It’s Been a While…
As many of you know I’ve had a few things going on that have prevented me from posting. To give you a quick explanation for the gap between posts:
I moved house
I got flu (badly)
I had a lot of university work to catch up on after the flu which had to take priority.
I felt really bad about not being able to post as I really care about PSDFAN and the great community here. However, things are thankfully back to normal now, so you can look forward to many great posts this month!
Final Image
This is the final image that we’ll be creating.
Step 1
Open up a new document 600X900px and fill it with 53157F.
Step 2
Create a new layer called ‘clouds’ and then go to filter>render>clouds. Then set your layer blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%.
Step 3
Now create a new layer called ‘bg gradient’. Create a rectangular selection at the bottom of your image and fill it with a black to white linear gradient. Then set the layer blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 40%.
Step 4
Now create a new layer called ‘box side’. Create a rectangular selection and fill it with 1C042D.
Step 5
Now create a new document (10X10px) and create a new layer called ‘circle’. Then use your circular marquee tool to create a white circle in the top right of your canvas (roughly 4X4px). Then hide your ‘background’ layer and go to edit>define pattern. Name your pattern ‘circle pattern’. Then return your your original document and apply a pattern overlay (using the settings shown below) to your ‘box side’ layer.
Step 6
Now create a blank layer beneath your ‘box side’ layer. Then merge your ‘box side’ layer down. This is to rasterize your pattern overlay, allowing you to distort your box side shape and the pattern. Then go to edit>distort and distort your box side to look like the image below:
Step 7
Then duplicate your box side layer and go to edit>transform>flip horizontal. Then move it to make up a cube shape. Then reduce the width of this duplicate shape, as well as reducing it’s brightness to -10.
Step 8
Now type out some text to fit over your cube shape.
Step 9
Then go to layer>rasterize>layer to rasterize your type. Then duplicate your text layer and hide the original. With your visible text layer selected go to edit>transform>distort and distort it to fit the side of your cube. Then make your invisible text layer visible and distort it to fit the other side of the cube.
Step 10
Now hide both text layers and go to edit>define pattern. Define your pattern as ‘text dots’. Then apply a pattern overlay to your text layers using the settings below. You may need to play around with the ’scale’ amount until it looks good. Also be sure to make the ‘fill’ of your text layers have a 0% opacity.
Step 11
Now duplicate the layer containing the text on the left edge of your cube. On the bottom layer apply a 10px strength motion blur.
Step 12
Now hide all layers apart from the layers containing the shapes/text of the left side of your cube. Then go to layer>merge visible. Duplicate your merged layer, and then select the bottom layer and go to edit>transform>flip vertical. Then go to edit>transform>distort and distort your reflected cube side until it looks like the image below. Be sure to reduce the layer opacity to 30%.
Step 13
Repeat this technique on the right side of the cube.
Step 14
Now paste in a photo of a woman behind your cube shape.
Step 15
Now go to image>adjustments>desaturate to grayscale the woman’s photo. Then apply a color overlay and outer glow using the settings shown below:
Step 16
Now create a new layer above your woman layer but below your cube layer. Create an oval shape, and then fill it with a dark-medium purple gradient. Then use your circular marquee selection tool to delete part of your oval shape - leaving a kind of arch. Then go to edit>transform>rotate to fit this arch shape across the woman’s body. Finally, duplicate this layer and go to edit>transform>flip horizontal. Then use your lasso selection tool to delete parts of the arch that overlap the woman’s arms - so that it appears to weave around her limbs.
Step 17
Now apply the drop shadow settings shown below to the two arch shape layers. To apply the exact same settings to both layers right click on the layer style once applied to your first layer and click on ‘copy layer style’. Then right click on your second arch layer in your layer’s palette and click ‘paste layer style’.
Step 18
Now apply Photoshop custom shapes to your image, using basic white shapes at 10% opacity. Try to apply them fairly randomly around the edges of your woman.
Step 19
Now create a new layer beneath your custom shape layers called ‘brushes’. Then select a watercolor brush set such as this one and apply some very bright, large brush strokes to liven up your image.
Step 20
Now create a new layer called ‘circles’ below your watercolor brush layer. Create a circular selection using your marquee tool, and fill it with black, using a 10% opacity paintbrush. Then go to select>modify>contract and contract by 20px. Repeat this step several times to achieve something like the effect below:
Step 21
Now create some music note shapes using Photoshop custom shapes. Then use your lasso tool to cut off the top bar of the notes and then stretch the notes upwards to the top of your canvas.
And We’re Done!
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and like the outcome. As always I’d appreciate seeing your efforts and hearing your opinions!
38 Comments so Far:
Comment by Pevec on October 10, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Nice tut
Comment by sean on October 11, 2008 at 1:25 am
it’s nice…but not that awesome you know…just my opinion though as a (6 years designer)
Comment by beets on October 11, 2008 at 6:19 am
Yay! Welcome back Tom!
nice tutorial… i love the dangling notes, hehe
Comment by NaldzGraphics on October 11, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Its nice to see you back Tom:)this site is starting to rock again:)another nice tutorial as always.!!!
Ronald
Comment by Tom on October 11, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Thanks guys, it’s great to be back, and I can’t wait to get some more tutorials written :).
Comment by beets on October 11, 2008 at 8:04 pm
you should squeeze out a couple extra when you have time, and keep them hidden - so if you disappear again, you can just hit publish, hehe
Comment by RUGRLN on October 12, 2008 at 6:09 am
Beets got a good point ya knw!
Comment by Dainis Graveris on October 12, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Easy to do, but nice outcome however, good job
And usually there is not so much free time to create extra articles 
Comment by mental eddy on October 13, 2008 at 7:25 am
Hi,
this poster combines some nice effects. good job
only one small comment: the reflection looks a bit odd since the rectangle in the bottom resembles a horizon line of some sort as well. just my first impression.
anyway, nice to see some psdfan activity again!
Comment by iddaa on October 15, 2008 at 9:37 am
Nice post.Thanks..
Comment by Tom on October 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Beets: Yeah that is a good idea, but unfortunately lately I haven’t had any spare time to write tutorials to publish now, let alone to save up. Hopefully things will be improving now though, as I’m trying to devote more time to PSDFAN.
Thanks to everyone else for the support and kind words
Comment by Raul on October 24, 2008 at 5:57 pm
nice tuto..! i have a question.. what font u use??
Comment by Jeffrey on November 1, 2008 at 1:18 am
Very nice. Give me plenty of new ideas next time I have to do a flyer for something. Thank you.
Comment by DEEJANAY;) on November 13, 2008 at 6:45 pm
my teacher made me do this at L.q.h.s:P
it sucks!!!
Comment by jamie on November 15, 2008 at 8:49 pm
i love it
thank youuuuu 
Comment by Kakashi on November 16, 2008 at 12:26 am
Damn nice tut, I followed every step, took me bout 2 hours :p ,, but damn got a nice result
keep it up
Comment by Tom on November 16, 2008 at 1:12 am
Thanks guys!
Kakashi: I’d love to see your result if you could post it here?
Raul: The font is Helvetica Neue
Comment by Brad on November 17, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Very nice tutorial. This taught me a lot about features I’ve never really utilized before.
Thanks!
Comment by jamie on November 26, 2008 at 5:34 am
what is the font you used in this tutorial
thanks
jamie
Comment by Tom on November 27, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Brad: Great, that’s what I always aim for.
Jamie: It’s Helvetica Neue
Comment by Rafael R.P on December 8, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Thx for the tutorial!
Comment by Erin on December 8, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I love it! Looks like something ministry of sound would do
Comment by sky on December 17, 2008 at 7:15 am
great… nice tut…
Comment by jerlin on December 17, 2008 at 12:40 pm
it was realy wonderful
Comment by huzz on December 19, 2008 at 3:51 am
nice n Eazy tut..
thanks….a lot
Comment by nestor on January 11, 2009 at 1:56 am
thank! very nice….hope you make more.
Comment by John on January 26, 2009 at 5:28 am
Love it!! Cheers!!!
Comment by Honour Chick on February 12, 2009 at 12:28 am
awesome tutorial
Comment by Michael on March 1, 2009 at 11:21 am
This is 2 good 2 be true :X
Comment by Miranda on March 15, 2009 at 9:51 pm
HELP !
I’m stuck on step 5.
Where it says that I need to use the circular marquee tool to make a circle, mine comes out looking like some sort of cross/plus sign kinda thing? Please, somebody..help me!?
Comment by stevan on April 28, 2009 at 11:31 pm
i can’t get past step 5… i can’t get the define pattern option available after the ‘circular marquee’ (which is the elliptic marquee tool, miranda)
Comment by stevan on April 28, 2009 at 11:36 pm
i realized my mistake.. i’m not so good with photoshop, but thanks. nice tut.
Comment by latoyya on April 30, 2009 at 4:55 am
Stevan, what did you do to get the define pattern selected…thanks in advance
Comment by Emile on June 2, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Nice tut, would have looked a better if the box was sitting on the ground tho.
Comment by SprockBoy on June 7, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Amazing Tutorial!!! Thanks!
Comment by Atiqur Rahman on June 14, 2009 at 12:59 pm
What I say ? its Amazing !!!!
Comment by Chris on June 14, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Somehow, i’m lost at step 10.
How do you get the dots to appear trough the text?
Comment by Ned Marr on June 22, 2009 at 7:33 am
Never have seen a great tutorial like this….everything it’s great explained….thanx a lot for it!!!
Leave a comment: