Photoshop Tutorials

How to draw a Christmas Tree.for a Christmas card!

Hello guys. Because the Christmas is near, I want to show you how to draw a little piece of it: a Christmas TreeJ

Create a new 250x350 px Photoshop document. Fill it with gradient. Use these settings:

With the help of the pen tool (P), draw a shape like this one:

Set your brush size to 9px and make sure it’s a hard brush selected. Create New Layer.Pres P again(or select the pen tool), right click -> Stroke Path->Brush. Make sure you have the “Simulate Pressure” checkbox, checked. Ok.

Now use your Smudge Tool (R), and try to obtain something like this:

Repeating the same steps, draw to more shapes, and smudge them like this:

TIP: If you need/want more accuracy draw shapes with the pen tool, and stroke the path with a low sized eraser, with the Simulate Pressure checkbox active.

Every shape must be placed below the previous one. (Check the final version!)

Let’s draw a stack:

First thing to do is drawing a white rectangle, using the rectangle tool. Like this:

Right-click, rasterize the layer, and smudge it like this:

Let’s add some glowing starsJ:

Draw a little line with the pen tool:

Create a new layer.

Using a 2px hard brush, stroke your path. Simulate Pressure checkbox active.

Duplicate the Layer. Select the Marquee Tool(M)->Right click -> Free Transform, and rotate your layer, to be perpendicular on the previous layer. Like this:

Ctrl+E to emerge the two layers, open the Blending Option window, and apply an Outer Glow filter, with the default settings. Duplicate this layer several times, rotate each of them in different angles, increase and decrease their size, and place them like this:

Select the Custom Shape Tool (U), and select the 5 Point Star.

Make sure you have the “Shape Layers” option selected.

Using white as a foreground color, draw a star:

Apply an Outer Glow effect, with the default settings.

Place the star on top of your Christmas tree.
And you are doneJ

Check up on my result:

Share it if you like it. Cheers!

Realistic fire in Photoshop only using the Smudge Tool

Difficulty: Intermediate.
Following this tutorial, you will learn how to draw fire, with the only help of the brilliant Smudge Tool(R) .
1. Open a 1024x768 px new Photoshop document.(Ctrl+N)
2. Pick a normal 83 px normal brush(B).
3. Set you foreground color to #ff6900;
4. Draw a small circle, wherever in the canvas where you want to draw the fire.
5. Smudge the shape, until you have something like this:

6. Use the Burn Tool(O) to create some shades;
7. Set your foreground color to #ffc100;
8. Pick up again the Brush Tool (B).
9. Draw an other small circle inside your fire, and smudge it again.
You should obtain something like this:

10. Let’s draw the wood now. Pick up the Brush Tool(B) again. Set your foreground color to # 994002;
11. Create a new layer.
12. Draw a small circle, and smudge it to make it look like a stick. Use Dodge, Burn(O) and different shades of brown, to make it look more realistic. In the end, make the both ends of your stick brighter, to imitate the cut. Duplicate the layer several times, and use Marquee Tool (M), to change their position. Here’s my result:

13. Download some smoke brushes (Use Google );
14. Create New Layer.
15. Set your foreground color to black;
16. Draw some smoke.

Using the described technique(Smudge Tool), I’ve also drawn a background(Moon,sky,clouds,stars and mountains) - just some rough sketches to emphasize the fire.
Here’s my result:

That’s all folks. Thanks for visiting my blog, hope this is useful and..share it if you like it:)
If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment!
Cheers!