Now/Here: Free November 2011 Desktop Wallpaper

The following resolutions (both calendar & non-calendar versions) are included:

• 2560 x 1440
• 1920 x 1200 (suitable for 1440 x 900)
• 1600 x 1200
• 1280 x 1024

Now/Here: Free iPhone Wallpaper

Now/Here: Free iPad Wallpaper

1. Document Setup

Open a new document, 1920px by 1200px and fill the background with a dark grey #131313.

2. Render Clouds

Create a new layer. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and set Feather to 50px. Draw a circular selection as shown below making sure there’s some space from the top and bottom. Hold down Shift to make a perfect circle.

Press “D” to set Foreground and Background colours to Black & White. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set the new layer’s Blending Mode to Soft Light.

3. Create Spiral

Hit Cmd + T (Ctrl + T) to enter the Free Transform Mode. Switch to Warp Modes and choose Twist. Set the Bend to -100%.

Duplicate the layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J). With the new layer selected repeat the twist transformation (using the same settings) 2 times. Your image should look similar to the one below.

Select the bottom layer (Galaxy Spiral BG) and reduce the scale it down from the centre to about 87%.

4. Add Colours

Create a new layer on top and set its Blending Mode to Soft Light. Use a large, circular brush with hardness set to 0 to add some colour to the galaxy. Use the Ereaser to delete any colours outside the galaxy.

5. Give it some Perspective

Select both Spiral layers (hold down Cmd while selecting) and enter the Free Transform mode (Cmd/Ctrl + T). Hold Cmd/Ctrl and select the anchor points to distort the galaxy. Use the image as guideline.

6. Extra Bit: Add Pattern Texture

To finish off we’re gonna add pattern texture to the design. Create a new layer on top. Use a simple Black & White checkered pattern. (Mine can be downloaded here. Open the jpg in Photoshop and go to Edit>Define Patter). Fill the new layer with the pattern and set it to Multiply at 70% opacity. That’s it.

7. Final image

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! I encourage you to play around with different colours and patterens as well as applying these techniques to different designs.

• 1920×1200 (suitable for 1440×900)
• 1600×1200
• 1280×1024
• 320×479 (iPhone, non-calendar version only)

Preview:

Download the February 2010 Wallpaper Set:

contains 1 .zip file – 2 Versions, 3 Resolutions, 5.1 Mb

Download Sundown iPhone / iPod Touch Wallpaper:

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.

Step 1:

Create a new document, this one was done at 1280p x 800p. Start by adding a subtle Circular Gradient for the Background. Keep in mind that wherever you place the center of the Gradient will be the center of your design (Note: When making things in outer space I always fade to absolute black in the background, after all it is outer space right?). For mine I used a dark grey color for the center and black for the outer color. I then placed it in the bottom right corner of the image.

Step 2:

Create a new layer. Make sure your foreground/background are set to black/white. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Now to add some color! On the new cloud layer you created go to the layer styles dialogue box. Select Gradient Overlay, when in the Gradient Overlay settings choose a colorful gradient that you enjoy. Next put a slight angle on the gradient effect, I used 100º for mine and scaled it slightly to taste. Though the scaling is not necessary you’ll find it fun to mess with later in this project. The last but most crucial part of this step is to set the blending mode within the gradient overlay settings to Overlay. After this last part you should see that we basically “colored” the clouds with a gradient, while preserving their texture.

Step 3:

In the Layers Palette make sure you have the Cloud Layer still selected. Set the Blending Mode at the top of the Layers Palette to Overlay. This will drastically darken your image but fear not, we’re not even close to done yet.

Step 4:

Duplicate the Cloud Layer you made in Step 2. Bring up the Layer Styles Dialogue Box and in the Gradient Overlay settings of the your copied cloud layer set the angle to something different, I used -140º for mine. What this does it divide the color a little more unevenly so the colors aren’t just divided into straight lines which will make our galaxy look authentic.

Step 5:

Now we’ll create some space dust. On a new layer, fill the entire image with black. Select Filter>Noise>Add Noise. In the Add Noise Dialogue Box choose something between 12% and 17% and make sure that Distribution is set to Gaussian, also select Monochromatic. If it’s not dusty enough for you at this point, bring up the Level Adjustment Dialogue Box and play with the settings until you achieve the dust effect you desire. Set this layers Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 6:

This step is similar to the last one, yet in this one we’re making distant stars as apposed to dust. Follow Step 5 just as you had before, but this time add more Noise and mess with the Levels a lot. I used 115, 1.00, 150 for the setting on my own levels adjustments. Set this layers Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 7:

In this step use a hard edged brush and erase away the stars in the darker areas of the image. Don’t be too uniform though because weíre trying to maintain the randomness and authenticity of the galaxy. You can also take this time to clear away any cloudy areas you may not desire in you image.

Step 8:

On a new layer, create some clouds like we did in Step 2 but without any color or layer styles. Set this layers Blending Mode to Color Dodge. This should intensify the colors and light of your galaxy and you should see it taking form. You can repeat this layer to furthermore intensify the effect if you want. Feel free to trim up this layer as desired. But only in the spots where you want more black void and less galactic dust!

Step 9:

Find a somewhat brightened spot in your galaxy. I usually aim for where I think the center or “sun” of the galaxy will be. Create a new layer, fill it with black, adjust the opacity to you can see through to the galaxy, mark a tiny white spot where you want your sun to originate, create a lens flare centered on this white spot. For galaxies I always use the 105mm Type of Lens Flare because it looks more white than the others, and looks more realistic in an outer space image. A key element to this is setting the Layers Blending Mode to Linear Dodge. This will make our flare dazzle up our image very nicely. Place this Layer right underneath the Cloud Layer you made in Step 8.

Step 10:

Now we’ll create some real stars. In another image on a black background add a tiny Lens Flare. Make it the size of the largest star that you want. Set this layers Blending Mode to Screen. Duplicate the layer and scale it a down a little. Repeat this process a few times scattering different sized stars around your new image. Try and keep the ratios of stars natural, make lots of small stars and only a few big ones. As the size decreases the amount of them should increase. Merge all the layers, then duplicate that layer. Set it’s Blending Mode to Screen. Now scale and rotate it to make it less similar then the copy. Merge Layers. Now you have made some stars!

Step 11:

Copy this stars image to your galaxy and set it’s Blending Mode to Linear Dodge, this will make them glow.  Move the image around a little until it suits your eye. You can add more stars or less depending on how complex you want it to be. Feel free to trim it up a bit in the areas you don’t want stars to appear.

Step 12:

At this point the galaxy is done. You can now add your own touches to make it unique! Enjoy!

Final Image: