Fractals Tutorial

[john crossley]

Fractals Tutorial

In this tutorial assumptions are made that you know how to use the Gradient Tool and how to set the colour stops for the gradient. That you know how to adjust the settings in the Blending Options panel, and that you know how to use the Layers Palette.

Open Adobe Photoshop CS4 (other photo-editing software is available).

1. From the menu bar select File > New, set the width and height to 1800 x 1200 pixels and press OK.

Creating the Radial Gradient Background

2. Select the Gradient Tool and then in the options bar select Radial Gradient.
3. Click on the Edit Gradient bar, and then double click on the left-hand colour stop to set the light colour, and click OK, then repeat with the right hand colour stop to set the dark colour.
4. Then click and drag on the background to produce a gradient.

Creating the Fractal.

5. Open the Layers Palette and click on Create New Layer at the bottom of the palette
6. From the Tools Bar select the Ellipse Tool and then press and hold SHIFT and drag to create a circle in the centre of the canvas. The circle needs to be about 80 pixels in diameter. (You can set the diameter from the drop-down menu in the options bar.)
7. Select Blending Options from the from the Layers Palette drop down menu (top right of the Layers Palette). We are going to add a Drop Shadow, Bevel and Emboss, Contour, Texture and Gradient Overlay. Adjust the settings of each as required. (You will have to experiment to find out what works best for yourself).
8. When the adjustments have been made click OK.
9. Select the Move Tool and then press OPTION and drag the circle to copy and reposition it.
10. Press COMMAND+T to transform the copied circle.
11. Press and hold SHIFT and drag one of the corners to make the circle smaller (holding down SHIFT keeps the circle round).
12. Once resized, reposition by dragging to the required position. Press ENTER.
13. Press OPTION and drag on the smaller circle to copy and reposition it. Repeat this operation twice more and you should end up with a large circle with three smaller circles around it.
14. In the Layers Palette select the four adjustment layers you have just created and drag them down onto the Create a New Group icon (the one that looks like a folder).
15. In the layers palette you should now have a “Background Layer”, and above that a folder called “Group 1”.
16. Drag the “Group 1” folder down onto the Create New Layer icon to create a copy. This will be named “Group 1 Copy”
17. Make the “Group 1” folder invisible by clicking on the EYE icon, then select the “Group 1 Copy” folder and press COMMAND+E to merge the layers. The folder should now change to a single layer.
18. Press COMMAND+OPTION+T, then drag and resize the image. Press ENTER, to apply the changes.
19. By pressing COMMAND+U, you will be able to edit the Hue and Saturation of the copied layer.
20. Again make a couple of copies of the new layer and place around the central image, rotating, re-sizing and re-aligning as necessary.
21. Then select all the layers in the layer palette and drag down onto the Create a New Group icon. This will now be “Group 2”. Duplicate “Group 2”, and then deselect the eye icon to make “Group 2” invisible. Select “Group 2 Copy”, and press COMMAND+E to merge the layers.
22. Press COMMAND+OPTION+T, then drag and resize the layer, as well as rotating the layer. Now click on the centre point of the selected layer (that is the little circle in the centre of the bounding box) and drag towards the edge of the background, and then press ENTER. (The distance and direction you drag in will effect what happens next).
23. Press COMMAND+SHIFT+OPTION+T, and repeatedly hit the T key. The selected layer will duplicate itself and move across the image, getting smaller and rotating at the same time. You might have to do this 40-50 times. Stop when you’re happy with the result, and press ENTER.
24. Then it’s back to the layers palette to select all the layers you have just created. Drag them down onto the Create a New Group icon, which should now be “Group 3” and then duplicate the group, “Group 3 Copy” and deselect the eye icon and then flatten “Group 3 Copy”, by pressing COMMAND+E.
25. Just keep repeating steps 18 to 24 until you have got an image that you are satisfied with.

[Fixer]

Thanks for the tutorial, John, I was watching me son the other day doing this, you can go on for ever changing it, to say it was just a few shapes to start of with the end result was nothing like it, I will print your tutorial out and give it a try myself and also get some hints from my son.