CD Inspiration: Nine Inch Nails

In a previous post I drew inspiration from Police's Synchronicity album cover to create a Photoshop project. This week the cover for the Nine Inch Nails album, Downward Spiral, caught my eye. If you want to see the original album cover, check it out here: http://www.musicdirect.com/products/images.php?i=-1&p=38059&h=75291 - I think it's a great way to showcase a grungy image such as this graffiti. Here’s how to create the effect:

Step 1
Open the image and crop it to a square shape.

Add a new layer by clicking the Add New Layer icon at the foot of the layers palette and use the rectangular marquee to drag over the bottom third of the image.

Fill this selection with white by setting the foreground color to white and press Alt + Backspace or Option + Delete on the Mac. Drag the Opacity slider down to around 60 percent so that you can see some of the image through it.

Step 2
On a new layer, type one line of text in a sans serif font. I used Candara Regular and set the text color to a dark color sampled from the image itself.

Select the text, display the Character palette and drag on the Tracking slider to separate the letters so that they are spread out.

Step 3
You’ll need two lines of text so you can position them to get the effect in the bottom right corner of the album cover. The second line of text is in lower case but the same font and it does not have so much tracking applied to it. Position the two lines of text in place.

Step 4
To create the cutout you need to make a hollow rectangular selection which sounds easier to do than it is. Start by selecting the Rectangular Marquee tool and select around the first piece of text on the outer edge of what will become your final selection. Save this selection by choosing Select > Save Selection, type a name for the selection and click Ok. Choose Select > Modify > Contract and contract the selection by ten (or more) pixels depending on the size of your image.

Invert the selection by choosing Select > Inverse.

Choose Select > Load Selection, click the Intersect with Selection option, choose the channel that you just saved and click Ok.

This will select a small hollow rectangular shape on the image.

Step 5
Click on the white layer in the layer palette to select it. Hold the Alt key (Option on the Mac) as you click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the foot of the layer palette to add a layer mask to the white layer. This shows a portion of the image through the white overlay.

Step 6
Add a new layer and make sure it is selected. Select the Brush tool and select an interesting shaped brush such as the Heavy Smear Wax Crayon brush in the dry media brushes collection. With black paint, paint over the top left edge of the white overlay.

Step 7
Add a new layer and select the Pen tool. Make sure that Paths is selected on the toolbar. Draw a few lines through your paintwork. Start by clicking and dragging the first point and then click and drag multiple times to create an organic curved line. Press Enter to finish the first line. Click on the Work Path in the Paths palette to select it and then draw a second line. Continue to draw all the lines you need.

Step 8
View the Paths palette and make sure that you have a small hard-edged brush selected such as a 5-pixel brush and black paint. Click the Work Path to select it and click the Stroke Path with Brush icon at the foot of the Paths palette.

Because you are painting with black, this will give you some black lines through the painted shape.

Delete the path.

Step 9

Add a small drop shadow to this layer by clicking the Add a Layer Style icon at the foot of the layer palette and choose Drop Shadow. You can choose a lighter color for the shadow but make sure to change the blend mode to Screen if you do so.

Right-click the Drop Shadow layer style and choose Create layer. This converts the shadow into a layer of its own that you can then select the shadow layer and remove some of the drop shadow by erasing over it with a ragged shaped and partially transparent brush.

Step 10
To create a heavy black box, add a new layer and drag to create the outer edge of the box using the Rectangular Marquee tool. Fill the selection with black.

Choose Select > Modify > Contract and contract the shape by the number of pixels that you need to create the inner edge of the black border. Press the Delete key to remove the black fill from this selection.

Step 11
Use the Text tool to add text inside the box. For this text I used Gil Sans MT Condensed as it is a good thick black font which can show a lot of text in a small space.

Because the text was placed on a very dark element in the background I’ve used a drop shadow set to a lighter color sampled from the image with its blend mode set to Screen. By setting the Distance to zero, and using comparatively large values for Size and Spread, the text can be more easily read.

Step 12
Another line of text just below this box and stretched the full width of the box finishes the image. It has the same layer style applied to it as the previous layer so that it can be easily read. Instead of recreating the drop shadow layer style, right click the first text layer and choose Copy Layer Style and then right click the target layer and choose Paste Layer Style.

Reproducing interesting graphics that you see whether on album covers, in advertisements and other places is a great way to develop and polish your Photoshop skills.

Photoshop image framing template

I love things that look good and which are simple to use and this custom framing technique is one of them. Here's how it is done:

Step 1
Open an image to use as a template background. Here I’ve stacked two texture photos on top of each other and blended them with the Color Burn blend mode. I then added another layer with a brown blurred edge to give the design a vignette effect.



Step 2
Next create a new layer on the image and make a selection on it for the photo. Fill the selection with a solid colour. You can, if desired, add a grunge layer mask to this layer as I have done - I used a grunge edge from Graphic Authority and added a blended flower for decoration. I think the Graphics Authority grunge effects totally rock.



Step 3
Open the photo to frame with this design and drag its background layer into your template design. Rotate the image to match the rotation of the shape on the layer below and drag it on top of that shape. Choose Layer > Create Clipping Mask to mask the image to the shape below.



Once it is made, you can reuse this template by simply replacing the image layer.

Photoshop Creative: Make a Collage Photo Banner

When you’re creating a photo blog or website a photo banner lets you showcase a range of your work. You can create a collage of photos for a banner in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements very easily. Here's how


Step 1
Start with a new image the size of your banner or a multiple of it. So, for example, if your banner is going to be 1200 pixels wide by 250 pixels you can start with this size image or double it so you have a bigger space to work and size it down as the last step.

Here I've created a document 2400 x 500 at a Resolution of 72 pixels/inch, RGB Color and with a Transparent background..


Step 2
Open the photos to work with. These should be fixed and color corrected but they don't need to be sized. I like to open more images than I will use so I have lots to choose from. A combination of close-ups and distance shots gives your banner a lot of variety. Flatten all the images to a single layer.

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and drag over an area to use from the first photo. Select a generous portion of the image allowing plenty of room to the left and right of the main portion of the image that you are interested in as you will use this area to blend the layers. Chose Edit > Copy and then switch to the banner image and choose Edit > Paste. Close the original image.

Press Ctrl + T and then Ctrl + 0 and size the image to fit your banner. Use the Move tool to position it in place.


Step 3
Select the next photo to use. Copy a piece from it and paste it into your banner image. Size it and move it into position. Continue to do this until your banner is full. The images should each appear on a separate layer and they should all overlap by significant amounts.

If desired, drag the layers into a different order to position the images where they should appear in the collage.


Step 4
Starting on one side of the image, select the Eraser and select a soft brush or a textured one such as the Chalk 44 pixels brush. Adjust the brush size so that it’s big enough to work with, reduce its Opacity to around 50 percent and click on the layer in the layer palette that contains the image to blend.

Erase over the edge of the image to reveal the layers below. As you work, give some consideration to how you want the images to blend together. In some instances, simply softening the hard edge of the image will be sufficient. However, if there are significantly different colors on each layer you may want to be more creative about how you blend the layers together.


Step 5
If you’re familiar with using masks you’ll find that you'll get better results with a mask than you do with the eraser as the blending can be easily undone.

To use a mask, add a mask to the layer that you’re working on and then paint over the mask in black to remove the image from this layer. If you make a mistake, paint in white. To add a layer mask, click the Add a Layer Mask icon at the foot of the Layer palette.

Work across the image softening the edges where the images overlap. It’s at this point that you will see the benefits of having plenty of overlap between the images as this will give you plenty of room to blend the images together.

Some layers may lend themselves to being used as overlays rather than a part of the image. For example, a photograph of text can be placed over another image with its Blend Mode set to Multiply and its Opacity lowered so you get a layering of photos.


Step 6
Finish your banner by adding some text. Click the Text tool and click on the banner and type your text. Use a Drop Shadow layer style to make the text rise above the background so it will be more easily read.

Ready to learn more? Here are some more creative Photoshop tutorials from my blog:

Photoshop: Fold a photo



Photoshop: Turn daylight into sunset in one easy step.