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Home»Abstract»Create an Abstract Golden Circle with Smoke Brushset in Photoshop
Abstract

Create an Abstract Golden Circle with Smoke Brushset in Photoshop

By James QuAugust 28, 20114 Mins Read
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In this tutorial, I will show you how you can Create an Abstract Golden Circle with Smoke Brushset in Photoshop. This is a beginner level tutorial and should be quite easy to follow. Have a try :)

Along the way, we focus on introducing the use of custom brushsets and the free transform tool, as well as some selection and masking techniques.

The PSD file of this tutorial is available via the PSD Vault VIP members area.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

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OK Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Smoke Brush

Step 1

Create a new document (size doesn’t really matter) with black background. Create a new layer and grab the Elliptical Marquee tool with the following settings:

Hold down the Shift key, and draw a circle shape as shown below:

Right-click on the selection and select “Stroke”:
Stroke the selection with the following settings: (2px with white colour)

Reduce the opacity of this layer to around 40%, and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Now let’s use the smoke brushset to add some textures around the circle. Create a new layer and pick one brush from the set, paint as shown below: (Reduce the brush size to a smaller scale before you paint)

Use the Warp tool to adjust the shape of the smoke texture as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to remove the edge of the smoke texture so it fades into the circle:

Duplicate this smoke texture layer a few times and attach each of those layers around the circle:

Hint: Use the free transform tool to rotate each layer and adjust the shapes as you go.

Merge all these layers of smoke textures together, and duplicate this merged layer a few times. Use the free transform tool to rotate and resize the duplicated layer a few times, in order to add some more effect:

Create a new layer and paint some smoke texture inside the circle, then reduce the layer opacity to around 20%:

Add the following levels adjustment layer on top of all previous layers:

Add the following layer mask on this levels adjustment layer:

Here is the effect so far: (As you can see, by adding this levels adjustment layer, we increase the contrast and depth of the smoke texture)

Step 3

Now let’s add some simple light effect on the circle. Create a new layer on top of all the previous layers, and use a soft white brush to do a single click to the position shown below:

Warp this layer with the warp tool and transform this light dot into a curvy shape as shown below:

As you can see, now we have some highlight on the circle:

Duplicate this light layer a few times to enhance this light effect a bit:

Repeat this process and add some highlights on the top left corner of the circle:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can add some cloud effect around the circle. To do this, create a new layer and draw a circle selection with the elliptical marquee tool (40px feather), render some cloud with the cloud filter within the selection:

Hit Ctrl + L and apply the following levels adjustment to this cloud layer:

Then use the warp tool to warp the cloud as shown below: (this creates some motions around circle)

and you will have have following effect so far:

Step 5

OK we’re almost done! For some final retouches, we can add the following extra effect to improve the overall result.

I added some smoke texture on top and bottom of the circle for some extra flowing effect:

I also added some particle effect around the circle: (For details steps of creating this particle brush, you can check out Step 3 of this tutorial)

To add some golden colour to the image, I added one Color Balance adjustment layer on top of all layers:

Lastly we can flatten the image, then apply this Reduce Noise filter settings below: (By doing so we can sharpen the effect, and reduce the colour noise for the circle shape)

and here is my final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

abstract golden circle photoshop circle with smoke brush photoshop tutorial circle
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James Qu
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James is a seasoned Photoshop expert with over 25 years of experience, mastering the software since its 5.0 version. As the driving force behind PSD Vault, he authors the majority of its in-depth tutorials and insightful articles.

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13 Comments

  1. theboredomthreshold on August 29, 2011 10:02 AM

    Very NIce

  2. Alicia on August 29, 2011 3:40 PM

    Cool tutorial! It reminds me of The Hunger Games.

  3. Manjishrestha74 on September 5, 2011 9:28 PM

    im confused n dont know how to bring exact golden colour.but now i know through this tuterial. thanks u so much

  4. Mitshi14 on October 10, 2011 12:41 PM

    cool! tnx

  5. Kylinwy on November 16, 2011 4:15 PM

    非常漂亮

  6. meany2000 on May 18, 2012 5:27 AM

    can anyone please explain to me how to find the smoke brush?? do i have to download it or is it under a subheading in brushes? im new to PS! any help would be great!!

  7. deauzif on July 26, 2012 12:02 AM

    there a link above the tutorial to download the smoke brush,then unrar it and double click the fille (Revnart_Smoke.abr) to install in your photoshop

  8. nemovich on February 11, 2013 5:41 AM

    done it perfectly, but when I want to get rid of the black background the ring loses color. why ????

  9. PSD Vault on February 12, 2013 7:44 PM

    @nemovich: can I ask which step you’re on? You might need to check the clipping mask/adjustment layer settings

  10. SMGS on April 2, 2013 5:44 AM

    I’m have a similar question… I’m not sure how to remove the black background as well, could you explain further as to how to make it transparent? Thank you!

  11. Tom on October 9, 2013 9:01 PM

    Very nice, but I would definitely use Flame Painter for such effect.It usually takes me about 10 mins to do that.

  12. Leslie on December 13, 2017 12:31 PM

    Can I purchase just this PSD and brushes? without signing up for the entire year of membership?

  13. PSD Vault on December 17, 2017 6:35 AM

    Hi Leslie, you can buy the PSD File of this at my shop: http://shop.psdvault.com/photoshop-psd-file-create-an-abstract-golden-circle-with-smoke-brushset-in-photoshop/, without having to sign up to membership.

    Brush is a free download (link in the tutorial).

    Hope this helps!

    James

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