Create a Propaganda-
Style Poster
1
CHOOSE SOME PHOTOS
We’re aiming for a propaganda poster feel here, so are going
to use a couple of faces. We’ve pulled some photos from a
public domain image library, but you can use shots of your
friends for a fun twist. Anything will do, as long as the faces are
looking in roughly the right direction.2
CREATE SECTIONS
You need to chop the faces into sections [Image A]. We find
the most comfortable way to do this is with the Pen tool,
creating paths on the image we can later load as selections, but
if you prefer another method—a selection brush, for example—
use that instead. Sections include the whole head and shoulders,
just the shoulders, mouths, and any parts of the face that are
strong in contrast, such as beards. We found it useful to put a
guide across the image just below shoulder level (“View >
Rulers,” then drag a guide from the horizontal ruler) to use as a
baseline. Pull both images into the same document, on different
layers, and line them up in the way you want to see in your final
image before building up your selections—this saves trying to
move groups of paths or selections around later. As paths and
selections aren’t tied to layers, saving them means we can use
them on any layer later. Save as a PSD, because there’s going to
be a lot of layers, and Adobe’s format preserves them.THE ART OF PROPAGANDA dates back to at least the Persian empire, which was a big thing in
the Middle East 500 years BC. Evidence from further back is lost, mainly because of a lack of
written records, but the idea of sending a simple message to as many people as possible is
as old as mankind. Propaganda posters from the 20th century honed the idea, and frequently
took simple messages and hammered them home, often using stereotypes, insults against
enemies, and other low-down dirty tactics.
We’re not going to try any of that here, but we can use the format of the propaganda poster
to create a striking image, and we can use Photoshop to create it from a couple of photos. By
cutting down the color palette, and removing almost all detail from the image, we can create
something that catches the eye and can be understood from a distance, without too much
reading. Any text we use will be large, in a bold color, and be comprised of as few words as
possible, to make it easier for the uneducated masses to absorb the message.
One thing we’ve left off the finished poster is the disclaimer, required under federal law, that
the message is a paid advertisement. The campaign to elect Maximum PC’s executive editor
to the office of president starts here! –IAN EVENDENYOU’LL NEED THIS
PHOTOSHOP
Subscribe to a suitable package
at http://www.adobe.com.3
CHOOSE A COLOR SCHEME
You’ll want a limited color scheme for this look—
frequently reds, white, and blues, or the blue/
orange contrast that’s on every movie poster. British
examples, particularly from the early 20th century, used
a tan color, along with red and a darker brown, which is
what we’re going to use here. Use the “Add to Swatches”
button on the Color Picker to make it easier to find them
later—you can also automatically add the colors to any
Creative Cloud libraries you’ve got, so you could use the
same colors in InDesign later, for example.4
GRADIENTS
We’re going to fill in the sections we created with
gradients, using dark and light versions of the
colors we chose [Image B]. Try to get the darker parts
to line up with shadows on the photographs, if you can.
Create new layers for both faces, and load your paths
as selections (or load your saved selections) one by one,
creating a complete gradient head on each new layer.
The Gradient tool shares a space on the toolbar with theBA66 MAXIMUMPC JUN 2019 maximumpc.com
R&D