How to Create Posters in Photoshop

Reference Credit Jsome1,

If you've ever wondered how artistic posters are created in Photoshop, then this is the tutorial for you. Photoshop is a versatile program that allows you to create art from scratch. It's the industry standard in image editing and graphic design. Although it takes a while to learn everything you need to know about Photoshop, here are some tips to help you understand the basics of creating a poster from scratch.

Things You'll Need

• Photographs
• Adobe Photoshop

Instructions

1. 

   Open Photoshop. Go to "File" and select "New" to create a new document. Name the file and select "A4" in the preset drop-down box. A4 is a common size for posters.

2. 

   Open up the images that you'll use for the poster. In this tutorial, we are using three images. Go to "File" and select "Open" or press "Ctrl + O" on your keyboard. Click and hold the "Ctrl" button to select multiple files to open at once. Go to "Window" on the menu bar and select "Arrange," then "Tile" to show all four files, including the new document just created in Step 1.

3. 

   Select the "Move" tool from the tool bar or press "M" on your keyboard. Drag the opened photos one by one into the new document. In the new document, each photo will be in its own layer.

4. 

   Close the three photos and return to the new poster document.

5. 

   Re-size the photos in the new poster document. Select the first photo layer. Go to "Edit" on the menu bar, and select "Transform," then "Scale." Holding the "Shift" key on your keyboard, re-size the photos as needed. Holding "Shift" allows the photos to maintain their ratio aspect.

6. 

   Edit photo to give an even, unified color. To do this, right click on the layer containing the photo in need of editing. In this tutorial, select "Blending Options" and then select "Color Overlay." Change the blend mode to "Saturation," the opacity to 87 percent and the color to #F7F3F9.

7. 

   Rename the background layer by double clicking on the name. Confirm the renaming to "Layer 0" when prompted. Renaming the background layer unlocks it and allows it to be edited.

8. 

   Select the "Paint Bucket" on the tool bar, or press "G" on your keyboard. Fill Layer 0 with the color black by clicking on it with the paint bucket.

9. 

   Make Layers 0 and 1 invisible by clicking on each of their eye icons in the layer box. On the menu bar, select "Layer," then "Merge Visible" or press "Shift + Ctrl + E" on your keyboard. This will merge Layers 2 and 3 together. In the tutorial, Layer 0 is the background, Layer 1 is the train station, Layer 2 is the woman, and Layer 3 is the man.

10. Create a layer mask on the newly merged image. Select the "Layer Mask" icon on the bottom of the layer box.

11. Select the "Gradient Fill" tool from the tool bar, or press "G" on your keyboard. Make sure the colors in fore/background boxes are black and white, respectively. Hold the shift button on your keyboard and draw a gradient from the center to the bottom of the merged image. (Ensure that the layer mask is selected, and not the merged image itself.)

12. Return to Layer 1 (the train layer) and repeat, this time drawing the gradient from the center up to the top of the image.

13. Create a new layer. Select the "Brush" tool, or "B" on your keyboard. Find the soft brush from the drop-down menu. Make sure the color is black. Begin to paint along the edges of the merged image, softening the sharp edges. This creates more of a vignette feeling.

14. Add text on a new layer using the "Text" tool, or "T" on your keyboard. Type out the text using Trajan Pro, 60 pt, and the color 4D181E.

15. Right click on the layer and select "Blending Options" then click "Bevel and Emboss."

16. Turn on the grid by going to "View "on the menu bar and selecting "Show," then "Grid," or press "Ctrl + [apostrophe key]" on your keyboard. Move the text and snap it on the grid. Add more text to populate the poster using the same font and varying sizes.

17. Save as a .pdf or .jpg file by going to "File" then "Save As..." Send to the printers.

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Tips & Warnings

• Look at various movie and promotional posters for inspiration and to get a feel for what type of composites are most effective.

• Don't be afraid to play around with Photoshop; it's how you learn.

• Save your work constantly. Photoshop can crash at the most unlikely times.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Train Photo, Jsome1 (Flickr)
• Woman Photo, S-A-M (Flickr)
• Man Photo, S-A-M (Flickr)