Most of you have probably seen event posters displayed in your area promoting a boxing, mixed martial arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighter, or wrestling match. In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a similar event poster in Photoshop using several techniques including photo manipulation, retouching, and typography. Let's get started!
Tutorial Assets
You will need the following assets to complete this tutorial. Please download them before you begin. If they are not available, or if you do not wish to purchase some of them, please find alternatives.1. Preparing the Fighters
Step 1
For the size of this concept we will take A3 as our base. So create new Photoshop document of 3508px by 4961px with a resolution of 300 px/inch. These pixel values are equal to 29,7cm x 42cm. You can go bigger if the poster is meant to be printed in large format.Grab Paint Bucket Tool (G) and fill the canvas with very dark purple (
#08080a
).
Then open first image of our fighters and use Pen Tool to extract it.
When you're done, simply drag it to our dark purple canvas. Name this
layer Back Fighter.Because the fighter is partially naked, make sure to erase the bottom portion of his body. Simply use the Eraser Tool (E) to blend him nicely with the background.
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Step 2
Repeat the same process with another fighter. It's good to place the main characters before doing any retouching, as now you're actually able to see where the retouch is really necessary.
Step 3
Now because our fighter from the background is certainly a boxer and cage fights have sort of different gloves, we need to make his glove look a little bit less boxing. Grab Lasso Tool (L), draw selection around the smooth red over red glove, then copy/paste that part to cover the white spot above.
Step 4
Use Clone Stamp Tool (S), then touch up the fabric and stitches. We don't need to make it perfect, but make sure it looks at least decent enough from distance. Merge this piece with fighter layer (Command/Ctrl-E).
Step 5
Go back to Lasso Tool (L) again and this time draw selection around the whole glove. Make sure you're not including fighter's arm in it.
Step 6
Hit Command/Ctrl-Shift-U (Hue/Saturation) and adjust it as shown below. You should get a nice, warm black tone on your glove.
Step 7
Repeat previous step but without doing any selections, simply apply Hue/Saturation to the fighter and this time adjust Reds and Yellows as shown below. This will reduce the oversatured look of his skin.
Step 8
This fighter image is way too contrasted, before doing any retouch it's good to make it a bit more neutral. So go to Image > Adjustments > Selective Color and adjust Whites, Neutrals and Blacks as shown below.
Step 9
Now create new layer above the fighter hit Command/Ctrl-Alt-G (clipping mask) and change layer's Blending Mode to Overlay. Then use soft white brush and paint as indicated below. Try to bring out that highlights a bit.
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Step 10
While you're on the same layer, switch to black color and darken the shadows a bit. Follow the indicated spots from image below.
Step 11
Create new layer, use Command/Ctrl-Alt-G for clipping mask. Change its Blending Mode to Soft Light and again use soft white brush to paint the highlights. This time enhance the current, existing ones, as well as add some edge light to the body.
Step 12
Create another new layer, use Command/Ctrl-Alt-G for clipping mask. Change its Blending Mode to Soft Light again and use soft brush. Change the color to brown#583325
and add just a touch of it to the indicated area. Try to go easy on
this, I wanted to make his back just a touch warmer. If it's not working
use more or less saturated tone or just simply skip it.
Step 13
Go to Layers Palette, add new adjustment layer Gradient Map. Pick the Violet, Orange preset and reduce layer Opacity to 10%. Make sure you use Clipping Mask for this layer and for the new upcoming ones that we will be adding soon to this fighter.
Step 14
As mentioned, add next Adjustment Layer - Color Balance. Set it as shown below.
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Step 15
All right, let's move to the second fighter and call him front fighter. Create new layer above him, stick it using Clipping Mask (Command/Ctrl-Alt-G). Change this layer's Blending Mode to Overlay and grab soft white brush (0% Hardness and around 5% Flow). Paint as the green color indicates to enhance all the existing lights on the fighter. Try to emphasize his eyes too.Make sure you're using clipping masks for all the upcoming layers that we will be adding to this fighter.
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Step 16
Some lights and highlights over human body don't respond very well to overlay blending mode, that's why now we will use the same technique and process as in previous step but we're going to use Soft Light Blending Mode on new layer instead of Overlay.
Now it doesn't really make much of a sense, but when you add a light source right behind those fighters you will immediately notice a huge difference. We're going to do it a little bit later.
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Step 17
Go to Layers Palette, add new Adjustment Layer to our fighter - Selective Color. Set it as shown below.
Step 18
Selective Color has balanced the contrast a bit now, but if you see that some areas of your fighter are way too bright, you should reduce the effects of Selective Color while painting on its layer mask or simply reducing the opacity.
Step 19
Next create another new adjustment layer - Curves, use clipping mask again. Drag the curve to bottom right and invert the layer mask (select it and hit Command/Ctrl-I).
I've indicated with blue color the areas that I painted on. I also give a touch of edge shadow to the right side of the fighter (to blend it with the background a bit)
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Step 20
Moving further, add new adjustment layer to the front fighter - Gradient Map (Violet, Orange). Reduce the Opacity to 10%.
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2. Casting Background and Reflected Lights
Step 1
Create new layer in the bottom of your Layers Palette. Use very soft brush and paint with dark blue#0a1331
exactly behind the fighters, in the center. This will be barely visible.
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Step 2
Now simply paint over those lights with white color. Keep it narrow and centered.
Step 3
Create another new layer above, change its Blending Mode to Soft Light and use bright, saturated green#d4ff27
to give a touch of tonal variety.
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#5089a6
. This is not necessary, but I felt like adjusting that color of the center.
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Step 4
All right, let's move the back fighter and blend him with that back light. First go to Layers Palette and add Color Balance (remember to use clipping masks).
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#0ea494
color. Paint over the same spots as previously. This will give an intense blue highlight color.
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Step 5
In order to make this look more blended you need to strengthen the edge light. To do this use two new layers, first should be with Normal Blending Mode and the next one with Overlay. Paint on both of these layers in the same spots (as indicated below) and use soft white brush to do this.The layer with Normal Blending Mode will respond with direct white light, so you need to add just a touch of it to the edge. Now painting on the layer with Overlay Blending Mode will result with a very strong transition between light and skin, so you might add a little more of that light and even spread it a bit.
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Step 6
Now switch to the front fighter and repeat the process shown in step 4 and 5. Apply everything to the new fighter in the same order as we just did with the previous one. Start with Color Balance adjustment layer set as in step 4 and reveal its mask. Paint as indicated.
#0ea494
color. Paint over the same spots as previously. This will give an intense blue highlight color.
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Step 7
Now select all layers of front fighter (all the clipping masks and the layer itself) and duplicate them using Command/Ctrl-J. While having the duplicated layers selected, immediately hit Command/Ctrl-E to merge them. This should create an exact copy of our fighter. Desaturate it using Command/Ctrl-Shift-U and add Levels (Command/Ctrl-L).Try to achieve similar result to the one below:
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I wanted to make that fighter look as close as possible to the other fighter. The one in the back has very strong highlights and I believe his skin was sort of wet for the photo shoot. So it's good to make similar effect to the fighter in front.
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Step 8
Next create new layer above both these fighters in Layers Palette. Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and use bright saturated blue#2bd1f5
. Paint around the light source and make sure it affects both of them.
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3. Creating Cage and Environment
Step 1
Open image of the fence. The pattern is tiled, so once you extract it (using Magic Wand) you can duplicate it (Command/Ctrl-J) and create a nice big fence.
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Step 2
Merge all the copies of the fence and name it cage.Now take a look at the image below. It's a fast general guide on how to cast the lights (direction indicated with green arrows) and how to put the shadows (direction indicated with red arrows).
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This is an element of the background so don't be too picky with this, try to do it as fast as you can. It doesn't need to look perfect.
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Step 3
As a final touch to the cage, let's add a band on the top. Use Pen Tool (P), switch the option to create shape layers. Then draw a partially visible octagon shape, with the same direction as the top of the fence. Use some dark gray to fill up the shape layer.
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Step 4
Next open the Concert Hall image, drag it to our main document above all layers and change the Blending Mode to Screen.
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Step 5
Now use very soft brush (no Hardness and very low Flow). Sample the color from blue lights and add more breath to the hall. Extend the light rays as indicated and try to make it look like there is a little bit more room.
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Step 6
All right, moving further open image of fireworks and drop it in our main document.
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Step 7
Now that we have added that smoke, the background light became stronger, mostly because of the blending mode used. So move back to the band and give it more light.
#c4fcfd
as indicated.
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Step 8
Now grab Pen Tool (P), make sure it's set to create shape layers. Draw a triangle shaped layer and for color use#dfffff
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Step 9
Next, we're goin to create particles. So create new layer above all, fill it with neutral gray#7e7e7e
. Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Adjust it as shown.
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You can do it few times around the canvas. Make it look like the particles are flying in different direction and there is some variation in their size.
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4. Adding Typography
Step 1
Finally let's move to the typography. As you probably noticed I've left some space on the top and bottom of the canvas for a reason. This is the place planned for some event information. It's good to start with a nice font, for regular info text I used Eagle Light font.
If your text doesn't look like mine, it might be wrong size. The result of layer styles strictly depends on the size of the font. Mine was around 77pt for the clearence.
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Step 2
For the numbers I used Helvetica Neue Pro.
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Step 3
If there are any logos it's good to vary them from the regular text. Try to color them similar way as the numbers are, but without playing around with layer styles. All the additional small text (that's less important) should be treated with darker brown#b5a879
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5. Create the Logo
Step 1
Ok, so we finally got to the logo. Use nice sport font (I used SFS Sports Night font). Put that type in the center and make sure the logo is big enough for the canvas. Go to Layers Palette, right-click on the logo text layer and select Convert to Shape. Once it's converted to shape, change its color to#8e7c32
. Name that layer logo mid.
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#372e07
. Then use Pen Tool
(set it to create shape layers) and connect all the corners from both
layers with the same color. This will create a fake 3d effect. When
you're done, simply merge the connectors your created with logo back, to
make it one layer (don't touch logo mid).
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Step 2
Move to the logo back layer. Create new layer above it and use clipping mask. Change your brush to very soft (0% Hardness, 2-5% Flow). Now follow the green straight lines and lighten the back of the letters in this direction. Then pay attention to red arrows and cast some light as they indicate. Use#8e7c32
color.I've tried to cast these lights from 2 angles - back and left, so we have more then one light source here.
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Step 3
To create gold effect I tried to find something glossy with nice slippery texture. Then I came across image of a gauge that seemed perfect for the job.Open that image bring it to your main document. Place it between logo mid and logo back layers. Desaturate it (Command/Ctrl-Shift-U) and turn up the blacks on Levels (Command/Ctrl-L).
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Simply pick whatever spots you want to erase. You can also rotate that image before you do any erasing, just to see if other parts can create better effect. The main purpose is to pick a good part of the gauge fit it with the back of the letter.
Erase only parts that look totally unreal or oversaturate the color.
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If you're having problems with this try to open the gauge image again, straight as it is and rotate it around -80 degrees. This should be a good angle to search those lines.
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Step 4
Now move to the logo mid layer. Go to Layers Palette, open its Blending Options and apply a nice edge effect.
Step 5
Finally turn the visibility of front logo layer on. Go to Layers Palette and add new adjustment layer Solid Color. Pick#937539
color and hit Command/Ctrl-Alt-G for clipping mask. Keep all further layers as clipping masks now.
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The dots indicate where u should click to start and end single line while holding Shift key. This will allow you to create perfect straight lines with brush.
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Step 6
Now, open image of the wooden box and rotate it as shown. The angle should match the highlights direction that we added in previous step.The opacity is taken down just to show you the angle.
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- 1st Gradient Map from
#4c3606
to#efd16b
- Normal mode. - 2nd Gradient Map from Black to White - Overlay mode.
- 3rd Gradient Map from Black to White - Overlay mode (Opacity around 30-40%).
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Step 7
This should look something like that:
- Hue/Saturation, adjust the Yellows to bring back some of the white tones.
- Selective Color, correct the overall color
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- Brightness/Contrast, nice sparkling effect
- Color Balance, final color correction
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Step 8
All right, and as for the very final step, create new layer above all layers (don't use clipping mask), change its Blending Mode to Linear Dodge. Grab soft brush with pale green color#a1a575
and add a little bit of shine to the corners. This will not only give a
nice effect but will also blend the logo with illustration properly.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, I showed you how to use Photoshop to create a flyer for a mixed martial arts (MMA) event in Photoshop. Similar techniques can be used to create artwork for other fight-related designs. In the process, I showed you how to prep your photography, add typography, and even create a metallic logo. I hope that you learned something from this tutorial and can use these techniques to create you own awesome print designs.
Thanks for such a great article.
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