DIY | WATERCOLOR STATE

If you haven't already heard now is the time to purchase Adobe Creative Suite software. I have been using a trial version of a few of the apps over the past month and was going to be so sad once the trial ended. In the past, Adobe's programs have been so expensive and completely unreasonable to purchase, especially if you are living on a student's budget. Now, thanks to pirating, you can download the Creative Cloud for $19.99/month using your student/teacher email address! You can download pretty much any Adobe program you could possibly want with the Creative Cloud, too. I jumped at the chance to finally get the full versions of Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Muse. 

I have been completely teaching myself how to use the features in these programs (with the help of some YouTube videos) and it has been such a fun learning experience so far. One of my favorite projects I have done so far has been the Oklahoma state outline I did for the Moore, Oklahoma post. I know that these state outline prints are very in right now so I wanted to show you how to do one of your own!

First you'll need to decide what state you would like to do. For the sake of this tutorial I am going to use Alabama. Google "{choice} state outline". 

You will get several options to choose from but before you do you will want to make sure it is a large image. You can do this by going to "search tool" and then clicking on "large". I prefer to use the outlines that have a thinner outline. Select your image and save it to your desktop. (Note: If you select an outline with text outside of the state it won't matter.)

Now open Photoshop. Go to "File" > "New". If you want to make a print, choose the U.S. Paper. The default is 8.5"x11". Click "OK" and your new paper will open. Then go back to "File" > "Place". Select your outline to open it on the paper. Here you can resize the image to fit on the page however you would like. Once you're finished click the checkmark.

For the Oklahoma image I use the watercolor paint brush to add in the red. To do this I selected the Brush Tool in the toolbar. When you select the Brush Tool, brush options become available at the top of the Photoshop window. There are several options to choose from, but I will again use the "Watercolor Loaded Wet Flat Tip" brush. You can change the size of the brush to whatever you want. For the watercolor brush, I prefer for it to be a little bigger so I set mine at 200px.

Now just choose your color and begin painting over the state. You can use as many colors as you want. The more times you go over a stroke with the watercolor brush, the darker it will get. As I go I like to play around the different brush angles, opacities, flows, and types of brushes until I get the look I want.

Next you will want to outline the state with the Magnetic Lasso tool. Once you get the "dancing ants" around your outline go to the Crop Tool and hold it down until the menu pops up and you can select the Slice Tool. Drag the Slice Tool over the entire image until it is all outlined by an orange rectangle. 

Now you will want to open a new file in the same size as you previously used. Go to "File" > "New" and click "OK". It will open in a new tab. Go back to your state and press Control+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac). Click over into the new tab and paste there. 

There is a possibility your new image will have some of the background on it from your original outline like here:

Use the Spot Healing Brush Tool to go over the edges until you are happy with it.

At this point if you want to add a heart over a particular location you can or you can leave the image as is. To add the heart to the Oklahoma image I went to the Custom Shape tool (where the Rectangle Tool is) and selected the heart. Then drew the heart where I wanted. 

I think this is a very fun and cute idea! The possibilities are absolutely endless. I think these would make great gifts for graduates, sports fans, and more! You can use the same method to do almost anything. Here are some others I have played around with! I have added them to my new Downloads page. Check it out for frequent updates and additions!