Create a Bauhaus Christmas card in Photoshop

Founded in Germany in 1919, the Bauhaus art movement is known for its designs based on simplicity and functionalism. Typified by the use of blocks of colour (usually red, blue and yellow) and simple clean shapes, it’s a style that’s easy to replicate in Photoshop. So why not use it to make a festive design like this?

01 Tweak the tones

Download the image above and open the Layers Panel (Window>Layers). Click the Create Adjustment Layer icon and choose Black and White. Drag the Yellow slider down to -125. Next, add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer. Set Cyan/Red -10, Yellow/Blue +44

02 Make red baubles

Grab the Ellipse tool from the Tools Panel, hold down Shift and draw several small circles. Double-click the layer thumbnail and choose a shade of red, then click on the Blend Mode drop-down menu and choose Vivid Light. Lower the Fill to about 85%.

03 Add more baubles

Begin another circle on a new shape layer, holding down Shift to constrain the proportions again. Make more baubles and choose a shade of blue for this layer. Make another shape layer for yellow baubles. If you want the circles to appear behind the branches, use Vivid Light, Fill 85%.

04 Create some type

Click the Create New Layer icon, then grab the Polygonal Lasso tool and make a shape in the corner. Right-click and choose Fill, then fill it with Red. Next, grab the Horizontal Type tool, click near the shape and type a word.

05 Make another word

Click the Move tool, then check Show Transform Controls and use the box to move, rotate and position the word on the shape. Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the word and use the Move tool to position it, then double-click the thumbnail in the Layers Panel to edit the type.

06 Add a Mask

Hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click the thumbnail of the type layer to load it as a selection, then hide the layer, highlight the red shape layer, hold down Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon. Finally, make a new layer and plot a thin line with the Polygonal Lasso tool, then fill it with black.

Final image

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 11:48 am and is filed under Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.