Design a Steampunk Ramen Billboard

Open Lopsy. In the New Document dialog, choose Pixels and enter 2400 × 800. That's a 3:1 shape, close to a standard roadside board. Choose a White background and click Create.

Select the Background layer and pick the Gradient tool. Set Type to Radial and click Advanced…. Give it three stops: #21614F, #123F35 at about 55% and #071C17.

Drag from just right of the canvas centre out past the bottom-right corner. The light falls on the right half, where the headline will go, and the left edge drops into shadow.

Rename Layer 1 to Wallpaper. You'll draw one wallpaper tile in the top-left corner, save it as a pattern, then fill the wall with it.

1. With black as the foreground colour, marquee a narrow strip about 20 px wide down the left side of a 64 × 64 square in the very top-left corner. Fill it with Edit → Fill.
2. Lasso a small diamond in the empty half of that square and fill it too.
3. Marquee the whole 64 × 64 tile and choose Edit → Define Pattern. Press Delete to clear the tile, then Cmd+D.
4. Choose Edit → Fill with Pattern…, pick the tile, set Row Stagger to 50% and click Apply.

Set the layer's blend mode to Multiply and its opacity to about 15%. Wallpaper should whisper, not shout.

Click New Group and name it Steam Works. Add a layer inside it called Pipe.

The straight run.

1. Marquee a 70 px tall bar from the left edge about 300 px into the canvas, near the top.
2. With the selection still live, drag a Linear gradient straight down across it. Use the copper stops #4A1E0A, #F2B07A at 28%, #C4652C at 50%, #7A3412 at 82% and #3A1606. A bright band near the top and dark edges make the bar read as a round pipe.

The elbow. Click the rulers to drop two guides first: a vertical one through the pipe's right end, and a horizontal one about 70 px below the pipe's bottom edge. They cross at the centre of the bend, and marquees snap to them, which makes the next part much easier.

1. With the Elliptical Marquee, drag a circle centred on that crossing point, sized so its top edge lines up with the top of the pipe.
2. Hold Shift+Alt and drag a rectangle over the circle's top-right quarter to keep only that quarter.
3. Hold Alt and drag a smaller circle on the same centre, with its top on the pipe's bottom edge. That cuts out the hole and leaves a quarter ring.

Now fill the ring with a Radial gradient dragged from the circle's centre out to its rim. Use the same colours, but squeeze them into the outer half of the bar: dark at 50% and 59%, mid-copper at 75%, highlight at 86%, dark again at 100%. The highlight now curves around the bend and lines up with the straight run.

Finish with a short vertical pipe dropping out of the elbow, shaded with the same linear gradient dragged sideways.

Add a layer called Fittings. Every brass part is a selection filled with the brass gradient #5A3C0E, #FFE7A3, #D4A243, #7C5716 and #3E2A08, always dragged across the part:

• Collars: a collar at the pipe's left end, one where the run meets the elbow, and one partway down the drop.
• Nozzle: a wide flange at the bottom, then a lassoed trapezoid that narrows into a nozzle.
• Safety valve: a small cylinder on top of the pipe, capped with a flat ellipse and a ball.

For the rivets, use the Brush at size 9 and hardness 100 in dark brown, and click twice on each collar. Then click again with a size 4 brush in pale cream, a hair up and to the left of each one, to add a highlight.

Give Fittings and Pipe a soft Drop Shadow in the Layer effects drawer, so the pipe stands off the wall.

Add a layer called Wheel. The wheel is a ring, an X of spokes and a hub:

1. Ring: set the foreground to #9A2418. Draw a circle about 96 px across over the pipe, between the left collar and the elbow, and fill it. Draw a smaller circle with the same centre and press Delete to hollow it out.
2. Spokes: with the Brush at size 9, click on the ring, then Shift-click directly opposite. Do this twice to make an X.
3. Hub: draw a small circle in the middle and fill it with the brass gradient.

Open the Layer effects drawer, tick Inner Glow and set its colour to #FFB07A, Size 5, Opacity 70. The edge highlight makes the flat red read as painted iron. Add a Drop Shadow to match the fittings.

Click New Group, name it Bowl, and add a layer called Bowl Body.

With the Elliptical Marquee, draw an ellipse about 760 px wide and 540 px tall, centred a little to the right of the nozzle. Then hold Shift+Alt and drag a rectangle over its lower half, so only the bottom half stays selected.

Drag a horizontal Linear gradient straight into that selection, from its left edge to its right edge, with these stops:

• #2E0503 at the left edge
• #8E1A14
• #E86452 at about 36%
• #C2342A
• #7E140F
• #240302 at the right edge

The off-centre highlight is what makes it look like glossy lacquer.

Ramen bowls often have a raimon (Greek-key) border. Add a layer called Bowl Trim.

Make the tile. In the top-left corner, build one key unit inside a 48 × 48 square from 6 px wide bars of cream #F3E2B8, using small rectangle marquees and Edit → Fill:

• a bar along the bottom
• a post up the left side
• an arm along the top, stopping short of the right side
• a short drop down from the end of that arm
• a short arm back to the left, ending in a little hook

Marquee the 48 × 48 square and choose Edit → Define Pattern, then press Delete and Cmd+D.

Fill the band. Marquee a 48 px band from the bowl's left edge to its right edge, a little below the bowl's flat top. Choose Edit → Fill with Pattern…, pick the new tile and set Row Stagger to 0. Then fill a thin gold #E2B54E line just above the band and another just below it.

A straight band looks pasted on, so it has to follow the bowl's curve.

1. Marquee a box around the band that is much taller than the band, reaching from a little above it down to the bottom of the bowl.
2. Choose the Move tool and click Mesh Warp in the options bar. Set the grid to 6 × 6 and tick Preview.
3. Leave the outer columns and the bottom row alone. Drag the inner points down so the band sags into a gentle smile: the middle columns most (roughly the depth of the band), easing off toward the sides. Pull the row of points just under the band about half as far.
4. Click Apply.

The tall box matters. If the box is only as tall as the band, the grid cells under it get squashed, and thin lines break up into dashes.

If the curve still looks kinked near the ends, marquee just the left third of the band and run a second, smaller warp, nudging its inner points down a little to round the curve. Do the same on the right. Finish with a 1 px Gaussian Blur on the band to smooth any jagged edges.

Rim. Add a layer called Rim. Draw a flat ellipse across the top of the bowl, the full width and about 144 px tall. Fill it with a vertical gradient from #8A1A12 down to #240302. This is the inside wall. Give the layer a 6 px Stroke in #E8BE5A, which becomes a gold lip all the way around.

Broth. Add a layer called Broth. Draw a slightly smaller ellipse a little lower inside the rim, so a sliver of back wall still shows. Fill it with a Radial gradient of #F2B657, #C27222 and #6A300C, starting just left of centre.

Put each topping on its own layer above Broth, all inside the Bowl group.

• Noodles: Cmd-click the Broth thumbnail to select the broth. On a Noodles layer, drag a size 11 brush across it in loose wavy lines of #F5DE95, about a dozen rows. Add a 1 px Stroke in #C9974E and a small Drop Shadow.
• Chashu: make two overlapping slices on a Chashu layer.

1. For each slice, fill an ellipse with a dark brown gradient for the rind.
2. Fill a slightly smaller ellipse inside it with a pink-brown radial gradient (#E3A084 → #94492E).
3. Paint one wobbly spiral of fat in cream with a size 7 brush. Rolled pork belly shows its fat as a spiral.

• Eggs: on an Eggs layer, fill two white ovals and add an orange radial yolk in each. Then click the whites with the Magic Wand and fill them with a tan gradient (#F3DDB6 → #D9AE78) so they look soy-marinated. Add a thin Stroke and Drop Shadow.
• Menma (bamboo shoots): lasso three short tan strips and draw thin darker lines along them for the fibres.
• Scallions: click brush dabs of 12–20 px in two greens (#3E9A35, #7DC24A), grouped into three or four little clusters. Then click a smaller pale dab inside each one to turn them into rings.

Gloss and shadow.

• Gloss: add a Bowl Gloss layer above Bowl Trim. Lasso a thin crescent low on the left of the bowl that follows its curve, fill it white, blur it 3 px and set it to about 70%.
• Shadow: add a Bowl Shadow layer under Bowl Body. Fill a flat black ellipse just under the bowl, blur it about 16 px, and set it to Multiply at 70%.

Finally, select the Bowl group row and drag the bowl up about 20 px with the Move tool, so it sits at least 50 px clear of the bottom edge.

Add a layer called Nori below Broth, so the broth covers the sheet's bottom edge.

1. Lasso a sheet about 110 × 155 px with slightly wobbly edges. Fill it with a diagonal gradient from #24382A to #0E1611.
2. For the papery texture, run Filter → Add Noise at 12, then Filter → Motion Blur at angle 60 and distance 16.
3. Marquee around the sheet and switch to the Move tool. Drag a rotation handle (just outside a corner) about 25° clockwise, so the sheet leans against the back-right rim. Press Cmd+D to commit.

Add a Broth Pour layer at the top of the Bowl group.

1. Lasso a stream that starts at the nozzle, curves very slightly and tapers to about two-thirds of its width where it meets the broth.
2. Fill it with a sideways gradient from #FFF1C2 to #E39A3C.
3. With a size 3 white brush, draw a highlight down the left side.
4. Where it lands, draw a flat ellipse, fill it pale gold and cut a smaller ellipse out of its middle to leave a splash ring. Click a few small droplets around it.

Make sure the stream lands on bare broth, not on a topping. If a topping is in the way, select its layer and drag it aside with the Move tool.

Add a New Group called Lift above the bowl, and a layer inside it called Chopsticks.

Draw them flat. It's easier to draw the sticks lying horizontally and rotate them afterwards.

1. Lasso two long sticks, one above the other, with the thin tips on the left and the thick ends on the right. Fill each with the brass gradient dragged across its width.
2. Add two thin copper bands near the thick ends with small marquee fills.
3. Fill a brass plate that joins the thick ends.
4. The gear: choose the Shape tool, set Shape to Ellipse, and draw a small circle on the plate. Then add twelve teeth around it with Shift-click brush lines (size 8) radiating out from its edge. Click a dark dot in the middle.

Rotate them into place. Marquee around the sticks and drag a rotation handle about 36° counter-clockwise, so the tips point down into the bowl. Press Cmd+D, then drag them with the Move tool until the tips sit over the noodles. Keep the gear at least 50 px from the top edge.

Add a layer called Lifted Noodles above the chopsticks.

The bundle. With a size 9 brush, draw about fourteen strands from the chopstick tips down to the broth.

• Wiggle each one with small, regular side-to-side kinks to make ramen's crinkle.
• Give each strand a slightly different sway, so the bundle doesn't look combed.
• Make every third strand a darker #E6C46E, for depth.
• Draw a few short arcs over the tips, so the noodles drape over the sticks.

Join it to the bowl. Add a layer called Broth Lap above the noodles. Fill a flat ellipse of broth colour where the bundle meets the soup, add a thin pale ripple ring, blur it 2 px and set it to 45%. The noodles now look as if they come up out of the broth rather than hovering over it.

Give Lifted Noodles the same Stroke and Drop Shadow as the noodles in the bowl.

The haze. Add a layer called Steam between the Bowl and Lift groups.

1. Lasso a tall, wavy plume rising from the bowl. Choose Select → Feather… with 34 px, then Filter → Smoke… with Scale 5 and Turbulence 60.
2. Repeat for a second plume on the right of the bowl, and a narrow one rising from the pipe's safety valve.
3. Set the layer to Screen, so the black parts of the smoke disappear.

Fade it as it rises. Click Add Mask, then Edit mask for Steam. Open the Gradient tool's Advanced… editor and set it back to plain white → black, because it still holds the last gradient's colours. Drag from the broth straight up past the top edge. Click the layer thumbnail to leave mask editing.

The wisps. Add a layer called Steam Wisps and choose a soft brush (hardness 0). Paint each wisp as three overlapping S-strokes that get thinner as they rise: about 30 px at the broth, then 20, then 11 near the top. Blur the layer 9 px and set it to Screen at about 90%.

Keep steam off the nori and away from the headline. Lasso any stray wisp, feather it and press Delete.

Make a Lamp group in the top-right corner. The lantern is about 120 px wide and 250 px tall, hanging from a bracket at the right edge. It has four layers:

• Lantern: the metal parts, each lassoed and filled with a bronze gradient (#20180E, #9C7A3C, #4A3820, #17110A) dragged across it.
• A straight wall bracket and a short hanger, in near-black #1A1D1B.
• A wide trapezoid roof with a small ball on top.
• A short cone under the glass with a little finial ball.
• Lantern Glass:

1. Lasso a pane that narrows toward the bottom and fill it with a radial gradient: #FFF6CF in the centre to #D06A18 at the edge.
2. Lasso a teardrop flame in the middle and fill it white to #FF9E2C.
3. Add an Outer Glow in #FFB547.

• Lantern Bars: dark brush lines over the glass for the frame: one down each side, one across and one down the middle.
• Lamp Glow: a Radial gradient from #FF9A3A at about 45% opacity to fully transparent, set to Screen. Keep it tight around the lantern; a big glow turns the green muddy.

To resize all the layers at once, select the Lamp group's row and choose the Move tool without a marquee. The handles then frame the whole group. Drag the bottom-left corner in to about 85%, then drag the group up into the corner. Leave at least 40 px between the lantern and the headline.

The arch. Add a New Group called Type. Choose the Pen tool. Keep the arch shallow: the middle only about 50–70 px higher than the ends.

1. Click at the left end of where the headline will go.
2. Click-and-drag at the middle, pulling the handle out sideways, to make a smooth top.
3. Click at the right end, level with the first point.
4. Click ✓ (Commit path) in the options bar.

The word. Pick the Text tool and choose the font Rye at size 150, colour #F6E3B4. Click in an empty part of the canvas, type GASLAMP and press Tab to commit. Then set Path in the options bar to Path 1, and the word jumps onto the arch.

Path text always starts at the path's first point, so to centre it, open the Text panel and raise Letter spacing until the word fills the whole arch (about 24 px here).

To flatten the arch later, select Path 1 in the Paths panel and drag its middle point down with the Pen tool. The text reflows along it.

On the GASLAMP layer, add a 4 px Stroke in #2B0B07. Then add a Drop Shadow in #A8231C with Offset X and Offset Y 7, Blur 1 and Opacity 100.

1. Cmd-click the GASLAMP layer's thumbnail to select the letter shapes.
2. Add a layer called Gaslamp Gold above it.
3. Drag a vertical Linear gradient over the letters with these stops:

• #FFF8DC at the top
• #FFE08A
• #E0A238 near the middle
• #FFE7A0
• #B07A22 at the bottom

1. Press Cmd+D.

The text stays editable underneath the gold, and its stroke and shadow still show around the edges.

Click the Gaslamp Gold layer first. It's an ordinary layer inside Type, so the new text lands in the group and doesn't restyle GASLAMP.

Set the Text tool to Rye, size 210, letter spacing 4. Click in empty canvas, type NOODLES and press Tab to commit. With the Move tool, drag it under the arch so it's centred on the same vertical line as GASLAMP. A guide clicked onto the top ruler at the centre line helps.

Give NOODLES a 5 px Stroke in #2B0B07. Then add a Drop Shadow in #A8231C with Offset X and Offset Y 9, Blur 1 and Opacity 100. That hard offset shadow is the classic look of a woodtype circus or theatre poster.

Ribbon. On a Ribbon layer in Type, marquee a band as wide as GASLAMP and about 92 px tall. Fill it with a vertical cream gradient (#FFF4DA → #CDB68A) and add a thin red #A8231C rule just inside the top and bottom edges.

On a layer under it, lasso two notched tails a little lower than the band. Fill them with a darker tan and add a small dark triangle for each fold.

Tagline. Type STEAM-PRESSED RAMEN in Alfa Slab One at about size 54, colour #5A120C, with letter spacing 6. Move it so the space above and below the letters, between the red rules, is equal.

Plaque.

1. With the Shape tool set to Rectangle, a corner radius of 18 and fill #A8231C, drag out a plaque centred under the ribbon.
2. Give it a 6 px Stroke in #D9AE4E and a soft Drop Shadow, and click a brass rivet into each corner.
3. Type EXIT 14 in Alfa Slab One at 44 in cream. Lasso an arrow after it and fill it in the same cream.
4. Centre the word and arrow together on the plaque.

Real billboards are printed on paper sheets and pasted up in panels. A little texture sells it:

• Grain: add a layer called Grain at the top and fill it with mid grey #808080. Run Filter → Add Noise at 40. Set it to Overlay at about 20%.
• Paper seams: add a layer called Paper Seams. With the Pencil at size 3, click at the top edge and Shift-click at the bottom to draw a white line every 480 px. Draw a black line just to the right of each. Set the layer to Overlay at 15%, so they only just show.
• Vignette: select the top-level Project group, open its Layer effects drawer, click Add Adjustment → Vignette and set it to 60.

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