How to Color Change an Overlay in Photopea

How to Color Change an Overlay in Photopea

 

I offer all of my overlay designs in solid black, which can be great when using blend modes and it often works quite well. In other circumstances though you may want a different look or you may not have blend modes available (like in Canva).

In this tutorial I will show you how to change the color of an overlay for saving as a new PNG (to import into Canva for example) or to continue using it in Photopea for your design work.

Please bear in mind, there are many ways to use the tools in Photopea and I am showing just one method here. This is what I consider to be the easiest beginner choice but it is not the only method. Use the same steps in Photoshop as well.

To begin open Photopea in your web browser and either drag and drop your file onto the screen or select 'Open from Computer' to open your file. For this example I'm using an edging frame overlay.

Step 1:

With your file open and ready to edit, double click on the layer box in the layers panel in the bottom right of the screen. This will open the layer styles pop up box with a list of effect options, click 'color overlay'.

 

Step 2.

To change the color you need to click on the little color box next to 100%. Another pop box will allow you to choose the color you to apply and makes changes in real time as you move the cursor so that you can see what it will look like. Once you are happy with your choice click ok to exit from both pop up panels.

Step 3.

At this point if you are done and just want to save the edit as a new PNG file, go to 'File' in the top menu bar (top left corner) and select 'Export As' and choose PNG. Click 'Save' and the file will automatically download to the downloads folder on your device.

If you wish to continue working on a design move on to Step 4. 

Step 4.

In order to effectively use overlays that have been color changed while working on a design there is one last quick step to do in order to be able to use blend modes with the new color. If you aren't using blend modes then you don't need to do this step.

Right click on the layer box in the layers panel to bring up a menu box and look for the option to 'rasterize layer styles'. Just click this to make the layer available for any new layer styles or blends. That's it, super quick. You can do this as many times as you need without degrading the file.

 

That's it! Job done. Use this technique wherever you are applying overlays or black line graphics to change how they look or how they interact with different effects like opacity or blend modes. 

Happy designing
Shawnna

 

 

 

 

 

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How to Duplicate Shapes in Photopea

How to Duplicate Shapes in Photopea

 

Following on from my last tutorial where I showed how to insert an image into a shape using the clipping mask in Photopea, I'm going to now create a repeating printable page from that one tag I made.

This tutorial is useful if you want to quickly make a page of duplicates from one image with having to make each one separately.

Please bear in mind, there are many ways to use the tools in Photopea and I am showing just one method here. This is what I consider to be the easiest choice using my templates and having added an image into a shape using the clipping mask.

To begin open Photopea in your web browser.

Step 1:

I left off in the last tutorial with my gift tag template and I had inserted an image into the first tag. Now let's repeat that tag across the page in place of the blank ones.

To start, I want to close the tag folder just to make things easier to view. I'm also going to turn off tags 2 - 4 by clicking the eye icon for each layer. 

With the tag layer selected in the layers palette, I'll use a keyboard shortcut and click Ctrl + J.

Alternatively you'll find this command from the top menu bar under Layer>Duplicate Layer.

 

Step 2:

After hitting Ctrl + J you'll get a duplicate layer in the layers palette but the new tag layer on the canvas is stacked on top of the first tag. Let's drag that to the right while holding down the shift key.

Holding down the shift key keeps the layer moving only in a straight line while dragging it. Place it directly inline with the blank tag below it.

Repeat this step two more times so that you have a full row of tags. As below.

 

Step 3:

To create to more rows we're going to do a similar action, this time by duplicating the whole row.

Close row 1 and ensure it is selected, turn off rows 2 and 3, then repeat as above clicking Ctrl + J to duplicate the row. Holding shift drag each row down into place on the canvas.

And you're done. A full printable sheet of the same tag in a few simple steps.

To save, go to the top menu File>Export As and choose your file type. To save as a PNG file with a transparent background just be sure to turn off the background layer before saving. If saving as a PSD file make sure to re-name it so you don't accidentally save over the original blank template.

 

Happy Crafting
Shawnna

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How to Add an Image to Any Shape in Photopea

How to Add an Image to Any Shape in Photopea

 

This tutorial works for any image and any shape using the free Photopea online editor. We'll be inserting an image into a shape using the clipping mask tool and this process can be used in any similar situation. You can also do this the same way in Photoshop or PS Elements.

Today, I'm going to use one of my gift tag templates as an example - this works exactly the same way with any of my templates though, or with shapes you draw yourself.

To begin open Photopea in your web browser.  

Step 1:

Click Open From Computer to select a PSD template file from your hard drive. It's important that you choose a layered photoshop file for this method - other file formats are not going to work with this process.

Once opened your screen should look like the image below. Locate the layers palette in the bottom right of the screen.

 

Step 2:

Open the folders by clicking the little arrow next to each and click to select the first tag.

 

Step 3:

To insert an image to this tag we need to first open our image. Go to the top menu bar and select File>Open and Place. Then navigate on your hard drive to the image you want to insert and double click it. The image will automatically be placed on your template canvas on top of the layer you selected in step 2.

Notice that the image also shows in the layers palette right above the tag I selected. If your image is in the wrong order in the layers palette you can simply drag and drop it to the right location. In step 4 we're going to right click on this layer.

 

 

Step 4:

As shown above, right click on the image layer in the layers palette as pictured, and a popup menu will appear. In this menu look for Clipping Mask and select this option.

The image is now 'clipped' to the shape and is ready for re-sizing and precise placement.

 

Step 5:

To finish, just resize the image as required using the toggle nodes and drag into position however you please.

By default you should have the move tool already selected. If not, just be sure to select this from the left hand tools list (top).

 

 

And that's it! Repeat this for each shape in your template if you are wanting to add a different image to each tag. For a repeating tag, check out my next post for instructions on how to duplicate.

Happy Crafting
Shawnna

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