Tutorial: Sports poster, State Finals/Championship

[artisticaction]

State Finals/Championship poster tutorial and how to change background in photo to black & white with subject in color.

Tutorial PSD sample files and instructions

Poster can be offered to the team, school and community or used as a fundraiser.

This can also be offered as an end of season poster to the team


The tutorial is black with orange since the team colors are black & orange. But this can be created for any team, any colors for any sport/event. I prefer starting with a all black background (but you can use white or any color that looks good and goes with the team colors) and to also add in the team colors change the Roster text and 2nd line text color to one of their team colors and change the photo layer styles (the white and orange glow under the photos).

Add main text to the poster -- event name & year (side text), top text State Finals or Champions, bottom text team motto (Live the Dream!)

2nd from the top line is a headline from the event -- add anything you like here.

You can add as many or few photos as to what looks best and what captures the feelings of the event. Photos should be different sizes -- the sizes of the photos we used are included in the tutorial but remember that the sizes of the photos are based on a 12” x 18” poster.


For the photos with a black & white background, we used a mask so that only the team colors showed and the rest of the photo is black & white.
Please see the file named “PhotoSample.psd” to see better how this was done.
We created a layer copy of the photo and then Desaturated the bottom layer
(Image > Adjustments > Desaturate) and then added a layer mask to the top layer and using a soft round brush (with layer selected and black as foreground color and white as background color) paint out the background so that only the athletes showed in full color. If you brushed out too much then switch foreground color to white and background color to black and paint back in. Adjust the size of your brush as needed.

Once you have completed the photo with the layer mask flatten the image (Layer > Flatten Image) and then drag it into the poster and rename the layer to something unique so that you will know what it is. Add a drop shadow layer style. Then create a copy of that layer and move under it and then add a layer style to add a soft glow in one of the team’s colors about 100 px off set. Link these two layers and move to where looks best (you can always resize and move these layers as needed). Repeat these steps with the rest of the photos.


To add a roster and/or final season results -- see if they can email you a copy of the roster/scores or if they are posted online (if not then you will need to type them into a new Photoshop file). If online or send you a copy then copy and paste the text into a new Photoshop file -- rearrange as needed similar to the sample or to what you feel looks best. Now add to your poster and resize and position for best look. Add a layer style to add color and special look.


Rearrange your your photos, roster and text as needed.

This tutorial also includes a sample order form, edit as needed and save as a PDF

[DannyRaphael]

Wonderful tutorial and resources.

Many thanks, Chris.