Starting the actual process for greeting card

Okay I have posted up my earlier draft previously. Now I'm going to start on the actual A4 size for the greeting card. First I will divide the card into 3 separate pieces. Something like this:

I used distinctive colors to make it easier for viewing. I used the rectangle tool to create 3 boxes which I aligned with the ruler tool to make them of equal sizes.

On the Box1 layer, using the Eclipse Marquee Tool I created a circle and by using an adjustment layer I changed the level to brighten it up. (view image below)


In Box1, I used a custom brush to create the Nippon rays. By using the Dissolve blending mode option, I created a dissolving effect on the rays. The rays represent the nation of Japan as well as sunny weather.


I changed the rays on Box1 back to a normal setting to make it stand out more. From another image, I used the Quick Selection Tool to select the image of the shrine and paste into my existing project. I then used the Filter > Cutout option to adjust it.


On Box2, I changed the foreground color and I used the Eclipse Marquee Tool to create a circle and brightened its Levels layer. Using the Soft Light blending mode, I added a few custom brushes with different colors to Box2.

Then I loaded a custom background to use as a texture. I rotated its position by 90 CW. Using the transform tool I flipped it horizontally. Create a layer and change its blending mode to screen. That will make the dark edges go away. After that, merge the layers and copy and paste the background into the existing project. I changed the blending mode to Color Burn.

Next up, the right side of the card. This part is for the greetings. I decided to divide the part into two equal parts to be in uniform with the left side of the card. Hence, we have 4 squares in the card which also resembles the 4 seasons in Japan.

I opened up an image of a tree with red leaves that I took from my recent trip to Japan. Using the Filter > Cutout tool, I adjusted the original image. I then copied and pasted the image into the existing canvas. I then set the opacity level to about 67% where the image is just slightly visible to become the background.

For the bottom right image, I opened up another image I took from Japan. I gave it a Filter > Cutout adjustment. I then imported it using the same method as before and lowered down its opacity level.

I opened an image of a sleeping Buddha and used the Quick Selection Tool to select the Buddha statue. I then adjusted it using the Filter > Poster Edges tool and moved it into the lower left box.


Now for the greeting text. I used a custom font (Karate) taken from http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/japanese-fonts.htm. The greetings used in the card were 100% original. The Karate font gives the card a more Oriental, and specifically Japanese feel. The above texts on both boxes are black to give it uniformity. Light colors were used for the bottom text to give it contrast and juxtaposition.

Voila! Here is the final outcome.