Creating a glowing neon ring can be quite difficult but when the right process is carried out, you can really use these neon rings to your advantage when designing for a project. The process is quick, easy and once learnt, can be used time and time to again to help create a professional and futuristic look. The first thing you will need to do is add or select your image to Photoshop, note that the best neon effects are created with a dark background. I have selected this image. You will notice that the background is dark and her clothes are not overly bright, this is an ideal image to create neon rings. Also her body shape is definitive and this can be kept in mind when creating the rings. 
For each ring you make, create a new layer, this will help with adding effects individually later on. To get the best neon effect, set your foreground colour to white, and then select the pen tool, set the pen tool to paths at the top left hand side of the screen. Then create curves around your image. You can go as tight as you want, but here is my path that I have created.
Once you are happy with the path you created, you need to select the brush tool then hit F5, this will bring up a selection of brushes. Select soft round, the pixel size will differ depending on the image you are using but in this instance I have used 21 pixels, remember that the pixel size you select will be the thickest part. Once your pixel size is selected, click onto shape dynamics and select control under size jitter as pen pressure. Go back to the pen tool and right click, select stroke path and a pop up box should be brought up. Select Brush and tick simulate pressure. Press enter and the brush pattern should appear, press enter again to get rid of the pen path. Here is what my image looks like: 
Now our Rings have been added, but we want them to wrap around our image so they appear to wrap around. Create a clipping mask on the layer of the ring and then select the erase tool, use a soft edged brush, then slowly take away part of the spiral to create the effect of it wrapping around the model. Your image should look something like this after. 
In this case the, white looks really good with this image, however I will show you how to change the neon glow. Double click on the layer and select outer glow, this is where you can choose the colour of your neon glow. For the brightest colours, drag the colour picker to the top right and select the colour via the slider on the right hand side. Once you have chosen your colour, change the opacity to 100% then the contour to half round. Once all of these settings have been chosen you should be left with something like this: 
Conclusion
Neon Rings can be tough sometimes, but attention to detail and a steady hand will create the perfect neon glow to any image. Remember that a dark background is almost essential to create a glowing effect and that if you want the neon colour to really stand out, set the brush to white. This effect can really draw focus to your image, creating a futuristic and professional look to your work.
This article was written by Lewis Austin who is the social media marketer for SEO Positive and also Web Design Positive, for more information about them, follow their Twitter profile.
Recent Comments