As a Graphic Designer, you have to engage viewers and guide them through the information presented to them.
When designing for print or web
you need to set up visual clues
to let them know where to start reading as they are scanning or scrolling through the pages.
We call these entry points
and in this video, I will show you 5 techniques to create eye-catching drop caps
which are the most common entry points used in magazines.
The first technique is really simple
all you need is a separate text frame with the first letter of the first paragraph
and then increase the size as big as you want.
I'm using Cmd/Ctrl+Shift drag and then align the text where I wanted.
Now you could either
place this in a layer behind your text layer.
So this will already make the text legible
while still having the Drop Cap behind it
or if you have it on the same layer or maybe you have something else in the background
you can also use blending
by going into the Transparency options for this Drop Cap frame
and then set the Blend mode to Multiply or Overlay or whichever works best.
And once again the whole spread looks like this and it's completely editable because it's a separate text frame.
So this was definitely the easiest technique but still very commonly used in magazines.
Now the second one we normally refer to as Standing Capital because we put the Drop Cap on top of the body of text.
And normally it looks good if your Drop Cap is quite big.
So once again I'm just resizing this text frame
so the first letter is again in a separate text frame
and in this case, I'm trying to align the edges
perfectly to those two columns behind it.
Something like that.
Now what I'm going to do is to select the paragraph behind it
and just simply drag it down so it can be really standing on top of it.
So in the previous two examples, we already used two large letters as Entry Points.
This time it will be so big that it won't even fit on the page
So I'm going to use the same shortcut Cmd+Shift and drag and increase the size of this letter.
I wanted to go off the page but still keep it legible that it is a V
So something like that will work.
I'm going to set my text next to it somewhere around here
and then what I will do is to use the Pen Tool
and with that, I'm going to draw a line
around here so following the line of this letter.
Let's just do something like that
and then go to the left side and it doesn't really matter what happens here.
I'm going to close this up as a shape
and then in Normal View, we can see this better.
I am going to go to the Window Menu and choose Text Wrap.
From there use the third option Wrap Around Object Shape
and I'm going to come back and increase the offset,
but first I need to fix something
because I'm using Text Wrap
both the body copy on the right and that large capital letter on the left
are going to be affected by it
and it means the big letter on the left disappeared.
So what we need to do to fix it is to select that text frame
and then go to the Object Menu choose Text Frame options
and select Ignore Text Wrap.
It's as simple as that and you can see it came back now.
So now we can go back and select that shape that we created with the Pen Tool
but sometimes it can be tricky to select things that are behind other text frames.
So for this just use Cmd or Ctrl-click.
That way I can select what's behind
and now that is selected I can add the offset that I wanted to use
and set it up to something around this.
Now let's take a closer look at this if I press W I can go back to Normal View and I think it looks quite nice.
There are two more techniques I'm going to show you this tutorial
but now we will start combining Photoshop and InDesign
and I would love to know which of these techniques was your favourite
and if you are inspired to create something based on these techniques that I'm showing you
and you are sharing it, please use the #yesimadesigner
so we can feature your work on our channels.
Here we are in Photoshop and this example might be familiar to those who watched our 365 Days of Creativity series.
If you missed out you can find the link in the description below.
Essentially this is a simple letter with Clipping Mask used on it.
So we have an image that's clipped onto this text in Photoshop.
The text itself has also an inner shadow
that creates that little bit of depth around it
as you can see it.
And then the same image is duplicated
and then with a Layer Mask showing only a couple of details around the edges.
So those little leaves coming out around the edges it's basically what you see thanks to this layer.
So if I just turned that on and have all the others off
this is how it looks
and the whole image would look like this if I Shift-click on the Layer Mask we can also see that.
So it's a simple technique and all we have to do is to save this as a Photoshop file
without the background so keep the background transparent.
And place that file into InDesign.
So here we are back in InDesign
and what I'm going to do is to select that image frame and I'm going to cut it out.
That's Edit, Cut or Ctrl or Cmd+X
and then double-click in the text frame where the body copy is.
Put the cursor at the beginning of the text frame and then use Cmd or Ctrl+V to paste it into the text frame.
This way the image becomes an actual character within the text. It's also called Inset or Inline Text.
And the cool thing about it is that when I'm changing my text frame
this is going to move around with the text.
But the best thing about it is that we can also use the actual Drop Cap feature for it.
So if I double-click on the first paragraph
I can go to the Paragraph settings and increase the number of lines for the Drop Cap
and you will see how it's going to start sinking into the first paragraph.
So I can set it up to something like that maybe move it down a bit
and then if I zoom closer I can do a few more adjustments with this
I can double-click inside the text frame and highlight that first character.
And once it's highlighted like a word or a letter
you can use the Alt or Opt+Shift up and down arrows for the Baseline Shift feature.
With this, you can refine its vertical position.
And I think that looks quite good
and also if you need you can keep your cursor flashing there next to the Drop Cap.
You can use Alt or Opt left and right arrows to change the Kerning
or the spacing between the Drop Cap and the rest of the body copy.
So it might look similar to the previous technique where we used Text Wrap
but here remember because it's an Inset image
it's going to move around with the text frame.
So for example, if I put another paragraph in front of it
it's going to push it down, like with normal text.
So I really like this technique and definitely
worth giving it a go if you have a cool image that you can use as the first letter of a paragraph.
And I kept the coolest technique for last
once again we start in Photoshop and then we continue in InDesign.
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And now let's head back to the tutorial.
So I have an awesome photo from the series Vikings
and this character in the series was called Porunn.
I'm going to select her
by using the Select Subject feature which does a very quick selection using
Adobe Sensei, the artificial intelligence selection.
So it's a really cool selection already.
We can turn this into a Mask by clicking on the Japanese flag at the bottom right.
And then double-click on the Mask icon which will open the Select and Mask work area.
Within there let's select the Refine Edge Brush Tool, the shortcut is R
And let's just zoom a little bit closer and paint over all of this fur detail.
So it's a brilliant tool to get these details back
and also maybe refine the hair here on the right side
and there
I think that looks quite nice also here we get that gap
and I think that's all good, that's all we needed
so we can click on Ok.
Now we can refine the mask a little bit further by Alt or Opt-clicking on the thumbnail for the mask.
And then if you select the Burn Tool and set the range to shadows
you can very quickly eliminate any halo around the edges that was created with the Refine Edge.
And then similarly to that if you select the Dodge Tool
and set the range to highlights
and start painting around the edges
you can make sure that there are no transparent details, especially around the hair.
If that is still not enough and you feel like it should be white
just use the Brush Tool
and paint over with white so something like that.
Let's just see how this looks if I Alt or Opt-click back on the mask
I think that looks quite nice.
Alright, now it's time to combine the photo and the text
and make it look like the character is coming out of this letter.
So in a way, the text is going to be like a holding device
So let's just select the image and place it on top of the text first of all.
The text layer I'm going to set to 100% Opacity
and what we will do is to add another mask on this layer by creating a group for it.
That's Cmd or Ctrl+G
and on that group I will add the mask.
I like to keep my mask separate. So the first one was just simply for isolating it from the background
this second one is specifically to align it with the composition.
So I'm going to use the Brush Tool and I'm just going to very quickly brush over these details here
which I definitely don't want to see.
Something like that
and then I'm going to create a quick selection of my text layer
by Cmd or Ctrl-clicking on the thumbnail of the text layer.
This way I can delete those details that overlap the text
so something like this and go around here.
Probably hide these details as well.
Ok, all I need is to show the hand on the left side and also here on the right side
to create an interesting overlap or depth effect.
So now I can use Cmd or Ctrl+D to deselect this
Zoom a little bit closer
and then using the same mask that I used before
I am going to switch to white
by pressing X on the keyboard
and just very quickly paint over the hand
something like that
and all I have to do now
is to refine this selection.
I normally would create a Path as well with the Pen Tool and then draw around that
but here on this side I'm just going to use the Brush Tool and just very quickly
paint over it.
So something like that
I'm not spending too much time refining it because
you will get the idea, so I think that looks quite nice.
So without the masking obviously was like this and with that additional mask now it looks like that.
But we need to fix the other arm here
so once again I'm going to use the Brush Tool.
Switch to white by pressing X
and reveal the hand.
Ok, so there is the hand
and then the fur probably can also come out of bounds
and be somewhere around there I think that will work quite nicely.
And see, that's why is good to have two separate masks
because when I reveal these details I'm not revealing the original background
I'm only revealing the already masked out details.
So now that we have this selection again we can refine it.
And this time I'm going to use the Pen Tool just to be a bit more precise.
Set to Path Mode
I am going to start drawing the selection here and zoom a little bit closer so we can see what I'm doing.
Essentially I'm just drawing around these details very quickly
and then, let's move down
I'm creating curves and holding down Spacebar you can reposition your anchor points
So...you can see how quickly and effectively we can make this selection
something like that.
Ok, again I'm not doing a perfect job because I'm trying to
show you this very quickly but hopefully, you get the idea how it works
so here we have this one more detail
and then it can be a little bit more faster
on these details, no one will notice
how it was originally.
Ok, something like that I think that works nicely.
And then we just have to make a big selection around this
and then press Cmd or Ctrl+Return or Enter
which will turn this into a selection and all the details inside this needs to be kept
but all the details outside of it it can be hidden.
So we will invert the selection by pressing Cmd or Ctrl+Shift+ I
and then using black as our foreground color we can very quickly paint over all of these details that we don't need.
Then Cmd or Ctrl+D to deselect
and then zoom closer just fixing a few more things here I think this can be hidden away
make that edge a little bit more believable and also around here
I think something like that tidies up nicely.
Ok, so let's zoom out and take a look.
I think it looks quite nice, that was before and after
and once again like before I'm going to save this as a Photoshop file without the background
so keep the background completely transparent.
And then let's place this in into our InDesign composition.
Here it is and it already looks badass but what I'm going to do is to increase the size of it.
And we can combine the techniques we learned
So we can also use the Text Wrap probably around here
if we go to Window, Text Wrap
and then turn on the same feature we used before
and in this case, because it's a Photoshop file we have to also make sure
it uses the Alpha channel which is based on the mask that we created
and then let's not forget about the offset which we used before as well add something like that.
So let's take a look at this in fullscreen I think that looks awesome.
Maybe one last thing that I would add is a Drop Shadow on the letter.
So if you are in InDesign and you want to go back and make changes to your Photoshop composition
you can just hold down the Alt or Opt key and double-click on it
that goes back into Photoshop.
And there what we can do is to add an additional layer above the text.
Clip it onto it by holding down again Alt or Opt and click.
That creates the Clipping Mask
and then use the Brush Tool and maybe select the same color that you used on the text
but set the Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply
and that way when you are drawing with a soft big brush and probably
a low opacity like 20%
You can start building up a nice shadow.
So here around this part, I'm going to make it darker maybe even reduce the brightness of the color
So I'm adding a little bit more shading there and the same thing here on this side
we just building up this effect nicely something like that.
Here I'm going to make it even darker and by the way I'm using the Hud color picker shortcut
that's Cmd+Ctrl+Opt click and drag on Mac
and I think is Alt+Shift right-click on Pc but I'm not 100% sure about the Pc version.
So it's called Hud Color Display shortcut.
So there it is I'm going to reduce it even more in that corner, ok.
So now let's save these changes. Cmd or Ctrl+S and go back into InDesign
and we can see our shadows are showing up nicely here as well.
So once again here are the 5 examples where we created these creative Drop Caps and Entry Points
for our magazine spreads.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial
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