Creating a coloured spiral around an object can really bring the image to life and add that extra effect, with a few simple steps I will show you how to add a spiral around any object that looks like it goes around your image. This technique can be used in web design to really bring out your images or backgrounds and create something new and eye catching.
The first task is to select your image, neon coloured spirals look great around black and white images but you can choose any colour spiral that you would like, this will come later in the spiral creation.
Open the image up in PhotoShop. Create a new layer and then select the pen tool, you will need to make sure your pen tool is set to paths. You then need to create a zig zag like pattern aroung the object that you want to create the spiral around, which should look something like below. You can keep the spiral as close to or as far away from the object as you would like.
Then you need to select your brush tool and right click, selecting the thickness of your spiral, I have used 5 as the thickness for my image. You then need to click back on to the pen tool and right click, select stroke path and make sure the brush is selected. Then click ok, for your reference here is what I have done with my image. to make the lines inside your spiral go away, hit the enter key.
If you would like your image to be multi coloured, you will need to create a new layer, then select the brush tool. Select a failry large brush size, don’t worry about being neat , just cover the general area of the lines you want to change the colour. Here is what I have done below.
Then to make the new layer of colours become the spiral, hold the alt key and click between the original spiral layer and the new coloured layer. It should look like the image below.
Adding The Spiral Effect
To do this you will need to select the erase tool, make sure it is a soft edge so you can gradually cut away the spiral. Then make the spiral weave in and out of the image by erasing the correct sections.
If you need to modify the colours in their sharpness settings and so on, double click layer two and play around with the settings to create your ideal image.
Below is my final completed image for your reference.
