How to Make an Hourglass With Photoshop

Sometimes, it's necessary to create an hourglass in your art to convey time. Although it may look time-consuming, the process of creating an hourglass in Photoshop doesn't have to take an hour. If you use these easy tips, you'll be on your way to creating a realistic looking hourglass in no time.

Instructions

1. 

   Open Photoshop, and create a new file. Set the size to 1024 x 768 pixels. Draw a shape using the Pen tool from the tool bar, or select "P" on your keyboard. Draw one side of the hourglass.

2. 

   Right-click on the layer and select "Duplicate" from the drop-down menu.

3. 

   Go to "Edit" on the menu bar, and select "Transform Shape," then "Flip Horizontal." Next, select the Move icon from the tool bar, or press "V" on your keyboard. Move the shape to create the opposite side of the hourglass.

4. 

   Use the Pen tool to close up the shape.

5. 

   Go to "Edit" on the menu bar, and select "Merge Visible" to make all layers into one.

6. 

   Select the "Rectangle Marquee" from the tool bar, and draw the marquee around the top half of the hour glass. Right-click and select "Layer via Cut."

7. 

   Go to "Edit" on the menu bar, and select "Distort." Begin to alter the top half of the hourglass to create the figure of an hourglass. Repeat for the bottom half of the image. Merge visible again.

8. 

   Right-click on the image, and select "Blending Options." Go to "Inner Shadow," and change the color to white, and the blending mode to normal. Change the size to 100 px. Press "OK."

9. 

   Adjust the fill in the layer box to 34 percent and then lock the layer.

10. Create a new layer, and then change the foreground color to #996D17, which is a gold-like color. Use the Shape tool to draw an oval.

11. Go to "Filter" on the menu bar, and select "Noise," then "Add noise." You will have a pop-up that asks if it's okay to rasterize. Approve it. Change the amount of the noise to 30 percent.

12. Go back to the Filter, and select "Blur," then "Motion Blur." Change the angle to 0 degrees, then 15 px. Right-click on the layer, and select "Drop Shadow" and "Inner Glow" from the Blending Options. You do not need to change the presets.

13. Right-click on this layer and select "Duplicate." Move the duplicated layer to the bottom of the image, creating a mirrored effect. Rotate the image, by selecting "Edit" then "Transform," then "rotate by 180 degrees."

14. Create a new layer, and draw sand with the Freeform Pen tool from the tool bar.

15. Rasterize the layer by right-clicking and selecting "Rasterize." Next, go to "Filter," then "Noise," then "Gaussian." Check "Monochromatic."

16. Create a new layer. Select the Brush tool, then pull up the Brushes menu bar, by clicking of F5. Change the brush presets to 5 px Hard Round with 500 percent spacing in Brush Tip Shape. Change the scatter to 500 percent and the count to 5. Draw sand as it would look trickling down the hour glass. In Blending Options, select "Drop shadow." Erase as necessary.

17. Duplicate the layers from Steps 12 and 13 to create a more decorative display.

18. Create a background with the gradient tool from the tool bar. Continue editing until the image is to your liking.

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