How to Make a Smokin’ Nightclub Flyer | You The Designer

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST

Nightclub flyers are a staple of club events and parties. Like other promotional tools, they should provide the who, what, where and when of the event. But in addition to providing the essentials, nightclub flyers are supposed to be eye candy that attract guests and help whet their appetite for the upcoming party. With these pointers in mind, we tried our hand at designing a nightclub flyer. Check it out!

For this design, we used different shades of neon pink and violet on top of a black background.

We positioned the title of the event near the center of the print and made sure that it had a distinct font size and color.

We picked an illustration that gives a preview to the type of mood guests can expect during the event.

We’ve placed the sponsors at the bottom of the print. A few inches above them are the featured performers of the event.

Need practice creating nightclub flyers, or want to do a Photoshop exercise? Follow our lead and recreate this night club flyer from scratch using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Tutorial Assets

Dancing girl

Vector dancing girl silhouette

Abstract lights

Step 1

Create a new document and copy the settings below.

Now double click the layer, hit OK and name it “Background.” Afterwards, add a gradient to it by double clicking “Background”.

Check the Gradient Overlay and copy the settings below.

Using the pen tool, trace around the picture of the girl and paste it on the background.

Step 2

We’ll then add more color to the background. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “dots.” Select brush tool (B) and start putting big and small dots on the background. Make sure that you set the Hardness to 0 and Brush opacity from 10% to 40%. Use these colors for your brush: Violet=EA00FF/ Blue=004CBD

After combining the two layers, this is how it should look like.

Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and add a backlight by selecting brush tool. Use the same shade of Violet=EA00FF and set the opacity to 100. This time, set the Blending Mode to “Linear Dodge (Add).”

To make the light brighter, add a smaller white brush on top of the violet brush then set the Blending Mode to “Linear Dodge (Add)” Linear Dodge illuminates the base color and reflects the blend color.

Scatter the light more by repeating the process above. Try to experiment with different sizes and opacities. Afterwards, lower the saturation of the girl by -40 (Ctrl+U). This is what we came up with.

Step 4

Open this image of abstract lights in Illustrator and paste it to your artwork in Photoshop. Paste (Ctrl+V) it and choose “Pixels.”

Desaturate it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+U.

“Send Backward” by pressing “Ctrl [" several times until you're one layer above "background."

Erase the edges of the abstract lights. Use 0 (zero) hardness of eraser tool so it'll blend with the background effectively.

Step 5

And now for the fun part! Add a light streak around the girl's body. Create a new layer and name it "light streak." Select Pen tool (P) and make sure you select this icon (refer to image below) on the upper left part of Photoshop.

Draw a swirly line around the girl's body.

Select a white brush (B) [10 px; 0% hardness] with a 100% opacity. Right click and apply the setting below.

Again, select Pen tool, right click and click Stroke Path.

Choose “Simulate Pressure” on the checkbox and hit “OK.”

By now, you should have a white line spiraling around the girl. Delete the path by pressing “Delete” on your keyboard. Your artwork should look something like this.

Add more glow to that swirl by double clicking “light streak” layer and following the settings below.

Now erase some parts of the light streak by using the Eraser tool (E).

Remove the lower part of the girl’s body using the Eraser tool with 50% opacity.

Step 6

Add some nice silhouettes of dancing people behind her. Use Illustrator to cut this part out.

Paste the image to Photoshop and position the silhouettes just like in the image below. Name these layers “girl silhouette left” and “girl silhouette right.” Afterwards, select the two layers by clicking the second layer while holding “Ctrl.” Press Ctrl+[ several times until you’re above “dots” layer.

This is how it should look like now.

Step 7

The initial design is finished. Now we’ll add some important information about the event.

Using the Pen tool, draw a triangular shape on the upper left part of your design.

Next, draw a rounded rectangle above the girl’s arms.

Use the setting below.

For the text: just click “T” and start typing using “Arial” as your font.

Lower Kerning to -80.

Add some effects on the event title by double clicking that layer and following these settings.

The event title should look like this.

Make sure to include the name, date, featured performers and location of the event on your design. And don’t forget to add the sponsors near the bottom of the flyer.

And there ya have it!

For questions, suggestions and any reactions regarding this tutorial, please leave a comment. Thank you!

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011