Design a Screen-Print Style Restaurant Menu

Open Lopsy. In the New Document dialog, set Width 1000 and Height 1400, choose a White background and click Create.

Select Background, type EFE4CC into the Color panel's hex field and choose Edit → Fill. Click the top ruler at x 50, 500 and 950, and the left ruler at y 50, 640 and 1350, to drop six guides.

Rename Layer 1 to Border and set the foreground to teal #1D4E57. With the Rectangular Marquee (M), build two frames:

1. Drag from (30, 30) to (970, 1370), choose Edit → Fill, then marquee (42, 42) to (958, 1358) and press Delete. That leaves a 12 px rule.
2. Marquee (50, 50) to (950, 1350), Fill, then marquee (55, 55) to (945, 1345) and press Delete. That leaves a thin 5 px inner rule.

Click Add Layer and name it Rays. With the Lasso (L), click around a star centred on (500, 380). Alternate between points 400 px out and 215 px out, 18 of each, so the tips run off the top of the scene.

Fill it with mustard #F2B233. Then trim the rays to the scene:

1. Marquee (55, 55) to (945, 640).
2. Choose Select → Inverse and press Delete.
3. Click the layer's opacity and set it to 60%.

Add a layer called Sun. With the Elliptical Marquee, drag a 360 × 360 circle from (320, 200). Fill it with tomato #E0452B, then press Cmd+D.

Click the layer's ✦ (Layer effects) button and set Blend to Multiply. In screen printing, a second ink on top of the first darkens it. Multiply gives you that overprint for free, and everything you stack from now on reads as real ink on paper.

Add a layer called Sun Dots and marquee the same 360 px circle again. Pick the Gradient tool. It starts black to white, so drag from the upper left (380, 240) to the lower right (560, 470).

The dark end of the gradient becomes big dots and the light end becomes small ones.

Choose Filter → Halftone… and set:

• Dot Size 14
• Density 1
• Angle 45
• Softness 1

Click Apply, then press Cmd+D. The filter keeps each cell's colour as the dot and makes the gaps transparent.

Open ✦ on Sun Dots, tick Color Overlay and set its colour to #F2B233. The grey dots become a mustard highlight printed over the red sun, which is the classic two-ink halftone blend.

Add a layer called Dunes. With the Lasso, click a gently rolling horizon from (50, 500) across to (950, 460), then down to (950, 640) and back along the bottom to (50, 640). Fill it with teal.

Set the layer to Multiply. Where the teal crosses the rays and the sun, you now get darker olive and brown overprints, and no fourth ink.

Add a layer called Dune Dots and lasso a lower, shallower wave between about y 566 and 640. Drag the Gradient from the bottom (500, 640) up to (500, 570).

Run Filter → Halftone… with Dot Size 9, Angle 15 and Softness 1, press Cmd+D, then add a mustard Color Overlay. The dots swell toward the bottom edge like sand in the foreground.

In the Layers panel, click Dune Dots, click New Group and name the group Spit. Inside it:

1. Add a layer called Skewer. Fill a 14 px wide teal bar from (493, 150) down to y 575, and a 40 px teal disc on top at (480, 128).
2. Add a layer called Meat and lasso a cone that's 184 px wide at y 215 and tapers to about 76 px at y 545.
3. Fill it with mustard, and keep the selection active.

Add a layer called Meat Stripes. Pick the Brush (B) and set Size 9, Hardness 100, and tomato as the colour.

Starting at y 238 and moving down every 26 px, click on the left of the cone, then Shift-click on the right, a little higher, to draw a slanted line. The active selection clips every stroke to the cone.

Press Cmd+D and set the layer to Multiply. The red over mustard turns the colour of seared meat.

Add Meat Shade and lasso the cone again. Drag a gradient from the right edge (600, 380) to the left edge (395, 380), then run Halftone with Dot Size 10, Angle 30 and Softness 1. Give it a teal Color Overlay and set it to Multiply. The dots grow toward the right edge, so the cone looks round.

Select Meat, open ✦, tick Stroke, and set the colour to teal, Width 5 and position outside. That gives a printed keyline.

Click the Spit group row, press V for Move, and drag the spit 25 px down so the skewer sinks into the dunes. All four layers move together.

Try Cmd+Z and Cmd+Shift+Z. The group jumps back and forth exactly.

Click Dune Dots, so the new text is anchored on a raster layer. Press T for Text, then set:

• Size 190
• Font Shrikhand (search for it in the font menu)
• tomato as the colour

Click in empty space near the top of the canvas, type Nomad and press Tab to commit. Switch to Move and drag the word down so its letters start at about y 670, centred on the 500 guide.

Click Duplicate Layer in the Layers panel, then click the copy's row so only the copy is selected. The copy lands 10 px down and right. Nudge it back with ← and ↑ four times each, which leaves it 6 px off the original.

Now select the original Nomad layer and give it a teal Color Overlay. The red copy prints on top, and the teal plate peeks out at the top left, just like a loose screen.

Click Dune Dots again and open the Text panel. Set Letter spacing to 34. Type KEBAB in Bowlby One at 118 px in teal, then move it under the headline, centred.

Repeat the misregistration the other way round:

1. Duplicate Layer, click the copy's row, and press Shift+← and Shift+↑ to put it back in place.
2. Give the original a tomato Color Overlay.
3. Nudge the original 3 px right and 3 px down.

A thin red edge now shows at the lower right of each letter.

Add a layer called Banner, marquee (55, 950) to (945, 1000) and fill it with tomato. Set the Text panel's Letter spacing back to 1, then type CHARCOAL-GRILLED • SINCE 1998 • OPEN TILL 3 AM. Use Space Mono, Bold, 22 px, in paper cream #EFE4CC.

Paste the bullets from the clipboard if your keyboard can't type them. Then Move the line so it sits centred in the band.

The column is three separate area-text layers, all anchored on Dune Dots. Create an area-text box by dragging with the Text tool. Make the descriptions first, so later drags never start inside an existing text box.

1. Descriptions: Space Mono Regular, 17 px, teal. Set Line height 1.4 and Paragraph spacing 76. Drag a box from (85, 1086) to x 405 and type the three lines:

• lamb & beef, garlic yogurt
• hand-minced lamb, sumac onion
• saffron, lemon, charred tomato

1. Items: Bebas Neue, 46 px, teal, Line height 2.174 (a 100 px pitch). Drag from (85, 1010) to x 390 and type DÖNER WRAP, ADANA KEBAB and CHICKEN SHISH, one per line.
2. Prices: Bebas Neue, 46 px, tomato, Align right. Drag a narrow box from (408, 1010) to x 470 and type 9, 13 and 12.

Repeat the three layers on the right half:

1. Descriptions from (530, 1086):

• hummus, tahini, parsley salad
• sliced döner, butter tomato
• salted yogurt drink, black tea

1. Items from (530, 1010): FALAFEL PLATE, İSKENDER and AYRAN & ÇAY.
2. Right-aligned prices from (853, 1010) to x 915: 11, 15 and 4.

The 100 px pitch lines every price up with its item.

Click Dune Dots, then add a layer called Rules. Pick the Brush, set Size 5 and Hardness 100, and open the brush presets. On the Shape tab, set Spacing to 260.

Each dab now lands well apart from the last, so a stroke becomes a row of round dots.

In teal, click at (500, 1038) and Shift-click at (500, 1300) to draw the column divider. Then do the same for each leader, just above the baseline, from the end of each item to its price:

• left column at y 1070, 1169 and 1270
• right column at y 1069, 1170 and 1270

Leave a gap after ADANA KEBAB for the chilli.

Add a layer called Chili. Working at double size is easier, so lasso a curved pod about 30 × 60 px starting near (306, 1110), and fill it with tomato. Lasso a thin stem on top and fill it with teal.

Keep it to two inks, so it reads as part of the print rather than an emoji.

Marquee around the chilli and switch to Move. Hold Shift and drag the bottom-right handle up and left until the chilli is about half size. Press Cmd+D to commit the scale.

Then drag it into the gap after ADANA KEBAB, so it lines up with the capitals.

Marquee the chilli and press Cmd+C, then Cmd+V. The paste lands in place on a new layer.

1. Move the paste 24 px to the right, then press Cmd+D.
2. Marquee it again. Drag just outside the top-right corner (the cursor turns into a crosshair) to rotate it about 22°, then press Cmd+D.
3. Choose Layer → Merge Down to fold it into Chili.

Two chillies mean extra hot.

Click Dune Dots and add a layer called Badge. Lasso a 28-point seal around (790, 185), alternating 92 px and 83 px from the centre. Fill it with tomato. Then drag a 144 px ellipse from (718, 113) and fill it with mustard.

Drag an area-text box across the disc and type HOT / OFF THE / SPIT, one word group per line. Use Bowlby One, 26 px, teal, Align center and Line height 1.05. Centre it on the disc, click Rasterize Layer, then Layer → Merge Down.

Marquee around the badge and switch to Move. Drag the rotate handle anticlockwise about 12°, then press Cmd+D. A slight tilt makes it feel slapped on after printing.

Click the top description layer, then Cmd-click each of the other menu layers: both item columns, both price columns, the other description layer, Rules and Chili.

Choose Layer → Group Layers and rename the group Menu. Press V, then Shift+↑ once and ↓ four times. That lifts the whole menu 6 px, so the space above and below the columns is even.

Real prints are never flat. Pick Filter → Add Noise… with Mono and Gaussian on these layers:

• Background: Amount 8, for paper tooth
• Sun and Banner: Amount 12, for ink texture

Then click the top headline layer and add a layer called Grain. Fill it with #808080 and run Add Noise at 40. Set it to Overlay at 35% opacity. Drag its row above the collapsed Spit group so the grain covers everything.

Hide the guides with View → Show Guides. Then use File → Quick Export PNG for the image and File → Save Project to keep every layer editable.

Try the same method on a gig poster or a beer label. Pick three inks, let Multiply make the fourth, and put dots wherever you would normally shade.