Creating an Abstract Background for Poster

Create a new document of 500×700 pixels. Fill the background with a linear gradient using the Gradient tool. The colors ( from the top ) are #5587B0, #91D1E5 and #0C3270.

Create a new layer and name it as Circle Frame. Select the Custom Shape tool and open up its preset shapes. Look for the shape named as Circle Frame ( shown in the diagram ). Make a circle frame path at the center of the document. Go to Paths tab, select the path you made and click on ‘Load Path as Selection’ button. Back to the Layers tab, fill this selection with #FFFFFF.

Using the Elliptical Marquee tool, draw a circular selection that is the same size as the Circle Frame. Go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the radius to 50px. Then Select > Inverse. Click Delete and you will get the effect shown below.

Repeat the earlier steps for twice with a larger circle frame each time.

Create a new layer and name it as Lens. On this layer, make a big white circle and position it at the top right corner of the document.

Now we will edit in Quick Mask Mode by clicking on the button located at the bottom of the toolbar. You will notice your foreground and background colors turn to black and white respectively.

With your Gradient tool, drag from right to left and you can see a red translucent gradient forming. The highlight red area is where you wish to retain and those unhighlighted areas will be removed.

Now exit the Quick Mask Mode by clicking on the same button when you enter it. You will see a selection formed. Click on Delete to remove the unwanted areas. You shall get a nice lens like the one below.

Duplicate the Lens layer. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Rotate it slightly clockwise and position it at the lower right of the document.

Create a new layer and name it as Lines. Select the Ellipse tool and draw a circular path at the center of the document.

Now select Brush tool, set the color to #FFFFFF and size to 1px. Then select the Pen tool, right-click on the circular path and choose Stroke Path ( make sure to uncheck Simulate Pressure ). You will see a white circular line formed. Right-click on the Lines layer and choose Blending Options. Activate Drop Shadow and fill in the settings shown in the diagram below.

Create more random circular lines using the same method above and set them to various opacity values. But do not apply the Drop Shadow effect to them.

Create a new layer and name it as Glitter. Using the Brush tool, set the color to #FFFFFF and size to 1px, draw a cross. Then use the Eraser tool ( in Airbrush mode ) fade off the four edges of the cross to achieve a star effect. Duplicate this star several times and place them at the desired intersections of your circular lines.

Create a new layer and name it as Crescent. Make a big white circle at the center of the document. Create a circular selection of the same size as the white circle. Shift the selection slight to the right-bottom. Click Delete once you are ready. You shall get a nice white crescent.

Duplicate the crescent you just made, go to Edit > Free Transform. Reduce the size of the duplicated crescent and shift it slightly lower than the original copy. Repeat this step for another two times. Align all of them in the way shown below. Merge these four crescent layers once you are done.

Select the Crescent layer, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 5px. You will see a blurry swirl formed. Duplicate this swirl, enlarge them and position them randomly along the outline of those circle frames.

Make the colors more vibrant with the help of a Levels Adjustment Layer. Set the values to 60, 1, 255.

The last thing you will need to do is to insert your own logo and texts then you are done! Hope you have enjoyed reading. This tutorial is suggested by FlashFreak with the reference to a wallpaper of Windows Live Messenger from Microsoft. Greatly appreciate if there is a stumble or digg!