Have a rocking birthday Photoshop Part 1

Let's wish our friends a happy birthday with a different kind of a birthday card in the part 1 of this rocking birthday card tutorial.

First, click here to download a zip document containing files needed for this happy birthday Photoshop tutorial.

Unzip the file and open Dreevoo_com_dark_brick_texture.jpg that we will use as background.

In the menu click File and choose Place. Open Dreevoo_com_hand_sign.png and place it like I did.

Click Enter. 

Now go to File and choose Open, then open Dreevoo_com_birthday_candles.png.

Choose the Rectangle Marque Tool.

Select the first birthday candle and press Ctrl + C to copy the selection.

Go back to your first document and press Ctrl + V to paste the candle.

Press Ctrl + T and resize and move the candle on top of the first finger (see picture).

Press Enter when done.

Choose the Smudge Tool.

Right click the document, set the Size to 9 px and Hardness to about 86%.

Now start clicking and dragging the bottom part of the birthday candle just a tad bit further down (see picture).

We need to create an impression of candle wax sticking to the finger.

It should end up looking something like this.

I advice you to set the size of your brush to about 5 px (Step 8) and drag a part of the wax a bit further down for a more realistic feel of melted candle wax (see picture).

Repeat the steps 4 to 6 for the second finger.

I chose the blue candle.

Press Ctrl + T and rotate the candle a bit to the right to align it with a finger.

Press Enter.

Choose the Rectangle Marque Tool and select the candle flame (see picture).

Now press Ctrl + T and straighten the candle flame for a more realistic look (see picture).

Press Enter.

Now melt the birthday candle wax the way you did for the first candle, then repeat the steps 4 to 10 for the remaining candle, so it ends up looking little something like this.

Go to the layers and select all the layer except the background layer (see picture).

Press F7 if you can't see the Layers.

Hold the Ctrl key and click the layers to select more then one at once.

Right click the selected layers and choose Merge Layers.

You ended up with only two layers.

With the merged layer selected, click the fx button and choose Drop Shadow... (see picture)

Set the opacity to about 85 %, angle to 143 degrees, Distance to 151 px and Size to about 43 px.

Click OK.

Now choose the Elliptical Marque Tool.

And draw a circle around the first candle like I did.

In the menu click Select and choose Refine Edge...

Set the Smooth to 21 and Feather to about 48 px.

Click OK.

Let's now create a simple candle reflection on a wall.

Select the background layer and click Create a new layer button (see picture).

Choose the Gradient Tool.

And choose the Orange, Yellow, Orange gradient (see picture).

Click and drag the mouse from the center of a circle to about where my line ends (see picture).

Save your document.

Click bellow to continue with part 2 of the tutorial:

  Have a rocking birthday Part 2