8 Adobe Photoshop Projects for Beginners

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful tool for creating and editing digital images, graphics and artwork. Both beginners and seasoned artists use the program for a wide range of personal and professional projects.

For those just starting out, there’s significant value in hands-on projects for developing practical skills and building a portfolio. Trying different techniques and aiming for different goals is the ideal way to learn exactly what you, and Photoshop, are capable of.

This post will provide a variety of beginner-friendly Photoshop project ideas to help you start designing with confidence.

Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Before we dive into the projects themselves, check out a few basic skill guides that can help you make the most of Adobe Photoshop:

If you’re ready to get a little more specific, try your hand of some more advanced skills:

1. Learn to Edit Photos and Create Content

Photoshop editing project featuring a photo of green and orange lantern-shaped plants on a green and white plate, sitting on a tabletop of textured white beside black and white polka dots on a green background — Kate teaches the basics of color editing and other skills in this beginner’s guide.

Class: Beginners Guide to Adobe Photoshop: The Essentials by Kate Silver

Graphic designer Kate Silver walks you through cleaning up images, altering backgrounds, editing templates and creating content for social media, including cover photos and ads.

The class begins with document setup and getting to know the interface. You’ll then move into cropping, adjusting, masking and color editing. Next are tools for retouching and working with text and effects. Kate guides you in creating banners, ads and posters before addressing templates and more specific tools.

This project is about learning, so take some risks with your shape, color and text-based choices. Kate will introduce many tools, so take a few notes about what works for you and what doesn’t.

Design Tips: As some of the project is for social media, consider designs that will stand out in a typical feed. Bright, attractive colors and pleasing shapes are preferable to clutter and tiny text.

Skill Level: This class and project are designed for beginners, though more experienced users will likely pick up a few tips from Kate.

Beginners Guide to Adobe Photoshop: The Essentials

2. Give New Life to Vintage Drawings

Two discs, each with a monochromatic, vintage drawing of a fish, one in brown, the other in green, on a woodgrain background — Evgeniya shows how to turn vintage drawings into simple, modern graphics for eye-catching collages.

Class: Create Minimalist Digital Collages from Vintage Graphics in Adobe Photoshop by Evgeniya & Dominic Righini-Brand

Graphic Designer Evgeniya Righini-Brand teaches you to create digital collages from vintage animal drawings, chart and graph imagery and vintage type. With a minimalist color palette, these graphics are ideal for wall art and print-on-demand and are perfect additions to your portfolio.

Class begins with sourcing the images for your collage and getting them into your Adobe document. Once they’re converted to smart objects, you’ll learn to create a risogram effect and clean up the image. Work with a reduced color palette, typographic elements, masking, layering and texturing before finalizing and saving your finished project.

This project teaches you to combine graphics into clean, academic-looking imagery, so resist the urge to add too many lines or letters. Think “less is more.”

Design Tips: Because the final product is meant to be minimalist, techniques like layering and texturizing are vital to creating interest without adding more objects.

Skill Level: This class is designed for intermediate Adobe Photoshop users who understand the program's basic functionality.

Create Minimalist Digital Collages from Vintage Graphics in Adobe Photoshop

3. Create Surreal Beauty from Multiple Images

Composite image of a man in casual dress and woman in a red dress sitting atop a jagged rock, next to a tree with a single red apple and surrounded by moss, against a background of sky, clouds and a flock of birds — Martin demonstrates how to make beautiful and surreal images by combining multiple photos together.

Class: Class Creative Compositing with Adobe Photoshop by Martin Perhiniak

Graphic designer Martin Perhiniak guides you through making four composite images (multiple images put together to make one image) on the theme of nature and exploration. The images may look realistic or surreal.

Class begins with discussions on inspiration and bringing image selections into Adobe Photoshop. You’ll then learn how to use tools for refining, masking, sculpting and adding depth. In addition, find out how to use Smart Objects, Healing Brushes and the Stone Clamp Tool.

This project focuses on improving technical skills for a seamless final image. That said, the more thought you give to the inspiration and imagery that works well together, the better the outcome will be.

Design Tips: Sculpting, smoothing and blending are important for making composite images believable. Shading and color correction also play a significant role.

Skill Level: This class is for anyone looking to improve their graphic design and retouching skills, from beginners to working professionals.

Creative Compositing with Adobe Photoshop

4. Create Dream Interior Designs

Photoshop interior design project featuring a home living room with modern, pink and gray furniture, pink and green walls and charcoal trim, and a doorway to an office in the background — Amy shows you how to design dream interiors for yourself or a client without being in the physical space or spending anything on decor.

Class: The Digital Room Makeover - Photoshop for Interior Design by Amy Everard

Interior designer Amy Everard guides you from taking a picture of your current space to collaging it into a dream room, all on Adobe Photoshop.

Class begins with a brief overview of Photoshop itself, then moves into selecting with a range of provided tools. Once you’ve learned to select the specific items you want to change, you’ll find out how to use layers to keep items from interacting when they shouldn’t. Then you’ll do some transforming to resize and rotate objects before collaging with images of decor items you find online.

This project is meant to guide an actual interior makeover, so use your imagination and have fun while also being realistic about what’s possible in the space.

Design Tips: Selecting, layering and collaging are the bulk of the work here. It’s how you change things, stay organized and bring it all together, so pay special attention to those aspects.

Skill Level: Anyone can take this class, from beginner DIY enthusiasts to professional interior designers.

The Digital Room Makeover - Photoshop for Interior Design

5. Turn Watercolors into Print-on-Demand Surface Designs

Six squares in a grid, two high by three wide, each with a bright floral surface pattern, some in pinks and oranges, some in blues and purples, some in reds and magentas — Cat demonstrates the entire watercolor surface pattern process, from painting to arranging the pattern in a digital format

Class: Watercolor a Seamless Pattern: Surface Design in Adobe Photoshop for Print-on-Demand by Cat Coquillette

Artist Cat Coquillette walks you through the steps of turning a hand-painted watercolor into a digitized pattern for print-on-demand items. Customers love these for wallpaper, fabrics and other home items.

Class begins with the basics of surface design, then gets into sketching, painting and digitizing your concept. After you remove the paper background, you’ll prepare the individual elements of the concept to be arranged in a pattern. Finally, you’ll put the whole thing into a new document and tweak any color or accents that need it.

This project requires the core design to blend seamlessly as a repeating pattern, so defining the block and ensuring it’s the correct size tend to be among the trickiest yet more important parts.

Design Tips: You’ll use the hue and saturation settings to bring the color of the physical painting into the digital version. Then, you’ll find the Pattern Fill Tool essential for making your pattern repeat seamlessly.

Skill Level: This class is designed for beginner, intermediate and advanced surface designers, and anyone interested in art licensing.

Watercolor a Seamless Pattern: Surface Design in Adobe Photoshop for Print-on-Demand

6. Show Off Your Work with Mockups

Split screen, the left with a pink, red, coral and green floral pattern, the right with a toddler standing in overalls made of fabric in that pattern; pinkish text boxes read “showcase your artwork, make your own mockups in Adobe Photoshop” in the lower left of the image — Maja teaches you to digitally apply your designs to a range of potential products, inspiring customers to purchase your artwork.

Class: Showcase Your Artwork - Make Your Own Mockups | in Adobe Photoshop by Maja Faber

Surface pattern designer Maja Faber shows you how to make professional, realistic-looking mockups of your artwork. This means your patterns and designs will be applied to images of fabric, walls, cups, gear and other items so that potential customers can see what it might look like before buying.

Class begins with finding photos on which to apply your art. You’ll prepare your work and place it on the image, then play with texture, perspective and color to make everything look realistic. After getting into more detailed edits, your mockup will be ready to share.

This project needs to make your artwork appear as a real part of a product, be it a pillow or a paddle board. Consider what items will best suit your style and technique.

Design Tips: The displace filter is vital to fitting the pattern to soft objects such as clothes and bedding.

Skill Level: This class is best for those with a basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop and its main features and tools.

Showcase Your Artwork - Make Your Own Mockups | in Adobe Photoshop

7. Create a Four Color Separation

Open Adobe Photoshop color separation project featuring a hexagon split into overlapping circles, triangles and parallel lines of blue, yellow and purple, and where the layers have been slightly shifted to be off-register

Class: Creating a Simple Color Separation: Adobe Photoshop Basics by Mel Rye

Artist Mel Rye demonstrates how to create an interesting geometric design in a simple color palette for posters, textiles and other modern designs. The color separation technique gives the design a slightly mid-20th-century feel while leaving room for more updated colors and shapes.

Class begins with the physical drawing tools you’ll need and how to use them for a geometric design. Then you’ll digitize the drawing to apply the layers for color separation. Next, you’ll play with the layers, creating off-register spaces and overlaps. Finally, you get to tweak the colors so that the final product is exactly as you want it.

This project is simple but leads to a look all its own. You can even repeat the design with different colors, overlaps and off-register alignment for a series of graphics in personal or professional projects.

Design Tips: Working with layers is the main focus of this project. You’ll want to ensure that your layers are visible in the toolbar so that you can stay organized as you work.

Skill Level: This class is fully accessible to Adobe Photoshop beginners, and you don’t even need expert drawing skills. Simple tools, like rulers and protractors, allow you to make a wide range of accurate, geometric shapes.

Creating a Simple Color Separation: Adobe Photoshop Basics

8. Add Touches of Whimsy to Photographs

Open Adobe Photoshop project of a photograph of a grassy hillside, looking up the hill toward a rounded stone building with a pointed roof next to a tower; in the foreground are hand-drawn characters in white outline of young girl, a small, owlish character and a large, tear-drop shaped character with leaves for wings — Mimi teaches you to add touches of hand-drawn fantasy to photographs of real life and places in Adobe Photoshop.

Class: A Make Believe Reality: Digital Drawing on Photography with Photoshop by Mimi Chao

Illustrator Mimi Chao guides you through enhancing photographs of the real world with whimsical, fantastic characters using layer editing in Adobe Photoshop.

Class begins with a general introduction, then diving right in to selecting the best photo for your project. Next you’ll edit the photo to prepare it for drawn enhancements. Mimi talks you through drawing right onto the digitized photograph, and then editing everything put together.

This project is about imagination juxtaposed with reality, so don’t worry too much about getting bogged down in the technical.

Design Tips: Masking, blending and transforming are just some of the tools you can use to draw on your photographs. What exactly you choose depends on your style and artistic goals.

Skill Level: This class is ideal for beginners who want to explore their imaginations and try different Adobe Photoshop tools and techniques.

A Make Believe Reality: Digital Drawing on Photography with Photoshop

Grow Your Photoshop Skills with Skillshare

Exploring Adobe Photoshop through these beginner-friendly projects can help you build practical skills and create portfolio pieces, as well as become more comfortable with the program's massive range of features and tools.

You should try these projects and experiment with Photoshop’s tools to develop your own unique design style. You might feel as if you’re just copying what other artists do, but eventually, with practice and experimentation, your own aesthetic and message will come through.

Spend time exploring more Adobe Photoshop tutorials, templates and design ideas for continued learning and inspiration. New blogs, classes and learning paths are added all the time, so you’re sure to find new guidance as your skills advance.

Written By

Katie Mitchell

Katie lives in Michigan with her husband, kids and pets. She enjoys cooking, travel and live music.