Photoshop Lessons and Tutorials

Open a new document size 800x800px. In photoshop.

Now we’re going to add a gradient in the background from black to white. First hit the letter “D” on the keyboard to reset the foreground and background colors to default. Then, select the Gradient Tool (G) and drag from the bottom of the window to the top. You should come up with something like this:

Next we’re going to select Filter > Distort > Wave in the menu bar and use the following settings. You can change these to generate various effects.

Now choose Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates, and use the default settings. This is what it will look like:

With the layer selected choose Filter > Distort > Twirl and set the angle to about 185 degrees.

Now that we have our swirl base we’re going to add some cool colors.  To do this select the little circle at the bottom of the layers palette and select Gradient.

After this select the rectangle to the right of the word “Gradient:” and select the gradient that looks like a rainbow and select ok.

Change the layer style to Multiply.

Here is your background!