If you like this tutorial, please register. It encourages me to make more.

If you have any questions about this specific tutorial, just post on the thread. If you have questions about web or graphic design in general, feel free to ask any questions (newb questions or difficult ones!) in the web designer forums.

This tutorial is sponsored by the Xemion Web Designer Directory.

Open up a new document, you shouldn't need more than a 400 by 400 canvas.

Fill the background with black, and take a soft edge bursh and make it about 100 px wide. Make sure your foreground is set to white and the background to black.

Now go to color balance by clicking the color balance button at the bottom of the layers window:



Adjust the settings as below:



Now take your brush and click once in the middle of your canvas. Make sure you're doing it on the background layer, or else it won't show up.



Take the smudge tool (with a soft brush, about 35px wide) and drag the sides to make a flame like figure.Now go back to that color balance button and apply the same settings again, and the image should become brighter and more, firey-like.



You could use this for a numerous amount of things; in logos or if you're one of those people that enjoy participating in those Worth1000 disaster contests. Have fun.

Really cool! I went straight ahead and tried it. It worked great

Care to post an example of what you came up with vitium?

Thats awesome!
What a neat trick. So easy too...

Thanks for posting up, I love your tutorials

Oh wow! That's a really nice idea! I've always wondered how to make fire look more realistic, especially since one of my nicknames is Pyro. (heh) I'll definately be using this in the future, thanks a ton!

That looks great.

I have a number of websites and while I already know a few coders / designers, you can never have enough contacts.

Do have a mailing list which people can join to receive details of new designers / offers, etc?

So simple and so realistic, you can repeat it again and again, it's always a great result.
But it works only with a black background, is there a way to have the same result with a transparent back ground ?

It should work just fine. Save it as a PNG.

Sorry, I hope I'll not disturb.
I tried in different ways and it looks that the color balance effect is not working if the "flame" is not directly on a black color.
How saving as png should solve the issue ?

I uploaded my result "feu copie.png" to show you, I divided the layer half black and half transparent and the effect works only with black (the blue color is only to show the result)

Amazing, absolutely my favorite tutorial here. The end results looks nice a fierce and hot even, who would have thought that the smudge tool would have the capabilities to do such a wondrous thing.