In this lesson, I will give you some tips on how to create a holiday card for Valentine’s Day. You will learn how to add a layer style, draw a heart with the pen tool, apply brushes, etc. So let’s get started!
Materials for the lesson:
Let’s start working with creating a new document (Ctrl + N) in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with a size of 1920px by 1200px (RGB color mode) with a resolution of 72. Click on the icon Add layer style
(Add a layer style) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay):
Click on the color bar to open. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor) and set the colors as shown in the image below. Click OK to close the dialog box. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor).
We got the following background.
Next, create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and select Hard Round (Hard Round) Brush 
(Brush).
Use this Brush (Brush) to create many small circles, color # F00202. Apply a different size brush by changing the Opacity value.
Then start drawing a heart shape, select the tool. Pen 
(Pen Tool) (P), set the drawing mode to Layer – figure (Shape Layers) in the settings panel and make the following shape, as shown in the figure below.
Click on the icon Add layer style (Add a layer style) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay):
Click on the color bar to open. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor) and set the colors as shown in the image below. Click OK to close the dialog box. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor).
This is what should happen.
Make a copy of the last layer and delete the style. Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay): on the copy layer (right click on the layer and select Clear layer style (Clear Layer Style)). Choose a tool Outline selection (Path Selection) (A) to highlight the path, as shown in the figure below.
Press Alt + SHIFT and use the right arrow on the keyboard to move the copy path.
Highlight the path tool Outline selection (Path Selection) (A) and using the command Free transform (Free Transform) (Ctrl + T), make it smaller.
Select Subtract the figure area (Subtract from shape area) in the options bar. Thus, we will cut out the middle part of the heart shape.
Then change the color of the layer to white.
Add a mask on the same layer by clicking on the icon Add layer mask
(Add layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Soft Round (Soft Round) Brush (Brush) black.
Use this brush on the mask to hide the next zones on the layer, just like in the image below.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) before drawing on the surface of the heart, and select Soft Round Brush (Brush). Brush color # С50404.
Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) click between the brush layer and the layer containing the heart in the layers panel to create Clipping mask (Clipping mask).
We get the following result.
Make another copy of the first heart layer and delete the style. Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay): on the copy layer (right click on the layer and select Clear layer style (Clear Layer Style)). Using the command Free transform (Free Transform) (Ctrl + T), we can move a little copy layer.
Add a mask to the layer by clicking on the icon Add layer mask (Add layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Soft Round (Soft Round) Brush (Brush) black.
We draw on the mask with this brush to hide the following zones on the heart, as shown below.
Create a top flare on the heart. Choose a tool Pen (Pen Tool) (P), set the drawing mode to Layer – figure (Shape Layers) in the settings panel and make the following form, as shown in the figure below.
Set the Fill to 0% for this layer and click on the icon Add layer style (Add a layer style) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay):
Click on the color bar to open the Gradient Editor and set the colors as shown in the image below. Click OK to close the dialog box. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor).
We get the following result.
Add a mask to the layer by clicking on the icon Add layer mask (Add layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Soft Round (Soft Round) Brush (Brush) in black (set Opacity to 40% in the options panel). We draw on the mask with this brush to hide the next zone on the layer, as shown below.
We get the following result.
Group together all the layers containing the heart (holding down the CTRL key, select the required layers and hold the left mouse button while dragging the selected layers to the icon Create a new group (Create a new group) at the bottom of the layers panel. Make a copy of the resulting group and select the command Free transform (Free Transform) (Ctrl + T) to shrink a copy and move it just like in the image below.
Create a shadow under the heart. In this case, create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and select Soft Round (Soft Round) Brush(Brush) black color (Opacity (Opacity) – 20%).
Use this brush to draw a shadow under the heart.
Using the command Free transform (Free Transform) (Ctrl + T), we can stretch horizontally the shadow layer.
In the next step, we need a brush.
Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and load the downloaded brushes, select the next brush from the set light_brushes_2.
Use this brush to create small white stars.
Click on the icon Create a new adjustment layeror layer fill 
(Create new fill or adjustment layer) at the bottom of the layers panel and select, Curves (Curves) to adjust the shape of the curve, as shown, to make small color adjustments.
We get the following result.
Add text for the greeting card. Choose a tool Horizontal text
(Horizontal Type Too) (T). Select a font, size and color in the symbol panel.
Write on canvas “Happy Valentine’s Day”. Press Enter to apply the text.
Click on the icon Add layer style (Add a layer style) at the bottom of the layers panel and select Gradient overlay (Gradient Overlay):
Click on the color bar to open. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor) and set the colors as shown in the image below. Click OK to close the dialog box. Gradient editor (Gradient Editor).
Here we have such a beautiful card! Happy holiday!
(click on image to enlarge)
Author: adobetutorialz
Translator: Artemenko Love
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