Making the Basic Lightbulb

 

Draw the shape of a Christmas light using the Pen Tool.  Once you have it drawn, right click on the layer it’s on and Rasterize Layer.  This will merge the pen tool line with the fill color, so it’s just a shape now.  Now, either select the shape by holding CTRL and clicking on the layer of the shape and/or Preserve Transparency.  Use the Gradient Tool and make a circular gradient with two different shades of red.

 

***I prefer to preserve transparencies over using the selection tool.  This way, you don’t accident add a weird mark somewhere out in the middle of a layer that shows up later somehow.

 

 

Lighten the inside of the light by using the Paintbrush, selecting white for the color, and utilizing a Soft Round Brush.  Change the opacity to about 20% and make the brush fairly large.  You’ll only need to click a couple times to get the right lightness without overdoing it.

 

 

Now, to make it glow!  Double click on the layer, and add an Outer Glow and an Inner Glow.  The Outer Glow will have a duller red, and the inner will have the brightest red.

 

 

We’re going to add some shine spots now.  Use the Pen Tool and draw a couple areas for shines.  Fill them with white, and drop their Layer Opacity down to about 30%.

 

 

Making a Sparkling Star

 

We’re going to make a sparkling star to put in the light to make it look a little shinier than it does currently.  If you have a brush to make a ‘sparkle’, then you can use this instead, but I am going to show you how to make it from scratch.

 

Use the Pen Tool and draw a tall, thin sliver or eyelet.  In the Layers window, change “Fill” to 0.  Double click on the layer and add an Outer and Inner Glow.

 

 

Once you’ve adjusted the glow, duplicate this layer 3 more times.  You’re going to angle them to make a sparkle kind of shape.  I’d recommend using the Transform tool by selecting the layer you want to rotate, then CTRL+T.  Hold down the shift button while you’re rotating it and it will rotate in even increments.

 

 

Once you’re happy with how it looks, merge all of the layers of the star together.  Double click on the layer and add an Outer Glow.

 

 

Now, drag the star over top of the light we created earlier.  Resize it some with CTRL+T, holding shift to keep it proportionate, and then change the opacity of the layer down to about 30%.

 

 

Adding Some Extra Shine

 

Make a taller and thinner sliver than you did for the “Making a Sparkling Star” section, and follow the same steps for adding a glow to it.

 

We’re going to position three of these coming from the middle of the star on the light bulb.  This will give it a little extra shine.  Copy and paste or duplicate the one sliver to make the other two.  Adjust their layer opacities to different levels.  I have one at 20%, one at 40% and one at 60%.  This will help to make it look a little more random.

 

 

Plug It In

 

Now we make the base of the light.  It wouldn’t be a very good light bulb if it wasn’t plugged into anything now would it?  We’re going to create the base of the light, which on a strand of Christmas lights, is usually green.

 

Use the Pen tool to draw a slightly arched rectangle.  We’re going to give this thing a tiny bit of perspective too.  Beneath the arch your created, on a new layer, use the Elliptical Marquee Tool… or the circular selection tool.  Draw a very short, but wide ellipse at the bottom of the arch.  Fill this with a darker green than you used for the arched rectangle.  Then, draw a rectangle below that, and another ellipse at the bottom of that, all on separate layers.  You’ll then have the base of the light.

 

 

 

 

Be sure the Preserve Transparency button has been selected for each of these layers.  Using the same darker green that you used in the ellipses, select the Paint Brush.  Use a brush that is round and has little to no softness around it.  Change the opacity of the brush to about 20%.  Draw vertical lines with a little thickness to them through both sections that have the lighter green.  Keep some space in between each of the lines you draw so it looks kind of like it’s a ribbed surface.  Go back over a few of the lines, working your way out, to make the outer lines a little darker.  This will make it look like it has a little dimension to it.

 

 

Either link and/or merge all of the pieces of the green base you made.  Drag it up to where the light is if you have not done that already, making sure it is in a layer above the light bulb.

 

Additional Glow

 

The glow of the light currently stops right when it hits the green base, and we know this doesn’t look right.

 

Add a new layer above your green base layer.  Select the Paint Brush, Opacity 25%, Soft Round Brush.  Choose a light pinkish color from the same color palette we used for the light bulb.  You’re not going to want much of a glow, just a little to show that it continues.  Click once or twice on the canvas above the top part of the green base, and below the center of the sparkle.  If you put too much color down, you can always go in and adjust the layer’s opacity.

 

 

Voila!  You have your light bulb.

 

 

Want to continue?…

 

Make a Strand for Lights

 

Use the Pen tool and draw a looping, open shape (open: do not connect the beginning and end points, just draw a line).  Select a dark green color and the paintbrush.  Change the brush to a hard round brush of a smaller size, or an angled, flat brush.  Create a new layer above the layer you made that shape on, but be sure to have the shape’s layer selected after that.

 

In the Paths window (usually located in the same one as the layers), double click on the path you just made.  Name it whatever you like, or nothing at all and hit okay.  Go back to the layers, select that new layer you just made, and return to the Paths window.  Right click on it and select “Stroke Path”.  You’ll see the green line appear, following your pen tool path you made.  To make it so you can’t see that pen tool anymore, click in a blank area below it to unselect it in your Paths window.

 

 

Go back to your Layers window.

 

Changing the Light Colors

 

Merge your layers so you have 3 official layers you are working with for each light.  The top layer will be that “Additional Glow” we made, the next down will be the green base, and then finally the light bulb itself.

 

The layers you are going to be changing are the light bulb layer, and the additional glow layer—you want the green base to stay the same.

 

Decide what colors you want to make, and duplicate these layers, linking them appropriately as many times as you need.

 

Select the light bulb layer.  Adjust the Hue/Saturation (CTRL+U).  Drag the Hue on the top to whatever color you like, look at the number, remember what it is and hit okay.  Example:  When I made the purple one, the slider said “-67”, so that’s the number you’re going to want to remember.  Select the additional glow layer, CTRL+U and type in whatever number that was from the previous one.  This will adjust both of these so they match, and you have a new light!  Repeat this until you have all of the lights you need.

 

 

Final Step

 

Once you have the colors you want, you can merge the light bulb completely so it just one layer.

 

Scale the lights down to whatever size you want them, duplicate them to make as many as you want, and position them along the strand… and you’re done!