Impressions - Team & Activewear Summer 2021 - 19

The Final Touch
Now, all you have to do is put the mascot in position (see Figure
Th e baseball image in the background was created using a rough,
black-and-white ink sketch of a baseball. Open the image in
Photoshop. If it is fl attened on a white background - or if it's on a
transparent background, but areas within the image are fi lled with
white - you'll need to eliminate the white so that you're left only
with the black outline.
To do this, use the Blend If slider in the Layer Styles window.
Unlock the layer if it is locked. Double-click on the layer in the
Layers palette. When the Layer Styles window opens, make sure
" Gray " is selected in the drop-down menu in the Blend If section,
and move the white triangle slider to the left on the Th is Layer
gradient bar. You'll see the white begin to disappear. Once it is all
gone, click OK. Create a new layer, select both layers and merge
them. Th is will apply the eff ect you just created.
Go to Select > Select All, then Edit > Copy. Go back to your
working fi le and go to Edit > Paste, to place the black-and-white
image in the document. Move the layer to the bottom of the list in
the Layers palette. To create the ghosted, tone-on-tone look, create
a background layer and fi ll it with a color as close as possible to the
shirt color you're using. Select the black-and-white clip art layer,
hold down the Option/Alt key and click on the little preview icon
to select the image. Make the foreground color a slightly diff erent
shade from the background color, then fi ll the selection and deselect
(see Figure 7).
Save your working Photoshop fi le. For production purposes, delete
the background-color layer, merge all the remaining layers on
one layer with a transparent background and save it in the necessary
format.
The Back
To create the back layout, save the front layout using the " Save
As " function to create a duplicate fi le. Turn off all the art layers
so you can lay out the name and jersey number without the other
elements being in the way.
Once the name is in position, apply the desired color and stroke
the same way you did on the front. To use the same stroke information,
open the front layout fi le and select the text layer. Go to
Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style, then go to the back layout
with the name text layer selected and go to Layer > Layer Style >
Paste Layer Style. It will apply the same stroke. Once that is done,
you can paste the pin stripes inside the text the same way you did
on the front.
For the numbers, pasting the baseball image inside the numbers
is done diff erently because you want the face of the numbers to be
transparent so the shirt will show through. To do this, apply the
stroke in the same fashion, but when you are in the Layer Style
window, click on the Blending options at the top of the list and
in the Advanced Blending area, move the Fill Opacity slider to 0.
To place the ball inside the text, click the baseball layer, select
all and copy. Hold down the Command/Control key and click on
the preview of the number text layer to select. Go to Edit > Paste
Special > Paste Into. Th is will create a mask layer above the number
text layer with the baseball pasted inside.
Click on the little preview image of the baseball and resize it as
needed. Move this layer below your number text layer so the stroke
will be on top. Use this technique for pasting the ball inside. When
you make the opacity type 0, it also aff ects anything pasted inside
of it, so the baseball becomes transparent, too.
A Supplement to impr ession s
8). Save the layered fi le, especially with the editable text. By saving
the editable version, you easily can change the name and number
without having to redo the entire layout each time. 
Students also are trained and
encouraged to sell full packages
that include promotional
packages and even signage.
Dane Clement is president of Great Dane Graphics, as well as vice president
of creative for GroupeSTAHL. He has been speaking and writing for the decorated-apparel
industry since 1987. He has authored several artwork-training
books for various garment-decoration methods. For more information or
to comment on this article, email Dane at dane@greatdanegraphics.com.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Summer 2021 * 19
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