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Ok, so Ive been playing around in Adobe Photoshop lately while at work and Ive been learning some cool effects that are easy to make, so I thought I would share them here for anyone that is interested in learning some tricks in Adobe Photoshop.

 

To start out I am going to show you how to create a Light Burst effect in a few easy steps. It should look like this when completed:

 

Ok so first thing is first, create a new image, the size does not matter but for exmaples sake lets make our image 500 x 500 pixels. Transparency doesnt matter as we will will be filling our image in the next step.

 

Now select the gradient tool on the toolbar (you may have to click and hold

 

your mouse pointer on the paintbucket to select the gradient tool.) Make the gradient black and white like the image below.

 

 

Now fill the workspace from bottom to top *in a straight line* like so:

 

 

It is important that the gradient be even so the gradient *must* be applied in a perfect straight line from bottom to top. So if your gradient came out crooked redo it.

 

Now select Filter > Distort > Wave in the dropdown menus at the top of your screen, and apply the settings like so:

 

 

You can adjust these settings as you see fit but in my experience the more random the bars turn out the better this effect looks. *Make sure Type is set to Square and Undefined Areas is set to Repeat Edge Pixels* These two settings cannot be changed or it will not look right.

 

Once you click ok your image should look something like this:

 

 

Now once again select Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates from the dropdown menus and set it to Rectangular to Polar and click Ok. Now you will see the light burst effect taking shape.

 

 

 

Now that you have the Light Burst pattern, its time to tweak the Lighting & Hue so that you can really get the color and brightness preferred.

 

Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, and set the light type to Omni. This will give you a screen that looks like so:

 

 

What this will do is make the center of the Burst appear brighter and fade darker towards the outer edges. You can adjust the settings to suit your preference but leave the lighting color white as there is a better way to adjust the color.

 

Now that you got the Lighting down, press Ctrl + U to bring up the Hue/Adjustments window, and apply the settings as the image below shows, and make sure you check the Colorize box.

 

 

And wala, once you click ok you will have completed this Tutorial Image.

 

Now get out there and make some awesome images, next time when I have a little more time. I will show you how to hand draw Fire, and even make liquid Metal.

Ok today we're gonna learn how to make custom fire in adobe, which can be virtually applied to ANYTHING you can put in adobe.

 

First lets start out by making our default test image size of 500 x 500 and fill the background with black paint. (Not absolutely required but for this project it is.) Now, hide the black layer by clicking the little eye icon in the Layer window like so.

 

Select the text tool and choose the font your going to use, for this example I chose a thick bold font because it usually it easier to work with.

 

 

Now that you have your text make sure it is black and select the Magic Wand tool from your toolbar. Now while holding shift, left click on each letter to make an outline around each letter for use in our next layer.

 

Once you have them all selected each letter will have a dotted outline around it thats animated. Now press Ctrl + Shift + N to add a new layer, and just click Ok to the default settings.

 

Position this new layer under your text layer like so:

 

 

Now, hide the text layer from view as you did with the first solid black layer so that you can see what your doing in this new layer. You should still have a dotted outline of the letters that you highlighted with the Magic Wand tool.

 

Simply select the paintbrush tool, and choose a big brush size and paint inside the dotted outline to create a copy of your letters in White, like so:

 

 

Now you can un-hide your background and text layers which will give you an image that looks like this:

 

 

Now that we got our layers setup comes the easy parts, press Ctrl + D to Deselect the magic wand selection that you used to create the white text layer.

 

Now make sure you are still on Layer2 during this part (the white text layer) as the other two layers will remain exactly as they are during this tutorial.

 

From the dropdown menus select Filter > Stylize > Wind and set the settings up like so:

 

Click ok, and then press Ctrl + F to apply the filter a second time.

 

Now from the dropdown menu again select Filter > Stylize > Wind, only this time check the "From the Left" box. Click ok and press Ctrl + F to apply the filter a second time.

 

Now click Image > Rotate Canvas 90 CW, press Ctrl + F two times to apply your wind filter settings so that the streaks appear to rise up from the lettering.

 

Rotate the canvas back to its normal position by clicking Image > Rotate Canvas 90 CCW. Now were ready to start drawing the flames.

 

Your image should look like this:

 

Now select the Smudge tool from your toolbar and set it to a brush size of 35. Make sure the brush you select does not look like a solid dot, it should be a little blurry like the one shown here:

 

 

Now while on Layer2 (the white text layer) click and drag at the top of each layer in zig zag motions going upwards to give your flames that wavy fire effect.

 

 

Do this all the way across the image until you get the desired effect, it takes a little practice but once you get used to it, it becomes really easy.

 

Once you are finished smudging up your work your image should look like this:

 

 

Now to apply a fire gradient to color the image so it looks hot! :)

 

From the dropdown menu click on Image > Mode > Grayscale, and click ok when it asks to Discard the Color Information.

 

Again click Image > Mode > Indexed Color, and click ok when it asks to Flatten the Image.

And last but not least, click Image > Mode > Color Table, now once this window pops up select Black Body in the option box like so:

 

 

Click ok, and wala! You have created fire. Enjoy!

 

This one is short and sweet but has a nice effect.

 

Liquid Metal

 

Start out by making a 500 x 500 pixel image and fill it black.

 

Now in the drop down menu select Filter > Render > Lens Flare, set the flare to 100% and place three flares in random positions on your image, you can change the flare type as each one has its own unique and nice looking effect.

 

 

Now on the toolbar set the Primary color to Black and the Secondary color to White.

 

From the dropdown menu select Filter > Sketch > Chrome, put the detail and smoothness at 10 or the max settings and click ok.

 

Your image should appear like so.

 

 

Now go to Image > Mode > Grayscale, click ok to discard color information, now select Image > Mode > Indexed Color.

 

Last but not least, select Image > Mode > Color Table and select Blackbody in the box menu.

 

 

And there you have it...a really REALLY simple way to make a liquid metal texture.

 

Now armed with the above tips you are able to piece them together to make images like this:

 

 

Next time I will show you how to make a realistic Water Reflection on a pre-existing photograph. But be warned it will be more advanced.

SPACE~! The Not so Final Frontier lol

 

Now here is how I did it step by step, but for examples sake....I will use an image 500x500 pixels high/wide.

 

First create your image and fill the space with solid black and press CTRL + SHIFT + N to add a new blank layer. Now select your brush tool and set the color to white, and brush size to 1 pixel and place a few dots randomly about like so...

 

 

Change your brush size to 2pixels and add a few more (slightly less dots as you move up in brush size), now 3 pixel and 4 pixel, keep in mind that there are more distant stars than near ones in the real universe, so the bigger the brush size, the less star dots you add.

 

Now from the drop down menu at the top of the screen Select Layer > Style > Outer Glow, and apply the settings like so:

 

 

Now click on Layer 1 so that you can add some effects to the Black backdrop you created at the beginning and from the Dropdown Menus select Filter > Render > Lens flare, set the Brightness level to 10% and place one of each type of Lens Flares in random positions on your background.

 

Once you are satisfied with it Press Ctrl + Shift + N once again to create the planet layer. Make sure this layer is at the top of your layers and select your "Elliptical Marquee" tool from your toolbar on the left. While holding SHIFT click and draw a large circle dead center in your image like so....

 

 

Now on your toolbar set both colors, one blue, one green, and from the Dropdown Menu select Filter > Render > Clouds.

 

 

Now again select Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. Now simply press Ctrl + F to repeat the difference clouds until you have a nice grainy mix of blue and green that is satisfactory to you.

 

 

Now from the dropdown menu select Filter > Distort > Sphereize, set it to 100% and click ok, sometimes a second sphereize looks better so press Ctrl + F to apply the sphereize filter again.

 

Now Press CTRL + SHIFT + N again to create another layer on top of your planet, and make sure you to leave your circle marquee, set your two colors as black & white and select Filter > Render > Clouds, and then Filter > Render > Difference clouds. Now spam Ctrl + F until you have a really rough grainy pattern of black and white on top of your planet layer like so.

 

 

 

Now before you Distort this layer, select your Ellipitcal Marquee tool again and make a small oval where-ever you like within the black and white cloud layer like this :

 

 

Now select Filter > Distort > Twirl and click ok, press Ctrl + F to repeat the filter until your satisfied with the results.

 

 

Now deselect the oval where you made your twirl, and pick the "Magic Wand" tool from your left toolbar, and click the empty space outside of the black and white cloud layer, & press CTRL + SHIFT + I to Inverse your selection.

 

Now simply select your "Smudge" Tool from your toolbar and smudge up your clouds like so.

 

 

Once again from your drop down menu select Filter > Distort > Sphereize and set it to 100% and click ok.

 

Now in the Layer Browser window apply Layer 4's settings like so.

 

If all was done correctly your image should look 'somewhat' like this:

 

Now select Layer 4 in the Layer Browser window and press Ctrl + E once to merge the layer down to create 1 layer from your planet and cloud layer, click on Layer 2 (where you created your stars) and do the same so that you only have 2 layers to work with.

 

 

Now select your Planet layer, and from the dropdown menu select Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and apply the settings like so.

 

Again this is one of those filters that sometimes looks better when applied twice, so press Ctrl + F to see if you like that better, your image should now look like this:

 

Now Layer > Style > Outer Glow from the dropdown menu once again, except this time set the color to a very light blue/green color, and apply the following settings:

 

 

 

Now in the layer browser window click on Layer1 and press CTRL + SHIFT + N to add a layer between your planet and background layers. This step might seem a little weird but it usually has a nice effect. Select your two colors on your toolbar as LIME GREEN and BLACK, now in your new layer select Filter > Render > Clouds, and then Filter > Render > Difference Clouds, and press CTRL + F repeatedly until it looks real grainy.

 

 

Now set this layers Opacity to about 80% and then click on your eraser tool, set the eraser size somewhere between 100-300 with the faded edges, and erase portion of this green & black uglyness until your satisfied with the placement of the occasional green patches, *try not to make them too big because it is supposed to be a VERY subtle background effect. Now press CTRL + E to merge this layer down and make it a part of your stars/black background layer.

 

Now for the last step.

Press Ctrl + Shift + N to create a new layer, and move it to the very top of all of your layers. Paint it solid black and select Filter > Render > Lensflare, set the LensFlare brightness to 100% and place it in a spot that makes sense according to your planets lightning. Once again (like you did with the cloud layer) set the Layer mode to Lighten.

 

 

You can merge the layers together now if you like, but its not necessary as your image should be finished or near completion, just save and enjoy. ^^

 

 

ENJOY - James

 

P.S. - If you followed any of these tutorials and made something cool, I would like to see. :)

Ok so its not another tutorial but I just completed this little home project I was working on for the past few days and I was very satisfied with the results, let me know what yall think!?

Time taken: Roughly 3-5 days as this was originally a pen sketch on paper then scanned and redrawn by hand in Adobe to make it look more digital rather than tribal which is what it looked like originally.

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