In this tutorial I will be showing you how to create a highly stylized and dynamic rain and fire scene. This tutorial requires a lot of experimentation and patience but the final effects will be amazing, trust me!=) Let’s begin!
Step One – Extract model from back ground
First, extract your model from their background using your preferred method. However you choose to do it, I always recommend using layer mask. (Click here for a selection of beauty model images)
To create my background I actually just duplicated the original model layer and blurred it a lot using Filter > Gaussian Blur. And added a slight noise effect by going to Filter > Add Noise.


You may have to go about this a completely different way, but basically what you want is a half blue, half orange background.



Then mask out any harsh edges on the fire

Create a layer below both of your two groups of fire layers (one group of fire should be above the model’s, while the other is behind the model’s layer). While a semi hard round brush paint a dark red (#5b1309) paint in large sections of the fire.



To add some light, create a layer above your top most fire layer and set it to screen. With a large soft round brush, set to 7% flow, paint red orange (#fe4402) over the whole bottom half of the image. Create another layer below your model, but above your background, and paint more of the same color with the same brush. Basically just light up the whole bottom of the image.


On the very edges of the barrel switch to a lighter orange red color (#ff5c22) for some color variation.

Set to “Normal”:








Once you are happy, duplicate the rain layer and enlarge it to create depth. You want to enlarge it to at least triple the size, due to this you will have to go to Filter > Blur > Movement Blur and blur it at the same angle as before to get rid of the pixelation.


This is my result:

Again, just practice and do it until you are happy with the results. You absolutely do not need to be a digital painter to do this very simply effect and you can use references too!

The first is a Color Lookup layer set to “Edgy Amber”. Using a large soft brush mask out the top half of the image so this effect is only on the bottom fire half.





Set to “Normal”


What do you think of this tutorial? Hope you learn something new today and don’t be afraid to try this effect on various types of images for practice! Do comment and share your results on the comments below, we love hearing from you!=)