In this lesson, you will learn how to create a cool poster for a street dance contest using Photoshop. You will use quick tricks to work with tools, play with layer blending modes, change the color of an object in simple ways, learn how to import and place some 3D images, add highlights and more. During this lesson, you can learn how to quickly and professionally make an exciting poster design using Photoshop.
What will you create
This work turned out during the game when selecting some images that I found on the Internet. I tried to portray the spirit of street dance freedom using different symbols, such as wings and birds. Also, the poster’s idea was to create an exciting design using a limited color palette, such as red, black, and white, to give a powerful contrast. Glare has already been added at the last stage, I think that this is how our poster will look cooler. To complete this tutorial, you will need Photoshop CS4 or a newer version.
- Download the archive with materials for the lesson
- Download PSD file
Step 1
First of all, we need to separate our model from the background. Since I’m a lazy guy, I will make this step very simple. Using tool Magic wand
(Magic Wand tool) highlight the background color (turn on Add to Selected Area (add selection button) and decrease the Tolerance value and make sure that the option Adjacent pixels (Contiguous) ~ follow these parameters, and you select the background very quickly, in just a couple of clicks here and there).
Step 2
Choose a tool Quick mask
(Quick Mask) to activate the edit mode. In this mode, red indicates the area that was selected. As you have already noticed, some areas on the girl were not highlighted, so we need to fix this.
Step 3
Make it very simple, take the tool Polygonal Lasso
(Polygonal Lasso) and select the area we need on the girl. Next, use a black brush to paint over your selection. Then remove the selection by pressing the CTRL + D key combination.
Step 4
Keep using Polygonal Lasso (Polygonal Lasso) to highlight the remaining parts on the girl.
Step 5
Now click on the icon again. Quick masks (Quick Mask) to exit edit mode. Now the selected area has become active, but if you remember, the selected area is the background, not the girl. To fix this, you need to invert the selected area by going to the menu Selection> Invert (Select> Inverse).
Step 6
Also, you may have noticed that some edges still look rough and uneven. To fix the selection bump, you need to click on the button. Refine edge (Refine Edge) and follow the settings shown below. Play with the parameters in Edge setting (Adjust Edge) until the result suits you. Click OK to apply the setting. Refine edge (Refine Edge).
Step 7
Press CTRL + N to create a new 800 document? 1200 pixels. As for the resolution, set it to 300 ppi and click OK.
Step 8
Copy and paste the girl into the new document that we just created. Press CTRL + T to change the size and position of the girl.
Step 9
Discolor the image of the girl by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + U, you can also do this by selecting the menu Image> Correction> Discolor (Image> Adjustment> Desaturate).
Duplicate the girl layer by pressing CTRL + J, and then set the blending mode to Overlap (Overlay). So we get a more contrast image.
Step 10
Take the tool Ellipse
(Ellipse tool) and draw a red circle around the dancer. Set the stroke color to white and up to 5 pixels. To get a double stroke effect, add a layer style. Perform a stroke (Stroke) to the ellipse layer and make the settings shown below.
Step 11
So the next step is simple – you need to add text inside the red circle using the tool Text
(Type tool). In my case, if you’re interested, I used the font “Bebas” and “Century Gothic”.
Step 12
To make double bars under the text “Street Dance”, simply enter the “equal” symbol using the tool Text (Type tool). Any font will do here, but I chose Bebas, because I think it will fit well with other fonts.
Step 13
Go to menu Text – Convert to Curves (Type> Convert to Shape) to convert text to shape. Now use Free transformation (free transform) to change the width.
Step 14
Now go to menu Editing> Transforming> Perspective (Edit> Transform path> Perspective) and drag the bottom corner slightly down, as shown in the picture below.
Step 15
Now add another red circle by copying the first one (select the layer with the circle and press the key combination CTRL + J). Reduce the second circle and also the stroke to 1 pixel, both in the parameters panel and in the layer style.
Step 16
For this step we need 3D images that you had to download along with the archive.
Use the menu File> Post (File> Place …) to import a 3D bumble image. Adjust the size and position, then press Enter. Thus, our three-dimensional drawing is transformed into a smart object (this means: whatever you do with the image, the image quality will not deteriorate).
Step 17
Add a layer style Color overlay (Color Overlay) on the “bumble” layer. Choose red (# ed1c24) and set blending mode Multiplication (Multiply). Click OK and the color will change to red.
Step 18
Add some more 3D images and place them above the first one. Place them as shown below in the screenshot.
Step 19
Repeat step 17 for the “Reef2” and “Octave” layers to change their color to red.
Step 20
Open the image with a dove. We need to select the left wing, so take the tool Pen
(Pen Tool) and stroke the wing. Make sure the options bar is set Circuit (Path).
Step 21
When you finish the stroke, right-click and select in the context menu Select area (Make Selection). In the selection settings you can adjust the radius of the feathering, but I will skip this step by pressing the “OK” button.
Step 22
Copy and paste the wing into our work, place it below the layer with the girl. Reuse Free transformation (free transform) to change the size and position.
Step 23
Use the same method we applied to 3D images to change the color of the wing to red. Add a layer style Color overlay (Color Overlay), but this time select a darker red (# 2d080c) and change the blending mode to Bright light (Vivid Light).
Step 24
Press CTRL + J to duplicate the wing layer. Create a new empty layer under it, holding down the CTRL key and click on the icon Create new layer (new layer).
Step 25
Right-click on the thumbnail of the wing layer copy and select in the context menu Combine with the previous (Merge Down). This will merge the wing and the empty layer below it, with the layer style Color overlay (Color Overlay) will be removed, but the color effect will remain unchanged.
Step 26
Place the merged wing layer on top of all layers, and then change the blending mode to Overlap (Overlay). Good!
Step 27
Repeat steps 24 through 26 for the Octave layer, but at the end, change the blend mode to Multiplication (Multiply). If you did everything correctly, you will get the result, which is shown below in the screenshot.
Step 28
Open the New York Cityscape image. Copy and paste it into our work and place it below all layers. The image is large, so you will need to choose your favorite part or as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 29
Go to Image> Correction> Discolor (Image> Adjustment> Desaturate) to discolor the image of the cityscape. Then reduce opacity (Opacity) layer up to 40%.
Step 30
Create a new layer above the layer of New York. I renamed it “black vintage”, and you can think of your name. Now take the tool Brush 
(Brush Tool), select a soft brush (hardness 0%) and reduce the opacity of the brush to 30%.
Step 31
Using tool Brush (Brush Tool) paint over the edges of the canvas with black, as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 32
Now create a new layer above the “black vintage” layer, I will call it “white exposure”. And again with the tool Brush (Brush Tool) fill the middle of the image with white. See the example shown in the image below.
Step 33
Open the pigeon image. The quickest and easiest way to isolate a pigeon is to use the tool. Fast selection
(Quick Selection tool). Grab the tool and start creating a selection by clicking the whole mouse with the left mouse button.
Step 34
This is of course the fastest method of selection, but not the highest quality. To correct the selection, we can go to the menu Allocation> Refine edge (Select> Refine Edge). Tick the box Smart radius (Smart radius) and play with the sliders in Edge setting (Adjust Edge) to smooth the selection edges. Click OK.
Step 35
Dedicated pigeon copy to our work. Place it above the red circle layer. Use the tool Free transformation (Free transform) to change the size and position of the bird, as shown in the example below.
Step 36
You might notice a black outline around the edges of the pigeon. We can easily fix this by going to the menu. Layer> Edge Processing> Delete Black Halo (Layer> Matting> Remove Black Matte).
Step 37
Duplicate the dove layer by pressing CTRL + J and flip it horizontally by going to the menu Editing> Transform> Flip Horizontal (Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal). Now place it on the left side of the image and reduce it using transformation.
Step 38
Open the image with the pen and go to the menu. Select> Color Range (Select> Color Range). Here we can highlight the pen by taking a color swatch. Use the eyedropper to click on the brightest white color of the pen, then increase the value. Scatter (Fuzziness) to 200.
Step 39
Now you have all the pen selected. Next, click OK to apply the command. Color range (Color Range).
Step 40
Place the feather layer over the dove layer. Use the transform to rotate and adjust the pen size, place it as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 41
Set the layer blend mode with pen to Screen (Screen).
Step 42
To create the illusion of depth, we need to blur the pen by going to the menu Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur). Set the value Radius (Radius) approximately 1.5 pixels, then click OK.
Step 43
Now you need to add another pen in the same way as the previous one. Place it in the upper left corner and apply the filter again. Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur), but this time use a radius of 1 pixel.
Step 44
Add a third feather on the right side near the red circle. Reapply the filter Gaussian blur (Gaussian Blur) and set a blur radius of 0.5 pixels.
Step 45
Now add some highlights. Go to menu File> Post (File> Place) and select the desired image, I chose “optical-7”. Press Enter and place the highlight layer above the other layers.
Step 46
Using the tool Polygonal Lasso (Polygonal lasso tool), select the image as shown in the example below.
Step 47
Without removing the selection, click the mouse on the icon add layer mask (add layer mask).
Step 48
Most importantly, you need to change the blending mode to Screen (Screen) to hide the black color. Now you can change the size and position of the flare as you like.
Step 49
Duplicate the flare layer and place it between the bird and the girl, as shown in the example below.
Congratulations! You made a cool poster 
Final result
