How to Create an Abstract Poster Using the Puppet Warp Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Creating posters is difficult when images are not of optimal size. Here is a trick to create an abstract poster when you either don’t have a good enough image or you want to create something outside the box!

What You Will Need

You will need the following resources in order to complete this project:

• Building Exterior Wall from Envato Elements by Liufuyu


• RNS Sanz

1. How to Create a Photoshop Document

Step 1

In Photoshop, go to File > New. Name the document Abstract Poster. Set the Width to 1270 px and Height to 1600 px. Set the Resolution to 72 Pixels/Inch. Click OK.

Step 2

Let’s start by adding a black background. On the Layers panel, click on Create a New Fill or Adjustment Layer > Solid Color and choose black as the background.

Step 3

Drag the Building Exterior Wall from Envato Elements by Liufuyu into the Photoshop window. Double click to unselect.

2. How to Use the Puppet Warp Tool

Step 1

For this tutorial, we will be using the Puppet Warp tool to create an interesting abstract image. Head over to Edit > Puppet Warp. This action will apply many triangle shapes to the image. These shapes are the density in which you will be able to edit. You can change this by going to the Options bar and clicking on Density. For this tutorial, we will be using Normal, so set the Mode to Normal and Expansion to 0 px.

Step 2

When you hover over the image, you will notice a pin with a plus sign. This will allow us to add points to the image to hold them to a specific place. Click on the top left quadrant—anywhere is fine. 

At this point, nothing will happen. In order for this to work, we need to move these pins around, so we need to place several of them. Click in the opposite direction and move the pin around. 

Step 3

Now that we know how the Puppet Warp tool works, add pins on the image and move them around.

Something to remember here is that there is no right or wrong—this is an abstract poster, and pretty much anything goes! 

Step 4

You can edit the points after you’ve moved them around. Simply head over to the Layers panel and click on the dropdown arrow on the building layer. Double-click on the Puppet Warp layer settings and edit away!

I ended up with the image below. Press Enter when you are done to set the image.

3. How to Use Clipping Masks

Step 1

On the Layers panel, click Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer > Black & White. We want this layer to be applied only to the one below, so while selecting the Black and White layer, Right click > Clipping Mask. To see if this is working, check that the layer has an arrow on the left side pointing down, meaning it will only affect the layer below it.

Step 2

Add a new layer on the Layers panel. We want to add color blotches on the building. On the toolbar, select the Brush tool. Right click on the page, and set the Size to 300px and Hardness to 0%.

Use the following color codes to create strokes over the layer.

• Pink: #e21efc 


• Cyan: #11fdfb
  


• Blue: #0018ff
  


• Green: #11fdc3
  

Step 3

Set the Blending Mode of the layer with the strokes to Multiply on the Layers panel. Again, we want this layer to be applied only to the two layers below it, and we can do this with Right click > Create Clipping Mask. To see if this is working, check that the layer has an arrow on the left side pointing down, meaning it will only affect the layers below it.

Let’s group these three layers by selecting them and dragging them to the folder on the bottom of the Layers panel.

Step 4

We want to create a glitchy poster, so let’s move the Group 1 folder to the right side of the page. We want it to go over the margin. Duplicate the folder by pressing Command-J and rename it to Group 2. Then place it in the opposite direction. I am placing them at different heights to add movement.

Step 5

Let’s create a line between the objects to make it appear like a glitched image. On the toolbar, select the Line Tool (U) and draw a line vertically, holding Shift to draw a straight line. Head over to the Options bar, select white for the Stroke, and set the Shape Stroke Width to 3 pt and the Width to 6 px.

Step 6

On the Layers panel, add a new layer and, as before, use the Brush Tool (B) and add strokes of different colors to be applied to the line.

• Pink: #e21efc 
  


• Cyan: #11fdfb
  


• Blue: #0018ff
  


• Green: #11fdc3
  

When you are done, while selecting the layer, Right click > Create Clipping Mask.

Step 7

Let’s add some more details. Add a new layer on the layers panel; the goal for this will be to add strokes with the same colors as above, but this time they will be applied to the whole poster.

Using the Brush Tool (B), create strokes on the poster. We will edit them in the next step.

• Pink: #e21efc 
  


• Cyan: #11fdfb
  


• Blue: #0018ff
  


• Green: #11fdc3
  

Step 8

While selecting the layer, choose Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.

Step 9

Move the layer below all the grouped layers. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), select the areas you’d like to delete. I am deleting things after/before the line we created as this poster is intended to look glitchy and displaced.

Step 10

Add a Layer Mask to the strokes layer and use the Brush Tool (B) in black to erase and soften a few spots. Set the Opacity to 80%.

4. How to Add Text Details

Step 1

Let’s go back to the top of the layers. Use the Text Tool (T) to add text. I used Chinese characters to add more interesting shapes to the poster: 步步高升. I used Kozuka Gothic Pr6N in 47pt size, but feel free to use any font in any language! 

I am placing this initial text on the lower right side of the stroke.

Step 2

Let’s duplicate these letters and place them on the background. I am placing two on either side of the stroke and changing the Opacity to 15%.

Step 3

As before, let’s add a new layer and add color strokes to it, and we'll also create a Clipping Mask for both of these text layers. Start by applying the strokes on one layer, duplicate it, and then move them to apply a Clipping Mask as in the steps before.

Also feel free to use black on this layer to create a “barely there” look. 

Step 4

Let’s add more text, this time with words related to metamorphosis. I added this twice: “1. denoting a change of position or condition. Metamorphosis.” I set it in RNS Sanz from Envato Elements in 25 pt. 

Duplicate the text layer above by pressing Command-J, and while selecting the duplicated layer, Right click > Rasterize Type.

Step 5

Head over to Filter > Liquify. The Liquify option window will open. Use the Forward Warp Tool and set the Tools options: Brush Size to 300, Brush Density to 10 and Brush Pressure to 60. Click OK. 

Lower both the text layer and the rasterized layer to 40% Opacity.

Step 6

Add one more text layer with the word “meta” to the left side of the poster to add balance. Rotate the layer vertically by pressing Command-T, and hold Shift for an even rotation.

Step 7

Let’s add some texture to the poster. Select all of the layers on the Layers panel and duplicate them by dragging them to the Create New Layer button. This action will duplicate all the layers and will keep them selected. While they're selected, Right click > Merge Layer. 

Let’s add some noise by going to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

5. How to Save a File

Head over to File > Save and save the file as you would normally. 

To save a JPEG file, head over to File > Save for Web or Shift-Options-Command-S. Select the file type you want to save the document in; I am choosing JPEG and setting 100 for Quality. Under Image size, you can change the pixel size of the image if you have any size constraints. 

On the bottom left-hand side, you can see a preview of the size of the file. This is useful when there are size constraints on a website and you need to lower the quality or the size of the image. 

Click on Save… to choose the location in the new window, and then click on Save again.

Congratulations! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!

In this tutorial, we’ve learned how we can make an image work for an abstract poster. Today we’ve learned:

• how to use the Puppet Warp Tool


• how to use Clipping Masks and how to apply them to specific layers


• how to use layer styles


• how to use the Liquify effect to add dimension to text

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