Skip to Animation Instructions.
Be sure to read through the Animation How-To page before beginning any of my tutorials. A knowledge of how the animation feature works in Photoshop will help you better understand my tagging methods. The link is permanently at the top of this blog.
Created using the CC2018 version of Photoshop.
Supplies:
Seeing Red Scrap Kit (Not available at the moment)
Mask 491 from Package 10 of my masks
Isolate Mask Action
69-1-Enamorte from CDO
The font I am using is Arbatosh Regular
The natural color fire animation from Package 359
Please do not use any of the licensed supplies without purchasing them first.
First off, unzip all supplies.
Open the mask you would like to use. You don’t have to use the one I have chosen.
Prepare your mask using the Action I have provided.
Open a new canvas. I always use 800×800 pixels. Be sure your resolution is 72 Pixels/Inch.
I usually add a color fill layer to the tag so it is easily changed should I use it on a different color website. Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color…
White usually works with most websites.
With Photoshop, you can always work with Smart Object to save all of your layers. You can alter the original layer by double clicking on its thumbnail in the layers panel.
That being said, go to File > Place Embedded
In the Open dialog, choose the mask that you just isolated. This will place the mask in a Smart Object in the middle of your canvas.
You can also drag and drop items from your file browser into the canvas. This is the method I usually use.
Don’t forget to set the Transformation by double clicking the layer on the canvas, or clicking the checkbox at the top of the window.
Next, choose the paper you would like to use on your mask. I am using AoRK-SeeingRed-pap46.jpg from the kit.
Place the paper on the canvas above the mask.
In your layers panel, right click on the paper layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.
Now, time for the elements!
Instead of telling you exactly where to put what and what size to use, I am just going to show you a gif image of what I did.
As you can see, it is pretty random. I just place the items where I think they might work.
Now, back to the frame layers. We need to add a fill to the white lace frame.
Highlight the layer UNDER the frame in your layers panel. Now drop the paper you would like to use onto the canvas.
Grab your selection wand from the tools panel. If you can’t find it, check out the basics page for a better understanding of the tools layout.
The wand options should look like this at the top of your window:
Click on the center portion of the frame.
In the upper menu of Photoshop, click on Selection > Modify > Expand…
Expand your selection by 2px.
Now highlight your paper layer. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.
Now you have a fill to your frame.
We definitely want to add some shadows to our elements. Without shadowing, the tag will just look flat. The secret to a good tag, is a good shadow effect.
Right click a layer (topmost works fine) and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow. It enhances the effect a bit.
Now after you have hit OK, right click the layer again and choose “Copy Layer Style.”
Highlight all of your layers (click the top one, then shift + click the bottom one) and right click again. This time, choose “Paste Layer Style.”
It makes a HUGE difference to add shadows:
Now that we have all of that done, time to add the next details. Tube and text. Fun!
Choose where you want your tube to be placed. I want mine above the bow, but below the gem. So I will highlight the bow layer.
Now drag and drop your tube onto the canvas. Resize and adjust it to your liking. Always make sure you constrain your proportions while resizing. Hold the Shift key while you drag the corners.
Add the same drop shadow you did before. Don’t forget your copyright text!
Grab your text tool and add the name you would like. Position it just where you want it and add a layer style. This is mine:
That leave us with the non-animated version of the tag! If you wold like to keep the JPG version, you can save here. Simply File > Save As… and choose the jpg option from the drop down box at the bottom of the dialog.
Here’s where it starts getting complicated.
Keep your tag open. Now File > Open… choose an animation that you’d like to use. I am going to show you how to use the 25 frame animations that I have at CDO. To conserve space, we will be cutting the animation time in half.
You will see that all 25 layers are open and unhidden in the layers panel.
Highlight all of the odd numbered layers. Hold the ctrl/cmd key and click each one.
In the menu choose Layer > Group Layers
If you would like to use the entire animation, just highlight all of the layers and group them.
Now right click on your group in the layers panel and duplicate. BUT DON’T HIT OK, YET!
In the duplicate dialog, choose your tag from the dropdown box. If you haven’t saved by this point, you should see an “Untitled-1” option. (but you definitely should have saved before now. Remember, always save often.)
After you have chosen your tag, hit ok. You can close the animation file without saving.
Back to your tag. You should drag the group into the proper position in the layers panel. Right on top probably isn’t the best place for it.
You can also resize the group using the Edit > Free Transform option. Be sure you are resizing the whole group, not just one layer.
In this particular tutorial, I am going to teach you a trick to save time.
First of all, be sure your animations panel is open. Window > Timeline
Now, you will need to click the “Create Frame Animation” button.
You will see that your first frame is already there. But… ignore it! We don’t need it.
On the right side of your animation panel, click the 4 horizontal lines. Choose the option that says “Make Frames from Layers.”
Now, this made a mess of things, didn’t it?? LOL! But no, not really. You will see that it created a frame for every layer in your tag. And that’s ok!
Click on the first frame in the animation panel. At the bottom of the window, there is a trashcan icon. That deletes the frame. Delete all of the frames that aren’t part of the animation. You should be left with only 13 frames (25 if you are using the entire animation).
You will see that your tag only has one animation layer visible. You want this!
In the animations panel, click on the first frame. You MUST BE ON THE FIRST FRAME to do any kind of editing from here on out. ALWAYS make sure you are on the first frame. ALWAYS! I can’t stress that enough.
Are you on the first frame of the animation yet? Good. Now we can continue.
In the Layers panel, unhide the background layer.
Unfortunately, most of the time, that only unhides the last layer for the first animation frame. Just hide it again, and then unhide once more. Photoshop has a strange sense of background layers. It doesn’t play nice. Thankfully, the bottom-most layer is the only one you have to click 3 times. (I sure hope you got all of that. It is hard to explain…)
Now, one by one, unhide all of the layers to your tag. DON’T touch the animation layers, though! Those are already spaced out the way they should be. Leave those alone.
After you have unhidden all of your tag layers, you can click play at the bottom of the animation panel to check out your creation!
Oh, right! Don’t forget to set your frame delay.
Now you will need to save your animation as a gif file.
In your animation dialog, use these settings:
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! I didn’t realize it was going to be so lengthy… Hopefully, you didn’t fall asleep half-way through…