Photoshop, a photo-editing application which is very popular nowadays offers a variety of functions to its users so that they can make their photographs look better and realistic. Though it is said that learning Photoshop is quite difficult for the beginners, learning and practising simple and basic things can make the task easier. So, this is an easy step-by-step guide on how you can create a bubble using Photoshop!
1. Creating a new document
- At first, you need to create a new document by going to the ‘File’ menu and selecting the ‘New’ option. You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+N or Cmd+N.
- In the dialogue box that appears, set the width equal to 1600 pixels and height equal to 1200 pixels. Make the resolution equal to 72 pixels per inch and set the background as ‘Transparent’. Click ‘OK’.
2. Setting the Background Colour
Once you click OK, you can see another dialogue box to choose the colour of the background. You can choose the desired colour. For now, choose the colour with code #2b0101.
To fill the background layer with this colour, use the shortcut Alt+Backspace/opt+delete.
3. Creating a new layer
Using the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+N or Cmd+Shift+N, create a new layer and name it as ‘Big’.
4. Selecting the foreground colour and brush
In the dialogue box that appears, make the foreground colour as #ff4545, which is a shade of red.
Using the shortcut Shift+B, select the Brush tool. Next, select the ‘Soft Round Brush’.
In the options, make the opacity 70%. Now, apply the brush to the image to get the following image.
5. Creating another layer
Using the same shortcut as that in Step 3, create another layer named ‘small’. Repeat step 4. But, here you need to reduce the size of the brush and also set the opacity as 40%.
After applying it, you need to change the blend mode to ‘Overlay’.
6. Creating a circle
Once the background is ready, select the Ellipse tool from the Tool Panel.
In the options bar, you need to change the mode to circle, add a stroke of 3 pixels and select ‘No Fill’ option. Limit your selection to circle.
Next, draw a circle and press enter to remove the vector line.
7. Creating a real-looking bubble
To create a bubble, you need to change the ‘Fill’ in the options bar to ‘White’ and make the constraints as ‘unconstrained’.
Draw one ellipse near the upper side of the circle and one at the bottom.
Next, go to ‘Edit’ menu, select the ‘Rotate’ option from the ‘Transform’ option, so that you can rotate the bottom ellipse. Rename the outer ellipse as ‘Circle’, upper ellipse as ‘big’ and bottom ellipse as ‘small’.
8. Activating the small layer
Go to ‘Filter’ menu, select ‘Blur and then ‘Gaussian Blur’. A question will pop up asking whether to convert image to raster image. Click ‘OK’. Keep the value of radius as 33.2 pixels.
9. Activating the big layer
Go to ‘Filter’ menu, select ‘Blur’ and ‘Box Blur’. Make the value of radius as 32 pixels.
Next, select the Gaussian Blur option from the ‘Filter’ menu and keep the radius as 6.3 pixels.
10. Merging the layers
Right-click on the circle and select ‘Rasterize’ and merge all the three shapes.
Press and hold Ctrl or Cmd key and then click on the layer thumbnail of the circle, to select the pixels of the circle layer.
11. Copy the same bubble
Press Ctrl+C and copy the entire bubble in a new document. For clear visibility, invert the image by using Ctrl+I.
12. Creating its brush
In the new document, go to the ‘Edit’ menu and select Define Brush Preset. Name it.
Delete the ‘Circle’ layer from the previous document. Select the created brush. Next, go to the ‘Window’ menu and select Brush Presets. Change the settings to 46? angle and 281% spacing.
Keep the jitter size to 100% and jitter angle as 77%. Keep the maximum diameter of 64%.
13. Applying the brush
Create a new layer and name it as ‘Large’. Apply the brush.
Create another layer named ‘Medium’. Apply the brush with increased size.
Make another layer which will have the name as ‘large’. Apply the brush on it.
14. Applying the Gaussian Blur
Apply the Gaussian Blur option to the large layer with radius 3.1 pixels.
15. Blur the medium layer
Select the medium layer and select the Box Blur option from the Filter menu. Set the radius as 5 pixels and threshold equal to 44 levels.
16. Create and edit another top layer
Create a top new layer named ‘Cloud’. Press D so as to make white as background colour and black as the foreground colour. Next, go to ‘Filter’ menu and select Render and then Clouds.
Make the mode as soft light and click on ‘add layer mask’ option. To apply the last used filter to the layer mask, press Ctrl+F.
17. Adding a grungy look
Drag and drop the grunge paper texture below the ‘small’ layer. Next, go to ‘Edit’ menu, select transform and set 90? clockwise.
Press V to get the move tool and adjust the texture to cover the entire image.
Next, make the blend mode as ‘Linear burn’. Last, go to Adjustment and select level. Make it as shown in the image.
So, the final image of bubbles in the Photoshop application is shown below!
So, go through these simple steps and see how you can easily create bubbles which look very appealing and real.
