December, 2007
In this tutorial I'll show you how to create your own winter postcard.
Start with 8.5 x 5.5 300 dpi document. Now create a new gradient and apply to the background.
Click on the Paintbrush tool and select the star.
Change the Spacing of the brush.
Change the Angle Jitter located under Shape Dynamics.
Change the Scattering also.
Then click the Create New Brush icon and name it.
Create a new layer, choose white as the foreground color, increase and decrease the brush size to create enough variety in the stars. When that is done, change the layer mode to Overlay.
On a new layer selected the Rounded Rectangle tool and put a Radius on it of 5 in. Draw out the shape. Center it vertically. Hit Control+Enter to make it active.
In Layer Style create a gold gradient and apply it light at the top and dark at the bottom vertically. Select Reverse if necessary.
The object should now look like the one below.
On a new layer select the Pen tool. Create a ribbon form.
In Layer Styles create a gradient with the settings below and apply to the ribbon.
Apply a Bevel and Emboss with the settings below.
The ribbon should now look like the one below.
Type in some copy for the postcard.
In Layer Styles apply a Drop Shadow and lessen the Opacity to 50% for the lettering.
To create a shadow for the ribbon, duplicate the layer. Create a new layer above. Select both layers and press Control+E to merge them. Move the ribbon down and drop it behind the original ribbon layer. Staying on that new ribbon layer Control+click the rounded rectangle layer and then press Control+Shift+I to invert. Press delete. Control+click the ribbon layer and fill with a dark blue. Change the layer mode to Soft Light with an Opacity of 25%.
Finally, on the layer above the star layer, make white the foreground color, select a brush and enlarge it a lot. Paint a streak from the top downward, then use Gaussian Blur set to the maximum to blur it. I also added an Inner Glow and an Outer Glow to the rounded rectangle to give it more ethereal look. I applied high settings to both. When you have completed all, if you plan on printing the card, convert it to CMYK.
Download the original source files from this tutorial in Zip format Here
Copyright (c) 2007, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved
