[Tutorial]Stunning Abstract Wallpaper Design

[ExTrEmEDwarf]

In this tutorial I am going to show you some simple ways using the pen and brush tools to create a really cool abstract background. These techniques can used for many different projects. In this particular tutorial I thought it would be cool to show you how to make a wallpaper using these techniques.

 

 

First, just start off with whatever size your screen is, in my case I am using a widescreen monitor at 1680X1050 but that is so large I am just going to use the size 800X600.

 

So start a new file with whatever size you are going to use and make the background black.

 

Now we need to grab our brush tool and choose some settings for it so go to your main tools and pick your brush:

 

 

Now in my version of photoshop to choose my brush settings I am going to go to the brushes tab that is on my main top bar of photoshop:

 

 

If you don’t see it there click this little icon beside those tabs:

 

 

In brush tip shape key in a 4px regular brush or just use a 5px:

 

 

Then check “Shape Dynamics” and use these settings:

 

 

Ok that is it for the brush settings for now. Also, pick white as your brush color on your regular tools palette.

 

Next get your pen tool:

 

 

On your canvas within your new layer click a little below the actual canvas with your

pen tool:

 

 

*This is the bottom left corner of my canvas

 

Next click in your canvas, while holding down your mouse button drag your line to the top left like this:

 

 

 

Then just click somewhere else and you should get a curved shape:

 

 

Now right click (still using your pen tool) on your line and click stroke path:

 

 

Then hit OK and you should get something like this:

 

 

Actually after you click ok your pen line will still be there so right click on it and click “delete path”.

 

That simple way of using your brushes and pen tool is pretty much the basis for this whole tutorial. We are now going to stay in the same layer and create multiple curved lines with different sizes like this:

 

 

Then pick a 2 or 3px brush and do the same thing in a new layer until you get something you like. Here is my result:

 

 

Ok one more time pick a larger brush size like 6px and make some a few longer curves that extend past the other ones. Also you need to change your fade setting to a larger number so the longer curves won’t fade out too soon. I put my fade level on 425. Here is my result of that step:

 

 

Now those 3 different layers you have, duplicate the mid sized lines you made and move them around so you have more lines on your canvas:

 

 

After that step we want to add a glow to the curves so just pick any layer and add these blending options to it:

 

outer glow:

 

 

After you are done right click on that layer and click copy layer style:

 

 

Now paste that layer style on all the other layers by right clicking on each later and clicking “paste layer style”:

 

 

My result:

 

 

Ok Now to add another touch to make this really stand out… Just pick the layer you have at the very top and grab a 200px soft brush with the color white. Click with it a few time in the bottom left corner until you get this result:

 

 

I think this is turning out really well but there are a few more touches I would like to add to make this even better.

 

Get your pen tool again and in a new layer make a shape on your canvas like this:

 

 

Just do a random shape similar or whatever you feel like experimenting with. After that right click with your pen tool on your shape and click “make selection”.

 

Now pick your gradient tool and drag random gradients all through the shape. I used the same color blue as with the glow and made it have transparency. Here is my result:

 

 

Now I am going to add a motion blur to this shape to give it a cool effect:

 

In my version of photoshop I just go to filter>>blur>>motion blur on my main menu…

 

Motion blur:

 

 

My result:

 

 

That is about it, I am going to add a few more touches with my brush and changing its brush settings to scatter. If anyone would like me to add on to this tutorial for this part let me know.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Final Result:

 

 

Click here to see full image

 

Click here to view large image

 

Credits: Stumble