Today I’ll show you how to create those ubiquitous light trails or as I think of them “curved beams of light” that can either go around a character or be just in the front looking like “light painting”. We will create the image above and it will take about 10 minutes to do so because it’s all about the PEN tool in photoshop. If you don’t really know how to use the pen tool then find a tutorial that shows you the basics of the tool before you proceed.
Let’s start by finding a proper image to use. Here’s an already made image for the krop promo I was making a while ago. Let’s make it a bit more interesting shall we?
Create a new layer and choose the Pen tool. You can either click it on the toolbar or press the P key. Then make sure that on the top toolbar in the tool options the second icon from the left is selected that is called “Paths”. Once we have this we can proceed to the next step.
Left click in the middle of the object you want to surround (in this case an arm) and a node will be created. Then left click (but don’t release the button yet, click and hold) a few pixels below and then while holding drag the mouse so it’ll create a nice curve like so:
Then left click below again, the curve should finish itself now so you won’t need to drag the ones on this side.
And then another one and another that you do by clicking and dragging. You should end up with something like the image below. If not don’t worry, you can always undo each node and add it again, so you can make it perfect without having to do it over and over again. Take your time, at first it might be a bit confusing but once you’ll get a hold of how it’s done you’ll do wonderful things ;)
Now let’s switch to the brush tool for a while (B key on the keyboard). Change the brush size to something pretty small like 8 or 10 pixels. The hardness to 100% and the color to white (or some other bright color). Then switch back to the pen tool (P key) and right click with it on the curves you made. Then select Stroke Path. In a window that opens select “Brush” and check the “Simulate Pressure” option.
You should end up with a nice curve like this one (or a better looking one since this one is a bit skewed in fact ;))
Now go to the layer styles and choose “Outer Glow”. Leave the blending mode at screen (it’s best for bright colored beams) and change the contour below to a more rounded one. Change the color too and remember that it needs to be different than the original color of the curve for the effect to look the best. And remember to use the eraser or masking to delete certain parts of your beam to make it look like it’s going BEHIND the arm.
And here’s what we have. A beam of light that wraps around the arm of our beloved Krop character. Pretty cool huh?
To make it more interesting using exactly the same techniques but bigger curves let’s create one more and call it a day.
So go out there and experiment. Change some steps to be more to your liking. Have fun. Create!