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Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Here’s a great way to use various design elements defined as brushes to create cool image effects. Whether it’s a stock image or a picture taken with your phone, there are numerous ways to create brushes with them, and even more possibilities with the options in the Brush panel. Here’s a cool effect I saw on a video game cover recently:

Step 1

To begin, we’ll start with a stock image of some abstract shapes that I got from iStockphoto (www.istockphoto.com). The cool part is that this one file contains several different shapes, so we have a choice as to which one we want to make a brush.

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Step 2

Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) from the Toolbox and draw a selection around the top shape. Then, go under the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. Give the brush a name and click OK.

Note: Notice that I didn’t make any adjustments to the graphic, as I felt that it had a nice balance of dark and light areas to make a good brush. How-ever, if you have a graphic that could use a contrast fix, then go ahead and run a quick Levels adjustment. Just press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L).

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Step 3

Next, open the image of the football player we’ll be applying the effect to. We need to separate the player from the background, so grab the Quick Selection tool (W) from the Toolbox, and then click-and-drag over the player to select him. If you miss a spot, just paint over it and it will be added to your selection. If you select something you didn’t mean to, press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and paint over it to remove it from your selection. Once he’s all selected, press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to Copy the selected area to the clipboard.

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Step 4

Press Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N) and create a new document that’s 7 inches wide by 12 inches tall at 125 ppi. Then, press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to Paste the image into your new document. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to go into Free Transform, press-and-hold the Shift key, and click-and-drag a corner handle inward to scale the image to fit in the canvas area (if you can’t see the corner handles, press Command-0 [zero, PC: Ctrl-0]). Press Return (PC: Enter) when you’re done.

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Step 5

Get the Eyedropper tool (I) from the Toolbox, and make sure the Sample Size setting in the Options Bar is set to 5 by 5 Average at the minimum. Click in the rich red area of the jersey, just above the football. This will make that color your Foreground color.

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Step 6

Press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new layer below the currently active layer. Then, press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill this layer with the sampled red color.

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Step 7

Click back on the layer containing the player and convert it to a smart object by Right-clicking in the blank area of the layer and choosing Convert to Smart Object from the pop-up menu. This will allow us to stylize the photo with some filters without actually altering the original pixels.

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Step 8

To make the photo look less like a photo, go under the Filter menu, under Texture, and choose Grain. In the filter dialog, change the Grain Type to Speckle. Then, set the Intensity to 60 and the Contrast to 0. Click OK.

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Step 9

Next, go under the Filter menu again, and under Artistic, choose Poster Edges. Set the Edge Thickness to 0, the Edge Intensity to 1, and the Posterization to 6. This will greatly enhance the overall effect, probably even a little more than you want.

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Step 10

If that last effect looks good, but looks too intense, then you can go into the Layers panel and double-click on the small icon to the right of Poster Edges. This will open the Blending Options dialog, which allows you to modify the appearance of the filter by changing the blend mode or the opacity. In this case, change the blend Mode to Soft Light and set the Opacity to 50%. This will lessen the effect quite a bit. (Note: Normally this feature is only available right after you have applied a filter, but when that layer is a smart object, as it is here, you can access this feature any time.)

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Step 11

Click on the layer with the red color fill again. Add a black layer mask (to hide
everything on that layer) by pressingand-holding the Option (PC: Alt) key while clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. We’ll paint that red color back in using the brush we made back in Step Two.

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Step 12

Choose the Brush tool (B) from the Toolbox and click on the brush thumbnail in the Options Bar to open the Brush Picker. The new brush should be the very last
brush in the list. Just scroll to the bottom and select it.

Click on the icon to the right of the brush thumbnail to open the Brush panel, and click on Brush Tip Shape near the top left first. Set the Angle of the brush to 30°, set the Roundness to 75%, and increase the Spacing to about 50%.

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Step 13

Next, click on Shape Dynamics on the left to turn it on. Set the Size Jitter all
the way to 100%. Of course, if you are using a pressure-sensitive tablet, you can also set the Control to Pen Pressure. Then, turn on the Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter checkboxes at the bottom to add some more variation to the brush tip.

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Step 14

Now, click on Scattering on the left to turn it on. Make sure that the Both Axes checkbox is turned on and set the Scatter amount to 75% to start. If you don’t like the way this works, simply increase or decrease this setting.

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Step 15

Finally, click on Transfer on the left to turn it on. All you need to do here is set
the Opacity Jitter to 100% to vary the density of the brush tip as you paint.

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Step 16

Make sure the layer mask is selected on the red-color-filled layer and your Foreground color is set to white, and then just randomly paint the area around the player to reveal the red in a very stylish way with the new brush. Notice the varying sizes of the brush strokes, as well as the varying opacity. All with a simple brush and its options.

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Step 17

You can definitely take it a step further and add a white (reveal all) layer mask
to the Smart Object layer, by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon. Then, press
X to switch your Foreground color to black and, using the same brush, randomly paint areas around the player to mask them, giving the appearance that
the effect is wrapping all around the player. So, you’re using the same brush
and brush properties to hide and reveal different parts of the image, creating a very interesting result.

To finish off the image, I clicked back on the red-color-filled layer, then clicked on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and added Inner Glow, Gradient Overlay, and Pattern Over lay layer styles. I used a Black, White revers ed radial gradient, and the Herringbone 2 pattern from the Patterns presets. Then, on a new blank layer, I drew a rectangle with the Rectangle tool set to Fill Pixels and my Foreground color set to white, used Free Transform’s Warp set to Bulge, lowered the layer’s opacity, and added a black Outer Glow layer style to it. Finally, I added some text over the shape.

I actually like to call this effect the “J.J. flare,” because no one in Hollywood goes crazier with optical flare than J.J. Abrams. Anyone who has seen his films knows exactly what I mean, although the reason he uses it is because it looks cool. Well, here I’m going to show you how to create a flare from scratch, and then define it as a brush to be used anytime you want. In fact, you’ll see me use this several times throughout in Photoshop section.

Step 1

Start by going under the File menu, choosing New, and creating a new blank document to create the brush on. It’s going to be a wide brush, so create a document that is 10 inches wide by 4 inches tall at 100 ppi.

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Step 2

Next, select the Brush tool (B) from the Toolbox and then click on the brush thumbnail in the Options Bar to open the Brush Picker. Then, click on the right-facing arrow in the upperright corner and, from the fly out menu, choose the Assorted Brushes preset. You can choose to append it to the existing list or replace the existing list altogether. I chose to append it. Locate the brush called Tex ture 4, which looks like a cluster of little lines. Select it, then open the Brush panel by clicking on the small folder icon to the right of the brush thumb nail in the Options Bar.

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Step 3

Click on Brush Tip Shape on the left side of the panel, and set the Size to around 45 px. Then, for Roundness, type in 75%. This will squash the brush down a little bit.

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Step 4

Press D to set your Foreground and Background colors to their defaults of black and white, then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the Background layer with black. Now, press X to switch your Foreground color to white. Click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new blank layer. Then, press-and-hold the Shift key and click-and-drag to paint a short horizontal stroke in the middle of the canvas, as seen here.

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Step 5

Now, go under the Filter menu, under Blur, and choose Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 0º and the Distance to 500 pixels. This will give you a nice horizontal streak effect. Click OK.

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Step 6

Make a duplicate of this layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Now to stretch it a bit further, put the shape in Free Transform mode by pressing Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T), then press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to anchor the transformation to the center, grab any of the corner handles, and squash the flare down and stretch it to near the edges of the canvas. Press Return (PC: Enter) when you’re done to commit the change.

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Step 7

To enhance the glare on this part of the flare, we are going to add a Bevel and Emboss layer style. That’s right: Bevel and Emboss. I have discovered over the years that by playing around with the various layer styles, you can achieve some interesting effects in ways that these features weren’t necessarily designed for. For instance, here I want to generate a more stylized glow on the streak. So, with the duplicate layer selected, click on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Bevel and Emboss from the pop-up menu.



In the Layer Style dialog’s Bevel and Emboss options, in the Structure section, set the Style to Emboss and increase the Depth to around 490%. Keep the Direction set to Up and increase the Size to around 54 px. At the top of the Shading section, set the Angle to 176° and the Altitude to 21º (you can also just grab the small target inside the circle and move it around to change the angle of the effect). Then, go to Highlight Mode, set it to Hard Light, and leave the color set to white. Increase the Opacity to 100%. Then, for Shadow Mode, also choose Hard Light, but then click on the color swatch, and choose a really light gray color (but not white). Leave the Opacity at 75% and click OK when you’re done.

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Step 8

Now, let’s move on to the next part of the flare. We need to create a point of origin for the light itself, with intense light beams. So, start by creating a new blank layer, then get the Rectangular Marquee tool (M). We need to create a perfect square in the middle of the streak, so press-and-hold Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift), click in the center area of the streak, and drag a square selection out from the center, stopping just short of the edges of the canvas.

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Step 9

Press Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill dialog. Then, choose 50% Gray from the Use pop-up menu and click OK.

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Step 10

Press D to set your Foreground and Background colors to their defaults of black and white. Then, go under the Filter menu, under Render, and choose Fibers. Set the Variance to 16 and the Strength to 10. Click OK.

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Step 11

We need to run a motion blur on this, but I’ve noticed that the blur is applied more smoothly and evenly by locking the transparency of the layer, rather than using a selection. So, deselect by pressing Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D), then click on the Lock Transparent Pixels icon near the top of the Layers panel. Now, go to the Filter menu, once again, under Blur, and choose Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 90º and the Distance to 400 pixels to give the flare a streakier look.

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Step 12

Now we need the streaks to fade to black at the bottom. We’ll do this using a gradient, but in a slightly different way than you might be used to. Get the Gradient tool (G) from the Toolbox, then click on the down-facing arrow next to the gradient thumbnail in the Options Bar to open the Gradient Pick er, and choose the Foreground to Trans parent gradient (the second one in the top row). Also, make sure the Linear Gradient icon to the right of the gradient thumbnail is selected. Lastly, change the Gradient tool’s blend Mode to Overlay.

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Step 13

Make sure your Foreground color is set to black and, starting at the bottom of the square shape, press-and-hold the Shift key, and click-and-drag up almost to the top edge of the square. Notice that some streaks remained more prominent than others. This randomness is due to the Overlay blend mode, which affects the varying gray tones differently, resulting in streaks of more random lengths, as opposed to what you would get just using a plain black gradient. Simply apply the gradient one or two more times (dragging a shorter distance) to take care of any other streaks that might be still going to the edge (as shown here).

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Step 14

Reload the shape as an active selection by pressing-and-holding the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and clicking on the layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel. Then, go under the Filter menu, under Distort, and choose Polar Coordinates. Choose Rectangular to Polar. This will wrap the streaks around a center point, giving the effect of a light burst. Click OK, then deselect.

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Step 15

Now, to blend the burst with the streaks we already created, change the burst layer’s blend mode to Screen. Then you can adjust the positioning, if necessary.

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Step 16

The flare is really taking shape, but it needs to be a bit brighter in the center area. Go ahead and create a new blank layer and, with the Gradient tool still selected, keep the Foreground to Transparent gradient, but change the gradient type to Radial (the second icon from the left) and change the blend Mode back to Normal. Press X to swap your Foreground and Background colors, making white your Foreground color. Start at the center of the burst and draw a small white radial gradient.

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Step 17

Then, press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to go into Free Transform, grab any control handle, and scale the gradient so that it is less circular and more oval by scaling more horizontally than vertically. When you’re done, press Return (PC: Enter).

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Step 18

Next, click on the Add a Layer Style icon and choose Outer Glow. In the Structure section near the top of the Layer Style dialog, click on the color swatch and change the color to white. Then, in the Elements section, increase the Size to around 150 px. This will add an enhanced ambient glow to this element. Click OK.

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Step 19

Now we are ready to make the brush. When defining a brush in Photoshop, the darkest areas of the image will be the most opaque areas of the brush. Up until now, we have been building this graphic on a black background for the sake of visibility and it’s how a flare would look, but now we need to invert these values to create the brush. So, start by selecting the topmost layer in the Layers panel, then press Command-Option-Shift-E (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E). This will create a merged version of all your layers (the overall flare) on a new layer at the top of the layer stack.

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Step 20

Go under the Image menu, under Adjustments, and choose Invert (or press Command-I [PC: Ctrl-I]). This will make the flare black and the background white. Once the image is inverted, you may notice some areas that are a little gray and need adjusting. Simply apply a Levels adjustment (press Command-L [PC: Ctrl-L]) to increase the contrast a little bit. Now we are ready to define the brush.

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Step 21

Go under the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. You don’t need to select the flare first, as Photoshop will automatically ignore all the white areas, leaving only the black area in the shape of the flare. Just give the brush a name and there you have it. You can access the brush from the Brush Picker and use the Brush panel to modify its appearance. As you will see, this brush can have many uses. Have fun!

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Final Image

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Here, you can see some different uses for the flare brush. Remember, you can add to and modify the layer style to get a different color. Once the flare is on a layer, you can scale and rotate it with Free Transform, like any other graphic element.