"Using CSP to design birthday cards: utilizing materials and text design"
The theme this time is "How to make birthday cards".
To be honest, although CSP's word processing function still has considerable room for improvement, its powerful material library and free painting and post-production functions are enough for me to choose this software to design birthday cards!
In this article, I will introduce how to design a birthday card using materials. In the last part, I will focus on recommending various materials, which will include both free and paid materials.
In the Demonstration Picture, free materials will be used entirely. You are welcome to follow the steps and try it out to create your favorite design!
**TIPS: Since the explanation part of this article is long, especially the Text Design part provides several methods, please make good use of the table of contents function for easier reading!
[Introduction to each part on the card]
First, here's a brief explanation of the different parts of the card.
1.Text: such as "HappyBirthday(toyou)", etc.
2.TextHolder: A frame used to place text
3.Character/Theme: Different characters can be placed as the theme of the card. For example, the birthday hero’s favorite animal, favorite anime character, or even his own photo!
4.Decoration: decorations usually used on birthday cards, such as birthday cakes, desserts, flowers, balloons, ribbons, confetti, candles, gifts, etc.
These are divided to make it easy for beginners to master, and are not static designs. You can always add or subtract to your liking**.
Sometimes you can not use the "character" as the theme, but only add decorations, such as using a large birthday cake as the theme of the picture. This is entirely a matter of discretion!
Next, let’s get started!
[Step instructions]
1. Set card size (image file size)
First, will this birthday card be posted online, or will it be printed?
These two purposes have different requirements for file settings, which you can set after [New File].
Printing: resolution 300dpi or above
Online publishing: resolution 72dpi or above
As for image proportions, generally speaking, birthday cards have more freedom in design, so just choose what you like.
When creating a new file, you can set the "unit" and then enter the value.
Still not sure how to decide? First, on the right side of "Width", select the default setting of "B5", "A5" or "Postcard"! You can change the image size at any time later in [Edit] > [Change Canvas Size].
**TIPS: If you need to print out the card, generally speaking, if it is only for "personal use", no other settings are required.
But if you want to make some professional settings, such as setting more accurate printing colors and setting the cropping position, be sure to search for "Print" in Clip Studio Tips to learn about "CMYK Color Mode" , "bleed", "crop", file types suitable for printing and other information.
In addition, if you need to print it out and fold it into a half-folded card, you also need to pay attention to only adding the image to half of the screen. As for whether it is in the upper half/lower half/left half/right half, it depends on how your card surface is folded.
2. Select the text box you like
Then, let’s create the text frame you like!
Two methods will be provided here for reference.
✧ 2a. Use CSP preset image tools
First, we will introduce the CSP preset image tools.
You can use these tools to draw simple shapes such as rectangles, rounded rectangles (as shown), polygons, circles, etc.
✧ 2b. Use of materials
Do you think the above graphic is too simple? No problem, go look for it in the material library!
Enter "Frame" in the CSP material library and select "Image Material" in the detailed settings to narrow the search results.
(You can also set the price for finding materials upon request)
Since there are a lot of search results, I usually sort by "popularity".
(This does not mean that materials downloaded by many people are necessarily better than materials downloaded by fewer people, but when there are too many materials and the time you can spend searching is limited, you can only make this choice.)
In addition, you can also enter some design elements as keywords, such as "Ribbon", "Flower", etc., to further narrow the scope.
This time I used this free strawberry frame material, it’s so cute!
There are many other beautiful frame materials to choose from in the library, and I will focus on recommending them in the final part.
After downloading the materials, you can find them in "Download" in the material library.
Image material can be directly pulled onto the screen for use.
The image can then be resized and positioned using the Free Transform function (Crtl+T).
3. Add text
There are several ways to add text, and here we will introduce four different methods in detail.
If you want to focus on the image part first, you might as well skip this part and go directly to the next title, and finally come back to see which method is best for the birthday card you design.
✧ 3a. Simply add text: CSP default text function
CSP's default text function allows you to directly enter text after selecting "Text" on the left toolbar.
In version ver3.0 or above, the "circular text" tool is also available.
In the tool settings, you can set the text size, font, alignment method, etc.
If you can't find it on the window, you can press the wrench icon on the lower right to select it.
**TIPS: Having trouble deciding which font to use?
When the font layer is selected, move the mouse over the font (no left button required), and use the scroll wheel to move up and down to quickly change the font!
You can also select only a certain letter and adjust the size of individual fonts.
If you need to rotate the words to different angles, you need to separate the layers and edit them individually.
After selecting the text layer, move the mouse toward the corner of the selection box. After the mouse icon changes to a rotation icon, you can easily rotate the text.
You can also add the age of the other party, etc.
Finish!
✧ 3b. Create wrapped text: use the brush tool
Although CSP's text tools do not yet have the function of text wrapping, we can use self-made brush tools to achieve similar effects.
First, I prepared a preset brush for download:
The text inside is all handwritten by myself.
You can also replace these words with your own handwriting or downloaded fonts for free use in the brush settings.
After installing the brush, in the "Brush Front End" in the tool settings, you can change letters as shown below:
Note that you need to register the required letter images as materials first so that they can be selected.
For registration methods, please refer to parts [2] and [3] in the official tutorial below.
**TIPS: If you want the brush to be used in the drawing color, please remember to set the display color of the registered material layer to "gray".
After you get the letters you are satisfied with, you can use the brush to draw the winding text as you like!
If you want to draw a specific shape, you can also use the ruler aid.
When creating a ruler tool, select an applicable ruler. For text wrapping, you usually use "straight line ruler", "curved ruler" or "graphic ruler", and then you can draw the shape you want.
Finish!
✧ 3c. Create special fonts: use vector layers
Another method is to take advantage of the fact that CSP vector layers will not degrade graphics quality, allowing users to fine-tune fonts individually.
First, after inputting the required font with the text tool, right-click the layer and click [Layer Convert].
Select the type as "Vector Layer" and click "Vector Settings".
In the vector settings, you can control the line width. In addition, it is recommended not to select "Output all in black" and select "Weak" or above for anti-aliasing.
This results in the following:
Select the "Line Correction" tool for vectors and select "Move Control Points" in "Control Points".
Then when the mouse moves over the text, vector lines and control points will appear. Moving the control points changes the font shape.
Use the "Vector Line Knob" to quickly change the shape of the line in a larger range.
(Using it is similar to "skew", just pull it directly on the screen)
If you want to change the line color, use the "Object Selection Tool", click on the vector line, and adjust it in the tool window. You can adjust the color, line thickness, brush, etc.
If you want to enlarge certain letters, you can use the "Object Selection Tool" and select "Enlarge, Reduce, Rotate" as the "Transformation Method" in the tool window. Then select and click on the vector line (if you hold down "shift" to select, you can select multiple lines at the same time), and a deformation box will appear. Adjustments can be made by moving the mouse over a control point on the frame.
**TIPS: If you press "Ctrl+T" directly, you can only change all the lines on the entire layer at the same time. So be sure to use the object selection tool to deform individual lines.
During the vectorization process, shaky lines may be produced because there are too many control points on the lines. We can use "Vector line simplification" to improve this situation.
When using it, it is recommended to use a fine brush, otherwise the changes in the lines will be too large.
This completes the stylized text!
✧ 3d. Handwritten text
Still can't choose the font you want? It doesn't matter! Handwriting text with a brush is just as great!
Here are two brushes specially designed for writing:
Usage example:
**TIPS: You can also use vector layers for handwritten text here, making it easy to use vector control tools to fine-tune the strokes.
Text design comes here first.
I chose "3a" and used the type tool to enter text and adjust the size and angle of individual letters.
In addition, I am used to adjusting the color of the text at the end after placing most of the design elements. **
Because the color of the text can be used very freely, it can be combined with other objects (such as strawberries whose color cannot be changed) to harmonize the color of the overall picture.
(The text color style adjustment part will be introduced in [Step 6] below.)
4. Add the main design
In addition to the strawberries on the text box, I also wanted to add cute animals as the theme of the card.
So, I searched for "cat" in the CSP library and found this cute cat brush!
Since this material is a "brush", it needs to be installed into the brush tool before use.
The method is very simple, just drag it from the material library to the brush tool window.
Since the brush properties will draw the cats continuously, I want to be more flexible in the design to place the cats in different positions. Therefore, I will first add a new layer, pre-draw the images of each cat, and then circle the desired cat and put it in.
(If the canvas is not big enough, you can also add a new canvas and pre-draw various cats on it)
**TIPS: If the cats are deformed due to hand-drawing, you can click on the canvas and then press "shift" to draw a straight line. This way the cats won’t lose their shape!
Use the lasso tool to select the cat and copy it:
Insert the card and adjust its position:
**TIPS: Slightly overlaid images can make the cats have a better sense of communication and make the picture more integrated.
When you copy and paste the cats separately, they are already divided into different layers. You can control the upper and lower relationships by adjusting the layer order. There is no need to rush to merge the layers at this stage.
5. Add decorations
Next, add other decorative materials to enrich the picture!
✧ 5a. Add background color/pattern
First, I filled in the background color of the text box.
Create a new layer below the text box layer, then select both layers and use "Smear Around".
Because it seemed a bit monotonous, I added a light-colored cat continuous pattern on top.
Pull the image material into the canvas and rotate it slightly so that the pattern doesn't look too rigid.
Because the original color of the material was too dark, I added a new layer above, filled it with light yellow, and set it as Clipping Layer. This allows you to change the color of your footage.
✧ 5b. Increase the atmosphere of celebration
To add to the celebratory feel, I decided to incorporate balloons and bunting into the design.
After drawing the balloon, you need to draw the rope and bow that tie the balloon.
**TIPS: After you draw a simple shape with a light color, set the "Layer Properties" and turn on the "Border Effect" to easily obtain the outline.
Below the balloon layer, create a new layer for drawing colorful flags.
I used different colors and sizes of brushes to make the image more vivid.
However, the addition of colorful flags seems to make the text part cluttered.
So I created a Layer Mask and erased the middle part so that the bunting wouldn't interfere with the middle part of the text box.
✧ 5c. Add other effects
While the current graphic design is pretty good, I still wanted this card to be a little more lively.
So I decided to add a concentrated line pattern underneath the bunting layer.
After installing the tool, press the left button of the mouse while holding down "shift" and pull outward to get a perfect circle.
Then use the "Object Operation Tool" to fine-tune the size, position and angle of the pattern.
6. Adjust text design
Finally, let’s adjust the text design!
The easiest, of course, is to change the text color and add a border.
(For the method of adding borders, please refer to the balloon part above)
In addition, you can also use the automatic action materials in the material library to quickly obtain different design effects.
After downloading the material, please refer to the official help for how to install automatic actions:
Usage example:
After selecting the text layer, left-click on the automatic action you want to use.
Since this automatic action is set to a fixed color, you can later use "Layer Color" in "Layer Properties" to change the color.
Examples of other automatic actions (with additional color changes):
In this way, you can get a more special text design!
In the demonstration picture, I chose the first demonstration above "three-dimensional" as the design of the text on the card, and changed the color and added an outline to match the overall picture.
7. Other fine-tuning
Of course, you can also make fine-tuning anywhere based on the overall design.
For example, I feel like the cat's color looks darker now than it would otherwise.
So I added a "Hue Compensation Layer" above the cat layer and adjusted its chroma and value.
In addition, I also slightly adjusted the color of the cat pattern and balloons in the background.
Also add a piece of cake to fill the slightly empty space under the text:
8. Done!
[Material Recommendation]
Finally, come to the material recommendation part!
In addition to the materials used in the above demonstration images, CSP also has many materials suitable for birthday themes. Also because there are too many excellent materials in CSP’s material library, we unfortunately cannot include them all here.
If you have time, be sure to search for materials that suit your style in the material library and discover surprises!
✧ Text frame recommendations
✧ Recommended handwriting brushes
✧ Recommended cute animals
✧ Recommended party related materials
✧ Text style automatic action recommendation
【Conclusion】
Thank you for seeing this!
As an additional reference, the following two simple designs are also completed using the CSP material library; while the text uses the designs mentioned above:
What do you think of this teaching?
Feel free to leave a message and let me know! Hope this tutorial is helpful to you.
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