247 Comments
Luminescent Lines
June 17, 2008Here we will create some thin flowing lines that look as if they emit light. This technique is fairly simple and is a great way to create an abstract wallpaper or looks good integrated into another image. This tutorial will mainly explore the brush engine and you will also learn how to create custom brushes and use them effectively, combined with some interesting layer styles.
Tutorial Files
If you are a PSD PRO member then download the PSD file and much more by going here.
Final Image
This tutorial will show you how to create an image similar to this:
Step 1
Start by creating a new document, here I used 1024×768px and 72dpi. Using the paint bucket tool (G) fill the background layer with black, alternatively you could use a dark gradient instead. Click the brush tool (B) then change the settings of this brush to a 1px round, white brush with 0% hardness. Create a new layer then select the pen tool (P) and in the main toolbar make sure paths is selected, now start slightly outwith the canvas on the left then using about four points draw a curve with a similar shape to the one below. Right click anywhere inside the document then select stroke path, make sure simulate pressure is checked then hit OK. Lastly hit the Esc key twice to get rid of the path.
Step 2
Now hold Ctrl and click on the layer with this curve in it, in the layers panel, this should make a selection around the line. Next go edit>define brush preset and save that curve as a brush. You can now hide this layer by clicking the eye next to it in the layers panel. Select the brush tool again then bring up the brush settings by going window>brushes. Choose the brush that you just made then use the same settings as below.
Step 3
Create a new layer to hold our lines. Okay we now want to use this brush to create the lines in the picture so first drag from the left of the canvas to the right until you end up with something that resembles the image below. Not that each line is slightly different, this is because in settings we made it change angle and roundness.
Step 4
Now we will make the lines glow so right click on this layer in the layers panel then select blending options. Use the settings shown below for a drop shadow and an outer glow. Note that although we used a drop shadow we are still using it to create a glowing effect this is because we changed the blend mode of this effect from multiply to normal.
Step 5
Right click this layer then select duplicate layer to make an exact copy. Now go into the blending options for this layer and the only thing we want to change is the gradient to the the other rainbow one because you will notice there are two different rainbow gradients, one has transparent edges and one doesn’t.
Step 6
Optionally now you can blend out some of the ends of these lines by either using the erasor tool on both layers or a better way to do it would be to put both these layers in a new group then create a layer mask a paint it out some parts. If your happy with your image then skip on over to the next step.
Step 7
Here I added some beads on the line, this can be done using the same technique from step 3 to step 5 except use a small 2px or 3px round brush instead of the brush that you made yourself.
Step 8
Now create a new layer and select a large soft brush then change the foreground color to a bright color and brush some random shapes. Repeat this with a few diifferent colors to end up with an effect like this.
Step 9
Next go filter>blur>gaussian blur and use a value of around 100px then change the blend mode of this layer to color. I’ll let you decide what opacity this layer should be but I used about 50%.
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June 18th, 2008
Adhiraj:
Marvellous man….I’m looking forward to more mind blowing tutorials from you.
June 18th, 2008
Murali:
Verry Buatiful please send my mail any tricks in photoshop
Buy
June 19th, 2008
Rick:
i cant seem to be able to do the lines without one going off somewere is there any tutorials fot this or can you help thanks in advance :)
June 19th, 2008
Ross:
@Rick
I’ve tested this tutorial a few times and I’ve not had this problem, what is probably happened is your default settings for the brush engine are set differently to mine and since I’ve only gone over the settings that I had to change you might have to alter some extra settings like spacing etc.
I know the preview in the brush panel in step 2 is quite faint but if you could try and match it to that you might get a better result. I will say that the result I achieved was just through trial and error as the brush settings can vary immensely depending on the size of brush you are using so I would suggest you just try playing about with settings like scatter until you get something similar. If you do this you will also gain a greater knowledge in what each setting does. I often devote a lot of my Photoshopping time just to experimenting with settings in the likes of the brush engine, blending options etc. in order to gain a better understanding of what each setting does. Doing this is an easy way to get slightly better in Photoshop as a lot of tutorials will just tell you what settings to use.
June 20th, 2008
Pim:
I had a problem in step 2. I just couldn’t >define brush preset<. What I just did, is convert the layer of the curve into a smart object. Now you’re be able to difine a brush preset. :-)
June 20th, 2008
Pim:
Finally got the brush… But I’m not be able to make the nice lines in step 3. I just used the settings of step 2, but I can’t make the lines without going off somewhere. Maybe you have to look to your tutorial again… ;-)
June 20th, 2008
Omer:
Fantastic…Mind Blowing…Outstanding Man!!!
June 21st, 2008
web design company:
Easy photoshop trick with a cool effect
June 21st, 2008
Em:
I have no idea what’s wrong, but I just can’t get to step 2. Even if I convert to smart object.
I started my line in the lower left, and the line is bolder in the upper right.
June 21st, 2008
Ross:
@Em
If the only problem you have is that the line gets bolder then you should be able to fix this by going window>brushes then make sure none of the boxes on the left are checked. This was probably since our defaults are set differently and you’ll learn to spot small problems like that as you use Photoshop more. If its still not working then leave me a more descriptive comment and I’ll try and work it out.
June 22nd, 2008
Em:
Okay. That helped my line be skinny on both sides.
I can’t seem to do the Edit>Define Brush Preset… after making my curve /:
Also, I’m on a Mac, so holding Control and left clicking translates to a right click. I’m assuming when you’re talking about making a selection of the line, it’s the same as right clicking the thumbnail of the curve in the Layers Panel and selecting Select Pixels?
And thanks for getting back to me so quickly on the last comment.
June 22nd, 2008
Alan Alph:
Nice work on this tutorial. I’m a pro in graphics, but I was tempted by the technique of making a selection into a brush, so I gave this a try. As others, I had a problem in defining the shape as a brush. Something rang a bell for me, and by deleting the saved shape from Paths, it allowed me. I would think that was the problem for the previous commenter, and should be included in the tutorial. Beyond that, terrific work, it’s a good day when you learn something new. Thanks!
June 22nd, 2008
Em:
Ah. I got it. I had to press delete a few times to get rid of the path before I could Define Brush Preset.
June 22nd, 2008
jd:
I’ve been playing with this tutorial for a while now but when I add the rainbow gradients it never turns out the way yours shows. The gradients are powerfully abrasive, unlike the lovely red mixtures you are getting out of your lines. Curious as the a possible reason why if any have it. And to clear it up I’ve made sure that the settings used in the tutorials are the settings I’m using in my attempts at this tutorial.
June 22nd, 2008
Ross:
Thanks for pointing that out Alan, the problem was that Photoshop for some reason doesn’t let you define a brush while there is a path active, I’ve updated the tutorial now and the easiest way is just to hit Esc twice and this removes the path.
@jd
I’m really not too sure why this is happening, If your document size, your brush size and the length of the path are similar to mine then it should work fine. If you can’t get it working then the best idea is to choose the settings of your layer styles yourself and try and match them to the pictures as you would have to this anyway if you were using the technique on one of your own projects where the likes of the brush size was different.
June 22nd, 2008
nitos:
When its going to be the new tutorials? :P
June 22nd, 2008
Ross:
@nitos
I’ve just finished writing three so they will probably all go up at the same time, Once I get used to the site I hope to be a lot more consistent in posting tutorials. You can check out the ones that are coming up in the gallery.
June 24th, 2008
tobz:
In regards to step 2, in CS3 MAC, you need to make the stroke in black in order to define the brush preset. Then you can change the colour to white afterwards.
June 24th, 2008
Ashley:
After a bit of fiddlin, I got it done. I used CS3. Only problem I had was with the brush. After creating the brush and trying to draw the lines, I could only draw 1 line, that would kind of appear more the more i used the brush.. prob me being stoopid!.. I closed the work I had done, created a completely new project, black background, used the brush that had been saved and the lines came out ok. Great tutorial.. thanks Ross. :)
June 24th, 2008
Jallen:
ok im having trouble ctrl clicking the layer to get the line selected, as said in step 2. I use CS2, so idk if thats the reason or not. when i make the brush, it just selects the whole 1024×768 doc as the brush.
June 24th, 2008
Jallen:
never mind tobz answered it
June 25th, 2008
MasterMind:
Hey, I am a little new at this. Or at least it has been a while since I last used Photoshop. I am using Photoshop CS2 And I have no idea why I am not getting anywhere with it.
I try to follow your steps I end up not getting any thing done. The only thing I get is some strange double half circle.
Some better steps might help.
June 26th, 2008
Dave C.:
Ok, I’ve tried every single tip in the comments, but I can’t Define a brush preset to save my life. No matter what I do, the option is not available to me. I am also using CS3.
June 26th, 2008
Dave C.:
I figured it out. I was trying to do this tutorial at a larger size. The path/stroke I was using was apparently too large to create a brush with.
June 28th, 2008
Roosevelt:
Hai !
This tutorial is very good, I want some more like this type of tutorials to my mail ID
Bye Bye
June 28th, 2008
Darren K.:
I can define the brush preset but the scatter and shape dynamics dont go into effect, i just get a single line. Help :/
June 28th, 2008
Darren K.:
nvm i got it. when i did the stroke path, it saved it as a pencil><
June 29th, 2008
Tom Ross:
Fantastic tutorial! I’ll def be using this one.
June 30th, 2008
Pedro:
woa
http://www.dimpmexico.com
July 2nd, 2008
Eric:
This is an awesome tutorial! Just made a giant resolution wallpaper with it. Thanks for sharing!
July 2nd, 2008
Anounymous:
I need help because when I try to Stroke Path on number 1, it’s grayed out and I can’t. Any suggestions? PLEASE help because this tutorial looks really awesome…
July 2nd, 2008
Anounymous:
Nevermind…. I figured it out! :)
July 2nd, 2008
Thomas:
Great tutorial, thanks
July 5th, 2008
MAX:
it’s a nice tutorial!!!Thanks
July 8th, 2008
Jeremy:
For some reason, whenever I try the first sentence in step 2, I get this: http://www.utechnet.com/line.jpg
The steps make it difficult to understand since you have to click the item in PATHS not in LAYERS. Trying to turn this into a nice wallpaper, but I can’t get past this.
July 8th, 2008
Mat:
Very nice tutorial. Bit of a random question, but what theme are you running on your computer?
Is it WindowsBlinds or Windows DLL?
July 10th, 2008
Ross:
@Jeremy
What you’ve done is gone into the paths panel rather than the layers panel, maybe because I mentioned paths in the previous step. So just stay in the layer panel by either clicking on the layers tab, two along from paths in the sidebar or just go window>layers or even hit F7 that should do it.
@Mat
Yeah very observant it is indeed WindowsBlinds with a skin called ‘Black’, I like it better than the Vista theme and kind of looks like a mix between Vista and Mac OSX.
July 16th, 2008
Jayjay402:
Awesome tut dud,e thanx v much! =]
July 16th, 2008
Polski:
I followed your tut,but my picture looks grainy,kinda weird…What am i doing wrong?
July 18th, 2008
Charles:
Hello Ross, I ran across your tutorial and upon trying to imitate it I got this effect when trying to use my newly created brush
If you could can you tell me where I went wrong? Also I’m using Windows XP and Adobe CS3.
July 21st, 2008
Pooja:
I really like this tutorial………very gud
July 26th, 2008
André:
Thx for the tutorial, nice technique…
July 27th, 2008
Ross:
Thanks for all the feedback guys:)
July 28th, 2008
Kasumi:
>>
How can I fix it?
July 28th, 2008
Fruct:
Ne za chto :)
Urok Klaas!
Hi from Russia! :))
August 3rd, 2008
mixVicioms:
Very nice!!
August 26th, 2008
tato:
Thank you so much!
I’ve learnt so much by this tutorial!
August 27th, 2008
Keenan:
Lovely tutorial, I had a blast following your steps being new to things like this I did come across some troubles but manage to sort everything out, the only issue I had was at the end the out-glow of the colours didn’t dissapear when lowing the opacity so I set mine to Hue made it 61% opacity and then did another Gaussain blur at about 20% and got your effect :).
August 29th, 2008
Laura:
I’ve Been Having Trouble With The First Step for Some Reason, whenever I select Stroke Path, all that comes up are four dots, where my four point are, ive tried different settings and im not quite sure why this happens, any ideas? Thanks :)
August 30th, 2008
captonjohn:
I got the whole idea !
While defining smooth brush stroke from a pen tool stroke
First make a pen tool stroke then right click on that stroke & select stroke path. Then select BRUSH from drop down menu & check on Simulate Pressure. If you didn’t get smooth brush as you desired then go to brush menu & then check “Other Dynamics” are on.
You’ll get that smooth brush stroke.
Then delete path of that path layer
The problem in defining brush is due to its larger size because you can’t make brush larger then 2500 pixels so please keep your document size less than 2500 pixel.
Now you can use define brush preset.
September 4th, 2008
Juliana:
Exceleeeeente!!!
September 6th, 2008
Daniel:
Ross, every time I get the lines out and I do the options, I see no glow, just the outer edges of the black canvas glow. Any help?
September 11th, 2008
Piwko:
GREAT tutorial!!! THX
September 12th, 2008
Alasdair:
Really good effect, even with my little blonde problems, and alot of “oh yeah i get it”
September 15th, 2008
Royy:
I just cant get it :( cant you make a video its really kinda hard when my photoshop is in spanish
September 17th, 2008
Ksenia:
Help me! I can’t get a proper curve when I use the pen tool, all it is a really extreme curve from the center with two more dots attached to it. Are you sure you’re not using the freeform pen tool?!
September 17th, 2008
Ksenia:
nvm, sorry! Im a noob!
September 19th, 2008
Pexer:
Realy nice tutorial i realy liked reading it and doing it realy easy
Thanks,
Pexer.nl Designz
September 20th, 2008
Brandon:
When I try to do step one, I’m at the pen stage. I’m clicked on Paths on the layers menu to the right.
I made 4 points and I try to make a curve but every time it fills with the color white.
Any explanation?
September 20th, 2008
Ross:
Yeah Brandon a few people have had that problem, what’s happening is that your pen tool is creating a shape rather than a path, I mentioned in step one to make sure that, in the main toolbar, paths is selected. If you still don’t know what I mean then after you select the pen tool there should be three buttons in the left side of the main toolbar, just press the middle one and that should be you.
September 21st, 2008
Charles:
I keep having issues where a white block will surround my lines as I’m trying to create multiple lines overlapping. Do you know how I might be able to bypass this problem?
September 24th, 2008
Laura:
Thanks For The Tutorial, I Managed To Fix My Problem :)
Awesome Tutorial
Thanks
x
September 26th, 2008
Pete:
Great tutorial! thanks for sharing this effect. It looks really awesome!
September 27th, 2008
momo:
hello there
nice tutorial
seems easy to follow. I have no problem following your tut. up until step 3, making the brush and scatter it. However at step 4 i follow exactly the blending option but couldn’t get the box in the preview to have the glowing rainbow colour. my preview just show a grey box. i dunnot if it’s a problem because I couldnt get the end result.
am i suppose to get the result in step 6 after completing step 5 before doing the eraser tool or masking thing? because i did the blending using eraser but couldnt get the soft glowy fiery lines like yours.
so mine turn out just some hard lines with glowing beads..
can u tell me where should i correct?
Thank you so much for this tut.
September 28th, 2008
nitin:
hi i m nitin plz more effcts sned my e-mail id plz sir & mam
Verry Buatiful any tricks in photoshop
bye
September 29th, 2008
Oxid:
awesome tutorial man, the result is very extravagant. it was easy to follow, although i had a couple of problems with define brush preset, i think there is a couple of bug in Ps when is this function enabled and when not.
i worked with a large canvas (2880×1800) and i could not get Ps to make a brush from my one pixel sized line. then somehow i succeeded with a line size 10 px, but don’t know how.
anyway very great tut.
thank you!
October 8th, 2008
shyboy:
Thanks to this very good tutorial!
October 11th, 2008
Anna:
When I make a brush preset, it takes the background to, so I have a square brush with the curve in the middle.. :(
October 18th, 2008
Jay:
I have the same problem as Anna =( Please help Ross, I have tried this tutorial more than 20 times already and I haven’t been able to fix it =(
October 18th, 2008
Ross:
Anna and Jay,
To Isolate the the curve and only save that as a brush then you need to remember to Ctrl+click on the layer with the curve in it before you define the brush preset and also make sure your curve is on a different layer from your background. Hope that helps:)
October 18th, 2008
Anna:
What if its on a Mac? I’ve tried all kinds of combination and it doesn’t want to work…
October 22nd, 2008
jerome:
i am new to photoshop… i tried to follow your step but how can i proceed to step 2 if i cant even get the step 1… i really had a hard time making the stroke path.. i already tied the help of adobe but it still didnt work… when i tried to stroke path only the points have strokes and if i get rid of the srokes only the points are visible… please help me with this i reallylike to try your tutorial…
October 22nd, 2008
Mikail:
Hi, all works fine for me… !!! is great, thx…
October 27th, 2008
Aj:
Hey Ross
seems like a great tutorial and i love the finished product…which is why im attempting it…
Unfortunately i am stuck at step 3 i got my brush and everything worked out but when i drag it across nothing comes….nothing happens…..it appears in my history as a brush stroke but nothing comes….ive tried all my brushes and different colours …edited me hardness on other brushed and changed the flow but nothing seems to be able to get a brush stroke on the new layer created for brush strokes neither is it coming in the background…..i am fairly new to photoshop so i might be doing something stupid but i just cant locate my mistake.
your reply would be greatly appreciated
Aj
October 27th, 2008
Aj:
Ah rejoice perseverance pays off.
i reopened my photoshop and made a black background and then made a new layer and then used my new brush…….for some reason this isnt working on the same sheet on which i define the brush but if i make a new document it works fine ….finally on to step 4
Aj
October 28th, 2008
Rossella Sferlazzo:
I like it very much!
Thank you!
http://www.sferlazzorossella.wordpress.com
October 31st, 2008
Aj:
Hey a lil tip for those not getting the desired effect in the last line…ie the funky colours not getting integrated properly with your abstract just change the blending mode to hue and ou should end up where you want to be without even changing the opacity
Aj
November 6th, 2008
Robert:
in step one, my line doesn’t fade out. the other steps works without a problem. the line just doesn’t fade :( I have read all the comments aswell but haven’t seen anything that can help me yet.
November 7th, 2008
Kal-el:
I’m also having the problem that when I clear the work path, all I have left is four dots. I checked and double-checked and I do have ‘Paths’ selected on my pen tool. :( I really wanted to use this on a background, but I just can’t even get past the first step.
November 7th, 2008
Kayla:
Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial Ross. I’ve been wanting to try this for some time. My result isn’t as good as yours but I was very satisfied with mine.
November 12th, 2008
leoxgiusti:
very nice and easy-to-follow tutorial. thanks ;-)
November 19th, 2008
4lfr3d0:
Thanks man, I don’t have much to say, because I speak spanish :-), tutorial is great.
Greetings from Cusco – Perú
November 21st, 2008
Laurice:
Awesome tutorial! Thanks so much for sharing!
November 25th, 2008
will-asdf:
thanks for the tut, but can you post a higher quality psd @ 1024 768.
Cheers
November 25th, 2008
Daniel Taylor:
Easy to use and makes an awesome wallpaper! Thank you!
December 1st, 2008
Arec:
Everything goes smoothly until I use the brush, I get this :
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee51/EternaIIy/Curve.jpg
Any clues as to why it is happening?
Thanks in advance.
December 3rd, 2008
godfather74:
thanx
Fantastic tutorial!
December 5th, 2008
Sephers:
Finally figured it out, and the result is magnificent! Thanks Ross.
December 6th, 2008
leonardo miguel:
en verdad un tutorial, exelente
en verdad te felicito, bay
December 7th, 2008
Sephers:
Ross, one question. When you stroke the path, what do you select? Neither Brush or Pencil don’t produce the smooth curve you get.
December 17th, 2008
Yong:
I’m sorry mate, I don’t get the sentence in step 2
“Now hold Ctrl and click on the layer with this curve in it, in the layers panel, this should make a selection around the line. ”
I’m very new in PS. please elaborate more with this.
December 30th, 2008
Amanda C.:
“Now hold Ctrl and click on the layer with this curve in it, in the layers panel, this should make a selection around the line. ”
I can’t isolate the layer with the line on it. When I select that layer and try to define a brush preset, PS CS3 tells me “Could not complete the Define Brush Preset command because the selected area is empty.”
But I CTRL clicked the layer!!! however, i don’t see little dotted ants around the stroke meaning i’ve selected the line….
any help would be great. Thanks for you time and thanks for this tutorial!
January 2nd, 2009
Kristian:
I’m stuck at the same step as the person above, ctrl clicking the layer doesn’t seem to select just the line, it’s turning the whole background with the line into a brush. I tried deleting the background so it couldn’t select it but now it’s telling me there is nothing to select when I can clearly see the line.
January 3rd, 2009
Scott:
I cannot get past step #1. Right click and then select stroke path? When I right click, I get a list of layers. Not getting it.
January 7th, 2009
Betty:
gONNA try this out now. Thx loads. mullered
January 11th, 2009
Phoebe:
Something went wrong for me in step 3, 4 and 5. In step three, it had some sort of outline of the line I originally created. In step 4, it just went into this weird rainbow glowy mess. And step 5 followed. Then when I tried removing bits it went totally wrong… what did I do incorrectly?
January 15th, 2009
bukalemun:
çok güzel olmu? (:
January 26th, 2009
[LSD]Sakai:
great tut!
I’m still confused on the control+click thing on the layers. Im using CS3 is it any dif? can someone help please
January 27th, 2009
MikT:
Ctrl clicking the layer in the layer pannel does NOTHING. Whats the not shortcut for that action?
January 30th, 2009
Mark:
Excellent! I’m going to make my new wallpaper right now with this! Thanks!!!
January 30th, 2009
prabhat:
really fantastic
February 2nd, 2009
Marijke:
I got stuck on step #2 too with empty area. Then I tried to give the swirl another color then white. I tried black and red and then I could define the brush!
@scott You need right click with the pen tool as active tool
February 4th, 2009
sofia:
hola !
alguien que sepa español me podria ayudar?
desde ya muchas gracias
saludos :D
February 6th, 2009
A PERSON IN NEED:
i make the line, but i cant select stroke path, ive tried any feedback, i see a few had this problem, but they didn’t say how they figured it out D: SOSOSOSOSOSOSOS!!!
February 6th, 2009
A PERSON IN NEED:
okay! now i figured out WHERE i went wrong. STEP 1, “in the main toolbar make sure paths is selected.” where is paths…… (CS3 extended)
February 13th, 2009
jendead:
I was also getting the “rainbow goop” effect in Step 4. I think I figured it out!
It looks like it’s directly related to the density of the lines drawn in Step 3. If you make a really dense set of lines, the colors get all wacky and don’t look right. To see what I mean, try applying the layer blending options to an empty layer, then draw the lines in after. I hope this helps… this was driving me crazy!
February 21st, 2009
d:
Sorry I don’t rate your tutorial. You need to be clearer and really lay it out step by step for idiots if its going to fulfil the definition of a tutorial, rather than us wasting time thanks to your lazy instructions
February 23rd, 2009
Moha:
Hello.
this is a great tutorial but i have a problem finishing it… no matter what i keep trying to get the cool effects, its not getting better, i dont know whats wrong even i made the same effects u made but still, maybe if u can help pls send me a msg.
Thx!
March 2nd, 2009
RayDiEnt:
Hey, I LOVE this graphic and am dying to create it! I got as far as step five without issue, but I’ve re-tried it three times and I cannot get it to let me select the rainbow *in color*. I can make all the other settings look just like your screenshots, but when I go to select the rainbow, it’s desaturated once I click it. Is this from some old setting I might have done before? I can send screenshots if that’ll help. Thanks so much, I can’t wait to learn how to do this! Awesome tutorial! ~ RayDiEnt
March 2nd, 2009
RayDiEnt:
P.S. Been playing with it and I just figured out my problem – I had somehow started with a grayscale document instead of a colored one. Ha! Anyway, it’s all in vibrant beautiful color now, but my lines are all choppy instead of smooth and sleek like yours. I’m thinking either I need more talent with drawing smoothly, or you drew your original line differently than I understood…any comments? Thanks so much! ~ RayDiEnt
March 2nd, 2009
RayDiEnt:
I created smoother lines using the Pen tool and dragging anchor points around, but when I make it into a brush, it gets jagged again. Also, when I have the finished product, my lines are surrounded by glows and shadows, even though my blending settings are the same as yours. Any ideas on what I’m missing? Thanks! ~ RayDiEnt
March 3rd, 2009
jeremy:
Thankyou very much for this awesome tutorial!! You have done great job :)
Cheers.
March 4th, 2009
kribo:
verry buatiful, fantastic man…
March 4th, 2009
m:
i can get everything working apart from the pen tool doesn’t look right from the start, therefore affects it throughout, i selected paths, but it looks pixelated almost? help!!
March 6th, 2009
amit:
hey
its a great tutorial. i adore this
March 19th, 2009
sivas:
very good, thanks
March 20th, 2009
lawrence77:
thanks I like this very much! :)
March 23rd, 2009
Rich:
Beautiful finished design, will give it a go
thanks
March 23rd, 2009
marga!R:
I didn’t go for the brush preset but i made my line paths in illustrator and fiddled with the settings in layers and styles. awesome. Love what i saw.
March 24th, 2009
Andy:
Hey man, no matter what I try to do I can’t get past step 2. When I use the paths tool and make the points, whenever I go to fill in the path the lines are straight and do not curve at all. I’ve done everything exactly like is said in the tutorial, maybe it’s one of the settings? Thanks.
March 24th, 2009
Andy:
By the way I’m using CS4
March 27th, 2009
professional photo retouch artist:
wow a really nice result! as a photo retouch artist these types of tutorials are invaluable for keeping sharp and creative!
April 2nd, 2009
Skyldehis:
does this work in Photoshop Elements 5.0? i am having alot of trouble even getting a curved line on the 2d layer
April 6th, 2009
Daphne:
I love it, but I’m having trouble. I’ve managed to blunder up to step three. I have the brush, made the brush, set it all right, good background lalala – BUT the lines won’t show up. At all.
I’ve clicked 100 times. They just don’t show up. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks :)
April 12th, 2009
Judas Crow:
fantastic! the author has explained everything perfectly and simply, and the effect is truly spectacular.
April 12th, 2009
sag:
doesnt blend the two layers… eehh it turned weird! nedways nice tutorial keep it up!!
April 15th, 2009
Ole:
Hey, can you please begin to make videos ? it`s much more easyer for every one to undersand !
May 2nd, 2009
Eliezer:
Ok Sofia, :D… En que paso te quedaste?
Bueno es un poco largo decirlo todo y no se
si yo sea un buen tutor, pero te explicare los primeros pasos
en caso de entenderme pos me envias un mensaje para seguir
lo demas…
1- Elige el bote de pintura el Paint bucket tool para pintar el fondo de negro. (Si le cliqueas y no se pinta habiendo elegido el color negro a mano derecha en la tabla de herramientas, entonces teniendo elegido el bote de pintura dale un clic derecho al fondo blanco y darle a ¨Normal¨ y luego intenta pintar de nuevo).
2- Luego le das a la letra B para elegir la Brocha Brush Tool y en la parte de arriba justo de bajo de la opcion Layer o Capas hay una flechita negra puntando hacia abajo, dale click y pon la primera opcion en 1px (master diameter) y la segunda en 0% (hardness).
3- Luego crear una nueva capa Layer, New , Layer…, en español Capa, Nueva, Capa…, y luego de crear preciona la P para elegir la herramienta Pen Tool y crea tu curva ( das clic para poner un punto y al poner el segundo punto no sueltes el clic y mueve el mouse y darle forma, haci mismo has con el tercer punto hasta terminar tu curva). Cuando tengas tu curva dale un clic derecho a cualquier parte de tu fondo negro y dale a stroke path, elige Brush o Brocha y ponle un check mark o costejo ala opcion Simulate pressure. Luego precionas ESC para terminar tu curva.
4- A mano derecha hay una tabla donde esta tu background y capas, solo has creado una capa. Presionando CTRL dale un click izquierdo y se va a seleccionar tu curva (Esto es posible solo con el stroke path, ya que una linea no puede ser selecionada, pero como coloreaste tu linea con la brocha en 1 px, ya puedes seleccionar la curva, es por eso que todos estan quedados hay, no hicieron el stroke).
Luego de que este seleccionado, lo notas pos las lineas punteadas atraves de tu curva, entonces precionas ESC, le das a Edit y elige la Opcion Define Brush Preset, le das a Ok
5- Presiona la Letra B para elegir la brocha o Brush nuevamente y dale clic a la opcion Window o Ventana y luego a Brushes o Brochas.
–Bueno ya aqui vas por las imagenes del paso 2, espero que haya entendido esta parte ya creo que lo demas es facil, en caso de que no me entiendas pues perdoname por mi mala explicancion, nunca me gusto ser profesor :D, en caso de que si pos espero que lo termines, si te travas en alguno otra parte me mandas un mensaje a in3pido_3mendo@hotmail.com, ya que quisas se me olvide este post.
Espero que sirva Chao…!
May 6th, 2009
mohanraj:
rompa nantre iya,…….,
very thanks……,
May 7th, 2009
Ivy:
thank you for sharing…:)
May 7th, 2009
IVY C:
Excelllllllent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 14th, 2009
krthik:
realyyyyyyyyyyy… fantastic ya. this time i am ur fan
May 15th, 2009
Danny:
Bravo dude! That was awesome. I like this technique cause you can use in various ways.
Thanks heaps
CHEERS :)
May 23rd, 2009
Alex:
I can’t get the line to fade in step 1!! It just makes a solid line that’s it.
May 30th, 2009
p00ya:
Great Tutorial, here’s what I did using this technique: http://i44.tinypic.com/358s8t3.png
June 16th, 2009
Tony:
I feel anybody that cant get the lines figured out in step 2 and three. So just make a cool line in a new layer, then convert to smart object and then make multiple copies of that layer and just arrange them all differently then select all of the lines and merge the layers. After follow from step four. Step one and two is just his way of creating multiple cool looking lines. There is more than on way to skin a cat! and if you are looking to be a designer you may want to start thinking that way…
Tony!!!
June 17th, 2009
Matt:
I’m having the same problem as many people, above CTRL + Clicking the layer in Step 2 does not select the line, does anyone know why???
June 19th, 2009
saurav:
this is very nice and imagenery imaage
June 20th, 2009
Kim:
i need help, when i do step 3 i can only do one line /=
June 21st, 2009
CrAc:
Yeah!
Got it.
To everyone who gets stuck on step 2:
Just hide every layer beside the line from step 1 ;)
worked for me.
BTW: I changed the color to red, dunno if it takes effect or not :D
greetz
June 29th, 2009
Ymielz:
This is a really useful tutorial but i cant get past step two, this is because i am on mac CS4 and CTR is right click. How do i do this on a mac?
July 1st, 2009
Healer Lauren:
Thank you for the beautiful tutorial! I found it easy to follow and my results were nearly as stunning as yours. The 1 px tentacles are a bit jagged so I’m going to play around with selecting the original before I create a brush from it. Thanks again for sharing. Namaste!
July 2nd, 2009
hitesh:
thanks buddy i got the same effects but slighter different because i got more lines in my canvas keep on and please go on typing this types of tutorials check out my one here http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitesh-photoshop/
July 4th, 2009
Angela:
Awesome tutorial.
I remember using it, and I stumbled upon here again~
I made my own kind with this tutorial, with thicker lines.
Check it out.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9837/picture2nvy.png
July 6th, 2009
agnes:
such a great artwork………!!!
thanks :)
July 14th, 2009
Mathew:
I’m having only one problem: How exactly do I get the first line to curve? I can make a line with four different anchor points using the pen tool and get the fading effects by doing fill stroke, but it’s not a curved line, just four points connected by straight lines. I’m probably going to feel like an idiot when you tell me what I did wrong haha, but hit me anyways.
July 15th, 2009
Adam:
To anyone having problems selecting the layer in step 2:
In Photoshop CS2 and above, you must ctrl click the THUMBNAIL of the layer to select its contents, because ctrl clicking anywhere else in the layer palette just selects the layer. It won’t look like anything is selected, but when you define a new brush path the preview should show the curve.
July 18th, 2009
Daniel:
Good tuts men. Huh so tricky but I did it. A little difference but I got more idea. thanks
July 20th, 2009
Dennis:
Great tutorial. i finally figured it out, but i was wondering if there is a way to do this with a 300dpi canvas?
July 21st, 2009
Adrian:
For those getting the “Could not complete the Define Brush Preset because the selected area is empty” message, make sure your foreground color is set to anything EXCEPT WHITE before you start drawing the path with the pen.
July 23rd, 2009
tommyc:
hey, it seems alot of people are having troble with stage two of this tutorial, myself included, especially with the part that says
‘Now hold Ctrl and click on the layer with this curve in it, in the layers panel, this should make a selection around the line. Next go edit>define brush preset and save that curve as a brush.’
how do you do this? i cannot do it. if i control click (i am using a mac) on the layers panel then i just get the menu you get when you right click normally. whenever i try and ‘define brush preset’ it tries to take the whole image and not the line even when i have the line selected, and can move the line about with the Move Tool….
If someone could just take the time to explain this one part it would make me very happy….here’s hoping…..
July 26th, 2009
Andreas:
Useless. My pen line doesn’t look anything like yours, and you can’t stroke with brush because it looks ridicolously big. Stage 2 doesn’t work either. CS3 user.
July 29th, 2009
Arcadius:
Hey,
Does anyone have an idea (probably connected to Dennis’ question) how I could do this with in a larger format. I mean you can only get a brush as big as 2500×2500 and at least 5000 px in height. Any suggestions on what tool and techniques to use the the brush preset tool is not enough ? Please – I would be very grateful is someone could help with this dead point I’m in… Ross ?
July 29th, 2009
Arcadius:
sorry – above I meant I would need a brush at least 5000 px high :-)
August 7th, 2009
Reya:
I have a big problem and i tried to solve it anyway i could , but got no result : At Step 1, when i click right to select stroke path, that particular option is inactive. I’ve tried everything, even installed CS3 instead of CS2 and still NOTHNG!! The option “Stroke path” remains inactive :(( Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?
I’m sure it has something to do with my settings, but i don’t know where to start from :( My settings now are the basic ones with which the program installs…
August 16th, 2009
majdi:
hi
tank fot tutorial
plese see this site
http:///www.tutorial.40s.ir
August 16th, 2009
Bel:
hey, i tried to go edit>define in step two but i can’t. also in step one i don’t have stimulate pressure. is this because i have photoshop 6.0??
thanks
August 31st, 2009
Abdul Latheef:
Super and fantastic. May God bless you for giving the knowledge to others. Great job
Thanks and Regards
Latheef
December 15th, 2009
nadia:
this is one perfect and clean tutorials, thanks for sharing
December 25th, 2009
Oscar:
Hey, when I click esc twice it doesn’t remove the path D=
January 11th, 2010
PixelMaker:
Hi,
Nice Tutorial. Thanks for sharing it.
I have problems while going through step 1 to Step 2. When I tried to do the “Now hold Ctrl and click on the layer with this curve in it, in the layers panel, this should make a selection around the line.”, it is not selecting the line.
BTW, can you tell what colors shouold I use while makeing the first curve.
In step 1 you said ‘Create a new layer then …’ what the layer background should be?
Thanks,
-PixelMaker.