Materials for the lesson:
This lesson is the result of a combination of various effects that have been very popular lately: energy lines, light effects, vector lines … an energy explosion that will be the result of our great work. So let’s get started.
Before continuing, I think you need to turn to Fabio Sasso and Dario Pineda – the founders of the various effects used in this lesson.
Step 1: Cut out your model.
First, open our main image. The next thing we do is open it in Photoshop, cut out the silhouette of the model to transfer it to a new layer. How to do it? There are many ways to cut an object from the background, but in this case, I used the tool Pen
(Pen) to highlight the body (only the body, not grabbing the hair) and filter Pull out (Extract) for cutting hair.
Note: Filter Pull out (Extract) in most cases is not the best option for achieving a good hair extraction result. However, since this part of the image will be dark and is not the main part of the composition on which you need to concentrate attention, we can use this filter without problems, not paying attention to the details.
Having opened our photo, we have to duplicate it (Ctrl + J) twice. At the layer Layer _Copy 2 (Layer Copy 2) we need to turn off visibility while working with the layer Layer_Copy (Layer Copy), from which we will cut the body. Before you start cutting, turn off also the visibility of the background (background) layer so that it does not interfere with us.
As soon as we make the selection of the girl’s torso, copy it to a new layer (right-click inside the selection and select Copy to new layer (Layer Via Copy)) and delete the layer Layer_Copy (Layer Copy) (drag the layer onto the trash can icon located at the bottom of the layers palette). Select the layer with the second copy and proceed to the filter. Filter (Filter) – Remove (Extract) in order to cut (only!) The girl’s hair.
At the moment, as a result, we have two layers (not counting the background layer, which remains invisible). With the hair layer selected (highlighted in blue), press Ctrl + E to merge both layers. And now we have a girlfriend separated from the former background.
Go to menu Picture (Image) – Correction (Adjustments) – Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) and set the values Brightness (Brightness) at -6 and Contrast (Contrast) at +28. Rename the layer to “Girl” (Chica).
Step 2: Use the texture as a background.
Now add a beautiful texture as a background, you can download it by the link in the archive. Open texture No. 10 and place it on your working canvas (Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V) and Transform (Transform) it (Ctrl + T) to fit in its size. Then flip it vertically (Editing (Edit) – Transformation (Transform) – Flip Vertically (Flip Vertical)). Place this layer under the “Girl” layer (Chica), rename it to “Background Texture” (Textura Fondo).
To darken the texture a bit, go to the menu Editing (Edit) – Correction (Adjustments) – Curves (Curves), set the value to entrance (Input) 165 and on Output (Output) 130.
Finally, add a lighting effect to it (Filter (Filter) – Rendering (Render) – Lighteffects (Lighting effects)) with the following parameters:
Step 3: Some Gradient
Now let’s add a little gradient to make the photo more realistic (since the girl is placed on a red background, there should be red hue reflexes). Duplicate the “Girl” layer (Chica) and rename it to “Gradient” (Degradado). Go to menu Picture (Image) – Correction (Adjustments) – Gradient Map (Gradient Map) and apply a gradient with colors from # 894240 to # CA838E. Press Ctrl + E to merge two layers with a girl.
At this point you should have three layers: “Girl” (Chica), “Background Texture” (TexturaFondo) and “Background” (Background) (The latter is still off. Of course, if you want, you can make it visible , it will not give any effect). And you should have something like this:
Step 4: Fire
Before moving directly to this step, select the tool. Dimmer 
(Burn) (About) in order to emphasize the shadow where necessary and tool Clarifier 
(Dodge) (o) in order to create zone lighting. Play with Opacity these tools for better results.
So fire. On the Internet you will find a great variety of images of good quality fire. Create a new layer. (Ctrl + N) none layer of “Girl” (Chica) and place the fire as if it comes from a girl (change it Blending mode (blending mode) on Lightening (Screen), to hide the black background and not waste time cutting out the object). You can resize it, erase it, or change its shape (the tool is good for this Finger 
(Smudge) (Smudge) and filter Plastic (Liquify)) at its discretion. As for me, I, as you see in the image, used two layers of fire, above the girl’s layer and under it. In this case, both layers are set Opacity 90%. After that, you must use Brush 
(Brush) white in the form of smoke (available in the archive) on New layer (New layer), located under the layer “Girl” (Chica); rename this layer to “Smoke”, set the value Opacity by 25% and Fill by 83%.
To highlight the fire zone a little, create a new layer. [Ctrl + Shift + N] under layers with fire and smoke, apply Filter (Filter) – Rendering (Render) – Clouds (Clouds). Then using the tool Lasso 
(lasso) (L) with Feather 20 px, circle a small area around the fire. Invert (Invert) allotment (Ctrl + Shift + I) and erase the resulting area. Set this layer to mode. Brightening basics (Color Dodge) and set the level Opacity by 65% and Fill by 62%.
Now it is necessary Create a new group (Сreate new group) (click on the icon in the form of a folder located at the bottom of the layers palette window) and rename it to “Fire” (Fuego). Place all layers in it in exactly the same order as they are now, except for the Background Texture layer (Textura fondo) and the Background layer. It is important to maintain order in the work.
Before continuing, be sure to go (with a low Opacity) by girl in areas that will be in contact with the fire tool Dimmer (Burn) (O), until you achieve greater realism.
Finally add Gradient 
(Gradient) orange – yellow – orange. To do this, create a new layer. [Ctrl + Shift + N] over all other layers and go to menu Image (Image) – External channel (Apply Image) so that we have a new layer containing everything we have done so far. Rename it to ‘Fire Girl’ (ChicaFuego). Now apply Gradient (Layer) – New Fill Layer – Gradient. The colors that were used, respectively, are # EF8B2C, # FFEF23 and # EF8B2C. This layer needs to be set to Multiplication (multiply), with Opacity 30% and Fill (Fill) 65%.
At the moment we should have something like this (also, in order not to get confused, I am attaching a screenshot of the layers palette):
Step 5: Retro Lines
Create a new document (Ctrl + N), for example, the size of 400x400px (size is not important). Create a new layer. (Ctrl + Shift + N) and select tool Rectangle selection 
(Rectangular Marquee) (M) and draw a line (use the screenshot below). Then fill it with black (Edit) – Fill – The foreground color. Finally, go to the menu Edit — Transform (Transform) –Tilt (Skew) and convert the strip in the same manner as in the image (lower the upper point on the left a little lower and the lower right point a little higher):
Define the shape that we just created, as a brush, in order to use it later in our work. Select the contents of the layer (Ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail) and go to the menu Edit (Edit) – Define the brush (Define Brush Preset). Rename the brush to “Lineasretro”. Close this document (without saving changes) and go back to our work.
Choose a tool Brush (Brush), open the brush settings palette (on the right side of the tool settings panel) and select the brush we just created.
After we selected the Brush (Brush), install it Diameter (Diameter) at 600px and Scattering at 1000%, in addition, apply the following parameters and activate the Smoothing option:
Note per. The Transfer parameter is the same as the OtherDynamics parameter.
Now that we have a customized Brush (Brush), create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and rename it to “Lineas Retro”. Before we do something with it, we need to apply Layer Styles to fill it up (for example, apply Gradient Overlay (Gradient Overlay) with the following colors: # 00A6E1, # 332086, # E40082, # E61818 and # FFE900):
Note per. In the screenshot, an arrow is marked, by clicking on which at the very bottom of the drop-down menu that appears, you can find in the gradient library a set of “Spectrums” (Spectra) currently active in the screenshot.
Now we can use our brush. On the same layer do strokes with a brush, as you can see, the brush outline repeats our layer style settings. Play around with the brush sizes and create another layer, if necessary (I created 3 layers), to apply different shapes of these vector lines (do not forget to copy Layer Style each time for the layer you create). To streamline the work, in case you have used many layers to create your lines, create a new group, rename it to “Line Retro” and put all the layers containing lines into it.
As you can see, the lines fall on the girl’s shoulder. Choose a tool Eraser 
(Eraser) with Hardness (0%) and Opacity (70%) and erase the parts that overlap the shoulder.
Now for each layer of retro lines we apply Wind filter, three times to the right and three times to the left (Filter (Filter) – Stylization (Stylize) – Wind (Wind) + Right (FromtheRight))) or (Filter (Filter) – Stylization (Stylize) – Wind (Wind) + Left (FromtheLeft)). HDo not forget! Three times to the right and three times to the left. Then reduce Opacity groups up to 80%.
Step 6: Colored Lines
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shitf + N) and select the tool Pen (Pen) (P) in mode Contours (Paths). Draw a semicircle on this layer. After creating a semicircle, set the color before tracing the outline. Brushes (Brush) on white, and size at 3px. Now switch to the tab Contours (Paths) next to the layers palette. Right click on Working circuit (Work path) and select the option Outline the contour (Stroke path) and activate the parameter Simulate pressure (Simulate pressure). Before proceeding, rename the layer containing the semicircle we created in Lineas Colores.
Duplicate the “Color Lines” layer (Lineas Colores) and move it a little (Ctrl + T), wherever you wish, only so that it is located in a different place from the previous layer. Double click on the copy of the layer (next to its name, but not its name) to open the window Layer styles (Layer styles) and apply Color overlay (Color Overlay), set any color.
Now just duplicate this layer as many times as necessary, changing the colors for each duplicate each time, in the end you should get something like this:
Create a new group (rename it to “Color lines” (Lineas Colores) and place in it all the layers that were recently created. Now duplicate the group as many times as necessary, and place the lines around the girl. Create another group and place in All the “Colored Lines” groups (Lineas Colores) that we used rename it to “Combined Colored Lines” (Conjunto Lineas Colores). This group should be in Normal / Normal (Normal) and have Opacity (Opacity) 50%.
Now play a little with this technique (creating other shapes using the tool Pen (Pen), duplicating layers several times, changing colors, reducing Opacity (Opacity) or by trying different blend modes), create more colored lines.
Step 7: Sparks
To achieve the effect that we will create further, we need to download these brushes in the form of sparks. Create a new layer (rename it to Iskra (Chispas)), and then, before doing something, apply to it Layer styles (Layer Styles):
Now take the tool Brush (Brush) (B) in one of the forms that we recently downloaded, and apply the following settings to it, always set the parameter Smoothing (Smoothing).
Now let’s draw a brush in any direction on the “Iskra” layer (Chispas), you can also play with Opacity (Opacity) brush. Finally, you need to set for this layer Opacity (Opacity) by 53%.
Step 8: Energy Lines
Now create the lines of energy that will come from the shoulder of the girl. And, of course, we will use the tool Pen (Pen). So to get started, create a new layer (Ctrl + N) and rename it to “Energy Lines” (Lineas Energia). Before drawing the outline, you need to set up the brush (Colour (color) – white, diameter (diameter) – 3px, activate the parameters Smoothing (Smoothing) and Wet edges (Wet edges)):
Now select the tool Pen (Pen) and with these settings for the brush stroke a contour similar to this:
As in the previous step using the tool Pen (pen), we need to go to the tab Contours (Paths) next to the layers palette, right click on the layer and select the option Circle Outline (Stroke Path). Then delete the contour (Delete contour (Delete Path)). You should have something like this:
Now we’ll correct the energy lines that we’ve just created and will give them depth. To do this with the tool Eraser (Eraser) erase some parts of the lines, in conclusion, we need to make sure that the lines actually pass alongside the girl. To do this, use the tool Dimmer (Burn) low Opacity (Opacity), and apply it to the areas where the lines pass behind the girls shoulder.
Now for the “Energy Lines” layer apply the following Layer styles (layer Styles):
And we get something like this:
Step 9: Final Touches
Finally, add a few Corrective layers (Adjustment layers) (two-color circle located at the bottom of the layers palette) to complete the work. Gradient (Gradient) (Radial (Radial) and set it to mode Color tone (Hue) and Opacity (Opacity) 50%), Curves (Curves) and Color balance (Color Balance).
So we are done! I explained each step in detail and included many images for better perception of the lesson. If someone does not understand something, ask your questions in the comments.
