How to Make a YouTube Channel Art Banner With Photoshop 2021

Learn how to make a YouTube Channel Art Banner using Adobe Photoshop 2021. This YouTube channel art tutorial will walk you through the sizing and how to make your YouTube channel art banner from scratch with Photoshop.

Today, I’m gonna walk you step by step on how to make a YouTube banner for your YouTube channel using Photoshop. It’s gonna be very easy and very quick. Let’s get right into this tutorial. First thing you’re gonna need to do is download this template file. The link is in the description. It’s a free download, no email address required.

YouTube Channel Art Banner Template

This template file is gonna give you the exact dimensions that you’re gonna need for your banner. We’re going to be mainly focused on this colored area right here in the middle. Most of the content area in any of the text that we’re gonna use on our banner is gonna be centered in this area.

For my design today, I wanna split this in three equal parts. In order to split my template up, I’m going to come up here to View, New Guide Layout, and I’m gonna have Columns checked and 3 for the number of columns that I want to create, and say OK. For the content for my design, I went to unsplash.com and I got three images. And since I do tutorials and photography, that’s kind of the theme of the images I chose for my YouTube channel art banner.

How to Setup Banner Content Areas

So I wanna start from the left side and create a new layer, and then I’m going to use my marquee tool And on that new blank layer, I’m going to create a rectangle. This is the first box that I created when I added my new guides. Then we’ll fill it with a color. You can use any color. I’m going to use black in this case. I’m gonna come up here to Edit, Fill, and choose Black. I’m gonna deselect that, Command + D. I’m gonna name this layer Left Side.

I’m gonna repeat this again, create a new layer, use my marquee tool, and select this middle rectangle. I’m gonna come up here to Edit, Fill, and select White. You can use any color you want. Deselect that, Command + D. I’m gonna add another blank layer, then I’m gonna use my marquee tool and come over here and select the last rectangle, and I’m gonna fill that with gray, Edit, Fill, 50% gray. Say OK. Command + D to deselect.

How to Add Your Content

So now I have these three areas that I’m going to use for my content. Let me name these layers so I don’t confuse myself. Center, Right Side. With our left side layer selected, I’m gonna bring this image into my banner. V for the move tool and I’m gonna hold down Shift, and I’m gonna drag it up to my template. And there I have it.

The first thing on me I’m gonna do is create a smart object. I’m gonna name this Left Image, and then I’m going to right-click on that left image and say Convert to Smart Object. We’re going to be resizing that image and moving it around, so we don’t wanna lose any image quality. That’s why we make it to smart object.

Next with the image selected, we’re gonna hit Alt or Option, and the arrow tells me that I’m gonna clip that to the image below. I’m gonna press Shift and select the layer below and say Command + G, and those are grouped together This is my left group. I’m gonna hit Command or Control + T and 0. It’s a big image, so now I can see the handles and I can bring them down, making sure, of course, that this chain at the top of the toolbar is clicked to maintain aspect ratio, and I can click the checkmark to commit the changes. Notice that I’m only interested in this small portion of the image on the left side here of my YouTube channel art banner

So now I’m gonna repeat the same thing for the next two sections. I’ve got the center layer selected, I’m gonna get my image. Here’s the image I’m gonna use on the center. V for the move tool, hold my Shift key down, and drag it up to my banner, drop it in. First thing I’m gonna do is I’m gonna call this layer Center Image and right-click and say Convert to Smart Object. I’m going to hold Alt or Option and clip it to the center layer below.

Notice what happened with that image. It went within the bounds of that layer below which is the rectangle we drew. It’s good that we don’t have to do any masking. Then with help of layers and it could be masked. That’s how we did it. So now in my center image, I say Command + T + 0, grab the handles, bring it down and size it and position it to the area that I wanna use. Now that I have the center image positioned to the area I wanted to use, I can click on a check mark to commit the changes, and press Shift and click on the center layer. Hit Command + G, that is my center group.

Now I’m gonna do the same thing on the right side. I’m gonna get my last image. This is my image for the right side. Press V for the move tool, hold down Shift and drag it up to my banner, let go. I’m going to rename this Right Image and hold Alt or Option and clip it to the layer below. Hold Shift and click on the right side layer below. Hit Command + G and call this Right Group.

And now I’m gonna go back to my right image. A Command + T + 0 to see my handles. So I’m gonna position us in an area where I like. Hit the checkmark to commit. So creating all these groups helps us stay organized. If you’re getting value out of this so far, hit that like button.

How to Make Contrast and Color Adjustments

Next thing would be to check your images, like in this case, I have three different images. They’re from different shoots. So the image on the right, I think I wanna add some contrast and make some minor adjustments. So on the right group, I can add a levels adjustment, and I want to click on this icon right here which is gonna clip it to the layers below. I only want this to affect the camera image. So if wanted to add a little bit of contrast to this, just move these around a little bit to see what you like.

And for the center group, I think I wanna add some more saturation, so I’m gonna come down here to the hue and saturation adjustment layer. Click on the icon to clip it to the layers below, and I can add a little bit more color to it. I’m going to add another levels adjustment. clip it to the layers below, then we move the midpoint on this one here and make it a little bit more brighter in the midtones.

And come down to the left group, let’s add another levels adjustment layer, clip it to the layers below. And let’s just brighten it up a little bit like that. So that’s another reason to have the layers grouped together like that, so all the adjustments to each of these sections are all in one area. Let’s add some text to our youtube channel art banner.

How to Add Text to Your Template

So if turn off these groups, the right group, left group, and then right here in the center, if I turn that off, you see that it’s a safe area for logo and text. So that’s where I’m gonna put my text right in the center group. So in the center group, I have my top layer selected.

I’m gonna click on the horizontal type tool, I’m gonna type in my text. I want this text to be white and I’m gonna use Bebas Kai font, regular, type in, and I want a dot in between that. But that is option eight. Keep on adding my text here. I’m gonna reduce my font here to something like that and continue and click the checkmark to commit that. And I’m gonna use my move tool here just to move it over a little bit just for now.

Gonna add some more text. I want to add my name, then add your channel name. Let’s make it a little bit larger. I’m gonna use the same font. For this unit, I’m gonna change the color of that font to this blue, something like that. Now I think I’ll add a rectangle, something like this, and make that black and bringing everything above the rectangle of my text. Now I have text on my YouTube channel art banner.

How to Export Your Banner From Photoshop

So now my text is on my banner. I wanna make sure I save this, and now it’s time to export it off to my computer, and I’m going to export it as a PNG. You can use a JPEG if you want. These are the exact image size that the template is. I’m gonna export it off to my computer, and then we’re gonna go over to YouTube and change my YouTube banner. Now I have exported my YouTube channel art banner.

How to upload your channel art banner to Youtube

Here is the banner that I have on my channel currently. Click on my avatar right here, go to YouTube Studio, click on Customization, go to Branding, and come down here to Banner image, click on Change. Navigate to where my banner is on my computer, and it gives you an idea of how it’s gonna look, where it’s gonna be viewable. Say Done, I will click Publish, and it says my changes are published. View my channel, and here is my channel with my new banner. That is make a YouTube channel art banner.

See the previous blog article 👉 https://charlescabrera.com/small-home-photography-studio-setup/

Checkout my photography website here 👉 https://www.charlescabreraphotography.com