Create a Crafty One-of-a-Kind Frame with Photoshop

This crafty thread wrapped frame adds a sweet personal touch to your images. You can create your own by using a Photoshop brush and some simple Layer Style Effects. In this short tutorial we'll create a base frame, download and customize a brush, paint threads on the frame and use Layer Effects to make it look just real enough to be charmingly crafty. Let's get started!

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Step 1: Making Space for your Frame

Open your image Photoshop, create a new layer underneath the image layer call it Frame. You'll use this layer to make your frame. Go to the upper menu bar and choose Image > Canvas Size to increase the size of the document to accommodate your frame. Click the Relative checkbox so the amount of change isn’t dependent on the size of the current document. I made my frame 0.25 inch. The document will have expanded beyond your image allowing space for the frame.

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Step 2: Making Your Frame

Next we want to create and color the frame. First, we need to capture the frame area. Hold Command and click the thumbnail of the image layer in the Layers Panel, which will load it as a selection. Then use Select > Inverse so that everything outside the original selection is active. Fill the Frame layer with the color you want your frame to be. You can use Option /Delete to fill this selection with the foreground color. Deselect it.

Move the frame layer above the Image layer, and click on the fx drop down menu located at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Bevel and Emboss (and Drop Shadow if you want one). Start with the Default settings and adjust the settings as you like. Make sure Use Global Light is checked for consistency. Now that we have our frame we can paint some threads on it.

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Step 3: Get your Brush

Press B to get your Brush tool and open the Brushes panel. To download the Photoshop brush file go to the upper right corner of the Brushes panel and click on the hamburger menu to access the drop down menu, choose Get More Brushes. This will bring you to Kyle Webster Brushes from Adobe. These brushes are included with the Creative Cloud subscription. Once at the site scroll down to CROSSHATCHERS and click on the download button.

To import the CROSSHATCHERS brush set by going to the same drop down menu and choose Import Brushes, go to the Download files on your computer and Click on the crosshatch.abr file. As always, in Photoshop there is more than one way to Import brushes, for another way to import brushes go to Import Brushes. Once you have imported your brushes go to the Brushes panel and locate the Crosshatch brushes file, inside the file you'll find a few brushes that can imitate threads. I used the Brush Kyle's Crosshatch - 31.

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Step 4: Customize Your Brush

Open up the Brush settings and click on Color Dynamics. This will let your brush use both the Foreground and Background colors in combination. You can adjust the settings to get the colors you want for your threads. Experiment with the settings and Foreground and Background colors to get the color combinations you want. After you're satisfied with the colors, shift click the Left { key to resize the brush smaller or use the Right } to make it bigger. For more information about Color Dynamics check out this short video by Kyle Webster.

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Step 5: Paint on the Threads, part 1

Go to your Frame Layer and Command Click its thumbnail to select it to isolate the painting area. Create a layer above the Frame layer and call it threads. We'll paint the Threads on this layer. With your customized brush paint by starting at the upper left hand corner, hold the Shift key to keep the brush stroke straight and paint from left to right. The threads should look like they're wrapped around the frame. Do the same with the bottom of the frame. After painting the top and bottom let's paint the sides.

Step 5: Paint on the Threads, part 2, the sides

In order to paint the sides first change the angle of the Brush. Right click on the document to bring up the Brush Settings pop-up panel, with your cursor click on the little arrow that sits on the circle at the upper left and drag it around so it points down. Test your Brush to make sure the threads are pointing horizontally to create a thread wrapped effect Start at the upper Left corner and brush straight down, holding the Shift key to keep it straight. Do the same for the Right side.

Step 5: Paint on the Threads, part 3, the corners

To make the corners look more realistic we need to change the angle of the Brush to mimic how threads look wrapped around corners. Bring up the pop-up Brush settings panel again and position the arrow so it makes the Brush angle in towards the inside of the corner. You might want to make a new temporary layer to practice on until it looks right.

It should look something like this, it's important to remember it doesn't need to be perfect. Some of the charm of craftiness is its imperfections. If you paint the corners kitty corner from each other you'll only need to change the angle once. When you're finished deselect your frame.

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Step 6: Adding a Drop Shadow

Once you're happy with your frame and threads add a Drop Shadow effect to the Threads layer. Click on the fx drop down menu and choose Drop Shadow. Start with the Default settings and adjust the settings as you like. Make sure Use Global Light is checked.

Finished!

Here is the finished one of a kind frame. For more information about Photoshop brushes check out this Creative Cloud Photoshop brush class on YouTube. Thanks for reading this tutorial, if you have questions about any of the steps or run into problems, please send an email at our Contact page and I'll respond help troubleshoot. Thanks again, happy creating!

#Photoshoptutorial

Written by Wendy Wittner | Illustration, Graphic Design | August 2021

Images by Wendy Wittner

6 Steps to a Better Shadow in Photoshop

Here's a quick Photoshop tip. If you want a better shadow than Photoshop’s built in Drop Shadow effect this shadow technique will do the trick. For most times the drop shadow effect is enough but this alternative technique gives you a more real shadow. In 6 steps your designs can have a realistic shadow that is easy to work with and will cause your creations to pop out and demand attention ( I’ll be working with a Mac and Photoshop CC version 22.4.2 ). If you don't use shortcut keys yet, start using them, they save tons of time. Here's a link to a list of popular default shortcut keys from Adobe. #Photoshoptips

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Check out the Marching Ants link to find out more about selecting in Photoshop

Step 1. I’ll use this text to work with, ( Arial Black, 77pt, green) but you can use this technique on any kind of text, object, brush stroke, or wherever you would use a drop shadow.

Select the text by holding down the command key and clicking on the text Layer thumbnail, you'll know it's selected when you see the Marching Ants around around the text. Create a new Layer below the Text Layer and fill it with black by hitting the option and delete keys, hold down the command key and hit the D key to deselect the text (before you fill the layer make sure your foreground and background colors are at default by hitting the D key).

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Step 2 creates a sharp shadow

Step 2. Name the new layer you just filled Lighter Shadow and select that Layer. I want the light to come from the upper left so the shadow will be going down and to the right. I also want the text to really pop out. I achieve this by increasing the distance between the text and the 'shadow'. With the Lighter Shadow Layer selected, hit the down arrow key a few times to move the black 'shadow' down. Since this will be the lighter and bigger part of the shadow I’ll hit the down arrow key about 10 times down and hit the right arrow key about 10 times. If you hold down the shift key and hit the arrow key it will move in increments of ten.

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Click on the Gaussian Blur link for some cool info

Step 3. We’ll blur this layer, but first up go to Filter and click on Convert to Smart Filters. This way you can preserve the Layer's editability. Go back to Filter and down to Blur then to Gaussian Blur. Since this will be the lighter part of the shadow I'll increase the Gaussian Blur to 20 px. Of course, you might use a different number according to what effect you want. For more of a pop out effect from the shadow you want to have more blur and distance. It might take some tweaking to get it just right , which can easily be done because of Converting the layer to a Smart Filter.

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Copying layers is a great time saver

Step 4. Now to add the darker part of the shadow to make it look more real. Select the Lighter shadow layer and hold down command key and hit the J key to make a copy of the layer. Rename the copy Dark Shadow and move the darker 'shadow' in towards the text by using the up arrow key. Hit the up arrow key about 5 times or so, next hit the left arrow key about 5 times, also. Then double click on Gaussian Blur on the Dark Shadow layer to bring up the Gaussian Blur dialogue box. Reduce the blur to somewhere between 6 px and 8 px, depending on what looks best to you.

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What are Blending Modes? Find out by clicking the Blending Modes link below

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The Multiply Blending Mode is a great way to clean up any dark colors

Step 5. After some tweaking to get it just the way you want it, we can clean up this shadow by selecting both shadow layers at once by holding down the shift key and clicking on both the lighter Shadow and Dark Shadow Lay. Then click on the Blending Modes option to access the drop down menu and click on Multiply.

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Managing the shadow Layer fill is a great way to get the perfect look

Final Tweaking: If you think the shadow looks a little too strong you can decrease the Fill on the dark Shadow Layer, I decreased to 50% and then decreased the Lighter Shadow Layer Fill to 90%. It’s easy to move the shadows around and do additional adjustments as needed and even add a third mid tone shadow for more realism. Now that’s a nice looking shadow, a shadow you can’t get with the built in Drop Shadow Effect.

Written by Wendy Wittner | Illustration, Graphic Design | June 2021

Rainbow Ribbons and Strokes in Adobe Illustrator

Create and save multi-colored Brushes.

Rainbow Strokes and Brushes in Illustrator. In this tutorial you'll learn a quick way to make and save a multi-colored Brush that can be used as a stroke and can be customized using Illustrator's tools.

This is a great size to use for a Facebook banner

Create your document, any size is fine, let’s do a banner size of 1700 x 620 px, RGB color and a resolution of 72. Decide ahead of time how many colors you want to use for your Brush, for this example I'm going to use four colors. Make sure your Stroke is off.

Make a Square

For four colors we need to make four squares. Start creating the first square. Grab your rectangle tool and double click on the Art Board to bring up the Rectangle Options menu and type in 50 px for Height and Width to create a 50 x 50 px square.

Make sure your square is Selected before going to Effect

Grab your Selection tool, (the shortcut key is the v key) go to Effect click on it, then go to Distort & Transform from the drop down menu. Then select Transform to bring up it’s pop up Menu.

Use the settings in the image above to get these results.

Make sure Preview is on to see your changes. Type in the number of Copies you want. I put three to get four squares, including the original square. Since the square is 50 px, type 50 px in Move Vertical option and click OK. Now you have what looks like a straight up and down rectangle, it’s really four squares tight up against one another. When you Select this ‘rectangle’ only the top square will look selected. We’ll need to separate these squares by Expanding and Ungrouping them in order to color them.

Expand your Transformed square first

To Expand your square keep your square selected and go to Object then select Expand Appearance. The rectangle turns into four squares.

Expanded and Ungrouped squares

Ungroup the squares by keeping them selected and going up to Object then to click on Ungroup. The shortcut key is Shift + Command + G. Now the squares are ready to color.

Color and make your squares smaller

Select each square one at a time and apply a color to each one. I used four colors available from the Swatches panel. We need to make these squares smaller otherwise you'll get big complicated brush. Select all the squares and while using the Selection tool, click and drag the squares while holding down the Shift key to re-size smaller. I made the squares bigger at the beginning for easier handling.

Drag your Squares into Brush Panel to create a new brush

Open your Brushes panel, make sure all of the squares are selected, then click and drag them into the Brushes panel. When the Brush Type pop-up menu comes up choose Art Brush then OK. If you don't want to use Art Brush try out Pattern Brush. The Scatter Brush might be interesting.

Art Brush Options Panel

The Art Brush Options pop-up menu opens up to give you control over how the Brush works. Name your Brush leave the Key Color as is (it looks like it doesn't have all the colors but it will when the Brush is used) and use the settings in the above image to get the same results as in this tutorial.

In the future you can change how your new Brush works by double clicking on your Brush in the Brushes Panel to open up the Brush Options pop-up menu.

The Brush tool, Ellipse, Spiral, and Arc tool

Grab your Brush tool and click your new colored Brush in the Brushes panel. Click and drag to create ribbons of color. Experiment with the Ellipse tool and create a circle then click on your new colored Brush or create spirals with the Spiral tool . Wonderful! Treat your Brush strokes as you would any other type of Stroke, change the pt. Size, vary the Profile or keep it Uniform. As a Stroke you can even use the Width tool to stretch its limits. The shortcut key for the Width tool is Shift + W.

Save Your New Brush for Future Use

You can save your new Brush to use in any Illustrator document. Make sure your new Brush is selected in the Brushes panel. Go up to the hamburger menu on the top right of the Brushes panel and click on the menu, in the drop down menu select Save Brush Library...

The pop-up Save dialogue box opens, Name your brush and select Save.

Access Your New Brush

To get your Saved Brush, create a New Document then open the Brush panel, click on the hamburger menu and hover your cursor over Open Brush Library, hover on User Defined and you’ll see the name of your brush, select your brush and it’s automatically loaded into the Brushes panel. You can also load your Brush into a custom Preset Document, then it will be available without needing to retrieve it from the Brush Library. For instructions on how to do this, see my tutorial called Design Faster, Speed up your Workflow.

Written by Wendy Wittner | Illustrator, Graphic Designer | June 2020