WHAT WE’RE CREATING:

Hey there Design Cutters! Renee here with a tutorial for a flower show poster. We’ll create everything in Photoshop using a vast array of floral elements, textures, layer masks and blend modes.

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Here’s a look at what we’ll be creating:

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Follow along with this tutorial: Download the freebie files

The freebie pack includes a ton of flowers, botanicals, leaves, texture, grit and an unbelievable Big Ben watercolor from the amazing designers at Eclectic Anthology, Emine Gayiran, Every Tuesday, Octopus Artis and True Grit Texture Supply.

This freebie pack is just a small sample of the huge number of resources available in The Ultimate Artistic Design Bundle for just $29 (that’s 99% off). This collection will kick your creativity into overdrive with inspirational resources from the world’s top designers.

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Step 1: Background

Open Photoshop and go to File > New. In the New Document dialog box, enter a width of 18 inches and a height of 24 inches. Set your Resolution to 300 ppi and your Color Mode to RGB.

Click OK to create the document.

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Save your file.

We’ll start with a background texture. Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to background 08 in the Emine Gayiran freebies folder. Press Place, then hold Shift and use the corner handles to increase the size until it fills the entire artboard. Press enter to complete the placement.

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We’ll add a little extra color to the corners. Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to
Vignette 4 in the True Grit Texture Supply folder. Press Place. Hover over the corner handle until you see the curved, double-sided rotation arrow. Hold Shift, then click and rotate to the right 90 degrees, then use the corner handles to increase the size of the grit texture until it fills the artboard to the edges. Press Enter when you’re done.

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At the bottom of the Layers palette (Window > Layers), click the FX icon and choose Color Overlay.

For Blend Mode, choose Screen. Click on the color swatch to bring up the Color Picker. In the Color Picker, enter RGB values of 176/206/213. Click OK on the Color Picker.

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At the top left of the Layer Style pop-up, click on Blending Options. Under Advanced Blending, click on the checkbox next to Blend Interior Effects As Group. Then click OK.

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At the top of the Layers palette, change the Blend Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 60%.

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Step 2: Big Ben

Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to Big Ben in the Emine Gayiran freebies folder. Press Place.

At the top left of the artboard, enter a Width of 200%, then click the link icon between Width and Height to constrain aspect ratio. Press enter when done and position Big Ben in the bottom right corner of the artboard.

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Now we’ll roughly mask out the edges of the Big Ben watercolor so we can see our background texture.

At the bottom of the Layers palette, click the Add Layer Mask icon. Press x to make white your foreground color and black your background color, then press d to toggle the colors so that black is the foreground color.

Select your Brush tool (b). At the top left of the artboard, click on the arrow next to the Brush thumbnail image and choose the brush named Watercolor Loaded Wet Flat Tip.

Note: To easily see brush names, click the Settings icon at the top right of the Brush Preset Picker palette. In the flyout menu, choose Large List.

Increase the size of the brush to 2000 px by pressing the right bracket key on your keyboard several times (]).

Start brushing the white areas around Big Ben. As you paint, they will be masked out. Fortunately, the nature of the watercolor and the background make it so we don’t need to be precise. Stay pretty loose and leave a rough white edge around Big Ben. As you get closer to Big Ben, pick your brush up frequently (click and release) to mask areas out with rough edges.

I’ve put a black background behind the first image below so you can see the masked out areas.

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Step 3: Text

At the bottom of the Layers palette, click the Create a New Group icon. Double click the name and rename it Text.

We’re going to use 2 fonts that are available for free online – Orial by Salman Boosty and Eurofurence by Tobias Benjamin Köhler.

Select your Type Tool (t). Click once at the top left of the artboard and type: LONDON. Press enter, then type FLOWER SHOW.

In your toolbar, select your Move Tool (v).

Open your Character palette (Window > Character) and change the font to Eurofurence at 70 pt. Set the Leading, the vertical space between lines, to 65 pt. Set the Tracking, the horizontal space between letters, to 380. Click the Color thumbnail to bring up the Color Picker and enter RGB values of 203/16/9.

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Use your Type Tool to highlight the top line of text – LONDON.

In the Character palette, change the font to Orial Bold at 130 pt. Set the Tracking back to 0.

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Notice that the style of the top font forces the word over to the right so it doesn’t appear to line up with FLOWER SHOW. We have an easy way to adjust it. Open your Paragraph palette (Window > Paragraph). With LONDON still selected, enter -12 pt for Indent Left Margin.

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Let’s give LONDON a hint of the watercolor look. Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to 08 in the Every Tuesday freebie folder. Press Place.

Use the corner handles to increase the size until it is just a touch wider than LONDON. Position it over the letters and press Enter when you’re done.

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In the Layers palette, hold Cmd and click on the T on the London Flower Show text layer to create a selection around the text.

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Release Cmd and click once on the 08 layer to make sure it’s the active layer. At the bottom of the Layers palette, click the Add Layer Mask icon.

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At the top of the Layers palette, change the Opacity to 70%.

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Select your Type Tool and click once above the show title. Type: The Royal Horticultural Society presents.

In the Character palette, change the font to Eurofurence Regular at 40 pt. Leading should be Auto and Tracking 0. Click on the color swatch and enter RGB values of 50/70/95. Align with the left side of the title.

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Select your Type Tool and click below the title. Type:
September 24 – 25, 2017 FALL FLORALS IN BLOOM International Horticulture Exhibit Competition for Flowers, Plants & Vegetables Children’s GardenPlant Sale Tea Room For entry fees and exhibit info, contact
The Royal Horticultural Society at
020 7946 0244 or visit designcuts.com.

In the Character palette, set the font to Eurofurence Regular at 40 pt and set the Leading to 50 pt. Tracking should be 0.

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Use your Type Tool to select the first two lines, the date and subtitle, and change the font size to 50 pt.

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Next, use the Type Tool to select the last paragraph with contact info. Change the font size to 30 pt and the Leading to Auto.

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Position so the text lines up with the left side of the title.

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Step 4: Florals

Now we’ll create a border around our poster using a mix of bright illustrations.

Create a new Group and name it Florals.

Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to f3 in the Eclectic Anthology freebies folder. Press Place. Position in the top right corner of the artboard and press Enter.

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Go to File > Place Linked again. Navigate to 01 in the Emine Gayiran freebies folder. Press Place. Position at the top left of the artboard so it’s just peeking in from the corner. Press Enter when done.

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Now we’ll give our rose some leaves to lay on. Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to LeafyFloralElements_22 in the Octopus Artis freebies folder. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard next to the angle icon, enter a rotation of -30 degrees. Position so several leaves stick out just past the rose. Press Enter.

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In the Layers palette, drag the LeafyFloralElements_22 layer below the 01 layer.

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Next, we’ll fill out the bottom corners.

Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to floral-botanicals(3)-5 in the Eclectic Anthology freebies folder. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard, enter 140% next to Width, then click the link icon between Width and Height to constrain aspect ratio. Position the flower in the bottom right corner and press Enter.

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Go to File > Place Linked and select EA-GF-96. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard next to the rotate icon, enter a rotation of -25 degrees. Position the tulips on the far right, just above the last flower we placed. Press Enter.

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In the Layers palette, drag this layer below floral-botanicals(3)-5.

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Go to File > Place Linked and select EA-FF-41. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard, set the rotation to 28 degrees. Position so the flower peeks in from bottom left corner, then press Enter.

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Go to File > Place Linked and select EA-FF-9. Press Place. Position at the bottom left side of the artboard, just barely bleeding off both the left and bottom edges. Press Enter.

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Go to File > Place Linked and select EA-fl-5. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard, enter 120% next to Width, then click the link icon to constrain aspect ratio. Next to the rotation icon, enter -90 degrees.

Position at the bottom right of the artboard and press Enter.

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In the Layers palette, select the LeafyFloralElements_22 layer. Drag it down to the Create A New Layer icon to duplicate it.

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal.

Use your Move Tool to drag the leaf to the bottom of the artboard, poking out from the left side of the small blue flowers.

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To create a slightly longer look to the branch, we’ll give it a slight rotation. Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate. At the top of the artboard, enter a rotation of about 13 degrees and press Enter.

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Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to LeafyFloralElements_18 in the Octopus Artis freebies folder. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard, enter a Width of 120% and click the link icon to maintain aspect ratio. Enter a rotation of -135 degrees. Position at the bottom left of the artboard so just a little bit peeks out the right side of the mushrooms.

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In the Layers palette, drag the LeafyFloralElements_18 layer down to the Create A New Layer icon to duplicate it.

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. On the artboard, use your Move Tool to drag the duplicate to the left of the original. Press Enter when done.

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In the Layers palette, drag the duplicate layer, LeafyFloralElements_18 copy, down to the Create A New Layer icon.

On the artboard, use your Move Tool to drag the new copy just behind the orange flower in the bottom right corner, floral-botanicals(3)-5.

Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate. At the top of the artboard, enter a rotation of 50 degrees. Press Enter when done.

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Go to File > Place Linked and navigate to EA-GF-94 in the Eclectic Anthology freebies folder. Press Place.

At the top of the artboard, enter a Width of 140% and click the link icon to maintain aspect ratio. Position on the far right edge of the artboard between the tulips and roses. Press Enter.

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In the Layers palette, drag the EA-GF-94 layer to the bottom of the group, below the f3 layer.

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Now we’ll mask out a few pieces so Big Ben doesn’t get hidden behind too many flowers.

In the Layers palette, select the f3 layer in the Florals group. At the bottom of the Layers palette, click the Add Layer Mask icon.

In the Layers palette, select the Big Ben layer. Grab your Magic Wand Tool (w). On the artboard, click on the white area around Big Ben to create a selection.

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Go to Select > Inverse.

In the Layers palette, select the white layer mask thumbnail on the f3 layer. Press d, then x to make your foreground color white. Select your Brush Tool and choose the Hard Round Brush.

Brush over the top steeple of Big Ben.

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Press cmd + d to Deselect when done.

Now we’ll mask out part of the purple flowers on the right side using the same process.

In the Layers palette, select EA-GF-94. Click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Select the Big Ben layer in the Layers palette. On the artboard, choose your Magic Wand Tool and click the white area around Big Ben. Then, go to Select > Inverse.

In the Layers palette, click on the white layer mask thumbnail on the EA-GF-94 layer. Select your Brush tool and brush over the right side of Big Ben where it interacts with the purple flowers.

Press Cmd + d to deselect when done.

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Step 5: Finishing Touches

The left edge of the Big Ben painting seems to end somewhat abruptly with how we’ve placed it, so we’ll add a little area of watercolor that trails off the edge.

In the Layers palette, select the Big Ben layer. At the bottom of the Layers palette, click the Create a New Layer icon. Double click the layer name and rename it Extra Watercolor.

Select your Brush Tool. Click on the brush thumbnail at the top left of the artboard. In the flyout menu, select the Watercolor Loaded Wet Flat Tip brush. Change the Opacity to 30%. Press your right bracket key on your keyboard several times to increase the size to 500 px.

Hold Option to turn your cursor into an Eyedropper. Use the Eyedropper to sample a blue color from the left edge of the Big Ben painting.

Release Option and start painting to the left of Big Ben. To create a mottled watercolor look, use a single click and release method instead of dragging the Brush. You can also vary the size of the Brush using the left and right bracket keys on your keyboard, if needed.

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Press Option again and sample a different color – the grayer color below the blue. Then brush this color to the left of the painting.

Vary the color and size of your Brush, and gradually build up the color on the left side of the Big Ben painting.

Note: If you don’t like what you’ve done or feel it’s too dark, select your Eraser tool (e) and set the Opacity very low. Brush over the watercolor brush strokes to gradually lighten the color.

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And we’re done here! We’ve created a beautiful, bright Flower Show poster by layering gorgeous floral elements with watercolors and texture. I don’t have a green thumb, but I’m pretty sure I can fake it as long as I have this bundle!

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Remember that whether it’s your outcome for this tutorial or something new you’ve made, we’d love to see your designs on our Facebook page.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions. I always look forward to hearing from you!

There’s still time to check out The Ultimate Artistic Design Bundle to fill your library with an astounding variety of high-quality, artistic resources for only $29.