create a 60′s psychedelic style concert poster | psdtuts+

Create a 60′s PsychedelicStyle Concert PosterKyle Pero on May 16th 2008 with 185 comments

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In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to create a retro 1960s psychedelic concert poster. Thistutorial relies heavily on the use of the Warp Tool, but includes a few other techniques as well. Let’sget started.

Step 1Create a new document with a poster-like size ratio. Visualize how you want the document to be laidout and draw some rough guides with the Brush Tool (B) on a new layer called “guides”. I drewseveral different compartments that will each contain a different piece of text and one that will containan image.

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Step 2Make a solid color adjustment layer and fill it with a deep purple. Select the Rounded RectangleTool(U). Set the radius so that you get a nice rounded edge that you like. Make sure that you set MakeWork Path As Checked on the property bar. Now click and drag to make your border. Grab the PenTool (P), and while holding Command, click and drag to select the path. Then click in the SubtractPath button on the property bar. Then make a solid color adjustment layer and fill it with an orangecolor.

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Step 3Now to set the first bit of text. I used a font called Hobo Std for mine. Grab the Text Tool (T) andclick anywhere in the canvas. Then type your text. Hit Command+T and scale the text up so that it fitsthe first compartment. Hit enter to set the transform. On the Layers Palette, right click on the text layerand select Convert to Shape. This turns the text into paths.

Step 4Go Edit>Transform>Warp and warp the text to fit the compartment. I find it’s easiest to start with thecorner handles and then adjust the others afterwards. The Warp Tool can take some getting used to,though it’s fairly intuitive. Play around with it until you get a good result. Repeat this step for all thetext compartments.

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Step 5Now let’s go back in and change the color on some of this text. First, I want some of the text to have astroke. Make the fill color on the ‘with special guests’ layer white. Then set the layer’s blending modeto Multiply. Double-click on the layer to the right of the layer’s name to open the Layer Styles Palette.Give the layer a stroke with the settings below. Go ahead and change the colors on the other text towhatever you like. Also, apply a stroke to some of the other text.

Step 6Many of these old posters were screen printed. Lets give ours a little of that effect. Load the selectionof the ‘Lumedia’ layer by Command+Clicking on its vector thumbnail. Hit (M) for the Marquee Tool.Then hit the arrow keys to move the selection down and to the right. Now hit Alt+Command+Clickon the same layer thumbnail to subtract from the selection. Make a new solid color adjustment layerjust above the original text and fill it with your secondary color. Set the Opacity to 75% and give it anudge so it doesn’t line up correctly. That way it will look more handmade.

Step 7The thing that is really going to make this look good and realistic is some texture. I have a papertexture that I got from BittBox that will do nicely. Copy the texture into the document. Then put it atthe top in the Layers Palette. Set the blending mode to Linear Light and set the Fill to 25%.

Step 8Now let’s move on to our image that will fill the rest of the poster. I got an image of a female singerfrom iStockphoto. Duplicate the blue channel by dragging it to the New Channel button at the bottomof the Channels Palette. Apply a harsh curve to it that looks something like below. Do the same to thered channel. Now invert each of the two new channels you made by selecting them and hittingCommand+I.

Step 9Make a new Solid Color adjustment layer and fill it with the lightest color that you used in the poster.

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Load the selection of one of the channels you made by holding Command-clicking on its thumbnail inthe Channels Palette. Make a new Solid Color adjustment layer above the previous one and fill it withone of the other colors from the poster. Do the same with the remaining channel that you created andfill it with the remaining color from the poster.

Now on each of the masks on the solid color adjustment layers, apply a threshold. GoImage>Adjustments>Threshold and drag the slider until you get the detail that looks good to you. Dothe same for the other mask on the other color.

Step 10Now, let’s get back to the poster. With the Pen Tool (P), draw a path around the blank area of theposter. Make a new group by clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. With thepath highlighted, hit the Add Layer Mask button twice to apply the path as a vector mask.

ConclusionNow drag the three color fill layers from the singer image over to the poster document and put theminto the group that you just created. Scale the image to fill the space as you see fit. I flipped minehorizontally to make it fit better.

Our final 1960s psychedelic-style concert poster is below. Have fun with these techniques and thisstyle of design.

By Kyle PeroKyle Pero has worked in the creative fields for many years now. With a background in photographyand graphic design he naturally became a Photoshop whiz. Now he works in advertising doingphotographic retouching, but also does freelance design and illustration work.

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