This tutorial is going to teach you how to draw a Mircosoft's XBOX 360 console in photoshop using a reference image, simple techniques such as the gradient tools and the pen tool. You are expected to have some experience with both of these two tools to successfully apply and follow this tutorial. I am going to trace everything over this hi-resolution picture of the XBOX that I found. By the time you're done, your finished work will look something like this.

Starting off - Side Panel

The Side Panel consists of three parts: the surface, the top handle, and the fan's ventilation. The text on the side panel will be dealt with later. Open the hi-resolution image I provided earlier to start off.
For the surface, pick the Pen Tool and draw a path around the side panel as shown in the image below.

You will now have to set the Blending Options for the shape you selected. Make sure that the gradient matches the one in the image below, you will have to adjust the colour location accordingly. This step is quite important because we will be using the same procedure several times along the tutorial.

The surface part is now done, hide that layer and use the Pen Tool to trace the second part; the selected part shown below.

Set #4F545A as your foreground color, and #2F343A as the background color. Check the Bending Options to apply an Inner Shadow and a Gradient Overlay. Apply necessary changes according to the image below. The gradient should already be set to the same one we created in the previous step.


Creating the ventilation holes is a little bit trickier. We have to create a pattern of blurred dots which we will later fit into the ventilation place.
To create this pattern you will have to first create a new 20x20px document. Draw a Grey (#3B4046) circle in the middle, then apply a Gaussian Blur to it with a radius of 3px. (You can see the one I made here) With the dot ready in the middle, press Ctrl+A to select the whole canvas, and then go through Edit>Define Pattern and select a name for this pattern.


Close the pattern document and go back to your drawing. Create a wide horizontal selection across the canvas and then go through Edit>File and use the pattern you created. You will now have to delete some rows from your selection to end up with 5 rows only to match those in the original image. Once that is done, press Ctrl+T to Free Transform your block of dots, right-click anywhere on the stage to select the Distort option and then drag the edges of your block of dots to fall on the edges of the original ventilation holes of the original image.



Repeat the process to create the lower ventilation holes.

the Front Panel - Upper Handle

The Front Panel of the console starts from the top, it includes the handle, the front face, and the interface. We will start with an easy part, the top handle. Use the Pen Tool to trace that part as illustrated in the image below.


We will not fill this using Blending Options as we did for the earlier parts. You will create a Vector Custom Shape that cannot be edited, go through Layer>Rasterize>Layer to convert your shape into editable raster type. Then select the layer's content by holding down the Ctrl button and clicking on this layer on the layers panel.
Adjust you colors in accordance with the screenshot. Then apply a Liner Gradient vertically across the selection, and make sure the starting and ending points of the gradient actually match the ones stated on the screenshot.

The Front Panel - Front Face

We will now start tracing the Front Face of the pane, use the Pen Tool to trace the part shown in the image below.

Apply the following Blending Options to the shape you selected in the previous step. The Gradient Overlay might look a little bit trickier here, but all you have to do in fact is set each in the correct location according to the stated percentages while assigning the corresponding color as shown in the image below.

If applied successfully, your should end up with something similar to this.

The surface that we created is a bit too flat in comparison to the original. We will add one final touch to it. Select the Dodge Tool from the Toolbar, then right-click anywhere on the canvas and set the brush Master Diameter to 455px. Now position your mouse to the center of the front panel and then click five or six times to lighten up that area so that you end up with a result similar to the one below.

The Front Panel's Contents

We will start creating the contents of the main panel by tracing the shown figures on the screenshot below using the Pen Tool. You will also need to hide the front panel's surface layer you created previously, to be able to see the figures you going to trace.

To create some depth to our contents, apply a Drop Shadow using the attributes shown in the image below.

To fill the USB slot with colour go through Layer>Rasterize>Layer and then pick the Paint Bucket Tool and use the color #333333.

Time to do the Disk Tray, trace its shape using the Pen Tool as illustrated in the image below.

We will apply a set of Blending Options, start off by setting the foreground to #4A4D46 and the background to #EAEADE. Now apply all the options you see below.

That done, you should get something similar to the image below. Now use the Elliptical Marquee Tool and create a circular selection as shown.

Fill this with any color and then apply the following Blending Options.

To finish it off, access the Layer's Panel to set the layer's Fill to 0% and the Opacity to 50%.

It is time to do the Power Button. The shape of the button is not perfectly circular, so you will have to use the Pen Tool to draw it.

Set the Opacity of this layer to 75% and the apply the following Blending Options:

For the Button Lights, use the Elliptical/Rectangular Marquee Tool to select them as shown below. To select the outer circle, create an elliptical selection around the circle. While holding Alt create another elliptical selection so that you would subtract the original selection to leave you with the thickness of the outer button's light as shown in the illustration below.

Perform the same operation with the other parts of the button's light, and use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the rectangular part of the light.

The Gradient Overlay style for the rings are a little bit messy, so carefully apply the settings you see below.

Here is what your results should look like.

Adding the Text To the Console

We will now add the text to the Side Panel, the Disk Tray, and the Memory Card Slots.
We will start with the Side Panel text, you can download the required font from here. Once you have that font installed, use the Text Tool to type XBOX 360 in this color #989D9F, apply the following Blending Options and then set the Opacity of the layer to 55%.

To position your text in the right position, you will have to go first though Layer>Rasterize>Layer and then press Ctrl+T to go into Free Transform mode. Right-Click anywhere on your canvas and select Distort. Move the edges of your text object in to position the text at the location shown below.

Moving to the Disk Tray text, use the Text Tool to write XBOX 360 in this color #4A4B41, we can keep the layer this time as a text layer, but you have to scale it down to fit match the size of the text in the original image. Rotate the text 45 degrees clockwise. Apply the following Blending Options and set the layer's Opacity to 75%.


This is how our piece should look like at this stage.

As for the text on the Memory Card Slots, create your text using the Text Tool and give it the color #A9ACB0. Rotate the text 135 degrees clockwise, set the layer's opacity to 75% and Scale it down to fit the slot's area. Apply the following Bending Options to the text layer.

Your results after successfully applying the text should be like this.

We are almost done, next is the Eject Button Separator, create a very simple curved line using the Pen Tool.

Now apply the following Blending Options.

As for the Eject Button Icon itself , create it using Polygonal Lasso Tool, fill it with the color #3C3F32.

Change the Layer Mode to Soft Light and then apply the following Blending Options.

That was the very last step, you have completed the Xbox 360 console tutorial!