Digital scrapbooking is a direct result of the technological age we live in today. Digital cameras have widely replaced cameras that use film. Unfortunately, many see that their digital photographs simply sit in computer folders, never being printed. One way to remedy this is with digital scrapbooking. Photoshop is one of the top programs for page design and layout in the digital scrapbooking community, allowing users to edit their digital photographs, create illustrations and graphics, and the give them the ability to print multiple copies of pages to distribute to friends and family. Creating adorable bows for a digital scrapbook in Photoshop is a task that anyone can complete, even without formal art education.
Instructions
Setting Up
1. Open Photoshop and go to "File" then "New." Since bows are only small accents, change the document size to about 1 inch tall by 2 inches wide. Make sure the resolution is set at 96 pixels per inch, the standard resolution for most computer screens. If the layout will be printed, set the resolution to 300 pixels per inch.
2. Choose "Transparent" from the "Background Contents" drop-down list. Hit "OK." The transparent background will make the document appear as though it has a checkerboard pattern.
3. Double-click the "Set Foreground Color" swatch in the Tools palette to choose a color for the bow. Or, choose a color from the Color Swatch palette on the right side of the screen. The Color Swatch palette can be found by going to "Window" then "Swatches."
Drawing
4. Click-hold the Shape Tool located in the Tools palette on the left side of the screen. This will open a small window that includes the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line and Custom Shape Tools. Select the Ellipse Tool.
5. Click-drag a circle onto the canvas while holding the "Shift" key. The Shift key will keep the shape a perfect circle instead of an oval. This will act as the "knot" at the center of the bow. Drag the circle so that it is centered on the canvas.
6. Add a new layer by clicking on the "Create a New Layer" button on the Layers palette on the right side of the screen.
7. Click-hold on the Lasso tool in the Tools palette and choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool. On the new layer, create a triangle (base out) that protrudes from the center knot of the bow. With the Polygonal Lasso Tool, each corner of the triangle is created by clicking the mouse. For a straight line, hold the "Shift" key.
8. Select the Paint Bucket Tool and click on the selected area. This will fill in the triangle, completing one half of the bow. Hit "Ctrl" and "C" to copy the triangular fill.
Finishing
9. Hit "Ctrl" and "V" to paste the copied triangle fill. It will automatically appear on a new layer. Go to "Edit" then "Transform" and then "Rotate" or hit "Ctrl" and "T." A box will appear around the triangle. Click-drag the triangle, while holding the "Shift" key, to rotate it 180 degrees. Position the triangle so that it completes the other half of the bow.
10. Select all three layers in the Layers palette by holding the "Shift" key while clicking them. Right-click on the selected layers and choose "Merge Layers." This will merge all of the layers so that the bow is one unified piece.
11. Add sets of flourishes, such as polka dots, hearts, zigzags or smiley faces to the bow using the Paintbrush, Shape or Pen Tools. Make sure each set of flourishes is on its own layer so as to preserve the original bow. Whenever a specific flourish is needed on the bow, hit the "Indicates Layer Visibility" eyeball next to the flourish layers that should be hidden. This way, many different styles can be saved on the same Photoshop file.
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