Paint a Psychedelic Eclipse in Blacklight Neon

1. Create a new document 1600 × 2000 px.
2. Click the Background layer, set the foreground colour to #0B0613 and choose Edit → Fill.
3. Click the top ruler at 800 for a vertical guide down the middle. Click the left ruler at 700 (the centre of the eclipse) and at 1250 (roughly where the horizon will sit).

1. Click Layer 1 and rename it Sky Rings (double-click the name). Fill it with #FFD21A.
2. Now fill smaller and smaller circles, all centred on the guide crossing at 800, 700. Use the Elliptical Marquee dialog for each one, then fill it:

• radius 1050 in #FF9E1A
• radius 960 in #FF6A2A
• radius 870 in #FF3D6E
• radius 780 in #E81E9E
• radius 690 in #B51FBF
• radius 600 in #7B1FC8
• radius 510 in #4B12A0
• radius 420 in #2A0A5E
• radius 330 in #12062A

1. Deselect.

The big circles run off the canvas, so their From corners are negative. Radius 1050 runs from -250, -350 to 1850, 1750. Type them in anyway. Each fill only covers the middle of the circle before it, so you're left with a ring of every colour.

1. Add a new layer called Rays and set the foreground colour to white.
2. Choose Filter → Sunburst… and set Rays 36, Length 150, Width 50, Taper 0, Softness 0, Center X 50 and Center Y 35, then click Apply.

Center Y is a percentage of the canvas height, so 35 puts the burst exactly on the 700 guide.

Open the Rays layer's effects drawer and set Blend to Difference.

Difference subtracts colours, so white turns every colour underneath into its opposite. Magenta becomes green, violet becomes lime and yellow becomes blue. Rays and gaps now alternate between a colour and its complement, which is the vibrating checker of op-art posters.

1. With Rays selected, click Add Mask at the bottom of the Layers panel, then click the new Mask thumbnail to edit it.
2. Select a circle of radius 330 around 800, 700 (from 470, 370 to 1130, 1030), set the foreground colour to black and choose Edit → Fill.
3. Deselect, then click the Rays layer's name to stop editing the mask.

1. Add a layer called Velvet Shade.
2. Choose the Gradient tool, set Type to Radial and click Advanced…. Make three stops, all #07000F:

• one at the start with its opacity at 0
• one at about 48% with its opacity at 0
• one at the end of the bar (100%) with its opacity at about 90

1. Drag from the middle of the moon straight to the right, well past the canvas edge, about 1350 px.
2. Set the layer to Multiply.

Blacklight posters sit on black velvet. This layer leaves the middle of the picture alone and pulls the corners down towards black.

1. Add a layer called Halo Disk.
2. Select the same radius 330 circle around 800, 700 and fill it with #0A0418. Deselect.
3. Add a Stroke effect: Width 4, colour #00E5FF.

The corona will glow against this disc, and the thin cyan rim gives the mandala a clean edge.

This painting uses NASA's public-domain photo of the 21 August 2017 total solar eclipse ("2017 Total Solar Eclipse (AFRC2017-0233-006)" on Wikimedia Commons). The 1280 px wide version works well. Any eclipse photo with the moon near the middle will do.

1. Drag the image file from your desktop onto the canvas. It lands in the top-left corner as a new layer, already selected, with the Move tool active.
2. Drag the photo until its black moon sits on the guide crossing, then use the arrow keys to settle it exactly. Shift+arrow moves 10 px at a time.
3. Deselect and rename the layer Corona.

1. Set the Corona layer to Screen, which makes black disappear.
2. Choose Layer → Group Layers and rename the group Corona Glow.
3. Open the group's effects drawer and click Add Adjustment. Scroll down the menu and choose Gradient Map.

The photo turns into a black rectangle. Once a group has an adjustment, it is blended on its own first, so the Screen on the photo only sees an empty group. The next step fixes that.

1. Set the Corona Glow group's own Blend to Screen. The rectangle vanishes.
2. In the Gradient Map, click an end stop to recolour it, click the bar to add a stop, and type each colour into the hex field. Set these stops:

• black #000000 at the start
• #4B12A0 at 10%
• #00D9FF at 28%
• #F0FFFF at 60%
• white at the end

The faint grey streamers in the photo turn violet and cyan, and the bright inner corona turns white.

1. Close the drawer and collapse the Corona Glow group (the arrow on its row), so the next layer lands above it rather than inside.
2. Add a layer called Moon, select a circle of radius 172 around 800, 700 and fill it with #0B0613. Deselect.

1. With Moon selected, choose Filter → Liquify…. Leave Mode on Push Forward and set Brush Size 30 and Pressure 100%.
2. Start just inside the moon's lower edge and drag straight down about 100 px. Start the next drag a little lower down the same drip and drag again, until the drip is as long as you want.
3. Make five drips spaced evenly across the bottom of the moon. Let the middle one run longest, past the petal ring you'll add later (to about y = 1100), and keep the two outside ones short. Then click Apply.

1. Click the Corona Glow row and add a layer called Streamers. It sits between the group and the Moon.
2. Choose the Brush with Size 12 and Hardness 100. Open the brush settings and set Taper to 220, so each stroke thins out to a point.
3. Set the colour to #DFFFFF. Paint ten strokes outward from the moon's edge, curving them slightly. Vary the lengths, and stop every one inside the dark disc. Leave a gap at the bottom where the drips are.
4. Set the layer to Screen.
5. Add an Outer Glow with Size 12, Opacity 80 and colour #00E5FF.

The Kaleidoscope filter mirrors one wedge of a layer around the canvas centre, so you build the petal ring at 800, 1000 and move it up afterwards.

1. Click Moon and add a layer called Petals.
2. With the Lasso, draw a slim leaf lying on the 1000 line at 3 o'clock from the canvas centre, pointing away from it. Start about 250 px right of the centre and make it about 80 px long and a third as wide. Fill it with #B8FF1F.
3. Select a circle of radius 10 around 1090, 1058 and fill it with #FF2E9A. Deselect.

The dot sits a little below the petal, half a segment round, so it ends up between the petals.

Choose Filter → Kaleidoscope… with Segments 16 and Rotation 0, and click Apply.

1. With the Move tool, drag the ring straight up until it sits evenly inside the dark disc (it needs to rise 300 px). Use the arrow keys for the last few pixels.
2. Add an Outer Glow to the Petals layer: Size 14, Opacity 80, #00E5FF.

1. Add a layer called Far Hills. With the Lasso, draw a gently wavy ridge across the whole width, dipping and rising between about y = 1180 and 1270. Carry the shape down to the bottom of the canvas and fill it with #0B2F6A.
2. Choose Layer → Duplicate Layer. Cmd-click the copy's thumbnail, fill it with #1260A8 and deselect.
3. With the Move tool, press Shift+Down three times to drop the copy 30 px. A navy stripe now shows along the ridge.

1. Repeat the duplicate, fill and 30 px nudge twice more, with #1AA0D0 and then #4FE3E0. Always duplicate the newest copy, and set the foreground colour before Edit → Fill.
2. Click the top copy and choose Layer → Merge Down three times. Rename the result Far Hills.
3. Add a Stroke effect: Width 5, colour #0B0613.

Add a layer called Mid Hills and lasso a bolder ridge in front, between about y = 1300 and 1420. Band it the same way with 52 px nudges (Shift+Down five times, then Down twice). Use eight colours:

• #0D4A2A, #178A3A, #4CC72E, #A6E61C
• #13A3B5, #0F6A50, #4CC72E, #A6E61C

Click the top copy and choose Merge Down seven times. Rename the result Mid Hills and give it the same black Stroke of 5.

The wider stripes make this range feel closer than the far hills.

1. Add a layer called River. With the Lasso, start at a point on the green ridge at 800, 1398.
2. Draw the left bank swinging left, then right, then reaching the bottom edge at about x = 640. Come back up the right bank from about x = 1060, so the river widens towards you.
3. Choose the Gradient tool (Linear) with stops #E8FFFF, #00E5FF at 35% and #5B17B8. Drag from the top of the river to the bottom.
4. Deselect. Add a black Stroke of 5 and an Outer Glow (Size 25, Opacity 60, #00E5FF).

1. Add a layer called Near Left and lasso a round mound peaking at about 250, 1690. Let it drop gently to the left edge and steeply to the right, off the bottom of the canvas left of the river mouth. Fill it with #3A0A52.
2. Band it as before, nudging each copy 40 px (Shift+Down four times). Use #7A1696, #C21FB0, #FF4FC8, #D42AB8 and #9A1A9E.
3. Click the top copy and choose Merge Down five times. Rename the result Near Left and add a black Stroke of 5.
4. Repeat for Near Right, a mound peaking at about 1400, 1650 that drops off the bottom right of the river mouth and gently to the right edge. Use #4A0B3A, #8E1A6A, #D8287E, #FF6A9E, #E0428A and #A8236A.

1. Click Near Left and add a layer called Stem.
2. Lasso a stem centred on x = 300, from about 1458 down to the top of the hill. Make it about a fifth as wide as the cap will be at the top, slightly wider in the middle, and flaring like a trumpet at the base.
3. Fill it with a Linear gradient dragged left to right across the stem: #FFF6DA, #FFD08A at 55% and #F07A3A.
4. Deselect and add a black Stroke of 5.

1. Add a layer called Gills. Lasso a flat oval across the top of the stem, a little narrower than the cap will be and about 60 px tall, and fill it with #FFE600.
2. Keep the selection, set the foreground colour to #F07A3A, and run Filter → Sunburst… with Rays 44, Length 16, Width 35, Taper 0, Softness 0, Center X 18.75 and Center Y 75.5.

Those centre values are 300, 1510, just below the oval where the stem meets it, so the lines fan out from the stem. The selection keeps the rays inside the oval, so they read as gills. Deselect and add a black Stroke of 5.

1. Add a layer called Cap. Lasso a dome over the gills, centred on about 300, 1440, roughly 500 px wide and 175 px tall, with a slightly scooped underside.
2. Fill it with a Radial gradient of #FF9BDD, #FF2E9A at 45% and #7A0A6E. Drag from about 230, 1330 (the highlight) to 530, 1500.
3. Deselect and add a black Stroke of 5.

1. Add a layer called Spots with the foreground colour #B8FF1F. Drag eight slightly squashed ovals across the cap with the Elliptical Marquee, filling each one. Make the big ones up near the crown (about 80 px across) and the small ones near the rim (about 25 px).
2. Cmd-click the Cap thumbnail, choose Select → Inverse, and press Delete to trim anything hanging off the cap.
3. Deselect and add an Inner Glow (Size 8, Opacity 70, white).

Click Stem, Shift-click Spots, choose Layer → Group Layers, and rename the group Big Mushroom.

1. Collapse Big Mushroom and choose Layer → Duplicate Layer. Rename the copy Little Mushroom.
2. With the Move tool, drag the copy across so its stem base sits on the crest of the right-hand hill.

Hold Cmd and drag the copy's top-left corner handle in and down until it's about three quarters of its size. Holding Cmd keeps the proportions.

Click Flip Horizontal in the options bar so the copy doesn't look like a clone. Then nudge it a little left and down with the arrow keys, until the hill's crest hides the bottom of its stem.

Open the Little Mushroom group's effects drawer, click Add Adjustment and choose Hue / Saturation. Set Hue -140 and Saturation 10.

The adjustment only affects the group, so the pink cap turns cyan, the lime spots turn magenta and the stem turns violet, while the original stays pink.

1. Click Near Right and add a layer called Flowers, so the flowers sit above both front hills.
2. Lasso an eight-petal daisy about 124 px across, low on the left hill. You can lasso one petal, then hold Shift and lasso the other seven around it. Fill it with #FFE600.
3. Select a circle of radius 20 in its middle and fill it with #FF2E9A. Deselect.

1. Choose View → Show Grid. Snap comes on with it, so dragged copies jump in 16 px steps and the rotate handle turns in 15° steps.
2. For each copy:

• Click the Flowers layer and draw a Rectangular Marquee around the daisy.
• Press Cmd+C then Cmd+V. The paste lands in place.
• Drag it to its new spot.
• Cmd-drag a corner handle to resize it, and drag just outside a corner to turn it.
• Press Cmd+D to commit.

1. Make six copies:

• two on the left hill, one small and turned 30°, and one full size turned 15°
• one half size near the river bank, turned 45°
• three on the right hill: one 10% larger, one at 70% turned 30°, and a small one turned 15°

1. For variety, recolour two of the copies with Filter → Hue/Saturation…. Do it right after Cmd+D commits the copy, while it's still on its own layer:

• Lightness 75 makes a white daisy.
• Hue 130 makes a cyan one.

Hide the grid with View → Show Grid. Click the top daisy copy, choose Layer → Merge Down six times, and rename the result Flowers. Add a black Stroke of 4.

1. Click River and add a layer called Glints.
2. Lasso five four-point sparkles in white. Start small near the source and grow them towards the bottom edge (about 12 px to 36 px across). Stagger them left and right of the river's centre line so they don't look like a row of lights.
3. Add an Outer Glow: Size 18, Opacity 90, #00E5FF.

1. Expand Big Mushroom, click Spots and add a layer called Cap Shine.
2. With the Brush (Size 16, Hardness 100, white), paint one arc just inside the cap's upper-left edge.
3. Choose the Eraser with Size 60 and Opacity 70, and click once over each end of the arc to fade it out. Set the layer to 85%.

Collapse Big Mushroom and drag its row down below Near Left. The hill is now drawn in front of the mushroom, ready to hide its base.

1. Click Far Hills, Shift-click Flowers, choose Layer → Group Layers, and name the group Land.
2. Do the same from Sky Rings to Petals and name it Sky.
3. Give the Sky group a Hue / Saturation adjustment with Saturation -15 and Lightness -10. The sky steps back a little and the landscape and eclipse come forward.

Expand Land and click the Big Mushroom group. Choose the Move tool and press Shift+Down three times. The whole group moves 30 px together, the stem's base disappears behind the crest, and the cap now overlaps the blue ridge behind it instead of just touching it.

1. Click the Land group, choose Edit → Copy Merged, then press Cmd+V. Rename the new layer Bloom.
2. Run Filter → Bloom… with Threshold 85, Soft Knee 30, Radius 28 and Intensity 60.
3. Set the layer to Lighten at 60%.

Lighten only lets the glow through where it's brighter than the painting underneath, so you get halos without washing out the colours.

1. Click Bloom and add a layer called Velvet above it. Fill it with #808080.
2. Run Filter → Add Noise… with Amount 45, Mono and Gaussian, then Filter → Gaussian Blur… with Radius 1.
3. Set the layer to Overlay at 80%. Grey vanishes in Overlay, so only the speckle is left, like the nap of a flocked velvet poster.

Click the Project group and open its effects drawer. It already lists neutral Levels, Curves, Exposure and Hue / Saturation adjustments, so leave those alone. Click Add Adjustment, choose Vignette and set it to 60.

Save your work with File → Save Project, and use File → Quick Export PNG to export the finished painting.