tutorials

A basic tutorial – compatible with all versions of photoshop. Just so everyone can create glowing stars!

Following these instructions a star should be created in a matter of minutes…

Create a new file (any dimension) and a coloured background – preferably black.

Create a new layer; then using the Airbrush Tool or the Painbrush Tool create a white dot of reasonable size in the middle of the canvas.

Select your Smudge Tool.

The size of the brush should be slightly smaller than the brush you previously used.

Set pressure settings to 65% and ensure that Finger Painting is unchecked.

Click on the white dot and make a short and quick drag motion with your mouse.

Repeat the motion (x4) at different directions, to create a star-like shape.

This step is here to create a feather-like glow in the star – you can skip this step if you don’t want this effect.

Still using the Smudge Tool – select the one of the smallest brushes. Then select different points along all sides of the star and just make the same short and quick drag motions with your mouse as before.

You can choose to do this as many (or as little) times that you like. I think I quick-dragged a good 20 or so times. Try things out with different sized smudged brushes to get the effect you desire.

To add colour. CTRL key + select the layer with the star.

If you like you can go to Select > Feather > 2 pixels – I didn’t do this step, but depending on the size of your star – you might wish to do so for some ‘extra’ glow and effect. The amount of pixels you wish to feather is also a matter of personal choice.

Create a new layer, then use the Paint Bucket Tool or Gradient Tool to fill the star in with the colors you want.

Then change the layer mode to Multiply, Overlay, Dodge or Colour – Just experiment with the modes, and the opaicity. My settings were Multiply and Opacity 100%

To create more, you can either duplicate the layers and move them about or create a new star from scratch.

What I did was multiply the layer with the white star – then coloured those extra stars that I made with the Gradient Tool. The colors used were pale yellow and pink.

Ta-dah~! This tutorial is finally over. Any feedback will be much appreciated. I tend to squabble a bit too much when I type – this tutorial could have been much shorter. I know that >>;

All I did was add some diagonal lines in the background (faded out a bit) and the Air Brush Tool was used with a couple of small brushes to create some dots.