In this tutorial, I will show you how I created this mock car wash coupon. I used it on my brother this Christmas and it turned out to be pretty funny. Although it is meant as a joke, I put many useful Photoshop tecniques to work here, and I will show you how I did the whole thing step by step.
We are going to create a 6"x3" card - so start a new document, 6.25"x3.25" to create 1/4" bleeds on each side since we will be printing this out and cutting it. Fill the background with a ligh blue color - I chose #0064A6.
Next, we're going to add two text layers, one with the main information which is centered (name that layer 'car wash'), and one for the disclosure on the bottom, which is right justified (name that layer 'disclosure') - the fonts I have used here are Times New Roman, and a font called 'aaaiight!' which can be downloaded free at www.dafont.com. Be sure to keep all text and inside the 'safey area'. Of course, you can personalize the information.
If you can't read the disclosure, it says: "Terms and conditions may apply. Offer only available from May through August. We reserve the right to cancel appointment due to imperfect weather conditions. Car washes not available for SUV’s and/or convertibles. Offer expires April 30, 2008. Should you fail to use this coupon before the expiration date, we reserve the right to bill your account at our discretion." My brother drives a convertable, and his wife an SUV, so that probably doesn't apply for you - like I said, you should make whatever personalizations you need.
Now we can start dressing it up. Select the 'car wash' text by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the layer in the layers pallete. Now select the Lasso tool - hold down the Alt key while you use it and deselect all of the text except for 'car wash'.
Now create a new layer and call it 'blue'. Select your gradient tool and create a blue gradient using the following colors: #0064A6; #3196C8. Make sure you have it set to 'Linear Blend'
Draw the gradient from (darker blue) bottom to (light blue) top. Now double click into the 'car wash' text layer and delete the 'car wash' line we just created. You should now have something that looks like this.
Now we're going to apply a couple of Layer Styles. First add a drop shadow - I actually kept the default settings in this case. Then add a gradient overlay - keep all of the settings except switch the 'Blend Mode' to 'Soft Light'.
Now we're ready to add that green outline. Select the 'blue' layer by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the 'blue' layer in the Layers Pallete. Now go to Select>Modify>Expand (on the top menu bar), and expand the selection about 18px. Create a new layer underneath the 'blue' layer and name it 'green'. We will now create another gradient, this time using the following colors: #83D612; #B7F563. Once again be sure to have it set to Linear Blend and draw the gradient from (darker green) bottom to (light green) top. Now apply the same Layer Styles to the 'green' layer as we previously applied to the 'blue' layer.
Alright, now it's starting to take on some character. We are going to add some life to the background. Select the Eliptical Marquee tool and draw an elipse. We want to circle pretty much all the text from "your favorite brother..." through "done by Chris himself". Once you have drawn your elipse, go to Select>Feather... and create a feather of about 100px. Create a new layer and call it 'clouds'. We want to make this texture blue, so we are going to set our colors to #003B6F and #3196C8.
This is going to create a very light cloud effect behind the text, but I would like it to stand out more, so we are going to add some contrast. So, with the 'clouds' layer still selected, go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast... - set the Brightness to '-5' and Contrast to about '+35'. Your result should look something like this:
The next background element we are going to create really helps the image pop and gives it some life. First step, duplicate the layer we called 'green' and drag the layer so that it sits right above the 'clouds' layer in the Layers Pallete. Delete all of the layer effects on the layer. Rename the layer 'glow'. Now go to Filter>Distort>Wave... here are the settings I used:
Now, in the Layers Pallete, change the layers blend mode from 'Normal' to 'Luminosity' and make the fill 30%. We also want to create a glowing effect so double click the layer and in Layer Effects add an Outer Glow - change the Blend Mode to Luminosity, the Opacity to about 58%, the color to #3196C8, and the size to 40px.
Now duplicate that layer, go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. We now have two layers ('glow' and 'glow copy') - we want to isolate these layers so that they only overlap the clouds that we created earlier. To do so, create a new folder in your Layers Pallete and call it 'glow folder' and place both glow layers inside of it. Now, Ctrl click on the 'clouds' layer so that you get a selection in your work area. Make sure you have the 'glowing folder' selected in your Layers Pallete and add a vector mask to that folder (click the square icon with the white circle inside on the bottom left of the Layers Pallete). Your card should now look something like this:
In this step, we are going to create a 3D bar to go behind the menu ("Full Interior & Exterior...."). This step is simple - first select the Rounded Rectange Tool and draw the shape behind the menu. Set the raduis of the corners to .45" and make the color of the shape #0064A6. Now we are going to apply Layer Styles: add an Inner Shadow, change the 'Distance' to 0px and the 'Size' to 13px. Also add a Gradient Overlay, and change the Blend Mode to soft light. Duplicate the layer, and change its color to #83D612 and move it below the blue layer. Now go to Edit>Free Transform and make the green bar slightly larger than the blue one, like pictured here:
Great, now we're just going to put on some final touches - we want to create a sparkling effect on some of the letters of "car wash". Select the Polygon Tool and open the Polygon Options pane located on the top menu bar.
Select 'star' and Indent Sides By 93%. Make the color #AAD766 and draw the shape on the top left of the letter 'C'. Open Layer Styles and add an Outer Glow with a Size of about 30px. Now make a couple of copies, rotate them a little bit to create some variation and place them at different locations along the word 'Car Wash' - you can also shrink a couple of them and put them over the menu bar as well. Group all of those sparkle layers together in a new folder to keep things clean. You should now have something like this.
One last step - create a new layer above the 'glow folder'. Select the Gradient Tool and make your gradient black and white. We are going to create a Radial Gradient, so be sure that is selected on the menu. (14gradient.jpg). Now, to draw the gradient, start at the center of the image and drag horizontally to the side of the card. The center of the gradient needs to be white, and get darker near the edges. Now change the Blend Mode of the layer to Soft Light, and that's it! You should have a sweet looking cupon to give as a funny gift for anyone on any occasion!
Questions / Comments / Feedback / Need something explained in more detail? - Let me know!
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