This is a simple Photoshop tutorial on how to create a simple energy blade. Anybody with some basic knowledge of Photoshop (like me) should be able to complete this tutorial with no problems whatsoever. Keep reading to find out.
Here are the instructions:
Step 1: Create a new layer in your document. Now make the shape of your blade with any tool you like. In the picture I drew out a path with the pen tool.
Step 2: Now turn the shape into a selection. If you used the pen tool, just right click and the option should appear in the context menu. Now fill the selection with either a solid colour or a gradient. Pick a really vibrant colour, such as bright greens, blues, yellows or pink. I chose pink for this example. I also filled the selection using a gradient from white to the pink. It’s up to you what method you choose.
Step 3: Apply outer and inner glow to the blade layer. For the outer glow use the same colour you picked for the blade. For the inner glow pick a slightly lighter shade of your choice colour. You might need to mess with the blending options of those effects a bit depending on you background colour.
Step 4: Create a new layer above and Ctrl+Click the base blade layer. Now on the new layer set colours back to the default black and white. Go to Filters–> Render–> Clouds, and then go to Filters–> Render –> Difference Clouds.
Step 5: Now go to Image–>Adjustment–>Levels or click Ctrl+L. Now move the middle slider around until you see little “lightning bolts” or “cracks”. You may have to use the Difference Clouds filters a few times to get satisfactory results.
Step 6: It’s time to change the blending option of the cloud layer. Experiment to see which option looks best. For this example I used Soft Light.
Step 7: Repeat steps 4 through 6 until you get enough “bolts” on the blade.
Step 8: To add some transparency effect, change the opacity of the base layer (the one with the fill or gradient) to around 90%.
Voila, you just made yourself an energy blade.