Create a Travel Agency Advertisement in Photoshop

Vacations are highly visual, so the travel industry and travel marketing must be visual as well. Vacationers are attracted by imagery: they go on “sightseeing” trips, and they usually return with hundreds of vacation photographs that they use to pester their friends and family and litter the social media landscape. If you’re going to sell some travel trips, you’re going to have to produce some imagery of your own, and unlike typical vacation photos, yours will have to be well composed, interesting, relevant, and full of mass appeal. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create an attractive and fun advertisement of a travel agency in Photoshop. Along the way, we’ll use pen tool, different shape tools and layer styling techniques. I’ll also show you how to create a bus vector. Hopefully, you will learn some handy tips. So, let’s get started! Resources: Ocean image by samluvsnj Air Balloons by sean&mistischweitzer Air Balloons by tempete2pixel Birds of a Feather II by midnightstouch Cloud Brushes by para-vine Final result: Before we start, let’s look ahead at our end result:

Step 1

Create a new document in Photoshop with an 800px width and a 1000px height.

Step 2

Draw a rectangle using the rectangle tool (tool mode: shape) in color #fead00. Double-click on this rectangle layer to open the “Layer Style” window and apply the following settings.

Step 3

Duplicate this rectangle layer three times by going to “Layer” > “Duplicate layer” and arrange them as shown below.

Step 4

Make another rectangle using color #242729 and position it as shown below. Apply the following settings for “Drop Shadow” on this rectangle. Duplicate the rectangle 3 times and arrange it as below.

Step 5

Make four triangles using  the pen tool (tool mode: shape) in color #000000 just above the background layer.

Step 6

Make a rectangle above the background layer using color #000000. Now, make a triangle over the top-right corner above the rectangle layer, then select both the rectangle and triangle layers and go to “Layer” > “Combine shapes” > “Subtract front shape.” Make another triangle for the bottom-left corner and subtract it from the main rectangle layer to get the shape shown below.

Step 7

Make another rectangle at the top in color #212426, duplicate and drag it a bit to the right. Change the color of the duplicated rectangle to pure black, and trim off the top-right and bottom-left corners like we did for the larger rectangle in step 6.

Step 8

Set #ffffff as your foreground color, and select the type tool to add text. I am using “Androgyne” font here. Apply an inner shadow on the test using the following settings. Add text over rest of the boxes using the same font.

Step 9

Next, we’ll create highlights over the boxes. Set #ffca19 as your foreground color, and draw the shape shown below using the pen tool. Change the blending mode of this layer to “Overlay,” and reduce its opacity to 60%.

Step 10

Make highlights over the rest of the blocks like we did in step 9. However, use a pure white color for these highlights.

Step 11

Fill the background layer with color #87dbe0 using the paint bucket tool.

Step 12

Open the ocean image in Photoshop, select the water part using the pen tool, and copy and paste the water into the advertisement document above the background layer. Now select the soft round eraser tool with 30% opacity and apply it at the top edges of the water to blend the edges.

Step 13

Open the air ballo0n images in Photoshop; you can use any selection tool to select them, I’ve used the quick select tool here. Then, copy and paste them into your document. Resize and position the air ballo0ns using the free transform tool (Ctrl +“T”).

Step 14

Set #202020 as your foreground color, load the bird brushes mentioned in our resources, and apply them on 2-3 layers so you can easily erase unwanted birds on the canvas.

Step 15

Next, we’ll add few vectors. I’ll show you how to create a bus vector. Set #6cb701 as your foreground color and select the rounded rectangle tool with a 20px radius to draw a rectangle. After that, go to “Edit” > “Transform” > “Distort.” Use the distort tool to make the rectangle shape shown below. Then, duplicate this shape layer by going to “Layer” > “Duplicate layer.” Now, make a rectangle using the rectangle tool covering the top 90% of the previous shape, as shown in the image below. Select both the duplicated shape layer and the new rectangle layer, and go to “Layer” > “Combine shapes” > “Subtract front shape” to form the bottom part of the bus. Change bottom layer color to #187c05.

Step 16

Now, we’ll make tires for the bus. Select the ellipse tool to make two ellipses: a larger ellipse of  color #0e0e0e and a smaller ellipse of color #cdcdcd. Position the smaller ellipse in the center of the larger one. Then, double-click on smaller ellipse layer (the tire’s hubcap) and apply the following layer style settings.

Step 17

Now, draw a crescent shape using the pen tool (tool mode: shape) in color #dedede. Apply the following drop shadow settings to this new crescent shape. Now, collect all the tire and crescent shape layers into a single group, duplicate the group, and arrange this group to form the other tire for the bus.

Step 18

Next, we’ll draw few shapes over the bus to form its windows and door using the pen tool (tool mode: shape). Now, select all the windows and doors and go to “Layer” > “Combine shapes” > “Unite shapes.” After that, draw a rectangle in pure white just above this united glass layer covering upper half of it, as shown below. Now click on this rectangle layer, then press Ctrl + <click on the united glass layer> to make selection around it. Then press the “Add layer mask” icon, which is found at the bottom of the layers panel.

Step 19

Next, make few lights and two horizontal lines using the rounded rectangle tool with a 20px radius. Apply the following settings for “Bevel and Emboss” on these horizontal lines.

Step 20

You can add the tires on the far side of the bus to complete the bus vector. However, we can use this vector as it is now for this tutorial. Collect all the layers forming the bus in a group, adjust its size, and position it as shown below using the free transform tool (Ctrl+ “T”). You can add more vectors to the canvas if you like.

Step 21

Now, load the clouds brushes into Photoshop and apply them in color #e6fffc on a layer just above the background and on a layer at the very top of rest of the layers to cover everything. Reduce the opacity of clouds layers to 30-40%. I’ve also used a cloud brush to make steam coming out from the ship.

Step 22

We are almost done. To enhance the overall effect, click on the icon to “Create new fill or adjustment layer,” which is present at the bottom of the layers panel, and select the option of “Gradient.” Place it at top of rest of the layers.

Step 23

Create new adjustment layer of “Curves” at top of rest of the layers. Adjust the curve as shown below. That’s it guys. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and learned something useful. Share your thoughts.

Frequently Asked Questions about Creating a Travel Agency Advertisement in Photoshop