Tutorial: How to make retro/futuristic curves in 10 Steps
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.
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
).
That is so nice to hear
Next time you can say: Yes I did this (with a little help from a friend)
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.
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thank you very much for the kind words Andrew. It means a lot to me.
nice tutorial thans a lot..
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Thanks Franz, love this one.
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Never thought i could use the blend options like that. Nice one Franz
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.
thanks, I haven’t used shapes much in PS, mostly AI, this is most helpful.
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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
@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
I’ve always liked retro designs. thanks for sharing! bookmarked.
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very good. thanks
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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!
Really helpful tutorial. Thanks!
Nice tut Man!
i have a problem on photoshop, when i import the ribow the white background dont disapear… can u help?
thx
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
@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.
Great tutorial. PS was always problematic for lines and curves. Any more tuts of yours?
Drag and drop the curves from AI to PS CS4 creates a SmartObject, not separate layers. Any clues?
@Tim: You are right, when you drag & drop the curves into Photoshop they will be placed as a smart object. That’s how it is supposed to be. If you want to have each line on a separate layer you have to drag & drop them individually. For this tutorial that is not necessary though.
Great tutorials. Simple and easy to follow. Hope to get more from u in the days to come.
You are awesome !
Finally i’ve found what I have been looking for! I’ve been searching the web for nearly 45 minutes to find thos out.
You are a lifesaver. Many thanks.
amazing tuto..thanks a lot bro
I’ve worked with Illustrator for a while, but sadly, I seem to have skipped over most blending techniques. This is awesome, Brah’. Thanks!
Not a bad result but the instructions are good.
Great work..thanks…
was really instructive
Thanx nice 1 i m newly 2 know this….
Muchas gracias! it´s a great tutorial
I cannot figure out how to make the curved lines. I tried the line tool and the pen tool and my lines are coming out straight. How do I manipulate the lines?
@rhandell mitchell
You can make 3 points with the pen tool and manipulate the anchor points, or use the pencil tool ( especially good with a drawing tablet ). Longtime fan of the Fudge!
gud work…keep it up
it really helped me
hey i did dis in photoshop itself instead of illustrator….n it helped me a lot in ma photoshop project… thanx a lot m lookin forward fo many more tut…:)
hey sir, i cant really understand when it get to photoshop, the lines became a full blown box, and not lines. what should i do w/ it?
hey sir, i cant really understand when it get to photoshop, where should i put a gradient the lines became a full blown box, and not lines. what should i do w/ it?
thank you for making an easy-to-understand tutorial.
nice tutorial thans a lot..
Hey im stuck on step 9 i dont get the cmd clicking and inversing and stuff im really confused and stuck, is there any way you could write it more in depth how to do that part?