Tutorial: How to make retro/futuristic curves in 10 Steps

December 9, 2008 · Posted in tutorial

As promised when releasing the December 08 Calendar Wallpaper I’ve written a tutorial on how to make it. This is my first ever tutorial and I hope you’ll like it. If there’s anything which is not clear please ask. I’m here to help. In order to achieve the space like scenery with the glowing lines we will use Illustrator and Photoshop. You’ll learn how to add subtle effects using textures and different blending modes. So here we go.

Step 1: Draw Lines in Illustrator

We’re starting off in Illustrator to draw the lines. Create a new document with the dimensions 1920×1200. The other settings don’t really matter since the vectors will be imported into Photoshop anyway. Draw a nice smooth curve with a 4px black stroke. Draw another curve, this time with a 1px black stroke.

Step 2: Blending the curves

Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options and set the Blending Steps to 12. Now select the two curves and hit Object > Blend > Make.

REPEAT STEP 1 and 2 to make another set of curves. Play with the settings until you’re happy with the outcome.

Step 3: Importing the curves into Photoshop

Create a new document in Photoshop. Make it 1920×1200 large and fill the background with a dark grey (I used #161616). Go to Illustrator and drag-and-drop the curves into your Photoshop document. There’s no need to expand the curves. Photoshop will do it for you.

Step 4: Applying Gradient and Glow Effect

Select one of the layers containing the curves and go to the Layer Style Menu. Start of with setting Fill to 0% (Blending Options: Custom). Apply the settings shown below. Don’t worry too much about the gradient colours at the moment. We will adjust the overall colour scheme of the design at a later step.

Right-Click on the layer in the layers palette and choose “Copy Layer Style”. Select the second curves layer and select “Paste Layer Style”. Your image should look similar to the one below.

Step 5: Copy the Curves + Composition

Select the first curves layer and copy it a couple times. Then move the individual layers like I did in the picture below. Group the layers.

Repeat Step 5 with the second curves layer. As you can see I moved the around a bit to get a nicer composition.

To get a smoother cut-off I decided to use a gradient layer mask (on the whole group). Set the gradient to black-to-white and apply it on the mask.

Step 6: Clouds and Colours

Create a new layer on top of everyting. Make sure that Foreground and Background colours are set to Black and White respectively by pressing “D”. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set the Blending Mode to Hue and enter the Layer Style menu. Go to the gradient option and select a colour scheme you like. Set the angle to 135 degrees and make sure to set the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 7: Add Textures

Open 2 concrete texures and place them on top of the Background layer. I used textures from the Free Urban Texture Pack. Set one blending mode to Multiply and the other to Overlay.

Step 8: Add Circles

Create a new layer and draw some different sized circles using the Ellipse Tool. Make sure to use the “Shape Layer” mode and select “Add to shape layer” from the menu. Hold down the Shift-key while drawing to get perfect circles.

Step 9: Make Layer Masks

Cmd-Click on the circle layer it in the layers palette to make a selection, then hide the layer. Now select the first Texture layer and hit the mask button. With your selection still intact go to Selection > Inverse. Activate the second Texture layer and hit the mask button again.

Step 10: Final Image and Tweaks

That’s all there is to making a wallpaper like the one for December 08. Add a bit of text if you want to. For other colour schemes you can always add a Hue Adjustment layer.

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Tags: <illustrator, photoshop, space, tutorial>

Comments

48 Responses to “Tutorial: How to make retro/futuristic curves in 10 Steps”

Jason on December 9th, 2008 5:00 pm

I was wondering how you got some of those effects. Loving the Orange version I downloaded when you released them. Nice work, keep the calendars coming, I always get tons of comments on them (and I keep responding with, NO, I did not make it ).
fudgegraphics on December 9th, 2008 7:21 pm

That is so nice to hear Next time you can say: Yes I did this (with a little help from a friend)
Andrew Houle on December 11th, 2008 12:06 pm

Great stuff Franz! I’m so glad you are writing some tutorials now! I love the techniques shown in this. Keep up the good work, I’m always impressed with how your blog is constantly improving.

Andrew Houle´s last blog post..Freebie: MyInkBlog Snowflake Brushes
fudgegraphics on December 11th, 2008 12:10 pm

thank you very much for the kind words Andrew. It means a lot to me.
joyoge designers' bookmark on December 11th, 2008 1:11 pm

nice tutorial thans a lot..

joyoge designers’ bookmark´s last blog post..Environmental Advertising inspiration
Brandi Reeves on December 11th, 2008 5:13 pm

Thanks Franz, love this one.

Brandi Reeves´s last blog post..Artists Think Differently
Gerasimos on December 17th, 2008 8:31 pm

Never thought i could use the blend options like that. Nice one Franz
fudgegraphics on December 17th, 2008 9:13 pm

thank you all for the comments. It makes me happy that you like the tutorial and that I was able to show you some new tricks and techniques.
ejane on January 7th, 2009 10:39 pm

thanks, I haven’t used shapes much in PS, mostly AI, this is most helpful.

ejane´s last blog post..hello 2009
Lisa T on January 12th, 2009 12:21 pm

Hi!
Just completed the Retro/Futuristic Curves tutorial, I enjoyed it thoroughly and am looking forward to working through your other tutorials.

Thanks!
Lisa T
fudgegraphics on January 12th, 2009 12:25 pm

@Ejane: glad I could teach you something new.

@Lisa: That is great. Why not showcase your result in the flickr group? http://www.flickr.com/groups/fudgegraphics
projectautomatika on January 19th, 2009 4:24 pm

I’ve always liked retro designs. thanks for sharing! bookmarked.

projectautomatika´s last blog post..Video of the Day – 011909
sivas resimleri on March 6th, 2009 6:14 pm

very good. thanks

sivas resimleri´s last blog post..YÖRESEL YEMEKLER
Florencia Lewkow on April 6th, 2009 11:42 am

Thank u so much!!

Ha sido un sencillo pero creativo tutorial,
es un gusto contactar con gente comparte su conocimiento sin recelo alguno..ojalá todos los diseñadores fueran así.

Felicitaciones!
John on April 28th, 2009 10:31 am

Really helpful tutorial. Thanks!
Cravinho on June 8th, 2009 4:20 pm

Nice tut Man!

i have a problem on photoshop, when i import the ribow the white background dont disapear… can u help?

thx
Majice on June 22nd, 2009 12:09 am

Good tutorial, but is there any way to do this in CorelDRAW, can you plese make samo tutorials for Corel, like this one.

Regards,
Majice
fudgegraphics on June 23rd, 2009 8:41 am

@Cravinho: Have you only selected the curves or might you have selected a white background rectangle along with the lines? Possibly you’re using older versions of AI and PS which will always add a white background when importing into Photoshop.