Design a Psychedelic Ice Cream Shop Flier

Choose File → New, enter 1200 × 1600 and click Create. Click the Background row, set the foreground to cream #FFF1D0 and choose Edit → Fill.

Click the top ruler at 600 to drop a vertical guide down the middle. Then click the left ruler at 650, near the centre of the halo, and at 1350, where the info panel will start.

Click Layer 1 and rename it Stripe Tile. With the exact-corners dialog, select from 0, 0 to 48, 48 and fill it with hot pink #FF3D9A. Select from 48, 0 to 96, 48 and fill it with electric blue #2E5BFF.

Now select the whole tile, 0, 0 to 96, 48, and choose Edit → Define Pattern. Deselect, then delete the Stripe Tile layer with the trash button at the bottom of the Layers panel. The pattern stays saved.

Click Background and add a new layer named Stripes. Choose Edit → Fill with Pattern…, pick the stripe tile and click Apply. The 48 px stripes line up so that a pink stripe runs straight down the centre guide.

Choose Filter → Lens Distortion… and set Strength to 30 and Zoom to 130. Click Apply. Positive strength bows the stripes outward like a fish-eye lens. The zoom pulls the edges back in so nothing falls off the canvas.

Choose Filter → Liquify…. Set Mode to Twirl CW, Brush Size to 420 and Pressure to 60%. Put the brush circle on the left edge at about 170, 430. Hold the mouse down and move it round in small circles, about the size of a coin, five or six times. The stripes wind up into a spiral. Click Apply.

Make five more swirls the same way, each with its own Filter → Liquify…:

• Twirl CCW at 1030, 430 on the right
• Twirl CCW at 160, 1020 and Twirl CW at 1040, 1020, low on each side
• with Brush Size 360 and Pressure 50%: Twirl CCW at 600, 140 and Twirl CW at 600, 1250

The two swirls on each side turn in opposite directions, so the page looks like marbled paper.

With Stripes selected, click the New Group button and name the group Halo. Add a layer named Halo Disc.

Pick the Elliptical Marquee and use the exact-corners dialog to select from 324, 392 to 876, 944, a 552 px circle (radius 276) centred on 600, 668. Fill it with violet #3A1478 and deselect.

Pick the Brush and set Size to 114, Hardness to 100 and Opacity to 100. Click the snowflake Radial Symmetry button in the options bar and set Segments to 18.

Cmd-click the centre of the disc at 600, 668 to move the symmetry centre there. Then click once on the top edge of the disc at 600, 392. The one dab is copied 18 times around the circle, which gives the disc a scalloped edge. Turn Radial Symmetry off again.

Open the Halo Disc effects drawer:

• Turn on Stroke, colour lime #C8FF3A, Width 10.
• Turn on Drop Shadow, colour ink #1E0A3C, Offset X 10, Offset Y 12, Blur 1, Opacity 75.

Every shadow on the flier uses these same numbers, so they all seem to come from one light.

Add a layer named Halo Keyline. Cmd-click the Halo Disc thumbnail to load its shape as a selection. Choose Select → Shrink… and shrink by 24. Fill with lime.

Shrink the selection again by 6 and press Delete. That leaves a thin lime line that follows the scallops 24 px inside the edge. Deselect.

Add a layer named Spiral. With the Brush at Size 16, paint a hot pink spiral. Start at the centre and wind outward three and a half times, ending at the left side about 220 px from the centre. A smooth spiral is hard to paint in one go, so zoom in to 100% and paint it a half turn at a time, starting each stroke on the end of the last one. A little wobble is fine, because psychedelic posters were drawn by hand, and you can undo a turn and try again.

Paint a second arm in orange #FF7A1A that runs between the pink turns and ends on the right. Set the Size to 30 and click once on the end of each arm. The ball ends look deliberate instead of chopped off. Most of the middle will be hidden behind the ice cream.

Collapse the Halo group, click it, and add a New Group named Treat. Inside it add another group named Cone, then a layer named Waffle Tile.

Pick the Pencil at Size 5 with lattice brown #B8742F. Click at 100, 100 and Shift-click at 140, 140. Then click 140, 100 and Shift-click 100, 140. Select exactly 100, 100 to 140, 140, choose Edit → Define Pattern, deselect and delete the Waffle Tile layer.

Add a layer named Waffle Cone. (Giving the layer a different name from its group keeps the two easy to tell apart.) Pick the Pen tool. Click the three corners of the cone: 428, 800 on the left, 772, 800 on the right and the tip at 600, 1095. Then click the first anchor again to close the path.

Open the Paths panel, click Path 1 if it isn't highlighted, and click the dashed-square Path to Selection button under the list. Fill the selection with waffle tan #E8A85A.

Keep the selection, add a layer named Waffle and choose Edit → Fill with Pattern… with the lattice tile. The pattern only fills the cone. Putting it on its own layer first means you can hide it, or undo just the pattern, while you check the scale. When it looks right, choose Layer → Merge Down to merge it into Waffle Cone.

With the cone still selected, choose Filter → Emboss…. Set Angle to 120 and Strength to 35, and click Apply. The lattice lines now look pressed in and the squares between them puff up, like a real waffle cone.

Keep the selection and add a layer named Cone Shade. Pick the Gradient tool, Linear, and open Advanced…. Make four stops, all in #5A2A0C (click the bar to add a stop):

• at the left end, Opacity 60%
• at 30%, Opacity 0%
• at 58%, Opacity 0%
• at the right end, Opacity 85%

Drag from the cone's left edge at 428, 900 to its right edge at 772, 900. Hold Cmd while you drag to keep the line level. Then set the layer's Blend to Multiply. The right side is darker because it faces away from the light, which comes from the upper left on this whole flier. Deselect, and delete Path 1 with the trash button in the Paths panel.

Add a layer named Rim. Pick the Shape tool. Set Shape to Rectangle, Corner Radius to 19, the fill to rim brown #C07A35 and no stroke. Click once at 600, 793 without dragging. In the size dialog enter Width 380 and Height 38, then click Create.

In the Rim effects drawer turn on Inner Glow with colour #6B3410, Size 10 and Opacity 70. That darkens the edges so the rim looks rolled.

Collapse the Cone group, click it, and add a group named Soft Serve. It sits above the cone. Add a layer named Tier 1.

With the Shape tool, set Corner Radius to 43 (half the height) and the fill to pink #FF5FA8. Click at 600, 752 and make it 410 × 86. Give it two effects in its own shade colour #B8206A:

• Inner Glow, Size 24, Opacity 65
• Drop Shadow, Offset X 0, Offset Y 8, Blur 6, Opacity 55

Add Tier 2 the same way: lilac #B58CFF, Corner Radius 40, click at 590, 684 and make it 330 × 80. Use the lilac shade #6B3FD0 for its Inner Glow (Size 22) and its Drop Shadow. Everything else matches Tier 1: glow Opacity 65, shadow 0 / 8, Blur 6, Opacity 55.

Cmd-click the Tier 2 thumbnail and pick the Move tool. Drag the round rotation handle just outside the top-right corner down a little, until the tier is turned about 5° clockwise. Press Cmd+D to apply the rotation and deselect.

Add two more tiers the same way, with the same effect settings in each tier's own shade colour. Each one is narrower than the last, overlaps the one below by about 15 px, and tilts the opposite way:

• Tier 3: mint #5BF0B0, radius 37, at 608, 622, 256 × 74, shade #1E9E6E, glow size 21, rotated about 5° counter-clockwise
• Tier 4: pink #FF5FA8, radius 33, at 596, 567, 190 × 66, shade #B8206A, glow size 18, rotated about 5° clockwise

The alternating tilts make the stack read as one twisted rope instead of four separate pills.

Add a layer named Tip. With the Lasso, draw a teardrop. Start on the top tier at 556, 556, sweep up and to the right to a point at about 636, 452, then curve back down to 646, 556. Fill it with lilac and give it an Inner Glow in #6B3FD0 (Size 14, Opacity 65) and a Drop Shadow in #6B3FD0 (Offset X 0, Offset Y 6, Blur 5, Opacity 55).

Add a layer named Highlights. Use the Brush at Size 9, Hardness 100, in white. On each tier, paint a short curved stroke on the upper left, following the round of the tier. Add one on the left side of the curl. Set the layer's opacity to 65%.

Keep them all on the same side so the light stays in the upper left.

Expand Cone, click Rim and add a layer named Drips. It sits under the tiers, so the drips seem to come out from under the bottom scoop.

Use the Brush with Hardness 100 and pink #FF5FA8. Drag five short drips straight down from y = 790, at about x = 446, 490, 556, 688 and 742. Use sizes between 18 and 28, and end them at different heights between 816 and 878. Raise the size a little and click once at the bottom of each drip to make a drop. Add an Inner Glow in #B8206A (Size 8, Opacity 60) and a soft Drop Shadow in #5A2A0C (Offset X 0, Offset Y 5, Blur 4, Opacity 50).

Add a temporary layer. With the Shape tool (Rectangle, Corner Radius 4, fill black), click at 150, 150 and make it 8 × 24: one rounded sprinkle. Select 134, 134 to 166, 166 and choose Edit → Define Brush…. Name it Sprinkle, then delete the layer.

Pick the Brush and click Open brush presets. Choose Sprinkle. On the Shape tab set Size 24 and Spacing 200. On the Dynamics tab set Scatter 70 and Angle Jitter 100, so each sprinkle lands at a random angle.

Click Highlights and add a layer named Sprinkles.

Cmd-click the Tier 1 thumbnail, click the Sprinkles row again, and paint two wavy strokes across the middle of the tier. Make one in cream and one in a colour that stands out on it. The selection keeps the sprinkles on the scoop. Sprinkles sits above every tier, so keep the strokes below the edge of the tier above, or sprinkles will land on top of it where the two overlap. Repeat for each tier:

• Tier 1 (pink): cream and blue #2E5BFF
• Tier 2 (lilac): cream and lime
• Tier 3 (mint): cream and violet
• Tier 4 (pink): cream and lime

Keep them off the bottom edge of Tier 1 so the drips stay clean. Deselect.

Collapse Treat, click Halo and add a layer named Sparkle 1. It sits between the halo and the ice cream. Draw a four-pointed star with the Pen tool in eight clicks, going round from the left tip:

• the tips: 154, 640 (left), 196, 598 (top), 238, 640 (right) and 196, 682 (bottom)
• between each pair of tips, a pinched point 9 px from the centre: 187, 631, 205, 631, 205, 649 and 187, 649

Click the first anchor again to close it. Then click Path to Selection in the Paths panel and fill with cream.

With the sparkle still selected, press Cmd+C. Delete Path 1 in the Paths panel and deselect. Press Cmd+V: the copy is pasted in place on a new layer above, which you can rename Sparkle 2. With the Move tool, drag it across to 1004, 640, so the two sparkles mirror each other across the halo.

Paste again, rename the new layer Sparkle 3 and drag it down to 214, 1010. Cmd-click its thumbnail, hold Cmd and drag a corner handle inward until it's about 70% of the size. Then drag a rotation handle to turn it about 20°. Press Cmd+D.

Merge the copies into one layer: click Sparkle 3 and choose Layer → Merge Down, then do it once more with Sparkle 2. Rename the layer Sparkles. Give it an Outer Glow in white with Size 18 and Opacity 70.

Make sure Treat is collapsed, click it, and add a group named Lettering. Pick the Text tool and choose Modak at size 250, in lime. Click an empty spot near the top of the page and type DIZZY. Commit it with the ✓ button.

With the Move tool, nudge it with the arrow keys until it's centred on the middle guide with its middle at about y = 209. Then click Rasterize Layer at the bottom of the Layers panel. The next steps need pixels.

Cmd-click the DIZZY thumbnail to select the letters. Pick the Gradient tool, Linear, and open Advanced…. It still holds the four cone-shade stops, so delete one and set every stop's Opacity back to 100%. Then set three stops: #E6FF5A at the left, #FFD23A in the middle and #FF6A1A at the right. Drag from the top of the letters straight down to the bottom. The gradient only fills the letters. Deselect.

The aim is a classic swollen arch: the middle letters stretch taller while the D and Y squash down at the ends.

With the Rectangular Marquee, select a box around the word with about 50 px to spare on each side and 70 px above and below it. The warp can only move pixels inside this box, and the handles on its outer edge can't leave it, so this spare room is what lets the letters bend.

Pick the Move tool and click Mesh Warp in the options bar. Set the grid to 6 × 6. The top and bottom rows sit in the empty margin, so pull the rows that cross the letters. The status bar shows the pointer position, so you can measure each drag, and the Preview checkbox shows the result as you go. These are the moves used here:

• second row: the two middle points up about 56 px, the next ones out up about 14 px, and the end points down about 44 px
• third row: the middle points up about 24 px and the ends down about 26 px
• fourth row: just the end points down about 8 px
• fifth row: the middle points down about 20 px and the ends up about 16 px

Click Apply, then deselect.

Give DIZZY three effects:

• Stroke in ink #1E0A3C, Width 10
• the flier's Drop Shadow: ink, 10 / 12, Blur 1, Opacity 75
• Inner Glow in hot pink #FF3D9A, Size 6, Spread 70, Opacity 100

The pink inline picks up the stripe colour, so the letters vibrate against the background instead of sitting on top of it.

Click Lettering and type CONES in Modak at size 200. Centre it at about y = 1207, rasterize it and give it the same gradient.

Warp it the other way, so it curves like a smile that cradles the cone tip. Draw the same roomy marquee around the word first. Then, with the same 6 × 6 grid, on rows two to five pull the two middle points down 26 to 34 px and lift the end points 20 to 30 px. Add the same three effects. Check that the cone tip clears the top of the O and N by about 30 px.

Collapse Lettering, click it, add a group named Info and a layer named Panel. Set the Shape tool to Rectangle, Corner Radius 28, fill violet, and stroke lime at Width 6.

Choose View → Show Grid and drag the Grid slider in the options bar to 8 px. Shapes grow from where you press, and both the centre and the corner snap to the grid. Press at 600, 1432 and drag to about 1096, 1520. The panel snaps to 104–1096 across and 1344–1520 down. Hide the grid again and give the panel the flier's Drop Shadow.

Click the Panel row before each new piece of text, so the Text tool's settings don't restyle the last one. To type ★ and ’ on a Mac, use the character viewer (Ctrl+Cmd+Space), or copy them from this page. Create each line over an empty part of the stripes, then nudge it into place, centred on the middle guide:

• Sansita Swashed, weight 800, size 42, lime: Psychedelic Soft Serve, centred at y = 1391
• Caprasimo, size 30, cream: GRAND OPENING ★ SATURDAY, JUNE 7, at y = 1444
• Caprasimo, size 22, cream: 1967 KALEIDOSCOPE AVE ★ NOON ’TIL MIDNIGHT, at y = 1486

That leaves about 24 px between the text and the panel's outline at the top and at the bottom.

Collapse Info, click it, add a group named Badge and a layer named Burst. Set the foreground to orange #FF7A1A and choose Filter → Sunburst…:

• Rays 22, Length 9, Width 100, Taper 100
• Center X 82, Center Y 60

Center X and Center Y are percentages of the document, so 82% of 1200 and 60% of 1600 put the centre at 984, 960. Length is a percentage of the distance to the farthest corner, so 9 makes spikes about 124 px long. High taper turns each ray into a spike that's widest at the centre, so you get a star badge.

Still on Burst, with orange as the foreground, use the Elliptical Marquee dialog to select from 896, 872 to 1072, 1048 and fill it. That gives the badge a solid core. Then shrink the selection by 12. On a new layer named Burst Ring, fill the selection with cream, shrink it by 4 and press Delete to leave a thin ring. Give Burst the flier's Drop Shadow.

Click Burst Ring. Pick the Text tool with Caprasimo at size 22 in ink, and set Align to Center. Type FIRST 100, press Enter, type CONES, press Enter and type FREE!. Commit it, name the layer Badge Text, and nudge it to the middle of the ring.

With the Move tool, drag a rotation handle to tilt the text about 8° counter-clockwise, then press Cmd+D. A rotation turns around the text box, not the letters, so nudge it back to the centre of the ring. Leave at least 8 px between the letters and the cream ring.

Collapse Badge, click it, and add a layer named Frame. Set the foreground back to cream and fill the whole layer. Select from 36, 36 to 1164, 1564, then choose Select → Shrink… 28 followed by Select → Grow… 28. Shrinking and growing by the same amount rounds the corners. Press Delete to cut the window and deselect.

Give the frame a Stroke in violet, Width 8. The stroke goes on the inside edge of the window, like a keyline.

Add a layer named Grain at the top. Fill it with grey #808080 and choose Filter → Add Noise… with Amount 40 and Mode set to Mono. Set the layer's Blend to Overlay and its opacity to 35%. Mid grey disappears in Overlay, so only the noise shows, as a fine grain that makes the flat colours look printed. It's too fine to see at fit-to-screen zoom, so choose View → Actual Size to check it.

Export with File → Quick Export PNG, and save the project with File → Save Project so you can come back and change the date for the next event.