We've learned how to create and use photo clipping masks and now I want to introduce you to artistic clipping masks. Learning to make this kind of mask is an advanced skill, so I won't be teaching you how to make them in this class, but I've included several artistic masks in your class downloads.

Let's start with three important artistic mask rules. Never add a layer style to artistic clipping masks. You may be tempted to add a drop shadow like the one you see here. But a mask is like paint, it doesn't have a drop shadow. So just say no to any layer style. This rule is one of those immutable rules you should never ever, ever break.

The second rule is to never show a straight edge inside the mask boundary. The photo or paper needs to cover all the mask edges.

The third rule is to use only one artistic mask per project. Unless you really know what you're doing, it'll look awful. If you're more advanced, you might be able to fudge this rule on occasion, but I don't recommend it for beginners.

So now that we know the rules, let's talk about three styles of artistic masks. Some masks like this one are mostly opaque. If you zoom way in, you can see a few small transparent lines inside this mask. But for the most part, it's opaque. The opacity of the mask affects the photo. The more opaque a mask is, the more invisible the photo will be when it's clipped to the mask. Some masks have varying degrees of opacity within the mask itself. This will affect the opacity of whatever you clip to it. A photo clipped to this mask will show up the best over the darker areas and less over the lighter areas because they're more transparent.

Some masks incorporate designs. This one has swirls and type as well as some grungy spots throughout. With masks like this you must keep them proportional when you resize them or the design will look either stretched or squished. I'll press Escape to get out of the Transform. You'll find all three of these masks in the Part 4 lesson four practice folder. Let's try them out.

Besides the three masks, you'll also need to open the photo called dandylion-wish.jpg and the layered file called make-a-wish.psd from the same practice folder. Start with the layered make-a-wish.psd file. Notice there are several paper layers already in the file and the top layer labeled White is hidden. Click on the visibility icon of the top layer to reveal the white layer and make sure it's the active layer. From the Photo Bin click and drag the Mask One image onto your layered document. Activate the dandylion-wish.jpg photo and close the Photo Bin.

Using the Move tool, click and drag the photo image onto the make-a-wish.psd file via the tab to maintain the original size of the photo. Press Shift as you let go of the mouse to make it land in the center of your document.

In the Menu Bar, choose Layer, Create Clipping Mask. Move the photo so you can see the girl's face well. And then in the Layers panel, click on the Mask One layer to make it the active layer and get the Transform Tool, Ctrl T in Windows or Command T on a Mac. Many masks like this one don't have to be resized proportionally. So click and drag from any handle. I'm going to bring this up just a little bit and this down slightly. Then click on the green checkmark to commit the change.

And let's move her down just a little bit inside of that mask. Now let's see what happens when we change the background. I'll click on the visibility icon of the white layer. And now we can see the green paper. Here's some paper with type. And here's a dark brown paper. I also included a layer with a plain color that closely matches her shirt, and that gives a fun effect. So the color or paper behind the mask is something to consider. You'll want it to match the photo well. Now experiment with each of the masks yourself. When you clip your own photos to the masks, you'll want to choose the one that works the best with your photo for whatever purpose you have in mind.

Here's a second type of mask, one that has different amounts of opacity. That means part of the photo will be transparent, showing part of the background, as you can see with the type layer. See how the type shows through, especially here at the bottom. If I use the brown paper, it almost looks like the photo has dirt on it, but the solid color matches pretty well.

Now let's look at the third mask. It has very transparency and some transparent areas of pattern and type on it allowing us to see the white color behind it. Here's how it looks with the photo clipped to it. You have to be a little careful not to have odd transparent areas over an important focal point, like right here on the face. So that's a problem with this clipping mask. There are ways to compensate for that, which I'll talk about in a future lesson. But for now, let's try something different.

Why not clip something else to this clipping mask, like paper? Unclip the photo by pressing Alt in Windows or Option on a Mac, and clicking on the line between the two layers. Click on the visibility icon of the photo layer to hide it. Click and drag the green paper above the clipping mask and clip it to the mask layer. Click on the mask layer and access the Transform tool. To keep the mask proportional, I'll press Alt in Windows or Option on a Mac and click and drag from a corner handle. I could completely fill the background with a mask but I kind of like seen some white above and below the mask. So I'll go ahead and commit this. I could try a different background on this but I really like the contrast of white and green so I'll leave the white background.

Here's my finished background in photo. I clipped the photo to a regular photo clipping mask and added a title. So that's how to use an artistic Clipping Mask. Just remember to follow the three rules. Never add a layer style to artistic clipping masks, never show a straight edge inside the mask, and use only one artistic mask per project. Now it's your turn to give it a try.