Hey guys! I’ve had a request a while ago on how to do something similar to this, so I decided to make a tutorial since it’s full of interesting and tricky graphic details.. have fun!

GRAPHIC TUTORIAL :

In this tutorial I used: [x] [x] [x] [x] and the template is 245 x 326 pixels.

To achieve this kind of graphic it doesn’t matter if you start by making your gif or by editing the images, but I’m gonna start off with the GIF.

[if you don’t know how to make a GIF here’s a tutorial, and if you’re a mac user here’s another tutorial]

The GIF needs to be at least 170 x 170px if you’re using the same template that I’m using, but I made it 180 x 180 just in case.. there’s always time to resize it. Now, once you’ve made your gif select ALL the frames on the Animation Window and ALL the layers like this. 

If you have Photoshop CS5 click HERE and then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

If you have Photoshop CS6, click HERE, select CONVERT TO VIDEO TIMELINE then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

Now this should be your layer situation: you should have only one layer with that little symbol on your layer icon.. if you don’t you probably have forgotten to include the PSD you used in your selection.

Once you’ve done that you have to create a New Layer, place it on top of your gif layer and then select the ROUNDED RECTANGLE TOOL in the Tools Window [x]. !!! Make sure you have THESE settings on !!!

Select the layer you’ve just created and draw a rounded rectangle similar to this one (you can use whatever color you like, it doesn’t change anything):

Drag the layer with the rectangle UNDER the gif layer [x]. Now select the GIF layer > right click > CREATE CLIPPING MASK. You should obtain this:

You can now save your gif and move on to the next image. I used the exact same technique with the image on top (the only thing that changes is the size, the image on top is 160x160px),so once you’ve added a psd and flattened the layers (Layer > Flatten Image)  follow the steps and you should obtain something like this: 

Now let’s go to the “text image”: in order to obtain that I’ve created a new 160x160px file (File > New) and I selected white as the background color. 

Then I’ve looked up some True Detective quotes on IMDB, copied them and then pasted them one by one into the file creating a new text layer for each sentence. I’ve set the font size to 10px and I’ve obtained something like this (the font is called Code Bold in case you wanted to use it):

When the file is filled with text and you’re happy with the result select ALL the text layers you’ve created and go to Layer > Merge Layers. You should have ONE text layer + the background layer after this [x].

Now take an image you like (I’ve used the one with the flying birds), open it with Photoshop, crop it and resize it to 160x160px (this is optional, but I think it looks better on the text) and drag it onto the text file. 

Select the layer of the image you’ve just dragged > right click > CREATE CLIPPING MASK [x]. Now it should look like this:

Go to Layer > Merge Visible to merge everything down to one layer. Now do the same thing I did before with the gif to obtain the rounded edges.

Once you’ve done all this you can move on to the next image, yayy!

For the last image (the bottom one) I strongly suggest you to use a horizontal image instead of a vertical one. It’ll make your life easier, trust me.

You have to resize your image to 245px of width (the height is not particularly relevant) since it’s gonna occupy the whole bottom of the template. Add a psd if you want and then flatten all the layers to have just one single layer.

Select the FREEFORM PEN TOOL [x] and make sure you have these settings on !!! [x].

Using the Freeform pen tool click where it’s shown on the image (1) and then click on the other side of the image to connect the dots (2)

Now you have to make a proper selection out of those dots and since you don’t want to miss out on any piece of this image I suggest you to use this method:

you basically have to create dots all around the image until you connect the last dot with the starting dot forming a line. Your layers should be like this now. Once you’ve finished that save the image as jpeg or PNG (as you prefer) and get ready to start with the final part of the tutorial!! Bare with me, we’re almost done!

Go to File > New and create a file which is 245 x 326px. Now open the bottom image you’ve just finished editing and drag it INTO the new file. Then place it at the bottom like this:

Now open the GIF you’ve made before, check its number of frames and go back to the file you’ve just created, click on THIS until you reach the gif’s exact number of frames (for example mine is 40, so I’ll have to repeat this action 40 times). 

Go back to your gif and select ALL its frames and ALL its layers (I suggest you to group all the layers in a folder first so that it’ll be easier after), then click on the little “arrow” on the right top corner of the Animation Window and select COPY FRAMES.

After you’ve done this go back to the other file, select ALL the frames you’ve created, click again on the little arrow and hit PASTE frames. A little window will pop up: select PASTE OVER SELECTION and hit OK.

If you haven’t grouped the gif layers now it’s definitely a good time to do it. Select the group you’ve just created and ALL the frames on the animation window too, then move the gif where you want it to be. You can use CTRL + T (cmd + t for mac) to rotate it like in my graphic and to resize it. 

Once you’ve done that set the frames time on the Animation Widow to the actual time of the original GIF’s frames.

Your graphic should now be similar to this:

Open the other 2 images and drag them into this file, use CTRL + T to resize them and rotate them as you prefer. Finally, save the GIF like you normally do and enjoy!