In this tutorial, I will show you how you can Create an Abstract Golden Circle with Smoke Brushset in Photoshop. This is a beginner level tutorial and should be quite easy to follow. Have a try :)
Along the way, we focus on introducing the use of custom brushsets and the free transform tool, as well as some selection and masking techniques.
Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)
Step 1
Create a new document (size doesn't really matter) with black background. Create a new layer and grab the Elliptical Marquee tool with the following settings:
Hold down the Shift key, and draw a circle shape as shown below:
Stroke the selection with the following settings: (2px with white colour)
Reduce the opacity of this layer to around 40%, and here is the effect so far:
Step 2
Now let's use the smoke brushset to add some textures around the circle. Create a new layer and pick one brush from the set, paint as shown below: (Reduce the brush size to a smaller scale before you paint)
Use the Warp tool to adjust the shape of the smoke texture as shown below:
Use a soft eraser to remove the edge of the smoke texture so it fades into the circle:
If you're having a hard time with this step, check out this video tutorial I have below:
Duplicate this smoke texture layer a few times and attach each of those layers around the circle:
Hint: Use the free transform tool to rotate each layer and adjust the shapes as you go.
Merge all these layers of smoke textures together, and duplicate this merged layer a few times. Use the free transform tool to rotate and resize the duplicated layer a few times, in order to add some more effect:
Create a new layer and paint some smoke texture inside the circle, then reduce the layer opacity to around 20%:
Add the following levels adjustment layer on top of all previous layers:
Add the following layer mask on this levels adjustment layer:
Here is the effect so far: (As you can see, by adding this levels adjustment layer, we increase the contrast and depth of the smoke texture)
Step 3
Now let's add some simple light effect on the circle. Create a new layer on top of all the previous layers, and use a soft white brush to do a single click to the position shown below:
Warp this layer with the warp tool and transform this light dot into a curvy shape as shown below:
As you can see, now we have some highlight on the circle:
Duplicate this light layer a few times to enhance this light effect a bit:
Repeat this process and add some highlights on the top left corner of the circle:
and here is the effect so far:
Step 4
We can add some cloud effect around the circle. To do this, create a new layer and draw a circle selection with the elliptical marquee tool (40px feather), render some cloud with the cloud filter within the selection:
Hit Ctrl + L and apply the following levels adjustment to this cloud layer:
Then use the warp tool to warp the cloud as shown below: (this creates some motions around circle)
and you will have have following effect so far:
Step 5
OK we're almost done! For some final retouches, we can add the following extra effect to improve the overall result.
I added some smoke texture on top and bottom of the circle for some extra flowing effect:
I also added some particle effect around the circle: (For details steps of creating this particle brush, you can check out Step 3 of this tutorial)
To add some golden colour to the image, I added one Color Balance adjustment layer on top of all layers:
Lastly we can flatten the image, then apply this Reduce Noise filter settings below: (By doing so we can sharpen the effect, and reduce the colour noise for the circle shape)
and here is my final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)
