30 Useful Abstract Photoshop Design Tutorials

By Janos Racz Abstract works have many uses in design: they can serve as a vibrant desktop background, a mysterious webdesign header or they can be beautiful art pieces by themselves. What's more, abstract design has many forms, and not too many limitations. You can always come up with new shapes and compositions with combination of various color schemes. You can create them using computer algorithms, putting it on the canvas from pure imagination, or just following a simple pattern you made up in your spare time.

But once you have an idea, it's always good to know how to actually implement those to get the desired results. This collection of abstract design tutorials will hopefully able to introduce you to some of the skills and techniques commonly used when creating such pieces of artwork and design elements. Enjoy!

Useful Abstract Photoshop Tutorials

Chroma Wallpapers The article shows how to make a great abstract composition combining a 3D-looking base with some additional effects. How to Create Brilliant Light Streaks in Photoshop Various lightning effects are important parts of almost every absract design. This tutorial shows you how to use various filters to achieve a nice circular lightning effect and create this stunning image below! Windows Vista Aurora Effect Photoshop Tutorial Tutorials on re-creating certain popular and commonly used effects are always popular. This tutorial takes a good look at creating the Windows Vista aurora effect and walks you through step-by-step. Leopard Aurora Borealis Photoshop Tutorial Speaking about popular effects, here's a nice Mac OSX Leopard-style wallpaper tutorial from DesignNerd. Luminescent Lines Luminescent Lines is another quick and fun tutorial on creating abstract lines and coloring them nicely with layer styles and the use of some brushes. Making of an Abstract Art Piece: "Lonium" This article is more of a making-of than a tutorial, where the author walks you through the most important phases of creating this amazing abstract artwork. An interesting read nonetheless with lots of ideas for future designs. Creating Smoke This tutorial illustrates a quick way to create smoke-like effects with the liquify filter that'll surely come in handy for many abstract designs. Lines Tutorial A quick and simple tutorial for creating a nice colorful effect, brought to you by Giackop Design. Creating an Abstract 3D Design A bit longer and more difficult tutorial to create the image below. If you have the time though, certainly give it a shot! Awesome digital bokeh effect in Photoshop Bokeh effects are becoming more and more popular nowadays. This tutorial illustrates one way to achieve such an effect in a colorful composition. Really cool Eclipse Effect in Photoshop This tutorial with the beautiful outcome below is brought to you yet again by Fabio Sasso. It uses multiple techniques from other tutorials to create this piece that was once used as Abduzeedo's footer. Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop With a little work in Adobe Illustrator, this tutorial guides you through the process of creating this lively abstract piece. Light Rays Another cool lightning effect that combines a great number of filters to achive the final effect. Abstract Background Photoshop Tutorial Yet another abstract lightning effect for those who still want more! Signature Backgrounds This tutorial walks you through creating this abstract image that you can commonly see in forum signatures. Colorful Tornado Another great abstract artwork tutorial by 9Tutorials, this time not so chaotic! Colourful Swirl This tutorial shows you how to create then combine multiple swirl effects to achieve the result below. Make Abstract Wallpaper with Brushes This tutorial featured on 10Steps.sg shows you the steps to create an amazing piece of abstract artwork using various brushes as a base. Creating a Stunning Digital Smoke Effect Although the title suggests smoke effect, this tutorial is another great step-by-step guide on abstract design. Trendy galactic poster design A trendy poster nonetheless, a nice colorful background with some typography, though the first part is what you shold be more interested in abstract-design-wise. Create a Rather Interesting, Wavy and Curving Abstract Shape Effect in Photoshop This tutorial walks you through the creation of this rather interesting and colorful shape. Very detailed, with lots of screenshots. Design Eye-catching Laser Particle Abstract Effect in Photoshop These kind of images are what you can usually see in online galleries at the abstract 3D section, but this tutorial shows you how to create a nice laser particle effect right in Photoshop, without the use of any 3D applications! How to Create an Interplay of Abstract Light Streaks Lastly, a tutorial about this interesting and quite complex abstract image from PSDTuts with a few more new techniques to learn!