BLANKIE TUTORIAL
PHOTOSHOP TEMPLATE

Ok, everybody! In this tutorial we’ll do a step-by-step walk through showing exactly how to go about making your design and posting it on the forum. We hope that this will help make the competition even better by giving everyone, regardless of experience, the same opportunity! Ready? Let’s get started!


1) Open the file Blankie_converted.psd. Once opened, you’ll see the Blankie toy design template and four layers- “Turns”, “Art Layer”, “Layout” and “Background”. We’ll be using CS3 for the tutorial, but any recent version of Photoshop should be compatible.

Turns
This layer is the “Inkline” and sits on top of your artwork while you design. This allows you to see the edges of the toy while you work.

Art Layer
This is the layer where you’ll create and design your artwork.

Layout
This is where you’ll place the swatches of color that your toy will use when it gets produced. By including a sample of the color and it’s corresponding pantone number (PMS), we can be sure to reproduce your colored design accurately- regardless of the color differences seen on a computer monitor!

Background
This is just the background “white” color of the template. You won’t need to do anything with this layer.


2) There’s no one way to actually come up with your design artwork. Some people draw right in the computer, others print out the template, sketch out a design and scan it back in for coloring. Just do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

Colors- Use the “PANTONE SOLID UNCOATED” colors from the color library. Go to the “Swatches” tab and click on the little arrow on the far right side. From the drop down menu, select “PANTONE solid uncoated”. These colors can be used for your toy design and have catalogue numbers called “PMS” numbers. These numbers are what we’ll use to make sure your design colors are reproduced accurately during the manufacturing process, so make sure to take note of the PMS number!!! (In photoshop, the PMS number should appear when you let the eyedropper cursor “hover” over a specific color for a few seconds).

Create your design on the “Art Layer” layer. This should include all artwork minus the actual background color of the figure. We’ll do that part later when we duplicate the “Turns“layer.

Go ahead and create the designs for all sides of your toy. Make sure it “turns” correctly. This means that what you design should rotate correctly as if it was actually in 3 dimensional space. This is really important! Any flaws on your design could be made into the toy, so make sure it’s exactly like you want it in real life!!!

Use the “rulers” and “guides” features to help you get the turn designs as exact as possible.



3) Once your design is complete on the “Art Layer”, duplicate the “Turns” layer and place it below the “Art Layer” layer. “Art Layer” should now be sandwiched between two “Turns” layers so that your design is sitting “behind” the toy’s inklines.

Next we’re ready to color the background of the figurine itself. Select the “Turns” layer that sits below the “Art Layer” layer. Use the “Paint Bucket Tool” (G) to fill in the background color, while leaving your design clear!


4) Now that you’re happy with your design, we’ll make the sample swatch colors. Go ahead and copy/ paste as many of those pantone “PMS” color boxes as you need. These are located in the “Layout” layer. The first one’s been provided for you. Once that’s done, use the “Eyedropper Tool” (I) and fill each box with a color contained in your design. These should all be Pantone Solid Uncoated colors.

Select the color, find it’s corresponding swatch, and type in it’s Pantone number. (See sample design for reference)


5) Make sure everything is correct, add your name and email at the top of the design and save it! Finally, export a copy of the image as a 72 dpi jpeg (image > image size) then (file > save as). This is the image that will be posted to the Aarting Forum.


That’s it!!!

Guru attached the following image(s):