Greg Vander Houwen's Plasma Effect

BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO JUMP INTO THIS ONE, BEFORE YOU HIT ANOTHER LINK, BEFORE YOU START LOOKING FOR THE SHORTCUT, THE QUICK & EASY ANSWER, (It doesn't exist.), PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR & READ THIS IN FULL.

I wish I could take credit for this one but if I tried to I'd be the biggest webswine in history. I stumbled onto it here: www.photoshoptechniques.com Like many others I was immediately riveted & obsessed with Greg's Plasma Effect. I HAD to have this one. I found much more than just a great lesson. The Photoshop Techniques forum has proved an invaluable resource in my growth as a Photoshop user. I've never met Greg & I'm in no way affiliated with the forum other than being a member. The people there are great, ranging from novice to guru in expertise, there's room for everybody. It's a well moderated forum where flaming, rudeness & online abuse are not tolerated. Someone ranked on me once for asking what they thought was an igmo question & several members of the forum jumped on them, (That was much more fun to watch than actually getting into a flame war myself!).

The Bad News: There is no simple, easy to follow tutorial that will produce the spectacular examples you'll see in the thread. Those are all the result of much sweat, frustration, probably a few foreheads smacking keyboards & most importantly, perseverance.

The Good News: Even if you're a completely green, still wet behind the ears Photoshop novice, with enough determination you CAN accomplish this one. More importantly than learning a neat, (though difficult), Photoshop trick you'll pick up some important skills in the process that you'll use later.

Okay, enough preaching.

Your journey begins HERE.

Good luck, D.R.