Step 1

Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi and add your background color to white.

Step 2

Create a red box (#d72323) with a yellow stroke that is 7px wide.

Step 3

Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a witch from ShutterStock.

Cut out the background as you see fit and add to the inside of your red box.

Step 4

Adjust the brightness and contrast to the witch layer. Use the following settings:

Step 5

Add a black color overlay to the image as well.

Step 6

Use a Gaussian Blur and add a slight blur to your image.

Step 7

Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a surprised bride from ShutterStock.

Step 8

Resize your image to fit the design. You will also want to cut out the background as you see fit.

Step 9

Once you have the picture resized, tilt the image just a little bit and get rid of any portion of the image that isn’t inside the red box.

Step 10

Destaurate the the image so that you have a nice back and white version of the photo.

Step 11

Adjust the brightness and contrast to the following settings:

Step 12

A a yellow color overlay that matches the border color of your red box.

Step 13

Create a black box and rotate it slightly. This is where our movie title will go.

Step 14

Add your movie title into the black box. You will need to rotate it slightly to fit the same angle of your box from the previous step. I used a premium font called Calgary Script.

You will also wan to create some additional content for your movie poster.

Step 15

To finish of the poster and give it that vintage touch, we are going to add an image of some old, folded paper. I used this image of folded paper from ShutterStock.

Add the image as your top layer. Set the layer blend mode to multiply.

The reduce the fill of the paper layer to about 50%

Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi and add your background artwork as needed. I decided to use Starry Night.

Step 2

Add your car image and remove any background portion of the photo as needed. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock.

Step 3

Select your artwork layer and copy the layer. Then select the ground portion of your car image layer.

Step 4

Go to Edit> Paste Into and paste your artwork layer into the ground portion of your car image.

Step 5

You will have to rotate and flip the layer you made in step 4 to create a mirror image of your artwork layer.

Once you have done that, add a gradient fill to the layer.

Step 6

Create a simple black box near the bottom of the page.

Step 7

Add the finishing touches such as text and car companies logo. I used this logo.

Final

Step 1

Find a cool close up picture of a sports player. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock, but there are plenty of free images just like it elsewhere.

Step 2

On your main image, go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object

Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Shadows and Highlights. Follow the setting below:

Step 3

Next, create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Change the setting to the following:

Step 4

Now we need to stamp a copy of this layer. Hold down command, ALT, Shift, and then press E.

Next, desaturate the layer by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

Then invert the image

Step 5

Set the blend mode of that layer to Overlay

Step 6

With the inverted layer selected, ad a Gaussian Blur with the following settings:

Step 7

Click on the Levels Adjustment panel and change it to the following settings:

Step 8

To create a more sharper image, add a Unsharp Mask filter. Use the following settings:

Step 9

Create a new layer with the following settings:

Step 10

Get a Brush Tool with a small size and set the Opacity to 10%

Paint over any major creases and facial details to help darken them more.

Step 11

Get a Brush Tool with a small size and set the Opacity to 10% and set the foreground color to white.

Paint over any bright spots to help them stand out, like the eyes or teeth.

Step 12

Select the background of your image.

Step 13

Delete the background of your image and add some sort of storm cloud image to the background.

Set the layer Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 14

Adjust the Curves of this layer a little to make them a little more stormy looking.

Step 15

Add some Noise using the filter with the following settings:

Step 16

Start adding some text to your poster. I used:

And slight reduced the opacity of the text.

Step 17

Add some finishing touches like the NFL logo and some filler text.

Step 18

I wasn’t liking how the color of the clouds looked with the rest of the image. So I adjusted the Hue/Saturation.

Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to the following settings:

Step 18

Be sure to proof read your designs! I noticed some typos in my design and changed them.

Step 1

Create a new document with the following settings: 10×8 and 72dpi.

Step 2

Find a cool close up picture of a female ninja or something of the like. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock, but there are plenty of free images just like it on Deviant Art.

Step 3

The one color that is associated with Kill Bill posters in yellow. Create a yellow Fill Layer under the image of your main subject.

Step 4

Delete any white space in your image so that the yellow background will show through.

Step 5

Now we want to Desaturate the main image. This is under Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

Step 6

To give the main image a little more punch, we are going adjust the levels to the following settings:

Image > Adjustments > Levels

Step 7

Now we are going to prepare the sword for the blood. Select the blade portion of the sword. Then create a new layer above your main image.

Step 8

For adding the blood you can easily just use some blood or paint Photoshop brushes, but I wanted to use this image from Shutterstock.

If you use a stock image, use the Paste Into Layer function on the layer we created in the last step.

Step 9

To make the blood look more realistic set the layer blending options to Multiply

Step 10

I still felt the main image was lacking as far as movie poster style goes. So I decided to spice it up a bit more by up the contrast:

And adding some noise with the Noise filter:

Step 11

Now Im going to add the main movie title text. I used the following settings:

Step 12

I wanted to make the movie release date look as though it was written in the blood on the sword. So I wrote the date with the following setting and rotated it slightly.

Step 13

Rasterize the the type on the date layer by Control Click on the layer and selecting Rasterize Layer. Next you will Command click on the layer to mask it

Step 14

Withe the text layer still masked, click on the blood layer we created earlier and then hit delete. This should cut out the lettering in the blood layer. You will need to go back and hide/delete the original text layer.

Step 1

Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi.

Step 2

Find a nice wrinkled paper background to use as the surface for your poster. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock, but there are plenty of free images just like it.

The image was a bit to orange, so I adjusted the images hue and saturation to lighten it up a bit.

Step 4

Find a picture of a soldier that you want to add to your poster. Cut away any background from the picture and paste the image on top of your paper layer.

I am using this image from Shutterstock.

Step 5

Next you will need to desaturate the image. To do this, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

Step 6

To give this photo more of a vintage poster look, we are going to apply a Poster Edges Filter to it.

Step 7

Create a red box behind the layer your soldier is on. To help it blend with the paper better, set the layers blending options to Multiply

Step 8

Now we can start adding some text. It seems like most of the poster of this style have a line of giant text running the length of the poster. Think of something clever for your poster.

I used the Soviet font from dafont.com

Step 9

With the text layer you just created selected, change the Blending Options to Color Dodge.

Step 10

Add some more text to your poster.

Step 11

I added a 3px white stroke around the text that lays on top of the red banner to help make it stand out.

Step 12

Using the rectangle tool, I created some stripes to add a little character to the poster.

Step 13

The poster looked like it needed a touch more color, so I drew a white rectangle above and below the the red stripe.

Step 14

To give the poster that grainy shadow look that so many of these types of posters have I added a Inner Shadow to the white rectangles we just created.

Open the Layer FX box and set the Inner Shadow to the following settings:

Final Image

Ok…I lied about that last part…

Step 1

I added this background image from Shutterstock. But, any image of polished concrete should work pretty well.

Step 2

Find an image of a head shot of a soldier. I used this image from Shutterstock. Get rid of any background that your picture may have.

After you have added your image, you will want to desaturate it. You can do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

Step 3

In the Filter Gallery, you will want to apply the Sumi-e filter with the following settings:

You image should look something like this:

Step 4

To make the image blend more naturally with our background, use the layer Blending Options and set it to Multiply

Step 5

Because this is a patriotic poster, it is only natural that it should consist of patriotic colors. To do this, you will use the Layer Options and Color Overlay. Use the setting below:

After you add the color overlay, you will want to reduce the over all fill of they to about 62%

Step 6

Now we will add in our patriotic American who is pumped to be buying war bonds. I used this image from Shutterstock. If you deside to use another image, be sure to cut out and background colors or texture.

Step 7

To give this image the look of the older printer posters, we will apply the Cutout Filter to this image. Open the Filter Gallery and use the following setting with the Cutout Filter:

the result should look something like this:

Step 8

We now need to change Blending Options of this layer as well. Change them to Multiply.

Step 9

Keeping this poster patriotic, will will change the color of this image by adding a color overlay with the following setting:

Step 10

Obviously with all these blending options, our layers are overlapping and not looking so good. You need to get rid of the soldier portrait layer that falls behind our patriotic American. You can use the Erase tool.

Or you can Auto Mask the layer of the man by command clicking on his layer. Next, click on the layer of the soldier portrait and just hit delete. This should make a perfect erase.

Step 11

The layer of the soldier portrait was looking a little bold to me. So I reduced his transparency some. But this step is a bit irrelevant, because I adjust the colors in the next few steps. I simply added this step because I wanted to show you how the image evolved as I made it.

Step 12

A war poster wouldn’t be complete without stars and stripes. While they are easy enough to create in Photoshop. I just ended up buying this image from Shutterstock to save time.

After you add the layer to your document, you will need to use the Blending Options again to set the layer to Multiply. Adjust the Fill to 56%.

You will then need to erase the portion of the layer that overlaps our other main layers. Feel free to use the method from step 10.

Step 13

Now the image is really starting to take shape. But, I dont like how the colors look at this point. So I decide to play with the colors of our two main subjects. First, I adjust the Color Overlay from step 5 again. I changed them to the following:

I also decided to get rid of the color overlay on our patriotic American all together.

Step 14

To give the poster that grainy look of the old war posters, I create a new Fill Layer on top of all my other layers. I use the color #72acb9, set the fill to 20%, and the blend mode to Multiply.

I then use the Layer FX to create a inner glow with the following settings:

Step 15

Under the layer from the previous step, I create a basic rectangle and add some text.

Step 1

When recreating vintage pieces like this, it is important to do your research so that you create something that is true to the period. This is the ad that I found to use as inspiration for this tutorial:

Step 2

Before I start actually working on the design in Photoshop, I like to first gather any image I may need for the design. For this tutorial, all my main images came from Shutterstock.

Pinup Girl Photo
Background Texture
Coppertone Girl(Not Shutterstock)

Step 3

Create a new document in Photoshop with the follow specs:

Step 4

Open your background graphic and paste it as a new layer on your document.

Step 5

My background graphic was a bit to orange-ish looking for me. So I adjusted the hue/saturation of the image to make it a little more white.

Step 6

Now add your main pin up girl image above the background layer. Depending on your image, you may have to cut out or erase some of the background.

Step 7

To make the image look like it is part of the add and printed on our background layer, all we have to do is adjust the layer properties. Change the Blend Mode for this layer to Multiply.

Step 8

At this point I went ahead and threw in the image of the Coppertone Baby. All I did here was download the image listed in step 1 and cut out the background. Nothing to major.

I also added the tag line from our example ad with the font: Bakery Script (paid) There is a free script that is somewhat similar called Oliver

Step 9

While our example ad doesn’t sport this feature, I noticed many older ads had their text in a white box. So, to make better use of the space in this ad, I decided to add a white text box. To make it blend a little better I reduced the Transparency of this layer to 72%.

Step 10

Next we need to erase the portion of the box that is covering up our model. To do this, you need to Rasterize the white box layer.

After you rasterize the layer, it is just a matter of using the Eraser Tool to erase the portion of the white box that covers up the model.

Step 11

All I did here was add some more sales copy to the white text box area. I used a basic Arial font here.

Step 13

I noticed in a lot of other vintage ads that the designers liked to underline calls to actions and important text. So to fill up space and keep the ad true to the time, I added a underlined called to action using the same font as the tag line.

Step 14

I also noticed in other vintage ads that sometimes there was a border around the entire ad. I thought this would finish off the ad nicely. To do this, I drew a square shape with rounded corners. I made the object just a touch smaller than the image and centered it on the page.

Step 15

Create a new blank layer under your pinup girl layer. Go back to the rounder square layer and Select the layer.

Next, in the Toolbar, go to Select > Inverse

Step 16

Click on your blank layer that you create in the last step and use the Fill Tool to fill that layer with White. Then delete the rounded square layer.

Step 17

To put the finishing touches on the ad, I just added the company name to the bottom of the page. Your final image should look something like this:

Step 1

Find a nice looking head shot to use. Something close up will usually work best. I am using this stock picture be Deviant Artist Dagwanoenyent-Stock.

Stock-55 by =Dagwanoenyent-Stock

Step 2

Go ahead and open up a new file in Photoshop. The size and resolution is up to you. For the sake of this online tutorial, I will be using a 8×10 inch file at 72dpi resolution.

Step 3

Once you have found your image of choice, paste it in to your file in Photoshop and re-size it accordingly.

Step 4

Next we want to start playing around with darkening the image to help give it more of that horror movie poster look. I like to start with the levels and ad just the black to darken up the image a little.

I tend play with the RGB Curves just a little to even out the darkness and contrast of the image.

Step 5

Create a new layer and use the eliptical marquee tool to draw an oval around the portion of the face you want to see on the poster.

Step 6

Right click inside of the marquee and select feather. Set the feather radius to 30 pixels.

Step 7

Right click inside the marquee again and select stroke. Set the width to around 25px and the fill color to black.

Step 8

Right click inside the marquee again and click select inverse. Then right click again and select fill. Make sure your foreground color is set to black and click ok.

Repeat steps 5 – 8 to create a more dramatic effect and give your self room for text.

Step 9

The Hannibal posters usually have a a deep red color to them. So now we are going to adjust our image again to give it more of a dark red feel.

The first thing we are going to do is adjust the red color balance. From the menu: Image>Adjustments>Color Balance.

Step 10

The red is starting to look good, but it still needs some contrast. Lets up the contrast to around 100%. From the menu: Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast.

Step 11

Come up with a name for you movie poster. Find an appropriate font for your poster and add it near the bottom of the poster. Use the eye dropper tool to select a red color from your existing image.

I have used: font – Apoplex, Size 72, color #540507.

Step 12

Add some finishing text to the top and bottom of the poster. If you need some extra black area under your text, use a large soft brush to paint in some extra black area.

Finished Product

Your finished product should look something similar to this. Your may look a little different depending on how you played with things such as curves, contrast, etc.

Step 1

Create a new document in photoshop. For the sake of this tutorial, I will be using an 8×10 inch file at 72dpi. Feel free to adjust this to your liking.

Step 2

The first thing I want to do is find an image for the main portion of the poster and start editing it. I am using the following image:

Student Witch – 5 by *mjranum-stock – Be sure to read his terms on using his images.

Step 3

Re-size the image so that there will be room for the header and footer text.

Step 4

In this step we are going to do several things so that the image has the overall look we need for the poster.

First we will adjust the images levels. Image>Adjustments>Levels

Now we are going to add a slight surface blur to help achieve the vintage print feel. This filter will barely be noticeable. Filters>Blur>Surface Filter

We need to get rid of the color in this image so that it will match the style of the poster. To do this, we will add a simple color overlay to the image layer. Click on the image layer>the right click on the layer>select Layer Properties>Color Overlay

This is getting closer, but we still need to loose some color. Lets add a photo filter. Image>Adjustments>PhotoFilter
Click on the color block and change the color to #8a5902 and the Density to 87%

Lastly we will apply a Cross Hatch filter. Filters>Brush Strokes>Cross Hatch
Stroke Length: 4
Sharpness: 3
Strength: 1

Step 5

Now we will put the finishing touches on this image so we can start working on the rest of the poster.

We need to get rid of all the background to this picture. Rather than cut it out with the pen tool, I want to erase around it with a soft eraser. By doing this, you will get an ever so slight glow around the subject that will add a nice touch later on in this tutorial.

After you have erased the background, set the layer fill to 80%. You should have something that looks similar to this:

Step 6

Now we will add the background. I am using this: Text. Paper frame 2 by ~GeneralVyse

Create one layer of this image so that it covers the entire area of our canvas.

Create a second layer of the same image with a small portion of the white border showing.

Step 7

Use the Magic Wand Tool to select the white border on our most recent layer. Once you have it selected, delete it.

Step 8

Using the layer we just masked, add a color overlay to it.
Click on the image layer>the right click on the layer>select Layer Properties>Color Overlay
Change the color to #863838

Step 9

The Planet Terror poster looks as though it has been folded up. So, we need to do the same. I will be using this stock image by scol22.

Download the image and then do a simple Copy of it.

In the layers pane, Control click on the layer we just turned red to Mask it.

Go to Edit>Paste Into

Re-size and rotate the image to fit inside the mask.

In the Layers pane, change the blend mode to Multiply.

Step 10

Draw a black box near the bottom of the poster. Once you have got it to the right size and shape; in the Layers pane, right click on the black box layer and click Rasterize.

You will notice that some of the back is running over onto our border. Here is how we can fix that; while you have the black box layer selected in the Layers pane, Control click on the layer we made red.

Then right click in side the mask and select Inverse. Now hit delete and the excess black should be trimmed away.

Step 11

Type the title of your movie on top of the black box, but under your folded paper layer.
Next, in the Layers pane, right click on the movie title layer and click Rasterize Type.

With the Move Tool, click on your movie title so that the Transform Box Show up.
Hold Down the Control key and click on the bottom right corner of the Transform box.
By clicking and dragging, you can distort the text so that it has the angled effect that we see on the Planet Terror poster.
Repeat the above steps for the left side of the text as well.

Step 12

Start adding the random text to your movie poster how ever you see fit. I will be using the Planet Terror for reference.

Step 13

To finish off the poster, we need to use some Photoshop Brushes to rough up the poster.

Make sure that you create a new layer for every few brush strokes so that if you dont like some of them, you can delete the layer.

Do not make brush strokes on any of the image layers.

Create a new layer. Next; in the layers pane, Control click on the main red layer we created in step 7. This will mask your new layers so that your brush strokes will only show up on the poster.

There is no easy way to explain how to do this, you just have to play with it. Here is my finished result.

Step 13