> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ OCTOBER 2020[ 86 ]
› › HOW TOStep 13: Switch to the Brush tool, and
open the Brushes panel (Window>
Brushes). Click on the flyout menu at
the top right of the panel, and select
Get More Brushes. In the Adobe web
page that opens, sign in with your
Adobe ID, and download the Con-
cept set of brushes. After the .abr file
downloads, double-c lick it to install it
in Photoshop.
Expand the Concept set in the
Brushes panel, and grab a Kyle’s Con-
cept brush such as the Clouds Fat brush
to begin painting in the main colors.
Most brushes with variation (even a
spatter brush) will do the trick here. Just
make sure that the brush doesn’t have
any identifiable pattern to it. Definitely
experiment here.Step 14: Select a neon-greenish for the
Foreground color. For those with tab-
lets, use pen pressure for dynamics, and
those without fancy-pancy hardware,
lower the Flow in the Options Bar once
you have a brush selected.
For this part, look up some actual
northern lights example images for
ideas for where you might add the
auroras before you apply the blur
effect in the following steps. The
general strategy is to start small for
the ones in the distance, and to make
your brush larger and more encom-
passing with the Right Bracket key
(]) as it gets closer to being directly
overhead. Also, paint with variation
of Opacity in the Options Bar.Step 15: Once you have the general
shape of where the green will be, it’s
time to add the crucial effect, but first,
turn this layer into a smart object so
you can nondestructively play with this
effect after you apply it to the layer.
Right-c lick near the layer’s name in
the Layers panel and select Convert
to Smart Object. Now you’re working
like a nondestructive pro!