How to Make a Punk Rock Poster: Photoshop Tutorial

Need a poster for a gig?

Never fear, a D.I.Y. poster tutorial is here! Having a captivating image can help people notice your show. You can share it online. Adding a visual element to social shares is proven to attract more attention than social media posts with no images. The old school method of printing off posters to hang in the bar or in a record store still works! Every gig you do should have some sort of poster. Here is how you can do it yourself!

Poster Tutorial

Here is a simple poster tutorial! In this video I show you how to make a quick and easy punk rock poster in Adobe Photoshop. I also used Adobe Illustrator to copy and paste in a feature image, but you could skip this step by just using File-->Place in Photoshop. This is a simple technique that can be applied in various ways.

Below are the websites used and a step-by-step guide.

Websites used in Tutorial:

https://www.vecteezy.com/
http://www.dafont.com/
https://www.google.ca/

Poster Tutorial Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Make a new file 8.5" x 11" (In Photoshop)
Step 2: Get Background Image (I search the keyword "Grunge")
Step 3: Get Fonts (From http://www.dafont.com)
Step 4: Install Fonts (My computer-->C: drive -->windows -->fonts. Drag new fonts into Font folder)
Step 5: Get Feature Image (From https://www.vecteezy.com/ or use a band photo, etc.)
Step 6: Paste or Place into Photoshop, change blending mode to Multiply
Step 7: Put in Info using the your fonts
Step 8: Center Image and Text (using align tool)
Step 9: Save!

Don't Have Photoshop?

You could always go the old school approach. Drawing a poster with a marker, or literally cutting and pasting print letters and photos can give you a D.I.Y. punk look with no technical skills needed. All you need to do is bring your flyer to a local print centre and make black and white copies. See this blog post for some examples:
http://www.cvltnation.com/diy-dadaism-when-80s-punk-posters-and-flyers-ruled/