This tutorial will teach you how to make a blazing Fireball/Sun, shown below.

Preview

Part 1: Creating the basic shape and texture

1. Create a new document. This tutorial uses 400 x 400. Fill the background with Black (#000000)

2. Make a new layer.

3. Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a large circular selection. Hold Shift to make the circle perfectly round; and make sure the circle takes up the majority of the document. Never deselect the selection. It must stay selected throughout the entire tutorial!

4. Press Filter > Render > Clouds and then Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

5. Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours. press Ctrl+L and move the middle grey slider all the way to the right. Press OK.

6. Press Filter > Distort > Spherize, and set the option to 100%. Press CTRL+F which will re-do the Spherize filter.

7. Press Filter > Stylize > Find Edges, then press Ctrl+I to invert the colours.

8. Press Ctrl+U and colourize the circle with:

Hue: 0
Saturation: 100

9. Duplicate the layer, and colourize (CTRL+U) the Duplicated layer with:

Hue: 40
Saturation: 100

10. Set the blending mode to Linear Dodge and press Ctrl+E to merge the two layers.

11. Make a new layer.

12. Press Filter > Render > Clouds and then Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

13. Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours. press Ctrl+L and move the middle grey slider all the way to the right. Press OK.

14. Press Filter > Distort > Spherize, and set the option to 100%. Press CTRL+F which will re-do the Spherize filter.

15. Press Filter > Stylize > Find Edges, then press Ctrl+I to invert the colours.

16. Press Ctrl+U and colourize the circle with: - Hue: 0 - Saturation: 100

17. Duplicate the layer, and colourize (CTRL+U) the Duplicated layer with:

Hue: 40
Saturation: 100

18. Set the blending mode to Linear Dodge and press Ctrl+E to merge the two layers. Set this layers mode to Linear Dodge, and press CTRL+E to merge the layers again.

19. Make a new layer.

20. Press Filter > Render > Clouds and then Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

21. Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours. press Ctrl+L and move the middle grey slider all the way to the right. Press OK.

22. Press Filter > Distort > Spherize, and set the option to 100%. Press CTRL+F which will re-do the Spherize filter.

23. Press Filter > Stylize > Find Edges, then press Ctrl+I to invert the colours.

24. Press Ctrl+U and colourize the circle with:

Hue: 0
Saturation: 100

25. Duplicate the layer, and colourize (CTRL+U) the Duplicated layer with:

Hue: 40
Saturation: 100

26. Set the blending mode to Linear Dodge and press Ctrl+E to merge the two layers. Set this layers mode to Linear Dodge, and press CTRL+E to merge the layers again.

27. Make a new layer.

28. Press Filter > Render > Clouds and then Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

29. Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours. press Ctrl+L and move the middle grey slider all the way to the right. Press OK.

30. Press Filter > Distort > Spherize, and set the option to 100%. Press CTRL+F which will re-do the Spherize filter.

31. Press Filter > Stylize > Find Edges, then press Ctrl+I to invert the colours.

32. Press Ctrl+U and colourize the circle with:

Hue: 0
Saturation: 100

33. Duplicate the layer, and colourize (CTRL+U) the Duplicated layer with:

Hue: 40
Saturation: 100

34. Set the blending mode to Linear Dodge and press Ctrl+E to merge the two layers. Set this layers mode to Linear Dodge, and press CTRL+E to merge EVERY layer into one; except for the background.

35. With the fireball layer selected, go into the Layer Styles ( ), and add an Inner Glow any size, with the colour #FFC600. Add an Outer Glow also with the colour #FFC600.

Final Product