Photoshop Tutorial: How to Create a Fun, Retro, Chalkboard Card

standard: en

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Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a fun,

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retro, image that you can customize for someone you know.

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I provided a Photoshop file that includes this blackboard and two textures.

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The file is located in the video description or project files.

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Change the Blend Mode of
the top layer to "Multiply" and reduce its

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opacity to 50%. Click the thumbnail of "Scratches
2" to make that layer active and change its

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Blend Mode to "Darken".

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Open a photo you'd
like to use to place over the chalkboard.

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I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.com.
We need to separate the subject from its background

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by first making a selection around the subject.
For this example, I'll use the Quick Selection

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Tool and 10 pixels for its size.

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I'll drag the tool over my subject to select it.

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To remove areas of the selection, I'll press
and hold Alt or Option and drag over those

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areas. To refine the selection around her
hair, I'll go to Select and Refine Edge.

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I did an in-depth tutorial on the Refine Edge
Tool, so I won't be going over all the features here.

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I'll check Smart Radius. To adjust the size of your brush, press the left or right arrow key on your keyboard.

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Now, I'll brush over the hair.

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I'll output it as a Layer Mask and click OK.

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Notice a layer mask of the selection
was placed next to the layer. Press "v" to

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open your Move Tool and drag it onto the tab
of the chalkboard document. Without releasing

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your cursor, drag it down onto the chalkboard
and release.

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To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.

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Press Ctrl or Cmd + 0 to see the Transform's entire bounding box.

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Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal,
double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option

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+ Shift as you drag it in or out. When you've
resized and positioned your subject, press

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Enter or Return. To see your document at 100%,
press Ctrl or Cmd + 1.

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We'll convert it into a Smart Object,

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which allows us to modify
it non-destructively. To do this, click the

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small icon at the top, right of the Layers
panel and click "Convert to Smart Object".

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Click the Adjustment layer icon and click
"Hue/Saturation".

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Drag the Saturation all the way to the left.

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Click the thumbnail of your subject to make it active

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and click the "fx" icon. Click "Drop Shadow".

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The Blend Mode is "Multiply", the color is black and

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make the opacity: 40%. Uncheck "Global Light.
The angle of your drop shadow should be consistent

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with the angle of the light on your subject.
For example, since the shadows on this subject

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are mostly down and to the right, I'll make
sure the angle of the line in the circle is

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pointing in that direction, as well. Make
the Distance: 180 pixels and the Size: 18 pixels

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Go to Filter, Noise and "Add Noise".

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Make the Amount: 15% and "Uniform".

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We're ready to add text.

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Make the Background layer active,

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and open your Horizontal Type Tool. Choose Left Alignment

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and go to Window and Character. Your Character
panel will open. Choose a font. I'm using

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"Air Americana Regular". I provided links
to this font and another I'll be using later.

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For this font, I'll make the size 120 points,
however, you may want to use a different size

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depending on the font you use and the amount
of characters in your text. Click the color

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box and for Brightness, type in 80%. Then,
click OK.

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Click on your document and type your text.

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To make a character bigger, highlight
it and drag the Size icon to the right. To

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lower or raise the character, slide the "Baseline
Shift" icon to the left or right. To adjust

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the space between characters, click between
those characters and press and hold Alt or

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Option as your press the right or left arrow
key on your keyboard. We'll convert your text

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into a Smart Object, so in case we want to
change or modify it, we won't have to

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redo all the effects. To do this, click your
Move Tool and go to Layer,

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Smart Objects and

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Convert to Smart Object. To angle your line
of text, open your Transform Tool,

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go to a corner and when you see a curved, double-arrow, rotate it to an angle you like and position

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it. Then, press Enter or Return. Click the
"fx" icon and click "Drop Shadow".

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Reduce the opacity to 70% and uncheck Global Light. The Angle should be 120 degrees. Make the

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Distance 24 pixels and the Size: 0. Then,
click OK.

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Click on your document again and pick another font.

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I'm using "Honey Script
Semi Bold". I'll type in a temporary size

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of 50 points and make the Baseline Shift: 0.

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Type out your text. Highlight your text,

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resize it to your liking and adjust its kerning.
To reposition it, click your Move Tool and

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move it. If you want to italicize it, click
the "Faux Italic" icon.

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Click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel

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and click "Convert to Smart Object".

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Click the "fx" icon

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and click "Drop Shadow".

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Make the opacity: 70% and uncheck "Global Light".

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Make the Distance: 23 pixels,

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the Spread: 100% and the Size:
7 pixels. Click Stroke. Make the Size: 6 pixels

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and the Position: Outside. Click the color box

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and click on the chalkboard next to your text

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to pick up the chalkboard's color. Then,
click OK on both windows.

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Use your Transform Tool to angle, reposition and resize your text.

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Notice its covering the text below it.

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I'd like to reverse their positions, so I'll
go to the Layer panel and drag the top text

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layer below the other text layer.

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To reposition it, just drag it.

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We can close the Character panel, now.

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Click the New Layer icon to make
a new layer. Let's name it "Border".

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Change its Blend Mode to "Dissolve"

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and make its opacity: 90%.

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Open your Brush Tool, make the Size: 8 pixels

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and the Hardness: 100%. Click
the gear icon and click "M Brushes".

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When you see this message, click OK to replace the current brushes with the M brushes.

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Click the gear icon again and choose "Small List".

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Click the "square char" brush and make its size: 8 pixels.

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Click the foreground color and for Brightness, type in 70%.

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Go near the top, left corner of your document

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and press and hold Shift as you drag a line across to

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approximately the same distance from the edge
of your document. Then, release. Press and

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hold Shift again and drag another line straight
down. Continue to do this until you've made

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a rectangular border.

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Next, I'll show you
how to add a cartoon drawing to the chalkboard.

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Scroll to the bottom and make a new layer.

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Name it whatever you like.

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Change its blend mode to "Dissolve"

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and make its opacity 90%. Invert the foreground and background colors

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by pressing "x" on your keyboard or by clicking this icon.

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Click the foreground color and for Brightness, type in 5.

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This makes your
brush almost black. Then, click OK.

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Go to an area you'd like to make your cartoon and draw whatever you'd like. We'll fill it in

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with a light grey in a moment. Make a new
layer below your drawing. To do this Ctrl-click

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or Cmd-click on the New Layer icon and then name it.

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Change the Blend mode to "Dissolve".

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Invert the colors and loosely brush in areas
inside your cartoon.

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Lastly, I'll show you how to reposition your text and cartoon altogether.

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The layer that should be presently active

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is the inside of your cartoon. Shift-click
on the top text layer which will highlight

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all the layers in-between. Now, when you drag
it, all the layers will move together.

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This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.

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Thanks for watching!