I started by taking all the images I had taken, and used Photoshop to photo-merge them into a single panorama; the graf art is very wide.

[TIP] To Photo Merge many files into one, with all the files open inside Photoshop, click File -> Automate -> Photomerge and choose the type of layout, then click “Add open files” … The box will populate with the filenames of all open documents -> Click OK

I have the finished piece available in 300 dpi JPG image at 11,629 x 1,707 pixels, and the rest available in 3 separate sections in 2,500 pix wide, 300 dpi PNG files with transparent backgrounds.

Get Graffiti Wide JPG (341) 3MB
Get Graf 01 PNG (296) 4MB	Get Graf 02 PNG (290) 3MB	Get Graf 03 PNG (275) 3MB

Check out Media Militia for a great Graffiti Brushes/Texture resource.

I quickly lost interest in the tutorial as it was overly complicated and spread across 5 pages with little visual aid. Having lost interest in their way of creating this effect, but still wanting to do the effect myself, I set about figuring out the fastest way of achieving the same result.

Below is the final result of my tutorial; click through after the jump to learn the process and download the final PSD file if you prefer that way.

Create multiple Polaroid collage the simple and easy way:

This tutorial is of an Intermediate skill level in Adobe Photoshop. You should be familiar with the core functionality of Photoshop before beginning this tutorial.

• You will need the Polaroid Image template I use: Polaroid Image template (625)
• And a stock photo to use as the background:  Surfer Stock Photo

Step 1:

Open Photoshop (I use CS3 for this tutorial, however any version CS and newer should work the same).

Create a document 800 px wide x 600 px high

This is your document once created:

Add a new layer and make the bottom layer filled with white:

Step 2:

Open the included Polaroid Image and copy it into your document:

Add your stock image to the document (the surfer image will reduce to 800×600):

Move the stock image down below the Polaroid image, but above the white background layer:

Step 3:

Create a dropshadow for the Polaroid:

With the stock image layer hidden, this is how your shadow looks:

Step 4:

Copy the Polaroid layer several times, moving and turning the images so they appear to be scattered across a surface (you could also resize the images to create a different effect as an alternative).

This is what your image should resemble with the stock image layer un-hidden:

Step 5:

Select all of your Polaroid image layers (don’t select any other layer), and right-click and choose Merge Layers. After this, all of your Polaroid images are on one layer (no longer movable independently). Before you merge the layers you may prefer to duplicate them and turn off visibility of the 2nd set; this will allow you to go back if you want to change the layout of the Polaroid blanks later.

Using the Magic Wand tool Shift click the black areas of the Polaroid blanks:

With only the black areas of the Polaroid layer selected, copy by hitting CTRL+C (CMND+C on a Mac), then CTRL+V (CMND+V on a Mac) to paste:

Step 6:

You now have a layer with both the screen AND border of the Polaroid, and a layer with just the screens of the Polaroid. You will want to drag the layer which contains both below your stock image. Top to bottom in layers you will now have Polaroid Screen layer, stock image, Polaroid screen/border layer:

Select the Polaroid screen layer (the top layer) and CTRL+Click (CMND+Click on a Mac) the window icon in the Layers panel (This selects everything on the currently selected layer):

Click the stock image layer in the Layers Panel -> click the Mask icon in the lower section of the Layers Panel -> Turn off visibility to the top layer as shown in the image:

And that’s it! Your results should like this:

I hope you find this tutorial useful; if you have any questions please comment below and I’ll be happy to answer them!

If you’d prefer just to snatch the PSD file – I have the PSD file for you here:
Polaroid Collage PSD (336)

Here’s another example of how you can use this effect dramatize an image

Recently, with the help of Media Militia, I put out a call for your questions to be answered here. I’d like to personally thank everyone who sent in an email with questions. If you have a question that you’d like me to answer then send me a note; I’m happy to add you to the list for Round Two in the future

Illustrator CS4 Questions/Answers Round One

Question One:

What are the most common keyboard shortcuts to know in Illustrator?

Answer:

I probably don’t know all the keyboard shortcuts that there are as there are so many; but I can give you a list of the ones I use the most often, or that I believe are the most important:

This is of course only a small list of shortcuts; if you have a favorite you use often that’s not in my list, please add it to the comments!

Question Two:

This is actually two questions, but they both have the same answer so I’m combining them here.

• My cursor looks like a funny “X” after I select the Pen Tool
• My cursor looks like a “bullsey” or “crosshair” when I select the Eyedropper Tool

Answer:

Check your CAPSLOCK key! Quite a few of the Tools have different “versions” of their cursor icon when the CAPS key is selected. If you’re on a keyboard like mine, there is no indicator light showing you the CAPS key is active so you may be confused if the Tool you selected has a different cursor than expected. Always check to see if your CAPS key is selected first.

Question Three:

How do you make a perfect circle with the pen tool?

Answer:

Well the unfortunate answer is you can’t make a “perfect” circle using the pen tool. It is possible to make a passable circle which though your eye sees as a little “off” is technically a circle.

However, the only method worth using to make a perfect circle is by using the ellipse tool in the Tools panel in Illustrator. It is fast and easy to use. But, I’ll go over how to make a technical circle using the Pen Tool here.

Step 1:
Make a document 800×600.

Step 2:
First off, you’ll need a grid to work on, so with Adobe Illustrator open, click on “Edit -> Preferences -> Guides & Grid…” a dialog box will open that looks like this (click the image to enlarge):

The second set is for the the Grid; these are the settings I chose. Click “OK” and your artboard should resemble this (click the image to enlarge):

Step 3:
Click “View -> Snap to Grid” (the keyboard shortcut is Shift + CTRL + “ )

Step 4:
Select the Pen Tool in the Tools palette. Click on one of the Grid dots -> without letting go of the mouse, hold shift and drag the mouse down the Grid as shown in the diagram (click the image to enlarge):

Step 5:
Let go of the Shift key and the mouse. Hold Shift again and click once with the mouse as shown in the next diagram -> release the mouse after clicking:

Step 6:
Hold Shift and click the mouse where indicated in the diagram -> while still holding Shift and the mouse button, drag up as indicated in the diagram:

Step 7:
Release both the mouse and the shift key again -> Hold Shift once again and click once and release the mouse button where indicated in the diagram:

Step 8:
Hold Shift and Click the mouse where indicated -> keep mouse button and Shift button pressed and drag down as indicated in the diagram:

And there’s your circle; its technically a circle, but it doesn’t look quite right to the human eye… The image below shows the difference between our circle (left) and an Ellipse circle (right):

Thanks again to Media Militia for help in promoting the concept; You rock Jeya!

Thanks FreeIconsDownload.com for the people icons

The included folder icons are: Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Contribute, Encore, Flash, InDesign, Adobe Media Player, OnLocation, Premiere, and Soundbooth.

Download Adobe CS4 Folder Icons here. (450)

I, like some of you, recently upgraded to the Adobe CS4 family.  The new interface is very nice; I especially like the tabbing between open windows function.

There are some frustrating differences between CS3 (and older) and the new CS4 version.

I wanted to go over the two differences that caused me the most headaches; I’m hoping this article will help some of you get past a couple obstacles that are not so obvious to figure out otherwise.

Number 1:

One of the things I tend to do most (for some reason) is go into the File -> Document Settings to make adjustments to the file size in CS3 (like at work) this is easy enough: Navigate to the menu and make your changes (picas to inches, inches to pixels or whatever) in the Document Settings dialog box.

Illustrator CS4 has changed the way you make changes here; and it’s not exactly easy to get right away.

To make a change to the document, navigate to File -> Document Setup (like before), but in the dialog box that opens, you will need to click the button that reads “Edit Artboards”.  This will take you back to the document but with a marque-style border around the document.  At this point you can either click-drag the selection area, or use the input fields at the top of the screen for a precise width/height.

Once you have made your changes, click the Selection Tool (the black arrow) and the document will return to normal, with the new sizing.

Number 2:

Where oh where did the Crop function go?

I create a LOT of print-ready work (especially newspaper and magazine ads) that require a Press-Quality PDF as the final artwork.  I always set up my document in the beginning to have a cropped area in the shape and size needed (like a 5″ x 4.917″ ad).

That was simple, create a standard document (8.5 x 11), create a rectangle exactly to the size (because the document can’t go to 3 decimal places but the rectangle can this is the ideal way to set up the document), select the rectangle, click Object -> Crop Image.

This was simple until I upgraded to Illustrator CS4 and wouldn’t you know it: Object -> Crop Image wasn’t there anymore!  Another headache.

Thankfully, it’s not gone, it’s just been moved (why Adobe, why?).

Now to make your crops, you need to choose Effect -> Crop Marks – doh!

One thing to note here: In Illustrator CS3, you could create crop marks without having anything selected.  This new method, however requires an object to be selected to work.  I have yet to discover a way to set the crop marks to the document size like we could do so easily in CS3; If you know how, please tell us in the comments!

I hope this helps anyone trying to learn the differences.  Please comment below.