WHAT WE’RE CREATING:
Hello everybody! Simon here, from the frozen lands of the Northern United States. While it’s not as bad as in Buffalo, NY, it’s very cold, and I’m happy to be inside writing this, with my cup of Earl Gray, rather than outside, and battling against the wind.
Today, I’m excited to show you how to use the resources from the Ultimate Designer’s Collection to create a holiday card with a strong watercolor vibe.
We’ll use the various floral elements at our disposal to create a simple yet solid frame, the various watercolor elements to add textures for a very tactile feel, and the photo-toaster action to add a soft vibe to the portrait included with the piece.
Ready? Then it’s time to dive right in!
STEP 1: PREPARING OUR PORTRAIT
The first thing we have to do is to prepare the portrait we’ll use in our card.
I don’t have a nice family picture to share, so I’ll be using this one of two brothers from Pixabay.
Once you’ve downloaded the high resolution version, open it in Photoshop, and simply run the Photo Painter action. I’ve used the default settings all around, as I just want to subtly soften the image a bit.
Quick tip: I noticed that the action behaves best once you’ve turned your Background layer into a “floating” one. Simply double click on the layer in the layer palette to unlock it.
Once you’re done, proceed to also run the “Add grain” secondary action.
Once done, save the result in a separate file. We’ll use it when it’ll be time to include it in the card design.
STEP 2: DOCUMENT SETUP AND BACKGROUND
Document setup
We can now get started on the card itself. The file is half of a letter-sized sheet, landscape-oriented. This translates to an 8.5″x5,5″ @ 300 ppi.
I added a few guides to structure the workspace. I have some marking ¼ of an inch of the document’s edge, and some marking its center point.
The background
We’re going to put together a softly texture background. First things first, let’s fill the background layer with a very pale yellow, #f7f6e4.
Before bringing textures in the mix, a quick note: in this tutorial, the term “clipping” or “clipped layer” is used a few times. 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. Photoshop secrets created an handy animated gif demonstration.
The first texture we’ll leverage is Watercolor_Pumpkin.jpeg by Make Media Co., from ultimate-designers-make-media-co\The Complete Watercolor Branding Kit\BONUS PASTELS.
Start by placing it in your document so it covers the whole canvas (File > Place). I’m placing mine big enough so I mostly see the actual watercolor wash, rather than the texture’s background. Don’t forget to sharpen it (Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen).
Desaturate the texture with a clipped hue/saturation adjustment layer).
Let’s emphasize the texture’s details with a clipped levels adjustment layer.
Finally, change the texture’s blending mode to Soft light @ 100% opacity.
Everytime we’ll work with textures, we’ll follow this simple process: place, sharpen, 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.”
Our next textures come from Nicky Laatz’ collection of watercolor forms (ultimate-designers-nicky-laatz\Watercolour_texturesForms\Files\WatercolourForms).
Let’s start with form1_1377x1080.
After desaturating, the levels will allow us to make the wash at the top left to add depth to our background.
Blending mode: Color burn @ 35% opacity.
As you can see, the texture produces some light gray artifacts at the bottom of the piece.
Simply add a layer mask to the texture, and hide that part of the texture by painting with a big, soft brush on the layer mask (300 pixels wide, 50% opacity, and 50% flow).
The following texture is form11_1197x1269.png.
We’re going to use it to add a stain in the bottom right corner.
Blending mode: Soft light @ 100% opacity.
The background’s last textural element is form52_2956x2854.png.
Blending mode: Soft light @ 100% opacity.
Our background is ready, it’s time to organize our layers.
STEP 3: VECTORS, FIRST PASS
Putting the elements in place
Now, the simple but tedious part begins. We’re going to combine multiple vector elements to create a frame around our piece. We’ll be using elements from the numerous vector packs available in the bundle.
First, let’s place our “big flowers.” They come from Veronia_Elements.ai, that you’ll find in ultimate-designers-make-media-co\Veronia-Font-Pack\Veronia Fonts + Elements\Veronia Elements.
Place 2 copies of that element: one will be at the top left, the other one at the bottom right. I’m sizing them slightly bigger than the size they come at (125%), in order to make them the prominent ornament of the card.
When placing the second one, you can either place a new copy of the flower, or just duplicate the smart object of the first one. What matters though is that you rotate the flower around so they don’t show both the same portion. This will help to maintain the hand-drawn vibe of the piece.
In order to make things easier, label your smart objects properly now.
The next element we’re going to use is the big line art flower. They come from CM_Glitter&Graphics_Elements.ai. We’ll place it at the top of the solid flowers we added earlier.
Follow the same logic when placing these (slightly bigger size that by default, rotation for the second element).
Once again, keep properly naming your layers.
We’re now going to place the elements for the opposite corners. The base flower is the smaller solid flower from Veronia_Elements.ai.
We’ll follow the same logic as the big flowers to place them, and size them.
Name these smart objects!
Luckily for us, there’s a second line art flower to add as a companion to our small solid flower. It’s from CM_Glitter&Graphics_Elements.ai as well.
Place it on top of both small flowers, without forgetting the minor adjustments (size increase from default, rotations) that will maintain the organic side of things.
And, as always, the proper naming.
Adding color and subtle effects
Now, the real fun begins: we’re going to assign some neat layer styles to the 2 types of flowers (solid and line art), in order to start emulating the watercolor effect.
You’ll notice that we won’t use the pre-made layer styles that could save us quite some time here. The reason for that is simply that tweaking their color isn’t as easy as creating our own layer style without the watercolor patterns, and adding some watercolor textures to the elements afterwards. I did somewhat reverse-engineer Nicky Laatz’s work though, in order to make my effects fitting with hers.
Let’s start with the solid flowers. The great things with layer styles is that you only have to create it once. You can duplicate it, and paste it to multiple layers afterwards.
Let’s work on Big flower – top left – Veronia_Elements. Double-click on the layer to bring up the layer style panel.
Start by lowering the layer’s fill to 0.
Next, proceed to add a color overlay with a neat ice blue (#0798be).
Finally, add an inner glow with the settings below. This is the little trick that makes the edges of the element darker, like a watercolor wash. Use the same blue (#0798be) for the color of the inner glow.
Once done, admire the result. I turned the line art flower off for a better view.
This is a promising start. Let’s apply the layer style to all the “solid” flowers. As I said before, simply duplicate the layer style through the right click menu.
Highlight all the layers you’d like to apply it to, and paste the layer style.
Now that we’ve tackled the “solid” flowers, it’s time to tackle the “line art” ones. Here are my layer style settings for these.
The fill is again at 0% opacity, and the layer’s opacity is lowered to 75%.
The second touch to these is a color overlay with a darker blue (#143142).
The result is this slightly faded line art overlay to the solid flowers.
Follow the copying and pasting of the layer style process again to apply this second style to all of the “line art” flowers.
It’s time to organize all of these smart objects. I might have gone borderline obsessive here, but it’ll make life much easier as the project goes forward.
Adding textures
As suggested earlier, we’re going to add some watercolor textures to the flowers. The inner glow from the layer style might emulate the watercolor edge, but it’s lacking the “substance” of the pigments itself.
The textures will come from Nicky Laatz’s watercolor forms (ultimate-designers-nicky-laatz\Watercolour_texturesForms\Files\WatercolourForms).
Let’s start at the top left corner. The texture we’ll be using is form12_807x882.png.
Blending mode: Overlay @ 50% opacity.
Next is the bottom right corner. The texture is form6_1231x1413.png.
Note how I’m placing the darker part of the texture above my flowers: this is where most of the texture’s substance will show in our elements.
Blending mode: Overlay @ 50% opacity.
Next up is the bottom left corner. The texture we’ll use is form11_1197x1269.png.
Blending mode: Overlay @ 50% opacity.
Finally, the top right corner’s texture is form5_630x675.png.
Blending mode: Overlay @ 50% opacity.
Let’s have a look at the layers so far. As you can see, even with very organized layers, it can quickly become overwhelming.
STEP 4: VECTORS, SECOND PASS
While we have the basis of a frame together, there are gaps I’d like to fill along the edges of the piece.
Note that the elements we’ll add now will need to be added below the elements of the first pass.
Let’s start by filling the lateral openings. We’ll use this branch/flower combo from Veronia_Elements.ai.
I’m placing the element at roughly 50% of its default size. I’ve also flipped it vertically.
Once satisfied with its placement, change the blending mode to Color burn @ 100% opacity.
Mirror the element on the right side of our piece.
Rename the smart objects properly.
Next, we’re going to add elements to fill the bottom gap. Let’s start at the middle, with this great dandelion (from CM_Glitter&Graphics_Elements.ai).
Blending mode: Color burn @ 100% opacity.
To the right of the dandelion, we’ll be adding this neat “line art” branch.
Blending mode: Color burn @ 100% opacity.
To the left, the “solid” version of the same branch.
Blending mode: Color burn @ 100% opacity.
I’ve renamed, and slightly reorganized my layers.
Time for the top row! The first element we’ll add is a counterpoint to the dandelion at the bottom. It looks like a wild poppy flower.
Blending mode: Color burn @ 100% opacity.
For the left and right, we’ll use these great branches.
Blending mode: Color burn @ 100% opacity.
And yes, the layers have to be organized.
Last but not least, we’ll add a little something behind the corners. First is that mistletoe branch, from Veronia_Elements.ai.
Place it behind the small flower corners (bottom left, top right). As earlier, the blending mode is Color burn @ 100% opacity.
Mirror it at the top right corner.
We’re also going to add something behind the big flower corners. It’s this tiny, line art branch, from CM_Glitter&Graphics_Elements. The blending mode is still Color burn @ 100% opacity.
Mirror the branch to the bottom right corner.
Organize the elements.
And we’re done with the vector stuff. Phew.
STEP 5: THE PHOTO
It’s finally time to add our photo to the card. Start by placing the photo you processed through the action earlier into the composition.
We are going to mask off the image using one of the watercolor forms we’ve used earlier. Track down form24_4029x1998.png (available in ultimate-designers-nicky-laatz\Watercolour_texturesForms\Files\WatercolourForms).
Place it above your photo, in the document.
Using the photo below as a guide, tweak the size and orientation of both the photo and of the watercolor form, so their width match. You can put the form on Multiply to help.
Once you’re satisfied with the placement of both, switch the form’s blending mode back to Normal.
Add a layer mask to the photo layer (Layer > Layer mask > Reveal all). Make sure it’s unlinked, as we’ll need to edit the layer mask independently of the layer itself.
Copy the content of the watercolor form, and turn its layer off. Proceed to paste the form in the photo’s layer mask. Use ALT/OPTION+CLICK on the layer mask’s thumbnail to be able to access its content.
For now, our layer mask hides the subjects. Invert it to reveal the subjects, and mask the photo’s edges.
The result is what we’re looking for, but too strong. Head back to the layer mask content, to tweak it with levels.
The results are better, but the effect is still very strong on the kids’ faces. Take a small, soft brush, and paint some of the texture elements away (60 px wide, 50% flow, and 50% opacity). Don’t hesitate to zoom in to see variations better. Do also head back and forth between the layer mask view and the normal view, to make sure to not overdo this step.
Adjusting the size and angle of the photo one last time.
One last tweak to the mask is to soften its edges where they are very hard, to emphasize the watercolor wash effect.
And the photo step is done! Don’t forget to group the layers together.
STEP 6: TYPE
A holiday card wouldn’t be very complete without a message of sorts. We are going to use Kimmy Designs’ Catalina family for that.
The copy will be simple: “Happy holidays! / From the Smith family”
I’m using Catalina Anacapa Slab Bold, sized at 42 points, in a dark blue (#143142), for the “Happy holidays!” line.
“From the Smith family” is a bit trickier. All the type is set 36 points tall, still in dark blue. “From the” is set in Catalina Anacapa Slab Bold, while “Smith Family” is set in Catalina Avalon Sans Regular.
The next touch is to give both type elements a slight arc effect. Head to Type > Warp text > Arc.
Last text element: a discreet mention of the year (2014), at the bottom, over the dandelion. The year is set in Catalina Avalon Sans Inline that’s 18 points tall, and in a light blue (#0798be).
And the layers, once grouped, will look like this.
STEP 7: GLOBAL TEXTURES
We are going to add one last texture to our piece. It’s splat6.png, from Nicky’s instant watercolors (ultimate-designers-nicky-laatz\InstantWatercolour_Pack\pngs).
This helps to tie the piece together visually. Simply place the texture so it covers the whole canvas.
Once placed, give it a layer mask, so we can hide the splatters that are covering the kids. They look a bit sinister.
Finally, change its blending mode to Color burn @ 35% opacity.
Phew, we have completed the piece!
WRAPING THINGS UP
I hope that you had as much fun going through this tutorial as I had writing it. If you have any questions please comment below, and I’d be happy to help you.
This tutorial is really flexible, and I hope that it inspires you to design your own creative family holiday card. Why not change up the colours, try different vectors, and position a lovely photo of your family as the centre-piece – your friends should love it! :)
Don’t hesitate to share your own outcomes with us! Head to the Design Cuts facebook page for that.
The resources of the Ultimate Designer’s Collection are still available for a few days at $29 (94% off!). I hope that this process piece help you to get a sense of the flexibility of the resources available in the bundle.
That’s it for me today. Until next time, cheers!
Question about this tutorial – I only have Photoshop, not Illustrator, and sometimes I’m not clear in these tutorials which one you’re using. Do you switch back and forth between the two programs during the course of this? You specified you were using PS at the start, with the photo actions. But later you open up some .ai files to use vector illustrations. I was under the impression those can’t be opened in Photoshop? If I’m wrong, please enlighten me, I have a huge folder of Design Cuts downloads set aside to use “someday” if/when I have Illustrator. If you do switch to Illustrator, do you think you could have the tutorials specify which program is being used, when? It’s probably obvious to people who own both, but confusing for me, only owning one and so perhaps not recognizing “Oh, we must be in Illustrator now.”
Hey Violet,
I can certainly help you with this!
You will be pleased to know that this tutorial is all performed in PS. The tutorial author will always advise what programs they are using in their tutorial.
You can open up the .ai files in PS but it can often be easier to open them using their .eps equivalent. I hope that helps :).
If you have any queries, please let me know. I am always happy to help!
Violet,
I’m taking note of your comment. It’s true that sometimes I don’t mention very clearly when I make the switch between the programs. I try to specify it as much as possible, but some of the jumps may have fallen through the cracks.
You *should* be able to open AI files in Photoshop (especially after CS3), even if it isn’t very practical. You also will not have access to their content in vector format.
My workflow is certainly based on using both programs in a complementary fashion. I can only recommend to have both at hand.
Either way, I’ll make sure to be clearer in future tutorials. Thank you for pointing it out!
Simon, thanks for clarifying this for Violet!
It is very much appreciated and hopefully this will help her out :)