Create your own storybook scene in four simple steps
1 Select the book
Open this tutorial’s book image from this issue’s download. Press P to select the Pen Tool. Make sure the selection setting in the top toolbar is Path. Starting in the bottom corner of the book, click to create an anchor point. Move along the edge of the page and click another point at the top of the curve. Use Adobe’s guide to help you bend lines around curves. It is instinctive to use. Keep going around the book, clicking to add new anchor points along the edge, until you are back at your original anchor point. To turn your path into a Shape Layer, click Shape in the top toolbar. A new layer appears in the Layers Panel (inset).
2 Add the grass
Open the start image of a girl in a field, and import into your book image as a new layer. Go to Edit > Transform and play around with the Distort and Perspective settings so your image looks like it is lying flat on the book pages. Once you are happy with the look, press Return to apply, then right-click on the layer in the Layers Panel and select Create Clipping Mask: that image now fits into the Shape Layer you created in step 1. Click back onto the grass image and go to the Clone Tool to remove the girl if she is in your scene. To clone, hold Alt and click to select your clone point, then paint in the copied pixels where you need them.
3 Blur out the back
As the book blurs towards the back of the image we now need to apply that effect to our flat grass image. To do this, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to create a merged layer then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur – add around 5 pixels on the Radius slider. Next, go to Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All; with a white brush on the Layer Mask, paint away over the top edge of the book to bring back the blur.
4 Add the figures
Finally, to make the scene pop, add in the running figures. To do this, open the girl image again and import it over. Use the Quick Selection Tool to make a rough selection of the figure. Click Select And Mask in the top toolbar and zoom in to refine your selection. Once you are happy, set Output To: to Layer Mask. Using a small brush on the Layer Mask, zoom in and tidy up the edges. (You can switch between black and white using the X key). I used a 40% hard brush at 10 pixels in size. Move the figure into position, then apply the same step to the boy start image. Finally use the Burn Tool on the grass layer, to darken the grass under the children’s feet and in the centrefold of the book.