"Welcome" Chalkboard Sign

My next project is to create a welcome sign for an entryway/porch area.  The measurements are 12" x 32" which is a weird size for a chalkboard, but you have to go with what you're given.

The project will not be a real chalkboard.  Instead, it's a board that will be painted black and then a printout of the sign adhered to the top.  It will be covered with a polyurethane to protect it from the weather.

Chalkboard signs are very popular now, so instead of trying to take a picture and fit the background to my needs, I found a free one someone had generously posted online.  I also gathered up some different fonts and brushes and frames that I will want to have on hand as I am designing the piece, as well as several images to serve as inspiration:

 

Adding elements

I really wanted the elements of the chalkboard to look hand drawn, and I found this image of a Popular Mechanics magazine cover.  I opened the image in a new document and traced the ribbon, then copied the paths into my working document.  The great thing about paths is that you don't have to worry about file size or resolution, since paths aren't "real" until you do something with them.  I haven't decided how to use the image yet, but this way I'll have it when I need it.

Finished

I finally finished this project a few weeks ago and sent it off to have it printed on canvas.  I'm very happy with how it turned out, although I'm not so happy with how long it took to get it done! 

Technique

After experimenting with the wrinkles, I realized I loved the look the technique gave me.  I wanted to get away from using outlines, and the fx I was using allowed me to do that.

Create Wrinkles??!!

When I think of Photoshop and wrinkles, I think "how to get rid of them," not "how to create them." But when it came to this bulldog, I needed to create them, and not with the pen tool.  Simple lines were not creating the look I wanted.

But when I was playing around with the layer effects in another project, I realized that with a combination of blending options and the smudge tool, I could "paint" the wrinkles in on the bulldog.

I used the pen tool to create a few shapes that followed the shape of the lines and filled them with the color of the dog.

Using the bevel blending option gave me the shadows and creases I needed, but too sharp a curve.  And using the smudge tool only moved the shadows around. 

What I needed was to be able to "flatten" the layer like you can "raster" a type layer, so that the layer effects were flattened.  To get around my inability to do that, I created an empty layer beneath the effected layer and merged the two.  (I copied the un-rastered layer first so I'd have a protected version.)

Then I was able to use the smudge tool to move and soften the edges and the dodge tool to lighten the shadows without worrying about the effects.

All I needed was a little work with the stamp tool.

 

 At this point I realized that I had found a way to create the natural folds that occur in the dog's face. 

Seal

Creating the seal was so far the simplest part of this project.  A few circles, get them just the right thickness, the paw, and text on a path.  They all received some sort of FX treatment.

Portrait #2 & layers trick

The second portrait was much easier and just needed a few things done. 

Here is one thing I like to do that makes life easier when working with layers: learning the shortcut for combining all visible layers into a new layer.  

Let's say I have a layer in which I want to blur the skin.  I make a copy of the main image, blur the skin, then reduce the opacity to 20%. Then I want to darken the eyelashes.  I can't do that on the 20% opacity layer.  And I can't do it on the layer underneath, because I want to be able to control the opacity of the eyelashes layer as well. 

So I make a layer that combines the main image and the 20% blur layer.  That way I have a new 100% opacity layer to work with.  There is no place on the menu to find this, you just have to memorize the shortcut:  Command, Option, Shift, E.
So:

• Command E:  merge down or merge group
• Command, Shift E:  merge visible
• Command, Option, Shift, E:  merge visible into new layer.

When you look at your history panel, you'll see that it actually calls this "Stamp Visible."

Here are the before and after.  Not much of a change, but still enhanced:

before

 

after