By definition, a clipping mask:

“lets you use the content of a layer to mask the layers above it. The masking is determined by the content of the bottom or base layer. The non-transparent content of the base layer clips (reveals), the content of the layers above it in the clipping mask. All other content in the clipped layers is masked out.”

On top of clipping mask, to produce the final effect for this tutorial, I also used a number of other settings such as layer blending, filter effect and adjustment layers.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Crack Texture

Water Brushsets (choose one from the list)

Step 1

Let’s start by creating a document with black background, use the type tool to type a letter on the document:

Now load the stone texture into Photoshop, use the rectangular marquee tool to select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste this piece of texture onto our text, resize and rotate it as shown below:

Step 2

Now if you right click on the texture layer, you will see an option called “Create Clipping Mask”, click on it:

And you will texture becomes an overlay for the text, with the rest of the area disappeared:
 

Repeat Step 1 and 2, cover the entire text with stone texture – we can use this to get some practices with clipping mask:

Step 3

Now we want to remove part of the text with a layer mask add to text layer:

Now you will because we have the texture layers as clipping masks, the parts we erased on the text will fade on the texture layers as well:

I would also like to mention that you can add adjustment layer as clipping mask as well – make sure you tick the “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask” option – this way the effect will only apply to the layer below the adjustment layer:

Try adding a few adjustment layers (curves, levels) as clipping mask to the texture layer, and test the effect.

Step 4

(Attention – the rest of this tutorial involves some advanced techniques, there is no need to proceed if you just want to learn something about clipping masks)

Now we can add some flowing water effect to the image – we can use the water brush to paint some dripping/splashing water:

Use a liquify filter to warp this water pattern as shown below:

Repeat this above step, make several water pattern layers and attach them around the text:

Step 5

For some final retouches, I added some cloud effect with some cloud brushes I downloaded from the web:

Also added some grungy textures around the canvas for some decoration:

Finally, I flattened the image and duplicate the background layer, and applied some “Accented Edges” filter effect on the duplicated layer – use layer mask to hide some parts of this duplicated layer to reveal the background layer:

I then further added some slight colour adjustment and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

The aim of this tutorial is to show how you can manipulate texture/stock image with layer masks and blending options to create special effect. Also I will show you how to use adjustment layer to add colours in the end.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Space Brush Pack

Metal Texture 1

Metal Texture 2

Step 1

Create a new document sized 800px * 1040px with black background. Create a new layer and use the space brush to paint a background pattern, compress it down and set some perspective to it as shown below:

Create a new layer and further add some space pattern, reduce the layer opacity to around 80% and use a soft eraser to erase the centre portion as shown below:

Hint: by performing the above two things, we added some depth to the image and get ready for adding the text in the following step.

Let’s add some simple light effect – create a new layer and use a big white brush to paint a dot light as shown below:

Use a soft eraser with smaller brush size than the dot light, erase the top right part of the dot as shown below:

Duplicate this layer and rotate the duplicated layer 180 degrees, you will have the following effect:

Step 2

We can now work on the letter. Type a letter on the centre of the canvas, as shown below:

Load the “metal texture 1″ image into Photoshop. Then load this text layer selection and move it to the metal texture, copy and paste it back onto our text:

Turn off the original text layer, and you will have the following effect:

Open up the liquify filter, grab the forward warping tool and make sure you enable “Show Backdrop” and use the following setting: (this will make the background visible, easier to apply the liquify effect)

Go crazy with the liquify tool, add some flowing effect around the text edges as shown below:

Then erase the following area with the a soft eraser:

Step 3

We can now apply some adjustments layers on the metal texture as clipping mask:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

Then use the Lasso Tool with 30px feather, draw a selection on the following area:

Then add another Levels adjustment layer as clipping mask: (this will darken the Lasso Selection)

Render or paint some cloud (with cloud or smoke brush, plenty of them on the internet) around the text to add dramatic effect:

Step 4

We can now add some small metal particles into the image – load the “metal texture 2″ image into Photoshop and use the quick selection tool to select a few small pieces on the image:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, erase the edges to blend those small pieces into the main text:

Duplicate the selection a few times, attach them to different parts of the text, as shown below:

Merge the duplicated layers and apply the following black and white adjustments to it:

and here is the effect so far:

You can also further duplicate this metal texture layer a few more times, resize them to small scale and move them around the text, as shown below:

Step 5

To add some extra effect, I decided to use the Pen Tool to draw some red lines around the text. So let’s use the Pen Tool to draw a work path as shown below:

Prior to stroking the path, go to the brush panel and set the brush size to 3px, hardness 95%, red colour as shown below:

Then go back to select the Pen Tool, right-click and choose “Stroke Path”:

Stroke this path with the following settings:

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this line layer a few more times and resize each duplicated layer and rotate them, attach the lines to different part of the text:

You can also mix some yellow lines via adjusting the Colour Hue, in order to add some variety on the text:

Step 6

OK we’re almost done! For some final retouches, we can flatten the image and apply the following Smart Sharpen filter to the image to sharpen the text a bit:

To add some colour effect to image, I apply the following image adjustment layers to the image:

Selective Color

Curves

Brightness and Contrast

I then further added some slight colour adjustment and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Along the way, we will be using a fire stock image and attach it to a text base, then use a number of filters and custom brush to create an interesting particle effect.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Fire Texture

Cloud Brushset (Pick one from the list)

Step 1

Create a new document sized 770px * 900px with black background, create a new layer and use the cloud brush you picked to add some cloud texture to the top and bottom part of the canvas as shown below:

Hint: If the default brush size is too large, reduce its size to fit our canvas size.

Create a new layer again and add some smoke pattern with a cloud brush (with layer opacity set to around 20%):

Use a soft eraser to remove the edges of the smoke layer so it blends into the background:

Step 2

Create a new layer and type a letter on this new layer with a dark grey colour:

Apply the following Stroke effect to this text layer:

Then change this colour of this text layer to black, you will have the following effect:

Load the fire texture into Photoshop, use the quick selection tool and select a piece as shown below:

Apply the following Refine Edge settings to smooth out the edge:

Copy and paste the selection onto our text as shown below:

Step 3

Now let’s add some liquifying effect to this fire texture, use the liquify filter with the following settings:

Then, use the forward warping tool in the liquify filter, go crazy on this fire texture and add some flowing effect:

Apply the following Black and White adjustment to this fire layer:

Duplicate this fire layer a few times, resize and rotate them, then attach them to different part of the text as shown below:

Step 4

Now we can add some fire particles onto the text – go back to the fire texture and use the quick selection tool to select a few fire pieces as shown below:

Apply the following Refine Edge option to the selection:

Copy and paste the selection onto our text, resize it and change the blending mode to “Hard Light”:

This is effect so far:

Duplicate this layer a few times and attach them to different parts of the letter as shown below:

Step 5

Now let’s make a simple stripe brush – create a new document with a thin rectangular shape, add a new layer and fill it with black colour as shown below:

Then define a new brush via Edit > Define Brush Preset:

Apply the following brush options to this brush:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

Other Dynamics

Tick the “Airbrush” and “Smoothing” options.

Use this newly created brush, paint some particles around the text as shown below:

Step 6

We’re almost done! For some final retouches,  I added some red colour over the text with a colour balance adjustment layer (you can also use a red brush to paint over the text with the “Color” blending mode):

Hint: use layer mask on this colour layer to assist masking colours from the areas that you don’t want to have colours on.

Use a soft white brush, add some highlight over the text with the “overlay” blending mode for this highlight layer:

I also added some more fire texture around the text with “Hard Light” blending mode for those added fire layers:

I also added some lines with method described in this tutorial here:

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Along the way, we will be using some selection techniques, warping tool, refine edge filter, image adjustments and layer blending options. We will only be using one stock image for this whole text effect.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Space Brush

Rock

Step 1

Create a new document sized 900px * 1270px with black background. Create a new layer and use the star brush we downloaded, paint some space background: (set brush opacity and flow to be around 40% for a subtle effect)

Create a new layer and use a font of your choice to type a letter on the centre of the canvas:

Load the rock texture into Photoshop, and go back to our letter layer and load its selection:

Select the rectangular marquee tool, click and drag the selection onto the rock texture and select a piece from it:

Copy and paste our selection onto the text to cover it, turn off the original text layer and you will have the effect as shown below:

Step 2

Use a soft eraser, gently remove some parts of the rock texture as shown below:

Sharpen this rock texture a bit with the following Unsharp Mask filter settings:

Then, add the following 3 adjustment layer as clipping mask to this rock layer:

Levels

Curves

Brightness and Contrast

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

Now we can apply some more rocky texture onto its base and make the text looks better. Go back to the rock image and select a piece of rock as shown below:

You can refine your selection with the refine edge filter (Ctrl + Alt + R) to smooth its edge:

Copy and paste the selection onto our texture, use a soft eraser to remove its edges and blend it in with the base texture:

Repeat the process above and add more rock texture onto the text:

Hint: leave some base texture exposed, this creates more depth. Also use the free transform tool to adjust the shape of the rock to join them together.

Step 4

Lets’s add some particles into the image. We can use the same rock texture and use the quick selection tool to select some rock pieces as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and attach it to the rock text as shown below:

You can also apply some warping effect to the rock pieces to add some motion to the text:

Duplicate this warped layer a few times and attach them around the text:

Also make sure you use a soft eraser to fade the flying rocks into the background to add some depth:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 5

OK we’re almost done :) For some final adjustments, we can render some light cloud with the cloud filter, and paint some grungy texture around the texture:

We can paint some abstract lines with a 3px brush for extra effect:

We can flatten the image, and apply some light Unsharp Mask settings to bring out some more details for the rocks:

I also burned some part of the text with the burn tool to add some shadow to the text: (around 15% strength)

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Metal Texture

Splatter Brushes

Debris Brushes

Step 1

Create a new document sized 700px * 960px with black background. Load the metal texture into Photoshop and select a portion of the image, copy and paste it onto our document, adjust its size with free transform tool so it cover the whole canvas:

Reduce the layer opacity to be around 20%:

Step 2

Apply the following 3 image adjustment layer to this metal texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer: (use a big soft eraser with 70% opacity and flow on this layer mask)

Curves

And you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

Create a new layer with 20% layer opacity, draw a selection with a 40px feather Lasso Tool as shown below, and render some cloud with the cloud filter in it:

Now we can create some random abstract pattern with the liquify filter. Use the rectangular marquee to draw a selection and fill it with black colour as shown below:

Use the liquify filter’s forward warping tool with the following settings:

Warp it until it forms the following liquid flowing shape:

Then, duplicate this layer a few times, rotate and scatter them around the canvas (adjust the layer opacity of each duplicated layer to create depth):

Optionally, you can invert (Ctrl + I) the colour to white and mix them with the black pattern:

Step 4

Create a new layer and type a letter onto the centre of the canvas as shown below with black colour, drop the layer opacity of this new layer to around 45%:

Add the following gradient overlay setting to this text layer:

Add a layer mask to this text layer, use the splatter brush as eraser and remove some part of the text as shown below:

Hint: you can set the brush flow and opacity to be around 50% and reduce the size of the eraser for a layered effect.

Load the selection of the text layer and move it to the metal texture, select a portion and paste it onto our text:

Again we remove the edges and parts of the texture with a soft eraser and splatter eraser:

Apply the following 3 image adjustment layers as clipping mask for this new metal texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 5

Now let’s blending this text into the background. Firstly, we can render some cloud (using the method mentioned above) on the bottom of the text and compress it down as shown below, this will form a ground texture:

Create a new layer with 50% layer opacity, again render some cloud above the ground:

Create another new layer with 30% opacity, render some cloud over the text as shown below:

Now you can use the splatter brush downloaded, add some decorative painting around the text:

Use a soft eraser to remove the edges of the painting so they fade into the background to add more depth to the image:

Optionally, you can add some abstract black pattern from the previous step over the text, as well as some flying particle with the debris brush downloaded:

Step 6

OK we’re almost done! For some final adjustments, we can flatten the image, duplicate this background layer once and apply the following High Pass filter setting to the duplicated layer:

Change the layer blending mode of this new high pass layer to “Hard Light”, you will find you parts of the image being slightly sharpened:

You can also add some cloud warp into the image to create some motion effect: (check out this tutorial to learn this technique)

Adjust the levels of the ground and the background a little with the levels adjustments tool, this will create a floating effect and more depth for the image:

You can then apply some colour effect onto the image via either colour balance adjustment layer, or use soft brush to paint on a new layer (with layer blending mode set to “colour” or “overlay”). I will leave the choice of colours to you, but below is my colour combination (I decided to apply an ancient, rusty theme to the text)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!

The text itself is made up from wooden texture, along with some particle brush effect. You will be using techniques such as layer blending options, warp tool, image adjustments, and some paintings with custom brushes.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Smoke Brushes

Wood Texture

City

Crack

Debris Brush

Step 1

Create a new document sized 700px *960px (size doesn’t really matter in this tutorial, you can choose a size suits you) with black background. Create a new layer and use the smoke brush you download, paint some smoke patterns onto the canvas:

Load the crack texture into Photoshop, and use the rectangular marquee tool to select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, compress the texture down and apply the following perspectives with the free transform tool:

Use a soft eraser to fade the edges around this crack layer,

Then, add the following 3 image adjustment layer as clipping mask to this crack layer:

Black and White (set this adjustment layer’s opacity to 70%)

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

Now let’s work on adding some urban city buildings to the image. Load the city image into Photoshop, select the city portion with quick selection tool, copy and paste the selection onto our document, then resize and apply some warping to it as shown below:

Use the Chalk Brush as an eraser (set its flow and opacity to around 50%), erase the edges of the building to create some damaging effect:

and here is the effect after the erase:

Add the following 3 image adjustment layers as clipping mask to this city layer:

Black and White

Levels

Colour Balance (Highlights)

Create a new layer and use the smoke brush to paint some smoke around the building, you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

Now let’s add the text onto the image. Create a new layer and use the type tool to type a letter onto the canvas using a bold font:

Load the wood texture into Photoshop, select a portion of it as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, rotate and warp it as shown below:

Repeat the above the process, copy and paste another 2 pieces of wood onto our letter:

Turn off the original text letter and merge those 3 wood texture layer, use a soft eraser to remove the edges of the merged layer to create some depth:

Then, apply the following 3 adjustment layer to the text layer as clipping mask:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Now we can add some particle with the debris brush we download around the text:

Hint: Use Sharpen and Blur Tool on the debris to create extra depth.

Duplicate this debris layer once and apply the following Radial Blur settings:

Reduce the layer opacity of this radial blur layer to around 60%, you will have the following effect:

You can duplicate this radial blue layer once and resize it to a smaller scale, then move it to the top of the text as shown below:

Step 5

OK we’re almost done! For some final touches, I added some shadow on the crack texture with soft black brush painting: (set brush flow and opacity to around 20%)

Also added some light coming from behind the text with a soft white brush:

I added some buildings on top of the text from the city image (applied the same image adjustments as in step 2):

Further added some more cloud/smoke texture around the text, to the positions shown below:

Plus some Lens Flare Filter effect (set blending mode to “Color Dodge”) on the text to spice up the effect a bit more:

Hint: If you have some difficulty with this lighting and colour effect, check out this tutorial here.

Add some more colour and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!

Along the way, we will mainly use the Pen Tool and the liquify filter to create flowing effect, as well as layer blending options and the free transform tool.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Paper Texture

Step 1

Create a new document sized 770px * 1000px with white background. Load the Paper Texture image into Photoshop and use the rectangular marquee tool to select a portion of it as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, resize it to fit the canvas size:

Add the following Black and White adjustment layer on top of this paper texture layer:

and you will turn this paper texture into a black and white particle effect as shown below:

Step 2

Now let’s create some pattern using Pen tool – create a new layer and use the Pen tool to draw a work path on the bottom of the canvas:

Right-click inside this work path, and fill this path with a light grey colour:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

Now let’s you the liquify filter, apply some forward warp to this grey pattern layer to create some liquid flowing effect:

and this is the sort of effect you will be aiming to achieve:

Hint: adjust the brush size and the pressure of the forward warp tool to fine-tune the result.

Apply the liquify filter on different parts of this grey pattern layer, then flip this layer vertically and move it the top edge of the canvas:

After this, duplicate this layer once and move it to the bottom of the canvas, hit Ctrl + U and adjust the lightness of the layer to a darker colour, again apply some liquify effect to it:

Step 4

Now let’s type some text onto the canvas – I used a bold font and arranged each letter in a sequence as shown below: (there is no need to following my arrangement here, you’re free to experiment you own creation)

Hint: as you can see, I used red colour for the letter L, and use the same colour for the letter K as the bottom wave pattern colour.

Let’s add some liquify filter to the letters – start with the letter L, we can duplicate this text layer once,  then move the duplicated layer below the original text layer, rasterise the layer and adjust the colour to a darker red, then apply some liquid effect (using the forward warp tool) as shown below:

Create a new layer on top of the original text letter, and use the Pen Tool to draw a work path as shown below:

Then fill this work path with a lighter red colour to create some pattern of the letter L:

Duplicate this new pattern letter once, rotate it clock-wise 90 degree and move it to the lower part of the letter L:

Step 5

Now repeat the step above, apply the liquify filter effect to the rest of the letters, make sure you play with the layer opacity and lightness as you liquify those layer:

You can apply some abstract brush painting to the canvas to spice up the effect a bit – you can find those brushes around the net, such as Qbrushes:

Step 6

We’re almost done! For some final adjustments, I flattened the image, duplicate the background layer, and apply the Filter > Sketch > Charcoal effect as shown below:

Change the blending mode of the duplicate layer to “vivid light”, drop the layer opacity to around  30%. You will have the following effect:

Add some colour to the image with the following curves adjustment layer:

and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!

Along the way, we will using lots of selection, layer blending, and custom brush effect. We will manipulate the fire texture with the liquify filter, and learn how to use adjustment layers to fine-tune the final effect.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Font

Wood Texture

Fire Texture

Step 1

Create a new document with black background (canvas size doesn’t really matter for this tutorial), create a new layer and use the font we downloaded, type some text on the new layer with a dark red colour:

On this text layer, apply the following layer blending options:

Inner Shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Gradient Overlay

Stroke

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Now let’s add some wooden texture onto the text. Load the wood texture image into Photoshop, load the selection of the text layer from our document and drag it onto the wooden texture:

Copy and paste the selection onto our text, then reduce the layer opacity to around 65%:

Then, duplicate this wood layer once and set the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “Overlay”, increase its layer opacity to 100%. You will have the following effect:

Optionally, you can add a colour balance adjustment layer as clipping mask to this wood texture layer to tune the colour a bit:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

If you’re having trouble with this step, check out this video Photoshop tutorial I have below:

Let’s add the fire texture onto the text. Load the fire image into Photoshop and use the Quick Selection Tool select a portion of the fire as shown below:

Hint: Hit Ctrl + Alt + R and bring up the Refine Edge tool to adjust the edge of the selection to get better result.

Copy and paste the fire selection to our document, put it above all previous layer and change the blending mode to “overlay”:

Duplicate the fire layer once and change the blending mode to “Screen” – by doing so, you can add more fire texture onto the text and give it more depth:

Go back to the fire texture image, use the quick selection tool to select another piece of the fire, copy and paste it onto our text: (adjust the blending mode of the fire texture accordingly, you can try “color dodge”, “soft light” and “screen”, have some experiments :)

You can also use the Liquify filter to warp the fire texture and create a flowing effect for the fire texture:

and here is the effect you would be aiming to achieve:

Step 4

We can add some smoke behind the fire with the cloud filter or a smoke brush:

Let’s create the triangle particle brush – create a new document with a rectangular shape, add a new layer on top and use the Pen Tool to draw a shape as shown below:

Right-click and fill this path with black colour:

Turn off the background layer, and go to “Image > Trim” and trim the transparent pixel off:

Go to Edit >Define brush preset and define a new brush:

Once you’ve done adding this new brush, press F5 and bring up the brush options window, apply the following settings:

Shape Dynamics

Scattering

Other Dynamics

Now you can use the newly created brush to paint some red particles around the text:

Hint: adjust the brush size as you paint to add more depth to the image. also remember to save this brush so you can reuse it in the future.

Step 5

We’re almost done! For some final adjustments, we can flatten the image, duplicate the background layer and apply the following Reduce Noise filter settings:

As you can see, after the noise reduction, we have a clearer, more fiery text effect with warmer colour:

Add the following 2 image adjustment layers to the image:

Black and White (Important: set blending mode this layer to “color dodge”)

Color Balance

As you can see, we added some brighter colour to the image by having those 2 image adjustment layers:

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!

The text effect tutorial is inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean film typography – Personally I quite like this type of ancient, mystical typography, so I decided to replicate the text effect, plus some extra effect such as cracks and blood.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

For those who have not seen or heard of The Elder Scrolls V: SKYRIM game, you can go check out their website here: http://www.elderscrolls.com/.

Along the way, I will show a number of ways you can use to apply textures to texts, layer blending modes and image adjustments.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download