06
CREATE THE SKY
Define the horizon line on your image and
create a selection that spans from the horizon line to
the top of your canvas. Apply a linear gradient that
blends from a dark apricot through purple to a very
dark blue. Create a new black layer and follow with
Filter>Render>Lens Flare, selecting the 105mm
Prime flare with 128% Brightness. Position the
centre point of the flare to the bottom-right end of
the preview window. Set the layer’s blending mode
to Screen and reduce the layer Opacity to 20%.05
CREATING FLARED STARS
Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, create
a crosshair selection with each intersecting line 2
pixels wide and 80 pixels long. Using your Radial
Gradient tool from white to transparent, create a
gradient from the centre to the edge of the selection.
On a new layer, create a radial gradient above this
half way across the crosshair, forming a soft white
circle. On a new layer, create another larger soft
circle in pink and follow this process on a new layer
one more time with a larger dark magenta circle.04
MAKE YOUR STARS GLOW
Copy your lettering to the clipboard and launch Photoshop. Create a new document and paste your
artwork into your new workspace. With your lettering layer selected, check the Lock Transparent Pixels
checkbox and Edit>Fill your layer with white. Next, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 1
pixel. Duplicate this layer and then Edit>Fill the type on this layer with a deep magenta colour, followed by
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, and set the Radius to 4 pixels.08
FINISH YOUR BACKGROUND
Paste the stars over the background in your
Photoshop document and scale the stars so that
there’s coverage to all corners of the canvas. Fill with
white and run a Gaussian Blur of 1 pixel over the
stars. Set the Opacity of the star layer to 10%,
duplicate this layer and place it on the layer above,
setting the Opacity to 100% and the layer blending
mode to Overlay.07
CREATE A SCATTERED STAR FIELD
Return to Illustrator and create a small
circle 40mm in diameter. With the Transform tool,
duplicate the circle 3800%. Using the Blend tool,
blend between the small and large circle. In the Blend
Options dialog box, set the Spacing to 35 Specified
Steps. Next, separate the path by going to Object>
Blend>Expand. Create a new scatter brush with Size
set on Random from 10% to 49%, Spacing set on
Random from 17% to 157% and Scatter set on
Random from -140% to 486%.QUICK TIP
With a small soft round brush, add some lighting across the mountain at random. On a new layer with a
slightly larger brush, replicate lighting along the foreshore by clicking in random spots and different
colours across the water’s edge. Duplicate this layer and run a Motion Blur to enhance the effect.GRAPHICS AND WEB