22 Best Free Step By Step Adobe Photoshop Tutorials for Beginners

Adobe Photoshop, a wonderful photo editing tool, is one of the essential tools for most professional designers and photographers. For UI designers, Photoshop is one of the basic tools to help them create a brilliant web/app design.

However, as a UI design newbie or expert, learning and using Photoshop freely is not an easy task. This image editing tool is updated occasionally and a user must keep current with completely new photo editing and manipulation skills as well.

Today, Mockplus has connected 22 of the best free step-by-step Adobe Photoshop tutorials for you to learn and master Photoshop skills, tricks and tips quickly from the very beginning:

Note that an article always has an ending and can display limited contents. But, this does not mean that you have to be limited by it yet. Actually, in this article, all Photoshop tutorials will be introduced in four aspects to offer you a useful clue or method to learn PS and improve your PS skills systematically. OK! Let’s take a look at them one by one:

First, basic Photoshop tutorials for beginners to lay a solid foundation

1. Photoshop CC 2018 – Full Tutorial for Beginners [General Overview]

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: October, 28, 2017

Views: 287,305

As its name indicates, this tutorial is a general overview of Photoshop CC 2018. You will learn basic toolbar/windows/option information as well as basic skills of Photoshop.

It is a good video tutorial that offers you a general overview of Adobe Photoshop and lays a solid foundation for further learning.

2. Quick Photoshop Manipulation Tutorial for Beginners – Quick & Easy Method

Rating: ★★★

Publication time: July, 19, 2017

Views: 915,722

Are you looking for easy and quick Photoshop tutorials for beginners to quickly learn and master PS skills? This tutorial is exactly what you are looking for. It illustrates basic concepts of photo manipulation in details and allows you to learn and master basic Photoshop photo editing skills quickly.

If you're seeking affordable options, explore Photoshop cheap tutorials designed for beginners, providing an easy and quick way to learn and master basic photo editing skills.

3. Get to Know Photoshop – Photoshop Get Started Course

Rating: ★★★

It provides text tutorials paired with videos in a simple step-by-step format to guide you through Photoshop. It provides lots of tutorial topics about Photoshop, such as “Change the image size”, “Work with layer”, “Adjust the image quality” and so on.

4. Photoshop Tutorial For Beginners - Quick Start Guide - 10 Things Photoshop Beginners Want To Know

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: July, 12, 2016

Views: 114,271

This tutorial not only introduces the basics of Photoshop, it also lists the top 10 things beginners want to know how to do in Photoshop. It is a nice choice if you don’t know where to start.

5. Photoshop CC 2018 Tutorial - Designed for Beginners

Rating: ★★★★★

Publication time: February, 5, 2018

Views: 56,863

This video tutorial is made to show you how to use Photoshop 2018 CC. As a Photoshop beginner, you will learn the basics of PS 2018 CC through this comprehensive video tutorial. For example, it introduces you to the basic toolbars, tools, options and using working windows, working with image layers, and how to draw/blur/sharpen an image, etc.

Second, easy Photoshop tutorials for beginners to learn PS effects, skills and tricks

Once you have mastered the basics of Photoshop, the next step for you is to learn more Photoshop effects, skills and tricks to enhance your design:

6. 28 Amazing Photoshop CC Tips, Tricks & Hacks

Rating: ★★★★★

Publication time: September, 30, 2015

Views: 1,130,848

Even though this tutorial was published several years ago, it is still very useful. It introduces up to 28 amazing Photoshop CC tips, tricks and hacks, which will help optimize your photos and polish your UI design skills effectively.

7. Beginner Photoshop Tutorial: 10 Easy Photo Effects & Techniques

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: November, 14, 2016

Views: 13,910

In this YouTube Photoshop tutorial, you can learn 10 easy photo effects and techniques to improve your photos. The skills and techniques you learn in this tutorial are essential and useful for any UI design beginners and photographers, such as the split RGB color glitch effect, soft dreamy glow effect, faded black film look, light leak effect, classic black and white effect, etc. It is a perfect Photoshop tutorial to help you improve your PS skills in a very short time.

8. Dispersion Effect - Photoshop Tutorial

Rating: ★★★

Publication time: December, 12, 2017

Views: 337,961

You will learn how to create a dispersion effect and disintegration effect through this Photoshop CC tutorial for beginners.

9. Electricity/Lightning Effect in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: January, 25, 2018

Views: 123,437

Through this tutorial, you will learn how to create cool electricity/lightning effects in Photoshop step by step, making interesting and eye-catching photos.

This video tutorial is also very engaging and fun, which makes the learning process easier and more enjoyable for users.

10. Photoshop Tutorials – Light Painting Text Effect

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: December, 5, 2017

Views: 216,403

In this tutorial, you will learn how to optimize your text or logo design with light painting effects in Photoshop with ease.

11. Blending Multiple Images in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: June, 26, 2016

Views: 271,779

In this YouTube PS tutorial, you will learn basic techniques to blend multiple images in Photoshop. So, Just follow along its step-by-step guide to learn how to blend modes and layer masks, as well as adjusting layers and gradient maps.

12. 10 Steps to Get Started with 3D Effects in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★

Publication time: April, 13, 2017

Views: 39,924

Good 3D effects can enhance a text/website/app/photo design.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create original 3D objects or convert existing graphics to 3D objects in 10 steps using Photoshop. It is a really great technique to improve your website/app/photo design dramatically.

13. How to Make Logo in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: January, 27, 2017

Views: 684,193

Are you wondering to make your own logo in Photoshop even as a Photoshop beginner? This tutorial offers a very practical solution for creating professional logos in Photoshop.

14. How to Create Cartoon Effect in Photoshop – Vector Art (Easy Trick)

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: April, 12, 2017

Views: 696,883

Through this PS tutorial, you will easily learn how to use pen tools in Photoshop to create cartoon effects.

15. Smudge Oil Painting for Beginners - Smudge Photoshop Tutorial

Rating: ★★★

Publication time: April, 1, 2017

Views: 37,140

With this tutorial, you will learn about how to make a photo oil painting smudge effect in Photoshop. This effect is a good choice for creating elegant retro photos.

Thirdly, latest brilliant Photoshop tutorials to boost your skills and inspiration

This next batch of tutorials will take your skills and creativity to the next level:

16. Frost Effect in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: December, 28, 2017

Views: 739,230

Watch this tutorial and learn how to create a Frost effect for designing a gorgeous photo/UI design with a sci-fi design style. With this technique, you can easily “freeze” any object in your photo/design.

17. Transparent Clothes Effect - Photoshop Tutorial

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: June, 17, 2017

Views: 500,313

Transparent cloth or text effects are widely used in web/app UI design. This tutorial shows you how to create a transparent cloth effect for your photo/UI design. It is very simple and super good for beginners to learn some things.

18. Photoshop Tutorial for Beginner: Face Slide Effect

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: September, 10, 2017

Views: 92,754

With this YouTube Photoshop tutorial, you will easily learn how to create unique face slide effects in Photoshop. You will learn to import two different images, adjust image layers and complete a few more simple steps to create this effect.

19. How to Create Realistic Smoke Effect in Photoshop

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: July, 17, 2017

Views: 83,432

Smoke effects are very trendy in web/app UI design. Learn how to add gorgeous smoke effects to your photo/UI design with this tutorial.

Youtube tutorial

20. Chilling Decay Effect - Photoshop Tutorial

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: October, 7, 2017

Views: 673,045

Through this Photoshop tutorial, you can learn how to create a chilling, decay effect with masks, filters and free PS brushes quickly and easily.

Fourthly, expand your PS skills with Photoshop plugins

Photoshop plugins are often used by designers and photographers to optimize/simplify their photo editing/designing process. Last but not least, check out these Photoshop plugin tutorials below to expand your PS design skills:

21. Top 5 Free Photoshop Plugins 2018

Rating: ★★★★

Publication time: January, 12, 2018

Views: 60,829

This tutorial will show you how to use top 5 free Photoshop plugins (including 30 Patterns, Theme Switcher and PixelSquid) to enhance your photo design.

22. Mockplus iDoc Plugin for Photoshop

By the way, another brilliant Photoshop plugin of Mockplus iDoc (an easier, faster and smarter online design collaboration tool for UI designers, developers and product managers ) can also help users export designs with slice and spec details from Photoshop to Mockplus iDoc easily. It can speed up your design process and enhance your design collaboration easily.

In short, no matter whether you are a UI design newbie or expert, the tutorials above will have something for everyone.

Wrap Up

In short, we hope this curated list of Photoshop tutorials for beginners will help you improve your Photoshop skills.

By the way, regardless of UI design newbies or experts, always keep one more thing in mind: tools are only tools. They are used to improve, not limit, your design.

With this in mind, choosing the most appropriate design tool at different design stages is very important.

For example, while drawing and discussing UI design drafts, using Photoshop or Sketch is a good choice.

Well, when it comes to prototyping your web/app design, Mockplus RP (a fast and easy-to-use prototyping tool) is a nice option.

Of course, at the design implementation and handoff stage, it is better for you to choose an excellent online design collaboration tool, such as Mockplus iDoc which helps you communicate and collaborate with developers and MPs easily and effectively.