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In this tutorial we’ll combine some 3d text created in Illustrator with some special Photoshop brushes and filters to create an explosive wallpaper that will jump off your desktop.

Download PSD

Before we get started you’ll need to gather some materials below:

Photoshop Brushes:
• Tek Brushes – download
• Kinetic Brushes – download

Step 1

Open a new document in Photoshop with a width of 17 inches, a height of 11 inches and the resolution set to 300 pixels/inch. Create a new layer above the Backgound and label it “bg gradient”.

Step 2

With a foreground color of #9297a6 and a background color of #1b4969 select the gradient tool. Draw a radial gradient from the center of the canvas outward to the edge of either side.

Step 3

Create a new layer and name it “kinetic”. Load the Kinetic brushes and select a foreground color of #bad9d9. Select one of the Kinetic Brushes that has a more round appearance, reduce the flow to 50% and paint one image in the center of the canvas.

Select a different Kinetic Brush with a foreground color of white. Reduce the size of the brush slightly and paint another single image on top of the other.

Step 4

Now we need to switch over to Illustrator and open a new document to create some 3D text. Draw a rectangle about the size of the canvas and fill it with black. Then select a fill color of white with no outline and type some text. Keep each letter on a separate layer. The font I’m using is “Carbon Block” and is set to 60pt.

Step 5

Next select a letter and go to: Effect>3D>Extrude & Bevel. Position the letter at an angle of your choice by rotating the square with the “Position” panel. Reduce the extrude depth to 35pt, change the bevel to “Complex 2”, set height to 1pt and check “Bevel is subtracted”. Repeat this process for each of the letters.

For the “studio ::” text I grouped the letters and then added the 3D effect with slightly different settings which can be seen below.

Step 6

Copy and paste each letter from Illustrator into Photoshop. Paste as a “Smart Object”. Scale each letter to various sizes and position them slightly offset from each other.

Step 7

Starting at the bottom of the “Vector Smart Object” layers, working up, label each layer with it’s appropriate letter name. Create a new layer above each layer and label it with it’s “letter name” followed by “shadow”.

With the Wand Tool select the 3D part of the text. With a foreground of black and a background of white apply a linear gradient. Change the Blend Mode to Darken and reduce the Opacity. Repeat this process for the rest of the text.

Step 8

Apply a 1 pixels Gaussian Blur to each of the “shadow” layers. Go to: Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur

Step 9

Create a new layer above the “kinetic” layer and name it “sphere”. With the Elliptical Tool hold shift and draw a circle in the center of the canvas. Fill the selection with #8398a7.

Step 10

With the selection still up create a new layer above the “sphere” layer and title it “sphere shadow”. Fill the selection with black.

With the arrow keys nudge the selection up a couple of times and press delete. Press Ctrl+D to remove the selection. Then press V to select the Move Tool and nudge the black cresent shape up a little.

Apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius of 30 pixels. Then Ctrl+click on the “sphere” layer to create a selection. Press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection and delete everything outside the sphere. Reduce the Opacity to 30%.

Step 11

Create a new layer above the “sphere shadow” layer and label it “clouds”. Invert the selection again and expand the selection by 50 pixels, by going to: Select>Modify>Expand.

With a foreground color of white and a background color of black apply a cloud filter by going to: Filter>Render>Clouds. Press Ctrl+F until you come to a cloud arrangement you like.

Next we need to adjust the levels. Press Ctrl+L or go to: Image>Adjustments>Levels. Pull the black and white tabs toward the grey as in the image below.

Now apply a spherize filter by going to: Filter>Render>Spherize. Increase the amount to 100%. Set the Blend Mode to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 80%.

Step 12

Above the “kinetic” layer create a new layer and name it “kinetic 2”. Select two different Kinetic Brushes to paint with like we did previously. Paint with the color #1a3b53 and a larger brush. Then paint with black using a smaller brush. Change the Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 13

Create a new layer above “kinetic 2” and name it “symbols”. Next load the Tek Brushes and choose a foreground color of white. Select various symbols from the Tek Brushes and paint around the text.

Apply the spherize filter twice by going to: Filter>Render>Spherize. Set it to 100%. Then press Ctrl+F to apply the spherize filter the second time.

Copy the “symbols” layer by pressing Ctrl+J and apply a radial blur by going to: Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. Set the Amount to 70 and the Blur Method to Zoom.

Lastly, we need to apply an Outer Glow Layer Style to this layer. Leave all the settings the same with the exception of the size, which needs to be increased to 35 px.

Step 14

Moving slightly down the layer order, create a new layer above the “kinetic 2” layer and name it “kinetic 3”.

Select several of the more narrow Kinetic brushes with a foreground color of white and paint across the sphere.

Step 15

Duplicate the “kinetic 2” layer by pressing Ctrl+J and change the Blend Mode to Linear Light.

Step 16

Above the “symbols copy” layer create and new layer and name it “arc”. From the Kinetic Brushes select the one which appears to be the top portion of a circle. With white selected, paint close to the outer edge of the symbols.

Duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J. With the new layer select go: Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Then Flip Vertical. Move the new layer to the opposite side of the compostion.

Ctrl+click on the first “arc” layer so both are selected. Press Ctrl+E to merge the two layers.

Press Ctrl+T to transform the “arc” and with one of the corners rotate it counterclockwise.

Apply an Outer Glow with the color #687d91. Set the Spread to 3% and the Size to 54px.

Step 17

Just above the now labeled “arc copy” layer create a layer and name it “star”. Select the Custom Shape Tool and within the Nature Symbols Pack select the “Sun 2” symbol.

With white as your foreground color draw a small sun symbol over the top arc. Rasterize the image by going to: Layer>Rasterize>Shape. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 3.5 pixels.

Now hold Alt+click and drag the layer effects from the “arc copy” layer to copy the styles. Increase the Spread to 37% and the Size to 155 px.

Step 18

Next we need to add the appearance that the text is moving. Starting with the bottom letter and working our way up duplicate each letter. Apply a Radial Blur to each new layer like we did in Step 13. To increase readability of the text in the middle drag the blurred layer under the original text layer.

Step 19

Now we need to add a light gradient over each of the letter layers. For each letter create a new layer and name it by the letters name and “highlight”. Ctrl+click on the original letter layer to create a selection.

With the Gradient Tool and white only selected click and drag from the center outward. Adjust the Opacity to your liking.

Step 20

Finally, we need to add a Curves layer just above the “kinetic 3”layer by pressing Ctrl+M or going to: Image>Adjustments>Curves. Apply the settings seen in the example below.

Congratulations! Your finished…Time to save it and send a copy to everyone you know. Enjoy!

Download PSD

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