untung99.homes: How to Design a Vintage Travel Poster in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this tutorial will walk you through the steps of how to design a poster in a vintage style. By starting in Illustrator and then switching over to Photoshop, we’ll have the benefit of Illustrator’s easy-to-use drawing tools for crisp illustrations, but also take advantage of Photoshop’s brushes and blending modes to finish it off with authentic-looking ink and paper textures.

Do you prefer video tutorials? Then you’ll love the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel! Don’t miss this new tutorial by Andrei Marius and learn how to create a vintage poster design:

What You’ll Learn in This Retro Poster Design Tutorial

• How to create basic vector shapes in Illustrator
• How to add and distort text in Illustrator
• How to apply textures in Photoshop

What You’ll Need

You’ll need the following resources from Envato Elements to complete this tutorial:

1. How to Set Up Your Document in Illustrator

Let’s learn how to make a vintage poster design! In Illustrator, open up an A3 document, a common poster size that’s roughly 11 x 17 inches. I’m using RGB as my color mode so the project will display well onscreen, but if you end up wanting to print it, don’t forget to convert to CMYK first.

2. How to Create a Background With Gradients

Step 1

Our travel poster design needs a background first. You can enable the Smart Guides (View > Smart Guides) which will make it easier to create the shapes that we’re about to add.

Have a look inside the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double-click the existing layer to rename it “Background”.

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and use it to draw a rectangle that covers a little less than half of the top side of your artboard. Fill this shape with a linear gradient using the Gradient panel (Window > Gradient). Set the Angle to 90 degrees.

Double-click each gradient slider and set the colors as shown below. Simply click the gradient bar to add a third gradient slider. Select it and adjust the Location to 45%, and then double-click it to set the color as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Use the Rectangle Tool (M) again to create a new shape which will cover the remaining part of your artboard, and fill it with the linear gradient shown below.

Step 3

Next, we’ll place a hillside in the background. First, use the Pen Tool (P) to create a new shape that looks roughly as shown below. Fill it with R=42 G=123 B=0.

Step 4

Continue with the Pen Tool (P), add a second shape, and fill it with the linear gradient shown below.

3. How to Draw the Cliffs

Step 1

Next part of our vintage-style poster: the iconic cliffs. Lock the “Background” layer and create a new one, naming it “Cliffs”.

Now it’s time to add this photo: Cliffs of Moher. It helps to place it on top of your artboard and lower its Opacity for easy reference. Use the photo to get a basic idea of the cliff shapes which you need to add.

Step 2

Use the Pen Tool to rough out the shapes of each cliff. It doesn’t have to be exact, but you do want the sense of the cliffs receding in size off into the distance. We want the cliffs to be lighter in color as they get smaller so they look as if they’re fading into the distance. So fill your shapes with the four colors shown below.

Step 3

Use the Pen Tool (P) to add some grassy patches to the cliffs, and fill these shapes with the same color that we used for the first hill shape. This will make the vintage-style poster look more realistic.

Step 4

Our last step to finish off the cliffs is to add some water foaming up at the bottom, so select the Pen Tool (P) again.

This time, instead of just clicking in anchor points for straight lines and angles, click and hold while dragging your cursor to create a smooth, curved line that loops in and out along the bottom edges of the cliffs.

Step 5

Fill this shape with the linear gradient shown below. Remember to select the right gradient slider and lower its Opacity to 0% to add that fade-to-white effect.

4. How to Create a Tourist Figure

Cool vintage posters feature elements like tourists and people. In the style of illustration we’re using, drawing people really isn’t that complicated. It’s simply a series of geometric and curved shapes (like the ones we’ve been drawing already) stacked strategically together. You may want to work on this part off in the empty space beside your artboard so that you have some room to put all the pieces together and the background doesn’t get in your way.

If you’d like to just go for it and create your own figure, feel free (and then skip down to the “Arrange the Typography” section). But if you’d like to copy this one, read on for the step-by-step process. First, lock the “Cliffs” layer and create a new one called “Tourist”.

Step 1

The main body is basically just two tapered rectangles (drawn with the Pen Tool): one with straight edges and the other with curved sides. The width of the shapes should be the same where they meet. The colors are R=197 G=36 B=49 for the red and R=48 G=69 B=97 for the blue.

Step 2

For the arms, start out by drawing a shallow, sideways V with the Pen Tool—this is the inside angle of the left arm. Continuing from one of the endpoints, still using the Pen Tool (P), draw a straight line extending out and two curved lines to form the outer edge of the arm; close the shape with another straight line.

If needed, resize the completed shape so it’s the same height as the torso. We’ll reuse it for the right arm, so copy and paste the shape to duplicate it, and then rotate it 180 degrees by selecting Object > Transform > Rotate and typing in 180. With the shape still selected, click on the top middle handle on its frame and drag it down a bit so the arm is not as tall as the first.

Step 3

Next up, the hands and legs. For the hands, draw right on top of the arms with the Pen Tool so the proportions turn out right and you don’t have to resize. Similar to the arms, we have a combination of straight and curved lines: straight lines for the top of the hands and fingers, and a curve for the underside of the hand where the palm is.

Step 4

For the legs, draw two narrow rectangles and make them white, and add some simple shoes or boots on top. Use R=96 G=56 B=19 for the fill color of the boots. Select both the legs and the boots, and send everything to the back (Object > Arrange > Send to Back) so they’re behind the skirt.

Step 5

Lastly, let’s create the scarf, hair, and hat (we’ll be placing them in that order on top of the torso).

For the scarf, all you need is a rectangle with curved sides and two leaf-like shapes, in the same darker green color we used before. Draw these with the Pen Tool, without worrying too much about creating perfect shapes; most of the scarf will be covered up by the hair. Use R=31 G=122 B=35 for the color.

Step 6

For the hair, start off with the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw an oval. Make it about 0.8 wide. Then return to the Pen Tool (P) to draw a sort of a curved triangle with a tail for the ends of the hair. Use R=98 G=55 B=26 for the color.

Step 7

Keep using the Pen Tool (P) to add a hat shape as shown below and fill it with R=49 G=68 B=100.

Step 8

For the red band (R=197 G=36 B=49) let’s add a slim shape that goes across the hat shape, as shown below. Reselect your hat shape and add a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F). Select this copy along with the red band shape and click the Intersect button from the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder).

Step 9

Now that your tourist figure is complete, add it to your retro poster design.

5. How to Arrange the Typography

Step 1

Cool vintage posters also need appropriate typography! Pick the Type Tool (T) and focus on the control panel to choose the settings for the text that we’re about to add. Select the Carters font and set the Size to 170 pt. Simply click on your artboard and type in “IRELAND”. Make sure that your text remains selected, and remove the text color (don’t worry that your text is now invisible).

Move to the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and add a fill for your text using the Add New Fill button. Select it and set the color to white, and then click that Type section from the Appearance panel to make sure that the effect which you’re about to apply will affect the entire text, not just a particular fill or stroke. Once you’re ready, go to Effect > Warp > Rise. Check the Horizontal box and drag that Bend slider to 55%, and then click OK.

Step 2

Make sure that your text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel. Add a second fill using that same Add New Fill button, set the color to R=42 G=123 B=0 and drag it below the existing fill, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Set the settings as shown below and click OK.

Step 3

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a white shape that will cover that hole in the R, and then copy the four-leaf clover graphic from this set of St Patrick’s Day Icons and add it on top of that hole area. Make it green (R=42 G=123 B=0).

Step 4

Reselect the Type Tool (T), select the Whippin Picadilly font, and set the Size to 170 pt. Add the “Visit” text and use the Move Tool (V) to rotate it and place it as shown in the first image.

Keep this text selected, and go to Object > Transform > Shear. Set the Angle to 20 degrees and click OK.

Step 5

Make sure that the Type Tool (T) is still active, select the Carters font again, and set the Size to 40 pt. Type in “THE”, set the color to R=78 G=120 B=156, and place it as shown below.

Step 6

Using the same text settings, type in “CLIFFS OF MOHER”. Rotate this text as shown in the first image, and then go to Object > Transform > Shear. Again, set the Angle to 20 degrees and click OK.

6. How to Set Up the Retro Poster Design in Photoshop

Step 1

Now you know how to make a vintage poster design in Illustrator. Next, it’s time to add some texture to our travel poster design. Open a new Photoshop document with the same specifications as your Illustrator document.

Step 2

Go to Illustrator and copy all the contents of your artboard (Control-C).

Paste into your new Photoshop layer. When a dialog box pops up asking what you want to paste it as, select Smart Object. That way, if you notice anything in your vector illustration that you want to change, all you have to do is double-click on the smart object and it will automatically open in Illustrator. You make any changes you want, save it in Illustrator, and the changes magically appear right in Photoshop. Pretty neat!

Step 3

This Photoshop poster design needs some texture! Download the paper texture if you haven’t already. Place it in your document and size it to fill the whole canvas. Press Enter when you’re done, and then lower the Opacity of this texture to 30% and change the Blending Mode to Hard Light.

Step 4

Keep your paper texture selected and go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. Check that Use Previous Layer… box and click OK. Set the Vibrance to 100 and the Saturation to 30, and then click OK.

7. How to Add Texture to the Photoshop Poster Design

Step 1

Create a new layer and name it “Green Texture”. Choose the Quick Selection Tool (W), making sure to select the Sample All Layers checkbox at the top of the screen (options bar). This will allow us to select specific areas that we want our brushed textures to stay within.

Now let’s start with the grassy hillside. Use the Quick Selection Tool, clicking and dragging your cursor across the hillside. The tool should make your selection automatically conform to the exact shape of the hillside, indicated by a wiggly dashed line:

Step 2

Now choose the Eyedropper Tool (I) and click within the lighter green area of the hillside to select that color. Pick the Grain 6 – Grunge brush from this pack of Photoshop Scatter and Stipple Brushes.

Make the diameter of the brush fairly large, about 600 px, and add some highlights along the top of the hillside. Apply the brush one click at a time rather than with strokes—the grainy texture will show up better this way. And don’t worry about “coloring outside the lines”—textures will only be applied within the bounds of the area we selected with the Quick Selection Tool.

Step 3

Create a new layer and name it “Hill White Texture”, and again use the Quick Selection Tool (W) to load a selection around the front hill from your design. Hold down the Alt key and click the green areas to remove them from your selection.

Step 4

Set the foreground color to white, and keep that “Grain 6 – Grunge” brush selected. Increase the Size to 1000 px and then paint on the right side of your selection.

Step 5

Add a new layer and name it “Hill BlackTexture”. Keep the same brush settings and set the foreground color to black, and then draw the right side of your selection. Lower the Opacity of your layer to 30% and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light.

Step 6

Add a new layer, name it “Second Hill Texture”, lower its Opacity to 40%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Use the Quick Selection Tool (W) to load a selection around your second hill.

Use the same Grain 6 – Grunge brush, but lower the Size to 600 px. Again, draw with white on the right edge of your selection and with black on the left edge of the selection.

Step 7

Add a new layer, name it “Third Hill Texture”, lower its Opacity to 50%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Use the Quick Selection Tool (W) to load a selection around your third hill design.

Use the same Grain 6 – Grunge brush, but lower the Size to 500 px. Again, draw with white on the right edge of your selection and with black on the left edge of the selection.

Step 8

Add a new layer, name it “Fourth Hill Texture”, lower its Opacity to 80%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Use the Quick Selection Tool (W) to load a selection around this final hill design.

Use the same Grain 6 – Grunge brush and keep the Size set to 500 px. This time, only draw with white on the right edge of your selection, as shown below.

Step 9

Add a new layer, name it “WaterFoam Texture”, lower its Opacity to 70%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Using the Quick Selection Tool (W), load a selection around the sea.

Use the same Grain 6 – Grunge brush and increase the Size set to 1000 px. Draw using white across the top edges of your selection, as shown below.

Step 10

Last but not least, add a little shading to your tourist, and then admire your finished vintage poster!

Congratulations! Your Cool Vintage Poster Is Done

Here is how your vintage poster should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial on how to design a poster and can apply these techniques in your future projects.

Feel free to adjust the final design and make it your own. You can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Elements, with interesting solutions to improve your poster design.

Want to Learn More?

We have loads of tutorials on Envato Tuts+, from beginner to intermediate level. Take a look!