Tutorial – Fred & George Header

Click for larger

Want to be able to make a header in the same style as the one above? It is actually quite easy. Read on! Remember to click each thumbnail for a larger preview.

Step One
Time to start, eh? Make your new file (I made mine 700x500px, however you can make it whatever size you wish) and fill the background with #111111.

Step Two
Now, we take our first image (I used this) and crop it onto our base. At this point, your header should look something like this. Now, what we do is we make our image greyscale (ctrl+shift+u in PS). Sometimes the colour looks a bit washed out, so I duplicate the layer twice, setting one to “screen”, and the other to “softlight”. If it looks too off, you can change the opacity. After sharpening, your header should look a little like the image on the left.

Step Three
Make a new layer, and fill it with your colour of choice. I chose #e32339. Set this layer to multiply, so your image from step 2 (in my case, the Weasley twins) look like that colour (in this case pink). If the colouring isn’t what you want, you can change it. Using the magic wand tool, select the previous layer with your image, and highlight the space without the image. Go back to your colour and remove that part. Merge the colour layer down onto the image, and set this new layer to “lighten”.

Step Four
Now to add in a few more images. I used this, this and this. After transforming them, I did the same thing as I did to the first image in step two, making them black & white, and sharpening. I then set them all to “lighten”.

Step Five
Firstly, I selected some of the image layers and erased some parts where they conflicted with the subjects faces, so it looked a little better. Then, with a circle brush, to 0% harshness and about 600px master diameter, I selected #464646 and placed a stamp on a new layer, setting it to “screen”.

Step Six
Lets add a texture! I added this, moved it around a bit and set it to “screen”.

Step Seven
Last bit now. I added in text. Text of their names. The font I used is Destrukt and is downloadable at dafont.com. I also made a circle with the Elliptical Marquee tool, filling it in with #e32339 and setting it to multiply, and deselecting the parts of the circle that didn’t cover the text (magic wand tool around text layer, delete from circle). Done!

Variation – Click for larger

Remember that these steps are only a guideline and you can change them however you wish. And if you want, e-mail me what you’ve made with this tutorial, I’d love to see your results!