Floral Ornaments Background
Create a stunning black floral background – in this tutorial we will construct the floral ornaments using free brushes. Then put the whole thing together using more free brushes and Photoshop’s blending options. This is suitable for Photoshop beginners.
Resources:
Floral Brushes II by ~hawksmont at deviantart.com
Swirls and Flowers brushes from qbrushes.net
Deadly Tron Grid Brushes from brusheezy.com
Step 1
Create a new file using the following settings:
Step 2
Create a new layer
Select the Brush tool and Floral Brushes II
Set the foreground colour to black
Select flower3 brush, set the size to 400px
Click once on the canvas
Ctrl + T to transform the object
Rotate the image similarly to that shown below:
Move this floral to the top left of the canvas
Step 3
Create a new layer
With the Brush tool and Floral Brushes II again
Select flower1 brush, set the size to 350px
Click once on the canvas
Ctrl + T to transform the object
Rotate and move the floral as shown below:
Select the Eraser tool and erase the leaf that is overlapping the original floral
Step 4
Create a new layer
Select the Brush tool and Swirls and Flowers brushes
Select decorative3 brush, set the size to 200px
Click once on the canvas
Ctrl + T to transform the object
Rotate and move the swirl as shown below:
Select the Eraser tool and erase the stem part that is too long
Step 5
Merge the 3 floral layers together
Ctrl + T to transform the object
Set the width and height to 70% using the Transform Controls on the top toolbar:
Now rotate the floral a little so it is almost horizontal, as shown below:
Rename the layer ‘floral’ and turn off the visibility
Step 6
Fill the background with black
Create a new layer above the background layer
Set foreground colour to brown #AA9464
Set background colour to dark brown #403306
Select the Gradient Fill tool and Foreground to Background gradient
Set to Radial gradient
Drag the cursor from the centre to the top of the canvas
Filter>Blur>Motion Blur – apply the following settings
Reduce the layer opacity to 75%
Rename the layer ‘gradfill’
Step 7
Create a new layer
Select the Rectangular Marquee tool
Set a fixed size of 1280 x 250px as shown below:
Place the cursor in the top left corner of the canvas and click once
Set the foreground colour to very dark grey #181818
Select the Paint Bucket tool and fill the selection
Duplicate the layer
Drag the copy to the bottom of the canvas
Merge these 2 layers together
Rename the layer ‘frame’
Step 8
Create a new layer
Set the foreground colour to white
Select the Line tool
Set the width to 10px
Holding down the shift key to keep the line straight, draw a line across the canvas along the bottom edge of the top part of the frame
Create a new layer
Draw another line along the top edge of the bottom part of the frame:
Step 9
Double click on the top line layer in the layers palette to bring up the blending options and apply the following Gradient Overlay, Stroke and Bevel & Emboss settings:
Copy and paste the layer style to the bottom line layer
Merge the 2 line layers together
Rename the layer ‘lines’
Step 10
Restore visibility to the floral layer
Duplicate the layer
Select the Move tool
Use the arrow keys to move the image to the right (so it stays in line horizontally)
Duplicate the layer
Use the arrow keys again to move this floral to the right
Align the 3 florals as shown below (they should be off the edge by 1 or 2 pixels either side):
Step 11
Double click on the floral layer in the layers palette and apply the following Gradient Overlay and Drop Shadow settings:
Copy and paste the layer style to the other 2 floral layers
Merge the 3 floral layers together
Move the florals so they are along the top line – about 2 thirds above and 1 third below the line
Duplicate the layer
Step 12
Ctrl + T to transform the object
Right click within the transform box and click Flip Vertical
Right click again within the transform box and click Flip Horizontal
Drag the florals down and place them along the bottom line to match the placement of the ones above
Step 12
Merge the 2 florals layers together
Drag this layer below the lines layer in the layers palette
Step 13
Create a new layer above the frame layer
Set the foreground colour to white
Select the Brush tool and Deadly Tron Grids brushes
Select grid17 brush, set the size to 1290px
Place the brush in the centre of the canvas and click once
Make the frame layer active
Select the Magic Wand tool and click in the centre part of the canvas
Make the grid layer active and hit the Delete key
Reduce the layer opacity to around 8%
You can now right click on any layer and click Flatten Image
The finished project:
I hope you found this tutorial easy to follow – as it wasn’t too easy to write!! As with all my tutorials, you will see many ways you can change or modify my settings to create something unique for yourself. This one lends itself to using different colours, a different floral construction, different gradients – the list is endless… let your imagination run wild and have fun!!