Create your own superhero logo using just a few basic Photoshop tools and techniques
Open up your photo of someone revealing a t-shirt from behind their shirt. To isolate the soon-to-be superhero, zoom to 100% (Cmd/Ctrl and +) and then use the Polygonal Lasso tool to closely trace along the outer edge of the person.
Open the Refine Edge option (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+R) and adjust the edge settings to Smooth: 5px. Contract the selection by 1px (Select>Modify>Contract) and invert the selection by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I. Double-click the Background layer and hit Backspace to romve the background. This should give a relatively clean cutout.
Use the Polygonal Lasso tool to make and refine a selection around the subject’s shirt. Bring up the tool’s settings by Ctrl/right-clicking over the area, and then to make a new layer from the selected area use the Layer via Copy option.
Bring up the Hue/Saturation adjustment (Cmd/Ctrl+U) and add some colour to the new shirt layer. Make sure the Colorize box is checked and adapt the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders until you achieve a colour you like (we’ve chosen Hue: 125, Saturation: 90, Lightness: -65 for a dark green).
Open the coloured shirt’s Layer Style menu (Ctrl/right-click and select Blending Options or double-click the layer in the Layers palette) and check the Outer Glow box. Set blend mode to Screen, Opacity to 41% and Size to 79px. Choose a colour that’s a lighter yet similar hue.
On a new document of the same size, select the Type tool and choose a large blocky font. Enter the initials of your superhero name and offset them both horizontally and vertically. Choose a colour that contrasts with the shirt (we chose a light blue). Duplicate these layers (Layers>Duplicate Layer), making them a slightly darker colour, and offset them to create a shadow.
Stylise the top letter by opening its Layer Style and ticking the Stroke box. Add 22px outline position of the letter. Choose a colour that is a brighter hue than the shadow from the previous step.
Copy the layer style of the top letter (Ctrl/right-click on its layer and select Copy Layer Style) then apply it to the second letter (Ctrl/right-click>Paste Layer Style) to duplicate the Stroke. You will now have a styled logo with a shadow effect.
Use the Pen tool set to Shape in the Options bar, with a Fill colour of your choice. Make sure Stroke is disabled and draw a burst shape behind the letters in your logo. Move the burst layer below the darker logo letters that you have just created.
Using the Pen tool again, create a similar burst below the previous one making sure it is slightly larger and similar in shape to the original. Choose a colour that contrasts with the first one for added variation and depth in the overall burst.
Repeat the previous steps with increasingly bigger burst shapes. Choose colours that contrast and don’t worry about creating perfect replicas for each shape. The irregularity adds to the comic-book style of the superhero’s logo.