In this lesson, we will continue to create a retro-styled space rocket in Photoshop.
So let’s get started!
Final result
Step 40
Create a new layer, name this layer “ring of the lower part of the rocket body”. Place this layer on top of the “lower part of the rocket body” layer. Next, hold down the key (Ctrl + click on the layer layer mask thumbnail to load the active selection of the part detail of the “lower part of the rocket body” layer. Fill the selected area with red (RGB 255, 0, 0).
Step 41
Without removing the active selection, change your current tool to any selection tool (for example: Rectangular area 
(Rectangular Marquee tool). Next, right-click on the selected area and in the window that appears, select the option Transform selected area (Transform Selection).
Move the selected area down, as shown in the screenshot below.
Press ENTER to exit free transform mode. Next, go Menu – Selection – Invert (Menu> Select> Inverse) to invert the active selection, and then press the DELETE key to delete the overlap area. So now we have a new red ring over the bottom of the rocket body. Why haven’t we created a new shape for this? We actually create shapes only for the main parts of the rocket. Because we could edit them in the future if necessary. However, the ring of the lower part of the rocket body is not the main part of the rocket. Therefore, an ordinary layer of standard pixels is enough for this purpose.
Step 42
Next, we will add text that will serve as the logo for our rocket, placed at the bottom of the rocket body. Choose a tool Text 
(Type Tool), type vertical text in red (RGB 255, 0, 0). At first I typed the letter “P” using the font Impact, and then duplicated the layer with this letter three times. You can press the keys (Ctrl + J) to duplicate the layer. Next, double-click on the thumbnail of the letter layer to change the letter. Next, position the letters “S” and “D” vertically. Then, select all three layers with letters to rasterize them. Click on the selected layers with the right mouse button and in the window that appears, select the option Rasterize the text (rasterize Type). Next, once again right-click on the selected rasterized layers and in the window that appears, select the option Combine layers(Merge Layers). Press (Ctrl + T) while on the merged layer to activate the free transform tool. Now, right-click within the boundaries of the transformation and in the window that appears, select the option Distortion (distort).
To distort, drag the anchor points (squares along the contour) to give the text “PSD” a light perspective view. Press ENTER if you are satisfied with the degree of distortion. Similarly, apply scaling to the “PSD” text if necessary. Reduce the opacity of the text layer to 60%. In the screenshot below you can see the location and size of the text.
Step 43
Next, hold down (Ctrl) + click on the thumbnail of the layer mask of the “lower part of the rocket body” layer to load the active selection. Then, inside the group of “light highlights”, create a new layer “medium highlight in the lower part of the rocket body”. Choose a soft white brush. Draw a straight line from top to bottom. When working with a brush, you can hold down the (Shift) key so that the line is straight. The size of the brush should correspond to the size of the light flare on the layer “medium light flare on the middle part of the rocket body”.
Step 44
Add a layer mask to this layer. Paint over the layer mask. The result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 45
Next, turn off the visibility of the “wings” group by clicking on the eye to the left of the layer thumbnail with the group. Create a new layer inside the “light highlights” group. Name this layer “red glow in the bottom of the rocket body”. Next, load the selection by holding down the (Ctrl) key + click on the thumbnail of the layer mask layer “rocket bottom”. Go to the “red glow in the lower part of the rocket body” layer and using a soft red brush (RGB 255, 0, 0), 30–50% opacity, draw a red glow, as shown in the screenshot below. In fact, this is the reflected red color from the wings and the upper part of the rocket body.
Step 46
We have a problem. Our right wing of the rocket is in front of the image of the lower part of the rocket body. We need to hide the upper part of the wing using a layer mask. So, go to the “wings” group and select the “right wing” layer, and then add a layer mask. You are right, we add another pixel mask to the layer shape, which already has a vector mask (i.e., a vector shape). This is one of the advantages of the layer shape. After adding the mask, we return to the lower part of the rocket body, holding the (Ctrl) key + click on the layer mask of the “lower rocket body” layer. Then, go back to our “right wing” layer and click on the thumbnail of the newly added layer mask to activate it. Next, using a black brush, paint over the layer mask within the selection outline to hide the upper part of the right wing, which is visible on the lower part of the rocket body. The screenshot below describes the steps.
Step 47
Inside the “wings” group, while on the “left wing” layer, hold down the (Ctrl) key + click on the “left wing” layer layer mask thumbnail to load the selection.
Step 48
Next, go Menu – Selection – Modification – Compress (Menu> select> Modify> Contract). Set the compression value to 6 px.
Step 49
Next, go to the “shadow” group, inside this group, create a new layer “shadow on the left wing of the rocket”. Fill the active selection with black (RGB 0, 0, 0).
Step 50
Next, add a layer mask to the created layer and, using the screenshot as a guide, process the shadow on the wing with a brush. Reduce the opacity of this layer to 30%.
Translator’s Note: Try using a brush with very low opacity.
Step 51
Next, we will add a highlight to the wing edge. First, inside the “Highlight Blend” group, create a new layer to create a highlight. Name this layer “highlight on the edge of the left wing”. Using tool Pen 
(Pen tool), draw a white highlight, as in the screenshot and below, and then rasterize the layer. Next, apply the filter Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur), blur radius 2 px.
Step 52
Next, add a layer mask, and then adjust the edge of the flare. Finally, reduce the opacity of this layer to 50%.
Step 53
Double-duplicate the layer “flare on the edge of the left wing”, name the duplicate layers “flare on the edge of the left wing 2” and “flare on the edge of the left wing 3”. The opacity of the layers is 50% and 30%, respectively. See screenshot below. The idea is to gradually increase the flare from low to high saturation.
Step 54
Let’s create a point flare on top of the flare we created in the previous step. Create a new layer on top of the “highlight layer on the edge of the left wing 3”. Name this layer “point flare on the edge of the left wing”. Choose a small soft elliptical brush, the color of the brush is white. Do not forget that we can customize Brush shape dynamics (brush tip shape) in the brush settings panel, we can deform and rotate the brush, as we have done before. Brush once or twice on the edge of the upper fold of the left wing. See screenshot below. Finally, reduce the layer opacity to 70%.
Step 55
Next, using the same technique, add a highlight to the middle wing of the rocket.
Step 56
Now, using the same technique, add a highlight to the right wing of the rocket.
Step 57
Create a new layer on top of the “medium light flare on the lower part of the rocket body” layer, name this layer “the average light flare on the lower part of the rocket body 2”. See screenshot below. Paint a highlight using the same brush and technique you’ve already used before. Adjust the opacity of the layer.
Step 58
Now, go to the “shadows” group. Create a new layer on top of all layers within this group, name this layer “shadow on the ring on the bottom of the rocket body”. Load the selection layer “ring of the lower part of the body of the rocket”, holding down the key (Ctrl) + click on the layer mask of the layer. We return to the layer “shadow from the ring on the lower part of the rocket body”. Choose a soft brush, brush color is black and brush opacity is 50%. Next, draw the shadows, increasing the saturation, first under the left wing, then under the middle wing. See screenshot below.
Step 59
Load a selection of the “top of the rocket engine” layer. Inside the group of “light highlights”, create a new layer. Name this layer “medium flare on a rocket engine”. Using the same brush and technique, paint a highlight as shown in the screenshot below. Reduce the layer opacity to 50%.
60
Hold down (Ctrl) + click on the layer mask of the “middle part of the engine” layer to load the selection. Next, inside the “shadow” group, create a new layer. Name this layer “engine shutter”. Choose a soft brush, brush color is black, brush size is 2x, brush opacity is 50%. Using this brush, draw vertical lines. Once again, go through the same brush with an opacity of 50%, but this time, just brush up to half the height of the lines. Stop somewhere in the middle.
Thus, the lines will be more saturated in the upper part and gradually decrease in degree of saturation towards the lower part. You can do the same in a different way. First, draw the lines with a 100% opacity brush, and then discolor the lines with a soft Eraser 
(Eraser) opacity 50%, making strokes from the bottom top. These lines in our design will serve as shutters. See screenshot below.
Step 61
Next, we will add layer styles. External glow (Outer Glow) to the “engine shutter” layer. Double click on the “engine shutter” layer to display a window Layer styles (Layer Style). Apply settings for option External glow (Outer Glow), which are shown in the screenshot below.
Reduce the opacity of this layer to 30%.
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Step 62
Hold down (ctrl) + click on the layer mask of the “middle part of the engine” layer to load the active selection.
In this step, we paint the visible part of the middle part of the engine. Therefore, we need to subtract certain areas from the active selection area. You can add or subtract from the active selection by pressing Shift (to add) or ALT (to subtract). Now we need to subtract the sections from the active selection area of the “middle part of the engine” layer. While still on the “mid engine” layer, select the tool Oval area 
(Elliptical Marquee Tool). Hold ALT + and create an oval area on top of the selected middle part of the engine, as shown in the screenshot below. Notice the minus sign (“-”) next to the tool icon. Oval area (Elliptical Marquee Tool), this indicates that you are going to subtract from the active selection area.
Next, hold down the keys (Ctrl + ALT) + click on the thumbnail of the layer mask of the “left engine strip” layer.
Next, hold down the keys (Ctrl + ALT) + click on the thumbnail of the layer mask of the “lower part of the engine” layer.
Next, hold down the keys (Ctrl + ALT) + click on the “middle wing” layer layer mask thumbnail.
Thus, we created an active selection only around the visible part of the “middle part of the engine” layer. Now, inside the “shadows” group, create a new layer. Name this layer “the brightness of the rocket engine” by placing this layer below the “engine shutter” layer. Paint over the middle part with RGB (253, 232, 0) color shade, and the top and sides with RGB (74, 61, 0) color shade. The main goal is to make the lower middle part brighter and darker than the sides. See the screenshot below, but it is not necessary to comply here with an exact match.
Step 63
It’s time to work with the rocket cabin. I have good news for you, the easiest part of the lesson is the rocket cabin. We will mainly work with Layer styles (Layer Styles), and then make a small correction. We will start with the “outer ring” layer. Double click on the “outer ring” layer to make the settings window appear. Layer styles (Layer Style). First apply the option Stamping (Bevel and Emboss).
Option settings Gradient Overlay (Gradient Overlay). Click on Gradient to open the window. Gradient Editor (Gradient Editor).
Option settings Shadow (Drop Shadow). This concludes the work with the outer ring.
Step 64
Next, go to the “glass” layer. Apply option Stamping (Bevel and Emboss). The settings are shown in the screenshot below.
Settings Contour (Contour) options Stamping (Bevel and Emboss). Click on the thumbnail next to the word Circuit (Contour) to open the palette Contours (Contour picker), select the contour Linear (Linear).
Option settings Inner shadow (Inner Shadow).
Option settings Color overlay (Color Overlay).
Option settings Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay). This completes the work with glass.
Step 65
We will keep all the layers that belong to the rocket cabin in the “rocket cabin” folder. So on top of the “glass” layer, create a new layer. Name this layer “blurred highlight on the left of the glass”. This will be a crescent-shaped highlight filled with white (RGB 255, 255, 255). Next, rasterize the layer, apply the filter Gaussian blur (Gaussian blur) Finally, select a soft eraser with 50% opacity to create a smooth transition. There is no need to create a mask, because we will not have to edit anything here in the future. Even if you want, you can also create a highlight with a soft white brush with low opacity. Feel free to just experiment.
Step 66
Create a new layer on top of the “blurry glare on the left side of the glass” layer. Name this layer “point flare on the glass to the left”. Choose a soft brush of white color, small diameter. Draw a small soft highlight on top of the blurred highlight we created earlier. Reduce the layer opacity to 80%. See screenshot below.
Step 67
Create a new layer on top of the previous layer. Name this layer “bright dot glare on the glass to the left.” It will be a bright spot light glint visible on shiny surfaces like glass. You can change the brush diameter by pressing the “[” and “]” keys. Reduce the size of your brush, smaller than the brush with which you’ve painted a highlight. Brush hardness should be 50 – 70%, but not 0%. Next, put a bright glare on the glass, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 68
Now look at the glass. On the inside of the right on the outer ring should be reflected on the glass. First, hold down (Ctrl) + click on the thumbnail of the “glass” layer layer mask to load the active selection, then create a new layer on top of the “bright spot highlight on glass to the left” layer. Name this layer “reflection on the glass on the right”. Next, press the “D” key to set the foreground and background color to black and white by default. Now press the “X” key to set the foreground color to white, and then fill the active selection (ALT + BACKSPACE).
So, we have a white circle. Once again hold down (Ctrl) + click on the “reflection on glass to the right” layer to load the selection. Select any selection tool, and then right-click within the outline of the active area to activate a free transform. Zoom in on the selected area by dragging the anchor points located along the transformation contour. You can also hold down the keys (Shift + ALT) during the transformation so that the sides do not scatter. Press ENTER to apply the changes. Now move the active selection a little to the left by pressing the arrow key pointing to the left. Change tool to Move 
(Move Tool (V), and then press DELETE to delete the left side. So we get the crescent shape.
Apply Gaussian blur (Gaussian Bur), blur radius 2p. And also reduce the layer opacity to 20%. We finished the work with a reflection on the glass.
Step 69
Next, we will create a series of bolts that will be placed on the outer ring. Create a new layer on top of the “reflection on glass to the right” layer. Choose a tool Oval area 
(Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), and then using this tool, draw a small circle while holding down the (Shift) key so that the circle is perfect. Next, fill the selected area with black and then deselect (Ctrl + D). Place the circle in the center of the width of the outer ring at the top point. Duplicate the circle by placing the duplicate also in the center of the outer ring only at the bottom point. Then hold down (Shift), select two layers with circles in the layers palette, and then duplicate the selected layers. press keys (Ctrl + T), n At the same time, both duplicated layers are highlighted in the layers palette. Next, right-click on the transformation area and in the appeared window select the option Turn(rotate). Holding down (Shift) while turning, the pitch will be 45 degrees. Now we have four layers with bolts. Select all four layers and then duplicate all four layers. Four new duplicate layers are highlighted in the layers palette, rotate 45 degrees while holding (Shift). We got the perfect circle of bolts.
Select all the layers in the layers palette, and then merge all the layers into one layer. The merged layer name the “bolts on the outer ring”.
Step 70
Right-click on the “bolts on the outer ring” layer to display the window Layer styles (Layer Style). Select an option Shadow (Drop Shadow). Apply the following settings:
Bolts on the outer ring after adding Layer styles (layer style).
Step 71
Double click on the background layer and in the window that appears New layer (New Layer), in line Name (Name) Type “bg grd”.
Next, apply Layer styles (layer style) option Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay).
Layer “bg grd” after adding layer styles.
Step 72
Set the foreground color and background color to RGB (122, 28, 31) and RGB (25, 0, 25), respectively. Next, create a new layer on top of the “bg grd” layer. Next, go Filter – Rendering – Clouds (Filter> Render> Clouds). Once you have created the cloud texture, press the keys (Ctrl + F) a couple more times to render again. The Cloud Filter randomly reproduces the cloud pattern with each keystroke. You can choose your favorite pattern.
Next, change the blending mode for the cloud layer to Lightening basics (Color Dodge). Thus, the pattern of clouds will be visible only on bright areas. Reduce the layer opacity to 70%.
Step 73
Go to the “middle part of the rocket body” layer, and then, holding down the key (Ctrl) + click on the layer mask layer thumbnail to load the selection. Next, create a new layer inside the “light glare” group, name this layer “highlight on the middle part of the rocket body”. Choose a soft white brush with low opacity. Next, draw three delicate highlights, as shown in the screenshot below. Reduce the layer opacity to 70%.
Step 74
Next, we will create a jet engine jet with a brush. Choose a large soft brush, the color of the brush is yellow. Next, in the brush settings (F5), change the roundness of the brush shape to elliptical. Click once to create a large ellipse. Then go Editing – Transformation – Deformation (Edit> Transform> Warp) or press the keys (Ctrl + T), and then click the icon in the top toolbar Deformation (Warp) See screenshot below.
Go to the “rocket engine” folder, create a new layer below the “middle part of the engine” layer. Name the new layer “jet jet engine”. The width of the brush after changing the roundness of the brush shape must match the width of the bottom of the engine. Click to paint a jet engine. Approximately half of the jet must be hidden behind the image of the engine.
Step 75
Create another new layer on top of the “jet engine” layer. Name this layer “white jet luminosity”. Change the brush color to white, and also reduce the brush size by pressing the “]” key. Next, click a brush over the image of a jet engine to create an elliptical glow. Using mode Deformations (Warp), stretch the bottom of the glow so that the white glow is below the jet stream of the engine.
Step 76
Now, let’s create a glow on the rocket engine. Inside the group of “light highlights”, create a new layer. Name this layer “highlights in the middle of a rocket engine”. Choose a soft brush, opacity 30%, brush color is light yellow. While working with a brush, if you press the (ALT) key, the brush will automatically change to a tool. Pipette 
(Eyedropper Tool), using this temporary mode, you can also select a color sample from the bright shades of engine jet exhaust. Basically, move the brush more intensively directly above the jet stream of the engine, and less intensively as you move away from the area of the jet exhaust of the engine. See screenshot below.
Step 77
Next, create three more new layers on top of the “glare in the middle of the rocket engine” layer. Name these layers “glow on the left wing of the rocket”, “glow on the middle wing of the rocket” and “glow on the right wing of the rocket”. Use the same technique as when creating a glow in the middle of a rocket engine. The only thing not to forget that the saturation of the glow on the three wings will be less than the saturation of the glow on the rocket engine. See screenshot below.
Step 78
We need to slightly adjust the opacity of the “light flare layer on the right side of the nose of the rocket”. Because of the dark background, the light flare began to look more saturated. Therefore, we will reduce the opacity of this layer to 15%. So, what’s the point of going back and doing it now? I just want to show you how the details start to look different, depending on changes in the surrounding atmosphere. Therefore, feel free to make corrections if you think this is necessary. But before that, let’s finish what we were going to do. So, we are almost there!
Step 79
Let’s check the bottom of the engine. In the area of jet exhaust, if you look closely at the “left engine bar”, you will find it a bit flat. Although a bright glow is already there, it is still necessary to add some shadows. Thus, hold down (Ctrl) + click on the “left engine slider” layer thumbnail to load the selection, then, inside the “shadows” group, create a new layer, name this layer “shadows on the left engine strap”. Choose a small soft brush, brush color is black, brush opacity is 30%. Draw light shadows on top of the upper region of the lower part of the rocket body. You can subtract the detail of the “lower part of the rocket body” layer before painting, so that you can more easily work with the brush.
Step 80
Next, we need to create bolts at the top of the rocket body. But in this case, we need to first create a new group “bolts on the rocket body”, and then inside the created group create a new layer. So, create a new group “bolts on the rocket body” by placing this group below the layer with the group “rocket cabin”. Next, inside the created group, create a new layer by pressing the keys (Ctrl + Shift + N). In the window that appears New layer (New Layer), type the name of the layer “bolt 1” in the line name (name). Using tool Oval selection (Elliptical Marquee tool), draw a small circle in the middle at the lower edge of the upper part of the rocket body. Fill the active selection with red.
Step 81
Without removing the active selection, apply Layer styles (Layer Styles): Inner shadow (Inner Shadow) and Shadow (Drop Shadow). Apply settings for option Inner shadow (Inner Shadow).
Settings for option Shadow (Drop Shadow).
Step 82
Now, duplicate the “bolt 1” layer several times, placing duplicate layers, as shown in the screenshot below. We will create two sets of bolts: in the upper part of the body and in the lower part of the body of the rocket.
Step 83
Next, create a new layer inside the “light highlights” group. Name this layer “bolt highlights”. Next, select a soft brush, the brush color is white, the brush size is smaller than the size of the bolts. Brush over the bolts to create a glare.
Next, reduce the layer opacity to 40%.
Step 84
Now, a white highlight on the body of the rocket hides one of the lower bolts. Therefore, go to the layer “highlight in the middle of the upper part of the body of the rocket” and using a soft black brush with an opacity of 30%, hide part of the highlight on the layer mask so that the bolt is visible. See screenshot below.
Step 85
Rename the cloud pattern layer above the “bg grd” layer. Name the layer “cloud”. On this we completed the lesson! You can see the order of the layers in the screenshot below.
Final result
Author: Ken Smith
Translator: Sadigaliyev Marat
