We’re starting out with this hourglass stock image:

We’re going to blur the hourglass a little. Duplicate the layer, and select Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. Grab the eraser tool, and erase the blurred layer in front to create some extra depth:

We’re going to grab some materials to texture the canvas. You can find plenty of good materials everywhere, we’re going to start by using this grungy material and setting the blending mode to soft light:

Blending mode set to soft light and opacity reduced to about 30%:

Another Material. Play around with the blending mode, and reduce the opacity. Our blending mode was set to multiply:

The result after adding the material (image saved in low quality so might effect outcome):

We’re going to start changing the color. Create a Curves adjustment layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves…

Play around with the settings. Here are the settings used in this tag, however you should experiment with the settings to get the result you want.

Our outcome:

Adding a color balance adjustment layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. Here’s the settings used in the tag. Once again, try not to copy these, use your own settings.

Our result:

We’re going to add a stock on the image. First we’re going to place the stock in a good location, afterwards we will start coloring the hand and blending it into the background using adjustment layers.

The stock:

Placed onto the canvas:

We’re going to blend the hand into the background with a Color Balance adjustment layer, and adjust the Color Balance

Result after this Color Balance layer:

We’re using this color balance layer to give his arm some shadow, however the top should not be affected because well, a blue arm looks weird. So select the layer mask, and brush with a black brush on the top of his arm and hand:

We’re going to duplicate the hand layer, flip it vertically, and place it higher up on the canvas. Select the hand layer, then go to Leyer > Duplicate Layer:

Now select Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical:

We’ve placed the hand higher up on the canvas, our result:

We’re going to add a tree stock into the hand we duplicated. We will have to flip this stock vertically as well before we add it. You can use any stock image you like, we decided to use this stock image:

Paste the stock onto the canvas:

Press CTRL + T to rotate it or select Edit > Transform > Flip Vertically

Place in into the palm of the hand, our result:

We’re going to brighten the tree and the arm a little by adding a curves layer. (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) Play around with the graph, switching between RBG, red blue and green to change settings slightly.

We only want to color the tree and the arm, so CTRL + Click onto the layer image of the tree and arm (it’s merged to 1 layer in our PSD), this should make a selection. Then press CTRL + SHIFT + I to inverse it, and fill this with a black color. This will hide the curves layer to the rest of the image and just color the hand:

Selection we’ve filled with black:

Time to start creating the final background colors. Create a gradient map, (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map) and select settings you like. We’ve set the blending mode to Multiply, and reduced the opacity to 81%:

Blending mode on multiply and opacity on 81%:

Result:

We’re going to fix some stock sections that look weird or need fixing. We’re going to use the clone stamp tool to fix the bottom right section outlined below:

Select the clone stamp tool, and press ALT to define an area that you want to clone:

Define a clone section, then start brushing over the area you want to fix. Our result:

Apply a gradient map, and play around with the colors. We want to use some bright colors, and change its blending mode afterwards. Our gradient map:

Blending mode set to soft light with opacity down to about 20%-30%:

Adding a curves adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjutsment Layer > Curves…), we want to light up the bottom a little:

Result of the curves adjustment layer:

Adding a Photo Filter, pick a matching color from your canvas with the eyedropper tool, don’t just copy ours because your outcome won’t be the same:

Result of the photo filter layer (blending mode was kept on normal and opacity on 100%):

This is where your creativity has to come in. We’re going to add space stocks and images and change the blending mode to create some awesome lighting effects, and try to make it seem as if it’s coming out of the soil. Find different space stocks, resize, crop, place it around. Try this for space stock images (make sure you’re allowed to use them!). You can also do some light brushing and experiment with that. Try creating some flow, start inside the hand and move up widening the effects a bit, this will make it seem as if the effect is coming out of the hand:

As you could see in the previous image, theres no need to cut out the planet from its dark background. You can change the blending mode to Linear Dodge, Color dodge, Screen, or Linear Light and play around with the opacity. You can also use small soft brush and brush with a bright light color and change the blending mode to add some lighting.

Repeat the same process on the top next to your tree, try to create some flow thats coming out of the hand floating down:

Outcome after changing the layers blending modes to Linear Dodge, Color Dodge, Screen, Linear Light, and so forth:

Add a space stock/material on top of the image. This tag used a starry sky image:

Grab the eraser tool and select a hard brush. Reduce the flow a little, because we’re going to remove some parts of the starry sky.

This is our starry sky after erasing, shown with a white background underneath. The entire area covering the top hand and tree we’re removed, because we didn’t want any stars covering that.

Set this layer to Linear Dodge, and if needed reduce the opacity. Ours was kept on 100%:

Paste some more bright stars on top of the tree, alternately you can use a small soft brush to achieve the same effect:

.

Set these stars to Linear Dodge:

Tap with a large soft brush on top of the stars and hands on a new layer:

Set this layers blending mode to Linear Dodge:

Go back to the star layer, and hide it.

Now, Create a new layer, and select Image > Apply Image:

Unhide the starry sky layer again, and set the applied image layer to screen:

Create a new layer, and apply the image. Now select Image > Adjustments > Exposure… and play around with the Offset settings:

Result:

Add some text and finnishing touches, and you’re done!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. Once again, make sure you check out Neurons deviantart page if you’re interested in more of his work. Thanks a lot for allowing us to write the tutorial!

1. Create a new file. Our size was set to 336 and 110 pixels.

2. Add a background texture to your canvas, and smudge this around a bit. You can find some material to work with in our resources section:

3. Make a selection, and fill this with a darkish color. Softly tap with a light brush in the filled area with a darkish color:

4. Grab your eraser, and select a splatter brush. Tap once to delete part of the section:

5. Add a good looking stock to your canvas, and erase the sides. Smudge the edges lightly, like shown below:

6. Set our stocks blending mode to lighten to blend in our stock somewhat:

7. We’re going to lighten our stock, duplicate the stock and set it to screen. If it is too bright, reduce the opacity slightly.

8. Pick a matching background color with the eyedropper tool. Zoom into the canvas, and with a small hard brush, tap around your render. Smudge this with another detailed hard brush to blend our render. Set this layer style to Lighten:

The result zoomed out:

9. Repeat the previous step further to the right, tap with a hard brush on the upper right section of the tag. Use the sharpening tool when you’re done, and set this layer style to Lighten.

10. Add in some texture on the right side of the tag, and set this layer style to Lighten.

11. Add a cinema4d render to your tag, and rotate it to follow the flow of your tag. Erase most of it, and set its blending mode to lighten:

Blending mode set to lighten:

12. Add in a colourful cinema4d effect, and rotate it to flow into the tag. Set its layer style to Lighten

The blending mode changed (smudge the sides if it doesn’t blend into eachother):

13. Add another render, and erase some good looking parts underneath it. Set its layer mode to Lighten afterwards:

Blending mode changed:

14. Another render erased and smudged (Set blending mode to Lighten afterwards):

Its blending mode set to Lighten:

15. Make a new layer, and select a light color from your canvas with the eyedropper tool. Tap a few times nearby your render to create some lighting. You can overdo this, because we’ll set the blending mode to Soft light and reduce the opacity to about 35%:

Blending mode set to Soft Light and opacity reduced to 35%:

16. Select your gradient tool, and pick two colors with the eyedropper tool. Then use your brush and tap softly with a darker color. Set this layer to Lighten afterwards and reduce the opacity to 80%:

17. After changing the blending mode to Lighten and reducing the opacity to 80%:

18. Grab your gradient tool, and pick two good looking colors. Set your gradient tool to angle, and create a gradient:

Set its layer mode to Lighten and reduce the opacity to about 40%, result:

19. We’re going to add a gradient map. Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient map, and select something similar to this:

The custom settings:

The result at this point:

20. Reduce this layers opacity to about 25%:

21. Apply the image on a new layer (Image > Apply Image), and sharpen this layer (Filter > Sharpen). If it comes on too stong, reduce its opacity. Our final result:

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Photoshop Tag tutorial. We would appreciate any comments made. Feel free to post your outcome, we will feature it into our post!

The pattern we will use is (copy this pattern and paste it on a new file, then select Edit > Define Pattern):

1. Create a new file, and fill it with a dark greyish color:

2. On a new layer, fill a section of the top with the pattern I provided in the previous step.

3. Set this layers blending mode to overlay and reduce the opacity to 30%:

4. Create a new layer, and start brushing with a hard brush. Use a few different colors, and turn on airbrush to create some different colors. Smudge this with a splatter brush or other sharp type of brush. Sharpen whatever you end up with. Our result at this point:

5. Repeat the previous step, and texture some more in the background:

6. One more time to fill most of the background:

7. Make a selection horizontally across your canvas, and fill this with white. Divide the image like shown below:

8. Create the same effect vertically:

9. Add a cinema4d render effect on the canvas. Remove parts that cross the horizontal line we’ve made. Set this layers blending mode to Linear Dodge:

Blending mode set to Linear Dodge:

10. Repeat the previous step, add a render, remove the area on top of the horizontal line, and set it to linear dodge:

The result after setting the layer to Linear Dodge:

11. Add a render in the bottom left section of the canvas, and remove the areas outside of the lines. Change this layers blending mode to Linear Dodge again:

Layer set to Linear Dodge:

12. Select your gradient tool, and use the eyedropper tool to select some good looking colors on your canvas. Create a gradient, and remove everything outside of the bottom left section. Our result:

13. Add some more cinema4d renders, and remove some of it.

Set its layer mode to linear Dodge:

14. Add another cinema4d render, and use the eraser tool to remove parts of the render again. We’re going to set the layer mode to lighten:

Set this layer to Lighten:

15. Repeat the previous step, set the layers blending mode to Lighten:

16. Add a render to the bottom right section of the tag. Use the burn or dodge tool to make it match and blend into the side.

17. Add a texture to the bottom right section, and remove the outlines:

18. This step is optional. Create your text, and create some effect around it if you like.

19. Grab a splatter brush, and tap once on a new layer. We’re going to add a clipping mask to it.

20. Apply the image on a new layer, and either press CTRL + ALT + G, or select Layer > Create Clipping Mask, then move the render around.

This brings us to our final result:

Thank you for viewing this tutorial, we would appreciate any comments and suggestions!

1. Start by creating a new file. Our size was set to 368 by 98 pixels. Fill this with a random colored gradient:

2. We’re going to create a background with the use of the smudge and brush tool. To illustrate how our background was designed, here are the layers shown in one large image. Try using a soft brush for the smudging and brushing. Sorry for the watermark!

our result at this point:

Here’s an animation to illustrate how the brushing and smudging was done:

3. Grab a good looking render, one that fits your canvas. Place it on your canvas. In the following steps we will blend this in, so don’t erase and smudge this render yet.

4. Create a new layer, and start brushing lightly on top. Smudge this a bit:

5. Repeat this step, softly brush over your render and smudge:

6. Repeat, smudge and lighten areas around your focal and fix bad looking areas:

7. Zoom in, and with your Pencil Tool tap randomly around your focal with a light color picked using the eyedropper tool. If you decide to change color later, you can use the Color Overlay layer style to easily change it.

Keep doing this, our result:

8. We’re going to work on the right section of the tag now. Brush softly to the right of our render, and smudge this a bit:

9. Repeat the previous step, and add some more pixels to the right of your render:

10. Add some lighter dots as well, our result:

11. We’re going to change the colors around a bit. Make a new layer, and apply the image (Image > Apply Image). Click on the adjustments window, and select Curves. Now you can either change the curves yourself, or click on the Auto button, Photoshop will choose the settings itself.

Our result:

12. Apply the image on a new layer, and use the Curves tool again. Just change it slightly to get some good looking colors.

13. Add a Color Balance adjustment layer, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, and play around with the settings. These are the settings we’ve picked:

The result after adding the adjustment layer:

14. This step is optional, create a new layer, and apply the image (Image > Apply Image), and select Image > Transform > Flip Horizontally. Our result:

15. Go to adjustments again, curves, and select the auto settings. In the layer mask settings, brush a section of the image black to hide its effect:

The layer mask:

16. The result we have at this point:

17. Make a new layer, and apply the image. We’re going to blur this layer, and set it to Pin Light. Select Filter > Blur > Blur More, and blur until most of the details are gone:

Set this layer to Pin light:

18. Make a new layer, and add a white dot with a soft brush near your focal. This is our lighting shown on a black background.

The result shown on our tag:

19. We’re going to use a nice technique to create a rainbow that will colourize our tag. Make sure you set it to Angle Gradient:

The gradient colors, just use random bright colors:

This is the gradient shown with blending mode set to normal:

20. Set this layers blending mode to Screen, and keep the opacity on 100%:

21. We’re going to strengthen the color effect, duplicate the rainbow layer, but reduce the fill to about 30%:

22. Make another gradient at the sides to color that part a bit, set its blending mode to screen afterwards.

Its blending mode set to screen:

23. Create another tiny gradient close to your render, and set it to screen once again:

24. Apply the image on a new layer, and set its layer style to Pin light.

25. add a border if you like, some text, this is our final result!

Thank you for viewing this tutorial. We would really appreciate any comments and suggestions!

1. Create a new file, we used size 400 pixels by 200 pixels. Find a good wallpaper to work with:

2. Paste your wallpaper in the canvas and place it on your canvas:

3. We’re going to use the pentool to create some nice lines on our canvas. Grab the pentool, and select these settings on the toolbar:

With these settings we will use paths to create our lines. The advantages of using paths over shape layers is that we can reuse it at a later time if we need it some more.

4. We need to set some brush details. Select your brush or press B, then click on the brushes panel (Toggle Brushes Panel) in the right top corner.

In the brush settings, select a 5, 6 or 7 pixel sized hard brush. Set the angle to 8 to 10 degrees, and set its roundness to 1%.

5. Use the eyedropper tool to select a color on your canvas. Select the Paths window on your layer palette, and right click on the path, and select stroke path:

In the dropdown menu, select your brush.If you’ve picked a good color in step 5, you should have a nice result:

6. In the paths window, create a new path by clicking on the New File icon in the right corner. Repeat the same step on the other side of your focal. Our result:

7. We’re going to smudge the sections around our focal point. Make a new layer (Layer > New Layer, or SHIFT + CTRL + N), and go to Image > Appy Image. Grab your smudge tool, and start smudging. You can pick the smudge settings you like best:

8. We’re going to create another line with the pen tool with a lighter color. Right click > Stroke path, select your brush, and press ok:

9. Repeat the same step on the other side, make sure you add some variation but you keep following the flow of the lines:

9. We’re going to add a bubbly cinema4d render. You can find plenty of cinema4d renders in our Resources section. Erase the section around your render. Set its blending mode to Lighten, and keep the opacity high. This layer was kept on 100%. To illustrate what our layer looked like, heres the layer on a transparant background:

the result of this effect:

10. Add another render, and keep duplicating the layer. Move it around everytime and erase parts you dont like. Remember to set the layers blending mode to Lighten. These are the layers set on a black background so you can see its effect:

after duplicating and moving:

Blending mode changed to Lighting and 100% opacity:

11. We’re going to add an effect cinema4d into our canvas. This is our layer shown on a black background. Erase this layer around the focal point:

Set this layer to Lighten (this image is shown in a rather low quality because its saved as a .GIF file):

12. Make a new layer, and apply the image (Image > Apply Image). Grab your burn tool, and burn near the side to add some depth:

burning the sides of the canvas:

13. We’re adding a little lighting to the top of the signature to increase depth. Use your brush tool, and make a white spot where you want to add some depth.You can set this layer to Lighten or keep it. This is the layer with a black background to show you what it looks like:

on the background:

14. Make a new layer, and apply the image (Image > Apply Image). Select Filter > Other > High Pass, and keep the default settings:

default settings:

result of the high pass filter:

15. Set this layer to Soft Light, keep the opacity on 100%:

16. If you feel like canvas needs some work on lighting, create a new adjustment layer. Layer > New Adsjustment Layer > Gradient Map. Set this to Luminosity, and reduce the opacity. Our opacity was set to 30%!

Gradient Map:

Gradient map result:

17. The following step is optional. We’re going to use the Topaz filter. You can find more information about Topaz in this article. First, select Topaz Denoise/EQ, then select Filter > Topaz Vivacity > Topaz Sharpen. You can play around with the filter until you’re satisfied.

18. Apply the image on a new layer, and grab the burn tool once again. Burn the edges and sections that you’re not satisfied with.

our result:

19. We’re basicly done at this step, all you have to do is add a border. This signature has a wide black pixel border on the side:

20. Add text, sharpen or burn whatever you like, and you’re done!

Please show us your result in the comments below! If you like we will feature your signature result in this post. (if you need a host, check out uploadstop.)