Winter Snow Globe- Photoshop

Hello creative people! I hope everyone has been enjoying their holidays and made lots of Halloween zombies and fall caramel apples! (see previous tutorials) The month of December brings many holidays, (Winter, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.) so this tutorial is going to be a winter snow globe. Let’s begin!

STEP 1: Start by opening a new document. I’m using a standard sheet of paper (8.5 in x 11 in), RGB, with a white background. We are going to build this globe from the bottom up. So we need a base to hold the globe. Choose the rounded rectangle tool and whatever color you’d like. Make the base about 4 in long by 2 in tall. The color I used is a light blue (R=91, G=153, B=206). Rename this layer “Base.” Position the base towards the bottom, center of your page.

Step2: Add the details. I want snowflakes for my design and “Season’s Greetings”. For the text I wanted something elegant, but still easy to read, so I used “Brush Script Std” 30pt in white and centered it on the base. Then I  transformed my words a little to make them taller. (Edit> Free Transform and drag and/or rotate the bounding box until it’s to your liking). For the snowflakes I used the snowflakes that are in the custom shape tool menu. I used the following settings to add drop shadows to my snowflakes to make it look like they are molded on to the base. Click fx underneath the layers panel. Choose Drop Shadow.

 

Once you have one layer style that you like you can simply right click (or control click on a Mac) and copy layer style and then right click (control click on a mac) and paste the layer style to your other layer. I added the same style to all my snowflakes and text. This is what I have so far.

Step3: It looks flat, so it’s time to add some dimension. Select the “Base” layer and go to Edit> Transform> Warp. Click the shape right in between the 2 middle points at the top and drag down slightly to form a curve for the globe. Do the same on the bottom to parallel the top curve. Hit enter.

 You may need to reposition some of your other elements now that the base has changed. Use the move tool. Link all the things that make the base up together so that when you want to move your base, everything will move together. This is the finished base.

 Step4: Add a new layer called “Globe.” Place it under the “Base” layer. To make the globe, use the elliptical marquee tool while holding shift to draw a circle. Make the circle large enough to fit on the base and hang over a little on both sides. I used a 500 px by 500 px circle. Instead of clicking and dragging, you can enter in a size by choosing “Fixed size” from the elliptical marquee “style” options in the menubar. Then you’ll be able to type in the width and height. Don’t forget to change it back to normal when you’re done.

Fill your globe with any color. It doesn’t matter. You won’t see the fill color anyway. Position your ellipse on the base to look like a snow globe.Rename this layer "Globe".

Step5: Add an inner glow to your globe. Make sure your globe layer is selected. Choose fx underneath the layers palette and select inner glow. Change the color from yellow to a light blue. This is what I used: R=88, G=155, B=198. Then use the following settings.

Located above the layers, change the fill opacity to 0%. This will make the effect show, but whatever color your globe was, will now be transparent.

Step 6: Create a scene. It can be a portrait of you and your family, a wintery scene, Santa and his reindeer, etc. I’m going to use a snowman picture that I made in Photoshop, but use whatever you’d like. Open your file in a new document. On a new layer, create an ellipse the same size as your globe. (See step 4) position the ellipse over the part of your picture you’d like to appear in your globe. Click on the picture layer. Select> inverse to select everything other than what’s in the circle. Hit backspace (delete- Mac).  Select>Deselect to get rid of the “marching ants”. You don't need to save the changes you made to this picture, but if you'd like to, make sure you change the file name to something different, so that the original is not changed.

Step 7: Drag your scene onto your Snow globe project. Position it directly under the “Globe” layer. Rename it “Scene”. Due to the curve in the glass globe, your scene would be distorted, slightly bulging. To achieve this effect, select the “Scene” layer and choose Filter>Liquify. Use the Bloat tool to make your image bulge a little. Choose a Brush almost as big as your globe and click in the center of the globe 2-4 times. Be careful not to distort the outside edge or your globe will not look right.

 (Note: Glass tends to have a bluish or greenish, sometimes grayish tint to it. My scene, however is mostly blue, so I want to change my glass glow a little to offset it from the background and base. If your picture looks fine how it is, you don’t have to change a thing. It’s simple to make changes though. Just click on the “Globe” layer and click the arrow to expand the effects. Then just double click the effect you want to change. In this case it’s the inner glow. I changed the color to more of a greenish tint. (You will see the change reflected in the step 8 photo.)

Step8: Glass is shiny, so that’s the next step. Click on your “Scene” layer and then go to Filter> Render> Lens Flare. Then choose 105mm Prime and make it 119%. Position the shine in the upper right section of the globe. Repeat the flare only this time choose the Movie Prime Flare. Add a small flare to the base position it in the upper right corner area of the base. Use the 105mm Prime flare, but make it only 34% .

Step 9: The snow globe just needs snow. Create a new layer on top of all the others. Fill it with black. Go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise. Choose 150%, Gaussian, and check monochromatic. Click Filter> Blur> Blur More. Click Image> Adjustments> Levels Change the settings input levels to 165, 1.00, 204. The output levels stay the same. Change blend mode to Screen or Color Dodge (Which ever looks better with your picture.) If you’d like larger flakes like me, just go to Edit> Free transform and shift-drag until your flakes are the size you like.  Use the crop tool to keep everything on the canvas. Rename "Snow". (Note:To add specs of glitter, follow these instructions: Fill it with black. Go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise and then choose 150%, Gaussian and uncheck monochromatic. Go to Filter> Blur> Blur More. Click Image> Adjustments> Levels. Change the input levels to 197, 1.00, 204. Then just change the blend mode to screen. Rename "Glitter".)

Step 10: Clean up the globe. Any glitter or snow that got outside of the globe can easily be removed by command clicking on the globe thumbnail to load the selection, then selecting the "Snow" layer in the layers palette. Go to Select> Inverse. Then hit backspace (delete- Mac). Repeat for the "Glitter" layer. Make sure your “Base” layer is on top of the other layers. You’re finished for the most part. Just add some finishing details like drop shadows. Use these settings on the "Base" layer:

Use the same settings for the drop shadow on the “Globe” layer. I made the shadow a little lighter by making the opacity 32% since the snow globe would typically set on a table and the shadow around the base would be darker than the shadow on the top, especially from a clear, glass object. I also added another Lens Flare to it via the “Snow” layer (Filter> Render> Lens Flare> Movie Prime Flare). I added a few finishing touches of my own like my logo and a greeting. This is the final design.  I hope you had fun making your own snow globe. Season's Greetings to all!