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This tutorial will teach you how to create a red curtain that might resemble one that you would see on a stage. It is part one of a tutorial series. Part two will include stage lights and how to create them from scratch. This tutorial is compatible with Photoshop versions CS2 and higher.

Ok, let’s get started!

First, open a new document 700 by 500 pixels, at 100dpi and name it Curtain – as seen below. Then click OK.

Next, pick the base color for your curtain. For this tutorial I chose a bright red, but really, this tutorial will work with just about any color you choose.

Now, using the paint bucket tool, fill your background layer with the color you chose. Or use the keyboard shortcut of ALT+BACKSPACE on a PC or CMD+DELETE on a Mac. You should now have a canvas of solid color. Now press ‘D’ on your keyboard to set your colors back to the default of black and white or click the default icon located on your tool pallet as seen below.

Next, click your brush tool and choose a soft round brush with a diameter of about 45px and a hardness of zero.

Create a new layer and on this later we are going to draw in our curtain folds. To draw a strait line with the brush, all you need to do is click once at the top, then press the shift key and click once again at the bottom. However, if you’re good with freehanding things go for it. Start with just a few and make sure to space them out. You should have something like what you see below.

Now, reduce the size of your brush by tapping the left bracket –> [ key on your keyboard twice. Then make a few more lines just as before, again spacing them out. Then, reduce the size of your brush by again tapping the left bracket –> [ key on your keyboard twice. Now add some really thin lines. When done, you should have something like what you see below.

Now these lines are a bit harsh and we want our curtain folds to look soft like fabric so we’re going to add a Gaussian Blur (found under the Filter>Blur menu) of about 4.0. (see below)

And now we need to lighten our shadows back up a bit so we need to reduce the Opacity of our layer to about 50%. (see below)

Ok, our shadows are complete for the time being. Now, let’s move on to our highlights. They are going to be a bit different than our shadows, so start with a 15px brush that has a hardness of zero. Set your forground color to white, and create a new layer. On that layer, draw some straight white lines on a few of your folds. Make sure you paint over red areas and not your shadows. I didn’t make as many white stripes as I did black, but feel free to add as many or as few as you like. (See the image below for an example.)

Now, we really need to blend these lines out. So again going to your Filter>Blur menu, pull up the Gaussian Blur and add a 9.0 blur to your white stripes. (see below)

Ok, we’re starting to get there but our lights and darks still aren’t looking very blended so we’re going to use a little trick that I use quite often. Click SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E (on a PC) or SHIFT+CMD+OPT+E (on a Mac) to stamp all visible layers onto a new layer above everything else. And then make a copy of that layer (Layer 3 and Layer 3 copy). Now, set the blend mode of Layer 3 to Soft Light. (see below)

And set your Layer 3 copy layer blend mode to Darken. What this does is gives all of your colors a nice even blend and smooths out any hard edges you may still have. (see below)

Now we need to make a stage. So first choose the color of your stage. I chose what I thought to be a nice rich brown color as you can see below.

Now, using your Rectangle Shape Tool, on a new layer draw out a thin long rectangle at the very bottom of your curtain. It’s OK if you go beyond the edges of your canvas, just make sure your "stage" goes all the way across the bottom. (See the next two images.)

Ok, now, Double Click your new shape layer to bring up your Layer Style pallet (or click the FX button at the bottom of your Layers pallet). First we are going to add a Drop Shadow but not your typical drop shadow. This shadow is to add depth to the bottom of our curtain. So, first – make sure to UNCHECK "Use Global Light", then set your Angle to -90, Distance to 5, Spread to 18, and Size to 68, and your Opacity to 100%. This should throw a nice heavy shadow onto the foot of your curtain.

And now to take care of the stage itself, we are going to add an Inner Shadow. Again, make sure to UNCHECK "Use Global Light", then set your Angle to -120, Distance to 5, Spread to 28, and Size to 27 and your Opacity to 75%.

You should then have something like what you see below. If you do, Rock On to the next step.

Now, we’re almost done, but our curtain still isn’t looking very dramatic. So we’re going to enhance our lights and darks by adding a Curves Adjustment Layer (adjustment layers can be found at the bottom of your Layer pallet under the icon that looks like a half white, half black circle – once you open the adjustment layers menu just click Curves to add it on top of all existing layers in your Layers pallet.)

Then, I changed my settings to read: Output = 170 and Input = 188, but feel free to play with this part of the tutorial until you get something that you like. The objective is to darken your curtain color and shadows, and softening, but not loosing, your highlights.

If you have something that looks like the image below, congratulations! Your curtain, and part one of setting your stage is complete!

In Part Two of this tutorial we will be making our stage lights – one for "on" and one for "off" (see below) to go across the bottom. So be sure to check back as that tutorial will be coming soon! And as always, if you have any questions with this tutorial please let me know!