Go Media’s Arsenal
Let’s create a striking history book cover about antique war stories with the Hard to Kill Vector Pack
How to Create a Book Cover Design
Well hello there dear readers! Simon here, ready to walk you through my process to create a striking book cover with our latest vector pack release, the hard to kill vector pack. We’ll look at the pack elements, how to pick, choose, and arrange them to craft a design.
The brief
Our role today is to create a book cover for a collection of ancient warrior stories. The collection includes stories from antique Athens and Sparta. We’ll need to have a good centerpiece graphic element, as well as include the two parts title: “Ancient warrior stories – Vol. 01: Athens & Sparta.”
Building our concept
While the pre-made designs included in the pack are striking, they don’t quite fit the intent. They are more suited for apparel applications.
We need something striking, but less focused on a lettering element, and more on a visual element. The Spartan helmet will do just fine for that.
The shield will provide a good supporting visual element to anchor the helmet in the frame.
The two circular frames elements will provide additional ornamentation.
We’ll probably add another thing here and there, to tie everything together, but these will be the core of our piece. We’ll also use League Spartan, from the League of Moveable Type, to set our title.
Oh, and for the color scheme? We’ll stick to the white/dark gray/light gray of the pack itself. It’ll challenge us to keep things efficient to maintain legibility, and impact.
Let’s get this show on the road
Step zero: document setup
We’re working on a book cover, assembled from vector elements. We’ll work in Illustrator, in a 6″x9″ format. Note that the color mode has been switched to RGB, to match the color mode of the vector assets.
Step one: background elements!
That one is easy. We need to create a rectangle in a dark gray (#231f20) that covers the whole canvas.
Step two: the warrior helmet and shield
Let’s start with the helmet. Let’s paste it at the center of our document (X: 3″, Y: 4.5″), sized at 4.5″ wide. Let’s reflect it on a vertical axis so it “looks” to the right (right click > Reflect).
Let’s remember to organize/rename our layers, and groups, right away to keep our document clean.
Let’s add the whole shield element (including pattern) into our document. It should be pasted behind the helmet, centered in the document, and sized at 4.9″ wide.
Once the shield properly in placed, we need to adjust the color of its background fill to match the color of our document’s background color (#231f20). The shape in question is the black path at the bottom of the group.
Here’s the result after a quick shot of the eyedropper tool (I).
We’re moving forward, nicely, but the shield’s pattern showing through the helmet’s open areas creates visual tensions. To remedy that, we are going to create a background fill shape by using offset path. With the helmet highlighted, let’s head to Object > Path > Offset path. The dialog box will allow us to create the shape that matches the helmet with an extra 0.25″ added to its edges. Note the round joins for a softer feel.
The function creates a new path, that is the same color than the one used a base. We need to change the color of that path to our background color as well (#231f20).
With that done, and with some layer clean-up later, this is where we’re at.
Step three: the circular frame elements
Adding these in is nothing trickier than giving them their own layer, proper size, and proper order. Let’s start with the more complex of the two, with the pointy elements.
After creating a layer for them placed below the helmet and shield one, it needs to be pasted in centered, and sized at 6.383″ wide.
The second frame is to be pasted behind the first one, centered, and sized at 7.25″ wide.
The various black areas of that second frame need to be changed to our background color (#231f20).
Step four: the text
Adding the text is a walk in the park, thanks to the type on a path tool. Let’s start by creating a centered circle with a diameter of 7.65″ in a new layer.
We’re typing our first part of the title (“ANCIENT WARRIOR STORIES”) on that circle. It’s set in white-colored League Spartan, sized 18 points tall, centered, and tracked at 250.
After creating a second circle, we can add the second part of our title (“VOL. 01: ATHENS & SPARTA”).
The issue we have is the alignment of the text object on its circular path.
The good news is that after double-clicking on the type on a path tool icon in the main toolbar…
….we get access to this option panel, that allows us to change the alignment to ascender, which in turns makes things look a lot better.
With that done, we’re almost done with our cover, as the main elements are in place.
Step five: some fluff for good measure
While our cover’s main elements are in place, the corners are slightly empty at the moment. It can give the impression that our content is floating in the middle of the page. Let’s add some corners elements to visually close the frame around the center piece. The corners of this element will do.
After ungrouping the piece/releasing the compound path, we’ll be able to select the corners in question separately from the rest.
After a bit of clean-up, and selective grouping, we obtain each individual corner element.
They should be pasted at 0.25″ in each direction of the corners, and sized at 1″ wide.
And because we’ve properly named our layers/vector objects, this is what our file organization looks like.
Step six: leveraging our texture library to add a final layer of substance to the mix
To properly wrap this piece up, we are going to add three textures to it to give it some “meat.” First, let’s save a high resolution PSD file of our piece (File > Export > Export as). Note the checked Use artboard box, to trim the elements that are outside the bounds of our canvas.
A few technical notes and reminders
As we embark on the texture side of things, it’s a good time to remember a few base rules, and processes:
- Don’t know what a clipped layer is? Glad you asked! This means that the layer is only visible/applies to the layer directly below it. You can very quickly do this by holding ALT down on your keyboard and clicking between the two layers. Here’s a quick demonstration.
- Every time we’ll work with textures, we’ll follow this simple process: place as smart object, sharpen1, desaturate, enhance contrast with levels, and modify the blending mode.
- Placing the textures as smart objects, and using adjustment layers to tweak them, allows us to stick to a non-destructive workflow. We’ve explored in depth the numerous pros and few cons of such a workflow in this past tutorial: “How to Use Textures The Right Way.”
Notes: 1 – accessed through the Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen menu.
Let’s start with a texture from our vintage paper texture, vol. 01 set.
The texture is vintage-paper-textures-volume-01-sbh-001.jpg.
It’s placed in our PSD file as a smart object, sized up to 165%, rotated 90°, and sharpened.
After being desaturated with a clipped hue/adjustment layer, we’ll be enhancing its contrast with a clipped levels adjustment layer.
And after changing the texture’s blending mode to soft light @ 75% opacity, we’re achieving the first part of our texture effect.
Next is a vignette. I strongly recommend using this lossless vignette technique, found via Design Panoply (#6). The color of my shape layer is our trusty dark gray, #231f20.
Note the 150 pixels feathering value.
After changing the vignette shape blending mode to soft light @ 50% opacity, our effect is achieved.
The last texture we’ll add to the piece is from our photocopy noise texture set.
The texture is the first one in the pack, photocopy-noise-textures-001-sbh.jpg.
That texture is placed centered, and sized up to 100%.
We’re using levels to make the white specks of dust really “pop.”
The result, after changing the texture’s blending mode to screen @ 100%, is quite satisfactory.
And here’s a last look at our layer palette in Photoshop.
Let’s wrap this party up!
Phew, we’re all done! Look at this cover. Let’s mock it up for the client presentation.
I hope that you enjoyed following along the tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it, and that your outcome matches the goals you set for yourself before diving in.
Did I leave anything unclear? Any suggestions? Don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments below! I’ll be happy to help.
The hard to kill vector pack is now available! Go grab it! If you already have, I hope you enjoy it, and that this tutorial gave you a sense of what you’ll be able to accomplish with it.
And on that note, I’ll see you next time. Cheers!
How to easily create a record release promo poster with the Arsenal’s Crest of Arms vector pack
Hello GoMediaZine/Arsenal blog readers! Simon here with a new step-by-step tutorial. We will be leveraging the contents of our brand new Crest of Arms vector pack to create a poster for the release of PWR.CLRS’ first, self-titled, album. We’ll talk about inspiration, layout exploration, and execution.
Buy the Crest of Arms Vector Pack
The brief
Our framework for the tutorial is that we’ve been contracted to create a poster for up and coming musical act PWR.CLRS. The experimental musician is based in Cleveland, and produces a mix of hard-hitting electronic beats, distorted guitars, and spoken word surrealistic poetry. He’s releasing his first record, and needs to let the masses know about the fun night ahead. As we’re pressed for time, we’ll be leveraging the library of visual assets provided by the vector set to speed up our design process.
Gathering some inspiration, and putting a concept together
Buy the Crest of Arms Vector Pack
The inspiration from this piece came from three different sources: the vector pack itself, a superb portrait bathed in neon, and wide array of album art examples.
The vector pack features a lot of clean cut, precisely drawn shapes, with careful highlights, shadows, and ornaments. The elements that immediately jumped at me were the shield shapes (actual shield, circular patterned version), the stalks, and some of the oval frames. Although all the elements are exquisitely drawn, their complex highlight and shading made them hard to mix with other elements. We’ll look at techniques to remove some of the fluff.
The next bits of inspiration came from two photos available from the wonderful collections over at Unsplash. The first photo is this striking night portrait, taken by Alex Iby. I knew rapidly this would become my centerpiece element.
The second photo that helped to shape the piece was this other portrait, taken by Jay Clark. The slogan on this gentleman’s shirt was the key to the band name. I started with TRVE.COLORS, which morphed to PWR.CLRS (Power Colors).
Lastly, the amazing library of album art through the ages hosted at Fonts In Use proved good jump-starting material.
With the elements in hand, it became clear that the shield shapes would support, and frame, our neon portrait. A dark background featuring white text would make for increased contrast. Some additional visual elements (stalks), sprinkled with some textures would tie the whole piece together.
Additionally, we’re locating this era-defining performance at the Phantasy Nightclub in Cleveland (Lakewood), OH. The Phantasy is a special place:
“Nine Inch Nails debuted at the Phantasy. The Ramones, Iggy Pop, the Pogues, the Damned, the Psychedelic Furs, the Cramps, Motorhead and the B-52s all played there. The Phantasy was also fertile soil for Cleveland’s ascending 1970s and 1980s music scenes (…)”
(via this old news article)
Let’s set a date of February 28th for the performance, and indicate that tickets are available everywhere.
The execution
A few technical notes and reminders
We are going to use both Photoshop and Illustrator for this piece. Photoshop is were 99.9% of the work will happen, but Illustrator will be necessary for opening the pack’s files, and to customize the vector elements themselves.
We are going to work extensively with textures. It’s a good time to remind you guys of a few base rules, and processes:
- Don’t know what a clipped layer is? Glad you asked! This means that the layer is only visible/applies to the layer directly below it. You can very quickly do this by holding ALT down on your keyboard and clicking between the two layers. Here’s a quick demonstration.
- Every time we’ll work with textures, we’ll follow this simple process: place as smart object, sharpen1, desaturate, enhance contrast with levels, and modify the blending mode.
- Placing the textures as smart objects, and using adjustment layers to tweak them, allows us to stick to a non-destructive workflow. We’ve explored in depth the numerous pros and few cons of such a workflow in this past tutorial: “How to Use Textures The Right Way.”
Notes: 1 – accessed through the Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen menu.
With this in place, it’s time to get started!
Document setup
We’re working with an 18″x24″ canvas. I made mine 18.5″x24.5″, in order to work in some bleed area. I’m at 300 ppi, and using RGB, as some of the texture magic happening in the finishing touches rests on it.
Next, we’ll use the automatic guide tool (View > New guide layout) to create a grid to align our elements on. We’ll be using four columns, and eight rows. The margins are set at .25″, so the inside of our outer guides will be our 18″x24″ canvas.
Main elements: the portrait
If you haven’t yet, grab Alex’ portrait over at Unsplash.
Let’s place it as a smart object in our document. It’s sized at 22.5% of its original height and width, and its center is located at X: 9.25″, and Y: 13″.
Next, we need to change the color of the background to #231f20 (a rough equivalent to CMYK rich black).
Main elements: the vectors
It’s time to grab the assets we’ll need from the vector pack. Let’s start by opening it in Illustrator. All of the ones we’re interested in are on that first artboard. I’ve highlighted them in red:
- The shield
- The “circular patterned” shield
- The wheat stalks
- The oval “toothed” frame
Let’s start by copying all of these in a new, empty Illustrator document to remove some of the clutter out of the way. I suggest a sheet that is at least 8.5″x11″, and in RGB color mode (to match the PSD document). A dark background (#231f20 for instance) will also help us to see our modifications to the assets more clearly.
Next up: to copy and paste these four assets to the empty Illustrator document.
Prepping the shield
The main change we need to make is to remove all the fluff from that main shield shape. All the shading do-dads have to go. The fastest solution is to ungroup the asset (Right click > Ungroup), to manually select all of the extra elements by hand, and to erase them.
At that point, we’re left with this neat, thick, white shield.
Next, we simply have to paste it in our Photoshop document, as a smart object. It’ll be sized 425% of its original size, and its center placed at X: 9.25″, and Y: 12.25″.
Once in place, this is what our layer stack looks like: the background, the smart object photo, and the smart object shield.
Masking the image using the shield
One of Photoshop many useful features is the ability to click on a layer thumbnail, and to load its content as a selection. Let’s click on the shield layer thumbnail while pressing the CTRL (PC) or CMD (Mac) keys to load it as our selection.
From there, with the photo smart object highlighted in the layer palette, we can simply click on the Add layer mask shortcut at the bottom of the palette to start the masking.
Et voilà, we have a mask in place. It isn’t showing/hiding the right thing yet, but we’ll get there shortly.
If we click on the layer mask thumbnail and press ALT/OPTION at the same time, we can have access to, and edit, its content. We’ll start by inverting the image, so it shows the proper thing.
Better, but we also need to mask the photo past the edges of the mask.
Let’s go back to our mask view (click + ALT/OPTION), and paint the outer side of the shield edge in black as well to hide the rest of our portrait.
If you use the paint bucket to quickly fill the area, remember to use a solid paintbrush to clean the seams.
And with that work done, the photo is properly masked!
A bit of extra depth
In order to give the shield around the photo a bit more visual presence, we are going to give some extra layer styles to simulate a real thickness. First, a thick stroke. It’ll be 35 pixels thick, and has the same color as the background (#231f20).
Next, a strong drop shadow, for the illusion of depth. Note the darker color used (#202020).
The result is a satisfactory illusion of depth and layers.
The circular shield
Time to add the “oval patterned” shield in the mix. After heading back to Illustrator, let’s change its color to pure white (#ffffff), then paste it as a smart object into our Photoshop document behind the photo layer.
It’ll be sized at 550% of its original size, and positioned with its center at X: 9.25″, and Y: 12.25″. Additionally, we’ll change its blending mode to screen, to interact more with texture elements later.
The circular, “toothy” frame
This little one needs to be adapted a bit.
First, its color needs to be changed to all white.
Next, it needs to be pasted as a smart object between the photo, and the main shield shape. It’ll be sized at 950% of its original size, and positioned at X: 9.25″, and Y: 12.03″.
After changing its blending mode to overlay, we get a neat secondary frame effect in place around the portrait, highlighting the face even more.
Last vector element: the wheat stalks
This last one is the finishing touch of the vector assets. It frames the overall piece, and also gives it a visual anchor within the canvas. We first need to head back to Illustrator to change their color to pure white.
Next, we’ll paste it as a smart object right above our background layer. We’ll size it at 1000% of its original size. Its blending mode will be overlay @ 50% opacity, and its center is at X: 9.25″, and Y: 12.3″.
And all of our elements are in place! Next, we need to talk text.
Copy copy copy
The copy for the poster will be straight to the point: the name of the act, the occasion we’re summoning people to show up for, the location/date line, and the ticketing information. All spelled out, we have:
- PWR.CLRS
- RECORD RELEASE PARTY
- PHANTASY NIGHTCLUB • CLEVELAND • FEB. 28TH
- TICKETS AVAILABLE WHERE TICKETS ARE SOLD
The typeface we’ll use for our poster is a free one, and comes from the League of Moveable Type. It’s called Orbitron, and has been designed by Matt McInerney. It’ll be the one used for all of our text elements.
PWR.CLRS is typed at 150 points tall, centered. Its center is located at X: 9.33″, and Y: 2.40″. Note that the kerning is set to optical.
RECORD RELEASE PARTY is typed at 60 points tall, centered. Its center is located at X: 9.22″, and Y: 21.94″. The kerning is set to optical as well.
Next, PHANTASY NIGHTCLUB • CLEVELAND • FEB. 28TH / TICKETS AVAILABLE WHERE TICKETS ARE SOLD are all part of the same text object. The “/” indicates a line break. It’s written 30 points tall, and placed at X: 9.25″, and Y: 23.21″. The kerning is set to optical as well.
And with that, all of our text elements are in place. Here’s a look at how our layers are organized up to now. Note the new Background layer group, to separate its elements from the rest.
Time for textures!
Now that everything is all well organized, it’s time to add textures. If you looked at some of my past tutorials, you already know that I LOVE textures. They help us to give substance, depth, and, well, texture, to very clean digital shapes. Luckily for us, the Arsenal has quite the library.
First up, the text
In order for the text to be more worn out, we’ll be using a texture from the Vintage Organic Noise Texture Pack. The texture in question is gma_tex_herbal-organic_09.jpg.
Remember how we used click+ALT/OPTION to edit the content of the shield’s layer mask earlier? Well it turns out that we can do much more than using brushes and the paint bucket when doing that. We can also paste the content of a texture file in that layer mask. Depending on the texture, it can make for a very rapid, and efficient way to give things a worn out aspect.
Let’s start by opening the texture in Photoshop, and copying the content of the file (CTRL/CMD+A to select everything, CTRL/CMD+C to copy).
Then, let’s add a layer mask to the Text layer group.
By clicking+ALT/OPTION on the layer mask thumbnail, we have access to that pristine layer mask’s content.
By pressing CTRL/CMD+V, we can paste the texture at the center of the layer.
In order to cover the whole piece, we’ll rotate the texture clockwise 90°, and size it up to 220%.
From there, in order to soften the intensity of the texture, we’ll use levels (CTRL/CMD+L) to fade the texture some.
The result is this beautifully, organically worn text.
Next, the background. We’ll be using a painterly texture from the Brush Stroke Textures, Volume 02 pack. It’s brush-strokes-textures-volume-02-004-sbh.jpg.
Let’s place it dead center right above the background layer, sized at 105% so it covers the whole background.
Remember the technical notes from earlier? Don’t forget to sharpen the texture smart object (Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen).
After using a clipped hue/saturation to desaturate the texture layer, we’ll be using a clipped levels adjustment layer to enhance its contrast.
Lastly for the background, we just need to change the blending mode to soft light @ 35% opacity for our effect.
With that our background is fully textured. Time to move on to texturing the piece as a whole, to tie everything together.
Texturing the full piece
The first texture we’ll use for the piece as a whole is from the Vintage Organic Noise Texture Pack again. It’s gma_tex_herbal-organic_07.jpg.
We’ll place that texture centered in the frame, and rotate it counterclockwise 90°.
It’s sized up to cover the whole piece, at 55%.
After sharpening the texture, we can simply change its blending mode to color burn @ 35% opacity. There’s no need to desaturate it, as it’s already a black and white texture.
In order to add some highlight at the top of the poster, we’ll then add gma_tex_herbal-organic_03.jpg in the piece.
This one is rotated 90° clockwise, and also sized up at 55% to cover the whole piece.
After sharpening, we can change its blending mode to soft light @ 25% opacity.
To add a hair of film noise, we’ll use GoMediaArsenal_FilmNoise_05.jpg from the film texture pack.
This texture needs to be rotated clockwise 90°, and sized up 2100% to fill the whole piece.
Once we have used a clipped hue/saturation layer to desaturate the texture, we need a clipped levels adjustment layer to enhance the texture’s details.
With that done, we just need to change the texture’s blending mode to screen @ 35% opacity.
With that, we’re almost done. Here are what our layers should look like at this stage:
Finishing touches
The last bit of stuff we need to do to this poster to wrap things up is to add a little bit of a halftone effect. Let’s start by making a merged copy of all the layers so far, by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+ALT/OPTION+E. This will create a new layer at the top of our stack.
Let’s rename it to Halftones.
After that, we have to turn it into a smart object. With the layer highlighted, head to Filter > Convert for smart filters.
With that done, we can head to Filter > Pixelate > Color halftone. Note the value of the Max. Radius, up to 10, from the default value of 8.
The cool thing with smart filters is that the layer has a blending mode, and the filter itself has one as well. What that means is that we can make the effect even more subtle and believable. Let’s start by assigning the halftone filter a blending mode of overlay @ 100% opacity. To do this, let’s double click on the double arrow icon on the right-hand side of the layer thumbnail.
We then get access to this drop down menu to choose the blending mode.
From there, we can change the blending mode of the layer itself to lighter color @ 35% opacity.
If everything went according to plan, this is what the layer stack should look like.
Additionally, here are a couple of detail shots @ 100% zoom.
And here are some close-ups:
And finally a full view of the final piece:
Wrapping things up
Phew, that was a long one! I hope that you enjoyed following along the tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it, and that your outcome matches the goals you set for yourself before diving in. Did I leave anything unclear? Any suggestions? Don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments below! I’ll be happy to help.
The Crest of Arm vector pack is now available! Go grab it! If you already have, I hope you enjoy it, and that this tutorial gave you a sense of what you’ll be able to accomplish with it.
Buy the Crest of Arms Vector Pack
And on that note, I’ll see you next time. Cheers!
The Top 7 Hoodie Mockup Template Packs
The Best Hoodie Mockup Templates on the Market
The Arsenal remains committed to providing designers of all stripes with world-class tools to present their work in the best way possible. So in this installment of Arsenal insights we’re going to cut through the clutter and call out the 7 best hoodie mockup templates currently making waves in the Apparel industry. Check it out!
1. Advanced Hoodie Mockup Template Pack
We had to put this one at the top of the list, not only because it has all the standard bells and whistles you’ve come to expect from the Arsenal (multiple ghosted [front, back, and side] and flat options, plus numerous preset options), but also because it has the unique distinction of allowing you to simulate various intricate textures that are otherwise hard to authentically recreate like Houndstooth, Herringbone, & Zebra Print! That’s certainly enough to earn it a place on the list. But this one also goes above and beyond with 10 unique Zip Hoodie option, 93 Tiling Patterns, 7 Print Zones (not bad), Easy-to-use clipping masks, and 8 Present Colors for each Hoodie.
Download the Photoshop Advanced Hoodie Mockup Templates Pack today and elevate your design work to a whole new level.
2. Classic Tri-Blend Pullover Hoodie Mockup Pack
Our choice for Number Two makes the list because it has a bit of stealth AND a touch of class. First, the Classic Tre-Blend Pullover Hoodie Mockup Pack allows users the ability to change hoodies to any color of the rainbow and beyond – that’s the stealth part. But it also allows users to present their work to clients so effectively in eye-catching 3-D that the extra burden of pricey printer bills is no longer an issue. Up the ante!
3. Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Mockup Pack, V2
Booooh!! Spooky stuff. So sharp, it’ll give you the shivers…
Coming in at number 3, one for the gals – The Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Mockup Pack, V2. Includes all the features that made V1 the industry standard, but with features like 14 professional templates in total, 6 back views, 2 side views, 4 front views, & 1 model shot [each with its own single clipping mask in place], V2 raises the bar even further.
Note: All ladies pullover and zipper hoodies include front and back photos, cropped sweatshirt formats, Fleece Zipped, and Sleeveless Hoodies formats – all fitted to form. Plus the easy to use color palette allows for switching up your color scheme fast!
4. Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Mockup Templates Pack
An obvious choice to follow number three on our list, the original Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Mockup Pack, the one that started it all. Still a shining example of the Arsenal as a source for World Class design tools. Complete with Pullover Hoodie Version (Ghosted Front & Back), Tri-blend Zipper Hoodie Views (Ghosted Front & Back), and Zipper Hoodies (Ghosted Front, back, and side). 13 Templates total (6 back views, 2 side views, 4 front views, 1 model shot). Revolutionary stuff for the ages.
5. Lightweight Tri-Blend Pullover Hoodie Mockup Pack
Next up, coming in at Number Five on our list, the Lightweight Tri-Blend Pullover Hoodie Mockup Pack. With both Men’s & Women’s lightweight tri-blend Ghosted Pullover Versions included [Front and Back], this pack could best be described as the equal opportunity hoodie mockup pack. Get the best of both worlds: 4 templates total, front, back, ghosted, with a new easy to change hoodie color layer!
6. Pullover Hoodie Mockup Templates Pack
Number six on our list of top Mockup Templates is the Pullover Hoodie Mockup Template Pack – the set it and forget it pack. Why? Well, it includes the Arsenal’s patented easy-to-change color layers and a drawstring layer for all of the templates, with front and back views with clipping masks in place for a start! But – in addition to that – it also allows designers access to smooth, realistic lighting, drop shadow & shading effects in a realistic 3-D format without hassle. Thanks to these easy to use innovations, you can spend less time on the technical stuff, and more time growing your client base. No muss, no fuss. Here it is.
7. Stringless Pullover Hoodie Mockup Template
Finally, Number seven caps our list for a couple of reasons, not the least of which because it removes one of the great annoyances of the apparel industry – one that has plagued designers for ages – those darn hoodie drawstrings. Apart from that, the Stringless Pullover Hoodie Mockup Template Pack is a shining example of a product born out of pure community. Designers demanded a stringless option, and The Arsenal responded with what can only be described as a revolutionary time saver for designers everywhere who are actively working in the Apparel industry.
(Remember if you have a design request, please tell us yours by emailing us here)
Men’s Crew Neck PSD Mockups featuring Displacement Maps
We are overjoyed to announce the premiere of a brand new mockup pack: Our Men’s Crew Neck PSD Mockups!
Download our Killer Mockups Guide and Free Mockup PSD
Mockup PSD Free Download and Killer Mockups Guide!
Here at Go Media’s Arsenal, we have been creating and curating design resources since 2006, when we first began releasing our collection of royalty-free stock vectors. We have since expanded to textures, fonts, e-books, tutorials and perhaps most famously, mockup templates.
We passionately create our mockup templates and love that we have become a go-to for professionals in the industry. Because of this, we get tons of questions every single day about our mockups and how to use them.
So, we thought we’d create a quick (and free!) guide to killer mockups, which includes information and advice we dole out regularly. This includes:
– Info for Newbies, like how to open and use our mockup templates
– How to Use Smart-Object Enabled Mockups and Displacement Maps
– Tips to Killer Mockups (Using Them to Your Advantage for Future Success!)
– Pro Tips
With the download you’ll also get:
– a mockup PSD free download
– a vector freebie pack
If you’d like to grab the guide, simply sign up for the Arsenal newsletter below. Please note, you’ll have to confirm your subscription in the first email in order to receive your free download in the second email, so wait for it…
Subscribe for Arsenal Updates and get the Killer Mockup Guide & Freebies
New Mockups Released Every Single Month on Mockup Everything
New Mockups via Mockup App
Mockup Everything provides an easy-to-use online platform for applying your graphic designs to a growing variety of print products. Since all of the work is done right on our homepage, you need not use any fancy software like Photoshop.
Just select your template, choose your apparel or print product color, select your background and press save. The result is a jpeg snapshot to share with your marketplace.
Every month, our Pro users are treated to at least six new templates, adding to our growing library of over 250.
This month, we’re treating these users to more women’s fitness mockups.
Check them out here and if you’re not yet a user, please sign up for a free 7-day trial here >
Find all of these mockups at mockupeverything.com under All > Apparel > Women’s > Fitness
These mockups can also be purchased as Photoshop files individually on our Template Library page or over at the Arsenal, where they are sold as part of a pack.
Sponsored Posts are available on Go Media’s Design Blog!
Would you like to reach out to our audience of designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, freelancers and agency owners all across the globe? Sponsoring a post on Go Media’s Design Blog is the perfect opportunity to do so.
Stats:
- About 220,000+ pageviews per month.
- About 125,000 new visitors per month.
When you sponsor a post with us, we give you access to both blogs, giving you the maximum exposure to Go Media’s audience.
What you’ll get:
- One blog post, published on our Go Media Blog. Once it has been replaced with another story, it will remain in our feed according to date published. It will be searchable by its keywords and by category. Publish time: around 9 am.
- Social media promotion. We will tweet your story out via @go_media three times, where we have 15.8k followers.
What you must include:
- One full blog post, including all links. Please proofread the story to make sure it’s ready to go! Also, we will not be able to provide any information after the post has been published about its success, so please feel free to use tracking links in your URLs.
- One header image, sized 1270 x 550 (for the design blog). No animation please. If need, we can design this for you.
- Any additional images or embeds. Please note where these should be placed within the story.
- Suggested keywords and SEO title
- Profile photo 500 x 500 and short bio with social media handles
What we’re looking for:
- Posts written by YOU! We’re busy folks around here.
- Posts about innovative products or services that our audience would really love, but that are written by a real human voice for real humans (no robots, please!)
- Write-ups about cool projects you’re working on
Please note: We will note that your post is sponsored, just because we love being open with our readers.
Other FAQ:
- Yes, Links are Do-Follow
Example Post:
- Here is a great example of a sponsored post
Pricing:
- $100 for a 2-day feature (Monday & Tuesday) or (Wednesday & Thursday)
- 275 for a full week (7 day) feature
Please send us a short summary of your sponsored post. We’d like to make sure it’s suitable for our audience first. Email that to Heather at [email protected]. If we’re both on the same page, we’ll take your payment via Paypal once the link has been posted.
—
Looking to host a sponsored link on a Go Media Zine blog post?
- Each link will cost $75.
We look forward to working with you!
Introducing the Ladies Swing Tank Mockup Pack!
Ladies Swing Tank Mockup Template Pack
These Ladies Swing Tank Mockup Templates are just another pack that add to our collection of ladies line of tank top mockup templates. The Ladies Swing Tank Mockup Templates Pack includes a fantastic variety of views, as well, so you can show off your one-of-a-kind designs from every angle.
Here’s what’s included in the Ladies Swing Tank Mockup Template Pack:
- 5 mockup templates in total
- Views of both flat and back, as well as ghosted front, back and side tank tops
- Fitted for form
- Easy to change shirt colors with the new Shirt Color Layer
Check out what you get:
You may also like our:
- Ladies Tank Top Mockup Templates Pack
- Ladies Racerback Tank Top Mockup Templates Pack
- Ladies Basic Tank Top Mockup Templates Pack
If you love our mockup templates and use them often, consider joining our Arsenal Membership, where for only $15 a month, you get access to every single one of our mockup templates. Yes, it’s true. No strings attached. Learn more about that here.
Introducing our Watercolor Alphabet Font Texture Pack
Say hello to our Watercolor Alphabet Font Texture Pack
This handcrafted, handpainted pack isn’t your typical font. Saved out as PNG files, the Watercolor Font Texture Pack is to be used like a texture, giving your piece an individually-crafted quality.
Saved out, as shown above, the letters can easily be individually changed to any color of the rainbow using the swatches included in this pack. The possibilities are endless.
Here’s what you get with the Watercolor Font Pack:
- Watercolor Alphabet (Letters A thru Z, plus numbers 0 thru 9) – PNG Files
- 12 Swatches (Jpeg Files)
- Text file (This explains how to apply our swatches to the alphabet)
Please note: All files are stored in PNG format with transparent background and therefore, are not your typical font.
Grab our 30+ Dynamic Watercolor Elements + Free Watercolor Wash Sample
Our Newest Elements/Texture Pack + Get a Free Watercolor Wash
Our brand new Watercolor Elements and Texture Pack contains a variety of watercolor washes, as well as abstract watercolor elements useful for any project that needs a splash of color.
You’re going to want to gobble up this new font: Vendor Handwritten
Vendor Handwritten Font
Hey Arsenal Fans! You’ve been asking for a new font and we’ve answered.
If you’re halftone-obsessed, our new collection is for you.
Our Complete Halftone Collection
We’re not sure what’s dreamier than a halftone. The tiny dots that create a gradient-like effect can produce such remarkable results.
Here at the Arsenal, we have nine packs that will give you the effect you’re after without the effort. Download them all in this complete collection – originally $105 – now only $27!
Or, become a member of our graphic design subscription and get them all (plus the rest of our huge product library) for only $15 a month.
What’s Included?
All of the packs you see here are also available for individual purchase.
Getting our 1980s and VHS tape on with Dustin Schmieding’s cosmic fractal storm texture pack!
Introducing the cosmic fractal storm texture pack
Hello everyone! It’s Simon again on this end of the keyboard. I’m returning for another tutorial, and boy, do we have a treat this week. Dustin Schmieding gifted us with yet another fantastic texture pack, the cosmic fractal storm texture collection.
The set is composed of three-dimensional scenes, resembling cloud formations, or landscapes. Each texture is 4,000×2,700 pixels @ 150 ppi. This gives us plenty of pixels to work with, even for big size print applications (posters, flyers, and more).
DOWNLOAD THE COSMIC FRACTAL STORM TEXTURE COLLECTION
Arsenal Members, you get this pack at no extra charge! (Feels like your birthday, doesn’t it?)
Using the pack: let’s play!
These assets are at home in a variety of contexts. They can be used as stand-alone assets, as background elements, as textures… We will explore some of these uses while we embark on the creation of a poster for a (fake) EDM event called Magnetic Fields.
The tutorial will have us explore tips and tricks to recreate a “VHS-like” effect, for all that analog glitch goodness.
We’ll use primarily Photoshop for this tutorial, as manipulating textures is easier with it, and because we won’t engage in complex type manipulation.
We are going to work extensively with textures. It’s a good time to remind you guys of a few base rules, and processes:
- Don’t know what a clipped layer is? Glad you asked! This means that the layer is only visible/applies to the layer directly below it. You can very quickly do this by holding ALT down on your keyboard and clicking between the two layers. Here’s a quick demonstration.
- Every time we’ll work with textures, we’ll follow this simple process: place as smart object, sharpen1, desaturate, enhance contrast with levels, and modify the blending mode.
- Placing the textures as smart objects, and using adjustment layers to tweak them, allows us to stick to a non-destructive workflow. We’ve explored in depth the numerous pros and few cons of such a workflow in this past tutorial: “How to Use Textures The Right Way.”
Notes: 1 – accessed through the Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen menu.
With this in place, it’s time to get started!
The concept
As hinted at during our walk-through of the product, these textures feature digital “landscapes” that make no mysteries about how they have been generated. In order to stick to the theme, we are going to give this poster a “Lo-Fi,” CRT-like screen effect. Think of VHS artifacts: scan lines, slight warps, etc.
The concert is being branded as Magnetic Fields, and will take place at the Tate Modern gallery in London, and more specifically in the Turbine Hall. It’s a beautiful industrial space, and hosted a Kraftwerk performance in the past. It’s perfectly fitting.
(Images via Tate.org/Marcus Leith/Tate Photography – © all rights reserved)
We’ll split our document in two columns to fit all the text (one side main event announcements, one side for the band names). The copy will read “Magnetic Field – 02.06.16 – Tate Modern – Turbine Hall – London, UK,” “Performances by chp_tnes – nu_drds – cbalt – qwerty – & lw_ram,” and “Tickets & information at www.magneticfields.com.”
The two typefaces we’ll use for the poster are League Gothic, and Droid Serif. They are both free for commercial use, so grabbing them is a no-brainer. They even feature an extended set of weights, for even more flexibility.
All of our band names are inspired by electronics/robotics/computer science jargon:
- chp_tnes (chiptunes)
- nu_drds (new droids)
- cbalt (cobalt)
- qwerty (look at your keyboard)
- lw_ram (low RAM)
The event is to take place on February 06th, 2016.
Photoshop Abstract Texture Tutorial
Document setup
Even though our event will take place in the United Kingdom, we will use an 18″x24″ canvas. Designers in the UK would typically use ISO paper sizes, like pretty much the rest of the world. Let’s just say that the performing acts all come from the USA, and that the poster is put together by an American concert promoter.
As mentioned before, we’ll split our canvas in columns, three to be exact. We’ll also mark a one inch security margin around the edges of our poster. Photoshop CC’s New Guide Layout feature is priceless to generate these rapidly (View > New guide layout).
Note: if you don’t have the CC version of Photoshop, you can leverage the power of GuideGuide to accomplish the grid-related tasks quickly. The current version isn’t free, but older versions are.
With the preparation work done, we can finally start to tackle the real thing.
The background
The background will be the base for our VHS effect. The first asset we need is GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03.jpg, from Dustin’s texture pack.
It needs to be placed as a smart object at X: 0.5″, and Y:12″, scaled up to 135%, and sharpened (Filters > Sharpen > Sharpen).
Once in place, it looks like this.
Starting the magic
The VHS-like effect that we will create in a few steps rests on the power of levels, and of blending modes. First, we need three copies of our texture smart object.
Using clipped levels adjustment layers, we are going to “kill” the output of selective color ranges for each of the copies. Let’s start with GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy. Using the clipped levels adjustment layer, we are going to change the output of blue hues to zero. This will result in a layer turning to yellow hues. Pro tip: note that the additional copies have been hidden for clarity each time.
Using the same technique, the second copy GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy 2 will see its greens disappear, leaving us with a set of saturated purples.
Finally, we’ll get rid of the reds on GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy 3.
With that done, here’s our layer stack so far.
Next, we are going to create a few layer groups: one is for the copies and their adjustment layers, the other one for the background elements in general.
Now, we are going to change the blending mode of each copies to exclusion @ 100% opacity (the copies only – not their adjustment layers!).
The result is slightly underwhelming at the moment, but we are going to address that shortly.
Out-of-synchronization frames, part one
Next, we need to carefully offset each of the copies from the original smart object. For instance, instead of GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy being positioned at X: 0.5″, and Y:12″, it should be positioned at X: 0.55″, and Y:12.1″.
GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy 2 can go from its original spot to X: 0.495″, and Y:11.95″.
Finally, GoMediaArsenal-CosmicFractalStorm-03 copy 3 can migrate to X: 0.485″, and Y:11.97″.
The effect is taking shape: we just established the basis for out-of-synchronization frames, or tape damage. To make things more legible, we are going to lower the opacity of the copies to 50%.
Out-of-synchronization frames, part two
To make the effect more believable, we are going to alter a portion of it. Let’s start by creating a merged copy of everything so far (CTRL/CMD+ALT/OPTION+SHIFT+E), at the top of our layer stack. The generated layer should be called Shear.
We are now going to apply a shear filter to it (Filter > Distort > Shear). The effect is controlled through the small curve in the effect window. Clicking on the grid adds controls points (but no handles). Holding ALT/OPTIONS allows you to reset the manipulation. Wrap around loops disappearing image parts on the opposite side of the canvas. Repeat edge pixels stretches the pixels at the limit of the canvas to the image’s edges.
After creating a curve directed to the bottom right corner of the canvas, our result is pretty dramatic.
Using our guides, we are going to create selections that we’ll use to mask parts of the sheared layer.
With the selections active, we can head to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal selection.
With that done, we can change the blending mode of the Shear layer to color dodge @ 35% opacity.
Additional touches
To complement the effect, we are going to add some thin horizontal lines at the edges of our selections. These lines will each be 1 point thick, run the full width of the poster, be colored in 50% gray (#808080), and perfectly aligned with the edges of the visible parts of the Shear layer. These lines should be created with either the pen tool (P), or with the line tool (U).
The settings options offered by Photoshop CC 2016 allows to customize the stroke. It should be noted that aligning the stroke to the outside produces the best result.
Once one of the lines is created, it can be duplicated and positioned to the appropriate locations.
Once in place, the lines’ blending mode can be changed to screen @ 25% opacity.
And after some layer organization, our background layers start resembling something.
Icing on the cake
Because our background needs to not compete with our type elements later, we are going to darken it. We’ll use a levels adjustment layer for that.
After one last look at the layer stack, we’re ready to move onto type!
Type
The foundations
Now that our background is in place, we can start shaping our text blocks. The first one is the main one: “MAGNETIC FIELDS / 02.06.16 / TATE MODERN / TURBINE HALL / LONDON, UK.”
The type is set in League Gothic Condensed, that is 300 points tall, with a line spacing of 272 points, colored in white, and with kerning set to optical. These settings make the copy fit the two left columns of the grid, leaving the right column for the additional information blocks.
The next block is “Performances by // chp_tnes / nu_drds / cbalt / qwerty / & lw_ram.” The type is set in Droid Serif Bold, that is 54 points tall, aligned to the right, colored in white, and with kerning set to metric. These settings make the text block fit snugly in the top right corner of the poster.
The third and last text block is for the miscellaneous information: “Tickets & information at www.magneticfields.com.” It is set in Droid Serif Bold, that is 30 points tall, aligned to the right, colored in white, and with kerning set to metric. These settings make the text block fit snugly in the bottom right corner of the poster.
The result is interesting, but it lacks depth.
In order to address that, we are going to replicate the VHS effect we gave the background to the main type block. Let’s start by creating three copies of the type element.
Instead of using levels adjustment layers, we are going to assign hues directly to each type elements. This works because the type is a solid color object, as opposed to the visually complex texture we applied the effect to earlier.
The bottom copy, MAGNETIC FIELDS 02.06.16 TATE MODERN TURBINE HALL LONDON, UK copy 3, should be assigned the base blue color #0000ff.
The middle copy, MAGNETIC FIELDS 02.06.16 TATE MODERN TURBINE HALL LONDON, UK copy 2, should be assigned the base red color #ff0000.
The top copy, MAGNETIC FIELDS 02.06.16 TATE MODERN TURBINE HALL LONDON, UK copy, should be assigned the base green color #00ff00.
The top text element (the original one) should stay white.
From there, we can change the blending mode of the three copies to exclusion @ 100% opacity, and of the original element to overlay @ 100% opacity.
Now, in order to complete the effect, we simply have to offset the three copies in separate directions, using the arrow keys on our keyboard.
And with that done, we can move on to the last step: textures. Below is a look at our layer stack so far.
Textures!
Things to grab
Before we get moving, here are three assets to grab. They are all free. The first one is photocopy by clarisaponcedeleon, via DeviantArt.
The second is Film texture – grain explosion by JakezDaniel, on DeviantArt.
The third texture is vintage-paper-textures-volume-01-sbh-005, from the Vintage Paper Textures, Volume 1 set. It was made available through the “cute robot” book cover tutorial freebies.
DOWNLOAD THE CUTE ROBOT TUTORIAL FREEBIE ARCHIVE
The last asset is this pattern tile, that we’ll use for scan lines. You should download it by right-clicking on it, and using the Save image at menu.
Putting things in place
The first texture we’ll use is the film noise texture, film_texture___grain_explosion_by_jakezdaniel-d37pwfa.jpg.
It needs to be placed centered in the canvas, rotated of 90° clockwise, and scaled down to 80% so it covers the whole piece.
From there, we can change its blending mode to color dodge @ 15% opacity.
The next texture is the scanline pattern. Let’s open the file.
With the file open, we need to head to Edit > Define pattern. This will ask us to name it, and to validate. Once that is done, our pattern will be ready to use in our piece. Let’s close the pattern, and head back to our main file.
Back in the main file, let’s create a new, empty layer at the top of our layer stack.
We are going to apply the pattern using a layer style. First, we need to fill our layer with a solid color. Which one won’t matter, it is just to make sure the effect shows up. 50% gray is a good default choice in these cases (#808080).
Next, we can open up our layer style palette by double-clicking on the layer thumbnail in the layer panel.
Let’s navigate to the pattern overlay section. It’s a simple interface. We can control the pattern tile roughly the same way we can control a layer: blending mode, opacity, scale, etc.
Let’s use the drop-down menu to select our scanline pattern.
Finally, we can dramatically scale the pattern up to make sure the lines are visible (900%).
Our pattern is applied, but we need to give it an additional touch for more veracity. Let’s convert the layer to a smart object (Filters > Convert to smart filters).
Next, let’s assign a 2 pixels gaussian blur to the pattern layer/smart object (Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur).
Finally, let’s change the blending mode to overlay @ 10% opacity.
With the scanlines in place, we can move to a slight color alteration. We are going to use a gradient overlay for it. Just like before, we’ll need a layer filled with 50% gray (#808080).
Next, we are going to change the layer’s fill to 0%. This allows to hide the layer’s pixels (the gray), but to let any effects applied through the layer style panel to shine through.
Let’s open the gradient overlay side of the panel.
In the gradient drop down menu, let’s select the spectrum gradient.
Let’s change the blending mode of the gradient to overlay @ 15% opacity, and change the angle to -50°.
This gives us a nice added depth to the colors of the piece.
The next to last texture is vintage-paper-textures-volume-01-sbh-005.jpg, from the cute robot tutorial freebie archive.
It needs to be placed centered in the canvas, rotated of 90°, and scaled up to 440%.
Blending mode: soft light @ 25% opacity.
The last texture is photocopy_by_clarisaponcedeleon.jpg.
This one needs to be centered in the canvas, and slightly distorted (width: 212%, and height: 208%).
Levels adjustments.
Blending mode: soft light @ 75% opacity.
And with that, our piece is complete! After a last go at organizing our layers, here’s the full layer stack.
Wrapping things up!
Phew, that was a long one! I hope that you enjoyed following along with the tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it, and that your outcome matches the goals you set for yourself before diving in.
Did I leave anything unclear? Any suggestions? Don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments below! I’ll be happy to help out.
We’d love to see your tutorial outcomes! Please share them with us on the Go Media Facebook page, or on Twitter at @go_media.
And finally, I hope that this gave you a preview of the cool things you can achieve with the cosmic fractal storm texture pack, by Dustin Schmieding. The pack is available for download now!
On that note, that’s all for me today. Until next time, cheers!
Introducing the Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Pack, V2
Ladies Ghosted Hoodie Mockup Templates
Hello Ladies and Gents! We’re back with some brand new hoodies to round out the ladies line of hoodie mockup templates.
How to create a cute robot children book cover with Justin Will’s hand drawn Sci-Fi vectors!
Introducing Justin Will’s Sci-Fi vector pack!
Hello, dear Zine reader! It’s Simon on this end of the keyboard for a new tutorial. This time, we’ll have a close look at how to use Justin Will’s hand drawn Sci-Fi vector pack.
The pack features a lot of the typical elements of a good Sci-Fi story: robots, crazy laboratory contraptions, a ray gun, a spaceman, and more! Each of the vectors has been given extra care in its execution to be unique, yet quickly recognizable.The assets all feature this clean, detailed, yet almost child-like treatment to them.
DOWNLOAD JUSTIN’S SCI-FI VECTOR PACK NOW!
Arsenal Members, you get this pack at no extra charge! (Feels like your birthday, doesn’t it?)
Technical notes
We’ll be using mostly Photoshop CC for the tutorial, but any version of Photoshop past CS3 should be fine. Note also that I’m working on a Windows-based system, but other than visual appearance and slightly different keyboard shortcuts, that will not have any impact on the process we’ll go through. We’ll use Illustrator only to open the vector asset, and to paste it in our Photoshop document.
We are going to work extensively with textures. It’s a good time to remind you guys of a few base rules, and processes:
- Don’t know what a clipped layer is? Glad you asked! This means that the layer is only visible/applies to the layer directly below it. You can very quickly do this by holding ALT down on your keyboard and clicking between the two layers. Here’s a quick demonstration.
- Every time we’ll work with textures, we’ll follow this simple process: place as smart object, sharpen1, desaturate, enhance contrast with levels, and modify the blending mode.
- Placing the textures as smart objects, and using adjustment layers to tweak them, allows us to stick to a non-destructive workflow. We’ve explored in depth the numerous pros and few cons of such a workflow in this past tutorial: “How to Use Textures The Right Way.”
Notes: 1 – accessed through the Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen menu
So, what are we going to build?
Given the comic book/children’s book illustration style of the assets, we wanted the final output to fit these realms. After some experimentation, and a dozen thumbnail sketches, here are the two main ideas that came to life: a NASA recruitment poster, and a book cover for a (fake) children’s book called “The gentle robot.” I worked with color pencils to establish a color palette right away.
The slightly colder blue and green hues of the robot’s body contrast nicely with the warmer orange background.
In this concept, the orange space suit of the astronaut contrasts with the colder dark blue and magenta of the deep space behind him.
After discussion, we decided to focus on the children’s book cover: it felt truer to the asset, and to the desired target audience.
We’ll need to grab a few things before we start
Good news! Aside from the vector asset, all the things you’ll need for the tutorial are free resources. We also decided to make two textures from the Arsenal available as freebies, so you wouldn’t be hindered in the completion of the piece. The assets you’ll need to get are textures, available from the Lost and Taken archives, as well as from the Lost and Taken Flickr stream.
The first texture is Grey_Grunge4.jpg, from Lost and Taken’s five grey texture pack. Pro tip: grab the whole set, all of these are great.
The next texture is LT_Microscopic35mmFilm_02.JPG, from the seven microscopic film textures pack.
Next, is Vintage_Paper_7.jpg, from the early 20th century paper textures set.
The following asset is DigitalNoise_05.jpg, from the digital noise textures pack.
Next, brown16, from Lost and Taken’s Flickr stream. Pro tip: remember to always download the highest possible size, or better yet, the original size, when grabbing textures from Flickr.
Next, free_high_res_texture_455, also from Lost and Taken’s Flickr stream.
The last two textures that interest us have generously been made available as freebies by Go Media’s Arsenal. Pro tip: become a member today, for access to thousands of design assets, for only $15 a month.
The first texture is vintage-paper-textures-volume-01-sbh-005.jpg, from the Vintage Paper Textures, Volume 1 set.
The second freebie is metal-dumpster-textures-021-sbh.jpg, from the metal dumpster texture pack.
Document setup
Since we are working on a book cover, we are going to work within a document with different measurements from our typical 18″x24″. One of the most popular book cover sizes is 6″x9″, which is an aspect ratio of 2:3.
Our document will have a one inch bleed/safe zone around it, to account for trimming and other production constraints. This means that instead of being 6″x9″ on the nose, it’ll be 8″x11″.
The next step is to add a few guides. We’ll use them to mark the actual cover’s size, as well as the center of our canvas. I’m using Photoshop CC’s New Guide Layout feature to generate these rapidly.
Note: if you don’t have the CC version of Photoshop, you can leverage the power of GuideGuide to accomplish the grid-related tasks quickly. The current version isn’t free, but older versions are.
Additionally, we can also add guides to mark a half inch zone within the safe zone. These will help us not to stick our content too close to the edges of the cover.
With that done, we can get started with the real thing.
Building up the background
The first step is to fill the background layer with a pale orange, #fde2c6.
The first texture we’ll use is brown16 (5025205871_cab14db56b_o.jpg).
It needs to be placed as a smart object, centered in the canvas, and scaled down to 52%. That way, it will fit well within the final format of the cover (6″x9″).
After sharpening the texture (Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen), we need to desaturate the texture using a clipped hue/saturation adjustment layer.
Next, we need to use a clipped levels adjustment layer to adjust the texture’s details.
Finally, we need to change the blending mode of the texture to soft light @ 85% opacity.
The next texture is LT_Microscopic35mmFilm_02.JPG.
It needs to be centered in the canvas, rotated 90° clockwise, and scaled down to 17%.
After sharpening, and desaturating, we need to use a clipped curves adjustment layer to invert the texture.
The trick to invert the texture is to use the negative preset in the drop down menu.
Then, a clipped levels adjustment layer to tweak the texture.
Finally, we need to change the blending mode to soft light @ 85% opacity.
Our background is set. Now, we need to organize our layers better.
The robot
As we want to build the book cover for a story about a robot, we need to bring the said robot in our piece. Let’s open the vector set in Illustrator.
Our robot is second from the left in the first row.
It needs to be placed in our document as a smart object, scaled up to 225%, and located precisely at X: 4″, and Y: 7″.
The next step is to give the robot a bright blue color overlay (#78c8d8).
Now, we need to give some additional colors to the robot. Let’s start by giving it its main color fill. The robot will be a light blue color, #d6f6f1. We need to create a new layer below the robot’s smart object, and to paint the color in carefully, without going over the lines. Given the scale we are working at, a hard, round 100 pixels brush will do just fine. Pro tip: you can use your magic wand (W) to create a selection if you don’t trust the precision of your brush strokes.
The next step is to add a secondary color to the robot. We’ll fill its “hands” and “sleeves” with a pink hue, #dd86a5. Note that we’re filling the area inside the sleeves.
Now, we need to give the robot some depth. We’ll do this by painting a green hue (#bad9ab) in select places, where there would be shadows. The exact positions of the shadows don’t matter, as long as they are consistent.
Also, a small hard brush (between 12 and 18 pixels), and zooming in at 100%, will both be paramount to paint precisely the small details.
The last thing we need to give the robot is a grounding shadow, otherwise it will look like it’s floating in space. We are going to use the ellipse tool (U) for that. The ellipse is 3.75″x0.5″, and located at X: 4″, and Y: 4.35″. Its color is #dd86a5, the same pink hue used for the sleeve and pincers.
With that done, we can organize our layers some more.
Type
A book cover without a title and author name appearing is not often heard of. Our story is called “The gentle robot,” and was written by Cassia Ovami (internet high five if you find the real author name hidden behind this anagram).
The two typefaces we’ll use for the cover are part of free font families from the Google Fonts project: Open Sans, and Droid Serif. Pro tip: download the whole Open Sans family (Open Sans, Open Sans Condensed), as well as the whole Droid family (Droid Sans, Droid Sans Mono, and Droid Serif).
Once the fonts have been downloaded, we need to generate three separate text blocks:
- “THE” – set in Droid Serif Bold Italic, that is 24 points tall, with kerning set to metrics, and colored in blue #78c8d8
- “GENTLE ROBOT” – set in Open Sans Extrabold, that is 48 points tall, with kerning set to optical, and also colored in blue #78c8d8
- “CASSIA OVAMI” – set in Droid Serif Bold Italic, that is 24 points tall, with kerning set to metrics, and colored in #dd86a5
Here are the position coordinates for each block:
- THE – X: 4″, and Y: 1.65″
- GENTLE ROBOT – X: 4″, and Y: 2.30″
- CASSIA OVAMI – X: 4″, and Y: 3.125″
There is an obvious gap between the title, and the author name. We’ll use this space to add a blue rectangular divider. We’ll create it using the rectangle tool (U). The shape is colored in our blue (#78c8d8), and measures 5″x0.1″. It’s placed at X: 4“, and Y: 2.7″.
With that, our text block is complete. A bit of layer organization, and we can move on to the finishing touches!
Textures! Textures everywhere!
We’ll approach adding textures to the piece in two phases: first, we need to add some textures to the robot, so it doesn’t clash too much with the background. Then, we’ll add texture that will impact the piece as a whole, visually linking everything together. The process we’ll follow is the same as before (place as smart object, sharpen, desaturate, enhance contrast with levels, and modify the blending mode).
The robot
The first texture we’ll add to the robot is the first of the Arsenal freebie set: vintage-paper-textures-volume-01-sbh-005.jpg.
It needs to be placed centered in the frame, rotated 90° clockwise, and scaled up 160%. The layer should be located right above the robot smart object in the layer stack, which is why the title block is still visible. Pro tip: the title block layer group can be turned off for a better view of the texture work.
Clipped levels adjustment layer.
Blending mode: soft light @ 100% opacity.
The next texture is the second Arsenal freebie, metal-dumpster-textures-021-sbh.jpg.
It’s placed at X: 3″, and Y: 7.15″, scaled down to 16%. We also need to rotate it from 180°.
Blending mode: soft light @ 85% opacity.
The last of the three robot texture is Vintage_Paper_7.jpg.
It’s placed at X: 4″, and Y: 6″, scale untouched.
Blending mode: color burn @ 10% opacity.
Now, we need to limit the impact of these three textures to the robot and its supporting shadow. First, let’s give the textures and their adjustment layers their own layer sub-group.
Next, using the magic wand (W), and with the robot smart object highlighted in the layer palette, we are going to select the empty space around the robot.
Next, we are going to invert the selection (CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+I or Select > Inverse), to select only the robot.
Now, to add the pink supporting shape to our selection, we need to CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+CLICK its thumbnail in the layer palette. CTRL/CMD+CLICK loads a layer’s content as a selection. Using SHIFT as the shortcut modifier tells Photoshop to add that to the currently active selection, rather than create a new one instead.
Finally, we can highlight the robot textures layer sub-group at the bottom of the layer palette, and click on the add layer mask button of the layer palette for a layer mask that limits the textures’ visibility to the robot. Alternatively, we can use the Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal selection menu.
And with that done, we can move on to the global textures.
Texturing the whole piece
There are three textures in our list that we haven’t used yet, and these are the last three we need to add to the piece.
The first of these textures is free_high_res_texture_455.
We’ll use it placed centered in the canvas, rotated of 90° clockwise, and scaled down to 52%.
Blending mode: soft light @ 100% opacity.
The next texture is Grey_Grunge4.
It’s placed centered in the canvas, and scaled down to 27%.
Blending mode: soft light @ 35% opacity.
Finally, the last texture! It’s DigitalNoise_05.jpg.
It’s centered in the canvas, rotated of 90° clockwise, and scaled down to 18%.
The only adjustment needed here is a clipped curves adjustment layer, set to negative.
Blending mode: soft light @ 65% opacity.
The piece is now complete. We can organize the layer stack better.
With that done, it’s time to save a copy of our document, cropped to the final dimensions of the cover (6″x9″).
After that, we can mock it up, to get a sense of what it would look like once printed.
Wrapping things up
Phew, we’re done! I hope that you enjoyed the ride, and that you have learned a few tips here and there to reuse in your own work. If you’ve already grabbed Justin’s Sci-Fi vector pack, I hope that thus tutorial gave you a sense of what you can accomplish with it. If you haven’t, I wonder why you still haven’t!
DOWNLOAD JUSTIN WILL’S SCI-FI VECTOR PACK
Do you have questions? Suggestions? Ideas on how to improve the workflow presented here? Please do reach out in the comments below!
You should also share your outcome with us, either in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or by tweeting it to us at @go_media.
And on that note, that’s all for me today. Until next time!
Happy Holidays from the Go Media Crew
Great Bouncing Icebergs!
Can you believe the year is almost over?
We’ve really enjoyed working with you, our clients, customers and new-found friends, throughout 2015 and feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to do so.
Thanks to each and every one of you for inspiring our lives and work. Here’s to new year filled with hope and happiness!
