Icon-A-Day, Icon # 7, DOC File

Setting the mode for the Aplication file Icons.

Published on January 14, 2005 By mormegil In Icons

Icon 07 (Doc File) This morning I got up and was determined to do a really impressive icon, but after walking my dogs in the -5 wind-chill I kind of lost my enthusiasm. Now that it is 9:15pm, I have finally settled down to do today's Icon of the Day. Since I put it off so long I am going to do another simple File icon. I say simple, but of the File icons this one is important. It is the most popular of the application file extensions, and will set the mood of many of the File icons to come. So here we go; there is not much in this icon that we have not done before, but I will go over the basic steps as we go along.
Step 1: We take the Text icon from a few days ago, copy it, and change the copy to DOC.	Step 2: Since this is a Word doc file I am going to place a simple 2D word logo on the file. I could draw this from scratch but I happen to have all the office logos in simple form in my scrap so I save a bit of time.	Step 3: Using the Contour tool I give the logo an outline. I will use this to bevel the logo later. Going with our style established in the MIDI File I slant the logo and contour back using the Perspective Tool.
Step 4: I give the front of the logo a gradient fill and some of the obligatory glare. I break the contour away from the original symbol and copy it, offset them a bit to simulate a bevel. And give them a gradient fill.	Step 5 Using the same reflection technique as before, we do 2 reflections; one on the file and one on the floor. I am going to do a small video on this technique this weekend.	Step 6: Now I draw a custom shape for our shadow, and pull a shadow off it. Using the Interactive Transparency tool I fade it out to make the shadow show some depth.
Step 7: I move my logo aside, and using the Paragraph tool I copy in some text. For this I am using the intro to the first Icon-A-Day Blog.	Finished Icon Image.	Download Finished Icon Here
I am going to try and do at least one of the more complicated icons this weekend. I also am hoping to do an Intro to the Mesh Tool Video. Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow. Read the other Icon-A-Day Articles. Icon # 1, Icon # 2, Icon #3, Icon # 4, Icon #5, Icon # 6. And don't forget to check for all the Icon-A-Day icons as they get made, in the Miscellaneous Icons Gallery at Wincustomize.com

Comments

Corky_O

on Jan 14, 2005

Paul,

I know that "keeping a beginner's mind" is difficult for many advanced people, but if you do, or if you can remember feeling a bit of awe and a sense of wonder at seeing the almost limitless possibilities while watching an advanced person creating high quality work in such an efficient manor - then you will understand how I feel after watching you create icons for the past 7 days.

Thank you very much for your generosity, and I can promise you that it is not wasted time as far as I am concerned. This is going to be a great year of learning graphics tools and techniques for me, and this will play no small part in my learning process.

Thanks teach, and I can't wait for the next lesson.

Hus

on Jan 14, 2005

You've got a fan, Mormegil! I'm really looking foward to the next video...the first one was better than 7/8ths of the TV shows I watch. Thanks again for exposing your genius-like CorelDRAW skills...

c242

on Jan 15, 2005

Great !

CerebroJD

on Jan 15, 2005

Whoah...thats incredible!

norbilis1

on Jan 28, 2005

that's kool

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