How to Make an Artistic Nature Logo in Photoshop

I was asked recently where I get my ideas for the things I create. The question surprised me, and I had to answer quite honestly, "I don't know". After having thought on it for a couple of weeks, though, I realized that I actually do have an answer: ideas come from life. Everything that I see gets stored into some part of my mind, where some thread of separate thought processes it and mulls it over and when I need a new idea, it's right there ready and waiting.

This logo idea was, to the best I can tell, inspired by a kung-fu movie that I watched. At the end of the movie, the swordsmen are facing off and the scenery goes in an instant from autumn leaves to snow falling fast and hard. It was the emotion that it evoked which inspired this idea.

In this guide, I'll help you create an artistic nature logo. It is three-color, and can be applied to a variety of uses. You will only need a copy of Photoshop - 7 or above - and a few minutes of time to create it.

Artistic Nature Logo in Photoshop - The Steps

1. New Canvas

Create a new canvas (File, New) that is in RGB mode with a white background and is sized at least 500 x 500 pixels. If you'll be displaying the logo only on the Internet, you might think this is too large - it isn't, trust me. The larger the file you start with, the more uses your logo can be put to without affecting the quality of your graphics.

2. Set Colors

Set your foreground color to hex #e9badf and your background color to hex #666666. You can change the colors later on by using layer styles if you really want to. For now, stick with me.

3. Break it Up

Now we want to break up our canvas into 5 pieces. The quickest and easiest way to do this is by using our background color to make two rectangles on the canvas. The first rectangle should be wide and near the top of the canvas, the second should be thin and closer to the bottom. Use your shape tool - not your marquee tool - and rasterize the layers when you've got them drawn. (Reference Illustration 01).

4. Plant a Tree

Our next step is to create a tree that will actually give "art" to our logo - along with the next step. We want the tree to be in silhouette, so change the gray color to black. Then, use a Photoshop shape to draw out a tree that overfills your canvas. If you don't have a tree shape, you're welcome to grab this one.

When you've drawn the shape, right-click its layer and choose "Rasterize Layer". (Reference Illustration 01).

5. Let Flowers Fall

This is a fun step, because you get to use your imagination about where flowers might fall from, to, and how many of them there should be. Switch your colors so that the pink is your foreground color, and use one of Photoshop's default flower shapes to start scattering flowers around the canvas.

Remember that this is the only real "color" your logo will have, making a bold statement, so be careful with what you do here. (Reference Illustration 02).

Make sure that you rasterize each flower after it's drawn.

6. Add Text

Our last step? Add some text. There are 2 spots already set up on your canvas perfect for text - the white space above and below the thin rectangle near the bottom of your logo. The top space should hold your site or company name, and the bottom space will hold your website URL or contact email address or a slogan.

Use a clean, sans-serif font (one like Verdana that doesn't have extra little lines like Times New Roman does). Keep the text as large as you can without making it take up the whole logo. If you need, you can apply a Stroke layer style to help the text stand out from the background.

Save and you're done!