Create a Dock Icon Folder in Photoshop

This is our very first tutorial on our site and the reason we decided to use this tutorial is because, it is one of the beautiful icon tutorials i’ve seen online. This tutorial shows you how to create a dock icon folder in photoshop, customize it and fill your dock with all your favorite folders.
I love the fact that it is customizable and also the people at DrawingClouds have been nice enough to make it available for download. Also, if you are a photoshop beginner, this is the right tutorial for you.
STEP 1 – NEW DOCUMENT
Create a new document in photoshop with a transparent background, I choose 512×512px.

STEP 2 – FRONT
Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), with 15px radius and draw a shape like below,

then go to Edit – Transform – Warp and pull the four corners, pull the top corners a bit more, press enter when you’re satisfied with the result. The color of the shape isn’t important, name that layer Front.

Instead of using the Warp tool you can do Edit – Transform – Perspective it give a straighter look to the folder.

STEP 3 – DROP SHADOW
Apply a drop shadow to the Front layer, Layer – Layer Style – Drop Shadow or double click the layer and in the blending options choose drop shadow, set the values like this:

STEP 4 – BACK
Create two new shapes with the Rounded Rectangle Tool with 10px radius

Merge the two layers by selecting both of them and Right Click – Merge Layers, name the layer Back. Apply a drop shadow to the Back layer like we did in Step 3 with those values:


STEP 5 – CUSTOMIZATION
Choose an Image or a logo you’d like on your folder, I’ve choose a Firefox image : Here
Open your image in photoshop and drag it in your document, place it and scale it (Ctrl+T) where you want, duplicate the image layer. Take one of the image layers and place it in on top of the Front layer, make a selection of the Front layer, Ctrl+Left Click on the little thumbnail in the layer panel or Select – Load Selection. Select the image layer and create a layer mask Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal Selection, name this layer Front Image.

Select the other image layer we duplicated before and repeat the same process with the Back layer. Name the layer Back Image

STEP 6 – TEXT
Just add some text on the top; I’ve put Firefox using a font called Cooper Std with 36px.
STEP 7 – REFLECTION
To add a little glow you can do a reflection of your folder, to do that select all the layers and duplicate them. Merge all the duplicated layers you’ll have one layer name it Reflection. Rotate it 180° and go to Edit – Transform – Flip Horizontal. Drag the reflection just under the folder and create a layer mask on it Layer – Layer Mask – Reveal All. Then select the gradient tool going from black to white and make a gradient starting in the bottom going a little bit further than the reflection, make sure the layer mask is selected.

This tutorial is originally from DesignClouds.com