When I came across the How to Create a Social Media UFO Icon tutorial at PSDTuts, I couldn’t help but share.

The Adobe Photoshop tutorial, which has a whopping 57 steps, is fairly simple to follow. Though the writer claims it will take an hour to do, I was able to reproduce it in about 20 minutes. The tutorial assumes some knowledge of working with layers, gradients and how to adjust transparency. The beauty of this tutorial is that you don’t need to follow it word-for-word. You could create a square UFO if you wanted to, and add other lighting and shadow effects as I did.

If you’re looking for an excuse to try it, consider using it to create a great desktop wallpaper.