<\/h2>\n1. Get\u00a0Familiar With Facebook’s Requirements for Cover Images<\/h2>\n
There are some basic things you need to know in order to get the most out of your cartoon facebook cover design project.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Your image must be exactly 851×315 pixels<\/strong> otherwise Facebook will try to crop or resize it which will result in an obvious\u00a0disparity between your design project and the final result on your facebook profile page.<\/li>\n
- Your profile picture on your facebook page is displayed as 160×160 pixels<\/strong> which is a perfect square. Facebook requires you to upload atleast a 180×180 pixels<\/strong> image. This is the minumum image size they accept. You can upload\u00a0your image in any size above 180×180 pixels<\/strong>,\u00a0just make sure it’s a perfect square.<\/li>\n
- Facebook adds a thin solid white border around your profile picture and there is nothing you can do about that. Your only option\u00a0is to incorporate it in your design.<\/li>\n
- Facebook adds a black to transparent gradient at the bottom of every cover image.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20152539\/Facebook_Cover_Photo_Template_GM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBefore we get started with the actual tutorial we\u00a0took some time to prepare a\u00a0template for you to work with, just to make things much\u00a0easier.<\/p>\n\t\tDownload the Photoshop Template File<\/a>\n\t\n
<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Getting Ready<\/h2>\n
<\/h3>\n
Step 1:<\/strong> Be Creative<\/h3>\n
This is the part where you get the chance to express yourself through your facebook profile page. You can do pretty much anything but since we are making cartoon facebook\u00a0cover image, we chose one of our resources from GraphicMama – Mike Millennial<\/a>. He is young professional and full of energy and comes in diferent poses to work with, just as any\u00a0other resource on our website.<\/p>\n
Step 2:<\/strong> Prepare The Resources You Are Going to Work With<\/h3>\n
The idea for our cartoon facebook cover image is\u00a0to make Mark\u00a0stand behind his profile picture while holding it with his hands. We also want to place him one more time on the right side, this time holding a blank paper behind the facebook buttons, ovelapping\u00a0the cover.<\/p>\n
These are Mark’s poses we decided to use:<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n![\"Mark's](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20122011\/1-normalemotions-126x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUsed for Mark’s profile picture<\/p>\n
\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20152823\/95-presentation-6presentations.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUsed for the profile picture holding effect<\/p>\n
\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n![\"And](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20122009\/82-sign-1presentations-227x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUsed for the cover buttons effect<\/p>\n
\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n
For the cover’s background, we used an office illustration<\/a> from\u00a0Nikki’s bonus poses.<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\n
3.\u00a0Design Phase of the Cartoon Facebook Cover and Profile Pic<\/h2>\n
It’s time to put the resources we’ve gathered in use.<\/p>\n
<\/h3>\n
Step 1:<\/strong>\u00a0Open The Cover Photo Smart Object<\/h3>\n
Open the template file you\u00a0just downloaded and open the smart object called Cover Photo<\/strong> by double-clicking on it’s icon<\/strong> in the layers panel.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20130611\/open_smart_object_photoshop1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOnce you’ve done that another file will be opened in Photoshop. This file\u00a0is the exact same size your cover image should be – 851×315 pixels<\/strong>. This is the place where we are going to design our cover.
![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20140134\/inside_smart_object2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou will notice some light blue lines crossing the document. If you don’t see them, go to View -> Show -> Guides <\/strong>and they will appear. These guides indicate where the profile picture and it’s border will overlap the cover image.\u00a0For your convenience we’ve highlighted that area in red on the picture above. Everything that ends up in this area\u00a0will\u00a0be hidden from the profile pic.<\/p>\n
The line that’s close to the bottom of the document plays the role of a safe area for your name and the buttons facebook places over the covers. If you want these to be on a solid color background, for example, this line will guide you. In our case we are going to use it to position Mark and his blank paper behind the buttons.<\/p>\n
<\/h3>\n
Step 2:<\/strong> Put Mark Behind The Profile Picture<\/h3>\n
In order for Mark to be able to hold the profile picture without his hands ending up hidden behing it, we need to create another border, slightly bigger than the one facebook will add.\u00a0This can be easily done by creating a rectangle around the outter profile picture guide.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20141519\/mike_behind_profile_pic3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNow that we have something Mark can hold onto, we simply place his hands over the white rectangle and his body behind it. Make sure his hands are not in the profile picture area.<\/strong> If you leave his hands there, he might lose a finger or two.<\/p>\n
<\/h3>\n
Step 3: <\/strong>Bring Mark Number 2 Into The Picture<\/h3>\n
The green area on the image below indicates where your name and cover buttons are going to be. You can make it solid color if you want, it is always an option, just remember that facebook also applies a black to trasnaprent gradient on the bottom of the cover images, so your name would be visible even if you upload image with white background.
![](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20143213\/name_safe_area1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHere we need to make sure Mark’s blank paper is slightly over that guide line near the bottom. You may have to redo this step once or twice until you get the perfect result.<\/p>\n
![\"cover_buttons\"](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20143508\/cover_buttons.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Step 4:<\/strong> Add a\u00a0Background<\/h3>\n
Since Mark is a business boy, we decided that\u00a0an office environment will suit him well.<\/p>\n
- Your profile picture on your facebook page is displayed as 160×160 pixels<\/strong> which is a perfect square. Facebook requires you to upload atleast a 180×180 pixels<\/strong> image. This is the minumum image size they accept. You can upload\u00a0your image in any size above 180×180 pixels<\/strong>,\u00a0just make sure it’s a perfect square.<\/li>\n
![\"background\"](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20144150\/background.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"cover_ready\"](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20144953\/cover_ready.jpg\" "\\"cartoon")
<\/p>\n![\"profile_pic\"](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20145947\/profile_pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"cartoon](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20152049\/ready.jpg\" "\\"cartoon")
<\/p>\n![\"Free](\"https:\/\/i.graphicmama.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/14144158\/free-photoshop-brushes-textures-and-patterns.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"