How to Create the Wheel of Fortune in Adobe Photoshop

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial we’re going to take a close look at the process of creating the Wheel of Fortune in Adobe Photoshop, using shapes and layer styles.

Find more great Game Graphics on GraphicRiver.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets will be used during this tutorial:

Intro font

Before you start, download and install the font. It will help you get the same result.

1. How to Create a Base for the Wheel

Step 1

Pick the Default Foreground and Background Colors (D). After that, pick the Switch Foreground and Background Colors (X).

Open Photoshop (I use Photoshop CS6), go to File > New, and create a 2520 x 2620 px New Document (set the Background Contents as Background Color). Set the vertical and horizontal guides to the center of the document.

Step 2

Go to Layer > New > Group to create a new Group with the name Back.

Step 3

Pick the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a rounded shape whose size is 1788 x 1788 px. Move it to the center of the document. Double-click the layer to apply the following Layer Styles. Add a Stroke with these settings:

Size: 4 px
Position: Outside
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 30%
Fill Type: Color
Color: #000000

Step 4

Now add a Gradient Overlay:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Click on the Gradient and set: #5b5b5b at 0%, #e9e9e9 at 25%, #5b5b5b at 50%, #e9e9e9e at 75% and #5b5b5b at 100%
Style: Angle
Angle: 0°
Scale: 100%
Uncheck Reverse and Dither
Check Align with Layer

Step 5

Add an Outer Glow with these settings:

Blend Mode: Lighter Color
Opacity: 87%
Noise: 0%
Color: #023c8d
Technique: Softer
Spread: 0%
Size: 17 px
Contour: Linear
Uncheck Anti-aliased
Range: 35%
Jitter: 0%

Rename the layer as Silver Frame.

Step 6

Now we will create a golden frame. Pick the Ellipse Tool (U) and click on the document area. Photoshop will open a dialog. Set the Size as 1705 x 1705 px. Move the shape to the center of the document.

Step 7

Double-click with your mouse to open the Layer Style dialog. Add a Stroke with these settings:

Size: 8 px
Position: Outside
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 50%
Fill Type: Color
Color: #360000

Step 8

Now add an Inner Glow:

Blend Mode: Overlay
Opacity: 52%
Noise: 0%
Color: #f5f5f6
Technique: Softer
Source: Edge
Choke: 100%
Size: 3 px
Uncheck the Anti-aliased
Range: 50%
Jitter: 0%

Step 9

Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Click on the Gradient and set: #fff64e at 0%, #e29302 at 25%, #fff64e at 50%, #e29302 at 75% and #fff64e at 100%
Style: Angle
Angle: 90°
Scale: 100%
Uncheck Reverse and Dither
Check Align with Layer

Step 10

Don't forget about a Drop Shadow:

Blending Mode: Multiply
Color: #000000
Opacity: 40%
Uncheck the Use Global Light box before setting an Angle: 90°
Distance: 15 px
Spread: 0%
Size: 15 px

Rename its layer to Golden Frame.

Step 11

Pick the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a new rounded shape whose Size is 1624 x 1624 px. Move the shape to the center.

Step 12

Apply an Inner Shadow:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: #000000
Uncheck the Use Global Light box before setting the Angle: 90°
Distance: 10 px
Choke: 33%
Size: 45 px
Contour: Linear
Check the Anti-aliased
Noise: 0%

Step 13

Also add a Color Overlay with these settings:

Blend Mode: Normal
Color: #362d3d
Opacity: 100%

Rename the layer as Inner Area.

Step 14

Now we need to create lamps. Pick the Ellipse Tool (U) and create two rounded shapes whose sizes are 60 x 60 px. Move these circles to the center of the wheel, but the first one should be above the center by 704 px, and the second one below the center by 704 px. Select them and Merge (go to Layers > Merge Shapes or press Control-E). Rename the layer to Double Lamps.

Step 15

Duplicate the Double Lamps layer, go to Edit > Transform Free Path (Control-T), and rotate this one by 22.5°. Repeat the action few times. As a result, you will get the following picture:

Step 16

Select all copies of Double Lamps layer and Merge them into one layer. For this, go to Layers > Merge Shapes or press Control-E. Duplicate the new layer. Rename all of them: the upper layer to Light and the lower one to Base.

Step 17

Double-click with your mouse on Base layer to apply the following layer styles. Add a Bevel & Emboss using the following values:

Style: Inner Bevel
Technique: Smooth
Depth: 103%
Direction: Up
Size: 18 px
Soften: 4 px
Uncheck the Use Global Light box before setting an Angle: 90°
Altitude: 60°
Gloss Contour: Linear
Uncheck the Anti-aliased
Highlight Mode: Color Dodge
Highlight Color: #ffffff
Opacity: 65%
Shadow Mode: Color Dodge
Shadow Color: #ffffff
Opacity: 87%

Step 18

Add an Inner Glow:

Blend Mode: Overlay
Opacity: 100%
Noise: 0%
Color: #ffffff
Technique: Softer
Source: Edge
Choke: 4%
Size: 8 px
Contour: Linear
Uncheck the Anti-aliased
Range: 55%
Jitter: 0%

Step 19

Now add a Satin style:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color: #000000
Opacity: 36%
Angle: 0°
Distance: 6 px
Size: 16 px
Contour: Linear
Uncheck the Anti-aliased and Invert

Step 20

Add a Color Overlay:

Blend Mode: Normal
Color: #000000
Opacity: 100%

Step 21

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

Blending Mode: Normal
Color: #ffffff
Opacity: 75%
Uncheck the Use Global Light box before setting an Angle: 90°
Distance: 6 px
Spread: 0%
Size: 5 px

Step 22

Double-click on the Light layer to apply the Layer Styles. Add a Stroke:

Size: 2 px
Position: Inside
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Fill Type: Color
Color: #f8f6d2

Step 23

Add an Inner Glow:

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Noise: 0%
Color: #f7f394
Technique: Softer
Source: Edge
Choke: 0%
Size: 15 px
Contour: Linear
Uncheck the Anti-aliased
Range: 30%
Jitter: 0%

Step 24

Now add a Color Overlay:

Blend Mode: Normal
Color: #ffffff
Opacity: 100%

Step 25

Add an Outer Glow:

Blend Mode: Hard Light
Opacity: 96%
Noise: 0%
Color: #fff754
Technique: Softer
Spread: 0%
Size: 54 px
Contour: Linear
Uncheck Anti-aliased
Range: 40%
Jitter: 0%

That's all. We will create colored sectors in the next part of the tutorial.