How Do I Make Smoke Effects in Photoshop?
- 1). Open Photoshop CS5. Set black as the background color and light blue or any light color of your choice as the foreground color in the small boxes on the Toolbox on the left.
- 2). Click "File," click "New" and set up your document in any size, such as 3 by 3 inches. In the "New Document" dialog box, go to the "Background Contents" slot and choose "Background Color." Your new document will open as a black square. In the top Toolbar, click "Layer" and "Duplicate Layer" to make a background layer copy.
- 3). Click "Brush Tool" in the Toolbox and choose a pixel diameter of about 120, at a hardness of 25 percent. Select the background layer copy and paint a vertical doodle that looks something like a long corkscrew or multiples of the letter "S," one on top of the other.
- 4). Select the "Paint Bucket" from the left Toolbox, drag it to your doodle shape and fill it with light blue, or whatever foreground color you chose, to represent smoke.
- 5). Click "Filter," then click "Liquify." In the "Liquify" menu, use tools such as "Turbulence," "Forward Warp," "Pucker" and "Twirl" to stretch and swirl the doodle until it is wispy.
- 6). Click "Edit" in the top Toolbar, choose "Fade Liquify" and use a setting of about 50 percent.
- 7). Click the "Smudge Tool" and lightly smudge some shapes together if desired. Then repeat Steps 4 and 5.
- 8). Click "Filter," then "Blur," then "Radial Blur" for an interesting effect.
- 9). Click "File," click "Save as" and name and save your file as a PSD to retain the layer. Save again as a JPG for a smaller file.
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