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Tutorial: Create A Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop

Franz Jeitz — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:23:48 +0000

This tutorial will teach you how to recreate the Retro Cosmic designs made popular by James White of Signalnoise. All you need is a copy of Photoshop and some time on your hands. In this particular example we’re going to create a retro cosmic rainbow but the techniques explained can be used in combination with any shape and colour.

Preview:

This is a cutout of the final design that will be created in 10 easy steps. So let’s get started.

Step 1: Create document

Start by creating a new document of 2400px by 1600px. Fill the background with a dark grey. I used #191919.

Step 2: Add Textures

Now we’re gonna add some nice Old Grunge Paper Textures which have been released on Fudgegraphics earlier. They can be downloaded here and we’re only going to need the textures number 3 and 4. First open Paper Texture 4 and place it on top of the background layer. You might want to scale it so that it fits the document. It’s a good practice to always convert images to smart object when scaling them down. This way you won’t compromise the quality should you decide to increase the dimensions of the design later on.
Duplicate the Paper Texture 4 Layer, change the blending mode to Multiply and set the Opacity to 50%.

To finish of with the textures we’re gonna add Paper Texture 3 on top of the layers. Again use Multiply as blending mode and set the Opacity to 50%.

Step 3: Adjust the Background

Now add a Black&White Adjustment Layer to desaturate the background. Again this is the most inobtrusive way of doing it. Alternatively you could merge all of the layers and desaturate them using the shortcut Cmd+Shift+U.
Next we’re going to add a Curves Adjustment Layer using the settings shown below. This will darken the backgound which should now look like this:

Once you’ve completed all these steps you should put all the layers in a group and name it “background”. This will help you keep things organized.

Step 4: Adding the Shapes

Now that we’ve prepared the background we can finally start to add our geometric shapes. Select the Rectangle Tool and make sure you have selected the “Shape Layer” option. The fill colour is not important as we are going to alter it through the Layer Style anyways. Draw a rectangle like shown below (roughly 1700px by 180px).

Step 5: Changing the Layer Style of Shape

Open up the Layer Style for the rectangle shape and set the Fill Opacity to 0%. Then add a simple Black to White gradient at an angle of 90º and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light.

Step 6: Warp Rectangle into Arch

With the rectangle shape layer still selected choose Edit > Transform Path > Warp. Use the Arch Preset and set the Bend to 25%. Hit Enter.

Step 7: Duplicate and Move Arch

Hold Alt+Shift and move the shape downwards. This will duplicate the layer (Alt key) while keeping it inline with the original layer (Shift key). Repeat this step until you have for instances of the Arch layer. Select all 4 layers and choose “distribute vertical centers” from the distribute palette.

Now group the 4 layers and duplicate the group. Select the group copy and again while holding Alt+Shift drag the layers downwards. Align the 2 groups vertically and distribute them to your liking. It should look similar to this.

Step 8: Adding Colours

Now that we have the basic layout of our design it’s time to add some colours to it. Create a new layer on top and select the Gradient tool. Define a nice colourful rainbow gradient and apply it horizontally to the blank layer.

Change the layer blending mode to Soft Light. Choose a dark blue and paint over the non-rainbow areas with a large soft brush.

In normal blending mode the rainbow layer should look similar to the picture below.

Step 9: Enhancing Colours:

As the “soft light” blending mode suggests its effect is not very strong. Hence we’re gonna duplicate the rainbow layer to get more vibrant colours. Keep the soft light setting but change the Layer Opacity to 40%. Choose an even darker blue and paint over the non-rainbow areas as before.
Now create a new layer and fill it with a dark grey colour. Set the blending mode to Multiply and change the Layer Opacity to 85%. Add a layer mask and with a large soft brush (same as we used before) hide the rainbow part. This is done by choosing Black as fill colour and painting over the rainbow. The beauty of layer masks is that if you masked too much simply switch too White and paint over the areas you want to be visible again. Your design should look similar to this.

Step 10: Adding Stars

As finishing touch we’re gonna add some star clusters to our design. Go to Flickr and download the Chritmas Tree Cluster photo by Luca Argalia aka Skywalker79 in its original size. Place it on top of all the layers. Set the Blending Mode to Screen. Scale and place it to your liking. Again I converted the photo to a Smart Object before scaling.

Add a Layer Mask to the star cluster layer and hide the edges of the photo as well as the parts you don’t want. I also added a Black/White Adjustment layer to the stars to get rid of all the colours.

Final Image

That’s it. The design can be finished of with a rounded border and dark vignette. Here’s the final retro cosmic design that we have created today.

The Possibilities are endless

Here’s another piece designed using the same techniques.

I encourage you to play with different shapes, angles and gradients. Go nuts, have fun and don’t forget to post your images in the Fudgegraphics User Showcase on Flickr for us to see.
Please leave a comment if you run into any trouble completing this tutorial.

iPhone Wallpapers:

As a special bonus I made these 2 designs into iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpapers. I hope you like them.

Download:

contains 1 .zip file – 2 Wallpapers, 359 Kb

Nothing Lasts Forever: Free July 09 Calendar Wallpaper

Franz Jeitz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:41:04 +0000

This post is part of the free calendar wallpaper series. Each month I create a new wallpaper featuring the current calendar. Looking at the same image over and over again is not very stimulating. Hence having a new background each month should help getting your creative juices flowing. July 09 Calendar Wallpaper is entitled “Nothing Lasts Forever”. I was going for a retro minimalist style this time.

The June 09 calendar wallpaper comes in the following resolutions and as always non-calendar versions are also included:
1920×1200 (suitable for 1440×900)
1600×1200
1280×1024
320×479 (iPhone, non-calendar version only)

Previews:

Download July 09 Wallpaper Set:

contains 1 .zip file – 2 Versions, 3 Resolutions + iPhone wallpaper, 9.0 Mb

Featured Artist: Rachel Rivera

Franz Jeitz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:08:08 +0000

It’s been a while since I last featured an artist. It’s getting harder and harder to find fresh and new talent, but I found just the right artist. Rachel Rivera (b. 1985) is a multi disciplined graphic designer with experience in branding, corporate identity, illustration and fashion. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. I am most fond of her typography works. Make sure to visit her portfolio at radcastle.com cause there’s plenty more inspiration in store for you.

Birthday Giveaway Winners Announced

Franz Jeitz — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:42:57 +0000

With a little delay (due to server/host issues) here are the winners of the Anniversary Series Giveaway. First of all I want to thank everyone who participated. Your comments were amazing and I couldn’t be happier about the success of the giveaway. Here goes:

First Winner: Cristofer (comment nr. 110) has won $500 Proof HQ Package, 1 House Industries T-Shirt sponsored by Eli Burford, 6 months PSDTuts+ Subscription, 20 Artbox Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Second Winner: Eric (comment nr. 11) has won$500 Proof HQ Package, 1 Threadless T-Shirt, 10 Stock Graphic Designs Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Third Winner: Risa (comment nr. 92) has won $500 Proof HQ Package, 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 5 Stock Graphic Designs Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Fourth Winner: Brandon (comment nr. 130) has won 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Fifth Winner: Bohoe (comment nr. 65) has won 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

I have already sent you an e-mail and passed on your details to the sponsors. They should contact you shortly so that you can claim your prizes.

Congratulations.

Special Thanks to the Sponsors:

ProofHQ

ArtBox7

PsdTuts+

Stock Graphic Designs

Flashloaded

Inkfruit

Eli Burford from Design Blurb

Threadless

Switch to Media Temple

Franz Jeitz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:13:21 +0000

First of all let me apologize to all of you for the site being down the last couple days. In order to get the site back on track and running smoothly again I switch to Media Temple as my host. Please let me know of any bugs/issues you encounter by leaving a comment or using the contact form.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Franz

Free Hi-Res Old Grunge Paper Textures

Franz Jeitz — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:10:14 +0000

It’s time for another high resolution texture set. This time it’s all about grunge paper textures taken from old books. As a bonus there’s even a nice book cover texture for you to download. Due to the enormous size (about 7MB each) of the textures I will not offer a single zip file containing all the images. Instead you have to individually download each texture by clicking on the preview. I hope you don’t mind. The files are perfect for both web and print jobs to your designs a more organic or vintage feel.
As always these textures are free for personal and commercial use without the need to credit. All I’m asking is that you don’t sell or redistribute these files or claim them as your own. Enjoy!

Download Old Grunge Paper Textures:

Anniversary Series: Massive Giveaway. Amazing Prizes to be won!

Franz Jeitz — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:29:47 +0000

What better way to celebrate Fudgegraphics’ first birthday than by giving away free stuff. Fudgegraphics wouldn’t be where it is if it weren’t for you. It’s time to say thank you and reward you for your constant support. So let’s have a look at what amazing prizes are in store for you.

The Prizes:

3 $500 Packages of Proof HQ

ProofHQ is an online service which simplifies how you manage design reviews and approvals. Upload your file, pick your reviewers and ProofHQ does the rest. It converts your file to a web-based proof and send your reviewers a personal link to the proof. With its simple comment and mark-up tools reviewers can quickly and easily mark-up and comment on the proof. 3 lucky winners have the chance to get their hands on a $500 package of Proof HQ.

20 Vector Packs from ArtBox7

ArtBox7 is a design studio specialized in high quality, premium vectors and design elements. You can convince yourself by checking out their vector packs. A stunning 20 Vector Packs are up for grabs.

1 6-month subscription to PSDTuts+ worth $54

PsdTuts+ are constantly publishing amazing Photoshop Tutorials. If you’re not familiar with the site as of yet then you have been missing out. Here’s what they have to say for themselves:
“Psdtuts+ is a happy sponsor of the Fudgegraphics birthday bash. We’d love to provide a Fudgegraphics fan with a 6-months free membership to Psd Plus – our members only collection of high-end Photoshop tutorials and unique brush packs.”

15 Vector Packs from Stock Graphic Designs

If you are looking for a High quality of royalty free vector and brush designs at an economic price you can find at www.stockgraphicdesigns.com , which includes hand drawn sketchy look vectors, destroy elements, tree, building, and wings and many more designs. Visit www.stockgraphicdesigns.com you definitely feel worth. Stock Graphic Designs are giving away a total of 15 vector packs.

5 Flash Components from Flashloaded

Flashloaded offer innovative and affordable Flash components to enhance your Macromedia Adobe Flash design. Whether you’re looking for a Flash gallery, a Flash slideshow or a Flash menu, Flashloaded has the right Flash component for you. 5 components are up for grabs.

3 Inkfruit T-Shirts (free shipping)

Inkfruit is a place for people to submit, discover and buy amazing t-shirt designs created by artists from around the world. Based around an ongoing t-shirt design contest, all of the designs you see on Inkfruit have been submitted by its community. Inkfruit are giving away 3 free t-shirts with free shipping to anywhere in the world.

1 House Industries T-Shirt courtesy of Eli Burford (free shipping)

Eli Burford is the mastermind behind Design Blurb, a design blog offering high quality textures, freebies and tutorials. House Industries is a type foundry which do great typographical t-shirts. One lucky winner gets to win a t-shirt from their collection.

1 Threadless T-Shirt (free shipping to US/CAN)

Threadless is an online design community where users can score designs and offer comments and critiques. Threadless is also an ongoing open call for tee shirt design submissions. Anyone can sign up, download a tee template and submit ideas, which are then evaluated by the Threadless community. Tee shirt designs are selected from the pool of the most popular designs as scored by the community. 1 lucky winner gets the chance to choose one of the many t-shirts available. It is also worth mentioning that Threadless are having a Summer Heat Sale with t-shirts starting at $5 up for grabs. Shipping is free for US/CAN residents.

The Rules:

In order to enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment. The winners will be selected at random.

leave a (nice, funny,..) comment.
only comment once, multiple comments will not be eligible to win.
use a valid e-mail address.
spam comments are not eligible.

The contest will end on June 12th.

The Winners:

First: $500 Proof HQ Package, 1 House Industries T-Shirt sponsored by Eli Burford, 6 months PSDTuts+ Subscription, 20 Artbox Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Second: $500 Proof HQ Package, 1 Threadless T-Shirt, 10 Stock Graphic Designs Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Third: $500 Proof HQ Package, 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 5 Stock Graphic Designs Vector Packs, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Fourth: 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Fifth: 1 Inkfruit T-Shirt, 1 Flash Component from Flashloaded

Good Luck!

Simplicity: Free June 09 Calendar Wallpaper

Franz Jeitz — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:44:27 +0000

This post is part of the free calendar wallpaper series. Each month I create a new wallpaper featuring the current calendar. Looking at the same image over and over again is not very stimulating. Hence having a new background each month should help getting your creative juices flowing. June 09 Calendar Wallpaper is entitled “Simplicity”. I hope you like it.
The June 09 calendar wallpaper comes in the following resolutions and as always non-calendar versions are also included:

1920×1200 (suitable for 1440×900)
1600×1200
1280×1024
320×479 (iPhone, non-calendar version only)

Previews:

Download June 09 Wallpaper Set:

contains 1 .zip file – 2 Versions, 3 Resolutions + iPhone wallpaper, 9.1 Mb

Anniversary Series: Hi-Res PS Brushes Roundup

Franz Jeitz — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:19:19 +0000

This is the second article of the Anniversary Series and it’s all about High Resolution Photoshop Brushes. Over the last year I released 10 Hi-Res PS Brush Sets, which have been downloaded over 180k times and this is the roundup of all of them. You don’t have to browse through the site anymore to find your favourite brushes. They’re all here in one place. Sort of a best of.

Note that all these brushes are free for personal and commercial use.

Hi-Res Fabric Textures Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 65 Mb

Hi-Res Sticky Tape Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 15 Brushes, 25.3 Mb

Hi-Res Ink Scribbles Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 41.2 Mb

Hi-Res Messy Watercolour Brush Set 1

link to Smashing Magazine

Hi-Res Messy Watercolour Brush Set 2

contains 1 .abr file – 47.2 Mb

Hi-Res Watercolour Strokes Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 24.8 Mb

Hi-Res Watercolour Brush Set 1

contains 1 .abr file – 50.5 Mb

Hi-Res Watercolour Brush Set 2

contains 1 .abr file – 42.2 Mb

Hi-Res Stencil Alphabet Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 56 Mb

Hi-Res Tea Stains Brush Set

contains 1 .abr file – 3.3 Mb

Anniversary Series: Featured Artists Roundup

Franz Jeitz — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:13:29 +0000

This is the first article of the Anniversary Series and it’s all about Featured Artists. More than 40 inspirational designers from all over the world have been featured in the last year and this post is a roundup of all of them. The styles vary from retro grunge to shiny cosmic. With so many different creative minds being showcased there’s certainly something to get your juices flowing. Make sure to visit the artists’ portfolios for even more inspiration.