step 1

STEP 1

Open a new file, whatever size suits your needs with a white background.

Now set your foreground colour to white and background colour to black. Do this by pressing "D" and and then press " X "so that the white is on the top and the black at the bottom.

Go to FILTER > RENDER > CLOUDS. And you get the something like the image below.

You may want to change the style a bit and you can do this by pressing " Ctrl + F " a few times until you are happy with the result.




step 2

STEP 2

Go to FILTER > RENDER > LIGHTING EFFECTS and use these settings or play around with your own setting until it appeals to you. At this point you should change the lighting effect colours to orange and red.
And your image should now look something like this.




step 3

STEP 3

Go to LAYERS>NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER>GRADIENT MAP and then click OK .




step 4

STEP 4

Now change the gradient colour by clicking on the colour bar and select colours that will form the basis of the flames, and you can play around with the colours until you’re satisfied with the result and your image should resemble something like the one below. Then click OK to finish.




step 5

STEP 5

Select the ERASE TOOL then change to a soft brush size of around 200 and reduce opacity to around 30. Shape into a flame by removing the brightest spots of the fire to reveal dark bits that will make it stand out. Your image should now resemble the one below.



step 6


STEP 6

If you want to add a sort of ember effect. Go to FILTER > PIXELATE> MEZZOTINT>COARSE DOTS. Keeping the soft brush at around 200, change the opacity to around 50% and removing the embers to give it a realistic look. Again experiment as to what appeals to you. You don’t, have to choose these exact settings, just experiment.




step 7

STEP 7

Your final result will look something like this.




step 8

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful, all comments greatly appreciated.