DIY | Photoshop Chalkboard

Tweet this!

I've seen a few tutorials online for creating pencil-like and chalk-like drawings, images, and words using various brushes and downloadable tools.

But then I was on the train for an hour, wanting to create a Wish List and draw arrows using a "pencil," and unable to get online and download anything.

Sometimes when we're sans-internet, we curse the internet gods. Sometimes, it makes us get creative and figure-sh*t-out.

How-Do-Ya-Do-It?

For this example, I started with a wood background, so that my chalkboard would appear to have been framed. To do this, choose a dark brown color and use the bucket tool to fill the background. Then, also select a lighter brown color (think coffee with cream). Select Filter>Render>Fibers. I used "Variance" = "43" and "Strength" = "64"

Chalkboard:

1. Choose a dark gray ("slate"-like) color and create a box shape that is slightly smaller than the wood background.

2. Duplicate this shape so that there are three dark gray boxes. Name them Chalkboard 1 (bottom layer), Chalkboard 2, and Chalkboard 3 (top layer).

3.  Select Chalkboard 2. In addition to the dark gray slate color, add another gray that is significantly lighter.  Then go to Filter > Render > Fibers and make the "Strength" = "1" and the "Variance" = "9"

Note: You may be asked to rasterize the shape. Click OK.

4. Change the Opacity of Chalkboard 2 to 40%.

5. Select Chalkboard 3 and go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds and choose Darken Only.  Note: if your second gray color was not light enough, this may not make much of a difference. Feel free to repeat Filter>Render>Difference Clouds to make this more apparent, if you'd like.

6. Change the Opacity of Chalkboard 3 to ~15% (here I used 13%).

Chalk writing:

1. Create a new layer and choose a pencil tool with the following specs, then draw to your heart's desire...

Size = "1px," Hardness = "0%," Opacity = "35%," Color = Light Gray Variation (you can always make it darker by making it more opaque later).

2. Select Filter>Stylize>Diffuse and choose "Darken Only"