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First we are going to create a very simple preset vector shape. After you select your preset tool, change your material palettes to the colors you would like to use.
I set my line width to 30 in the vector properties, but this will vary depending on how much chalking you want.
Next if you are making a tag or want to cut out any area to add additional chalking to, make a vector circle using the same colors as the rectangle, draw out your circle and position where you want it.
Next convert your Vector layer to a Raster Layer, this basically means the rest of your tools will now work on this image!! ļ We need to remove the inside of the circle, so pick you selection tool set to RGB Value, 0 Tolerance, Check Contiguous, 0 Feather, and check Anti-alias then cut.
Now we need to copy the green outline to a layer of it¡¦s own so select it using RGB Match Mode, and uncheck Contiguous so that it selects all the green areas. Right click on the layers palette and choose Promote Selection to layer.
Here I positioned these two layer images side by side to show you how we also will need to fill the rectangle area that was green to the same color as the inner part was. Leave your selection ants active and activate the rectangle layer, Modify Expand your selection by 1 and bucket fill with your background color (tan). There are many ways to fill this selection with color, so feel free to use whichever method you prefer.
Ex: Lock Transparency on your layer (the little padlock) and just paint in the tan color is another way. Just remember your painting is underneath the green outline.Now back on your green outline layer select it again (if you unselected your image) go to Modify and Contract your selection. I contracted my to 18 since my original line width was 20. Now invert your selection and it almost appears that your marching ants left your rectangle shape, but you see them around the whole canvas!!! Don¡¦t worry they are there dancing in the background.
Next I picked Gaussian Blur and set it to 9, you can choose to set this however looks good on your project.
This is great but my blur runs outside of my tan image, so deselect your image and reselect your tan image, invert the selection and go back to your green layer and cut. This cleans up your edges. Here are my before and after images.
Ok¡Klets take this further yet shall we!! Probably the most confusing thing is, knowing which layer to select and then which layer you actually need to apply the effect to.
With practice, playing and knowledge this now comes naturally to me and hopefully to you also¡K. ƒº It actually is such a second nature to do this I forget to add the selection steps in my tutorials and then catch myself later and add them in!!
I selected my tan image layer, then I went back to my green image layer and Using the Effects Menu>Texture Effects>apply the Sandstone effect.
Now I will be the first one to admit, sometimes the settings, colors choices elude me and my mindset. Many times I try to save a preset, thinking that I found the prefect combination just to have it look totally different on another image!! But with my color choice of Green, these are the settings that I liked the best. A nice little trick is to roll the dice, find one that is close to what you like and then play with the settings to your needs.
This adds a sort of mixed up/uneven appearance to your blurred image.
You can stop at any time during this tutorial when you like your image. This is not a 100% perfect science. I am just adding different suggestions and ideas as so many times people forget about all the additional options you have. I know that PS does all this for you in its style layers and actions. That is truly why I think PSP is adapted towards people like you and I, who really want to LEARN how to do something!! ļ Because knowledge is power and the more you learn, you can apply that knowledge to more and more images and ideas. After awhile it just sort of comes to you, you know what needs to be done to make something work!
I am going to add yet another step Effects>Texture Effects>Texture
Wow I like this chalked looking edge, it has a texture to it!! You can once again play with the settings to find what you like I applied the settings above to my image.
Next I am going to play with my layers and blend modes. I am going to make a new layer and bucket fill the new layer (with my selection still active around my tan image) I choose a pattern fill that had a canvas type appearance.
Now change the Blend Mode on this layer and adjust the Opacity to see which one you like¡K
Don¡¦t forget that you can also change the colors of any image layer by Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Hue/Saturation/Lightness. Here are some samples of what I came up with. All starting with just my first tan and green tag!! All I did was to adjust the colors, opacity and blend modes, now how easy it that!!
I don¡¦t know about you, but I am having fun with this¡Khehehehe
Also remember this technique can be applied to any image, text, or even the edges of a photo if you just take the time to make the outside line edge. Here is a neat trick to make your selections fit your needs. Open a photo or anything¡Kselect it with All Opaque, now go to Selections>Modify>Select Selection Borders, on my paper background image I choose the setting of 20.
If you can¡¦t see what you are selecting, use the little four-way arrow on any of the dialog boxes and you can move your image around to see which area it is affecting. You can also click on the Maximize button and this will enlarge your window to fit your screen and it works like any other window on Windows operating systems. You can also minimize again¡K
You will now see that your selection area has grown by 20 pixels, create a new layer and bucket fill this with the color of your choice. I filled mine with a matching blue as in my flowers.
Modify>Contract 18 (again I used 18 as I created a size 20 outline) Invert, Gaussian Blur and this time I wanted a larger blur so I used 25 for my blur.
Oh I almost forgot¡Kthere is another tool that really is cool for chalked edges¡KThe Lighten/Darken brush¡K.TaaDaa!! With this tool you can left click to lighten and right click to darken. I used this tool on the layer that would have my chalked edge.
Make sure the Mode is set to Lightness and I always uncheck the Continuous stroke because I want my strokes to overlap and vary the effects.
Below you can see how this adds to the uneven edges of your chalk line.
Here is a sample of text that I chalked up
Well that¡¦s it for today!! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it helps you too chalk it up in your digital layouts!!
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