Creating a Metallic Tag (Dog Tag) in Photoshop
by Dr Diablo | Adobe Photoshop | Beginner
A dog tag is primarily used for the identification of the dead and wounded in war. In this tutorial, we are going to go through the process of creating a non formal dog tag using gradients and blending options in Photoshop.
Starting Off - Drawing the Shape of the Tag
Start off by creating a normal round shape using the , exactly like the one in the screenshot. Fill it up with the color .
We need to expand the shape we have in our disposal to match the shape of a regular dog tag, which is a square that is round on the sides. To make things easier, zoom into your canvas using the , and remember the point I marked with a red circle.
Create a selection using the across the middle of the round shape starting and including the dot we marked earlier in the previous step.
Move the selection all the way to the other size. Note that this step will determine the width of your tag.
Using the Single Column Marquee Tool 
, select the very first column of pixels from the half round shape on the right. Stretch your selection by pressing and transforming the selection to a rectangular shape that connects both sides. This is the base body of you tag.
Applying Effects to the Tag
We are now going to give depth to our current shape using only gradients and selection tools. To get started make sure that you select your shape by pressing on the shape's layer. Follow this visual guide
The only remaining thing right now is to create the hole where the strap can be inserted through. On a new layer, create a small circle on the far middle left of the tag, and fill it up with . Open up the blending options and insert these values.
Finally, just in case you wanted to add some text, apply these blending options to your text layer.
Your final result should look similar to this.
This concludes our tutorial, I hope that you learnt something new from this tutorial, feel free to email me on abaddon_zero@hotmail.com for any comments or questions. You can alternatively post at the Oman3D Forum.
- End of Tutorial