How to Create a Furry Globe Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial we will be creating a globe covered in fur (or grass) using shapes, masks, brushes and layer styles. The techniques used in the tutorial can be applied to almost any shape or as a creative text effect.

What we'll be creating

Here is a preview of what the end product will look like:

Step 1

So lets get started, open up Photoshop and create a new document. I used 1024 x 1024 pixels for the dimensions. Then use the Oval tool to draw a circle in the middle of the document. (tip: hold down shift when drawing the circle to constrain proportions)

Step 2

Place your fur texture into the document as a smart object. For the fur texture, I used one from this free set.

Step 3

Resize the texture smart object to fill the whole document.

Step 4

Now, use the original circle to make a selection, To do this, ensure the fur is the active layer, then alt+click on the circle layer thumbnail.

Step 5

Now create a mask by going to the Layer menu and selecting Layer Mask > Reveal Selection. You can now hide the original circle layer and focus on the fur texture layer.

Step 6

We want to make the circle furry, so the best way to do this is with brushes, you can create your own or download a grass brush. But Photoshop has a nice default one built in that we will tweak slightly and use. Select the brush tool and 'Dune Grass' brush.

Step 7

For the tweaking, use the following settings for Shape Dynamics:

Step 8

And the Scattering values should be something like this. Uncheck any other options that may be selected, in particular Color Dynamics.

Step 9

Start tracing the edges of the circle mask with the foreground color set to white. You should notice it revealing more of the fur texture. Adjust the size of the brush regularly for more realistic looking fur.

Step 10

When you're done it should look something like this:

Step 11

The fur is already quite a nice a color, and it has the appearance of dead, dried up grass. But in this step you can change the color of the fur to your needs. By double clicking into the Smart Object and using Adjustment Layers. I'm going to just slightly tweak the Hue/Saturation.

Step 12

And the Levels. Feel free to make your own adjustments here, until it looks just right. Especially if you are using a different fur texture to myself.

Step 13

I'm quiet happy with how this looks now:

Step 14

When you're done, close and save the Smart Object (if a save dialog pops up, cancel, merge all the layers and try again).

Step 15

Now we need to get a world map vector. You can either trace your own or just download the one I prepared earlier.

Step 16

You will probably need to open it in Illustrator, then copy and paste into Photoshop as a Shape Layer.

Step 17

Adjust the size and position of the world map, to your liking.

Step 18

Then change the color of the world map, again you can do this to your own preference, or just use the color I went for (#adb489) here:

Step 19

Once you're happy with the Size, create a Clipping Mask using the globe layer, and the world map vector.

Step 20

Set the Blending Mode of the world map to color, and feather the edges slightly if they look too sharp.

Step 21

Your result should be something like this, much more natural looking.

Step 22

The globe still looks rather flat though, so lets add some lighting. I started off with Bevel & Emboss on the globe layer:

Step 23

And also added a Gradient Overlay:

Step 24

We should now have something that looks like this:

Step 25

Set a background color:

Step 26

And create a shadow by drawing an oval shape and feathering the edges:

Step 27

The globe still looked a little flat to me, so I added another Gradient Overlay fading from black at the bottom to transparent at the top. To apply a second Gradient Overlay, you will either need to group the globe layer and apply the layer styles to the group (Photoshop CS6+ only). Or convert it to another Smart Object and apply the second gradient to the Smart Object.

Step 28

That has made the bottom look much darker which is great:

Step 29

I also think it would benefit from having a darker background, so I changed that to #242527:

Step 30

Finally, for some finishing touches, I used a simple round brush at different sizes to create some bokeh style stars:

Final result

And there we have it! A beautiful furry globe in space, with the appearance of dead and living grass. The techniques you have learnt by following this tutorial can be used on almost anything! For example, by following the same steps you can also create furry animal print text:

Final Word

I hope you enjoyed reading this tutorial, now go have some fun with it!