How To Draw Broken Glass Shards

Step 1

This tutorial will show you how to make a piece of broken glass from scratch in Photoshop.
First I want to thank Sandor Weisz at Flickr for the background image I am using in this Tutorial.
Source: http://flickr.com/photos/santheo/38104132/sizes/l/

Ok after we create our image using this background the first thing I do is duplicate the background three times.
I name the layers starting at the bottom; "Background", "Near Edge Refraction", "Top Surface Refraction", and "Far Edge Refraction".
Then I click the eye icon and turn off all three "Refraction" layers, we will use those later to bend a little light.
And, Let's Highlight our Background layer and click on the little lock icon to protect the background layer so we don't accidentally draw on it.

Step 2

On the color pallet I select a light/med blue as my foreground color. My choice was #008caf.
Select your top layer (should be the Far Edge Refraction layer) so that the new layer will be created at the top of the stack.
Click on the New Layer icon and name this new layer "Top Surface".
Then use the pen tool and just click out a few points to create the outline of the piece of glass.
Right click and select Fill Path, when the dialog box opens just click OK to use the Blue foreground color.
Set the opacity for this layer to 70% and set the Fill to about 30%.

Step 3

Create a new Layer and call it "Near Edge", put this layer under the Top Surface layer.
With this new layer selected and active, Ctrl + Click on the "Top Surface" image icon, this will select the Top surface.
Go to Select / Save Selection, Choose "Save as a new channel" and name it "top".
Make sure the "Near Edge layer is still selected (Highlited) and then select any marquee tool. Now you can move the selection with the arrow keys.
tap the down arrow 8 or 10 times. you will see the selection moving but the "Top Surface" Should not be moving along with it.
Save the selection again in this new position (we'll need it in a few mins. Save as a new channel and call it "Shifted".
Now go back to Select / Load Selection and choose "Top" in the channel drop down selection, choose "Subtract From Selection" and click OK.
This will delete the "Top" selection from the selections current position and leave you with a small selection which will become your "Near Edge".
Now select the pen tool and we need to fix the ends of this "Near Edge" Selection where they don't meet the "Top Surface" correctly.
Using the pen tool create the two small triangle (in the blown up sections of this image to connect the corners of the "Near Edge" with the corners of the "Top Surface".
Then right click on either triangle and select "Make Selection", when the dialog appears put a check in the "Add to Selection" option and click OK.
Our "Near Edge" selection now meets up with the "Top Surface" Correctly.
Use the Bucket tool to flood fill this selection with the same Blue (#008caf) color.
Set the Opacity to 75% and set the Fill to 90%.

Step 4

Now lets create the Far Edge.
Create a new layer at the top of the layer stack and name it "Far Edge".
With the new "Far Edge" layer selected (highlighted) go to Select / Load Selection and choose "Top" in the Channel Drop down, and make sure "New Selection" is checked and click ok.
This re-selects the top surface.
Now go to Select / Load Selection and choose "Shifted" in the channel drop down, make sure "Subtract from selection" is checked and click ok.
That easy and now we have our "Far Edge" selection made.
Using the bucket tool flood fill this "Far Edge" selection with the original Blue (#008caf) color.
Set the Opacity to 35% and set the Fill to 40%.

I know it looks kinda crappy right now, but we are about to start sprucing it up with layer styles.

Step 5

Here are the settings for all the styles for the "Near Edge" layer;

Step 6

And, here are the settings for all the styles for the "Far Edge" layer;

Step 7

Now your piece of glass should look something like this.

Step 8

OK now, Remember those Refraction layers we created way back in the beginning? It's time to bend some light!
Click on the Eye icon of the "Near Edge Refraction" layer and make it visible, also make it the active (highlighted) layer.
Select the move tool and tap the up arrow 3 times to move the "Near Edge Refraction" up a few pixels.
Now Ctrl + Click on the "Near Edge" layer image icon(the one with all the Styles associated with it not the refraction layer).
This will re-select the near edge. With the "Near Edge Refraction" layer still active, Click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon.
This will mask out all of the "Near Edge Refraction" layer except the part directly under the near edge, and the original layer will show through everywhere else.
We now have the light bending through the near edge.

Click on the Eye icon of the "Top Surface Refraction" layer and make it visible, also make it the active (highlighted) layer.
Select the move tool and tap the down arrow 3 times then tap the right arrow 3 times to move the "Top Surface Refraction" down and to the right a few pixels.
Now Ctrl + Click on the "Top Surface" layer image icon(the one with all the Styles associated with it not the refraction layer).
This will re-select the Top Surface. With the "Top Surface Refraction" layer still active, Click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon.
This will mask out all of the "Top Surface Refraction" layer except the part directly under the Top Surface, and the original layer will show through everywhere else.
We now have the light bending through the Top Surface.

Click on the Eye icon of the "Far Edge Refraction" layer and make it visable, also make it the active (highlited) layer.
Select the move tool and tap the left arrow 3 times to move the "Far Edge Refraction" left a few pixels.
Now Ctrl + Click on the "Far Edge" layer image icon(the one with all the Styles associated with it not the refraction layer).
This will re-select the far edge. With the "Far Edge Refraction" layer still active, Click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon.
This will mask out all of the "Far Edge Refraction" layer except the part directly under the far edge, and the original layer will show through everywhere else.
We now have the light bending through All three surfaces.

Step 9

Now to dirty it up a bit.
Duplicate the "Near Edge Refraction" layer, turn off the visibility of the "Near Edge Refraction" layer and lets work with the "Near Edge Refraction copy" layer, just in case you want to change your mind later.
Make sure the Image icon for the "Near Edge Refraction copy" layer is selected (has the white box around it) and apply Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur.
When dialog appears set the radius to 0.6 pixels and click OK.

Duplicate the "Top Surface Refraction" layer, turn off the visibility of the "Top Surface Refraction" layer and lets work with the "Top Surface Refraction copy" layer, just in case you want to change your mind later.
Make sure the Image icon for the "Top Surface Refraction copy" layer is selected (has the white box around it) and apply Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur.
When dialog appears set the radius to 0.2 pixels and click OK.

Duplicate the "Far Edge Refraction" layer, turn off the visibility of the "Far Edge Refraction" layer and lets work with the "Far Edge Refraction copy" layer, just in case you want to change your mind later.
Make sure the Image icon for the "Far Edge Refraction copy" layer is selected (has the white box around it) and apply Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur.
When dialog appears set the radius to 0.9 pixels (because we are looking through two surfaces here) and click OK.

Step 10

This next step is pretty subjective and you may need to try it a few times so we will do it on a new layer too.
Create a new layer between the "Near Edge" & "Top Surface" layers, name this layer "Rough Edge".
Ctrl + Click on the image icon of the "Near Edge" layer to re-select the near edge, so you can only work inside the boundary of the near edge.
Select the brush tool and set the opacity of the brush to 50%, set the hardness to about 10%, and set the size jitter to about 75%.
Set your foreground color to white and do a few quick random scribbles along the near edge to add a little roughness to the broken edge.
Select the Burn tool, and set the mode to "Highlights" and the exposure to 40% and rough up the near edge some more with the burn tool.
Set the layer opacity to 50% and the fill to 60%

A piece of glass on the floor.