Tag Archives: photoshop tutorials

Using a Displacement Map for T-Shirt Mock-ups

In this tutorial, we will take a blank t-shirt mockup and apply a color overlay with a white graphic. The tutorial uses a displacement map to achieve the effect of the graphic appearing to be contoured to the surface. A displacement map is a separate grayscale graphic that uses black and white pixel information to distort the graphic in horizontal and vertical directions. Lighter pixels will push the image up, darker pixels will push the graphic down, and 50% gray will not push pixels in either direction. For this tutorial, we will use a grayscale copy of the base image to control the displacement of the graphic so that it conforms to the figure.

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Creating a two-tone image with Photoshop

There are a number of reasons to create an image comprised of only two colors – it may work within your color palette or you may need an expressive graphic image that can have text placed on top of it and be easily read. Below is a very easy way to make a two-tone image using adjustment layers allowing for endless possibilities.

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A Monochromatic Gradient Map in Photoshop

There are many reasons why you would want to make a monochromatic version of an image – some reasons may be that the color scheme of a selected photo doesn’t work with the other colors of a layout, or that the layout itself is intended to work with just one color as well as black and white. This tutorial will use the gradient map adjustment layer to create a monochromatic image and provide a lot of flexibility for any further adjustments.

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Stamped and Weathered Text in Photoshop


This is a really great technique for making distressed or weathered looking letters. (I can’t take full credit for designing this technique, but the original website disappeared and I wanted to preserve it for posterity.)
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Torn Edges in Photoshop


In this tutorial we will make an image appear is if has been torn out of a fashion magazine leaving raggedy edges. It’s not as good as the real thing but built into the tutorial are plenty of opportunities to modify the technique to achieve a certain level of authenticity.
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Subtle Textures in Photoshop – Mezzotint


Another in a series of creating subtle textures in Photoshop, this one uses a prepared gradient ramp that has the mezzotint filter applied to it. The texture ramp is saved as a smart object that can then be placed into a new file and colorized and blended as necessary.
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Subtle Textures in Photoshop – Heather


For this tutorial, we’ll create a subtle heather-like texture in Photoshop from scratch. This tutorial uses Smart Objects, layers that allow up to modify them without destroying them. We even get to nest a smart object within another smart object just like Russian nesting dolls or the film Inception.
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Text Overlay in InDesign


In this tutorial a graphic is placed on top of an image in InDesign. Using the Effects Panel, the transparency of the graphic is modified so that the image can still be visible through the graphic.
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Going 3D in InDesign


In this tutorial, you will create a little fake 3D in InDesign using a photoshop image that has been separated out into layers. There are a number of ways to do this – some a little less cumbersome – but I prefer this method as it gives you full control over how the image blends with the graphics in InDesign.
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Create an graphic overlay in InDesign

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Overlaid graphics in InDesign lend layering and texture to layouts and is great way to mix in disparate elements to create depth and meaning. Continue reading