Photoshop Graphics in 4 Easy Steps.
Sometimes the most difficult part is knowing where to start. Have you ever had someone show you just how to do some something. They go click, click, and click - Done! And you’re none the wiser; You see everything is easy once you know how. That’s my purpose here. It is to help you see it as easy. So let’s look at these four steps.
First Step: Choose Size
Go to “File” and click “New”. You now need to specify the size of your graphic. Normally you would have determined this in advance as you must first have a purpose for the graphic. Ours is a header graphic. Headers on a sales page are usually around 700 pixels by 120 pixels. So we can choose that as our size for the graphic.
Second Step: Decide On A Background.
There are three options to choose from. 1. We could put in a solid color as the background. 2. For more flair we may decide on a gradient. 3. We could insert a picture as our background.
If we decided on a solid color, here’s how to go about it. On the left hand side of the page there is a floating tool box. Towards the bottom of this box are two color boxes, one on top of the other. Click on the top box and a new window will appear. Choose the color you want by clicking the mouse on the color and click OK. Then choose the Bucket tool. If you cannot find a bucket tool, move your mouse over each of the tools till you find the gradient tool. Right click and it will reveal 2 tools, choose the bucket tool.
Once you have chosen the bucket tool, move your mouse over the new graphic you are creating. You will see the mouse pointer turn into the bucket tool. Just one click and you have your chosen color as your background.
To fill this with a gradient, change the bucket toll into the gradient tool. Once again you need to choose a color. This time you will need to choose 2 colors. The top square is your starting color and the bottom square is the finish color of the gradient.
Having chosen the gradient tool you will notice on the top of the work area new choices have appeared. This will allow you to choose the style of the gradient.
The third choice of a background is to import a picture. To do this just open a picture file that you wish to use. Make sure this picture is equal or larger in size to the new graphic you are making. With the mouse just drag and drop the picture into the new graphic. Move it around to where you want it and you’re done.
Please note: this does not work with Gif Files.
Step 3: Import more images.
Photoshop works with layers. Each time you import something or introduce more text you create a new layer. To the right of your work area you should see “Layers”. Click on it and now it will display all the layers in the graphic. Clicking on a layer in this box will make it the active layer, and you will be able to work on this layer.
To import a picture is exactly the same as what you did in dragging and dropping the background into the graphic. When you drag in a picture you always have some background with the picture. If the background is mostly one color you can easily remove the background and thus expose the background you want seen. To do this you will need to use the eraser.
If your background is all one color, let’s say white, you can use the magic eraser. Right click on the eraser. Three options will appear. Choose “Magic Eraser”. Move your mouse to the part of the picture you want to get rid of and click. In one click it will remove the unwanted background of the picture you dragged in. While you are in that layer you can move this picture to where you want it by picking it up with your mouse.
Step 4 The Text
In Photoshop your text is also a layer. Each time you insert new text you create a new layer. You are able to move the text around as you can any other layer.
To ad text just click on the text tool. “T”. You can choose your font and the size of the text as you would in any word processor.
Now that your text is in place it can be enhanced and made to stand out. Make sure the text you want to work with is the active layer. On the top bar of the work area is “Layer”. Click it and choose “Layer Style”. This will open up numerous options. To get an idea of what each of these does just play and experiment with it. As you choose an option it will instantly be seen before you commit it.
With this you have created a simple and professional graphic to use on the web.
There is only one thing left to do. Save it. First save it in Photoshop PSD as this will allow you to come back and edit it. Next if you wish to use it as a web graphic you can “Save it for Web and Devices”. This will create a smaller faster loading file for web pages.
