Are you or someone you know an athlete? Have you ever dreamed about your picture being hung on a wall? Today I am going to show you how to make your very own sports poster. For additional help with this project, you can watch me edit this poster in the embedded YouTube video.

Supplies

Desktop computer or laptop
Adobe Photoshop
Printer

Step 1: Open Photo in Photoshop

You can open your photo by right-clicking on it and choosing “Open with” > “Open with Photoshop.”

Step 2: Select Subject

In this step, we are going to separate the athlete from the background. Start by clicking on the quick selection tool on the left side of your screen. You are then going to click select subject on your top task bar. This should create a dotted line around your athlete. You may notice that there are pieces selected that are not part of your athlete or that there are parts of your athlete not selected. You can easily fix this by using the add and subtract from section tools. When adding you just click on the pieces you want add, and you will see the dotted line move. Make sure every thing you want selected has a dotted line around it.

Step 3: Paste to New Document

With your athlete selected, you want to copy it by pressing “command+c” on your keyboard. Follow this by clicking “File>New.” When a list of sizes shows up, you can select “Default Photoshop Size.” You can now paste your athlete by pressing “command+v” on your keyboard.

Step 4: Resize and Move Athlete

After pasting your picture, you are going to want to press “command+T.” This will allow you to resize and move your picture. I placed mine on the left side of the document so I can put my text on the right.

Step 5: Background Color

On the bottom right corner of your screen, you will see your layers. Click on the background layer. With your background selected, you are going to select the paint bucket on the left side of your screen. You can choose whatever color you like from the color palette. Fill the background by simply clicking on the background.

Step 6: Posterize

You are now going to give the athlete a little bit more of a cartoon look. Start by right clicking “Layer 1.” You then click duplicate layer. Click ok on the pop-up box. You should now have “Layer 1” and “Layer 1 Copy.” With “Layer 1 Copy” selected, you want to click “Filter” > “Filter Gallery.” Select “Cutout” from the “artistic” folder, then click “Ok.” Your athlete may appear a bit blurry or choppy. You are going to clean this up by clicking on the drop down menu above your layers with the word “Normal” in it. Scroll down and select “Soft Light.” Your image should now appear a lot clearer and less choppy.

Step 7: Add Text

Now you want to add your text. Start by selecting the text tool on your left toolbar, then click and drag your mouse where you want the text to be placed on your photo.Next, you can choose your font and text color on the top of your screen. You can also adjust your font size. You are also able to move your text and adjust the size of your text box by using the handles around the text box.

Step 8: Using Brushes

This is where you get to get creative. Adobe offers a lot of brushes, and there are even more brushes you can download online at brusheezy.com. Before using the brushes, you are going to want to create a new layer. Do this by selecting “Create a new layer” on the bottom right corner of your screen. (Note: You can rearrange your layers by clicking them and dragging them above or below other layers.)

You can access your brushes by selecting the brush tool on your left tool bar. You can select different brushes in the “Toggle the brush settings panel” on the top of your screen. You change the color the same way you changed it for the fill bucket, by clicking the color panels. You can also change the size of your brush, using the brackets on your keyboard ([ ]). Apply the brush by simply clicking where you want to paint. In my example, I applied splatter paint behind the text and a smoke brush behind the athlete.

Step 9: Print Your Poster

The final step is printing your poster. You can open this pop-up meant by clicking “file”>”print” or pressing command+p on your keyboard. You are going to what to make sure you select “Scale to Fit Media.” Make sure your correct printer is selected. Click print, and enjoy your poster!