Glass Icons

Glass web icons can be viewed as an independent icon style though it is logical to assume that glass style is just one of the types of the shiny, glossy design.

Other types of the glossy web icons design that can be marked out:

• glass icons;
• metal icons;
• glass-metal icons;
• transparent icons.

Glossy icons can be aqua, crystal, plastic etc. and at the same time transparent and half-transparent.

Moreover, there are partly glass and partly stained icons meaning the objects contain some glassy or stained elements.

Glass icons as well as other types of icons are often depicted with reflecting. It is one of the standard features of the "Web 2.0" icons. You may find various tutorials on the internet instructing to create vertical reflection effect for web icons.

The clean look of glass icons makes navigating through the internet pages playful and attracts a lot of people. In the Internet sources you may find a huge selection of tutorials about the ways of creating such neat web icons.

Tips for fast and simple creation of glass web icons.

Adobe Photoshop is the number 1 software for creating web icons. Photoshop is becoming steadily more and more flexible software for design. Originally it was rather an image editor and nowadays it enables to create almost all visual effects used for the graphic design. A great amount of the prominent web designers and illustrators create their great web icons designs with this software. The ability to combine pixel painting with vector tool for creating glass icons, buttons, characters etc. is an essential feature of the latest Photoshop versions.<\p>

The easiest way to design Glass icons is to make the "glass" layer overlap the image. With a help of the "eraser" tool you will be able to build an empty diagonal line through the image. You are supposed to proceed using eraser for making adjustments to the glass layer until the moment when the glass effect repeats the contour of the icon. It should kind of the glass haze in the opposite sides. As soon as this procedure complete the further adjustments should be applied.

Professional web designers should use this effect carefully and remember that glass-fever may look ridiculous. Remember glass icons should be combined with taste so that the website style could remain professional and reserved.