The purpose of this tutorial is to revise several skills taught in previous tutorials, such as:

• Vexel Hair
• Cloud Warping
• Focal Points
• Adjustment Layers

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 40+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive! Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

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

Mountain

Model -by tanit-isis-stock

Some grunge, cloud and star brushes from qbrushes.net

Step 1

Create a new document sized 800px * 1100px, fill the background with black colour. Create a new layer on top of the background layer, render some fibre texture via Filter > Render > Fibre with the following settings on the new layer:

Reduce the layer opacity to around 30%, you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Load the “Mountain” stock image into Photoshop, select the following portion from the image:

Copy and paste the selection onto the image, resize and flip in vertically, and use a soft black brush to erase the edge and some parts of the rock to create a bit of depth:

I decided to add a trace of cloud to the bottom of the mountain. To do this, we can use the Lasso Tool with (50px feather) to draw a selectin, then render some cloud inside it:

Hit Ctrl + L and bring up the Levels tool, apply the following settings to the cloud:

Then Warp it as shown below:

When you are done with the cloud warping, attach it to the bottom of the mountain as shown below:

Step 3

Group all these layers created in Step 2 into a layer group. Name it as “Mountain Group” and duplicate this group once, resize it to the small scale:

You might also want to use the dodge tool to add some highlight to the top left part of the mountain, for some lighting dynamics:

Duplicate the mountain group again and flip the group horizontally, move it the left part of the canvas, as shown below:

Step 4

Use a cloud brush, or texture image to add some cloud onto the mountain:

Load the Model stock image into Photoshop, cut out the model and paste it to the position below:

Now we’re on the vexel hair part. Use the Pen Tool to draw a work path as shown below, and select a 3px hard brush for stroking later on:

Now pick a dark hair colour from the model layer:

Stroke the path with this dark color:

Now go back to the model layer and pick a lighter colour:

Then stroke the path with this light color:

Duplicate the dark and light stroke layer several times, bind them together as shown below: (merge those layer together afterwards)

Duplicate the hair group, move the duplicated layers to different positions, also resize, rotate them for best result:

Step 5

Now let’s paint some splash and star texture on the image to spice it up a bit. No doubt you have downloaded a few brushes from the internet – now it’s the time to use them!

Create a new layer under the model layer and paint some splash to the position shown below:

also add some star texture to the position shown below:

Use the same cloud warping technique mentioned in previous step for some nebula effect:

you will have the following effect so far:

Step 6

Ok we’re almost done. Let’s add a few adjustment layer to fine-tune the image a bit:

Black and White

Color Balance

Layer Mask on the color balance adjustment layer:

Also I added a few focal points with soft white brush to the spots shown below: (Adjust brush blend mode to “Normal” or “overlay”)

Step 7

Now we can do some final retouches of the image. As you can see, by using all the brushes we created a lot of noise on the image, would be great if we can reduce the noise a bit.

Flatten the image, duplicate the background layer and apply the following “Reduce Noise” options:

As you can see, by using this filter we soften the hair we created before, plus getting rid of a large portion of the unwanted noise on the image:

and here is my final effect for this tutorial:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it interesting and inspirational. Until next time, have a nice day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Zebra Patterned Crimson Text Effect in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level tutorial and some steps can be tricky, but why not have a go :) ?

What I would like to show you in this tutorial in how you can combine the pattern clone stamp with work path to render special effects for your text, and how you can create realistic light and shadow for your environment.

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

Alternative Version (with more red colour + a bit of Motion Blur in it)

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

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

Font

Step 1

Creata a new document sized 1300px * 650px. Create a new layer called “floor” and select the lower portion of the canvas as shown below:

Right-click inside the selection and choose “Fill”:

Select the following tile pattern from the “Pattern” category:

Drop the layer opacity to around 40%:

Then perspective the layer as shown below:

add the following layer mask to this floor layer:

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Use the font we donwloaded, type some text onto the canvas as shown below:

Apply the following Drop Shadow blending option to this text layer:

Now in order to make a smooth transition from the text layer to the floor layer, as the following layer mask to the text layer: (with Gradient Fill tool)

Now let’s create the shadow for the text. Firstly load the selection of the text layer by Ctrl + Left-click the thumbnail image on the layer palette, then create a new layer called “shadow” under the text layer, maintain the selection and fill it with black colour, flip it vertically and use the free-transform tool to perspective as shown below:

Add the following layer mask to this shadow layer:

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Create a new layer on top of the text layer called “zebra texture”. Load the text layer selection and right-click on it, choose “make work path” option:

Grab the Pattern Stamp Tool from the toolbox:

Choose the Zebra texture from the dropdown window:

Set tolerance to 2.0 pixels:

Choose the Pen Tool, then right-click on the path and choose “Stroke Path”:

Stroke the path with Pattern Stamp we just chose:

and you will have the following effect:

Change the layer blending mode to be “overlay” for this zebra texture layer, you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Now create a new layer under the “shadow” layer called “back light”. Grab the Lasso Tool with a 50px feather setting to draw a selection, then render some cloud inside it:

Hit Ctrl + L to bring up the Levels adjustment tool and apply the following settings:

Use the free transform tool to reduce the size of the cloud, position it behind the text:

Duplicate this light layer a few more times, put them around the text as shown below: (reduce their layer opacity to around 20-30%)

Add the following two adjustment layers to the top of all previous layers:

Curves

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Go back to the text layer, change the text colour to be black, and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

Now we’re almost done. Flatten the image and duplicate the background layer once, apply the following Reduce Noise filter settings to the duplicated layer: (we don’t want this text effect to be sharp)

I decided to add a line a smaller text in the far distant to make a transition effect for the main text. So I duplicate the background layer again, and apply the following Motion blur filter to the duplicated layer:

Then resize this layer to a smaller scale, then move it up to the position as shown below:

Add the following layer mask to this layer:  (use Gradient Tool)

Then reduce the layer opacity to around 30%, you will have the following effect:  (a barely visible, samll text in the far distance)

I added the following two image adjustment layers for final touchups:

Curves

Color Balance

Mask on Colour Balance layer: (for adding image depth)

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial:

Alternative Version (with more red colour + a bit of Motion Blur in it)

That’s for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful. If you have any question, just drop me a comment below. Have a nice day!

In this tutorial, I will show you techniques involved to create this rather cool, 3D typography with abvanced Texturing and Lighting Effect in Photoshop. Some steps can be a little tricky and you do need a lot of patience to complete this tut, but why not have a try?

The aim of this tut is to demonstrate how you can texture a 3D text (created in Illustrator) quickly and effectively, using the least amount of steps possible.

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

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

Font

Ground Crack

Mountain (Soil) Texture

Grass

Bird

Step 1

Create a document sized 1500px * 680px (you can choose a smaller size to fit your screen, but make sure you maintain the proportion), fill the background with #161616 colour.

Load the “Ground Crack” texture into Photoshop, Press Ctrl + A to select the entire image, copy and paste it onto out document. Name the new layer as “crack”, resize, rotate and distort this layer until you achieve the following effect:

Erase the the edges of the crack texture so it transits into the background colour:

Duplicate this crack layer once and move the duplicated layer toward the lower right end of the canvas for more variety:

Please note that the erase part is totally optional, if you’re happy with just the distorted texture, you can just leave it as it is.

Step 2

Now we have a ground base we can work on, let’s get on with the text creation.

I used Illustrator to render this 3D effect (I won’t demonstrate the steps for rendering as it’s irrelevant to this tutorial) and you can download a copy by clicking the following image, then loaded into Photoshop:

On top of the text layer, add the following two adjustment layers (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Levels

Curves

Add a layer mask on the text layer, then use the erase tool with chalk bursh setting  (Assign 40% opacity and flow) , erase the portions as shown below to create a rough surface. Also use a soft round brush to erase the bottom part on the text:

Portions you need to erase:

Once you’re happy with the text, load the “Mountain (soil) texture” stock into Photoshop. Load the select of the text layer by Ctrl + left-clicking the thumbnail image on the layer pallette, drag the selection on the soil texture:

Hint: to drag the selection, you must select the rectangular marquee tool first, then move you mouse over the selection, and click-hold to drag it.

Maintain the selection around the text, copy and paste your chosen soil texture onto our canvas. Name this layer as “soil” and make it a clipping mask layer for the text layer:

Use a soft round brush to erase the portions texture as indicated below: (set the opacity and flow to around 20% – this way you can make sure you don’t erase too much of the texture, as well as creating depth for the image)

Add the following Levels adjustment layer on top of the soil layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option):

Load the “Grass” image into the Photoshop, select a portion of the grass:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas and name it as “grass”, right click the layer and select “create clipping mask”, and you will have the following effect:

Add the following Curves adjustment layer on top of the grass layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option):

Change the blending mode of the grass layer to “soft light” and here is the effect so far:

Optionally, you can add a layer mask and erase certain portion of the grass texture if you think they’re unnecessary.

Step 3

Duplicate the grass layer once and drag it to the top, release the clipping mask and delete the layer mask attached to it. Add a new layer mask and change the blending mode to “overlay”, then erase the following areas on this grass overlay layer:

Hint: Same as all previous texture erases, combine the use of the chalk brush and circle brush is important, also set the flow and opacity to a low level (20% for both).

Add the following Levels adjustment layer on top of the grass overlay layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option):

and here is the effect so far:

Create a “Shadow” layer under the text layer, garb a soft round brush to paint under the texture, in the area shown as below:

When you paint the shadows, make sure you pay attention to areas around the text:

Change the blending mode of this shadow layer to “soft light”, and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

Load the “Bird” stock image into Photoshop, cut out the bird and paste it onto canvas, position it as shown below:

Create a new layer called “bird shadow” under the bird layer, use a small soft round brush with black colour (set opacity and flow to both around 30%), carefully paint a thin shadow under the bird:

Duplicate the bird and the bird shadow layer, flip them horizontally and position them the left side as shown below:

Step 5

Now we’re pretty much done the main aspects of the tutorial. And we can add some background touches for some more depths. Some mist/cloud here would add some extra effect here.

I won’t brag you again with the cloud rendering and warping (you can check out this post if you haven’t used it before). What I would like to address is that when render the clouds, put each of them onto seperate layers, and change their blending mode into either “overlay”, “soft light” or “screen”:

Here is a screenshot of what I did to the cloud layers – it shows the cloud position and blending mode: (click to enlarge)

You will notice by change their blending mode (and layer opacity), you can add lighting depth and extra effect to the text and ground texture,

Also you can use a soft eraser to erase the portion of cloud where it links to the ground texture for more depth:

Step 6

Now we’re petty done for this tutorial! For some final adjustments, I add the following 2 adjustment layers:

Vibrance

Curves

and here is the effect:

Optionally, you can add some colours and glowing effect to touch up the overall design. You can achieve this by adding a new colour balance adjustment layer, and use the Gaussian blur filter. I won’t show you the exact settings here and I will leave this to you to explore and experiment :)

Here is the version where the colours and glowing effect is applied: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and learn something new! Have a great day :)

Along the way, you will learn how to bring out extra details from your photo via a few simple tweaks, plus how to warp the cloud generated by Photoshop filter so to best suit your image.

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

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

Jumping Man

Mountain

Sky

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 1400px, fill the background layer with black colour. Create a new layer on top of the background layer callled “background light”. On this layer, grab the Gradient Fill Tool and fill it with the following colour and direction:

Load the Jumping Man stock into Photoshop, cut out the man using whatever selection method you prefer, and paste it on to our doucment (Resize and position it to the centre of the canvas), name this layer as “Model”:

Use the Erase Tool with 80% hardness (adjust the brush size accordingly) to get rid of any rough edge around the body:

On this model layer, apply the following Reduce Noise filter settings:

As you can see by applying this reduce noise filter, we can bring out some extra details for this model layer:

Add the following adjustment layers on the model layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

Black and White

Curves

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Create a new layer named “highlights” under the model layer but above the backgroud light layer, use a soft round brush with white colour, do a few single clicks in the position as shown below:

Ideally you should seperate those three light dots in 3 seperate layers – the reason is that you can alter the size, opacity and the position of the light dots more freely. For instance, if you place the bottom light dot in a seperate light, you can resize it to fit the legs:

Create a new layer called “cloud overlay” on top of the model layer, grab a Lasso Tool with a 50px feather, draw a selection around the model and render some cloud in it:

Use the Warp Tool to warp the cloud as shown below:

Change the blending mode of this cloud overlay layer to “Screen” and reduce the opacity to 30%, you will have the following effect:

Erase the upper portion of the cloud with a big soft brushset eraser:

Step 3

Create a new layer called “cloud color dodge” on top of all previous layers and use the lasso tool with 50% feather to draw a big selection first (anywhere on the canvas) and render some cloud inside it, then resize it to a much smaller piece and position it above of the right shoe of the man.

Use the Warp Tool to warp and extend the cloud as shown below:

Change the blending mode of the this layer to “Color Dodge”, and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the original “cloud overlay” layer twice and drag them to the left and right side of the canvas, change the blending mode of those two layer to “soft light”, with 70% opacity:

Duplicate the “cloud color dodge” layer a few times and scatter them around the model and adjust the opacity of each layer accordingly. You can also experiment different blending mode such as “overlay”, “hard light” and “screen” and what result that gives you:

I also duplicated the original “cloud overlay” layer once again. and drag it below the model, change the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “soft light” and a 80% opacity:

I created another layer on top of all previous layer, and use a white white brush to paint some extra lights under the model, then resize it as shown below:

This helps me set the overall mood for the image and making easier for me to apply textures later on.

Step 4

Load the mountain texture into Photoshop, cut out the mountain portion and paste it onto our canvas. Name this layer as “Mountain” and put the layer below the “Model” layer:

Use the eraser tool with a soft brush setting to erase the edge of the mountain so it blends into the canvas naturally:

Add the following adjustment layers on the model layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

black and white

Curves

Levels

Colour Balance (change blending mode to “Soft light”, opacity 70%)

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 5

Load the sky texture into Photoshop, select a portion of the cloud and copy and paste it onto our canvas. Name this layer as “cloud” and put it above all previous layers: (resize the layer if necessary)

Add the following adjustment layers on the model layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

Black and White

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 6

I decided to give the image some natural elements. So I used one of my own flower photo (you don’t have the use the same one as this is for tutorial purpose only. However you really like this stock, you can get one from the VIP Members Area)

Regardless what stock photo you use, cut out of the flower portion and paste it onto our document. Name this layer as “flower” and make sure you put this layer below the “model” layer, resize if necessary:

Add the following adjustment layers on the model layer (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

Vibrance

Curves

Put the flower layer along with its adjustment layer into a folder, duplicate the folder twice and position them in the location as shown below:

Step 7

Now let’s get into a bit fine-tuning of the image. Firstly, we can take the overall image and see what we could do to improve it:

• adding some abstract patterns would spice things up
• the top of mountain needs some lights so it blends more seamlessly with the jumping man, plus adding depth to the image
• lack of colour, probably good idea to add some adjustment layers

For the first point, we can add a new “mountain lighting” layer on top of all previous layer, grab a soft round white brush and do a single click on the mountain tip as shown below:

Warp this layer so the light follow the shape of the mountain:

Change the blending mode to “overlay”, and duplicate this layer a few times to increase its contrast:

For the second point, we can easily create a new layer just above the background light layer named “abstract pattern”, download some abstract brushsets from sites such as qbrushes.net or brushesszy, and paint away!

I won’t tell you which brushsets I used here because I’d like you to use your own creativity, and not limited by this tutorial.

For the third point, we can add the following adjustment layers on the model layer:

Curves

Colour Balance

and you will have the following effect so far:

Ok that’s pretty much it! I further adjust the colour balance a bit and added some motion blur effect to it. Here is the final result: (click to enlarge)

Of course you can add more texture to it and enhance its details further, totally up to you :)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and learn something new!

Till next time, have a great day!

I’m here to annouce the winners – they are:

Pamela

Juan

Esteban Presa

Abudulaziz Lamlum

Sun Pietro

To ensure the fairness of this contest, a random name generate is used to select names from all commentators. Belows are the screenshots of winner results:

You can find this random name generator at: http://classtools.net/main_area/template_loader.php

Congrats to all the winners! You will receive an email from the contributor Brian Iannone shortly! For those who didn’t win, there is always a next time. Make sure you come back to PSD Vault often to check more awesome giveaway like this one~^^

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

Ok let’s get started!

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

Font

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px * 800px, fill the background layer with black, use the font we downloaded and type some texts on the canvas:

On the text layer, apply the follow layer blending options:

Drop Shadow

Inner Shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Gradient Overlay

Stroke

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Now we’re into the interesting part of this tutorial. Create a new layer on top of the text layer and name it as “lines outside”, grab a 1px solid brush as shown below:

Use this brush to paint on the edge of every letter on the canvas:

Make sure you paint around the edges:

and this is the overall effect:

Step 3

Now we can add a bit lighting variations to the text. One quick way to do this is to load the selection of the “lines” layer with created in previous step, apply the following Refine Edge options:

Maintain the selection, create a new layer called “refined edge” on top of the “lines” layer, fill the selection with Black color on this new layer:

As you can, we added some dark color to the text. However because of the refined edge option used, the dark colour is not covering the whole text.

Optionally, you can change the blending mode of this refined edge layer to be “Color Burn” – this will reveal the edge lines better than the “Normal” blending mode.

We can also add some blurring effect to the text. To do this, duplicte the “lines” layer once and name the duplicated layer as “motion blur”, put this layer above the original text layer.

Apply the following Motion Blur filter settings to it:

Resize the motion blur layer to roughly the same size of the text layer, and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Create a new layer on top of all previous layers called “cloud overlay”, and on this new layer,  use the Lasso Tool with a 40px feather to draw a selection around the text:

Render some cloud inside the selection (with white foreground colour and black background colour):

change the blending mode of this cloud layer to “Hard Light”, and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

Now let’s add some colours to the text. Create a new layer called “Colours”, load the selection of the text layer, and grab a soft brush with colours of your choice, paint some colours inside the selection:

Duplicate this colours layer twice, change the layer blending mode according to the below:

and you will have the following effect:

Add the following two adjustment layers on top of the colours layer:

Color Balance

Vibrance

and you will have the following effect:

Create a new layer called “abstract texture” just above the background layer, grab any abstract brushsets you like (you can find lots of them on qbrushes.net or brusheezy) and paint on it. You can adjust the colour of the brush as you paint for some colour variations:

Step 6

We’re almost done! There is one more trick I would like to show you – the Wave Filter. I personally like it very much and sometimes it generates some very unique style for your design.

So flatten the image, duplicate the background layer once and go to Filter > Distort > Wave:

Apply the following settings:

and you will have the following effect:

Now we want to reveal the text part of the image, so add the following layer mask on the wave layer to hide it:

and you will have the following effect:

Lastly, you can add some further colour adjustments, or sharpen the image a bit to get more details out.

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

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you find it useful and learn something new!

Till next time, have a nice day!

This Contest has now eneded! Winners will be announced shortly in seperate post.

Those cloud textures are excellently taken by Brian Iannone, who is a talented photographer and videographer. You can find him on his portfolio site: www.brianiannone.com

So what exactly is in this Texture Pack?

• 20 High quality, royalty-free cloud photos
• 3,888 x 2,592 Pixels (10.1 MP) at 300 DPI
• Includes 16-bit TIFF and JPEG versions
• Non-edited, original photos

Here are preview of some cloud textures in the pack:

For more previews, you can go to http://store.brianiannone.com/and click on “download sample” button.

Rules for this Contest

• Leave a comment to enter
• Only comment once
• Please leave a valid email address so that we can contact you

This contest will end at 15th of April, 2010. Winners will then be randomly selected and download link will be emailed to your email address given.

Good luck!

In this tutorial, I will show the processes I took to create this cool-looking, ancient cracked sword in Photoshop.  Personally I think the steps aren’t hard to follow and the end result looks good, Have a go :)

The technique I would like to emphasise in this tutorial is how you can use the cloud filter to add contrast to object, and the important of using the correct blending mode for layers to maximise the effect.

You will also see by choosing a great quality texture, you can easily add extra effect to your design with mimimum effort.

Here is a preview of the final image: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

Ok let’s get started!

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

Sword

Crack Texture

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 1300px, fill the background layer with black color. Load the “Sword” texture into Photoshop and cut out the sword using whatever method you prefer (I used the magic wand here, set tolerance to 32px), then paste it onto our canvas, as shown below:

You can choose a different angle for the sword if you like, totally up to you. The steps below will still apply.

Name this layer as “sword”. On this layer, apply the following “Reduce Noise” settings to it:

and you will see by doing so, we managed to get a few more details out of the sword image, as shown below:

Load the selection of the sword layer by holding down Ctrl key + left-click the thumbnail image of the sword layer on the layer palette. Then hit Ctrl + Alt + R to bring up the Refine Edge tool, apply the following settings:

and you will have the following effect for the selection:

Now we’re ready for the cloud rendering in the next step.

Step 2

Create a new layer called “cloud 1″ on top of the “sword” layer, maintain the selection we did in previous step, render some cloud within the selection, as shown below: (set back and foreground colour to be black and white)

Now hit Ctrl + L and bring up the Levels adjustment tool, apply the following settings to it:

Now the settings for Levels might differ slightly depending on the cloud render outcome, however the ultimate goal is to bring more contrast to the cloud so it gives us more lighting variation, as shown below:

Change the blending mode of the cloud layer to “Color Dodge”, you will have the following effect:

Now here is the interest part of the tutorial – we’re going to max-out the effect by playing with the cloud layer.

Duplicate the cloud layer a few times, apply following layer blending mode, opacity and layer mask to each layer:

and you will have the following effect:

You can see now we have some very dynamic contrast placed on the sword. They will look good when we apply the crack texture later on in the tutorial.

Step 3

Go back to the background layer, grab a big soft round brush with a 30% flow and opacity settings, do a few single clicks as shown below:

You will see now we light up the background a bit – however not too much. This effect will reflect when we add the crack texture later on in the tutorial.

I decide to add some effect on the bottom of the sword. So I duplicate the original cloud layer once, change the blending mode to “Normal” and drag it below the sword layer and above the background layer, use the Free Transform tool to resize it to a small size, position it as shown below:

Name this layer as “light”, duplicate it a few times, and position them as shown below:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can now add the crack texture onto the sword. Load the Crack Texture into Photoshop, select a portion of it with the Lasso tool (40px feather), copy and paste it onto the canvas and put it on top of all previous layers, name the layer as “crack”:

Make sure you resize the layer to roughly the size of the sword, as shown below:

Change the blending mode of the crack layer to be “color dodge”. Duplicate the crack layer a few times, position each duplicated layer as shown below:

Maintain the blending mode for all crack texture layers to be “color dodge”, apply layer mask according to the screenshot above.

For the top crack texture layer, add the following levels adjustment layer to it (with clipping mask optin enabled):

You will have the following effect:

Step 5

Now we can add some image adjustments layers to fine-tune the effect. I have the following two adjustment layers on top of all layers:

Color Balance

Curves

and you will have the following effect:

That’s it pretty much it! For the final effect I added some brushwork on the top, here is my end result: (click to enlarge)

That’s all for this tutorial! I hope this can give you more ideas about the use of layer blending, cloud filter and applying textures in Photoshop. Hopefully you will find those steps in the tutorial useful and the end result inspiratinal :)

Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you how easy it is to design this very eye-catching, Laser Particle abstract effect in Photoshop. This is a beginner level tutorial and steps are really simple, have a try!

I made this tutorial fin order to show you how you can use dynamic brush settings, motion blur filter and cloud filter to create great looking effect, which can be used widely in all sorts of occasion to spice up your design :)

Here is a preview of the final effect:

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $4.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 40+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Firstly let’s make a really simple Photoshop Brush to use later on in the tutorial. Create a new document sized 70px *25px (actually the dimension is not important here, as long as you keep the width roughly 3 times to the height and make it a rectangle shape).

Press Shift + F5 to fill the background layer with any color you like:

and go to Edit > Define Brush to create a custom Photoshop brushset:

Press “Ok” to proceed, you will see the new brushset appearing in the brush list:

Step 2

Now let’s create a new document (size doesn’t matter here) in Photoshop, fill the background layer with Black color. Create a new layer called “on top of the background layer (always a good practice because if something goes wrong you can simply delete this layer) and, let’s now apply some brush dynamics to the brush we just created.

Brush Tip Shape (Make sure to reduce the brush size to a smaller one around 20px)

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

And use this dynamic brush to paint some patterns of the new layer, as shown below:

Step 3

Hit Ctrl + T then right-click on this layer, choose “perspective” and alter the shape of this layer into the one shown below:

This step can be a bit tricky, you might want to try a few times ( to get the right feeling. Ultimately what you want is a kind of splashing/exploding effect. I adjusted a few times myself and this is what I have after the adjustmet:

Use a soft brush eraser to erase the left edge of the dynamic shape, so it blending into the background, therefore creating more depth:

Step 4

Duplicate this “Particle” layer once, apply the following motion blur setting to the duplicated layer:

Make sure the Angle of the motion blur match the angle of the previous particle layer.

Here is the effect you should have after applying the motion blur filter:

Reduce the opacity of the duplcated layer to around 80%, you will have the following effect:

Step 5

To tune-up the effect a bit, we use the cloud filter to add a bit of smoke around the laser particle. To do this, create a new layer called “smoke effect”,  use the Lasso Tool with 30-40px feather to draw a selection around the particle, go to Filter > Render > Cloud and fill some cloud inside the selection:

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

Resize this layer to a very small size, change its blending mode to “Screen”, positon it to the location as shown below:

Make a few duplication of it and scatter them around the particle, you will have the following effect:

Add some color over it by creating a new layer on top of all previous layer, set the blending mode to either “color dodge” or “overlay”, paint some colour over it: (Hint: use color balance adjustment layer for more control)

Step 6

To finishing up the image, we can flatten the layers, then apply the following “Smart Sharpen” Filter on the flattened layer – this will make the image look more crisp:

and you will have the following effect:

That’s it for this tutorial! Here is a final image I made afterwards:

You can apply this effect to tons of occasions – photo retouch, web headers/footers, manipulations, etc. Just to add extra flavour to your design :)

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful! Until next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this gloomy-looking text effect by using the amazing cloud filter in Photoshop. Have a try :)

The purpose of this tutorial is to show you the use of the cloud filter to create various effect, such as light and shadow, as a result bringing more depth to your text effect.

I personally love the cloud filter and I think it’s so versatile and you can use it to generate amazing effect and spice up your design. The trick is how you apply it and what other options do you use to combine it with (such as selection tools, other filter effects, or layer blending mode).

Here is a preview of the final effect:

Alternative darker version: (I adjust the brightness and contrast of the final effect, and some abstract texture to it)

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 600px (in fact size doesn’t really matter much in this tutorial), fill the background with the following gradients:

Personally I like to start with a gradient background with light grey, as it helps setting the mood for the text effect later on we will be created.

On the canvas, type a letter on the centre with a big bold font (I chose this font) as shown below:

On the text layer, apply the following blending options:

Inner Shadow

Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

Duplicate the text layer three times, disable the layer effects for those duplicated layers and put them below the original text layer. Alter the font color a bit and adjust the position of the text to the left and right of the original text layer a bit.

Your result should be looking similar to the following screenshot:

Then on each duplicated layer, add a layer mask respectively and erase a portion of the text with a soft brush on the spots as shown below:

The ulimiate goal of this step is to blend the edge of the text with the surrounding, so we can get ready for the next step.

To further increase the depth of the text, we can make a copy of any one of the duplicated text layer, replace the font color with a dark one, apply the following Gaussian Blur to the text layer: (Make sure this layer is beneath the original text layer)

You will have followin effect:

Step 3

Create a new layer on top of all previous layers called “cloud” and grab the Lasso Tool and draw a selection with 25px feather around the text, as shown below:

Go to Filter > Render > Cloud and render some cloud inside it (with white as foreground colour and dark grey as background colour)

Hint: try experimenting with different feather settings for the Lasso Tool, you will see by changing the feather, the cloud with become either thinner or thicker.

Once you finish with the rendering, resize the cloud and position it as shown below:

Duplcate the cloud layer once and position it to the lower position as shown below:

Change the blending mode of both cloud layer to “Hard Light”, you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Duplicate the cloud once more and name the duplicated layer as “shadow”, put it just above the background layer,  hit Ctrl + I to invert the colour and position it on the bottom of the text.

Change the blending mode of the shadow layer to “Normal” and opacity to 40%, you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the Cloud layer once and put it above all previous layer, rotate it to around 60 degree and apply the following motion blur setting to the duplicated layer:

Name this layer as “Light”.

Change the blending mode of  this light layer to be “overlay”, duplicate it a few times and drag them around the text, and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

OK now we can do some fine tuning to the text by adding a Curves adjustment layer to it:

and add some colour over the text by adding another layer on top of the curves adjustment layer with the “overlay” blending mode. Here is my final effect for this tutorial:

Alternative darker version: (I adjust the brightness and contrast of the final effect, and some abstract texture to it)

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Hopefully I gave you some ideas about the cloud filter and how you can use it for creating light, shadows and adding more depth to text effect.

Till next time, have a great day!