Graphic Media Knowledge

Step One: Create a new document measuring 8x10" at
200 ppi, then open the middle east texture.jpg. This will
be used for the background. You can use any texture you
like, just make sure your text will be readable when it’s done.
Switch to the Move tool (V), hold the Shift key, and click-anddrag
this texture image into the main document that you just
created. The Shift key will center the texture.



Step Two: Press Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R) to make the rulers
visible in the document, then click on the vertical ruler and drag
out a guide to the 1.5" mark. If your rulers aren’t set to Inches,
Right-click on one of the rulers and select Inches. Place another
vertical guide 1.5" from the right edge, which will be at the 6.5"
mark. Now, click in the horizontal ruler at the top and drag
a guide down to about the 2" mark. This establishes the area
where the text will be placed in the composition.

Step Three: Press D to set your Foreground color to black,
and select the Type tool (T) in the Toolbox. Click on the upperleft
area where the guides intersect and drag out a text box to
where the guides intersect on the right, and then down toward
the bottom.



Step Four: Open the Character
panel (Window>Character),
and choose your font (we
chose the font Futura Book).
Make sure the text size is set
to around 35 pt to start and the
leading (space between lines)
is set to around 40 (the leading
f eld is to the right of the size
setting). Type in your quote.
As I mentioned, we’re using a famous quote from a classic movie:
The Princess Bride. You can see that the text looks pretty bland.
We need to do some formatting to spice it up.



Step Five: Select all the text by clicking inside the text box and
pressing Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A). In the Options Bar, click the
Center Text icon so each line of text is aligned to the center.

Step Six: Highlight just the f rst word, “Mawwiage.” Hold
down Shift-Option-Command (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl), and then
press the > key repeatedly to increase the text size in 5 pt
increments. Once some of the letters jump to the next line,
release only the Option (PC: Alt) key, and press the < key to lower the size in single-point increments until the word returns to one line.



Step Seven: We need to determine which words will be in the next line. We want the words “BWINGS US” on their own line, so select the words “IS WHAT.” Then, do the same thing as before: Use the keyboard shortcut to increase the text until it jumps to the next line, then back it off until it returns to one line. The second line will overlap the top line when you enlarge the text; we need to adjust the leading. With the second line still selected, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, and press the Down Arrow key on the keyboard continuously until the spacing is right. This setting can also be adjusted in the Character panel.

 Step Eight: Continue to do this to each line of text remaining in the quote. What you should have is the entire quote formatted in the def ned area with each line varying in size due to the different amounts of text. 



Step Nine: Let’s embellish the design with some swirly graphics. Here, we have a stock collection of swirly graphic elements we found on Fotolia.com. These are great because you have a variety of elements while only having to pay for one image. First, we need to extract them from the background. Open the Channels panel (Window>Channels), hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl)
key, then click on the RGB composite channel. This will load the
luminosity, in this case the white area, as an active selection.

Step Ten: We actually need the
black areas selected, so go to
Select>Inverse. Click the Create a
New Layer icon at the bottom of
the Layers panel to create a new
blank layer. Click the Eye icon next
to the Background layer to hide
it. Press D to set the Foreground
color to black, and then press
Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace)
to put the black selection on a
transparent background.



Step Eleven: Even though we have all the elements extracted,
we only want to use part of the graphic that has the text in
it. You can always save this as a layered PSD f le and have the
graphics ready whenever you need them. First, use the Lasso
tool (L) to draw a selection around the graphic, and then using
the Move tool, hold the Shift key, and drag-and-drop it over in
the main working document



Step Twelve: Click the Eye icon next to the text layer in the Layers
panel to turn it off for the time being so you can see what
you’re doing. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) for Free Transform,
hold Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt), and click-and-drag one of
the corner points of the bounding box to scale the graphic to
the canvas. Press Enter to commit the transformation. Get the
Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and draw a selection over the left
end of the graphic where it extends beyond the guide. Then,
hold down the Shift key and add another selection to the other
side where it extends beyond the right guide. Press Delete (PC:
Backspace) to remove those areas. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D)
to deselect.



Step Thirteen: Next, draw a selection over the rest of the
graphic except the swirly graphic and line at the top, then press
Delete (PC: Backspace) and deselect



Step Fourteen: Turn the text layer back on, and using the
Move tool, hold the Shift key and click-and-drag this graphic element
to the top of the text block. The Shift key will keep the layer
from shifting to the left or right. Make a duplicate of this layer
by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). Go to Edit>Transform>Flip
Vertical, and then position this duplicated element at the bottom
of the text block.



Step Fifteen: Up to this point, the text and graphics have
been left black, but now we need to add a color. Click on the
Foreground color swatch near the bottom of the Toolbox to
open the Color Picker; set the RGB numbers to R:96, G:57, and
B:19; and click OK.



Step Sixteen: Make one of the graphic swirly layers active
and lock its transparency by clicking on the f rst icon to the
right of the word “Lock” near the top of the Layers panel.
Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to f ll the object with
the new color. Do this to the other graphic swirly layer, as well
as the text layer (transparency will already be locked on the
text layer).



Step Seventeen: Make the top layer active in the Layers
panel, Shift-click the text layer to select all three layers, Rightclick
on one of the selected graphic layers, and choose Group
from Layers. When prompted, give the layer group a name,
and click OK.



Step Eighteen: Double-click to the right of the layer group’s
name to open the Blending Options in the Layer Style dialog. In
the General Blending section, set the Blend Mode drop-down
menu to Linear Burn. Then, go down to the Blend If section;
Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the white slider under Underlying
Layer; and drag to the left to split the slider, allowing lighter
areas of the background texture to show through. This gives
the text a more aged look, yet it remains fully editable.