GBD Works: Quinnipiac University Annual Report Photoshop Layers and Masks
On this project for Quinnipiac University, I used Photoshop’s layers and masks extensively. Some images have as many as 20 layers and masks. Layers and masks are the fundamental building blocks of non-destructive editing, allowing you to manipulate and build complex images without permanently altering your original files. Layers act as stacked sheets of transparent glass; each piece of text, photo, adjustment, or graphic sits on its own distinct level. This visual hierarchy lets you edit, move, transform, or adjust the opacity of a single element independently, without disturbing the artwork beneath or above it. Masks work hand-in-hand with layers to control transparency and visibility using grayscale values. Instead of using the eraser tool to permanently destroy pixels, applying a layer mask lets you hide parts of a layer using black paint and reveal parts using white paint—with shades of gray creating soft, semi-transparent blends. By pairing layers with masks, you gain total freedom to combine photos, isolate complex objects, and fine-tune selective adjustments while keeping every edit completely reversible at any point in your design process.
Many pages in the book start with a background texture, scribbles, paint blobs, etc. I used about 15 different backgrounds. Theo loved this as soon as he saw the first page where I used it.
On top of the background image, I added a layer of color often selecting multiply as the blend mode.
Originally I only had the black and white sketches. That looked good but it need something more, so I added the color sketch and the page (my favorite in the book) came alive. I didn’t like the rectangle, so I used basic feather from the effects panel
Here’s the page with just the sketches.
Here is one of Theo’s original sketches before I turned it into greyscale and adjusted the levels for contrast.
Here’s the final page with everything in place.
Here’s the page with just the sketches.
Here is one of Theo’s original sketches before I turned it into greyscale and adjusted the levels for contrast.
Here’s the final page with everything in place.
