NOTE: This tutorial was written by Sanity Penguin and huMAC gave full rights to post here.

Another great Lp that I had the opportunity to make a tut from. Not only does this piece has a great composition but, as the title already lets you expect, it has a great colour scheme. Everything in this large piece is in perfect balance with each other and I’ll show you how to achieve a similar effect.


The lp was created by huMAC. The original size can be viewed by clicking the result image but all the other images have been downsized a bit to fit in our template here and to compress the loading of the page a bit as well.

Final result

This is how the final piece will look once we’re done with the tutorial. Click this image to view the Lp in it’s original size.

Step 1

Start by creating a new file. Go to file < new and enter a size of your choice for the canvas. Here, 640x800 pixels was used.
To create our background, we will work with gradients. Select the gradient tool and choose the angle gradient. Pick out two nice colours taht match and set them as your foreground and your background colour. (#dbfdc9 and #38ccd5 here).




Then drag your gradient starting somewhere near the middle of the canvas and drag it to one of the sides. Because we didn’t tick off the transparency box on the gradient tool, we will get a hard line in it.

Step 2

Create a new layer and drag another gradient like the one before, simply arrange it differently.


Now change the blending mode of this layer to lighten. This will have both gradient layers flow together nicely and you will have a very colourful background, without any hard lines remaining.

Creation of the coloured blocks

It’s wise to create each new block - so with each new colour - in a seperate group (Ctrl+G). That way you can keep track of the different blocks you have created. Also, once you have complete a block within the group, hide all the other layers visible and apply the image on a new layer. That way, you will have the create block on a new layer and you will be able to use it afterwards by merely copying it, rather than recreating it anew.

Step 3

Adding our first coloured block. we’re opting for rounded rectangulars here so select the rounded rectangular tool and pick a nice colour as your foreground colour (#2cff82 here). Now, set up the tool as followed.



Now simply create your rectangular shape on a new layer. Hold shift to make the rectangle stay in proportion (create a square) and afterwards you can transform it a bit by pressing Ctrl+T. You can then rotate it then for example.

Step 4

Then we create a nice pink block. We’re going for a darker pink with some light pink in the middle. So first create the dark rounded rectangular (#ff6d88) and then add a smaller and lighter one on a new layer (#ff886d). Again, rotate the shapes by using Ctrl+T.

Step 5

Then we’ll create a blue one, with a sort of shadow attached to it.

Start with the biggest one, the shadow layer (#6ee3da) and build up from there. Use a different shade of blue each time (#5dffff - #5ee9fe - #5ddcff) and create smaller rectangles as well.

Step 6

Then simply create another similar block as the blue - using different shades of one colour - but use green this time.


Then you can add some swirls to it as well to add some variation. You can either create this in illustrator by creating some lines and using the swirl tool but a similar effect can be acquired in photoshop itself. You simply create some thicker lines in different colours and then go to filter < liquify. There is also a tool in there called the swirl tool. Just use that on the lines and you will gain a similar effect.


And to top the swirl off, you can add some extra detail to it by adding some more colour to it for example. You can use the brush tool for this but also the elliptical marquee tool for example.

Step 7

Add another pink block like before, only bigger this time.

Step 8

And then add another block, this time in yellow and again using different shades of the colour.

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