Wayne Rooney Banner Tutorial
So I'm back after a little while a banner tutorial! We will be making this:
Translatable: There's an important Selective Color that I suppose you can skip, but I'm not sure what it will look like without it
Image-heavy: Yes, but images will be hosted on imageshack as thumbnails
Program: Photoshop CS4
Techniques: Using textures, text, and layer modes
PSD: I decided to upload it, but I think that it would be really beneficial that you use both the psd and the tutorial as guides. I'll explain techniques in the tutorial and you can see how I applied them in the psd. The psd took a long time to upload so say thanks. :p
NOTE: I will NOT be posting adjustment layer settings as pictures this time because that also takes a really long time. However, if someone feels that was helpful, feel free to ask me to edit it and I will.
1. Open up a 485x160 document. You can probably go a bit bigger because the textures we're using are big. Make sure the background is marked as 'transparent'.
2. Let's add our first background texture. I'm going to start off with a soft grunge texture. I decided to go with a fairly light gray colored texture because it's neutral and allows us to change the colors more easily. Here is the texture I used:
Since we had a transparent background, there's no reason to set this on anything but Normal because it won't make a difference.
3. The next step is very subtle. We're going to add a tiny bit of color. So make a new solid color fill layer (fills the canvas with a solid color). If you don't know where to do that, go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color. I filled my canvas with a bright red, but it really depends on your color scheme - any bright color will do. I used #d40000.
I set that layer to Lighten, 100%. As you can see, because we had a fairly light colored background with only a few dark spots, the only colored areas are the dark spots. As the layer mode's name implies, 'Lighten' gets a texture or color in the darker areas of an image.
4. Now let's darken the image and also bring out the red we just added. We'll do this with a slightly darker gray, soft grunge texture:
When we set it to Multiply, it becomes wayyyy too dark, which tends to happen when setting a darker texture to Multiply. But when you lower the opacity it lightens it the image but still gives the darkening effect. I'm going to set it to 20% Opacity. You should see that when we darkened it, those red spots became more visible.
5. Now we're going to completely change the color scheme. The next texture is blue (WHOA!) and it will add some much needed color. I'll explain what to do after you apply this:
Now set it to Soft Light, 100%. Although the blue color is deep and dark, Soft Light will soften it but preserve the actual blue color. Soft Light in this case will also blend the blue with the rest of the background. In fact, it really just adds a splash of color and keeps the core texture and pattern that we added before.
6. Next let's add some pattern. Pattern adds a lot of flow and if you add it onto a grungy image it will soften it. Pattern is also a nice way to add attention to the focal point, which in our case will be the render. Let's add this texture:
Set this to Soft Light as well. This time Soft Light brought out the darker parts, like the scanlines and made them more visible and then blended the rest of the texture with the background.
TIP: When using the Soft Light for render/effects on people, it adds contrast. What is contrast? Here's an answer:
The use of opposing elements, such as colors, forms, or lines, in proximity to produce an intensified effect in a work of art.
OR
The difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture, such as a photograph or video image.
(CREDIT: http://www.answers.com/topic/contrast)
Basically 'contrast' is a term used in reference to where a picture is dark and where it is light, and the adjustment of those levels. There are many ways to do this in Photoshop such as Curves, Levels and Brightness/Contrast (adjustment layers). There are a few blending modes as well, namely Overlay and Soft Light. The dodge and burn tools manually control it. Soon I will be writing a tutorial explaining brightness, contrast etc.. Stay tuned!
Anyway, why did I explain contrast? Well, it turns out that, although the effect is more subtle, you can add contrast through Soft Light on textures, too! If you notice, the light parts stayed and the dark parts were blended which is an example of contrast. Cool, eh?
7. Now for more pattern. This time we'll add some thicker lines. These really just add a nice touch and are not there for any particular reason.
NOTE: Most of the textures we are using are in black and white. Why? Well, this helps us blend all the textures better. If we were using a bunch of different colors, they would get in the way of each other and all of the nice pattern would get washed out because it would be so busy. Back to the textures now, apply this:
Set this to Darken. Well, that didn't even blend it at all! Even if we lower the opacity to a fairly low level, it's not blended enough. So set it to 5% Opacity. Although it's on such a low opacity, it still should be visible.
8. Now let's add some grunge texture. The texture we're about to add also adds attention to where our render will be (not quite yet) because - well, you'll see. Apply this:
Now set it to Overlay, 100%. This will darken the image a bit, but not too much. Also, I've placed it so that grungy line is in the middle where we will be placing our render. It just adds flow and guides the eye towards the render.
9. Now let's add shape. The texture we're going to add really gives the banner some flow. It's a line basically, but it gives the banner a more elegant look and helps the eye look across the whole banner, even though it's in the background. Apply this:
Set this to Screen. Screen will get rid of the black background as well as add some brightness to the white line. If you set it to 'Lighten' it would just get rid of the black background and wouldn't add any effects to the actual texture part. I think Screen doesn't add too much light, so I like that. I sometimes prefer it over Color Dodge as well because Color Dodge can make things too dodgy, pixelated, and wayyyy too bright. Not a good combination. Sometimes Color Dodge works better on black and white textures.
10. Now add some text. The text is important for the final outcome, so I'm going to tell you how I did it. First take a simple (default) SERIF font. If you don't know what a Serif font is, read this (it might be best to just look at the picture to the right): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif
I used Times New Roman. I used a medium size, fairly big (use the preview as your guide to guesstimate). I then wrote Rooney's first initial (W) in that font. I put it a tiny bit off center and towards the top of the banner. I used the color WHITE. Now go to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke. Put these settings:
SIZE: 1 px
POSITION: Outside
BLEND MODE: Normal
OPACITY: 100%
FILL TYPE: Color
COLOR: White
Press OK. I know right now it looks really thick and pixelated, so let's fix that. Lower the FILL to 0%. You'll see that all that is left is the Stroke, there's no body in the text. Why is that? Well let's talk basic Fill vs. Opacity. Opacity affects the original layer content (textures, text, shapes, etc.) AND added effects (various layer style effects including: Stroke, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay etc.). Fill, however, only affects original layer content. When you add Layer Style effects and lower the fill, the layer style effects stay the same while the text or texture disappears.
Now, duplicate that layer (make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl+J). Get out your move tool (it's a black arrow with one of those cross things and it's next to the Selection tool). With your arrow keys (on the keyboard) nudge the duplicate layer to the left or right (I did the left) ever so slightly. Just do it so you have a 3-D effect. You can move it up and down as well.
12. Now do the same text effect, except with your subject's last initial (R in my case). I placed it diagonally opposite to the W. Do the stroke and 3-D nudging effects. My R overlapped the W a little bit.
13. Now add your render/cut-out. I'm using one of Wayne Rooney. Resize it so it's pretty small but visible. Mine covered up the text but the text was still fairly readable (see preview). Duplicate it (Ctrl+J) 2 times so you have 3 render layers. Here are the effects I used:
Bottom: Go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. I used a medium gray color (#4d4d4d). Press OK.
Middle: Set it on Color Dodge. The render should become dodgy and sort of blended with the gray. It looks a bit ugly but we'll fix that.
Top: Desaturate it (make it black and white - Ctrl+Shift+U). Then, set it to Overlay, 80% Opacity. This adds contrast and tones down the dodgy effect.
14. Now I did something a bit interesting that you don't have to do but I think it makes it look better. Get a 17 px soft brush in WHITE. Carefully make a bunch of little dots on the visible parts of the text. Make sure they all roughly spaced out symmetrically.
15. Next let's darken the banner a bit. This will add some more texture - grunge, to be exact. Apply this:
Set this to Multiply. Since this is a fairly light gray texture, it shouldn't darken the banner too much. If you feel it's too dark, simply lower the opacity.
16. Now let's start the coloring. First, we're going to make it really dull (we'll fix it) so that it's easier to color it. Think of it as a 'blanker' canvas. So to do this, we'll need to make a gradient map. Short explanation:
"Photoshop offers many ways to convert an image from color to black-and-white. Unlike the other tools, however, the Gradient Map gives you a lot of control over how your image is converted. You also can use the Gradient Map to colorize a black-and-white image or to change the colors in a color image. This all-around tool’s interesting features can take you to new heights in your photo editing."
CREDIT: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=708297
And that's just what we're going to do - make a black to white gradient. First, make sure your foreground color is black and the background color is white. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map. You should see that the default colors are black and white. Press OK. We're not going to leave it black and white because that would just make it harder to color. Set this to Lighten, 60% Opacity. You should see the colors get pretty dull, however some of the colors are preserved.
17. Now let's get back SOME of that blue color - not all quite yet. For this, make a new Color Fill layer in a medium blue (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). I used #01699f. Press OK. Set this layer to Screen and lower the FILL to a low opacity, I used 10%. The fill is pretty low so it shouldn't change too much.
18. Now we're going to introduce some warmth. This is going to make it a little too warm - we'll fix that. Make a new orange color fill layer. I used #f27417. Set this to Darken. WHOA! Way too orange and even some green in there. So I lowered the Opacity to 32% and the Fill to 34%. Still a little too orange, but much better now.
19. Let's add some brightness and contrast. We'll do that with Levels. A short explanation:
"Levels is a tool in Photoshop and other image editing programs which can move and stretch the brightness levels of an image histogram. It has the power to adjust brightness, contrast, and tonal range by specifying the location of complete black, complete white, and midtones in a histogram."
CREDIT: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm
Basically you can adjust the levels of brightness and contrast in an image, hence the name. You really should play around and see what works for your image. I didn't do too much, but it still made a big difference. Here are my settings:
RGB:
INPUT: 0, 1.00, 228
OUTPUT: 0, 255
Leave this layer on Normal.
20. Now let's bring back some of that lovely blue. We'll do this with Selective Color. Selective Color is a pretty remarkable tool. It helps you adjust colors in an image and the colors WITHIN them. There are 4 kinds of colors to adjust - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. The 'Reds' is the default color setting and some would say it changes things the most when you adjust it. I believe that is the Neutrals, but that's just me. Anyway, we're going to turn the image blue with SC:
REDS: -29, +3, +42, +46
What we did here is bring out the reds in the image, especially in his jersey. We also brightened it up.
GREENS: +99, +100, +98, +100
We didn't do much here, despite the high settings. We just brought out some of the green in the background which will, in turn, help deepen the Cyan.
CYANS: +29, 0, 0, 0
Here we just added a hint of Cyan to the background, but not enough yet.
BLUES: -43, -58, -70, -40
We also have a bit of blue in the background so we just dulled it a little.
NEUTRALS: +100, +18, -30, +2
If you feel the +100 made it too blue, you can lower that until you are satisfied, but wait until we have lowered the opacity of the whole layer. As I said before, I think Neutrals strengthens the colors most. A little goes a long way. In some images, you can up the say, Cyan in Neutrals to just 5 and it will make a big difference. I wanted the background to be a deep blue, so that's why I upped the Cyan so much.
BLACKS: -3, +45, -22, -8
This just made things a little brighter.
Since we made it so very blue, it looks a little ugly and too strong. So lower the Opacity to 20% but keep it on Normal.
21. Now let's add a lot of contrast. The easiest way to do this is the Brightness/Contrast tool. You just toggle the bar and you're done - no histograms or graphs. Sometimes it's not as effective, but that's always the case with the easy way out. Here are my settings:
BRIGHTNESS: 0
CONTRAST: +54
We upped the contrast a lot, but if you don't like it you can lower it.
And you are done! Sorry for the hiatus, I couldn't decide on what to write a tutorial about. Hope you enjoyed this and if there's anything you don't understand, please feel free to ask a question/comment. Oh, and excuse any typos, I seem to making a lot of those lately. If you see any, please point them out to me!
PSD link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wzztztzij5d/waynersign.psd
Translatable: There's an important Selective Color that I suppose you can skip, but I'm not sure what it will look like without it
Image-heavy: Yes, but images will be hosted on imageshack as thumbnails
Program: Photoshop CS4
Techniques: Using textures, text, and layer modes
PSD: I decided to upload it, but I think that it would be really beneficial that you use both the psd and the tutorial as guides. I'll explain techniques in the tutorial and you can see how I applied them in the psd. The psd took a long time to upload so say thanks. :p
NOTE: I will NOT be posting adjustment layer settings as pictures this time because that also takes a really long time. However, if someone feels that was helpful, feel free to ask me to edit it and I will.
1. Open up a 485x160 document. You can probably go a bit bigger because the textures we're using are big. Make sure the background is marked as 'transparent'.
2. Let's add our first background texture. I'm going to start off with a soft grunge texture. I decided to go with a fairly light gray colored texture because it's neutral and allows us to change the colors more easily. Here is the texture I used:
Since we had a transparent background, there's no reason to set this on anything but Normal because it won't make a difference.
3. The next step is very subtle. We're going to add a tiny bit of color. So make a new solid color fill layer (fills the canvas with a solid color). If you don't know where to do that, go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color. I filled my canvas with a bright red, but it really depends on your color scheme - any bright color will do. I used #d40000.
I set that layer to Lighten, 100%. As you can see, because we had a fairly light colored background with only a few dark spots, the only colored areas are the dark spots. As the layer mode's name implies, 'Lighten' gets a texture or color in the darker areas of an image.
4. Now let's darken the image and also bring out the red we just added. We'll do this with a slightly darker gray, soft grunge texture:
When we set it to Multiply, it becomes wayyyy too dark, which tends to happen when setting a darker texture to Multiply. But when you lower the opacity it lightens it the image but still gives the darkening effect. I'm going to set it to 20% Opacity. You should see that when we darkened it, those red spots became more visible.
5. Now we're going to completely change the color scheme. The next texture is blue (WHOA!) and it will add some much needed color. I'll explain what to do after you apply this:
Now set it to Soft Light, 100%. Although the blue color is deep and dark, Soft Light will soften it but preserve the actual blue color. Soft Light in this case will also blend the blue with the rest of the background. In fact, it really just adds a splash of color and keeps the core texture and pattern that we added before.
6. Next let's add some pattern. Pattern adds a lot of flow and if you add it onto a grungy image it will soften it. Pattern is also a nice way to add attention to the focal point, which in our case will be the render. Let's add this texture:
Set this to Soft Light as well. This time Soft Light brought out the darker parts, like the scanlines and made them more visible and then blended the rest of the texture with the background.
TIP: When using the Soft Light for render/effects on people, it adds contrast. What is contrast? Here's an answer:
The use of opposing elements, such as colors, forms, or lines, in proximity to produce an intensified effect in a work of art.
OR
The difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture, such as a photograph or video image.
(CREDIT: http://www.answers.com/topic/contrast)
Basically 'contrast' is a term used in reference to where a picture is dark and where it is light, and the adjustment of those levels. There are many ways to do this in Photoshop such as Curves, Levels and Brightness/Contrast (adjustment layers). There are a few blending modes as well, namely Overlay and Soft Light. The dodge and burn tools manually control it. Soon I will be writing a tutorial explaining brightness, contrast etc.. Stay tuned!
Anyway, why did I explain contrast? Well, it turns out that, although the effect is more subtle, you can add contrast through Soft Light on textures, too! If you notice, the light parts stayed and the dark parts were blended which is an example of contrast. Cool, eh?
7. Now for more pattern. This time we'll add some thicker lines. These really just add a nice touch and are not there for any particular reason.
NOTE: Most of the textures we are using are in black and white. Why? Well, this helps us blend all the textures better. If we were using a bunch of different colors, they would get in the way of each other and all of the nice pattern would get washed out because it would be so busy. Back to the textures now, apply this:
Set this to Darken. Well, that didn't even blend it at all! Even if we lower the opacity to a fairly low level, it's not blended enough. So set it to 5% Opacity. Although it's on such a low opacity, it still should be visible.
8. Now let's add some grunge texture. The texture we're about to add also adds attention to where our render will be (not quite yet) because - well, you'll see. Apply this:
Now set it to Overlay, 100%. This will darken the image a bit, but not too much. Also, I've placed it so that grungy line is in the middle where we will be placing our render. It just adds flow and guides the eye towards the render.
9. Now let's add shape. The texture we're going to add really gives the banner some flow. It's a line basically, but it gives the banner a more elegant look and helps the eye look across the whole banner, even though it's in the background. Apply this:
Set this to Screen. Screen will get rid of the black background as well as add some brightness to the white line. If you set it to 'Lighten' it would just get rid of the black background and wouldn't add any effects to the actual texture part. I think Screen doesn't add too much light, so I like that. I sometimes prefer it over Color Dodge as well because Color Dodge can make things too dodgy, pixelated, and wayyyy too bright. Not a good combination. Sometimes Color Dodge works better on black and white textures.
10. Now add some text. The text is important for the final outcome, so I'm going to tell you how I did it. First take a simple (default) SERIF font. If you don't know what a Serif font is, read this (it might be best to just look at the picture to the right): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif
I used Times New Roman. I used a medium size, fairly big (use the preview as your guide to guesstimate). I then wrote Rooney's first initial (W) in that font. I put it a tiny bit off center and towards the top of the banner. I used the color WHITE. Now go to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke. Put these settings:
SIZE: 1 px
POSITION: Outside
BLEND MODE: Normal
OPACITY: 100%
FILL TYPE: Color
COLOR: White
Press OK. I know right now it looks really thick and pixelated, so let's fix that. Lower the FILL to 0%. You'll see that all that is left is the Stroke, there's no body in the text. Why is that? Well let's talk basic Fill vs. Opacity. Opacity affects the original layer content (textures, text, shapes, etc.) AND added effects (various layer style effects including: Stroke, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay etc.). Fill, however, only affects original layer content. When you add Layer Style effects and lower the fill, the layer style effects stay the same while the text or texture disappears.
Now, duplicate that layer (make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl+J). Get out your move tool (it's a black arrow with one of those cross things and it's next to the Selection tool). With your arrow keys (on the keyboard) nudge the duplicate layer to the left or right (I did the left) ever so slightly. Just do it so you have a 3-D effect. You can move it up and down as well.
12. Now do the same text effect, except with your subject's last initial (R in my case). I placed it diagonally opposite to the W. Do the stroke and 3-D nudging effects. My R overlapped the W a little bit.
13. Now add your render/cut-out. I'm using one of Wayne Rooney. Resize it so it's pretty small but visible. Mine covered up the text but the text was still fairly readable (see preview). Duplicate it (Ctrl+J) 2 times so you have 3 render layers. Here are the effects I used:
Bottom: Go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. I used a medium gray color (#4d4d4d). Press OK.
Middle: Set it on Color Dodge. The render should become dodgy and sort of blended with the gray. It looks a bit ugly but we'll fix that.
Top: Desaturate it (make it black and white - Ctrl+Shift+U). Then, set it to Overlay, 80% Opacity. This adds contrast and tones down the dodgy effect.
14. Now I did something a bit interesting that you don't have to do but I think it makes it look better. Get a 17 px soft brush in WHITE. Carefully make a bunch of little dots on the visible parts of the text. Make sure they all roughly spaced out symmetrically.
15. Next let's darken the banner a bit. This will add some more texture - grunge, to be exact. Apply this:
Set this to Multiply. Since this is a fairly light gray texture, it shouldn't darken the banner too much. If you feel it's too dark, simply lower the opacity.
16. Now let's start the coloring. First, we're going to make it really dull (we'll fix it) so that it's easier to color it. Think of it as a 'blanker' canvas. So to do this, we'll need to make a gradient map. Short explanation:
"Photoshop offers many ways to convert an image from color to black-and-white. Unlike the other tools, however, the Gradient Map gives you a lot of control over how your image is converted. You also can use the Gradient Map to colorize a black-and-white image or to change the colors in a color image. This all-around tool’s interesting features can take you to new heights in your photo editing."
CREDIT: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=708297
And that's just what we're going to do - make a black to white gradient. First, make sure your foreground color is black and the background color is white. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map. You should see that the default colors are black and white. Press OK. We're not going to leave it black and white because that would just make it harder to color. Set this to Lighten, 60% Opacity. You should see the colors get pretty dull, however some of the colors are preserved.
17. Now let's get back SOME of that blue color - not all quite yet. For this, make a new Color Fill layer in a medium blue (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). I used #01699f. Press OK. Set this layer to Screen and lower the FILL to a low opacity, I used 10%. The fill is pretty low so it shouldn't change too much.
18. Now we're going to introduce some warmth. This is going to make it a little too warm - we'll fix that. Make a new orange color fill layer. I used #f27417. Set this to Darken. WHOA! Way too orange and even some green in there. So I lowered the Opacity to 32% and the Fill to 34%. Still a little too orange, but much better now.
19. Let's add some brightness and contrast. We'll do that with Levels. A short explanation:
"Levels is a tool in Photoshop and other image editing programs which can move and stretch the brightness levels of an image histogram. It has the power to adjust brightness, contrast, and tonal range by specifying the location of complete black, complete white, and midtones in a histogram."
CREDIT: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm
Basically you can adjust the levels of brightness and contrast in an image, hence the name. You really should play around and see what works for your image. I didn't do too much, but it still made a big difference. Here are my settings:
RGB:
INPUT: 0, 1.00, 228
OUTPUT: 0, 255
Leave this layer on Normal.
20. Now let's bring back some of that lovely blue. We'll do this with Selective Color. Selective Color is a pretty remarkable tool. It helps you adjust colors in an image and the colors WITHIN them. There are 4 kinds of colors to adjust - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. The 'Reds' is the default color setting and some would say it changes things the most when you adjust it. I believe that is the Neutrals, but that's just me. Anyway, we're going to turn the image blue with SC:
REDS: -29, +3, +42, +46
What we did here is bring out the reds in the image, especially in his jersey. We also brightened it up.
GREENS: +99, +100, +98, +100
We didn't do much here, despite the high settings. We just brought out some of the green in the background which will, in turn, help deepen the Cyan.
CYANS: +29, 0, 0, 0
Here we just added a hint of Cyan to the background, but not enough yet.
BLUES: -43, -58, -70, -40
We also have a bit of blue in the background so we just dulled it a little.
NEUTRALS: +100, +18, -30, +2
If you feel the +100 made it too blue, you can lower that until you are satisfied, but wait until we have lowered the opacity of the whole layer. As I said before, I think Neutrals strengthens the colors most. A little goes a long way. In some images, you can up the say, Cyan in Neutrals to just 5 and it will make a big difference. I wanted the background to be a deep blue, so that's why I upped the Cyan so much.
BLACKS: -3, +45, -22, -8
This just made things a little brighter.
Since we made it so very blue, it looks a little ugly and too strong. So lower the Opacity to 20% but keep it on Normal.
21. Now let's add a lot of contrast. The easiest way to do this is the Brightness/Contrast tool. You just toggle the bar and you're done - no histograms or graphs. Sometimes it's not as effective, but that's always the case with the easy way out. Here are my settings:
BRIGHTNESS: 0
CONTRAST: +54
We upped the contrast a lot, but if you don't like it you can lower it.
And you are done! Sorry for the hiatus, I couldn't decide on what to write a tutorial about. Hope you enjoyed this and if there's anything you don't understand, please feel free to ask a question/comment. Oh, and excuse any typos, I seem to making a lot of those lately. If you see any, please point them out to me!
PSD link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wzztztzij5d/waynersign.psd