Hi all, Silke here. We will create a star with a halo or haze around it. For this exercise I used Photoshop CC2019.

You will learn how to:

  • load custom shapes
  • create 5 point stars
  • create a halo around the star
  • create brush from the shining stars

Start with a new document. Make a layer with any background color in order to see the white star.

Go to Shapes, choose Custom Shape Tool on your toolbar (shortcut U). Follow these instructions here below:

Load Custom Shapes

  1. choose custom shapes
  2. click on the little arrow
  3. click the little gear
  4. then click on “SHAPES” from the options menu to load more shapes.
  5. choose APPEND when asked.

For the newer version Photoshop CC you will see following print screen from my dear friend Elly (Thanks, Elly!):

Click on the little gear, import shapes:

and then look for Legacy Shapes and More

First define the white as foreground color. Or you can set shape fill color later.

From the shapes menu, choose the 5 Point Star. Drag and drop, holding down the Shift key to crate the star. (Holding the Shift key keeps it proportional with the original size).

Convert the shape layer into a raster layer. This is useful to let us edit the star. With a right mouse click on the Shape Layer, choose from the drop-down menu the option > Rasterize Layer.  Rename this layer to STAR.

Select the star by holding down the CTRL key + click on the Star Layer thumbnail.

Go to Select > Modify > Contract… and choose > Contract By: 30 pixels. Hit OK.

Invert this selection by going to Select > Inverse

Blur image: go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 35.

Optional: Save your Star1 (hide blue background) then activate de star layer and go to Select > All, hit copy, create a new document from clipboard and then paste the star in this new document.

Close the copy and stay on our first document. We will create the Star2 with a hole in the middle of our star with this halo effect just created above.

Select your Star: click on the Star thumbnail holding down the CTRL key. Then go to Selection > modify > contract > 130 pixels (depends on the size of your star).

Hit delete. This will let your star look like my star here below. Duplicate and resize it many times.

Ready.
Hide the blue background layer. Save your Star2 as PNG file. (Select > All, hit copy, create a new document from clipboard and then paste the star in this new document).

Use both stars many times duplicating and resizing many times.

Repeat this Quick Tip using other shapes. Round shapes also make wonderful halos to enhance your pictures using photoshop blend modes.

How to Create a Brush from the Star1 and Star2:

Invert your white star, so it will be black and then create a brush. Go to Image> Adjustments > Invert

Then go to Edith > Define Brush Preset.

Here below you see my layout that I did with my Mulled Artsy Clusters. I also added the little stars like the instructions here in my tutorial. And added a glitter style to it.

2 clusters and 2 papers from my Mulled Collection.

And don’t forget: I love comments. Let me know if you have questions and if you tried this quick tip!
The Shining Stars brushes and white elements here below are FREE for a limited time in my store.

Download it from my store – free for limited time – until July 31th (2021).