Get started by opening up a 800x800 image and filling it with the color #C0C0C0. Now after that, open up this photo of Lindsay (image from Lindsay Images), copy it, go back to your document and press CTRL L. The image of Lindsay should now be on your blank document. Set the picture to Hard Light at 100% opacity.
Now we want to position the image in the center. Your image should be placed like so
Duplicate the picture and then mirror the duplicated image by simply pressing CTRL M. Before you begin make sure you change the layer from Hard Light to Lighten. If you're confused, your layer palette should look like this:
Once you've lightened the duplicated picture, position it right near the middle of the first picture. Your images should look like this:
Now take this photo and again paste it onto your layout. Before you begin change the pictures' layer setting to Lighten and position it on the top right of the picture. It should look like this:
After that take this photo and paste it onto your layout. Position it on the left corner so that half of Lindsays eyes show (see next picture for reference) and then drag the layer to the bottom. In dragging it to the bottom, it should now be the first layer. Set that pictures' layer setting to Hard Light. Your layer palette should now look like this:
And your layout should now look like this:
Now we need to get rid of that excess picture overlaying the other pictures. Go to your eraser tool and select the circle brush with the following settings:
Begin to erase the excess parts of the picture. I've highlighted which areas you should erase.
After you've finished erasing, take out your Selection tool and then delete the bottom part of the picture.
Now select your first Lindsay picture (should be raster 1) and erase the black part on the other Lindsay picture.
Now go back to your mirrored Lindsay picture (should be a copy of raster 1 set to Lighten) and delete her arm going over the pink text.
Overall your layout should now look like this:
Now take this this photo and paste it on the top of your layout. Position it like the following:
Set this layer to Darken and drag the layer to the very bottom. It should now be above the BACKGROUND layer and under LAYER 3 (pink word lindsay picture). Now that we have the words in place, we're going to delete some parts that are in the way of other pictures. With the same eraser settings (still selecting the shooting star layer, erase some of the words. I usually delete words that are over the face first and then delete anything else that looks good. This is what I got:
Now that we've finally got the setup finished, we can begin adding brushes. Some brushes I usually add are tiny splatters because they're nice and they don't overpower the layout. The splatters I'm using (also the white dot brushes on the sides of the layout) can all be found here. (The ones made by Serena) You can also add text brushes or whatever you think looks good. Just make sure you're using either a white or dark grey color and you stick the brushes on the sides versus right in the middle. Remember, keep it simple! After adding some brushes my layout looks like this:
It is now time to add all the colorizing effects. You'll be surprised how much nicer a layout can become just from some color layers. To make sure no one gets confused, repeated steps will constantly be shown.
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match my settings:
Make a new raster layer and fill it with the color #45FBDB. Set it to Overlay at 26%.
Go back to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the same settings as last time.
Set this layer to Saturation at 100%.
Go back to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the same settings as last time.
Set this layer to Hue (L).
Your layer palette should now look like this:
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the settings:
Lower the opacity to 48%, but keep the layer setting at Normal.
Your layout should now look like this:
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the settings:
Set the layer to Burn at 14%.
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the settings:
Set the layer to Darken at 10%.
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Channel Mixer and match your settings to mine:
Set this layer to Luminance at 54%.
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Color balance and match your settings to mine:
Set this layer to Luminance at 100%.
Go to Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and match the settings:
Set this layer to Luminance (L) at 74%.
And viola! Now all that's left to do is add some text and you're all done. There were many color layers that we went through, but if you think that's a lot, you really need to start using them more often. They're a key to making boring layouts a little more interesting.
Click here to see my finished layout.