Gray and Blue Header » Skylish

Gray and Blue Header

* This layout tutorial was written in 2009
  Tutorial hardness:
Rate this tutorial:

In this tutorial I will be teaching you how to make version two of Skylish. You wouldn't believe how long it took for me to come up with the right header, I wanted something quite simple but not boring(?) xP Hope you enjoy the tutorial.

To begin, create a new header sized 809 x 131, and fill the background with the colour #4E4E4E. Then, taking the tool (), select 'Star 2'. Make sure its line style is solid, its width is 1.00, its Milter limit is one, and that only the first pallet is selected at a colour of #606060.

On your image draw on your medium sized star. Inside that start I have chosen to draw two smaller stars, but it's really up to you, some of the stars I have draw are filled in, to do this you must make sure you second pallet is also selected. Some of the stars I have draw are also rotated, to do this to have to right click the vector layer created; change it to a raster layer, and use this tool () to rotate it. Once you are happy with your stars, merge you image together. Or, if you want to be less creative, you can use a free background I've made here.

Create a new raster layer, and on your header add some floral brushes with the color #606060. Don't just prop these brushes anywhere, be smart with it, don't over fill you header, the brushes don't need to connect. I got my brushes from here

Next, choose a floral font you'd like to use for you title. I'm using the font 'Never Let Go' From Dafont at a size of 48. Make your text colour black, and write your site name on it. I wrote mine in capitals. Copy that text and create a new image; it doesn't matter what size it is, it just has to be bigger than yout text. Fill it with the BG colour #606060. Paste, you image on it using (CTRL+E), dots should appear around it, then go to Selections > Motify > Expand, and expand it by 3.

Copy that text (CTRL+C), and minimize the screen you are on so that you are back on the header we're creating. Paste the now bordered text over your header (CTRL+E), then go to Effects > 3D Effects > Drop shadow. Change your settings to match mine:
Vertical: 2
Horizontal: 2
Blur: 0
Opacity: 64
Colour: Black
Press OK, then press (CTRL+D) to lock in your text.

Now, write on the same text, with the same font, but this time at a colour of #7F9CA5. Once you have written the text, copy it (CTRL+C), press undo, and paste it again as a new layer, duplicate that layer once. Go over the top of this layer with this () tool.

Now that the top half is highlighted, go to Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast and brighten it to 100%. Press CTRL+D to lock the dots in place, then set the top layer to 30% opacity. Merge all of your layers together. Use this tool () to rotate your text a little bit.

Add any kind of extra text you'd want to add. A slogan, anything.

Once you're finished, merge all of your layers together - and you're done!