Paintbits

Aqua Tutorial

Hi there fellow readers. Today I bring you the first tutorial of my new section in the website… the Tutorial section. I thought in doing a tutorial section since sometimes I get some mails asking me how I do this or that. Don’t expect all the tutorials to be over complex or PSDTuts like… However I will try my best to help you with what I know, specially the ones starting now in design and graphics.

The tutorial I bring you today is not new, was something I’ve done for the CGartdomain Community 3 years ago. It’s very simple and Aqua stuff is not the trend today anymore (thanks God… I was sick of it). Back in the days all the people wanted to achieve this effect that’s why I did this mini tutorial on how to achieve it. Take this only as an introductory tutorial, nothing to take very simple, but it’s always good to start from the beginning! ;)

Now on with the tutorial…

Aqua Tutorial

This simple tutorial shows how you can achieve a simple Aqua Effect on an Orb. This was very popular back then (early 2K). I decided to make this to share with my friends and to write for the first time a full tutorial. Although the effect is very simple and overseen there is always something you can do with it… I decided to make a Dragon Ball! :grin:

STEP 1

Start by drawing a circle selection using the Eliptical Marquee Tool (hold Shift and Alt to make a perfect circle and center it).

STEP 2

Create a new layer (Shit+Ctrl+N) and fill the selection you did the previous step with a color of your choice, I used blue (#299DD). After that I added a small touch at the top using a Radial gradient just to dark it a bit.

STEP 3

Now lets add a little more depth to it. Ctrl+Click the Layer with the Orb, now you should have its selection. Go to Select > Modify > Contract. Choose 1 Pixel and apply. In a new layer apply a Radial Gradient with a White color. Change the layer Style of the gradient to Overlay. Make more gradients if you wish to improve the result or to match your taste.

STEP 4

Now lets add a little reflection at the top. There is more ways to do this and to be honest better ways, but almost 4 years ago I did it like this and it still works anyway. :)
Just grab the Gradient Tool again. Select the Radial option and White as the foreground color. In a new layer holding shift (straight line) create a new gradient just like in the picture.

STEP 5

Now that we have the reflection layer, lets add some more realism to it. Having the reflection layer selected press Ctrl+T or go to Edit > Free Transform. Now resize it just like in the picture (use Alt when transforming so the scaling affects both sides). Change the layer opacity to your taste, I used 10.

STEP 6

For a little more depth in the orb lets add a Inner shadow using the layer styles. See the picture below and set something similar to it. Play with the settings to achieve something different if you wish. Remember that Layer Styles in Photoshop is a pretty powerful tool it just needs a bit of patience to dominate.

STEP 7

That’s pretty much it. From here you can add your own touch, customizing it to your taste. Add some more shadow, lightning, drop shadow, lens flare, an outline, etc… Use your imagination!

STEP 8

When I finished this tutorial I made something to show what you can do with this effect. Because I was pretty much into the Animé DragonBall back then I’ve made a DragonBall! Lame I know… :grin:

STEP 9

Here you can see the layer composition with all the transparencies of the previous image. See how you can layer your work to give it a different look and dynamics.

STEP 10: Final

That’s it. This one is the first of many tutorials to come, the rhythm will only depend on my work flow or requests I might have asking for a specific subject. Hope you liked it even though this tutorial is kinda… outdated! ;)

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