This tutorial is maybe another proof that I’m a light and color
effects freak, I like them very much. So, In this tutorial I’ll show you
more light and layer styles effects. You don’t need any special brushes
for this tutorial. Everything is done using a few stock images and a
few techniques already used on my previous tutorials.
This is an advanced tutorial and you should know how to create a
custom brush and how to apply layer styles. Other than that, it’s not a
very complicated tutorial.
What I wanted to create was a sort of wizard that throws colored
energy balls so I created some stock images and started to work.
PreviewMaterials needed
- Boy stock – http://depositphotos.com/view_item.php?id=2592627
- Power ball - http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/powerball.jpg
- Color-wave – http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/color-wave.jpg
- Color-lines – http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/color-lines.jpg
- Fractals - http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/fractals.jpg
- Trail – http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/trail.jpg
- Shatters – http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/shatters.jpg
- Supernova – http://www.psdbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/supernova.jpg
Step 1Open your model stock in Photoshop. You will not need to subtract it
from it’s background unless you want to add something that requires
that. The first thing I did was to make some general adjustments to the
image using
Adjustment Layers. I added the default purple-orange
Gradient Map, set its Blend Mode to
Linear Dodge (Add) and
Opacity 10%. Then I increased the
Saturation to 25 on a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Step 2I started by making a light ball. For that I used a stock photo made by myself. So open
powerball.jpg scale it down and increase the
Saturation. Change the blend mode to
Screen so that you hide the black background. Once you have the stock image
ready, get a big soft brush and paint two big dots and change the blend
mode to
Overlay. I used yellow and blue to match the colors of the stock image.
Step 3At this point this doesn’t really look very good so I added some more
details. Create the glow of the ball using a big soft brush and an
orange color. I changed the blend mode to
Pin Light and reduced the
Opacity to 50%. This is very important because if you don’t create this, the
Outerglow of the little dots shown on the next image will not be visible
or will not look right.
Keep in mind that depending on the colors of your stock image, you
might have to use different blend modes. Blend modes work differently
depending on the colors and illumination. The dots are made using a
custom scattered brush and with the
Noise option activated. The blend mode of the outer glow is
Color Dodge.
As you see on the
powerball dots layer, the nice outerglow around the small dots is visible because of the big orange glow light.
In order to give more consistence and shape to this ball, I made some lines using the
Pen Tool (P).
I took a 2 pixels hard brush then I traced some arc paths and stoke
those paths with the brush using the Simulate Pressure option. After
creating 5 or 6 curved lines, you can duplicate them and rotate them,
nobody will notice they are duplicated.
After making the lines, merge them all in one layer if you made them on separate layers and apply
Outerglow.
Again keep in mind the size and colors of your image may affect the
final result so you might need to use different settings than on this
tutorial.
Step 5After making the first power ball I started adding some colors on the body using brushes and stock images. Open
color-waves.jpg and paste it over the model. Scale it if necessary and change the Blend Mode to
Screen. Create a layer mask and mask the upper part. See image below.
Add more colors on a new layer using a big soft brush and
Overlay or
Screen Blend Mode.
Step 6Now I will show you how I made those 3D glassy squares and circles. Get the square brush and in the preset editor activate
Scatter but do not add too much, about half way and increase
Angle Jitter. Also increase Size Jitter to maximum and set Control to Fade if you don’t have a tablet. The
Fade amount depends on the distance at which you want your pixels to become small.
Start with the brush on the left foot and make a long stroke towards
the right hand. Adjust the Fade amount until the squares get smaller as
you get closer to the hand. If the squares are too close together,
increase the Spacing not the Scattering.
Set layer Blend Mode of the squares layer to
Overlay and add the following layer effects. Try different colors and blend modes to get different results.
The 3D circles are made the same way. I created some random size
circles and reduced the Fill to 16%. Actually I copied the same FX from
the squares layer and I changed some blend modes and colors and the
Outer Glow settings. I will hide these 3D circles on the next steps so
that you can see the other effects better.
Step 7Open
color-lines.jpg and place it over the left foot and change Blend Mode to
Screen. As you can see, I’m using a technique that I already used on previous tutorials. Change the
Hue if you want and increase the
Saturation.
I created some paths with the
Pen Tool (p) and then I used a 2px hard brush to stroke the path. This is the layer style applied to the lines.
Still working on the left foot, get a soft brush set the
Brush Opacity to 43% and paint two spots using the colors:
c2839f and
bac93c and change the Blend Mode to
Vivid Light.
Step 8Create two or three 45º selections with the
Polygonal Lasso Tool. Press the
Shift key while you make the selection in order to create 45º angle
selections. Then use a big soft brush and paint along the edge of the
selection and create something like in the image below. After you did
that change the Blend Mode of the layer to
Overlay or
Soft Light.
Step 9Open
fractals.jpg and place it over the model then go to
Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic.
I used 30 pixels as cell size because I’m working with a high
resolution picture but you can use a size that’s suitable for your
picture. Try to keep some detail. After that, I increased the
Saturation and changed the Blend Mode to
Color Dodge. You can also try changing the
Hue to see what color combinations you can get.
Step 10I noticed that the right side of the picture is too empty so I added
some colors too. I used the squares brushes and created a few random
squares not to far away from each other and I applied a 45º
Motion Blur.
Then, in order to add the colors I used the layer styles. I used the
following style. For a stronger effect duplicate the layer.
So, after duplicating the layer to obtain a stronger color, I also
added some soft dots using a scattered brush. These dots have an
Outer Glow with
Color Dodge Blend Mode.
Using a big soft brush and blue color I added a big light on the right leg. The Blend Mode used is
Linear Dodge (Add).
Step 11I made a second light ball on the other hand and again I used several stock images made by myself. Open
supernova.jpg, increase saturation, scale the image, place it over the hand and change the Blend Mode to
Screen.
In order to recreate the light produced by the ball, I took a soft
brush about 800 px (because I worked with a hi-res stock image) and I
made a big reddish orange soft spotlight. I used
Linear Dodge (Add).
Use a scattered brush to add some particles to this ball like you did a few steps ago on the right hand. Add some
Outer Glow with default color and Blend Mode
Color Dodge.
Lastly, I created a tail to this ball using another light stock image. Open
trail.jpg place it over the light ball and change the Blend Mode to
Screen.
One more stock image to enhance the ball shape. This time I used
shatters.jpgThat’s all. You can add more things if you want but it would look too
crowded. So as you’ve seen I used pretty much the same techniques as in
other tutorials.
As I said keep in mind the stock image you are using as Blend Modes
work differently depending on the colors and contrast. Also remember
that I used a high resolution stock so the dimensions of brushes and
layer style settings might not work the same if you use a low res image.
That being said, I hope you liked this tutorial. Below you have the
Preview image and PSD download link.
Final result