Design a Cut-Paper Collage Record Label Logo

Create a 1200 × 1200 document with a white background. Click the Background layer, set the foreground to #D9C6A2 and choose Edit → Fill.

Click the top ruler at 120, 600 and 1080 for vertical guides, then the left ruler at 130, 600 and 1070 for horizontal ones. The outer guides are your safe margins, and the center guides help you line up the badge.

Rename Layer 1 to Paper Grain and give it some texture:

1. Fill it with #808080.
2. Choose Filter → Add Noise…, set Amount to 45, pick Mono and Gaussian, and click Apply.
3. Choose Filter → Gaussian Blur… with a Radius of 1.
4. Open the layer's effects drawer (the sparkle icon), set Blend to Overlay, and set the layer opacity to 50%.

The gray disappears and only a fine paper tooth is left on the kraft.

Click Add Layer and name it Sheet Music. Pick the Lasso and drag a rough rectangle from about (140, 160) to (545, 140), (565, 420) and (160, 448). Wiggle the pointer a little along each side so the edges look torn rather than cut.

Set the foreground to #EFE6D0 and choose Edit → Fill. Keep the selection, and run Filter → Add Noise… at 10 so the paper isn't perfectly flat.

Keep the selection active so nothing spills off the paper. Pick the Brush, set Size 3, Hardness 100 and Opacity 85, and set the foreground to #3B302A.

• Staff lines: click at the left edge, then Shift-click at the right edge to draw a straight line. Draw five lines 13 px apart starting at y = 222, and five more starting at y = 330.
• Bar lines: Shift-click short verticals at x = 300, 430 and 548.
• Notes: set Size to 12 and click a note head on a line or in a space. Then go back to Size 3 and Shift-click a 36 px stem straight up from the right side of each head. Keep every stem the same length so it reads as real notation.

Press Cmd+D to deselect.

Pick the Text tool, choose Special Elite in the font browser, set Size to 18, and click at (178, 178). Type SKYLARK AIR · No. 9 and press Tab to commit.

With the text layer active, press Cmd+E (Merge Down). The title becomes part of the paper, so it turns with the scrap in the next step.

Open the Sheet Music layer's effects drawer and turn on Drop Shadow: color #3A2410, Offset X 3, Offset Y 6, Blur 8, Opacity 40.

Cmd-click the layer thumbnail to select its pixels, then press V for the Move tool. Drag just outside the top-right corner handle to rotate about −7°, and press Enter. Drag the scrap so its left edge sits on the 120 px guide and its right side will slide behind the badge you make next.

Click Add Layer and name it Teal Disc. With the Lasso, drag a circle around (600, 560) with a radius of about 330 px. It spans roughly (270, 230) to (930, 890). Let the line wobble by a few pixels. A perfect circle looks die-cut, and a slightly uneven one looks torn by hand.

Fill with #2F6E69, run Add Noise… at 12, and deselect.

Collage papers are often pages from old magazines, so give the teal a printed dot texture.

1. Add a layer named Sky Dots. Choose Filter → Clouds… with a Scale of 4.
2. Choose Filter → Halftone… and set Dot Size to 12 and Angle to 30.
3. Cmd-click the Teal Disc thumbnail, click the Sky Dots row, and choose Select → Inverse. Press Delete, then Cmd+D.
4. In Sky Dots' effects, turn on Color Overlay with #6FB3A8, and set the layer opacity to 30%.

The dark dots turn into soft, lighter teal mottling that stays inside the disc.

When you tear real paper, the white core shows along the edge. In Teal Disc's effects:

• Stroke: color #F2EAD8, Width 4, position Outside
• Drop Shadow: #3A2410, offsets 6 / 10, Blur 16, Opacity 45

Use deeper shadows for pieces that sit higher in the stack. The disc gets 10 px, the bird will get 6 px and the tape will get 3 px.

Add a layer named Vinyl. With the Elliptical Marquee, drag from (365, 390) to (835, 860), fill with #1C1A18, add Add Noise… at 4, and deselect.

For the grooves, pick the Shape tool. Set Shape to Ellipse, click the Fill swatch and choose Remove fill, then add a Stroke in a dark gray (about #494747) at Width 2.

Drag rings with radii of about 222, 209, 196, 183, 166, 152, 139, 125 and 112 px. Then give Vinyl a Drop Shadow (#10201E, 5 / 9, Blur 14, Opacity 50).

Shine: Add a layer named Vinyl Shine. Use the Brush at Size 5, Hardness 100, Opacity 45 in white, and drag two short arcs in the upper left and two in the lower right, following the grooves. Cmd-click the Vinyl thumbnail, click Vinyl Shine, choose Select → Inverse, press Delete and deselect. Set the blend mode to Screen. Thin, hard arcs look like printed shine. A soft airbrush blob looks digital.

Label: Add a layer named Label. Lasso a slightly wobbly 88 px-radius circle at (600, 625), fill with #C0652F, and add noise at 14. Use the Elliptical Marquee to select a 12 px circle in the middle, press Delete for the spindle hole, and add a 3 px cream Stroke.

Pick the Shape tool again and set Output to Path. Drag from the label's center (600, 625) to (664, 689). This creates Path 1, a 64 px circle. Set Output back to Pixels afterwards.

Set the foreground to #F2EAD8. With the Text tool in Special Elite at Size 15, click on the label and type COPPER LARK RECORDS · SIDE A · . In the options bar, set Path to Path 1 and press Tab.

In the Text panel, set Letter spacing to 3. The path is only about 400 px around, and any text past the end of the path isn't drawn. With too much tracking the end of the line disappears.

Click the label text layer, Shift-click Teal Disc, and choose Layer → Group Layers. Double-click the new group and rename it Record. Collapse it to keep the panel tidy.

Click Sheet Music and add a layer named Tail. Drag its grip above the Record group so the lark sits on top of the record. Lasso a long, tapering tail from about (320, 420) up to (500, 335) and fill it with #5B2C17.

Add a layer named Body. The Lasso always replaces the selection, so build the body from three fills on the same layer, all in #C9743A:

1. A tilted oval for the body, about 270 × 155 px, centered near (584, 296) and tipped up toward the head.
2. A round head, about 106 px across, centered at (731, 197).
3. A smaller oval for the neck at (682, 240) that joins them and leaves a slight dip along the back.

Now Cmd-click the Body thumbnail to load all three as one selection.

With the body selection still active, add noise at 14. Then paint soft streaks with the Brush at Size 14, Hardness 20, Opacity 28:

• #E39152 along the back and over the head, where light hits
• #A0501F along the belly

The selection keeps every stroke on the paper. Deselect.

Add a layer named Breast. Lasso a crescent from under the beak down the front of the body to the belly, and fill with #F1E3C4. Add noise at 10.

Larks have streaks, not spots. Spots read as a thrush. With the Brush at Size 3 and #7A4E2C, drag about 30 short strokes, each 9 px long and nearly vertical, packed mostly on the upper breast.

Add a layer named Wing. Lasso a long leaf-shaped folded wing, about 270 × 100 px, from the shoulder at (680, 262) back to a point at (435, 365). Fill with #7A3A1E and add noise at 14.

With the Brush at Size 3 in #E0AA72, draw three staggered rows of small U-shaped arcs, each about 20 px wide and opening toward the head. The pale edges read as overlapping feathers.

• Legs: Click Tail and add a layer named Legs, so it sits under the body. Use the Brush at Size 6 in #3B2A1A and Shift-click two legs from the belly down to the record's rim at about y = 400. Add three short toes on each at Size 5.
• Crest: Above Wing, add a layer named Crest and lasso a small ragged tuft of three or four points rising from the back of the crown. Fill with #7A3A1E. Keep it short and flush with the head. A tall single spike looks like a horn.
• Beak: Add a layer named Beak and lasso one piece with an open V that starts inside the face, so it stays attached. Fill with #E2A93B, then brush a 3 px gape line in #9C6A18.
• Eye: Add a layer named Eye and fill a 15 px elliptical marquee with #1C1A18. Click a 4 px #FFF6E6 highlight dab near the top right.

Give Tail, Body, Wing, Breast, Crest and Beak a Drop Shadow in #1A1008 with offsets 3 / 6, Blur 8 and Opacity 45. Give Body a 3 px cream Stroke too, so the whole bird gets the same torn-paper outline as the disc.

Click Eye, Shift-click Tail, choose Layer → Group Layers, and name the group Lark.

With Eye selected, add a layer named Note 1. Build the note from three Lasso fills in #1C1A18:

1. A tilted oval head, about 34 × 24 px, centered at (900, 226).
2. A 6 px-wide stem from the head up to y = 148.
3. A curved flag from the top of the stem sweeping down to the right.

Give it a 4 px cream Stroke and a small Drop Shadow (2 / 4, Blur 5, Opacity 40) so it matches the other paper pieces.

Drag a Rectangular Marquee around the note from (875, 138) to (955, 248), press Cmd+C, then Cmd+V. The copy is pasted in place on a new layer. Rename it Note 2.

With the Move tool:

1. Drag from inside the selection up and to the right, to about (1000, 170).
2. Drag the bottom-right corner handle in to scale it to about 80%.
3. Drag just outside a corner to rotate it about 16°, then press Enter.

Pasted pixels don't bring layer effects with them, so add the same cream Stroke and Drop Shadow to Note 2.

Collapse the Lark group, then add a layer named Ink Strip and drag it above Lark. Lasso a torn band from (140, 834) to (1060, 818), (1066, 960) and (146, 976). It tilts up about one degree to the right.

Fill with #1E1B19 and add noise at 10. Add a 3 px cream Stroke and a Drop Shadow (4 / 8, Blur 10, Opacity 45).

Set the foreground to #F2EAD8. Use the Text tool with Abril Fatface at Size 104, click on the strip, type COPPER LARK, and press Tab.

In the Text panel, set Letter spacing to 7. Abril Fatface's heavy capitals crowd each other at 0. A little tracking opens up the word space and makes the line read as a logo.

Center the type optically inside the paper. The strip's middle is at about (603, 897), and 104 px Abril Fatface capitals are about 74 px tall. With the Move tool, nudge with the arrow keys (Shift moves 10 px) until the caps sit from about y = 860 to y = 934. That leaves about 34 px of black above and below, and about 70 px on each side.

Cmd-click the text layer's thumbnail and rotate about −1° to follow the strip's tilt, then press Enter. The name has no descenders, so nothing hangs below the baseline.

Add a layer named Tape. Lasso a band from x = 345 to 855 and y = 996 to 1062, zigzagging the two short ends like torn tape. Fill with #EFE4C6, add noise at 8, set the layer to 88%, and add a light Drop Shadow (1 / 3, Blur 4, Opacity 35). Select its pixels and rotate it about +2°.

Set the foreground to #2A2420. Use Special Elite at Size 30 to type RECORDS · EST. 2026, then rotate it +2° as well. Nudge it until it's centered on the tape, with about 44 px of clear tape at each end.

Add one more short tape strip named Corner Tape, about 116 × 38 px, rotated −40° over the sheet music's top-left corner at 80% opacity. Now the scrap looks taped down.

Click Paper Grain and click Duplicate Layer. Rename the copy Print Grain, drag it to the top of the stack, and set it to 25%. The overlay grain now runs across every paper piece, which ties them together as one printed sheet.

Click the Project group, open its drawer, and choose Add Adjustment → Vignette at 18 for a gentle darkening at the corners.

Save with File → Save Project, then File → Quick Export PNG.