Design a retro-styled silhouette poster in PS

Silhouette is a great way to make your design more interesting and memorable. One of the secrets of this kind of design is to make sure that you have as many details as you have in your silhouette.

In this tutorial, we'll use the silhouette to create a retro-retro style poster, so let's get started.

　　What are we going to create?

　　1th Step

First, we'll create a new file. Here we need to set the length, width and resolution. In our example, I intend to use A5 paper size, select "International Standard paper", then choose A5 Size, resolution is selected 300dpi--to print out the picture is clear enough.

　　2nd Step

Now that the file is created, let's start by creating the appropriate background. In our example, the top half of the picture is a lighter color, and the lower half is darker, which helps us create silhouette effects. First, we create a new layer (the shortcut key is CTRL + Shift + N) and name it sky. Then use the Rectangular marquee tool to select about Two-thirds of the upper part.

　　3rd Step

Now, with the gradient tool, we're going to create a diagonal gradient in the scope of the marquee tool. Of course, you can use the color you want. In this case, we used the purple, bright red and orange to do it, which fits well with our "nostalgia" theme.

　　4th step

Next, we're going to change the "ground" section. In fact, we're going to create a feeling on the bottom of the surface or the lake, reflecting the silhouette in the water. Create a new layer and name it Ground (ground), hold down CTRL + SHIFT + I to load the selection. Like the previous layer, we are here to create a gradient effect, a horizontal gray-black gradient.

　　5th step

Great, now we can add silhouette outlines. In our example, we used the silhouette of the tree. First, we first used the shape of the tree from this site. You have two choices, one is to use illustrator to open the AI file and paste it into Photoshop, you can also add the csh file to Photoshop's material library. Whichever way you use it (in this case, I'm using the second method), get it in Photoshop, zoom in and place it in the sky, so the basic silhouette effect comes out.

　　6th step

Next, we'll place the silhouette of the street lamp. Here's a buddy who provides us with a free brush material that we can download and load directly as a custom brush. Teach you how to load a paintbrush. Select the Brush tool, right-click on the image, and select the Load brush in the menu in the upper-right corner, and select the brush you downloaded in the pop-up dialog box to make sure. Create a new layer and use the same color as the tree silhouette to draw a street lamp.

　　7th step

Next, we need to place the silhouette of the park benches, men and bikes. To open the material file in Adobe Illustrator and paste it into Photoshop, we need to use it as a "smart object" and scale it to the right size using the free transform tool. Remember, when you zoom, hold down the SHIFT key to keep the picture in its original height-to-width ratio. When you're done, fill it with our theme colors, which are the same colors as trees and streetlights.

　　8th Step

The final silhouette to be dealt with is the birds, and we use all sihouettes to provide the material. Just like the "tree" footage, we load it as an AutoShape.

　　9th step

Great, now we're going to start doing the reflection. First, we click on the folder icon below the layers panel to create a new group, name it "silhouette," and move all the silhouette layers into the group.

　　10th Step

Now, right click on the group and select the Copy group in the menu that pops up, and then select the merge group on the copied group so that we can combine all the silhouettes on a single layer. We then hide the original group and rename it to "Backup Silhouette" (Silhouette Backup)--We still keep this group in case you want to change their relative position!

Back up the merged layers and then rename them again. The last thing you'll get is as shown in the picture:

　　11th Step

Select a layer and select vertical Flip in the right-click menu.

Classification:

• PS Getting Started Tutorial