Simple Layer masks tutorial with Adobe Illustrator

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I felt it was time to start looking at a few simple tutorials using Illustrator, so here’s the first one (apologies for the screen capture quality – I’ll fix that with the next one).

This layer masks tutorial attempts to show how much easier it is to control visibility in Illustrator than in Photoshop. They key difference is that you’re able to more easily use objects, and the layer hierarchy to set multiple masks, to achieve your end result.

A simple, but handy technique to have under your belt.

Cool Pop Art Photo Effect – Photoshop Tutorial

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People visualise Andy Warhol and Campbell’s Soup when they think Pop Art. This tutorial shows how to quickly create a subtle, stylised effect using some simple Photoshop filters and adjustment layer techniques.

Things to note:

  • The choice of photo is more about and expression, or style than the resolution or technical quality as you’ll potentially be zooming into an area and cropping.
  • There’s lots of different ways to strip the detail from photos in a cool way – half the filters in Photoshop can do that, so you can substitute the filters used here for many others.
  • Don’t be afraid to try different colours (in the filters), and merge multiple effects on different layers to create your own style.

If you’re looking for other techniques then check out my other tutorials.

Rubber Stamped Text in Photoshop with Layer Masks : Tutorial

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There’s lots of ways to create most effects in Photoshop, and this particular subject is no exception.  Here’s a little video tutorial using a few techniques to create rubber stamped text in Photoshop.

Other ways to achieve the ‘stamped’ look

  • Take the text and outline and add a ‘splatter’ filter
  • Take another image and apply threshold to it (to get some irregular black/white shapes), then paste into your layer mask.  You need to find an image with the right kind of contrast for this to work well

Share any other methods in the comments…