Let us do something different this week! We will be creating a game poster with magical theme. This tutorial shows how to draw a sword from scratch and also introducing some of the latest high quality brushes on the internet.

Preview of Final Image

Create a document of size 595×840 pixels. Download a nice texture from Texture Lovers. Place the texture into the document and go to Image > Adjustment > Desaturate.

Create a new layer above the texture layer. Rename this layer as Radial Gradient. Make a green to blue radial gradient like what I have done below. Feel free to replace mine with other preferred colors.

Set the Blend Mode of Radial Gradient to Soft Light. Download Dragon Tattoo Designs from Photoshop Free Brushes. Select Dragon 23 and paint it on a new layer with black color. Set the Opacity of this layer to 60%.

Let us start drawing a sword. Create a new layer and rename it as Blade. Using the Pen tool, make a shape of half blade as shown below.

Right-click on the Blade and go to Blending Options. Choose Gradient and key in the settings below.

Repeat the same step for the other side of the Blade. But adjust the gradient slightly so the blade center will be visible.

Create a new layer and at the tip of the Blade, draw a small rounded rectangular shape with color #4f5c4d.

Paint a small highlight on the rounded rectangle with #c8cbb0.

Repeat similar steps for remaining parts of the sword. You can let your creativity flow on how you want the sword to look. I am doing a simple one for this tutorial.

Create a new layer and rename it as Sword Handle. Create a vertical rounded rectangle. Right-click on the layer and select Blending Options. Choose Gradient and key in the settings below.

Create a new layer and rename it as Pearl. Draw a small grey oval at the intersection on the sword.

CTRL-left click on the Oval layer to load selection. Go to Select > Modify > Contract. Set the Radius to 1px and hit OK. Make a vertical linear gradient (white to dark grey) in the selection.

With the selection still active, go to Select > Modify > Contract. Set the Radius to 1px and hit OK. Make a vertical linear gradient (dark red to light red) in the selection. Paint a small white highlight at the tip of the red oval.

Create a new layer above the Sword Handle. Using Pencil tool with 1px and black color, draw the strips like what I did below. Right-click on this layer and choose Blending Options. Choose Drop Shadow. Set the Blend Mode to Normal and color to white. Set the Opacity to 50% and Angle to 90 degrees.

Download Extremely Abstract Brush from Qbrushes. Select one of the flare brushes and paint it white behind the sword. Right-click on the layer and choose Blending Options. Select Outer Glow and key in the settings below.

Repeat the same for more flare with some other colors.

Download Lightning Brushes from Qbrushes. Paint some lightnings behind the sword using the same blue outer glow applied for the first flare earlier.

Back to the dragon tattoos that you downloaded right at the start. Choose the dragon that I used below. Create a new layer above the sword and paint the dragon on it in white. Resize so it fits nicely around the sword.

Apply the same blue outer glow to this dragon. Erase some parts of the body to reveal the sword. The purpose is to make the whole scene looks like a dragon is circling around the sword.

Select the Eraser tool and set its Opacity to 50%. Erase some parts of the dragon so there is an uneven level of transparency. Pick the Smudge tool and set its Strength to 40%. Set the size to 100px and start smudging areas of the dragon so it looks a bit blur and dreamy.

Download Celtic Garamond the 2nd from Dafont. Type in your text above the sword layer.

Make the "Heroes" red color and apply the following layer styles to it. Do the same for "of" word.

Let do a simple gold effect on the "10Steps.SG". Apply the following gradient to it.

Merge these texts together into a single layer. CTRL+left click on this text layer to load a selection around it. Create a new layer below this text layer and rename it as Text Outline. Go to Select > Modify > Expand. Set the Radius to 1px. Fill the selection with black on Text Outline layer.

CTRL+left click on Text Outline layer to load selection. Create a new layer below the Text Outline layer and rename it as Text Border. Fill the selection with black on the Text Border layer and key in the settings below.

And there you have it! I hope this tutorial will be useful for your learning. Have a great weekend everyone!