How to Make a Magazine With Adobe Photoshop

A person who is seeking a way how to make a magazine with Adobe Photoshop should know that Photoshop is probably not the best Adobe software with which to make a magazine. However, even though Adobe InDesign is better for creating magazines, Photoshop is still a multifaceted program that can be used to create a quality product.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop software

How to Make a Magazine with Adobe Photoshop

1. Press "Ctrl+N" to create a new document in Photoshop. The document panel should be set to be approximately two times the width and about 50 percent longer than the cover image. Set a color for the background by clicking on the colors palette. For right now, any color will work fine.

2. Press "Ctrl+D" to insert the cover image. After the image has been inserted, go to the layers palette and name this layer "Cover." Click on "Edit>Transform>Perspective." Drag the top left side of the page down just a bit until the perspective of the image is right for your taste.

3. Drag the layer to the new layer button inside of the layers palette. This will create a copy of the layer. Make sure this layer is listed second in the layers palette by dragging it underneath the "Cover" layer. Call this layer "Background."

4. Pull up the layers style window by double clicking on the layer titled "Background." Choose a color overlay for this layer. It is best to use a darker color than the color used in the cover layer, although the colors should be somewhat similar. Click on "Edit>Transform>Perspective" again and slightly drag down the upper right side so it matches the upper left side.

5. Make a duplicate of the "Background" layer by dragging it to the new layer button on the layers palette. This layer should be titled "pages." Make sure the layer title in the palette is located in-between the background layer and the cover layer. A person cannot effectively make a magazine with Adobe Photoshop without following this step because the pages will not appear in the proper order.

6. Move the mouse to the pages layer and double-click on it. This will open the colors. Choose a white overlay. Choose a font to use. For best results, keep the font black to start off with. In the gradient palette, move the opacity to about 75 percent.

7. Make several duplicates of the "pages" layer by selecting the pages button and moving it into the new layer button. Repeat this process for each page of the magazine. After each duplication, move the layer a bit off to the side by dragging it with the arrow tool that can be selected in the tools palette.

8. Proceed to make a magazine with Adobe Photoshop by creating columns, inserting text and placing images on each page.

Tips & Warnings

• Plan ahead. Paginate the layout of the magazine on dummy sheets before placing ads, images and articles in the magazine. This will reduce errors when working in Photoshop.
• If possible, use Adobe InDesign to create magazines instead. Although Photoshop can do the job, InDesign was specifically created to create and publish books and magazines. Try to use Photoshop for creating elements to use on the pages being created by InDesign.

Resources

• Create a Magazine Cover in Photoshop
• Photoshop Tutorials