I thought my cute little "feminism is cool" printable would be a good opportunity to walk you through how I create my printables. First you need to decide what phrase or saying you want to turn into a printable. Then collect inspiration ideas from Pinterest and Etsy. Look for fonts, colors, patterns, and/or graphics you like and want to incorporate or reproduce. You don't want to flat out steal someone's design, just draw inspiration.
1) Open a new document in photoshop. I like to create mine as 8 by 10 inch prints at 300 dpi (you can use any measurements you want, but if you plan on printing it, it must be at least 300 dpi)
2) Unlock the background layer by double clicking the lock icon (you can also take this opportunity to name the background layer). Next I like to do a color overlay on my background layer rather than fill the white space with a new color. This allows you quickly see what different color backgrounds would look like. To do this, double click on the layer and select color overlay. Select you color and click ok.
3) Now you can add text by selecting the text tool (shortcut T) and drawing your text box over the background layer. If you have multiple lines of text, I suggest making multiple text boxes. This gives you greater flexibility when arranging the text.
4) I wanted to create gold text, so I selected my first layer of text and applied a gradient overlay. Again, double click the layer and select gradient overlay. Play around with your colors and gradient until you find a gold effect you like. Make sure you save this gradient by selecting "new" before closing this formatting palette. Repeat the same process with your other text layers, except now your gradient is already saved, you just have to select it.
5) Once you have the text formatted, play around with its placement.
6) Now you can add fun graphics. I wanted to use my pencil graphic to create an arrow pattern. I placed the image in the file on a new layer. I then copied the layer and flipped it vertically to create the point of my arrow. Next it was just a matter of copying those two layers to repeat the arrow pattern. Once I created one, I duplicated that layer to place the same arrow design next to my other lines of text.
7) Finally, I added some lines to create a little bit more visual interest. I selected the shape tool and then selected the line tool. I drew my line (hold down the shift key to ensure a straight line) and duplicated it for each line of text. To make the lines gold, I repeated the same process I did with the text--double click on the layer, select stroke then gradient overlay (instead of color), and apply your gold gradient.
8) To optimize the file for the web, you want to change the color mode of the document from CMYK to RGB.
9) Then select file > save as, and save it as a png file. Finally, if you select smallest file size, you will have a file that won't slow down your blog when you upload it. If you also want to print this, make sure you save it as a jpg as well before you close the photoshop file.
Final tip: While it is good to have an inspiration piece, make sure you also play around with your design. The lines that I added at the end were actually a happy accident and something I had not planned on originally. Also, play around with text font and placement as well as your colors.
Hope this was helpful!Labels: DIY, Printable, Tips and Tricks
