Now we’re gonna MAKE the header!
 
 For a start you’ll need screen caps and/or hi res images. You can always make your own screen caps. One way to do this is by using a VLC player (free download here). There are ways to get hold of screen caps online though. For instance: marilla_pm67 has an extensive screen caps gallery (as well as a lot of hi res images) here: Reminicient Designs and there’s always kwaf – but they only have s1, s5 and parts of s2.
 
 Enough of this exposiotion stuff!! This is the reason why my tutorials always gets too long. *face/palm*
 
 

Let’s get started!!
 
 For this header I’m gonna work with these images:
 
 
 
 
 
 I have my blank canvas (how I got it was explained here) and my images opened up in Photoshop. But before I do anything else I want to have some sort of “surface” to work on. Something to liven things up a bit and give me some sort of inspiration.
 
 Since I already have an idea of what I want the header to look like in the end, I try to find a texture that will reflect the feeling I’m after. I’m gonna go with this pretty thing by sanami276:
 
 
 
 
 
 I copy/paste it onto my canvas and move it around until I’ve found what I’m looking for.
 
 I want to use the boys from 311 as a focal point in the header. I’ve decided that they’re gonna “pop out” a bit and be more crisp than the rest. To get the desired effect I’m gonna start by cutting them out using the Pen Tool (*waves to Rei*).
 
 Pen me, baby!!
 
 The Pen Tool is a new acquaintance of mine and I’ve not done much with it at all yet. So excuse the simpleness of this part.
 
 The tool in it self is amazing and you can do so much with it. This time I’m only gonna use it to cut out the image we’re gonna use. Of course you can do this by simply erasing the background, using the eraser or a layer mask – but by using the Pen Tool you’ll get a crisp edge that will work amazingly with the background. And since I want the image to pop out from the graphic – this is the effect I’m after.
 
 Shutting up now. Gonna start showing instead.
 
 The Pen Tool:
 
 These are the settings I’m using:
 
 
 What follows is really simple. I mark out a cutting path using the pen tool, zoom in when needed:
 
 
 As soon as I come ”back to the beginning” I close the path by clicking on the very first ‘dot’ I made. The line changes appearance and I move over to the layer palette. At the top there’s a tab that reads ‘Paths’. Click that one.
 
 At the bottom you’ll find a dotted circle: ”Load path as selection”. Clickity-click! And right away the path on the image changes to something we recognize! It’s a selection.
 
 Fancy-schmanzy!
 
 I copy paste the boys into the header and resize them (Ctrl+T, hold down Shift to keep the proportions correct) until they look nice.
 
 
 The boys are too dark and too boring. I need to fix them up a bit before I do anything else.
 
 I make sure the boys’ layer is highlighted, then I hold down the Alt key and click (and hold down the mouse button) the Adjustment Layer symbol on the layer palette:
 
 yeah, I know – it’s an old image. I got lazy….
 
 Still holding the mouse button down, I choose ”Solid Color…” and in the dialog box that pops up I tick the box for “Use previous layer to create clipping mask”. This will ensure that the solid color will ONLY cover the boys, and nothing else. I pick a light brownish yellow – in this case #fcf0e2 – click OK, and set the layer to Soft Light. Much better already!
 
 By holding the shift key and clicking both the solid color layer and the boys, I select them both. Then:
 
 
 Now let’s get fancy! This is a trick I learned recently that gives a really nice effect.
 
 This is what we’re starting with:
 
 
 We’re gonna use some Filters!
 Filter – Artistic – Watercolor
 Settings:
 Brush: 14, Shadow: 1, Texture: 1 – OK
 Then: Edit – Fade Watercolor: set to Soft Light.
 
 
 We’re not done!
 Filter – Artistic – Paint Daubs
 Settings:
 Brush Size: 3, Sharpness: 5, Brush Type: Simple.
 
 
 Nice! Naturally – these are just the settings I used. Play with them (as well what layer blend to use in the fade sequence) and other filters according to the image you are using.
 
 Speeding things up a bit…
 
 I copy paste the other images in (well – in reality I only copy pasted two of them in at this point, but let’s not dwell on the imperfection that is Pixie…) and by moving them around and resizing them (Ctrl+T, Shift) I pick a spot for them. Then I mask them off (explained Here), using the Lasso Tool and Layer Masks.
 
 
 Boring!! Ok. Gotta make them blend in a bit more. I copy each image three times. Set the first two layers of each image to soft light and the second two to screen. Then I desaturate one screened and one soft light of each image before I’m semi-happy.
 
 This is of course something you need to play with depending on what image you have or what you want to do with them. For this header I’m not prepping the images at all before popping them into the graphic, but that’s not always the case. This time I’m gonna use some filters and textures so I didn’t think I would need it. 😉
 
 Now is the point where I realize two things… First – I need another image! So I paste in the last one and do the same song and dance with that one, Second – the balance in the graphic is off.
 
 For the images on the right (“It was love to me” and 512!Justin) I used a filter again. For each of the layers I put the same Paint Daubs on as I used on the larger one. It sounds tedious – but you only need to do the whole procedure once and after that Photoshop will put a quick pick for you to use at the top of the Filter menu…
 
 
 The image is a bit “flat”. Stuff doesn’t really “stick together”. I need something to bring it together. A quick way is to copy the texture layer at the bottom – drag it to the top, desaturate it a bit and set it to soft light. So that’s what I did. After I lowered the opacity some, this is what came out:
 
 
 Much better.
 
 Coming up to the finish
 
 Text!!
 
 This is something that I more or less covered Here already – so I’m not gonna go into it too much again. Or at all, really. 😛
 
 I write out the text I want. In this case I use four different text layers – one for each line – some different colors picked out from the graphic, some Outer Glow and some different layer blends and opacities. And this is what I settled on:
 
 
 
 The text is ok – but the background is too busy now. And that goes for behind some of the smaller images as well. I need to smooth things out a bit.
 
 I put a layer right on top of the texture at the very bottom of the layers pallete. In it I play with one of the darker olive colors that I’ve picked up from the header. I make a rectangle behind the text.
 
 
 After I’ve masked off and smoothed the edges of that, I’ll get this:
 
 
 My next “problem area” is that I want the center image to be a bit more visible. So by using the same technique as for the text, I brush very gently on the same olive color on a new layer using a soft big brush set to low opacity until I’m happy with the result.
 
 Another thing that has been bothering me is that Brian has a big red line across his face. By using the lasso tool I mark off a section of the original texture, copy it to a new layer and move it over to cover it. Then I smooth the edges of that “band aid” using a layer mask (explained Here)
 These two steps:
  ->
 
 Now we’re almost finished! Just one more thing. I want a frame-ish type thing…
 
 I select all (Ctrl+A), add a new layer at the top and go Selection – Modify – Border. I set the value to 20, hit OK. I pick the paint bucket (Fill Tool) and fill the border with a pale color picked out from the header.
 
 
 But I want the Big Boys to pop still, so I use a layer mask to erase the frame from them. I then copied the frame once and set the copy to Soft Light.
 
 After adding an Outer Glow (dark green, Mutliply) to the Big Boys and some more totally unnecessary stuff, I feel finished….
 
 
 
 I’m SORRY for being so damn complicated!! I’m sure I could have done this in HALF the amount of text and images, but…. yeah. I’m just quirky that way I guess.
 
 Comments? Questions? Rotten Tomatoes?

 
 
Comments are lovely, and so are questions. If you do end up using this I would love to see what you make out of it!
 
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS: HERE You can leave anonymous comments as long as you mentioned you are redirected from Reminiscent-Designs!