Wednesday Tip/Tutorial

Creating Subway Art with Digital Supplies

Subway art is a creative trend that is exploding on the internet. The art form consists of using words, fonts and even pictures to create a visually appealing and meaningful display. Using Photoshop brushes and digital scrapbooking papers, you can put together your own, highly customized Subway art to display or give as a gift.  Here’s how:

1. Open a document the size and shape you’d like to frame your art.
2. Open a piece of digital scrapbook paper and use the Move tool to drag it onto your document.
3. Get the Rectangle tool. Choose “Shape Layers” and “Create a New Shape Layer” from the Options bar.  Drag out a rectangle on your document where you’d like your words to be placed.
4. Open word art such as Katie Pertiet’s Blocked Sentiments.  Use the Move tool to drag several pieces of word art onto your new document.
5. Select the Word Art layer and press Ctrl T on your keyboard (Mac: Cmd T) to get the Transform controls. Use the corner handles to resize the word art to fit within your document. Click the checkmark to confirm the change.
6. While you have the Transform controls active, you can also turn a word.  Use the side handles which look like a curved arrow to change the orientation of the word art. Pressing the Shift key as you turn moves the image incrementally. Click the checkmark to confirm the tilt.
7. To recolor a portion of the word art: With the word layer selected, get the Rectangular Marquee tool (or other selection tool) and make a selection around the portion you would like to change. Choose Edit > Fill > Color from the menu bar. Choose a color and click OK, then tick the Preserve Transparency box and click OK on the Fill dialog box. Your word will fill with the color you have selected. Press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to remove the selection.
8. If you get into a sticky situation, you can also make a selection around all the words in the word art by Ctrl clicking (Mac: Cmd clicking) the thumbnail of the word layer in the Layers panel. Use the paintbrush tool to paint a new color into the word selection using the foreground color as your paint color.
9. To change a word: Select the word layer and get the Rectangular Marquee tool. Make a selection around the portion of the word art you’d like to change. Press Delete or Backspace on your keyboard. This erases the portion you have selected. Now press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) on your keyboard to remove the selection. Get the Type tool and choose a font, style and color in the Options bar. Click and type a new word in the space and then click the checkmark to confirm your type. Text can be resized like images by getting the transform controls to resize it. (see step 5)  Using this technique, you can also replace a word with a digital sticker, rub on, or other embellishment.
10. To cover a word with photos or digital paper: Select the word layer and make a selection around the word you would like to cover. Press Ctrl J (Mac: Cmd J) on your keyboard. This copies *just* the selection to a new layer. Now open your paper and use the Move tool to drag it onto your page. Position it  one step above your copy in the Layers Panel. Hold the Alt key (Mac: Opt key) and click between the paper and the copied layer in the Layers panel. Use this method to cover the mat layer with paper as well.
11. When you are happy with your artwork, save it as a jpg and print it. You may also like to save it as a layered PSD file just in case you find you’d like to change something later.
12. Slip the print into a frame or glue it to a canvas to display it. You can even glue it to a piece of rustic or painted wood.