to paint some smaller lines, again on a new layer. Reducing Flow and Opacity of the brush helps achieve better results.
The new thin lines are the same light grayish tone that I already used for the thicker to create my first glass reflection effect above.
However, this time I switched the blending mode of the layer to Screen. This makes the thinner glass reflections look brighter than the first layer with the reflections.
As you see in the picture, this step brought us quite a bit closer to making the whole thing look more like glass, and it also helped shaping the jar.
Creating Highlights and Glare
Glass does reflects light. Therefore, it’s important to add more highlights and glare to create a realistic glass effect.
I used the brush tool again to paint some broader reflections further away from the rims of the jar (all on separate layers).
Keep in mind the shape of jar and let your brush strokes follow the imagined curve of the glass.
I switched all the layers to Screen again and decreased the Opacity. You can try other blending modes, such as Overlay or Soft Light, as well. Depending on your image, a more subtle effect might give you the better result.
Final step: adding a knob on top of the glass jar
Lastly, I added a knob on top of the glass jar.
The knob itself contains reflections and glare, as well.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that there’s also a reflection from the knob below it on the glass.
And that was basically it. These were the major steps that I used for creating a glass effect in Photoshop!
Apart from the ‘intact’ glass jar, I created two more versions.
The second glass jar has a big crack on the top left. The third glass jar looks as if it’s just breaking right now with lots of splinters splashing into all directions.
These glass jars actually took me hours and hours of work… ◉_◉ and I know how difficult it is to create a realistic glass effect in Photoshop.
So after finishing my three Glasshouse photomanipulations, I decided to make the jars available to other Photoshop users! You can download the entire pack in my web store and use them to create your own artworks.
Jars w/ Glass Effect Photoshop Download
Two High-Resolution Photoshop .PSD Files:
Each file comes with a whole lot of single layers – that you can switch on and off and edit yourself.
The jar frames and reflections are all on separate layers so they can be edited as well, changed in shade and opacity, etc.
The jar cracks and splashing pieces of glass can be switched on and off, so you can use the jar as intact or broken.
You can easily add content into the jar as the center is transparent!
The first glass jar file (left in the picture) consists of:
- 50.6 MB
- Resolution: 3888 x 2988 px
- Five groups (intact jar, broken jar, glass cracks, splashing pieces of glass, glass pieces inside the jar)
- Altogether 72 PSD layers
The second glass jar file (right in the picture) consists of:
- 20.4 MB
- Resolution: 2977 x 2705 px
- Two groups (intact jar, broken jar)
- Altogether 22 PSD layers
These are just a few of the beautiful images that other artists have created using my Jars with Glass Effect Photoshop Download:
Glass Curse by FrostAlexis on DeviantArt
Arabesque by Endorell-Taelos on DeviantArt
Stone Heart – Cabinet of Curiosities by laeti-k on DeviantArt
- Tip: Add A Color Tint To Enhance The Glass Effect
When you download the glass jars, you can change and modify them in whatever way you want.
The high-resolution PSD files come with altogether 94 individual PSD layers so you have the greatest flexibility to adapt them to your personal needs!
For example, have you noticed that glass panes often have a color tint?
Depending on where the glass stands and what kind of light is reflecting in it, the glass takes on a blue, green, purplish, etc. tint.
You can recreate that effect by adding a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer. Add this adjustment layer above any of the glass layers that you want to apply the effect to.
As you have 94 layers available, you can precisely select which layer or layers you want to give a color tint.
Create a clipping mask for the Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer and check the Colorize box. Move the Color and Opacity sliders to adjust type and intensity of the color effect.
Fully Editable High-Resolution Glass Jars in 2 PSD Files With Altogether 94 Individual Photoshop Layers.
