COMETS

 
Sample or Preset files are available at the main index Mastering Brushes for Photoshop.
1986 was a year I will always remember. I was located in San Diego, CA and at 4am it appeared directly overhead in the night sky. It was amazing! Named for the discoverer Edmund Halley, Halley's Comet was there in all it's Grandeur and I knew it only appears once every 76 years!
 
With the Special Brush set for this CD, I'll show you how to reproduce what I saw.
 
1.) Press D, then X on the keyboard to set the Foreground Color to White. Now, Create a New Document. Go to File > New. Make it 800 X 600 pixels at 300 dpi on Background Color. (This will Create a Document with a Black Background.)
 
2.) First things first. We'll begin by Creating a Star field backdrop. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. When the Filter appears, move the Amount slider to 35% and Select Gaussian and Monochromatic, then click OK to apply.
 
 
3.) Next, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. When the Filter appears, set the Radius to 0.5, then click OK to apply.
 
 
4.) Now, go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold. Drag the slider to the Left to Create the "Stars". (I adjusted to 75 as shown below.)
 
 
Next, press Ctrl+F to apply the Gaussian Blur Filter once again. You should now have a magnificent Star Field as a nice backdrop.
 
 
5.) Go to Layer > New > Layer. When the dialog box appears, name this layer Comet, then click OK to Create the New blank layer. (This will be used to apply the base Color.)
 
 
6.) Select the Brush tool . Carry the brush over the work area and Right-Click to Open the Brush-Picker. Click the blue arrow (Top Right corner) and a Pop-out menu will appear. Select Comet brushes by ~ForgottenFayth.
 
 
This unsual set has been provided Courtesy of Craig Melling (aka) ForgottenFayth.
 
With the Brush-Picker Open, now locate the brush named cometbrush3, then Double-Click on it to Select it and Close the library.
 
 
7.) Now, for the fun. Position the brush over the work area and click once to deposit the image. (Here is a clip of the image at Full scale.)
 
 
8.) Create a New layer. Go to Layer > New > Layer. When the dialog box appears, name this layer Color Blend, then click OK to Create the New blank layer. Click the Foreground Color swatch and change Color to a Bright Blue. (I used #00CCFF.) Go to the work area now and click once in the same spot to Create an Overlay of the image in Blue.
 
 
9.) Go to the Layers palette and adjust Opacity to this layer to about 65%. (This will allow a slight amount of blending action with the Comet layer to return more of a sprayed look to the image.)
 
 
 
10.) Next, Select the Erasure tool . Right-Click on the work area to Open the Brush-Picker. Locate the Soft Round 100 pixels brush, then Double-Click on it to Select it and Close the library. Go to the Options bar and set Opacity to 15%. Stroke through the Center of the trail a few times to remove some Blue there, then continue with the Outer edges to Feather (Lighten) it's borders, while keeping most of the Blue still intact at the Front of the Comet.
(If the Soft Round 100 pixels brush is not available in the present library, click the blue arrow (Top Right corner) and when the Pop-out menu appears, Select Reset Brushes. A dialog box will appear, just click OK and the correct library will load.)
 
 
Using the Techniques mentioned Above, add more content from various sources to finish the image. (Here I clicked on the Background layer and then used a Soft Round 100 pixels brush with Black at 10% and stroked Inside the Comets trail to soften the Stars behind it and then added additional content on New layers Above.)
 
 
Copyright © 2006-2007 Glenn Schemenauer - Spacific Designs™ - All rights reserved.