Step 1.
So the first thing to do is to get yourself a photo, and turn it into a silhouette.
Not sure how to do that? Well you'd better read the Easy Silhouette tutorial and come back to this one when you're ready.
You need to have a silhouette photo ready to use with this tutorial. The silhouette I'm going to be using is a skater in a dramatic action pose:
If you want to use mine just right-click on the above photo and choose "save as".
I found it on google's image search...
So lets start off with opening a new document it can be literally any size, but for this tutorial I'm making an avatar so I'll be working with: 185 x 185
Step 2.
Get out your gradient fill tool and set up your colors like so:
Go ahead and make a gradient for your background like this:
Step 3.
Next paste your silhouette onto a new layer all by itself.
With the silhouette layer active, press CTRL + J on your keyboard 2 times, this will duplicate the layer 2 times
Step 4.
Now select the bottom most silhouette layer to make it active, and go to:
Filter->Blur->Radial blur
and apply these settings:
press Ctrl + F two times to duplicate the effect twice more here's what you should end up with:
Change the blending option of this layer to "overlay"
and press Ctrl + J three times to duplicate this layer three times, result:
Step 5.
Now select the silhouette that is 2nd form the top, and press Ctrl + i on your keyboard to invert the color from black to white.
Next go to: Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur with a setting of: 5 pixels
Press Ctrl + J on your keyboard one time to duplicate this layer once. Here's the result:
Step 6.
Now we want to open up a grunge brush, and do a little brushing onto the piece. The brush I'm going to use is called "innocence". This brush was designed by Mellisa W. whose website is Rebel-Heart.net I suggest you check out this site, it's got TONS of cool brush sets to use, I highly recommend it.
So after applying just a couple of these brushes (don't go overboard that's the trick with these things) here's what I have:
Step 7.
After you have a few effects on the canvas, press Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer with your brushes. And apply a Gaussian Blur onto the bottom of the two by going to:
Filter->Blur->Gaussian blur with a setting of 2 pixels
Drop the opacity of this layer down to around 70 or 80 percent to give it a nice "glowing" look.
Just continue to use the tricks and techniques taught in this tutorial to refine the piece until you're happy with it. Here's what I ended up with after applying a simple border made with simple lines, and boxes:
Good luck and have fun!
Props again to Miss M. for offering such great brush sets for free on her site. Please be sure to check out Rebel-Heart.net if you're looking for some great brush sets!
