[Click the pictures to enlarge]

Creating the Blast:

1. Create a black background -- You can do this by setting the foreground color to black and pressing "alt + del" on a PC.

2. Select the brush tool icon so we can configure it. Set the size to about 80 px, and hardness to 0%. Make sure the foreground color is set to white.

3. Select the pen tool and then select the "path" icon in the upper left. Next,create a horizantal line across the canvas by clicking twice. To ensure that the line is perfectly horizontal, hold "shift" after creating the first point, and then click again at the second point with "shift" still held.

4. With the pen tool still selected, right click the canvas and select "stroke path..." Set the tool to "brush" and keep "simulate pressure" unchecked. Press "OK". The brush that you configured before should have been dragged along the path.

5. Create a new layer by pressing the icon in the "layers" window. If your "layers" window is not open, select "windows>layers" on the menu bar.

6. Go back to the brush tool to reconfigure the brush. Set the brush size to about 25 px, keep the hardness at 0%, and set the forground color to black.

7. Your pen path should still be there. Make sure the new, empty layer is active. Reselect your pen tool, and stroke path again. Right click on the canvas, and select "stroke path..."

8. With the black stroke layer still selected, click "filters>blur>gaussian blur" from the menu, and set the radius to 6.0. Select "OK".

9. Reselect the pen tool and press enter to get rid of the pen path.

10. Duplicate the black stroke layer by right clicking the layer in the "layers" window and selecting "duplicate layer".

11. Select the smudge tool . Select any kind of brush style you want, preferably a grungier one. Press "windows>brushes" in order to configure the smudge tool shape, and check "scattering" in the brushes window. Set the following settings: [click]

12. Use the smudge tool and brush over both of the black stroke layers until you're satisfied with the outcome.

13. If one layer needs to be toned down, select that layer in the "layers" window, then lower the "opacity" slider in the upper right hand corner of the window.

14. Duplicate the white stroke layer three or four times. Select the eraser tool . Set the size to 150 px and hardness to 0%.

15. Take one of the three or four layers that were just duplicated, and erase a little more than 3/4 of the white path. On another one of them, erase a little bit more. Repeat this until all of the duplicated layers have been erased a bit. You should still have one layer that has not been erased.

16. Now for some color. Make sure that top layer is select in the "layers" window. In that same window, click the "layer adjustment" icon and select "Color Balance..." in the menu. Apply these settings for a fiery color:

Shadows: 70, 0, -100
Midtones: 0, 0, -100
Highlights: 100, 0, -50

Creating Rings:

15. Select all of the layers used to create the blast, except for the "Color Balance" layer and the background layer. In other words, the three or four white stroke layers and the two black stroke layers. With these layers selected, press the arrow pointing to the right in a circle in the upper right hand corner of the "layers" window, and press "Merge Layers" from the drop-down menu. All of the selected layers should be in one layer.

16. Select free transfrom from the menu bar (edit > free transform) and use the boxes on the corners for the constraining square to rotate the blast to the angle you want, and click-drag inside to move the blast to where you want.

17. Create a new layer, and set your foreground color to white. Use the circular marquee tool to drag out a circle in the center of the canvas. Press "ctrl+del" to fill the circle with white. If you have a square instead of a circle marquee, then click and hold the square marquee tool icon and select the circle one from the drop-down menu.

18. "Ctrl+click" the layer with the white circle to create a marquee selection of it. Contract the selection by about 10 and 15 pixels (selection>modify>contract). The marquee selection should have shrunken. Press "delete" to get rid of all the white within the current selection.

19. Use "free transform" (edit>free transform) to rotate and scale the ring so it looks like the blast could go through it.

20. Use "gaussian blur" (filters>blur>gaussian blur) on the ring with a radius of about 5, and duplicate it once or twice. Merge the two or three ring layers (Select layers, layers window>arrow>merge layers).

21. To make the ring look as though it's going around the blast, use the eraser and erase where the blast is. Using a feathered eraser is suggested.

These techniques can be used to create scene such as this:

from this:

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