It’s Folding Time! (Photoshop)

That’s right, it’s folding time. I am not talking about folding the laundry, although that needs to be done. Folding in digital is all about illusion — shadows and light. I can guarantee you, it is a lot more fun to make digital folds than it is to work on the laundry. So today, I am going to show you how to make a fun fold.

Step 1: Open your paper

File > Open and select a paper to use. I am starting with a 12×12 paper from the Premier Back2School Shabby Kit. I will be re-sizing it later, but for now 12×12 will be easiest to work with.
Reset your Color Chips to the default black and white by pressing the letter D.

Step 2: Make a Selection

Get the Rectangular Marquee tool from the Tool Bar.
Using your cursor, draw a selection outline around the lower half of your page.

Step 3: Choose your colors

Click on the Foreground Color Chip.
Choose a medium to light gray for the Foreground color. I chose #b7b5b5.
Click OK.

Step 4: Make a new layer

From the Menu Bar, choose Layer > New > Layer.
Click OK.

Step 5: Make a Gradient

Get the Gradient tool in the Tool Bar.
In the Options Bar, click on the Linear Gradient icon. Open the Gradient Picker and double click on the second gradient, Foreground to Transparent. Also, make sure the opacity is 100%.

You should still have marching ants around half of your paper.
Click and drag a line from the top of the selection to the bottom of the selection. Hold Shift as you drag your line to keep it straight.When you release your mouse, you will have a beautiful gradient.

In the Layers panel, change the Blending Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 50%.
Press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to deselect your rectangle.

Step 6: Making it Real

Make a duplicate of the gradient by pressing Ctrl J (Mac: Cmd J).
Get the Move tool.
Using your Arrow keys, move the copy up 2 clicks.
In the Layers panel, reduce the opacity of the copy to 10% or lower depending on your paper. This creates the illusion of the bend in the fold.

I moved the folded paper onto my scrapbook page and reduced the size to create a cute school paper!

Credits: tutorial, layout, pictures by Lisa Hanks using Premier kit Back2School. Back2School Shabby, Back2School Whimsy. Fonts from Sugar Frog Fonts, Ellies Doodles and Twelve Again.

Download a PDF version of this “It’s Folding Time!” tutorial.

Windows: Right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or a similar command.
Mac: Click on the link to download the file.

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