Spider
Webs in Photoshop
by Shane Waldeck (aka lostinbeta)
This tutorial will help you create a spider
web effect in Photoshop. You will actually be surprised at
how easy it is to achieve this effect. This tutorial should
work in Photoshop 6 and 7, I have not tested it in lower
versions, but as long as you have the filters needed, there
shouldn't be a problem with it working. Please keep in mind
that all screenshots on this page were shrunken down and
saved at a lower quality so what you get will not look
exactly like what is in the screenshot, but it should be in
the same area.
[ the final
product of this tutorial ]
Alright, let's get to work
shall we?
-
First we want to create a new document. Go to File/New. In
this example we will be using a 400x400 image, so to
easier follow the tutorial, I recommend doing the same.
You must set your background color to White.
-
Now you will have to set your foreground color to Black
and your background color to White. If you aren't sure
which way this will be, check the screenshot below.

-
Now we have to create a new layer to start our webbing on.
After you create a new layer, right click on that layer
and choose "Layer Properties". Under "Name", give your
layer the name "webbing". If you aren't sure how to create
a new layer, check the screenshot below, the button is
highlighted in red.

-
Now we will have to draw our web. Choose the Paint Brush
tool from the tools panel (or press "b" on your keyboard)
and choose a smaller brush size (sizes 5 and 9 work the
best, in this example I use size 9). After you have your
Paint Brush tool set up, scribble a spider web pattern (or
any pattern, for this example we are going to use a spider
web pattern). Your scribble must be done in Black. See
screenshot below for my starting image.

-
While you are still on your "webbing" layer go to
Filter/Distort/Ocean Ripple. Use the settings Ripple
Size: 10 and Ripple Magnitude: 20


-
Now we are going to apply a Gaussian Blur filter to the
"webbing" layer. Go to Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur. Use the
setting Radius: 6.3


-
We are going to find the edges of the webbing now. Go to
Filter/Stylize/Find Edges.

-
Create a new layer and call it "bg" (for Background). Fill
this layer with Black (Alt+Backspace). Then click and drag
this layer below your "webbing" layer so that "webbing" is
on top of "bg". Now you have your spider web effect!

-
If you want to go one step further you can colorize the
web. Select your "webbing" layer and go to
Image/Adjustments/Hue/Saturation. Be sure to check the
"Colorize" checkbox (as seen below), then you can move the
sliders around to get the webbing to the color you want.

Well that concludes our spider webs
tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it and finished it without any
problems.
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