Take typography one step further by having text falling from the sky in a burning inferno. Yes, this is the text-on-fire tutorial to end all tutorials. It uses a little Illustrator for the text and a lot of Photoshop to burn up the screen!
In previous tutorials you've seen two smoke effects that I've created, but let's face it, you can't have smoke without a fire somewhere. So in this tutorial, I will show you how to create a fire effect similar to when a spaceship or comet enters the earth's atmosphere. The image we'll be creating is inspired by a Nike Ad I saw some time ago. I'm not sure what the URL is. If anyone knows it, please link us up in the comments.
It's always a good idea to keep your eyes open for inspiration for effects and designs no matter what you are doing. Graphics are everywhere and you can learn a lot by looking at what other people do. Now on to the tutorial!
Step 1
First create a new document and fill it with a dark grey.
Step 2
Create a new layer, call it "Clouds," and using the Lasso Tool (L), make a selection similar to the one I've shown below.
Set your background color to a 50% grey and the foreground to a dark grey. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds and, holding the Alt key, create clouds. After that go to Images > Adjustments > Levels, and change the input levels and output levels until you make the clouds neither too dark nor too light (see the image shown).
This layer will be on top of the others.
Step 3
Create another layer and repeat Step 2, but this time just change the background color from 50% gray to a blue or green color. This will create a small cloud, lighter than the big one.
Step 4
Now we'll switch to Adobe Illustrator to create some text. I used Times New Roman for the font. After that go to Effect > 3D > Extrude and Bevel. Now we will create the 3D text. Rotate the object and change the perspective. You can use the same values as I did (shown below).
Step 5
- Copy the 3D text and paste it in Photoshop.
- Place it in the center and add some Noise (Filter > Noise > Add Noise).
- Now let's change the Layer Style. First add Bevel and Emboss.
- After that, let's add a Gradient Overlay.
Step 6
- Duplicate the Type layer and add a Motion Blur (Filter > Blur > Motion Blur).
- Set the angle of the blur to -53.
- Change the layer mode to Linear Dodge (Add).
- Create a Folder, call it "Typo," and move these two layers into it.
Step 7
Create a new layer and repeat the Step 2, this time using a selection as shown going out the back of the letter T. This will create the trailing smoke.
Step 8 Creating the FIRE
1 - Create a new layer and call it "fire1."
2 - With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), create a selection.
3 - Set the background color to light grey and the background to black.
4 - Create clouds as we did in Step 2.
5 - Change the Levels to increase the contrast;
6 - Change the Hue/Saturation with Colorize selected until you get an orange/yellow color.
Step 9
Create a new layer, call it "blazes," and repeat Step 8. After that, duplicate the layer and call it "flames." Create a folder and move the Fire1, Blazes, and Flames layers to this folder and call the whole folder "Fire." It will be on top of the Typo layer.
Step 10
Select the layer "blazes" and go to Filter > Liquefy. There select the Turbulence Tool (T). Now, on the edges of the fire, start creating some blazes. Use it like you would the smudge tool.
Set 11
After the Liquefy, go to Edit > Transform > Warp and change the blaze's form to something similar to the image below. After that apply Filter > Sharpen > Sharp.
Step 12
- Create a new layer and call it "yellow color."
- Create an ellipse selection with 30px feather and fill it with white.
- After that edit the Layer Style and apply a Color Overlay using an yellow color and Multiply for the layer's blend mode.
Step 13
The order and the Blend modes for the fire are:
- Flames: Lighter Color
- Blazes: Normal
- Fire1: Lighten
- Yellow Color: Multiply
Step 14 Sparks
For the sparks we will use brushes. Create a folder and call it "Sparks." It will be on top of the Fire folder.
- Inside the folder, add a new layer.
- Fill it with black and change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge.
- Select the Brush Tool and let's create a brush.
- In Brush Tip Shape, change the Diameter to 12, and increase the spacing.
- Select Scattering and set Scatter to the 1000% and Control to off. Change the Count to 2 and Count Jitter to 100%.
- Select white and start painting some sparks.
Step 15
Create a new layer and repeat the Step 14 but now change the Scatter Option to 0%. Start creating some single line sparks like swirls.
Step 16
Here I used the Gomedia Spraypaint brushes to create those tiny little sparks, but you can repeat the step 14 changing the Brush size only. Basically, create a new layer, put it behind the others, fill it with black, change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge, see the color to white, and create the sparks.
Conclusion
Click the image above to view a full screen version of the final image
.Although it looks complicated, the process is actually very straightforward. I used only three or four filters, brushes, and of course, the Layer Styles. It is a mix of two other tutorials I wrote: Creating Smoke and Magic Lighting Effect in Photoshop. One thing I have to say is that it’s impossible to create exactly the same fire twice, and that’s because the filter that renders the clouds does so randomly. As always, the idea is to play around with Photoshop to get your own unique results. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Spencer Lavery November 26th
Now THAT is an awesome tutorial!
Very impressive.
Joefrey Mahusay November 26th
Great Job Fabio…I’ve seen this already in your site but this time was discussed detailed.
Travis November 26th
Very impressive! Fantastic job Fabio.
Will November 26th
My clouds appear with the sharp edge from the lasso tool. I’m using CS1, should that matter?
furto November 26th
muito foda
Jonathan Solichin November 26th
Amazing! Very unique indeed. It used many techniques I’ve never seen before. I love the result. Good show mate.
Brian November 26th
Haha, saw this on Abduzeedo this morning before it was published on here. Weird. Anyways, wicked tutorial. Good tips and tricks to know for the future.
Dave November 26th
Good tutorial, FYI, the final image (large version) goes to a 404 not found
Sambo November 26th
Finally….awesome job
Eric November 26th
Brilliant! Simply brilliant…
Collis November 26th
@Dave: Thanks for the heads up, I’ve fixed that broken link!
And yeah, fantastic work from Zee!!!
BernardBlack November 26th
Looks awesome, nice tutorial!
Mike November 26th
I second Will’s comment, my flames appear with the lassoo tool, and hide my O, what is the layer mode selection needed?
GeminiArt November 26th
wow…good tutorial and awasome effect
gret job man
Carlos Leopoldo November 26th
Wow, amazing effect, i love that!
Bin November 26th
Awesome.Thanks 4the nice tutorial
Comely November 26th
Epic tutorial, thanks!
Prem November 26th
Nice!
angry mango November 26th
I’d love to buy the PSD file, but $2.50 is way too expensive. I’d pay a buck for it, just like an iTunes mp3.
subcorpus November 26th
complicated procedure …
amazing results …
thanks for sharing …
James November 26th
Nike ad Created by http://hejz.com.
Great tutorial!! Keep em coming!
James November 26th
http://hejz.com/#folio/view:set=4,work=2
Direct link^
sai November 26th
stunning, i was looking for this !! thank you so much for sharing !!
fabiano November 26th
Very nice! When a I saw the image at the first time I thought: no, you can not to do that without some image of fire…
And then the surprise…you did!
Congratulations man!
sylv3rblade November 26th
wow. simply amazing. Guess I’ll have something to do once I get home
Luca November 26th
Fantastic!!!!!!!
giackop November 26th
Finally!!! I was waiting for your tut fabio!! Great job!! Awesome!!
Fritsie November 26th
Very slick. I like! Keep it up.
Prestizzy November 26th
Hi mates !!
Thanks a lot for all those tutorials, they’re all absolutely amazing, thanks agains !!
For the Nike ad, i think its from this one : http://www.hejz.com/#folio/view:set=4,work=2
The designer is “The Hejz”, a strong polish designer.
Bye all
John November 26th
Great tutorial.. Like this site by the way
dhtml November 26th
Cool.
You just made Digg homepage
expect tons of traffic
Maarten November 26th
Wow, this is great. Thanks for this nice en clean tutorial
Umberto - Italy November 26th
SPETTACOLO!!! Great job…. I’ve been experimenting a very similar effect for a work I’m doing but I was definetly missing the WARP tool!! Great tutorial, perfect moment, ncredible coincidence.
Andrew Benton November 26th
This is an excellent tutorial. Very nice.
Jay November 27th
Great tutorial. Thanks!
Will - try using a feather with your lasso
Jason November 27th
Great Job! I have just started using Photoshop and this is one of the better tutorials I’ve seen.
Kim Dolleris November 27th
Very nice!
Bob November 27th
Very nice and pleasant effect. Exposed the power of Photoshop…. Interesting
Anglictina November 27th
Thanx, this is cool tutorial
iWhy November 27th
Hi, its nice result but you have some mistakes tut…like you forgot note that after a lasso tool you use a Feather or what setting in filter you use. That”s little bit pity because finally the result may be different than yours.
Zenor November 27th
Awesome effect,congratulations (:
fuzz November 27th
you forgot to mention changing feather to something when using lasso
Bull3t November 27th
That looks awesome as usual, keep up the amazing work!
Carsten November 27th
Great Effect, but I’m not capable of recreating this effect with your description.
Somehow you forgot to mention that you use some smooth selection insted of a normal one.
And: I don’t understand how Step 8 works. Could you (or somebody else) please describe it a little bit more detailed? That would be nice.
Arik November 27th
Typo:
Step 8
2 - Set the background color to light grey and the background to black;
One of those should be foreground, right?
Fabio "Zee" November 27th
@Arik, you are right, my mistake. Sorry about that.
Colin Stein November 27th
can’t exactly get my fire to look as nice as yours…..but hey! i love it! i’m sure i’ll figure it out soon enough
PhotoGraphics November 27th
Really nice work.
PhotoGraphics November 27th
Really nice work.
I will soon start adding some tutorials. Need to get some things together and finish some work (freelancing)
and I will start posting.
Thank you Collis for this great idea.
Jim November 27th
Wow, that is extremely interesting. I will definitely use this ASAP.
Chad November 27th
Something with the lasso selection is messed up. What were your refine edge settings? Also in the text part in illy you have the perspective being 131 in the screen shot but it is 160 in the actual effect. Also when you make the clouds for the fire on the letter O are we supposed to switch back to what and black color? (Shift+D)? I tried doing it seems like it missing a few steps or something. However, nice tut.
Don November 27th
now THAT is tight.
awesomeness.
Lance November 27th
This is exactly what seperates this site from the rest. Never mind “scanlines” or “glossy Web 2.0 button” tutorials, this is what people should be learning, and teaching.
Congrats on such a brilliant tut!
Peace, Lance
Vicman November 27th
Nice tut !!!
thnks for shared !
http://www.excentric-design.com/edwpaper.jpg
Zach November 27th
Holy!
Jessi.2 November 27th
fantastic
rybaxs November 27th
I love the style and concept.. but why is it TYPO? its like an object entering earths atmoshphr… (=’_'=) cool!
erwin November 27th
awesome tutorial!
very nice!
Mark November 27th
wow this is amazing. Simply stunning. Good job Fabio
Eric November 27th
Fantastic stuff! As usual…!
Mimosa Pudica November 27th
LONG LIVE FABIO!!!
Brecht November 27th
This must be the most impressive tutorial on this great website
Sebastian E. November 27th
@ Collis
Unfortunately, there’s no way to write an email to you. I wanted to know whether you received my tutorial:
“How to carve a heart into a wood texture”
result: http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=woodrf7.jpg
(I had some problems uploading my tutorial)
watanabe November 28th
awesome effect. can’t say the same for the tut though. Not too noob-friendly, especially for someone like me. I wish the tut was a bit more detailed, like how the lasso + cloud effect was created. Mine has sharp edges while the one here looks like real smoke. Please make it a spoonfed tut.
Nehemiah November 28th
So THAT’S how you make fire!
b00m November 28th
awesome
watanabe November 28th
this tut is really frustrating. some steps were left out.
user748 November 28th
1) you can’t HOLD ALT while using the Filter menu.
2) when you create the clouds using the lasso tool you get hard edges
3) your work is gorgeous
Stefano November 28th
Ok, i read the tutorial and was really impressed.. a really great piece of photoshop art.
Then i tried it step by step and there are 2 possible solutions:
1. I am stupid.
Kinda possible, but let’s say i am not.
2. The steps are poorly documented.
I’d really like to know if someone came up with a fire like yours.. (not the same obviously, but looking like).
I really appreciate this site cause it has some of the best tuts ever. This one was going to be my fav, but it is definitely one of the worst.
Mark November 28th
Wow this is so nice- This maybe helpful and useful. great job..
Yvie November 28th
Instead of using the lasso tool, I created a seperate layer. With the brush tool on Airbrush, I “drew” the shape that he suggested we “lasso.” On a seperate layer, I Selected the airbrushed layer (Ctrl+that layer) and used that to render my clouds on the clouds layer. This gave me the effect that he got.
Mark Abucayon November 28th
U know what this is a nice one two thumbs up for you fabio… share us more tutorials, u help more people here. Thanks
Zeb November 28th
I like this site !
fenixo November 28th
compliments! it’s fantastic!
thx
Deftone82 November 28th
Very nice Tut….BUT
I can’t get it like even close looking like yours.
1. The clouds are just plain ugly (even with a feather of 50 pix)
2. The 3D bevel&extrude in Illustrator doesn’t come close to your “typo” (with exactly the same inputs as shown above in step 4)
3. My fire looks like a yellow blob…
please please please could someone clarify some steps cuz this is very nice material!
As is that polish designer…anyone who wonna write a tut from his design! Top notch work
thank you and greetings from Belgium, the land of witloof, bier and fritten.
Endrit November 29th
at second step when creates clouds holding alt nobody can create clouds like that just with filter render and clouds . needs some other effect.i have tried 3 times but i have other results(i dont now too much english)
moosa November 29th
This is an excellent tutorial. Very nice.
thnks for shared !
Scar November 29th
Hi! I not speaking English, me comment: me parece un muy buen tutorial yo no hablo ingles tube que traducirlo pero como entendi en algunos comentarios algunos pasos faltan talves, bueno yo intente hacerlo pero cuando utilizo la erramienta lasso tool(L) y agrego las nuebes pues a la hora de deseleccionar las nubes quedan con los bordes duros y no suaves como aparece en el tutorial y no se como lograr eso y tambien menciona algo de mantener precionada la tecla Alt pero no da ningun resultado, espero me puedan ayudar con este paso y desde luego felicitarlos por este exelente tutorial… muy bueno…Thank
alex November 29th
step 8 in general is hard to follow.
for step 8 what blending did you make it?
Eva Bell November 29th
This is an awesome tutorial. I changed the text to Loraelyn and it worked very well. I also re-learned how to create a brush. Thank you so.
Regards, Evs
Mark Abucayon November 29th
I love coming back in this website- It gives me interesting art of photoshop- good job
Sal B November 29th
I always end up Stumbling on this site and I love it more each time. Great Tut!
John Breo November 29th
wow, keep it coming, we’ll all be photoshop gurus in no time! =)
f November 29th
Excellent!
And the best: is seems not to be very difficult, i’ll try it later, thanks
kienes November 30th
just one simple question - why can’t i see the images, what might be the reasons??? thx for answers. i have the problem since the update…
anyway nice stuff even if i cant see the images …
Ruven November 30th
actually nice site… and nice tuts. but this one isnt explained very well… some steps are not comprehensible (clouds, fireball…). I think it also depends on ur PS version… really nice effect, but the tutorial could be a lot better…
max flood November 30th
you missed quite a few steps out of how you created that, but thank you for trying.
Chris November 30th
Wow great tutorial I cant for the life of me make the fire that convincing but ill keep trying.
MisterBremer November 30th
I have learned much from this site, and consider myself decent with most minor things in Photoshop–however–I know very little about Illustrator, and being used to photoshop makes it totally foreign to me. Are there any good websites for Illustrator that are as comprehensive and descriptive as this one? Or good books?
It is a very counter intuitive program to me after learning photoshop, so I’d like to find tips to get better at it.
Zaigham November 30th
Man, I love this site! its PSD Goldmine! lol
Jeff Finley November 30th
awesome!! 1
bob November 30th
amazingeffect
SirJuish November 30th
Tutorial looks great but is easier said than followed. Something is up with Step #2. As others have mentioned, your cloud border is feathered but i get a solid line of rendered clouds vs. the soft feathered look you accomplished. I’m on CS3 and can’t seem to find the right combination.
I’ll attempt to re-produce using a gaussian blur and some finagling.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up though.
PS - I think $2.50 is a little expensive as well. $1 is pushing it but is within the estimated perceived value for a PSD file that your just going to copy layer styles from.
Can’t i just buy you a cup of Coffee like last time?
SirJuish November 30th
Edit: Found the ‘feather’ settings for the selection tool. (it’s on the toolbar in CS3).
Can you post what feather px you used for this effect?
Thanks.
Chris November 30th
After a lot of trying I think I finally figured out how to do the fire.
EXCELLENT TUT THANKS SO MUCH.
http://www.globalstudio.com/samples/firetest.jpg
Fabio "zee" November 30th
@Chris: your image is really cool, congratulations…
Chris November 30th
Ah thanks man I had to take a lot of liberties with the tutorial but I think I kind of figured it out.
Kevin H December 1st
Nice…and good call showing the rulers in your screen shots.
Alex December 1st
Verrrry nice tutorial, love the outcome, I’m seriously getting to love this site!
Andrew December 1st
I’m going to have to agree with lots of other people your gonna want to mention that you have to feather the selection of the clouds otherwise awesome tutorial!
Nathan December 1st
Ok, So there are a lot a people trying to figure out how to get the clouds to look the same as in the tut.
If you use the pen tool to draw out your shapes instead of the lasso tool you will have some more control over what you can draw. After you draw your shapes you right click or control click for mac and a box comes up…you chose “make selection” then it will ask you how much you want to feather. You can’t go any higher than 250 px but the most you should need is 150 px anywhere between 100-130 px will work great.
Now the marching ants appear. Now run your filter-render-clouds. Don’t worry about holding the alt key down for this. Your rendered clouds should look way better, but there is still some touch ups that need to be done. The touch ups are a combination of or one of the following…brightness & contrast, levels, and curves. Each one gives you a little more control over what you are trying to do. These can all be found under Image-Adjustments.
Now just play around with your curves or whatever you want to use, I recommend curves it is a bit more complex esp. if you are new to PS. Either way you should see some fantastic clouds appear once you figure out the control.
A side note…if you are using a version of PS other than CS3 I will caution you when using the brightness & contrast adjustment. The CS3 controls for it are much better than in older versions. Older versions can blow out your image a lot easier.
Sorry for this being so long. I hope this is helpful to the ones that are looking for answers. Let me know.
Navras December 2nd
It’s really AMAZING!!!! ++++++++
zerofreeze December 2nd
I dont have illustratior to make that kind of text can i do it with photoshop
or isnt that pretty
kike December 2nd
nice tut
can yo explain more the step 8 (i cant have the same fire)
for the step 2
i recomend use alt + ctrl + f (with feather 80 px and “no” anti -alias)
sorry my english is bad ( solo español) jejeje
chao
PiticStyle December 2nd
Wow! Beautiful! Thanks
kanawanaie December 2nd
yeah really cool but i dont have effect -> 3D where can i get that effect i use photoshop cs 2.9…thanks dude for best tut.
Vlad Nicula December 2nd
Extremely cool text effect dude! This is a really nice outcome!
Junior December 2nd
I cant follow step 8 T_T I love this tutorial so I wanna do it but step 8 is too confusing please rewrite and give more screenies?
Dieg December 2nd
A W E S O M E. Thanks a lot.
Junior December 3rd
In step eight when I do it it doesnt come out like the fire in the O its just a orange circle… I think you skipped some steps?
Thomas December 3rd
Im a newbie and am totally going to get onto this.!!! I love this website!
Junior December 4th
Someone that has done this please explain step 8 also tell me if you used mac photoshop like he did because im thinking only his photoshop will have that effect
KIKE PECH December 4th
use this link for the step 8
http://bwebi.com/water-spirit-drawing-fire.html
i guess i dont know
Oscar December 4th
I’d really appreciate it if someone would be able to explain step 8 in a more detailed way. The tutorial is fantastic and up to that point I can do everything fine, but the fire has been impossible so far.
god056 December 4th
i tried it, without really following the steps. i tried to apply the basic things i caught in here. i am using ps6 and 7 only on windows.
i don’t find it awesome, but i’m getting there
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m159/getsumei56/comet.jpg
escanive December 5th
Wow, impressive tutorial. I love it!
Shana December 7th
A good tutorial but like the others, there seems to be a reliance on Illustrator. I hope this is not the start of a new trend. It would be nice to see tutorials that don’t require illustrator. Thanks
skut December 7th
newbie stuck on lasso step -.- anyone can help me for detail ?
Thanks
Jash Sayani December 8th
This is the best tutorial ever! Thanks for putting it up.