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Graphic layouts can
seem overwhelming and intimidating, but with this simple introduction tutorial
you will be making your first graphic layout in no time at all!!! For this challenge we will create a very
simple graphic layout:
First find a photo
that can stand alone. Here are some
examples of photos from my collection and why I would choose them:
 I picked this photo for
several reasons:
1.
The photo
has been taken in an interesting perspective
2.
The image
resides mainly on the left side of the photo leaving plenty of room for title
and journaling on the right side
3.
There are
no distracting images or background elements in the photo
1. The focal point resides in the center of
the photo
2. The background (grass and sky) are not
cluttered with distracting elements
1. The image is an interesting shot
2. This photo lends itself well to word art or
titles (what is he looking at? Is there a story behind this photo?)
3. The distracting elements (colors shining
through the fence) can be edited without too much work
1. The image is centered
2. The background is crisp and clean
3. There is plenty of space around the image
for journaling or a title
For this tutorial the
second photo is going to be used. Find a
photo in your own collection that has a centered focal point (the main image is
in the center of the photo) and that has a background that does not have a lot
of distracting elements in it.
1. Open a New Image 12inX12in at 200 ppi
2. Copy and paste your photo into the new
image area. (Do not edit directly on top
of your original photos, you don’t want to lose the originals)
3. Resize and move your photo as needed in
order to get your main focal point (in my example- the animal) to the center of
the page
(Notice where the actual photo lies outside my image area)
4. Let’s add an interesting border to our
layout
5. Create a new raster layer
6. On our new raster layer Choose
Selection>Select All
7. Choose Selection>Modify>Contract and
choose a number of pixels of about 30-40
8. Select any dark color (I chose a dark brown
that I pulled from my photo) and flood fill the selected area on your new
raster layer
9. Choose Selection>Modify>Contract and
choose 30-40 pixels again
10. Delete the new selected area – this will
leave a dark stroke around the photo area
11. On the stroke layer change scroll through
your blend modes to see the different effects that the stroke can have. On the example I chose>Luminescence
12. Next let’s add a title and some journaling
13. For the title choose a simple 1-3 word
title.
14. In this example I used 2 words- the first
word of the title I made smaller in a fancier font (Pristina)
15. And the second word of the title is in a
larger chunkier easy to read font (Bookman Old Style)
16. I placed the title at the top of my page,
but play around with the placement! Move
it around until you find the look that you are after.
17. Use the same color for the font that you
used for the stroke
18. Again, play with the blend modes and the
opacity until you find a look that you like for your title. (Overlay with an opacity of 50% was used in
the example)
19. Add some journaling in any area of your
layout that is currently empty. If you
do not have any empty areas you can go without journaling and add just a date
in the corner.
20. Use a simple easy to read font for the
title. Use right or left justification
on your journaling.
21. Again play with the blend modes and opacity
to find the right look for your journaling.
And you are DONE!!!!
You have just
finished a graphic style layout!
Congratulations!!!
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