Follow this in-depth tutorial and exercise to refine your Photoshop skills as you learn more about importing text, practicing gradients and fill opacity, and working with custom shapes.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Photoshop training materials and is compatible with Photoshop updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Photoshop, check out our Photoshop Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Topics Covered in This Photoshop Tutorial:
Importing Text into Photoshop, More Gradient Practice, More Fill Opacity, More Practice with Custom Shapes
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
In this exercise, you’ll add the main text and put finishing touches on the brochure.
Adding the Main Text
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You should still have the yourname-Kissimmee brochure.psd file open. If you closed it, re-open it now. If you haven’t done the previous exercises:
- From the Photoshop Class folder, go into the Kissimmee Brochure folder and open Kissimmee Part 2 done.psd.
- Save it as yourname-Kissimmee brochure.psd.
In the Layers panel, make sure the stars layer group is selected.
From the Kissimmee Brochure folder, open the file main paragraphs of text.psd.
If you see a dialog about updating text layers, click Update.
In the Layers panel, select both the text layers (using Shift–click).
Press Cmd–G (Mac) or CTRL–G (Windows) to group the layers.
In the Layers panel, double–click Group 1 and rename it main text.
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To copy the layer group into your Kissimmee brochure so they maintain their original positions, do the following:
- With the main text group still selected, do an Edit > Copy.
- Switch back to yourname-Kissimmee brochure.psd using the tab at the top.
- Do NOT paste using the keystroke! To paste the layers exactly where they were in the previous file, go to Edit > Paste Special > Paste in Place.
Close the main paragraphs of text.psd file and don’t bother saving changes.
Back in the yourname-Kissimmee brochure.psd file, make sure the Move tool
is selected.The banner ornament, title, date, etc. may need to be re-positioned to look good above the new text. In the Layers panel, select the If It Weren’t for Disston There Would Be No Disney! type layer. It’s near the middle of the list.
Hold Shift and click on the stars layer group. (This should select all layers except bg color, leather, page border, and main text.)
Press Cmd–G (Mac) or CTRL–G (Windows) to group the layers.
In the Layers panel, double–click Group 1 and rename it title and banner.
Move the title and banner layer group to a better position in the brochure.
Adding a Cowboy
In the Layers panel, select the main text layer group.
From the Kissimmee Brochure folder, open the file cowboy.tif.
Select all by pressing Cmd–A (Mac) or CTRL–A (Windows).
Copy by pressing Cmd–C (Mac) or CTRL–C (Windows).
Close the file and return to yourname-Kissimmee brochure.psd.
Paste by pressing Cmd–V (Mac) or CTRL–V (Windows).
Double–click directly on the name Layer 1 and rename it cowboy.
If the rulers are not already showing, go into the View menu and select Rulers. If they aren’t in inches, CTRL–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) in the ruler and choose Inches from the menu.
Hold Shift and drag the cowboy layer down until the top is approximately at 5.5 inches.
At the top left of the Layers panel, change the Blending mode from Normal to Multiply.
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This layer needs to have the same mask as the page border. To copy it, hold Option (Mac) or ALT (Windows) and drag the page border layer mask up to the cowboy layer as shown below:
In the Layers panel, lower the Opacity to around 70%.
Let’s make the top of the cowboy image blend more smoothly into the background. Choose the Gradient tool
.At the left of the Options bar, click the arrow
to the right of the gradient preview and double–click the second thumbnail on the left in the top row, which is the Foreground to Transparent gradient.In the Layers panel, make sure the layer mask is selected.
Make sure the foreground color is set to black.
Position the cursor at the top of the cowboy photo, hold Shift and drag down about an inch to 6.5 inches as shown on the rulers.
Click on the cowboy layer thumbnail to exit the mask.
Adding a Flag
Go to File > Place Embedded.
From the Kissimmee Brochure folder, choose flag silo.tif and click Place.
Position the cursor near a corner of the image, so that it changes into the rotation handles
.Rotate to around −25º (that’s minus 25). The Options bar will tell you the angle
. Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) when finished.At the top left of the Layers panel, change the Blending mode from Normal to Multiply.
In the Layers panel, lower the Opacity to around 7%.
Choose the Move tool
.Position the flag so it is “flying” above the cowboy, behind some of the right column of text. The right edge of the flag should extend off the page.
Adding a Stamp & Some Text
Scroll to the bottom of the image. Make sure you can see the area from the text to the bottom.
Choose the Custom Shape tool
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In the Options bar:
- On the left, make sure Shape is selected in the first menu (it might say Path).
- On the right, click on thumbnail icon next to Shape.
- Navigate into Legacy Shapes and More > All Legacy Default Shapes > Objects.
Find the Stamp 1 shape
(the solid white one, not the outlined one) and double–click on it to choose it.Press X to switch to a white foreground color.
Hold Shift and click and drag out a stamp shape that fills the area below the left column of text.
In the Layers panel, double–click Shape 1 and rename it stamp.
Near the top right of the Layers panel, reduce the Fill (opacity) to 70%.
Click the Add a layer style button
and from the menu, choose Drop Shadow.-
Set the following:
Distance: 0 px Spread: 0% Size: 7 px Click OK.
Choose the Horizontal Type tool
.Press D to get the default black foreground color.
Zoom in on the stamp so it’s nice and large on the screen.
- We want to put some text over the stamp. To prevent ourselves from adding text along the stamp path or making a similar mistake:
- Hold Shift as you start dragging a text box inside of the stamp.
- After you’ve started the drag, let go of Shift so you can make a rectangle.
In the Options bar, make the font Adobe Garamond Pro, Bold, 10 pt, and click the Center text button
.Open the Character panel (Window > Character) and set the Leading
to Auto if it is not already (you’ll have to choose it from the menu).Open the Paragraph panel (Window > Paragraph) and set Indent first line
to 0 if it isn’t already.Type: DID YOU KNOW?
Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to start a new paragraph.
In the Options bar, change the font to Adobe Garamond Pro, and Bold Italic.
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Type the following line of text:
In the early 1900s Kissimmee’s mayor passed a law to allow cattle to graze in the streets, hence Kissimmee became known as “Cow Town.”
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Notice that the text wraps to fit inside the box? Slick. While holding Option (Mac) or ALT (Windows), grab one of the corner resize handles and resize the text box so the text wraps as shown below. (If it won’t wrap quite right, place the text cursor between “graze” and “in” and hit Shift–Return (Mac) or Shift–Enter (Windows) to make a new line if necessary.)
In the Layers panel, select the stamp layer.
Press Cmd–T (Mac) or CTRL–T (Windows) to start a free transform.
Hold Shift–Option (Mac) or Shift–ALT (Windows) and drag a corner resize handle to size the stamp so it looks good around the text.
Drag inside the stamp to move it or use the Arrow keys to carefully nudge it into position.
When done press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to finish.
In the Layers panel, select both the stamp and “Did you know” type layer (using Shift–click).
Press Cmd–G (Mac) or CTRL–G (Windows) to group the layers.
In the Layers panel, double–click Group 1 and rename it stamp.
If needed, use the Move tool
to position the stamp group nicely below the text.-
Yee-Haw! Save the file and you are done.
Optional Experimentation (If You Finish Early)
Try experimenting with the following and see if you can improve the look:
- Add a drop shadow to the page border layer.
- Slightly increase the page border layer’s Fill opacity.
- Change the Fill Color of the bg color to modify the color of the leather.
