Apply a Glow Effect in 4 Easy Steps


The first time I tried to use a set of light brushes, I was disappointed to learn that they didn’t look like the preview image. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t figure out how people got that great glowing effect. I soon learned that all you need to do is play around with the Gaussian blur and layer blends, and your brushes will appear to glow. This tutorial takes your through the steps you need to follow to get great glowing effects with light brushes.

Step 1: Open a New File and Apply Your Brushes

Open up a new file and set your background color to black and your foreground color to white.
On a new layer, apply your light brushes. I am using a great set of brushes created by
Edwin Cuadros Juarez titled Sui Generis v2.

Step 2: Duplicate Layer and Set Gaussian Blur to 65 pixels and Opacity to 50%

Now duplicate the layer containing the brushes and apply a Gaussian blur by selecting Filter>Blur>Gaussian . Set the blur to 65 pixels as shown in the image.  Set the opacity of the layer to 50% by selecting Layer>Layer Style>Blending Mode. You will end up with a fuzzy image like the one shown below.

Step 3: Apply Color to your Light Brushes

The next step is to apply some color to your light brushes. Create a new layer and set the layer style to “color” as shown in the image below. This allows you to apply color only to the active layer. I am using a bright pink (#FF00FF) and a bright blue (#0099CC) color for my design. Use a large soft brush to apply the colors. Each color should be applied to the same layer. You do not need to create separate layers for each color. Refer to the image below.

Step 4: Add some Texture using the Render Command

To add a bit of depth to your image, we are going to create a new layer. Set your foreground color to black and your background color to white (or select “D” for a short cut). Now apply a cloud texture to your image by selecting Filter>Render>Clouds. Set the layer blending mode to “Vivid Light”. Apply a 90 pixel Gaussian blur to the layer as well.

Our Finished Image

You can see the finished image below with the glowing light effects added to our brush.

Both comments and pings are currently closed because Spammers have ruined it for everyone.

9 Responses to “Apply a Glow Effect in 4 Easy Steps”

  1. Sulaiman says:

    pretty good one buddy.

    thanks


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  2. Nikki says:

    This was amazing!!!


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  3. sobi says:

    coo… thx for ur tutorial
    GBU


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  4. CPJ says:

    It was awesome. It was easy to do so it was excellent tutorial. Thank god that you did it for us. Thank you.


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  5. Ashley says:

    hey thanks for an amazing tutorial, check out my outcome here
    Click Here


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  6. Susan Libertiny says:

    Ashley,

    I checked out the outcome on your DeviantArt.com site…excellent job. Thanks for leaving a link.


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  7. Kelsey says:

    Good tutorial but need to clarify how to add color to layer 3 because im fairly new at all this so I need a step by step explanation.


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  8. Susan Libertiny says:

    Hi Kelsey.

    The trick is to lock the layer with the brush you want to color. I will send you a quick e-mail with more detailed instructions on this part. Thanks for visiting the site.

    Susan :D


    Reply, or trackback from your site.

  9. Pavithra.j says:

    very cool, very nice.


    Reply, or trackback from your site.