Step 1 - Create Your Canvas
To start creating our energy beam, we first need to open up a brand new canvas. My canvas size is 150px X 400px. Once you have your canvas open, fill it with a black color (#000000). Now that you have your background setup,  create a new layer (CTRL+Shift+N) and take out your brush tool. Set the brush diameter to 65px and set the hardness to about 10%. Draw a vertical line (Hold shift) down your canvas and you should end up with something looking similar to this.