Tutorial Assets

In order to save time, you can download all of the following images before you get started.

• Empty room thanks to medialab
• A sitting guy thanks to kristtina
• Stool
• Crow 1 thanks to Lip Kee
• Crow 2 thanks to MShades
• Pile of Books
• Open book
• More books
• Paper sheet
• CD case
• Paper texture

Step 1 – Setting up the document

This time we will create a photo manipulation inspired from the classic poem of Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven". This should not be interpreted as a graphical representation of the poem, just a twisted adaptation depicting the loneliness of the man who lost his beloved Lenore. Imagine this as an audio book project, or a rock band album cover.

Start creating the document; a standard CD cover is 4.75 x 4.75 inches. So create a document in these dimensions. If you want to actually print this you should work on a resolution of 300+ pixels per inch, but this time I’m setting the document to 200 dpi because of the photo sizes.

Once you have your image resolution set, show your rulers (Command + R) and add some guides to the document’s borders. Since this will be a print design you should add a margin for security, so go to Image > Canvas size and change the dimension to 4.85 x 4.85 inches Anchor: Center.

Step 2 – The Room

The entire poem takes place in the narrator’s room, open the "Empty Room" image in Photoshop and save it with a descriptive name like "Room.psd". This image is wide and our design should be a perfect square. We will need to stretch it without distorting it. Is pretty simple actually, first draw a Guide trying to delimit a square on the left side, then using the Rectangular Marquee Selection Tool (M) select the right side of the image, copy it and paste it matching the right side of the segment with the guide. Then using the Free Transform Control (V) and hold the Command (Ctrl) key to distort the pasted area and match the room’s horizontal wall lines.

Step 3 – Join

In order to make the reduction as polished as possible, adjust the levels of "Layer 2" as shown in the image below. I did it in 2 rounds but you can try to get it done in only one. Then, add a Layer Mask > Hide All and fill the mask with a Horizontal Gradient (White – Black). This step will make the reduction work almost perfectly.

Step 4 – Add the room into the main document

In the "Room.psd" file using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) select the right side of the image and hit Command (Ctrl) + Shift + C to copy all the layers of the selection (this is to avoid the step of flattening the image and helps you to keep this part of the job editable for further changes just in case). Then paste it into the main document in a new layer named "Room."

Step 5 – Add the guy

Now it is time to add one of the main characters, the guy. For this, grab the sitting guy image and open it in Photoshop, then using any technique select the guy’s shape (I’m using the Polygonal Lasso Tool). Copy the selection and paste it into the main document. Then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal to make it match the lighting of the scene. This is really important because all too often you’ll not have enough money to actually take your own shots and you’ll need to use stock and choosing just the right picture isn’t easy. Use the Free Transform Tool to reduce the guy’s size. Name the layer "Guy".

Step 6 – Overall shadow

Since I don’t want a 100% photo realistic scene, but a dramatic one; we will add several levels of shadows, the first one is the room’s shadow. Create a new layer named "Room Shadow"; using a big soft Brush (Color: #151610, Size: 300px Opacity and Flow 50%) paint all the right side of the scene, then change the Blending Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 75%.

Step 7 – Adding more objects: a stool

Open the stool image, select its shape and paste it into the main document; name that layer "Chair". Once again you must flip it horizontally in order to match the lights.

Step 8 – Burn and desaturate

Grab the Burn tool, select "Guy" and burn all its right side to increase the shadows’ intensity. Then grab the default Sponge tool and desaturate the brighter areas. Do the same with "Chair" layer.

Step 9 – Here comes the raven

Open the " Crow1" image from the assets and select its shape using any technique (I did it with the Polygonal Lasso Tool), copy it and paste it into a layer named "Raven". Flip it Horizontally and resize it a little bit, make the crow bigger than the guy. Place it next to the room’s door.

Next add a Layer mask to the "Raven" layer using the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Do this by drawing a rectangle over the door’s shape and by filling the area with black. This way we will create the illusion of a raven entering the door without actually being destructive to the image.

Step 10 – Some books

Open the "Pile of Books" file, select the shape and paste it into a new layer named "Books", resize it and place it just over the "Chair" layer, then burn its right side as well.

Step 11 – Combine crows

Our crow is pretty nice, but it is not quite right. To fix this, we will need to manipulate it a bit by giving it a new head. Open the "Crow 2" image from the assets and select only its head. Paste it, flip it, and resize it into a new layer named "Head" above the "Crow layer" then using the same technique showed in step 3 of this tutorial, merge the head with the body; but instead of using a gradient, use a black Brush. If necessary, delete some areas of the "Crow" layer’s head.

Step 12 – More books

Since the bird wings makes the air blow we’ll add a book opened because of the breeze. Open the "Open Book" image from the assets, extract only the top open book and paste it into a new layer in the main document named "Open Book". Finally add as many more books as you want. Always remember to Burn the right side of them.

Step 13 – Shadows

Duplicate the "Raven" layer using the Free Transform tool to distort it; making it wider. Then in the Hue / Saturation (Command (Ctrl) + U) bring down the Lightness value to -100. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, radius 8px to blur the shadow and bring down the layer’s Opacity to 50%.

Step 14 – More shadows

We will apply this technique on almost every object in the scene, is pretty easy. Create a layer behind the related object, in this case "Raven" Layer and name it "Raven Shadow" (we did it in the previous step) then using a big soft dark Brush (#110C06) paint a shadow there. Next create a new layer named "Front Shadow" and paint shadows over the related object, in this case the raven. Then using a big and soft Eraser (E) Opacity and Flow 50% delete some areas of the front shadow where you think there should be more light. Try grouping the shadow layers and the main object into a folder in order to keep the layers organized.

Step 15 – Shadows and more shadows

Repeat the previous shadow technique but this time with the "Open Book" layer. If you want you can use the Smudge Tool on the shadow layer to merge it better with the background.

Step 16 – Guy’s shadow

Just like with the "Raven" layer on Step 14, duplicate the "Guy" layer, bring down its Lightness and Opacity and then paint both the front and back shadows as well just be sure to take special care of the shadow below his sneakers.

Step 17 – Chair and books’ shadows

Using the same technique paint the shadows of the "Chair" layer and the extra books on the floor, once again, don’t try to create a photo realistic outcome but a dramatic one, so feel free to add as many shadows as you desire but always try not to make the image too dark.

Step 18 – Room’s shadows

Using a larger dark Brush (#110C06) paint all around the room’s borders into a new layer named "Front shadows" somewhere above the "Room" layer. Finally bring down its opacity to 50%.

Step 19 – Words on the wall

This guy is really obsessed with his lost love Lenore, how can you depict a feeling like that into a mute image? That’s pretty hard isn’t it? That’s why I decided to add the word "Lenore" painted several times on the wall. For this, create a new document (any size is ok) with a neutral gray background (#A0A0A0) and using some hand drawn fonts (you can find several free fonts in dafont.com) write the word "Lenore" everywhere. Then hit Command (Ctrl) + A to select all and Command (Ctrl) + Shift + C to copy a flatten version of the image.

Step 20 – Use the vanishing point filter to paste the words on the walls and ceiling.

Create a new layer named "Wall words" above "Room" layers or "Room" folder. Then go to Filter > Vanishing Point. On the vanishing point window draw the necessary planes to put the words on the wall. If you’re not familiar with the vanishing point filter maybe you should read the following tuts first: Using the Vanishing Point Filter to Mock up a Business Card or Create an Impressive Mock-up of a Grunge Box.

Once you’ve created the planes, paste the clipboard there, drag it and resize it until looks good. This isn’t an easy process so feel free to try as many times as you need before moving forward.

Once you’ve placed the text appropriately, change the "Wall words" layer’s blending mode to Overlay.

Tip: Windows 7 and the Vanishing Point filter don’t work well together, for some reason Windows’ Aero has a conflict with the Vanishing Point engine, so if you’re working with W7 and your system suddenly crash while using this filter try changing the desktop appearance to "Windows 7 Basic".

Step 21 – Delete the extra words

Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool select the areas without walls (door and window) with the "Wall words" layer selected, then delete the selection. Then change its Opacity to 50%.

Step 22 – Raven’s motion blur

Since our crow is flying, we will need to add a motion effect, that’s pretty easy. Duplicate the "Raven" layer and place it above the original. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, set Angle: 0º and Distance 20px and hit OK, then with the Eraser Tool or using a layer mask delete some portions of the blur layer as shown the images below.

Step 23 – Some pieces of flying paper

Grab the piece of paper from the assets, extract it from the white background and paste it into a new layer above all the others in our main document. Using the Warp Tool (Edit > Transform > Warp) distort the piece of paper as shown in the image below. Repeat this step as many times as you want with different pieces of flying paper. Put all them into a folder.

Step 24 – Add shadows to the flying papers

Merge the Flying paper folder and desaturate the resulting layer. Using the Burn tool to darken some shadows over the paper itself. Then using our same old technique of shadowing, add two shadow Layers, one on the front and other on the back, paint some shadows using a dark brush. Finally you can repeat Step 22nd’s process in order to add a Motion Blur effect.

Put all the layers into a folder named "Art".

Step 25 – Add the title

Using the "Trajan" typeface, add the cover art’s title, put all the title Layers into a folder and name it "Title", then Option (Right) click on the layer miniature and select Convert to Smart Object. Then click on the Smart Object and go to 3D > New 3D Postcard From Layer, then the "Title" smart object will turn into a 3D layer with all the text still editable. This way no matter how many changes you do on the perspective, rotation and depth, you can still change the text at any time.

Add a Bevel and Emboss and a Gradient Overlay effect to the 3D layer just as shown in the bottom of the image below. Don’t worry too much about the light position and the shadow right now; we will work it on the next step.

Step 26 – Transform the 3D postcard

Using the 3D transform tool Rotate, Move and Drag the layer to make it match the wall’s perspective. Once you’ve placed the layer appropriately, add the Drop Shadow Style setting the Light angle to 30% and a big distance between shadow and text (32px in this example).

Step 27 – Edit the text

Often, clients change their minds in the middle of the project, that is why it is really important to keep your layers editable all the time. In this example we will be going to add some missing words to the title: the author name. For this you’ll need to dig trough the nested documents into the objects, first double click over the Diffuse Texture on the 3D layer ("Title" texture), a new file named "Title.psd", in this new document you will find the Smart Object layer, double click on it and finally you will see the text layers in a document named "Title2.psd", there you can expand the canvas’ size and add the third line of text. To commit the changes you should Save each document backwards, first "Text2.psd" and then "Text.psd" then you’ll see your 3D layer updated on the main document.

Step 28 – Add some grunge noise

As a grungy detail, we will add some noise to the composite. Hit D on your keyboard to load the default colors, create a new layer named "Noise" above the "Text" object and go to Filter > Render Clouds. Next go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise (set the values shown below). Finally change layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 35%.

Step 29 – Adjusting the Levels

At this point you will know if the design is too dark or too light, that is why we will need to add a Levels adjustment layer to lighten the image. Now Select All (Command (Ctrl) + A) and Command (Ctrl) + Shift + C to flatten and copy the design.

The Mock-Up

Step 30 – CD Case

Sometimes clients want to see a real life example of their product. It is really hard to send a printed version of a cover art file especially if your clients are far away from you but you can send them a picture. This time we will mock up our cover art in a CD case. Open the "CD case" image in a new document named "mockup.psd" and crate a new layer above the flattened layer. Select the new layer and go to Filter > Vanishing Point, there, paint a plane matching the case shape and paste the clipboard there.

Step 31 – polish the mockup

Since the Cover art is behind the CD’s plastic case, we will need to delete some areas of the cover art layer. For this add a Layer mask to it and using the Polygonal lasso tool, select the tiny notches of the plastic cover, then fill the selection with black on the Layer Mask. You can bring down the covert art’s opacity to actually see the notches.

Then, using the Polygonal Lasso tool, once again, select a semi-circle of the notch, where the paper will be clearly visible, and fill it with black or gray.

Step 32 – The plastic

We will use a Gradient Overlay on the artwork layer to create the ’shiny plastic’ effect, this is pretty simple, just add several black-white transitions on the effect, and change its Blend Mode to Screen and its Opacity to below 20%. In addition, I’m adding an Inner Shadow to improve the depth perception.

Step 33 – Final touches

As some final touches I’m adding the "Paper Texture" layer from the assets into a new layer behind "CD" layer. Changing "CD" layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply works perfect in this case. Then just play with the texture layer, I added a dark (#36312D) Solid Color layer behind the texture; plus I increased the texture’s dark levels by adding a Layer Mask filled with a White – Black Radial Gradient; creating a dark vignette this way.

Final Image

Please take a look at the final version of our cover art.

I will be creating a simple piece from scratch for the sake of this tutorial but the final technique learned can be applied to existing artwork very easily, granted you are the creator and have the PSD file.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2 (any version will work)
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Estimated Completion Time: Less than 1 hour

Step 1

We are going to start with a 900 pixel by 900 pixel image with a black background.

Step 2

Add some white text in the center on a 45 degree angle, I went with “PSDTUTS” in Century Gothic Bold at 200 pixels tall. Let’s add some color to the text, on a new layer I added a 45 degree gradient to a selection of the text in pure green. Let’s also add a black Inner Glow using a layer style just to soften the edges.

Add a 2 pixel white stroke of the text on its own layer. Move it up 5 pixels and to the right 5 pixels. Then let’s add a red Outer Glow layer style to it. We are done with the text so let’s clean up our layers a bit. Put all of the text layers in their own group and call it “text.”

Step 3

Now let’s start adding some elements around the text that we can move around later that will give us our 3D effects. On a new layer use a 65 pixel soft edge brush and create some random white dots around the text with it (a single click of the mouse). Do the same thing on another layer but with a 21 pixel size brush.

On another new layer, using the same 65 and 21 pixel sized brushes, draw a bunch of random dots all around the text, use both black and white colors.

Then apply a 45 degree motion blur of 500 pixels.

Duplicate the blurred dots layer twice and set their modes to Color Dodge. Let’s continue to keep our PSD clean and put all of these layers in their own group and call it “Dots.”

Let’s add one more line of text before we start modifying the layers to create our 3D stereoscopic effect. I went with “Stereoscopic Imagery” in white and placed it slightly on top of our “PSDTUTS” text. I added a Drop Shadow, black Inner Glow and 1 pixel red Stroke using layer styles.

Step 4

Now that we have our basic artwork created we are going to begin modifying all of these elements so that they appear 3D once we view them using the crossed eye method (more on that in the next step). To keep things organized let’s put all of our layers in a group and name it “Left Eye.”

Increase your canvas size from the center left so that it is double the width (1800 pixels).

Duplicate the “Left Eye” group and name it “Right Eye.” Then move it all to the right portion of the canvas.

We are going to slightly move some layers around on the canvas in the “Right Eye” group, use the arrow keys on your keyboard for this part. Select the “Small Dots Copy” layer and move it up 7 pixels, then to the right 7 pixels. Select the “Big Dots Copy” layer and move it up 10 pixels, then to the right 10 pixels.

Now select the “Stereoscopic Imagery Copy” text layer and move it up 7 pixels, then to the right 7 pixels. Select the “Stroke Copy” layer and move it up 7 pixels, then to the right 7 pixels. Select the “Color Copy” layer and “PSDTUTS Copy” text layer and move them up 4 pixels, then to the right 4 pixels.

Step 5

Now that we have our stereoscopic image complete, it’s time to view it in 3D! This might be easy for some, and tricky for others to do, but once you get the hang of it you will have no problems doing it in a matter of seconds. I have added a red circle to the center of both images to help you train your eyes on how to do this.

Look at the following steps and images, then when you are ready, use the image above to try it out.

Sit a comfortable distance away from your monitor and hold you index finger out in front of your monitor. Position the tip of your finger in the middle of the two images. Focus your vision on the tip of your finger and in your peripheral vision just above your finger you should be able to see the two images slightly merging.

While still focusing on your index finger, move your finger closer or farther from your monitor until you see the two images merge together. Once you have them merged, slightly move your focus off of your finger and up to your monitor. The merged image should appear cleanly focused and in a nice layered 3D fashion, if it doesn’t just clear your focus and try again. You can also try getting closer to your monitor.

Conclusion

Once you get the hang of viewing the above image you can try it on the final image below without the red dot.

Then you can try it on my first stereoscopic image I created titled “Pinion.”

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Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Make a Highly-Textured Site Layout in Photoshop and the video version is below.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

• Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
• Difficulty: Intermediate

Step 1

We are going to open up Adobe Illustrator, (using CMYK as your color settings) to start creating our 3D text.

Type out the word “Escape”, (I am using the font Impact) and change the color to blue (#1A98BB). This color will be easier to work with, and it will roughly be the color we will be using in our final outcome.

Step 2

Typically, we would use the Extrude & Bevel Tool to create a 3D version of our text, but since Illustrator can’t really handle what we want to do, we are going to create it ourselves. (Shown below is what we would get if we used the Bevel & Extrude tool)

Click on your text, and go to Type > Create Outlines. Now copy the text with Command + C and Paste In Place with Command + F. Darken the text using the black slider in your Color window.

Now we are going to shrink the text down and keep it in the same spot at the same time. To do this we are going to click on our dark text and hold down Alt and Shift, then bring one of the corners of the box in.

Step 3

Highlight all of the letters, open up your Pathfinder (Shift + F9). In the Window drop down menu, (if you don’t already have it open) and click the Add to Shape Area icon. Click Expand. This will make the two "Escape" words into one shape.

Step 4

Click on the Pen Tool (P) and where there were corners and now "L" shaped areas, click on the corner anchor to delete it.

Step 5

After you get rid of all the "L" areas you can do Command + F, this should bring back your original text. Once you do that, you may notice that some of the rounded edges don’t look right. To fix these rounded edges, you can delete the original text we just pasted, click on the Pen Tool (P) and delete the points on the curve until you get an angle that looks right.

Step 6

Now we are ready to bring our text into Photoshop. Create a new document (Command + N). We are going to treat this as a cover design, so we are going to change our settings to 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall and the color setting of CMYK. We will change our resolution to 300 dpi, so it will be print quality. Once we open our document we want to Click and Drag guides a half-inch from each edge (using our ruler—Command + R). This will work as our bleed.

Step 7

Go to stock.xchng to get the image we are going to use for our background. Open up the image in Photoshop, we are going to adjust it a little to suit our purposes.

Step 8

Go to Image > Adjustment > Replace Color. Click on the part of the grass area that is the most yellow and use the Hue to adjust it so it has more of a green look. You can also drop down the Saturation to give it more of a realistic look.

Step 9

Drag our photo into the Photoshop document we made, and resize the photo to fit in the area with the Transform Tool (Command + T).

Step 10

For the background, we are going for a more desaturated look, so we are going to open up our Hue/Saturation with Command + U and drop down the saturation to -20.

Step 11

Now we can bring in our text. We are going to bring in the face of the text first, and then the 3D part, so that we can work with each one individually. So Copy and Paste (Command + C, Command + V) each one into our Photoshop document. If you don’t resize the text or zoom in/zoom out of the document at all, both of the text layers should line up perfectly.

Step 12

Now that you have the text and background image in place where you want them, we can start adding in the grass.

Let’s start off by creating a new folder (clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette), we’ll call it "grass", then create a new layer within the folder.

Using the Square Marquee Tool (M), Click and Drag a box around the bottom half of the document, below the photo (make sure there is no white gap in between the photo and the box) so that the photo isn’t selected. Now click on the foreground color and click on the grass in the photo until you find a dark green. Fill the Marquee box we made with that color.

Step 13

Click on the Brush Tool (B) and change the brush to the generic one-blade grass brush that comes with Photoshop. Now click on the Foreground color and then click on the grass on the background photo. Do the same with the Background-color. This should give you two different but similar greens.

Using F5, open up the brush settings and adjust the Hue Jitter, in the Color Dynamics tab to 20%.

Step 14

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder, and start painting from where the background photo ends with a 125px brush. As you move towards the bottom of the document make the brush larger ( ] ), so you end up with about a 200px brush when you get to the bottom. This should be quick so that it leaves holes for the future layers to cover up.

We are going to make this color a little bit darker because this will be under another layer. So go in to the Curves (Command + M) and adjust the Input to 47 and the Output to 55.

Step 15

We are going to repeat step 14, except this time we are going to fill in most of the rest of the holes that we missed the first time around. We don’t need to adjust the Curves on this grass layer.

Step 16

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the grass folder. Now to add some highlights to the grass we are going to use our grass Brush (B) with the same color and paint in just a few areas. Go into the Curves again (Command + M) and adjust the input to 58 and the output to 39.

Step 17

We are going to create a new layer (Command + Shift + N), above the lettering, so we can paint on some grass so it looks like it is going in front of the letters.

After you paint the grass in front of the letters create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and do a light pass of grass, we are going to darken this layer with the Curves (Command + M), adjust the input to 42 and the output to 56.

Step 18

Now that we have our grass finished, we are going to start working on our lettering.

Create a new folder called "text face" and a new folder called "text shadow" put the text face and the text shadow in the corresponding folders.

Now we are going to Command + Click on the text face layer to create a marquee outline around it, create a new layer in the "text face" folder with Command + Shift + N and fill it (Command + Delete) with #EDE6DA.

Step 19

Go into the "text shadow" folder and create a new layer (Command + Shift + N).

Since our sunlight is coming from the right, as you can see with the trees in the photo, we have to make the brightest part of our text on the right side of each letters. To create our highlights, we are going to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the areas that are supposed to be highlighted, the areas that would get hit by the sun.

Step 20

Using a white 90px Rounded Brush (B), with 0% Hardness at 20% Opacity, start painting strokes onto the areas that we selected. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

To get rid of the excess area, Command + Click on the text shadow layer, Command + Shift + I to get the inverse selection, then delete.

Step 21

Now we are going make our shadows the same way we made the highlights in step 19. Once you have your shadows selected, repeat step 20, except this time we are going to use a black brush for our darkest areas.

Step 22

To add in some darker shadows and give our letters more contrast, we are going to repeat step 21, but instead of changing the Blend Mode to Overlay, we are going to change it to Multiply. Also, It will be easier if we change the brush to about at 5% Opacity, this way you can darken the shadow slowly, and it will also blend smoother.

Step 23

The text can be worked on a lot more and have a lot more shadow/highlight details added, but since this is a tutorial we are going to leave it as is and start working on the shadow the text casts on the grass.

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) and put it above the "grass" folder. Using a 200px black brush (B) at 100% opacity, and 0% hardness paint under the text, trying to make sure that the black doesn’t go under the grass that is in front of the letters too much. Change the blend mode to Multiply.

Step 24

Now we can start tackling the face of the text. We are going to start off by giving it an Inner Shadow. Click on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and then click on Inner Shadow.

Now go to Bevel and Emboss, on the first icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette, and adjust your settings, something like what I have. These two settings will give the text face an edge.

Step 25

We are going to Command + Click on the text face layer and create a new one with Command + Shift + N. Using the Gradient Tool (G) with a black to 0% Opacity, click on the left side of the text and drag it to the right. This should give the text a gradient that is black on the right. Drop down the Opacity all the way down to 5%.

Step 26

With the text face still selected create a new layer (Command + Shift + N) in the "text face" folder and change your Foreground color to a yellow-orange color (something like #FFC600) and create a Gradient (G) so it is on the top edge of the letters. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 27

Create a new layer in the "text face" folder, and take a 200px black Brush (B) with 5% opacity and 0% hardness and click and drag a line just above the grass. This will give us a subtle shadow just above the grass.

Step 28

Now we are going to give our text face a weathered look.

In the "text face" folder, create a new layer, and then using the Square Marquee Tool (M), create a box that covers the "Escape". Fill the box with black.

Step 29

Go to Filter > Render > Fibers and adjust your settings to something like what I have.

Step 30

Deselect the area with Command + D and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Command + Click on the text face, then Command + Shift + I to get the Inverse Selection, delete and change the Blend Mode to Multiply with an Opacity of 5%.

Step 31

Click on the second icon on the bottom of the layers palette to add a Mask to our fiber layer. Using a black to 0% Gradient (G) click and drag from the bottom up so the bottom half of the fibers are gone from the text.

Step 32

And now to finish it off a little bit, we are going to click on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette and open up the Color Balance.

Step 33

And now open up the Photo Filter on the fourth icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 34

Now we are finished, I am going to add some finishing touches with a footer that will bleed over the edge.

Final Image

And that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tutorial.

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial Create a Watercolor-Themed Website Design with Photoshop and the video version is below.

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a Rusty Texture in Photoshop and the video version is below.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 2-3 hours

I’m a fan of horror, thriller and crime investigation novels, which are quite often linked with dirty and grungy covers. Two of my favorite things combined! This is the beauty we’ll be working towards:

Step 1 – Setting Up Your .PSD file

A book cover, in most cases (unless it’s an eBook) is going to go to press, which means we have to set it up correctly. There are hundreds of different book sizes, but a few that are commonly used for fiction books. One of them is 108×177mm (front cover only). Spines change width obviously depending on the length of the book, but in this case we’re going to use 26mm, giving us a total dimension of 243×180mm including a 3mm bleed.

If you’re setting up your document for a real book cover, whatever you do, do not guess the width of the spine! There’s a simple formula which can determine that width for you: you have to take the number of pages and divide that number by your text papers PPI (Pages Per Inch), which all depends on the weight (GSM) of your paper. You should be able to get that from your quote sheet, or ask your printers for it! You can use this awesome spine width calculator if you can’t be bothered to work it out yourself!

Head over to Photoshop and set up a new document; make sure your width is set to 243mm and your height is set to 180mm. Make the resolution 300 pixels/inch and set the color mode to CMYK. Hit OK!

Make sure your rulers are showing by going to View > Rulers, or press Command + R. A lot of people don’t use rulers very much, but they can come in very handy for dragging out guides later on in the project. Go to View > New Guide… and with Horizontal selected insert 3mm into the Position box. Do the same again, this time inserting 177mm into the position box. Repeat the process using measurements 3mm and 240mm, this time with the Vertical checkbox ticked. That’s our 3mm bleed added to the document – our design will go right up to the edge of the document, but for those that don’t know, when the document goes to print, 3mm from each side of the document will be chopped off.

This means the printers can assure you that there will be no white gaps on any of your documents so long as you set up the file correctly. Also, with any print project, not just this one, always keep your text at least a few millimeters away from the bleed guide, this is just to be on the safe side incase a few of your prints aren’t aligned correctly when being cut down to size. You might find it easier to create another set of guides for this, or you can do what I do and use your eyes as a guide.

It’s time to add some guides for our spine. Go to View > New Guide… and with the Vertical checkbox ticked, insert 108mm and hit OK. Repeat the last step using the measurement 134mm. Remember we’re working in millimeters, not centimeters or pixels. You should now have a nicely aligned .PSD document. Always remember to save your documents regularly!

Step 2 – Choosing a Color Scheme and Adding Some Initial Background Texture

Crime, Horror and Thriller books are often associated with grungy covers, which means this tutorial is going to use a huge handful of textures, blending modes and brushes.

I’m going to go with a blood red color scheme mixed with some warm browns, dark oranges and a pure white which will be used for the majority of the typography in our design – what color scheme you choose is entirely up to you, I suggest you play around with your design for as long as you have and see what you can come up with; after all that is the best way to learn and pick up new techniques.

Select a warm blood red/orange (#db2900) and using the Paint Bucket Tool fill your background layer. We’re going to add some texture to our design straight away. Make a new layer and fill it with white. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise… In the new window, insert 100% into the Amount field, and make sure Gaussian and Monochromatic are both selected. Hit OK.

With the new layer still selected, drag it down to the New Layer symbol at the bottom of the palette – this will duplicate the layer. Repeat the step again. Set all three layers to Overlay and using a large, soft Eraser, get rid of some of the areas on each layer. Name each layer sensibly so you can find them later; I named mine “Noise 1″, “Noise 2″ and “Noise 3.”

Already our cover is looking quite grungy, and so far we’ve only used one built in Photoshop Filter! Head over to Textur.es and download this lovely grunge texture. Insert the texture into your document by going to File > Place. Rotate it so the grungier side of the texture is on your front cover, and upscale it to the same size as your document. The easiest way to do this is by going to Edit > Free Transform or by pressing Command + T and then dragging the corners of the texture out whilst holding the Shift Key to keep everything in proportion.

Change the textures layer to Overlay, and change the layer name to “Texture 1.” Drag the layer down to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the palette to duplicate the layer. Rotate it by 90 degrees, and align it next to the spine (this should be easy if you have Snap to Guides selected – if not, go to View > Snap To > Guides). Grab the same soft Eraser we had a minute ago and erase a few areas of our duplicated layer. Rename the layer to “Texture 2.”

The joy of using textures in your work is that you can create a stunning piece of work with a very minimal amount of time, effort and resources. One texture can go a long, long way.

I’ve just realized our whole design is turning a little bit orange – not so much that blood red I was hoping for! The overlays on the Noise layers seem to have lightened our red up so much that it’s turned to orange. To fix this, make a new layer above our original background and fill it with a dark red/brown (#5c0000). Rename the layer to Background 2 and drop the Opacity to 60%.

Step 3 – Making Different Areas Look Different

When it comes to books, there are three different areas. The front covers main purpose is to advertise the book – it needs to stand out. The spine is to make the book easy to find on a shelf full of others. The back cover is to present a blurb – meaning it should be easy to read. So far, our front, spine and back look virtually the same. We need to fix that!

Duplicate your layer “Texture 2″ and select the Paint Bucket Tool. With the same dark red/brown we selected earlier, click somewhere on your duplicated layer to fill some areas. Rename the layer to “Texture Blobs” or something of your own choice. Your image should currently look like something below.

Select a large, soft Eraser, and erase out some of the inner areas of your “Texture Blobs” layer. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply, and lower the opacity to something you think is suitable for your piece; I used 20%. This should give us a dark, grungy front cover that fades into the background as it reaches the center of the page, which is where we will be featuring an object.

Make a New Layer and name it “Front Border.” We’ll be making some more darker areas where, later on, we will be presenting some text with a Spot UV overlay. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and select the front of your cover up to the spine.

Select a large, soft brush and change your color to a dark grey or black. In your marquee selection, paint a dark area at the top and bottom of your front cover – you could even paint a very small streak of black up the sides of your cover. Use the Eraser with a soft brush to thin out any areas you felt you applied too thick.

Change the Opacity of the layer to about 25%. Repeat the last two instructions again, this time making the border even thinner – remember to make a new layer! Name it “Front Border 2.” I also used a different color – a dark red/brown (#6f2009).

You should have more subtle grunge area at the top and bottom of your front cover now, which is suitable to present some nice typography later on in the tutorial.

Now we’re going to work on the spine of our book cover. The spine should be very subtle and easy to read, especially as we don’t have too much space to work with. Make a New Layer and name it “Spine Background.” Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and select the spine – this should be relatively easy because, with Snap to Guides selected, it should automatically connect with our spine guides. Grab a soft brush and using the same color we used in the last instruction, paint the bottom and top of your spine, leaving a small area in the middle. Lower the Opacity to 70% just so a little grunge shows through!

With the front cover and spine virtually complete (we will probably add a little more background texture later on!), it’s time to move on to the back cover. The back cover will have a lot of text and important information on it, so it’s important we don’t show too much texture and keep it pretty plain. We will need to display: a blurb, a couple of one-line reviews, a price, a barcode, an ISBN number and maybe an authors web address and a designers web address.

This step is pretty much the same as the last few: make a new layer and name it “Back Cover Background.” With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, select the back cover. Select the Brush Tool and choose a large, soft brush – again using the same color we used in the previous step. Brush over the back cover, leaving a small, low opacity area in the middle.

Lower the opacity of the layer to 85% and then make another New Layer called “Back Cover Background 2.” Lower the size of your brush a little (I lowered mine to 1000px) and choose pure black as your color. Repeat the same step as before, this time not going as far into the center of the back cover as we did previously. Change the layers Blending Mode to Overlay and drop the Opacity to 50%.

With your marquee selection still active, fill it with pure black on a new layer named “Back Cover Black Overlay.” Lower the opacity to 15%. This just takes a little color out of our back cover which will make it easier to present readable text.

Our back cover, compared to our spine, seems a little dark. To fix this we’re going to make our spine a little darker. Reselect the spine with the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Make a New Layer and name it “Spine Dark Background.” With the same brush as we used in the previous instruction, brush over the left half of the spine using a color from the back cover (use the Eyedropper Tool to select a color). You should have something look similar to the screenshot below:

Lower the Opacity of the new layer to 70% – you’re spine should now merge in a little more between the back and front covers.

Step 4 – Organizing Our Document!

I often take a few minutes throughout a project to tidy up my mess – it doesn’t take long when we’ve been renaming our layers throughout the length of the tutorial, but now we have a total of 16 layers it’s time to put them into some folders.

Make a total of four new folders by clicking on the New Group icon at the bottom of the layers palette. Rename them to: “Main Background,” “Front Cover Background,” “Spine Background” and “Back Cover Background.” Move all the related layers into the appropriate groups.

This was a bit of a short step, but plays a vital part in keep our document organized. If you’re not to sure what you’re doing when it comes to pre-press and you send in a Photoshop document, having a well-named layered and grouped document really helps out and ultimately means the turnaround time for your print job will probably be quicker – we all win!

Step 5 – The Typography

It’s time to add some typography! As this project isn’t actually for a real book cover, I’m going to make some names up. I’m going to use my name, “Callum Chapman” as the author, “BOOK COVER TUTS+” as the book title, “A Tuts+ Print Tutorial” as a mini description of the book, and a section of text from Tuts+ about page as the blurb. On top of all this, I’ll be making up some mini one-line reviews by several made up magazines/newspapers.

Select the Type Tool and drag a text box over your front cover. Type in your authors name, in my case I used “CALLUM CHAPMAN.” I used two separate lines for “CALLUM” and “CHAPMAN.” Select your text and change to a suitable font – I’m going to use Myriad Pro for the majority of text on my cover as it has a lot of styles such as condensed, semibold, oblique, bold, and a combination of them all together. When designing for print, try to stay clear from Faux Bold and Italic as in the end they don’t always come out as great as they could.

Change the size of the authors first name to 45pt and the size of the authors surname to 60pt – this is the time to make sure your text box is lined up with the bleed on the right-hand side of the document and the right side of your spine. Open up the Character Palette by going to Window > Character. From here we can change the leading and tracking, which is always important when it comes to typography – never bypass it! Change the Leading to 55pt – this will bring your authors surname closer to the bottom of your authors first name, but not too close! If you’ve used a different typeface or size to me, you might need to play round with these settings as they differ depending on the font and size used.

With your text layer still selected, open up the Blending Options by going to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. Alternatively you could Alt-Click on the Text Layer and select Blending Options from the menu.

We want to add various styles to make our text really pop out from the cover. We’ll be using the following styles: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Bevel and Emboss and Stroke. The screenshots below show the different settings I used for each individual style:

Create a new layer beneath our authors name and call it “Author Shadow.” Grab the Brush Tool, and with a medium-sized soft brush, paint a black shadowed beneath the authors name.

Change the layers Blending Mode to Saturation, this will turn everything below it to greyscale. Lower the layers Opacity to 40%. The point of this step is to just make it that little bit easier to read, and makes the text pop out even more!

Repeat the previous steps to add a book title. I’m using the following text in the same text area on separate lines: “A Tuts+ Print Tutorial” and “BOOK COVER TUTS+.”

With your mini description selected, change the size of the font to 15pt. Select your mini description and book title together and change the Leading in the Character Palette to 30pt. Select your mini description and change the color to an off-white/red – I used #ffdada.

Make a new layer beneath your book title layer, and using the same technique we used earlier, brush in a black shadowed area with a small, soft brush. Remember to rename your layer – I called mine “Title Shadow.”

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Change the Angle to 90 and the distance to 250. To preview the different Distances before applying the blur, make sure the preview box is checked. Hit OK to apply the blur to our shadow.

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Change the Amount to 25, the Distribution to Gaussian and make sure Monochromatic is unchecked. Hit OK.

Change the layers Blending Mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 60%.

Using similar styles and fonts, add a few short reviews beneath the book title. I’m going to use “‘A top-notch book!’ – PSD Times” and “‘Fantastically gripping!’ – Vector Mag.” I’m going to use Bold Condensed Myriad Pro for the review, and Condensed Myriad Pro for the reviewers name.

Step 6: The Back Cover

It’s time for the Blurb on the back page. Head over to the Envato homepage and copy the brief introduction to the Tuts+ Network. Select the Text Tool in your Book Cover document and make a new text box on the back cover; make sure it’s center! Paste the introduction in to the text box. Back over at Envato, copy and paste the information under the ‘About Envato’ heading, head back to your document and paste this in, too. At the top of your text box, insert a line that will be used as an opening sentence. I’m going to use: ‘You’re about to learn how to make your very own book cover!’

It’s time to style up our back page! We want our opening line to stand out from the rest of the blurb. To do this, I’m going to use the same color we used for the mini description above the book title we used on the front cover (#ffdada). Make the selection bold and change the font size to 15pt.

I’m pretty happy with how the blurb is looking already! Change your main two paragraphs font size to 12pt. The only problem we now have is some words are being separated and split in to two using a ‘-’ symbol. To fix this, hit enter to send the word to the next line – repeat this step until there are no more unwanted hyphens.

Make sure the top of your blurb is lined up with the top of the authors name on the front page. To do this, drag a new guide down from the ruler and line it up with the top of the authors name. If they aren’t lined up, use the cursor keys on your keyboard to nudge your blurb up or down until they are aligned correctly.

Add a couple more reviews on our back cover. The easiest and quickest way to do this is to duplicate the two reviews from earlier and rearrange the new layers on the back cover beneath our blurb. With the Text Tool selected, click on the text and change the words to something different. To make sure the two reviews are centered your can drag the text box out to the very edge of our guidelines, like I have done below:

Our book cover is starting to look like a real book cover! It’s time to add some information the shops are going to require, such as a barcode, a ISBN number, a price and some other information. Unfortunately, barcodes can’t be read by scanners on busy backgrounds, so we’re going to have to use a white block. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection beneath our two reviews. With the Paint Bucket Tool, fill the selection with white on a new layer called “ISBN Background.”

Reselect the Rectangular Marquee Tool and highlight a area at the bottom of our white ISBN background. Fill the selection with the off-white color we have been using throughout the tutorial.

Grab the Text Tool and rough out some text. I’m going to use: “USD 9.99,” “GBP 5.99″ and “EU 6.99,” “Cover Design by Callum Chapman,” “Be sure to visit PSDTuts+ website at http://psd.tutsplus.com/,” and “ISBN 000-0-0000-0000-0.” Style your text – you know what to do! Make sure you use pure black, though! Instead of finding an actual barcode, just use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to produce a rectangle to use as a placeholder.

Step 7: Adding Some Interest with a Stock Photo

We’ve got two things left: The spine, and an image on the front cover. We’re going to leave the spine until the last minute – we’ll simply be duplicating, resizing and rearranging some items from the front cover to produce our spines content. Head over to sxc.hu and download this great free stock photo of an old ammo box. Once you’ve downloaded the stock photo, place it into your document twice.

Grab the Magic Wand Tool and click on the white areas of both images – hit the delete key to remove the background. If you find the Magic Wand Tool is selecting areas of the stock photo that you don’t want to remove, try lowering the Tolerance in the Magic Wand Tools options at the top of the screen.

Rename your two layers to “Ammo Box 1″ and “Ammo Box 2.” With “Ammo Box 1″ selected, go to Edit > Free Transform or press Command+T to resize the photo. Whilst holding the shift key, drag the image right out of proportion.

Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay, and using the Eraser remove some of the outer areas of the image – for example the part that is overlapping the spine.

Go to Edit > Free Transform or press Command + T on the “Ammo Box 2″ layer and scale it up a little – don’t worry if it’s a little pixelated – we’re going for a grunge look and pixelation all adds to it! Change the layers Blending Mode to Hard Light. Duplicate the layer twice: Lower the first ones Opacity to 30%, and the second ones Opacity to 20%. With the second duplicated ammo box still selected, hit the Shift + Cursor Down key to move the selection down – move it a little to the right and rotate it by going to Edit > Free Transform or by pressing Command + T and dragging the corners round.

Step 8: The Spine

That’s our front cover complete! We now have to move onto the spine. Locate your authors name layer and your book titles layer – select them both and drag them down to the ‘Create New Layer’ icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to duplicate them. Rearrange your two layers so that they’re at the top of the Layers Palette. Arrange them so that they’re sitting next to each other, as seen in the screenshot below:

With the authors name layer selected, go to Edit > Free Transform or press Command + T and scale the selection down whilst holding the Shift Key to keep it in proportion. Rotate the selection whilst still in Transform Mode and arrange it neatly into the spine.

Repeat the previous instruction again with your book title layer. Once the text is on it’s side, grab the Text Tool and edit it. Delete the mini description, and spread “Book Cover Tuts+” across two lines by pressing the enter key to send any words after it onto a new line. Line the new text up with the author name.

Hopefully you’ve taken my advice and have already put our stock photo layers into a group. If not, do that now! Once that has been done, duplicate the group, go to Edit > Free Transform or hit Command + T, resize to a suitable size and rotate the selection round. Rearrange the image so it nicely fits in the center of the spine.

That’s it, we’re all done! If you’re following this tutorial for a real project, you will need to replace your barcode placeholder with a real barcode, as well as setting the file up ready for print – all printers require different settings, so it’s always best to speak to them first!

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Before Getting Started

A couple of things before getting started.

For this tutorial you must have the last version of Photoshop, CS4 Extended. Besides you need to have a good Graphic Card since we’re going to work with several 3D layers at the same time, if you don’t have one you may experience some kind of lag on your computer. This isn’t a basic tutorial, so I’ll skip some basic explanations like how to create a Layer Mask, or how to create a Gradient Fill Layer.

You’ll need to download this picture of a splashing milk bowl. And this awesome twitter icon set from my friend Gopal Raju.

Step 1 – Setting up the Document

First of all create a new Photoshop Document 800 pixels by 1120 pixels, 72dpi, and set to RGB. Then create a new Gradient Fill Layer named "Gradient." I’m using these colors: #F20000 – #8E0000 anyway feel free to change them.

Add the Milk Bowl

Step 2 – Extract the Image from its Background

Paste the splashing milk bowl into a new layer named "Splash." Next we need to get rid of the black background, for this go to Select > Color Range, sample the black background and set the Fuzziness value to around 85, then click OK to commit the selection. Now Expand the resultant selection 1px and create a Quick Mask or a Layer Mask hiding the Black background. Finally flip the image horizontally and place it at the bottom right of the document.

Step 3 – Whitening the Milk

In the picture the milk looks a little bit pink, to make it white just add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, select Reds on the colors selector and set the Lightness value to +100, ensure the clipping mask option is enabled on the Adjustments Panel in order to apply the adjustment only to one layer. In this case the "Splash" layer. We will leave the bowl as is for awhile, it’s time to create the cereal loops. Finally add both layers, "Splash" and the Adjustment into a folder named "Bowl."

Render the Cereal Loops

Step 4 – Create a 3D Shape from a Layer

Here comes the fun, we’ll start creating the cereal loops using some 3D layers. First, create a new layer named "Loop" and fill it with some color. I’m using the Rectangular Marquee tool and the Paint Bucket to fill it with this color: #FF363E.

Go to Window > 3D to show the 3D Panel. Now go to 3D > New Shape From Layer > Donut to automatically create a 3D Layer named "Loop." Leave it as is and go to the next step.

Step 5 – 3D Panel Overview

Before we move forward you’ll need to feel comfortable with the 3D panel. All the 3D objects are inside a container named Scene, each Scene may have several 3D objects that can be Meshes with its respective Textures or Lights. You can put as many objects as you want into a Scene.

You can Filter the objects by clicking on any of the four buttons on top of the panel. Below there are the Scene options, there you will be able to change the Render Preset, Anti-Aliasing, Global Ambient Color (this one is very important in this tutorial) and select the texture where you will be painting on (we will see that shortly). Finally at the bottom of the panel you can toggle the Plane and Lights view on/off or add a new light, and of course the Delete button. Feel free to play with this panel before going to the next step.

Step 6 – Change Ambient Color and Show the Ground Plane

Our loop looks a little bit dark even though we create it from a pink layer, that’s because the Global Ambient Color is Black by default; click on the color box to change it into a dark red color (#7E0001). Now the loop looks pretty good, but there is so much left to do.

Click on the Toggle Plane button to show the plane as a reference, you’ll notice the plane perspective is almost the same as the bowl perspective, which is very convenient for the composition and lighting so we will leave everything as is.

Step 7 – Transform the Mesh View

Following, click on the Mesh button to work only with the "Donut" object (See image 1 below). In the options panel there are several transform options related to this mesh. First we’ll need to rotate the loop by selecting the Rotate button on the Mesh Tools Panel; just drag the cursor over the 3D object to rotate it, as shown in image 2 below.

Following, Roll the mesh a little bit if you need to. Then drag the mesh a little bit up, using the Drag button in the Mesh Panel (image 4), and finally slide the mesh a little bit inside the space by dragging the Slide cursor as shown in image 5 below, and then hide the Plane View.

At this point you should have something like the last image below. This step is important because we’ll repeat the 3D transform several times shortly. Feel free to practice with the Mesh options before moving forward. Remember, Photoshop isn’t 3D modeling software, so if you want to edit the mesh itself you will need other software.

Step 8 – Paint Over the Texture Layers

Now it is time to edit the textures a little bit. Select Paint On: Diffuse in the 3D options, then Select the Brush Tool and using this color #FFC6CA or something similar, chose a 100px soft brush (Opacity and Flow 50%) and paint directly over the 3D mesh. Rotate the mesh as much as you need in order to cover the entire surface of the object.

Notice that there’s a Layer named "Loop" under Textures – Diffuse in the Layers Panel, Double-Click on it to open a .psb file containing a plain view of the texture. We’ll work on that layer in the next step.

Step 9 – Working on the Diffuse Texture

On the .psb file, select the "Loop" Layer (this layer name may vary depending on your previous editing), and apply a Patter Overlay Effect to it, I chose a Rock Pattern named "Granite" built in Photoshop, but feel free to try with different textures. To keep the layer color, set the Effect’s Blending Mode to Soft Light. Finally save the .psb file, close it, go back to the main document and see how the texture looks now.

Step 10 – Bumping

Now we’ll make the surface a little bit irregular. In the 3D options panel set Paint On: Bump, select an irregular black Brush, and start paining.

Since the Bump texture is not created yet, you will see an alert about it, just hit OK on it. Then just start painting over the 3D object, using black as foreground will emboss the object, otherwise using white as the foreground will bevel the object, play with both colors until you feel happy with the texture. It’s very important to have the entire surface texturized and not only the front view (we will see why shortly).

If is easier for you, Double-click on the "Bump" texture layer in the Layer Panel and paint the bump texture over the .psb file as shows the bottom of the image below, you can use the Clone Tool for that purpose. Once you feel happy with the result, close the .psb file and go back to the main document.

Step 11 – Glossiness

To finish the texturing process we’ll add a Glossiness texture layer. Select Paint On: Glossiness in the 3D panel and using any Brush paint a little invisible white spot somewhere over the 3D layer. The important thing in this step is to switch to the Materials View, and change the Shininess Value from 40% to 80% in order to make the gloss less intense.

You can paint over the texture layer as well just like in the previous steps, but this time use a light color, white will be OK.

The loop is not finished yet, we’ll need further edits on it to make it look more real.

More Flavors

Step 12 – Duplicate the Loop

Now we’ll duplicate the loop in order to create several flavors. Select the Move Tool (V), then while holding the Alt Key select the 3D layer and drag it to duplicate it. Hide the original "Loop" 3D layer and select the copy, by the way I name it "Loop 2." Show the 3D panel, switch to Mesh view and use the Rotate Tool to rotate the new mesh in order to make it look different.

Step 13 – Change the Loop’s Colors

Double-click over the Diffuse Texture of the "Loop 2" layer in the Layers Panel, you will see the texture that we’ve created in Step 9. In order to easily change the color we will use a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer as shown below. Save the changes, close the .psb file and see how it looks.

Step 14 – Change the Glossiness Color

Following, double-click over the "Loop 2" layer’s Glossiness texture. You’ll see the color of the texture just as we left it in Step 11. We’ll change its color by adding a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. The final color is up to you, but try to obtain almost the same color tone as the previous step. Save the texture file and see how it looks in the main document.

Step 15 – Change Ambient Light

Finally, to complete the new flavor, change the Global Ambient light of the new 3D Scene to a more appropriate tone, in this case the following color: #01261E.

Step 16 – Do it All Again

Repeat the Steps from 12 to 15 to create different flavors of cereal loops, the colors are entirely up to you. Remember keep your layers organized, I created a Folder named "3D Loops" and four sub folders each one containing its respective loop.

Step 17 – More and More Loops

Since each loop is inside a folder named with its respective color, we will duplicate and rotate each loop several times in order to create many of them. This time I’m creating four copies for each color.

Rasterize and Liquify

Step 18 – Rasterize the Loops

Create a copy of the entire "3D Loops" folder and hide the original, just in case you need to use any 3D layers later in the process. Now rasterize every single 3D layer in the "3D Loops" copy folder. Do this by Right-clicking a 3D Layer and selecting the Rasterize 3D option.

Step 19 – Liquify

Since we’ve got all our 3D layers rasterized, we will distort them a little bit to make the loop’s borders irregular. Select any of the "Loop" layers and go to Filter > Liquify. In the Liquify window, select the Forward Warp Tool, set 100 as the Brush Size and 25 as the Brush Density and push the loop’s edges inside and outside, as shown below. Repeat this step with every single rasterized loop in your document.

Mix the Cereal Loops with the Milk Bowl

Step 20 – Resize and Distribute the Loops

Now that we have a handful of nice cereal loops we’re going to put them into the milk bowl. First of all, duplicate the folder containing the rasterized loops, hide the original (by the way I named it "3D loops raster big") and name the copy something like "3D loops raster small." Next resize the entire folder in order to make the loops really small. Now use the Move Tool to distribute the loops randomly.

Step 21 – Placing the Loops

Grab any loop and place it somewhere over the bowl, try to cover a milk splash with it. Then select the mentioned loop and add a Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select the mask and using a small black brush, hide some of the loop’s areas with the milk splash. Repeat this step with all the "Loop" layers. This is maybe the most difficult part of the process, since you’ll need to re-order the Loops distribution several times.

Step 22 – Some Shadows

Create a new Layer named "Shadows" above "3d Loops raster small" folder. There paint some shadows using a small black brush (use the brush settings shown below). Besides you can use an irregular brush (like a chalk brush) and add some irregular shadows over the loops.

Step 23 – More Splashes!

As a final touch, merge the "Bowl" folder (look at Step 3) and use the Clone Tool to duplicate some areas of the splashing milk into a new Layer above all the others named "More Milk." This is easy, grab the Clone Tool, select the rasterized "Bowl" layer and hold down the Alt key, then click somewhere over the milk splashes as the clone source. Ensure the Sample value in the Options Panel is Current Layer, then select the "More milk" layer and start painting anywhere. Finally use a small Eraser to delete the extra milk. This is only one way to create more milk splashes.

Another way to do it (my personal favorite) is to grab the Selection Tool, select a portion of the milk splashes, copy, paste and delete the undesired areas. Finally, put the "3D loops raster small" folder, and the “Bowl” folder into a new Folder and name it "Bowl Final."

Add a Mascot

Step 24 – Add it into the Scene

Merge the "Bowl Final" folder (I always duplicate the folder, hide the original and merge the copy in case I need to roll back). Then look over the web for a nice mascot for our brand new cereal box, or draw one yourself. I’m using one of these nice birds of the twitter icon set, since the author has released the .PNG source file (you can open it with Fireworks) I increased its size a lot. Paste it just behind the milk bowl.

Step 25 – Add Some Background Details

Following we will add some background details, in this step I’m adding a White oval above the mascot. Select and copy a part of the bird’s wing and paste it above the oval, then duplicate the wing, turn down its Lightness and Opacity, then place it behind the original in order to create a subtle shadow.

Step 26 – Some Layer Styles

Continue with the background details, select the White Oval and add to it a Gradient Overlay (yellow tones), and a Stroke effect. Repeat this with a smaller oval but this time with red tones. Remember: keep your layers organized.

Step 27 – Brighten the Background

Create a white circle above the red gradient from Step One. Apply a Gaussian Blur to it and change its Blending Mode to Overlay, and its Opacity to 75% or so. Now you have a brighter background.

Step 28 – Add a Shadow to the Milk Bowl

Duplicate the “bowl” layer, name it "Bowl shadow" and turn down its Lighting value to -100 using Hue/Saturation Adjustments. Delete the shadow outside of the background ovals and turn down its Opacity to 40%.

Finally the Product Name

Step 29 – Type the Name

Type a sticky cereal name, use a bold and narrow font with all caps. Using the Text Warp options distort it a little bit.

Step 30 – Convert the Type into a Shape and Distort it

Select the “Type” layer and go to Layer > Type > Convert to Shape in order to convert the text into a vector mask. Then use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to distort the paths a little bit, this way you can add a comic style to any kind of typography.

Step 31 – Delete the O’s

Using the Path Selection Tool (A) delete the “O” letters.

Step 33 – Add New O’s

Remember the "3D loops raster big" folder of the Step 20? It’s time to use it again, make that folder visible, duplicate it and put it above everything else. Then select four loops, delete the rest, and place each one of the four loops as an “O” in the word.

Step 34 – Style the O’s

We’ll add a simple Drop Shadow style to each loop in the title.

Step 35 – Style the Text

A simple Drop Shadow and soft Bevel effects will be enough to increase the visual impact of the name. As always, it’s up to you to create more advanced effects or work with more detailed and complex layer styles. Finally put all the logo related layers into a folder named "Logo."

Final Touches

Step 36 – More Effects on the Logo

Duplicate the "Logo" folder, rasterize it and apply a Gaussian Blur over the Copy, then Command-click over the blurred layer in the Layers Panel to create a selection around the text. Expand the Selection by 25 pixels. Then grab the Marquee Tool, Option-click over the selection and choose Make Work Path…, set the Tolerance value to 5 pixels and hit OK. Finally, go to Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path and fill the masked layer with a reference color like red. Name this layer "LogoBG."

Step 37 – More Layer Styles

I’m using a red Gradient Overlay, a yellow Stroke and a black Drop Shadow for the "LogoBG" layer. Feel free to try something different if you want to. Place the "Logo" folder behind the "Mascot" layer, I added a Drop Shadow to the bird as well.

Conclusion

And we’re finished! I hope you liked this tutorial and found it useful. Feel free to try it with different colors, styles and create your own cereal box!

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Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial Create an Intense Movie Poster in Photoshop and the video version is below.

Final Image Preview

And here it is; the poster we’re about to do! I could have just used a dark forest photo for the background, but where’s the fun in that? This tutorial is not about finding the shortest route to an end, rather striking the balance between how real you want the setting to look, and cinematic/artistic at the same time. You want it be compelling and truthful, but also control the viewers attention and amount of information they’re given. You don’t want to spoil the movie, but entice someone to come see it.

Take a look at the poster we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

Let’s start with the background. I used the largest available version of this photo, but just about any foggy forest image will do. Typically, we’d be working on an A4 or A3 canvas, but for the sake of spending less money on resources, we’ll create a scaled down version of an A4 canvas. Not only that, but we’re going to create a large background image that we will ultimately crop into a final movie poster. So for the first part, create a 1680 pixels by 1819 pixels at 300 dpi and paste in the forest image. Make a similar layout.

Step 2

We’ll now add a series of Adjustment Layers to change the appearance of the photo. You can find them under Layer > New Adjustment Layer. The first one is a Hue/Saturation with Saturation set to -54.

Step 3

Next, add a Curves Adjustment Layer. Drag the curve as seen in the screenshot below.

Step 4

Now add a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. From the drop-down menu, select Blacks. Use the settings shown below.

Step 5

In this part, you need to establish a light source somewhere on the canvas. It’s a good idea to add a dot where it will be so that you have a better idea of where the highlights and shadows appear.

From now on you’re going to need a pen tablet. You can also do this with a mouse, but the pressure sensitivity makes all the difference. Use the Burn Tool (O) with Exposure set on 15% to darken the darkened portions of the tree trunks. See this before and after image for reference.

Step 6

Do this for each of the trees. Remember that the trees aren’t perfectly flat, so keep the burn pattern "bumpy."

Step 7

Use the same settings but with a much larger brush size to darken the bottom of the photo.

Step 8

Now add highlights on the trees with the Dodge Tool (O). The larger highlight should be on the side of the light source. Then a second, thinner one consits in light that gets reflected from the surrounding objects and environment.

Step 9

Once you’ve finished all the highlights and shadows, use a soft brush to draw the light source as a faint, cyan glow.

Step 10

Erase portions of the glow that cover the more up-front trees.

Step 11

From the layer menu, click on the Add Layer Mask icon. Press D on your keyboard, then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Then go to Filter > Render Difference Clouds. This will hide portions of the glow in an irregular, cloud-like manner. You can see this process in more detail at Step 17.

Step 12

On a separate layer, paint a stronger cyan glow.

Step 13

Lastly, paint a smaller white glow on a separate layer. If you make it too intense, lower the Opacity of the layer.

Step 14

The next job is to add some reflected light on nearby trees. Start by painting thin strips of color on a trunk.

Step 15

Use the Smudge Tool (R) to soften up the glow.

Step 16

Smudge it until it looks like in the screenshot below.

Step 17

Just like in Step 11, add a Layer Mask to the layer by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon. Make sure you have the Layer Mask selected by clicking on its icon, then go to Filter > Render Clouds. To make the clouds have more contrast and better defined edges, go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

Step 18

Repeat the process for all the nearby trees. The closer the light, the stronger the glow.

Step 19

Now create a new blank layer above all the other ones and create a few very faint spots on the canvas with the same cyan.

Step 20

Again, use a Clouds Layer Mask to hide portions of it.

Step 21

Now we’re going to create an anamorphic lens flare. People are really quick to criticise the use of lens flares in digital work, and due to constant overuse, they’re easy to hate. But the fact is that they do exist, and can be a great asset to a design. Rather joining a hate trend and condemming this effect, I suggest you study it and find ways to do it right!

Anamorphic lens flares appear from artifical light sources (such as fog lights) which are obviosuly very appropriate if you’re trying to create the illusion that someone is being chased by people in the night. It also adds contrast and a focal point to the design, thus becoming a key element in telling the story of this poster.

Use a small, soft brush on low Opacity, hold Shift and draw a light streak from side to side that converges with the light source.

Step 22

Use the Pen Tool (P) in Path Mode to draw the new location for a secondary light streak.

Step 23

Choose the appropriate brush settings and with the Pen Tool active, right-click and go to Stroke Path. In the following menu, choose Brush and check the Simulate Pressure box, then press OK.

Step 24

Create three of these with different widths. You determine the width by choosing different brush sizes before stroking the path. You should create these three on the same layer.

Step 25

Command-click on the layer icon to make a selection of it or go to Select > Load Selection > OK.

Step 26

Use a large, soft brush on a light cyan color to give this detail a highlight.

Step 27

Add a few more thin lines at different sections of this beam of light.

Step 28

Next, on a separate layer add a simple dot of about 20 px with a hard edged brush. The go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and blur it until it looks like the one below.

Step 29

Now add a darker and larger beam over the other ones.

Step 30

Make a selection of it and give it a highlight too.

Step 31

Finally, add a soft, white glow in the center and to the side of the tree. Give it a low Opacity.

Step 32

Now we’re going to alter the scene again, so that the light appears more realistic. On top of all the layers from the Layer Menu, create a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Find the Cyans and use these settings, and don’t press OK just yet.

Step 34

Find the Greens too, boost everything to max and press OK.

Step 35

Add a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer and from the drop-down menu, select “Black & White with Green Filter.” Press OK and set the layer’s Blending Mode to Color Dodge and Opacity to 70%.

Step 36

On top of these, add another Selective Color Adjustment Layer and change the Cyans to the settings shown below.

Step 37

Add one more Channel Mixer on top, as shown below.

Step 38

And a final one (for now) – Levels Adjustment Layer.

Step 39

Your scene should now have a similar appearance to the one shown below.

Step 40

Now we’re going to enhance the appearnce of the trees by giving them very thin reflective areas. See the three trees on the left? Thy all have a 2 px soft line drawn on the right side. Do the same for your trees with a dark cyan color.

Step 41

Repeat this process for all the trees. The farther the tree, the less prominent the line.

Step 42

Now on a separate layer, draw some pure white ones. Keep these shorter though, and fewer.

Step 43

You’ll now need a medium size version of this photo. Position it in the composition.

Step 44

There are multiple ways to cut out this person, but the safest and most flexible way I use is to paint a Mask Layer with a tablet. Below is a black and white view of my Mask. Cut out your character as well, so that he only holds a branch in his hand.

Step 45

Position him underneath the Lens Flare details, and slightly to the right of the tree.

Step 46

We’ll now match the character’s darkest values to the scene by adding a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. Once you’ve dragged the Black value to -3, press OK and make it a Clipping Mask (Alt + Command + G).

Step 47

Next up is making the shadows. Create a new blank layer and draw shadows cast by the bright light with a near black color.

Step 48

It’s finally time to create the actual poster! Like I said before, an A4 poster means a lot of pixels. You can use smaller resources to keep your budget down by creating a new document that keeps the proportion of an A4 format, but at a smaller resolution: 1024 px by 1449 px at 300 ppi. Copy a merged version of the scene (Command + Shift + C) and paste it in the new document. Position it as shown below.

Step 49

A crucial part of any movie poster is the movie title and its typface. I used what I think is a good reflection of the concept. The tall faces of ITC Franklin Gothic Book Extra Compressed complete the idea of being illusive, sharp and cunning. The flat look is there to balance the piece and make sure that the poster does not become overly photoshopped. The simple white appearance provides contrast for an otherwise dark poster.

It’s what I think is appropriate, but what would you use? Speaking of overly used stuff, I give you "Trajan!" I’m really curious to see what typeface you would find fit, let me know in the comments what you think would work better.

Step 50

For a more cinematic look though, I decided to horizontally Motion Blur a duplicated version of the font.

Step 51

After you give it a Motion Blur, you’ll notice that the top edges are pretty harsh. Soften them up a bit by adding a smaller blur on the vertical axis.

Step 52

Then just set the layer’s Blending Mode to Pin Light and play around with the Opacity.

Step 53

A typical appearnce of text on movie posters is very large tracking, or spaces between the letters of each word. You know how poster sometimes have the phrase: from the creator of this-and-that movie? Well I gave this design a humorous slant on that.

Step 54

Another common phrase is based on actual events, or something like that. Below is this true tale.

Step 55

And finally, a few other details like the movie website, release date (in this case the day I finished the poster – wouldn’t it have been cool for me to do this on the date of 09.09.09?) and movie producer logo.

Step 56

On the top layer, add one last (I promise) Adjustment Layer: a Channel Mixer where you slightly change the Blue values.

Step 57

To create the branches, we’ll use a very cool brush set that you can find here. Paint a few branches on a layer that’s underneath the Channel Mixer.

Step 58

Erase portions that you want to appear hidden behind the letters.

Step 59

Now use a 2 px white brush again to add the reflections. I think the branches are a lovely touch of detail, without compromising the message. After all, it would be strange for him to be hold the only thin branch in the forest, right?

Step 60

A final effect is a partial Motion Blur on the edges that is just right for giving a sense of urgency and motion. Press Q and with a large Black & White gradient, drag a radial gradient from the center to just a bit past one of the lower corners of the canvas.

Step 61

Make sure you have the background layer active and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Once you’ve done this, do the same for the branches, but add a bit more distance.

Step 62

And as a final touch, paint a few shadows for those branches over the letters. You can do that by painting with black in a new blank layer, making it a clipping mask for the letters and changing their Opacity to a low 15%.

Final Result

And the poster is now finished! I’d love to see your own movie posters, so be sure to put it in our Flickr group if you come up with something!

Here is a secondary version I made after the first one, in desktop format.

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