• Snowglobe in Photoshop 6 by Sue Chastain
• Creating a Photo-Paint Snowglobe by Debbie Cook
The four images (originally designed for print at 5"x7", reduced to 400 pixel width for Web display):
- Red ("Boy in a Bubble") Snowglobe Photo
- Blue ("Girl from Saturn") Snowglobe Photo
- Yellow ("Girl in a Golden Ball") Snowglobe Photo
- Green ("Girl Under Glass") Snowglobe Photo
How It Was Done
Interested in duplicating the snowglobe look? The following is just a brief rundown of the basic creation. Refer to the tutorials listed above for more detailed and software specific instructions and techniques.- Each snowglobe image consists of 14 or more layers. You'll need to be familiar with how to work with multiple objects/layers in your software and good familiarity with masks is essential as well.
- Fill with the desired background color then apply lighting effects. I used a single floodlight/spotlight directed downward with varying amounts of ambient lighting.
- Create a circle for the globe. This globe shape will be duplicated on several layers. One will contain a radial fill going from a dark outer ring to a very light inner ring in the same basic color as the background and appears near the bottom of the stack of objects/layers. Another globe layer will have an offset radial gradient fill for shading to create a spherical effect (in this case, with the shadow portion to the lower right) and overlays most of the globe layers (with a low opacity setting). Another layer will have a very pale blue tint to give a glassy tint or you can use a glass filter effect (I used both techniques). It overlays most globe layers.
- Place your central figure inside the globe. You can add it later if you wish (I did on two globes) but you'll find that you'll need to adjust your snow, snowflake, and mist layers to keep from obscuring the face or ending up with a snowflake sitting on someone's nose.
- Create the snow at the base of the globe. You'll need at least two layers - place one in front of and another in back of the central figure in your globe. You can use various techniques but basically you draw in some white stuff then apply a few effects and filters such as gaussian blur to get the look you want.
- Create the snowflakes and apply a "Wrap to Object" or some other filter or effect to give the spherical appearance. You'll need at least two layers. Place a layer in front and another in back of the central figure in your globe. Most of my globes contain 3 or more layers of snowflakes rotated to different degrees.
- Create the mist. You can use layers in front of and behind the central figure and interlaced among different snow or snowflake layers if you like. I varied the placement for each of my globes.
- Add more shadows and highlights as needed, each on their own layer. The four-square reflection in these globes is based on the reflection from Sue's tutorial.
- Add the base and any shading and shadows it needs.
- If desired, add a layer or two immediately on top of the background (below all the snowglobe layers) for additional shading or semi-transparent texture fills (you want to be sure the lighting effects and background color show through).
- Print and frame!
IDEA! Some variations you might try: Replace the snow and snowflakes with falling leaves, swirls of stars, or fluttering butterflies for a less wintery creation.
Also see the Sketch Effect photo collage created from the same images used in the snowglobe project.
