Create a Snow Globe Wallpaper for the Holidays

In this tutorial I will run you through some techniques to make a cool snow globe wallpaper.

*Quick Note: Click on Images for Larger Versions

Start a 1024X768 document and in a new layer fill in with a mid-dark blue color. The color I used is #083078.

First lets start with making a base for the snow globe.

I am going to use my pen tool to make the first half of it then fill it with black.

So here the first half of the simple base shape I made with my pen tool.

Now make it a selection

In a new layer fill it with black.

Now duplicate that layer, flip it horizontally, and move it to the the left to make a whole base.

Now you should have something like this

Merge those two layers down

I want to make the top and bottom a little more rounded so I will use the warp tool on it. Before that duplicate the layer and hide it so you have a back up in case you don’t get the result you want.

Once in warp mode grab the top middle of the base and pull it down a little to give it a curve.

Do the same with the bottom

I am going to add a few more touches to the base.

Put a rounded black rectangle at the top using a 10px radius

Move it down and curve it like we did before

I am going to make a little larger one under it too.

You can stop there, but I am going to add a wood grain to the base by making all the parts of it a brownish color, adding noise and using the motion blur filter.

Now start a new layer, hit x on your keyboard to change the foreground color to white and grab your gradient tool. Choose a radial gradient from white to transparent.

Now make a white gradient ball in the middle of your screen like this

After that use your perspective tool on the gradient

Click on the bottom right and drag inward so the gradient looks like this

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Topics: Design, Photoshop, Wallpaper