10-Vectors

I like playing poker, so came up with an idea of a “Good Luck” card in a poker theme. I had trouble with this assignment, and realized that I really need to work with “Paths and Shape Layers” a whole lot more. Needless to say, this didn’t turn out quite as well as I wanted.

After creating the 4.5X6.5 image size, I started with using the Rounded Rectangle Tool and created a blank card. I then used the Text Tool and added an A to it. I followed that by using the Custom Shape Tool and adding a Shape Layer with the Spade card image to it, and then resized it to fit proportionately under the A. I duplicated that Shape Layer and then resized the Spade so that it looked correct in the middle. After getting the Space card how I liked it, I duplicated the Shape Layer of the card so that way the Heart card would be the same size, I also duplicated the A, but changed the color to red, so it would be the same too. I took the same steps on the Heart card that I did with the Spade card, but I had to duplicate the A and small Heart and rotate them 180 degrees so I could put them in the bottom corner. I added a Drop Shadow, set the Angle to 0, and set the Size and Distance to 1 to just separate the cards from each other.

I wanted to make a poker table for the cards to sit on, so I created a couple more Shape Layers, one Black and one Green, in the shape of a poker table. I wanted to subtract the Green area out of the Black area in the layer but couldn’t get it to work, hence the creation of both of those layers. I also wanted to add a texture to the Green layer, but couldn’t get it to look good even with trying a ton of different settings.

I then added the wording and used a Warp Text in an Arch shape with a Bend of +50% for the top words, and a -50% for the bottom words. I added a Drop Shadow to the words, I wanted to change the Angle, but when I did that it changed the Angle on the cards too. I also added a Bevel and Emboss to the Background layer so it looked like the card edge where it was folded.

I then made a Shape Layer using the Ellipse Tool in the shape of a Circle making it a Poker chip. I was able to subtract the center of the chips, but don’t know why I couldn’t get it to work with the poker table. I then used the Custom Shape Tool and added a Heart, Spade, Diamond, and Club by subtracting them from the chip. I had originally added a texture to the Background layer, but I couldn’t figure out how to make to add a White layer below the chip image, so I had to remove the texture effect so you wouldn’t see it through the chip. I then duplicated (copied) the layer three times, changed their colors to that of different poker chip denominations, and moved them to the corners.

I used the Grid pattern to make sure that everything was spaced evenly out and centered. All in all it turned out pretty good, just wanted a little more out of it, guess I’ll keep practicing.