Retro Design Tutorial

Resources, etc. for this Tutorial

Hibiscus fabric picture from stock.xchng

Paper Dolls from speedrich

Black and Grey Swirl Pattern from stock.xchng

Text on a Path Illustrator Tutorial from eHow

Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly from dafont

References:

Paper dolls were an extremely popular toy in the 1950s.

‘Made in the Shade’ was a 50s expression meaning ‘Sure to succeed’.

__________________________________________________

This tutorial will produce this end result:

Open a new file of your chosen size (mine was 600 x 800, 72px resolution)

Fill the background with #FB5796

Create a new layer and fill with Gauze pattern from Artistic Surfaces set.

Double click on the layer in the palatte to bring up the blending options. Select Color Overlay. Set the colour to #FFD4E5 and set the blend mode to Hard Light, click OK.

Set the layer mode to overlay

Create a new layer and select the gradient tool. Use the following settings:

Apply a linear gradient from top to bottom of the canvas.

Set the layer mode to overlay. Go to layers > merge visible (Ctrl + Shift + E) – you should have just a background layer now.

Open the flower texture picture. Resize the image so the large flower easily fits on your project.

With the lasso tool, roughly select the large white flower, Edit > copy (Ctrl + C), then back to your project, Edit > Paste (Ctrl + V).

With the magic wand, click on a white part of the flower, right-click the mouse and select ‘Similar’, all the white should now be selected. Select > Inverse (Ctrl + Shift + I), hit the delete key.

Now with the eraser, the pen tool, the lasso tool or your preferred method, clean up the image to leave just the white flower.

Ctrl + Click on the layer to select the pixels.

Set the foreground colour to #FC5693, Edit > Fill (Alt + Backspace), select Foreground Color.

You will need to duplicate this layer many times (Ctrl + J) – I used 13 copies

Use Edit > Transform > Scale (Ctrl + T) to resize each flower, then place them on the canvas so they ‘meander’ from the bottom left corner to the top right corner of the canvas.

When you are happy with the layout, turn off the visibility of the background layer and go to Layer > Merge Visible (Ctrl + Shift + E).

Set this layer mode to overlay.

Double click on the layer in the palette to bring up the blending options and apply a drop shadow using the following settings:

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) above the background layer. Set foreground colour to #FFFAFE, select the paintbrush tool (B), and select 100px soft round brush. Decrease the opacity and flow, both to 50%, then daub some pink on the dark part to get a ‘distressed’ look.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to about 8.

Go to Layer > Merge Visible (Ctrl + Shift + E) – you once again have just the background layer.

Open the paper dolls pictures, use the magic wand to select the white background, then Select > Inverse, Edit > Copy.

Back to your project and Edit > Paste – do this with all three pictures.

Resize the pictures as required ans set them in place.

Double click on the doll layer to bring up the blending options and apply a drop shadow using the following settings:

Now create a new layer, turn off the visibility of all layers except the doll and the ‘empty’ layer, go to Layers > Merge Visible (Ctrl + Shift + E).

Make either of the clothes’ layers the active layer and apply a drop shadow using the following settings:

Drag and drop the Effect onto the other clothes layer.

Turn off the visibility of the background layer and merge visible, as before.

Create a new layer above the background layer

With the elliptical marquee tool draw out an ellipse for the base.

Select the gradient fill tool and from the Metals set select Silver.

Apply a linear gradient diagonally from top left to bottom right of the ellipse.

Duplicate the doll layer (Ctrl + J) and with the rectangular marquee tool select all but the feet and ankles of the doll and clothes – delete the selection.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (Ctrl + Shift + U) , then Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.

Now move the feet under the doll (you may have to rotate it a little using Transform)

Ctrl + Click on the ellipse layer to select the pixels, then Select > Inverse (Ctrl + Shift + I), Select > Modify > Expand and set to 2px.

Make the foot reflection layer active and hit delete.

Reduce the opacity of this layer to 21%.

Turn of visibility of the background layer and merge visible layers (Ctrl + Shift + E).

Open the Grey Swirl image, go to Image > Rotate Canvas > 90°CW, then resize to about 200px larger than your project. Go to Select > All (Ctrl + A), then Edit > Copy (Ctrl + C). Back to your project and Edit > Paste (Ctrl + V).

Place the layer between the 2 existing layers, and move it so the centre of the swirl is behind the doll’s head.

Set the blend mode to Multiply and the opacity to 32%.

Create a new layer above the previous one, set foreground colour to black.

Select the Custom Shape Tool and select Registration Target 2. Place it as shown below:

Set the layer mode to overlay and the opacity to 12%.

Turn off the visibility of the doll layer and merge visible layers.

With the background layer active, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and increase the brightness to +10 (or whatever setting you prefer).

Create a new layer above the 2 existing layers. Set foreground colour to #6BBA53

Select the Custom Shape Tool (U) and select Flower 7 and drag out a flower from the centre of the rays.

Apply Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow and Bevel & Emboss settings as follows: