Create a Magical Flaming Heart Illustration in Photoshop
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3+
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Estimated Completion Time: 1 - 2 Hours
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
The Warp feature in Photoshop can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it correctly. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to combine a few stock images to create a magical flaming heart illustration. Let’s get started!
Resources Used
Step 1
Create a new document 1920 x 1080. Download the Concrete Texture that we created in our Create Metallic Texture Tutorial some weeks back.
Step 2
Download Aladdin’s Lamp and place at shown below. Desaturate it using Cmd + Shift + U.
Step 3
Add a shadow for the lamp. Create a new layer and name it "Lamp Shadow." Using the "Ellipse Marquee Tool" create a selection as shown below.
Step 4
Right click into selection and select "add feather" with value of "3px" and fill with black.
Step 5
Move the "lamp shadow" a little bit up and to the right as shown below.
Step 6
Now before we start adding fire to the lamp, we need references to help things along. Create a new layer on top of all layers and name it "start stroke" and then using "Pen Tool" create a path as shown.
Step 7
Open the Brush Palette and prepare a brush to use to stroke our path.
Step 8
Select the "start stroke" layer, grab the pen tool, right click and choose the Stroke path option.
Step 9
Lower the opacity of the "start stroke" layer to 10% or 20%.
Step 10
Download the Fire image and open it Photoshop. Open Channels and duplicate the Red Channel.
Step 11
Go to Image > Adjustment > Curves and apply the settings below.
Step 12
Now press Cmd and click on this Channel to load a selection or go to Select > Load Selection and press okay.
Step 13
Now come back to the layer panel and simply copy it and past it into your working document. Name this layer “fire flame”.
Step 14
Press Cmd + T to scale it down.
Step 15
Using the lasso tool, create a selection around bottom flame and then press Cmd + Shift + J. This will separate both flames.
Step 16
For now we need only the bottom flame so hide the top flame for now.
Step 17
Duplicate the bottom flame layer as a backup and then press Cmd + T to scale it down a little. Press Cmd + T, right click and choose warp.
Step 18
Now let’s delete some unneeded areas. Using the lasso or pen tool make a selection as shown below. In the coming steps you will have a lot of flames so be sure to name the flames properly so you can recognize them later on.
Step 19
Duplicate the big flame layer and name it "stroke_flame_2" scale it down and warp it as before.
Step 20
Again, Duplicate the big flame layer and name it "stroke_flame_3."
Step 21
Now, let’s reveal the top flame that we hid earlier. Duplicate it and name it "stroke_flame_4." Bring it above all other layers, scale it down a little bit and warp it as shown.
Step 22
Now that we have successfully created first part of the flame we don’t need the reference stroke that we created earlier. Delete it.
Step 23
You may have noticed that the middle flame is colored differently than the others. Go ahead and edit it’s saturation as shown below to make look more realistic. To do this go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation.
Step 24
Before we start work on the heart all flames and place them into a folder.
Step 25
Now we are going to start work on the heart. Before we begin, we need to create a reference heart like we did for the flame strokes. You can find a nice heart example in Photoshops’s default custom shapes folder. Create a new layer, name it "heart reference". Pick the heart shape from Photoshop’s custom shapes. Draw it and fill it with white color. Lower its opacity to 10%.
Step 26
We will use the same technique for the heart as we did for the lamp. Before you begin the process, make sure that you edit the saturation so we don’t run into the same problems as we did in Step 23.
Step 27
Duplicate the bottom flame and name it "heart_flame_1" and bring it above all other layers. Warp as shown.
Step 28
Remove unneeded elements and then go to Filter > Liquify and warp flame as shown.
Step 29
Duplicate the big flame, name it "heart_flame_2" and rotate it, warp it and remove unneeded elements.
Step 30
Select both "heart_flame_1" and "heart_flame_2" duplicate them by dragging them to the new layer icon at the bottom of layer panel. Transform new duplicated as shown. Select all Heart flames and merge them together.
Step 31
Go to Filter > Liquify , and use the warp tool to create some variations.
Step 32
Now let’s work on the inside of the hear. I already made an image that you can use here. Download it here and paste it into your working document as shown.
Step 33
Now you can delete the hear reference layer.
Step 34
Select the "inside heart" layer and go to Filter > Liquify. Warp the edges as shown.
Step 35
The heart is almost done. Select "heart flame" and "inside heart" layer and rotate them as shown.
Step 36
Merge "heart_flame" and "inside heart" and name the new layer "big heart". Duplicate it and name it "mini heart." Scale it down using the transform tool (Cmd + T) and place it as shown.
Step 37
Duplicate "stroke_flame_1" layer and bring it above all other layers to create a trail.
Step 38
You may have noticed that both the trails look a bit unrealistic. To fix this, open the Liquify filter and fix them as shown.
Step 39
Select the big heart’s trail layer which is "stroke_flame_1" and repeat Step 38.
Step 40
Okay we are done with warping/distortion, now it’s time to paint. Create a new layer above the lamp layer, name it "lamp light" and go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.
Step 41
Apply the following brush settings: Size: 3px, Roundness: 0px, Opacity: 40px, Flow: 30%, Color: ff8a00.
Step 42
Start painting on lamp’s edges as shown.
Step 43
Change the brush settings as follows Size: 100px, Opactiy: 20%, Flow: 10%.
Step 44
Create a layer below lamp. Call it "lamp glow". Select transparent gradient tool, color: ff8a00.
Step 45
Add a little glow behind the flames, this will make it look more realistic. So Merge all the flames together and name them "magic flame" but before merging them backup your document. You may need to edit flames individually in future.
Step 46
Duplicate "magic flame" and name it "magic glow". With "magic glow" selected, Go to filter Blur > Gussian Blur > 10px. Lower its opacity to 60%.
Step 47
Create a new layer above all other layers and name it "Magic Love." Go to Image > Apply Image.
Conclusion
Once you have everything in one layer, Go to Filter > Shapern > Shapern. You are done!
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I’m sorry to sound moronic, but the outcome doesn’t look good… corners are too sharp, flame is too distorted.
Interesting techniques. Good work.
woO, great work. It would be next valentine wallpaper
keep it up.
Amazing tutorial Zulal Bro Thanks for Share…..
i think the heart flaming are too symmetric
But it’s a very precise tuts with a lot of pictures !
+1 ^^
Simple steps while staying in depth enough to produce an awesome end product. Well done Zee mate, you’ve done a good job here
nice… only to see the images i got the idea of how to do it…. great tutorial and if the heart looks too symmetric… you always can change it, this is not a precise tutorial is only like how to do it.
Thanks for share.
the flame is looking a little like a ribbon in the end to me, but there are some really good tips..many, many spelling errors though..
nice tutorial! very helpful, and they are well explained. thanks a lot.
)))
This is what I call an extensive explanation
. Good on you!
Come on psd tuts!!! I mean, enough with the basic level tutorials!! I mean no disrespect to the designer but seriously??!!! Give us tuts that will be intriguing to the professional bad asses out there! SIGH!!
Well tut is nice but it looks like it’s filled with some liquid
I love it because its pretty detailed.
There are some interesting tips in this tutorial, mainly for people who don’t know about how to create images based on real fire or smoke. However the final product looks a little bit sharp in my opinion, also the heart shape is to much symmetric, you should create a little bit more random shape, just to give the idea that the flames are moving and not static.
The final product is alright, I could see these techniques used else where more effectively, and sorry but I have to say that the flames actually look a bit more like water, which is why I think that these techniques have better application else where. But still nice work!
Kinda cool actually
I already have this wallpaper set from a while back on my computer. Neat to see how they were made 
No fan of the outcome, oversharpened that texture for example, but the tut itself is pretty useful. Simple techniques which can be developed and used for many other purposes.
really awesome thnx for sharing
Damn, that’s creative. It’s pretty amazing how you were able to mold the flames.
Can that flame actually be molded into a flame you would see from a lighter?
Nice tips. I think it’s better we keep creating all the fire, not just duplicate and flip it.
Great tutorial. Every beginner should learn this.
the outcome is not dynamic and eye-catching enough for my taste, but the techniques are there. Thanks for sharing!
Great Tutorials i like it !!
Thanks alot
i always assuming that the efftct like that can only be done in 3D software, i am wrong now…
This tutorial has given me a couple of neat typography ideas – thanks very much!
Nice! I like the hearts very much but the final product might need a little work to obtain that wow factor!
Very nice tut and very detailed explanation. Good Job. Thanx
Far, Far too long IMO. I got bored of reading it halfway through
Thanks, Will try just now…
these look alot like a type of nebula that people make
I am stuck on step 8. I am not real good with the pen tool apparently, but I was able to get something similar to your pen line. I followed the steps for the brush and the start stroke and stroke path, but in the end I don’t have something like the brush stroke that follows the pen line. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
What’s with all the criticism… if you don’t like the end product don’t read the tutorial! lol…this isn’t a debate. It’s someone creating a project and showing you how he decided he wanted it done.If you didn’t like what he did why did you click on this??
yea same here the brush stroke is opposite of the way it should be. the fat part is what starts, instead of the skinny part
I had the same problem just start from the other end. and if that line doesn’t get to the lamp instead of 235 put from 290 to 310
The hearts top looks a little strange and you didn’t really do much (nothing at all) to make the second heart look different. You should never just duplicate something except it’s some kind of pattern or something symmetrical that’s supposed to look exact the same.
I created a piece like this using this technique and I have to say, I LOVE IT!! Simple and easy.
God bless you…
well.. i like detailing.. will try this one soon..
Interesting tutorials… but i think in the end, the result is less look like a flame, i think if we add more sparks, it will be more realistic …but good tutorials though…
Good Work
The image alladin image isn’t working at all, it doesnt give me the lamp it gives me the white square around to making it not work, explain the first step more detailed!
Awesome tutorial, very easy to follow. Thanks
So greaaatt!!! I love it… I did not do exactly the same, but it’s great … congratulations!
I used this tutoriel to made some ardent letters
Nice Work
nice tutorial! very helpful, and they are well explained. thanks a lot.
Wow great creation …! Looking very great When it about to finish.. Thanks Keep it up.
I like this tutorial. But also some what difficult.I’ll try for this bit difficult creation.Thanks a lots.
Awesome effect! Thank You for this example.
it’s way too detailed. tutorials are supposed to teach us something, and this one is only good for mechanical mimicking. and then ready-made parts in the middle of it. and the author has obvious problems with spelling. i didn’t like it.
Very nice and informative tutorial! Yet the hearts in the finishing product look too symetrical. I would suggest more Liquify overall.
Great tut:
I’m not 100% happy with my finished image but learnt a lot doing it – isn’t that the point of tutorials?
Very well written.
Many thanks
[IMG]http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz139/makecoldplayhistory/lampII.jpg[/IMG]
just my two cents, hope they do not come through as negative criticism, but rather as constructive commentary, that is my intention anyway.
…for me the sinuous path towards the flame heart does not resemble fire but rather honey or similar liquid.
flames usually go upwards not parallel, perhaps this has something to do with it.
If the flames took of right from the lamp and had a sinuosity that was elongated it may have been more convincing.
Also the beginning of the heart from the flame path is too sharp, needed to be a tad more organic, same with second heart, extending in a straight branch like a lollipop rather than having the flow fire has.
One needs to just observe fire and how it behaves in nature and try to mimic it as much as possible, especially for a still image.
I just want you to know that i visited your website, because of your display name
Ditto, I did too, Good title to snag readers, and better yet, good content on your site.
Oh, and the tut here is great. A bit too precise looking for my taste and would like to see a bit less symmetry as it is supposed to be natural fire, but great tut. It nicely teaches one to think outside the box to come up with inventive ways to create an image from multiple files.