[Developer]

Designing an Advanced Orb

Step 1

Firstly, we need to create a new document (File > New) and the size I’ve chosen to use is 500 by 400 pixels. Fill the background layer with a radial gradient using a light (#343434) and dark (#202020) grey. To do this, select the gradient tool and set it to radial, set the foreground colour to #343434 and the background colour to #202020, left click in the top left corner and drag to the bottom right corner and release.

Step 2

Create a new layer (Layer > New > Layer) and using the elliptical marquee make a circular selection of 250 by 250 pixels in the center of the document. Fill this selection with a radial gradient from a light to a dark blue - I’ve used the PSDLounge colours #2d7fb7 and #004e8e.

Step 3

We’ll now be adding a couple of layer styles to this base of the orb.
Layer > Layer Styles > Outer Glow

Layer > Layer Styles > Stroke

Now your orb should be looking something like this.

Step 4

Next up, we’ll be adding three highlights to the orb (each on a seperate layer). Select the area of the orb (Ctrl + Click layer) and fill with a radial gradient from white to transparent at the bottom right using the gradient tool.

Set the blend mode to overlay and lower the opacity to 80%.

Step 5

The second highlight that we’ll be applying to the orb is on the left, so do the same as the last step but this time make the gradient a bit smaller and down to the left - this is just going to be a subtle highlight.

Set the blend mode to soft light.

Step 6

Select the elliptical marquee and make a selection at the top of the orb (5 pixels down from the top) and fill with a radial gradient from white to transparent (left click at the top and drag to the bottom of the selection but not right to the bottom so that then it has a smooth edge on the bottom and not the top).

Set the blend mode of this last highlight layer to overlay.

I’ve also repeated this and lowered the new layer to 50% opacity.

Step 7

Now we are going to be adding a shine effect to the orb. Select the area of the orb base again and go Select > Modify > Contract by 5 pixels. Fill the selection with a linear gradient from white to transparent.

Set the blend mdoe to soft light and the opacity of the layer to 20%.

Step 8

Next up, we’re going to be adding some texture to the orb - I’ve done this by adding in an abstract brush and lowered the opacity so it is barely visible. The blend mode I have used for the brush layer is overlay and the opacity is 10%.

Step 9

Lastly, we’re going to be adding in some text - maybe you’ll want to add a symbol or logo (might be a bit more interesting). I’ve just added an outer glow (dark blue) and gradient overlay (grey to white) to the white text layer.

And there you have it, an advanced orb. Hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about shine effects.