Introduction
First off, you will need to use Photoshop to create a decent explosion shape. This tutorial will show you how to do this using Photoshop's default brushes, however if you have some custom brushes lying around, feel free to use them.
Brushing the explosion.
Create a new document in Photoshop and fill the background layer with black.
- Create a new layer and choose a 'chalk' brush
and draw a rough white colored circle. Use the smudge tool to
smudge the circle slightly outwards - Create another new layer, and use a soft round brush to create rough tentacle like shapes propagating from the center. Then smudge these shapes outwards. Duplicate the newly created layer then goto Filter-> Blur -> Radial Blur. Choose method zoom and amount 100.
- Create a new layer. And choose a 'spatter' brush
. Set the size to something large (I used 120). Then dab (click the mouse repeatedly) the brush to create an explosion like shape. - Create a new layer. Find a brush called 'rough round bristle'
, located close to the bottom, of the default
Photoshop brushes. Goto Window->Brushes, and from the brushes window, turn off the Dual Brush and Other Dynamics from the options. Then dab the brush along the edges to give the effect of bits of shrapnel flying off.
You can continue adding further details, and enhance the explosion shape if you want. Once the brushing is complete, merge all the layers together.
Colorizing the explosion with Photoshop.
With the brushing out of the way, the next step is to colorize your explosion effect.
- Duplicate the merged layer. Then goto->Image->Adjustments->Hue and Saturation, check the 'colorize' box then use something similar to the the following settings. Set the blending mode of the layer to 'Color Burn'
- Duplicate the 'Color Burn' layer and change its blending mode to 'Overlay'
- Merge the three layers together. Repeat steps 1 and 2 two once again (note: repeat everything in these two steps).
- If you are still not satisfied with the effect keep creating new layers and adjusting the blending modes till you get a good effect
Extension + Final Image
Its possible to greatly enhance the effect with more detailed brushing and other finishing touches. Some things that I added to the final image were, a slight blue tint to the center, lens flare on the background layer, and more detailed brushing.
