Photoshop Tutorial for Fashion Design (Part 17)
Palettes: Styles Palette

The Styles palette displays style presets. Style is simply a saved combination of different effects applied to a layer. To use it, first click on the layer you want to apply the effects to. Once the layer is active, click on the desired style. You can see the effects listed in the Layers palette under the respective layer.

Adobe Photoshop offers a nice variety of styles but most importantly, you can create one of your own. For example, you’ve created a certain layer styling. To do so, you can use the Layer menu we’ve discussed in the Menubar section, or you can click on the “Add a Layer Style” icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, or simply double-click on the layer. And let’s add Drop Shadow: you can change the distance, add Inner Shadow, adjust the opacity, and maybe use Gradient Overlay. Select the desired gradient from the pulldown menu, change the angle and maybe scaling. Click “OK” to apply the effects. At any moment, I can go back to the layer styling and change the effects. For example, I want to change the gradient. So I’m going to double-click on the Gradient Overlay effects listed in the Layers palette and let’s say change the opacity. Click “OK” to apply the changes.

To define all your effects as one style, first always make sure that the layer is active. Then simply click on the “Create New Style” icon at the bottom of the Styles palette. In addition, just like with swatches, you can roll your cursor over to the empty space in the Styles palette and click to create a new style. And the final option is in the menu list: just choose the “New Style” command. A preview thumb of your style will be added to the palette window.

To delete a style, simply click on the thumb and drag it to the trash bin.

Now that I have all my effects defined as one style, I can easily apply them to the layer I choose. Until the image is flattened, you can always remove styling from the layer. There are a number of ways to accomplish that.

First of all, make sure that the layer is active. Simply click on the desired layer in the Layers palette. Then use the “Clear Style” icon at the bottom of the Styles menu. The second option is to apply the default styling. And the final way is to use the Layers palette. Simply click and drag the effects to the trash bin.

Just like with swatches, you can use the Styles palette menu to choose how to display your preview thumbs, to reset, load, save and replace libraries as well as access a number of Adobe Photoshop presets.