Learn step by step how to draw this lion mascot in Photoshop. This tutorial will cover the basics such as using the Pen and selection tools to create the outline, painting, and shading.

Preview of Final Results

Lion Mascot Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1

Create a new document. This one is 700x700 in size and 300 dpi resolution.

Step 2

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “body”. Make the contour of the mascot using the pen tool.

Make the selection and fill it in with yellow (#ffe91c).

Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “tail tip”. Move it over the “body” layer. Using the lasso tool make a zone on the tail tip and fill it in with white (#ffffff).

Step 4

Now create the T-shirt. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “T-shirt”. Move it over the “tail tip” layer. Using the lasso tool, make a form like a T-shirt.

Make the selection and fill it in with white (#ffffff).

Step 5

Create the pants. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “pants”. Move it over the “T-shirt” layer. Using the lasso tool, create the paths form.

Fill the shape using the brush tool and set it to a green colour (#3fb734).

Step 6

Make the hair. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “hair”. Move it over the “pants” layer. Use the pen tool to make the shape of the hair.

Fill it with green (#3fb734).

Step 7

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “eyes backgound” and move it over the “hair” layer. Make the shape of the eyes

Fill the shape with white (#ffffff) with the brush tool (b).

Step 8

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “eye green zone” and move it over the “eyes background” layer. Make the shape of the colored part of the eye.

Fill it with green (#3fb734).

Step 9

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named ”eye black zone” and move it under the “eyes background” layer. Fill the center part of the eye with black (#000000).

Step 10

Make a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “eyes reflection” and move it over the “eyes green zone”. Using the brush tool (b) with hardness set to 100%, make two white (#ffffff) dots like in the picture.

Step 11

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “nose” and move it move it over the “eyes reflection” layer. Make the selection for the nose by using lasso tool (P).

Use the brush tool (B) set to black (#f0db00) with opacity set to 20%.

Step 12

Load the selection you made in Step 11 and create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “nose shadow” and move it over the “nose” layer. Brush the left side with black (#000000) as shown below.

Set the opacity to 20% and the result should look like this:

Step 13

With the same selection, create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “nose reflection” and move it over the “nose shadow” layer. Brush the upper right side with white (#ffffff).

The result should look like this:

Step 14

Make a selection as shown below and create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left eye shadow”. Move it over the “nose reflection” layer. Use the brush tool (B) to brush the upper side of the eye.

Use a black (#000000) brush.

Set the fill to around 40%

Step 15

Make a selection like shown in the picture and delete the area from the layer you just made in the previous step.

Step 16

Do the same thing to the other eye. Make the selection on a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right eye shadow”. Move it over the “left eye shadow” layer.

Brush the inside of the selection like in the previous steps with the same settings. Brush with black (#000000) and set the fill to 40%.

The result should look like this:

Step 17

Make a selection like in the picture and erase that area from the layer you made in the last step.

Step 18

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “left eyebrow”. Move it over the “right eye shadow” layer. With the pen tool (P), make a path.

Make the eyebrows a light yellow color (#fff5ac) by creating a stroke path using a 20x brush with hardness set at 0%.

Step 19

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right eyebrow”. Move it over the “left eyebrow” layer and repeat the previous step to create the left eyebrow. Set the stroke path with the same settings.

Step 20

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “chin”, move it under the “eyes background” layer. Make a selection like shown in the picture and brush it from below with white (#ffffff). The result should look like this: 20b shows.

Step 21

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “forehead shadow”. Move it under the “hair” layer and make a similar selection like in the picture.

Brush the darker part of the forehead with (#f1cf16).

Move the layer in front of the layer with the hair you created in step 6.

Step 22

Use the lasso tool (L) tool on a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “legs shadow”. Move it over the ”forehead shadow” layer to create a shape like in the picture below.

Set brush hardness at 100% and fill the selection with color (#f1cf16)

Step 23

Make a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “tail shadow”. Move it over the “legs shadow” layer and create a selection with the lasso tool (L) on the tail. Fill it with colour (#f1cf16) using a brush with 100% hardness.

Step 24

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and move it over the “tail shadow” layer. Name it “right arm shadow”. On the right hand, make a selection with the lasso tool (L) and brush it with colour (#f1cf16) set to 100% hardness.

Step 25

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “ear shadow”. Move it over the “right arm shadow” layer. Make a new path with the pen tool (P) on the left ear like in the picture.

Make the selection and fill it with color (#f1cf16)

Step 26

Create a shadow on the left hand under the ball. Make a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left arm shadow” and move it over the “ear shadow” layer. Make a selection with the pen tool (P) as shown below.

Create a shadow by filling the selection with the brush tool (B) in color (#f1cf16) with 100% hardness.

Step 27

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “neck shadow”. Move it under the “forehead shadow” layer and create the shadow on the neck by making a selection like shown in the picture with the pen tool (P)

Fill it with color (#e1e1e1) using the brush tool (B).

Step 28

Make a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “tail tip shadow” and move it under the “forehead shadow” layer. Make a new selection on the tail tip with the pen tool (P).

Create the shadow using the brush tool (B) in color (# e1e1e1)

Step 29

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “pants shadow”. Move it under the “hair” layer and with the pen tool (P) create the selection of the shadow between the legs on the pants.

Using the brush tool (B) fill it with color (#019c22)

Step 30

On the left side of the lion (right side of the picture), create a shape with the pen tool (P) for the hair. In a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left hair shadow”, place it over the “hair” layer.

Fill it with color (#019c22) by using brush tool (B) with 100% hardness,

Step 31

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “hair top shadow”. Place it over the “left hair shadow” layer. On the top section of the hair, create a new shape with the pen tool (P).

Fill it with color (#019c22) by using the brush tool (B) with 100% hardness.

Step 32

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right hair down shadow”. Move it over the “hair top shadow” layer. Above the forehead, create a new shape.

Fill it with b by using brush tool (B) set with 100% hardness.

Step 33

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “tail spots”. Move it under the “chin” layer. To make the tail spotted, make some closed paths on the tail with the pen tool (P).

Fill it with color (#bd9f00) by using the brush tool (B) with 100% hardness.

Step 34

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “left leg spots”. Move it over the “tail spots” layer and make some more closed paths with pen tool (P) on the left leg to make it spotted.

Fill the spots with color (#bd9f00) by using the brush tool (B) with 100% hardness.

Step 35

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right leg spots”. Move it over the “left leg spots” layer and repeat the same steps in the previous step, this time on the right leg. Make some closed paths with the pen tool (P) on the other leg

then make the selection and fill it with color (#bd9f00) by using brush tool (B) set to 100% hardness

Step 36

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right hand spots”. Move it over the “right leg spots” layer and make some closed paths with pen tool (P) on the right arm

Make the selection, and fill it with color (#bd9f00) by using brush tool (B) set to 100% hardness.

Step 37

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N), name it “left hand spots”, move it over “right hand spots”, and make some closed paths with the pen tool (P) on the left arm.

Make the selection, and fill it with color (#bd9f00) by using the brush tool (B) set to 100% hardness.

Step 38

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N), name it “forehead spots”, move it over “left hand spots”, and make some closed paths with the pen tool (P) on the forehead

Make the selection, and fill it with color (#bd9f00) by using the brush tool (B) set to 100% hardness.

Step 39

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “nose center reflection” and move it over the “right eyebrow” layer. On the nose, create a new shape using the pen tool (P).

Fill it in with white (#ffffff) by using brush tool (B) set to 100% hardness.

Modify the opacity to 20%.

Step 40

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left eye line” and move it over the “nose center reflection” layer. Make the outline shape of the left eye with the pen tool (P) and fill it with black (#000000).

Step 41

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “right eye line”. Move it over the “left eye line” layer. Make the outline shape of the other eye with the pen tool (P) an fill it with black (#000000).

Step 42

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “mouth” and move it over “right eye line” layer. Make the outline shape of the mouth and nose with the pen tool (P) and fill it with black (#000000).

Step 43

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “feet lines” and move it over the “mouth” layer. Make a shape on both legs with the pen tool (P) and fill it with black (#000000).

Step 44

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N), named “pants line” and move it over “feet lines” layer. Make a shape on the pants with the pen tool (P) and fill it with black (#000000).

Step 45

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left eye dark zone” and move it over “pants line” layer. Use the lasso tool (L) to make a new selection to define the shape of the dark side of the left eye and fill it with a black brush (#000000). Set the opacity to 20%.

Step 46

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “right eye dark zone” and move it over “left eye dark zone” layer. Use the pen tool (P ) to make a new selection to define the shape of the dark side of the right eye.

Brush it with brush tool (B) using black (#000000).

Set the opacity to 20%.

Step 47

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “ears lines” and move it over the “right eye dark zone” layer. Outline of the ears with the pen tool (P).

Fill the selection with the brush tool (B) using black (#000000).

Step 48

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “body lines” and move it over the “ears lines” layer. Make the outline of the body by creating a path with the pen tool (P).

Make a stroke path with the brush master diameter set to 2px. Set the hardness at 0% in black (#000000).

Step 49

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “arm details” and move it over the “body lines” layer. Use the pen tool to make some details on the right arm and fill the selection with the brush tool (B) in black (#000000).

Step 50

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) called “hair lines” and move it over the “arm details” layer. Make the outline of the head and hair with the pen tool (P) and fill the selection with the brush tool (B) in black (#000000).

Step 51

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “ball” and move it over “hair lines” layer. Make the outline of the ball with pen tool (P) and fill the selection with brush tool (B) in black ( #ffffff).

Step 52

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “top yellow detail” and move it over the “ball” layer. Make the yellow detail of the ball with the pen tool (P) and fill the selection with the brush tool (B) using yellow (#ffe91c).

Step 53

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “left top ball design” and move it under the “left top yellow detail”. Make the yellow detail of the ball with the pen tool (P) and fill the selection with the brush tool (B) using yellow (#323232).

Add a gradient to the layer as shown below.

Step 54

Duplicate the “left top yellow detail” and “left top ball design” layers and rename them “right top yellow detail” and “right top ball design”. Flip them horizontally (Free Transform (Ctrl+T) > Flip Horizontal) and move them to the right topside of the ball.

Step 55

Duplicate the layers “left top yellow detail” and “left top ball design” and rename them “down yellow detail” and “down ball design”. Rotate and move them until they look like how they are in the picture.

Modify the angle of the gradient to 0 degrees.

Step 56

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “ball grey lines” and move it over the “down yellow details”. Make the outline of the ball by creating a path with the pen tool (P)

Create a stroke path with brush master diameter set to 2px and hardness 0%. Use grey (#e4e4e4).

Step 57

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “ball dark grey lines” and move it over the “ball grey lines” layer. Make a stroke path of the shape created in the previous step with brush master diameter set to 2px and hardness 0%. Use dark grey (#b9b9b9).

Step 58

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “ball line” and move it over the “ball dark grey lines” layer. Make the outline of the ball by creating a path with the pen tool (P).

Make a stroke the path with brush master diameter set to 2px and hardness 0%. Use black (#000000).

Step 59

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “shadow” and move it over the “ball line” layer. Create the shape of the shadow with the pen tool (P).

Fill the shape with black (#000000) using the brush tool (B) with hardness set to 100%.

Step 60

Now everything is finished! Save your work using the Save As option in the File menu. Name the file “Step 60” and select the format as “PNG (*.PNG).

Final Results