Using Photoshop on My Magazine Cover

These are some screen shots of how I made my college magazine cover using Photoshop. 

Using the Magnetic Lasso tool I cut out the background of my image

I then made the background patterned using the fill tool but set it to pattern and chose this one. It reminds me of paper which is why I chose it. 

I then went around the image using the line tool. But I couldn't find out how to select it once it was on, and it didn't seem to have a layer of it's own. So I decided to get rid of it in the end. 

I then made a bar code on an online generator. I also added the price using the text tool. 

I then went on dafont.com and picked a font to use for my masthead. I searched for 'Art' and this one that came up. I decided not to rub it out completely to make it look like a torn piece of paper. I also removed the part so my models head was in front of the masthead but it isn't obscuring it all that much. 

Using the same method as the masthead to get my text, I deleted the background of the text using the magic wand and then put a square behind the text. I then rubbed it out using the eraser to make it look like a torn piece of coloured paper. I also tried to make the colour match the apron which is hard as the apron is many different shades of red, even whilst using the Eyedropper tool. 

I then added a Puff in the shape of a paint splat and then put a Buzz word inside

I changed the shape and colour of my puff. I made it the same colour as it was behind the slogan so that it also matched the apron. I also changed the shape again to look like torn paper.

I then added some headlines. In my research people said that they would want info on Universities so I decided to have that as the first cover line. They also wanted tips so I also included a story about how to become an artist. 

I then decided to make the background lighter and the cover lines in a darker font in order to make them more visible. 

I then decided to move everything down a little and make the masthead larger. It got a bit skewed but it's meant to be an arty magazine so I decided that it was okay. 

I decided to rotate the bar code so that I was able to put the text on because I still can't figure out how to rotate text. I got rid of the price because this is a free magazine but I added the date and Issue number. 

I also then put a grey line below the white strip of the masthead to make it slightly more like torn paper.

I then used the curve levels to make it much brighter, which I think looks better but the edges of where I cut her out are much more visible. I need to soften them somehow. 

I then used the surface blur trying to make the edges softer but it ended up looking like the image had been painted so I decided to keep it as I think it looks really cool.