A (98)

LEARN HOW TO CREATE A RETRO CHALK TYPE

EFFECT WITHOUT THE SKINCRAWLING SCRAPING

CREATE CLASSIC TYPE

A

s we free-fall mercilessly into the halfway

point, the 2010s are fast becoming known

as the decade when we all pretended to live

in every other decade except for the one

that we’re actually in. From the 90s revival to

mid-century-tinged typefaces that proliferate the

internet, nostalgia is clearly the new black.

I’ve never believed in ‘timeless design’; beautifully

designed things are always called timeless at first

and then people eventually tire of it and inevitably it

falls out of fashion. 20 years later, in a reaction to the

current trend and swept along by a wave of nostalgia,

BACKGROUND ELEMENTS

SET THE SCENE FOR YOUR IMAGE

it becomes fashionable again and everyone calls it

timeless. It would seem, therefore, that the only way

to be timeless is, in actual fact, to be time-specific.

An example of this is chalk typography. Maligned

for years as a style reserved for cheap public houses,

chalk typography now appears on craft beer

packaging and trendy burger joints. Whereas artists

in the past had to suffer the excruciating scraping

sound of the chalkboard (even writing about it makes

my back teeth clench up), we can re-create this

classic style in Photoshop. So before it falls out of

fashion again, let’s get started!

01

CREATE THE BACKGROUND

Create the chalkboard background by

dragging the chalkboard texture into the middle of

the canvas. To fill in the empty areas, use the

Magic Wand (W) to select the areas you want to fill

and then select Content Aware Fill (Edit>Fill).

Photoshop will magically fill in these areas using

the current image.

02

BACKGROUND ADJUSTMENTS

The Content-Aware Fill tool will normally

create a fairly seamless fill. However, there may be

areas that you’ll need to tidy up by using the Clone

Stamp tool (S). Hold Opt/Alt and click the left-hand

mouse button to select the area that you want to

clone and then left-click again over the area that you

want to be hidden.

03

ADD A BORDER

Draw the outlines for

each element in Adobe Illustrator

or by hand and bring them into

Photoshop separately so that

you can adjust the composition

of the piece and control the chalk

effects one by one. Begin by

bringing the border into the

canvas. This should be a simple

shape so that it doesn’t draw too

much attention.

CREATE DIGITAL CHALK

TYPOGRAPHY

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Create the

blackboard

Progress 2: Chalk effects

Progress 3: Finishing touches

ANDY HAU

http://www.andyhau.com

@andykwhau

OUR EXPERT

I am a London-based architect and

designer and the owner of A.H.A

Design. For me, design is an escape

from the futility of modern life, not

an endorsement of it.

SOURCE FILES

The files available on FileSilo.co.uk/

bks-609 include the blackboard

background and a crumpled paper

texture for the chalk effects. The

fonts used are either standard stock

fonts available on most computers

or royalty-free fonts available from

sites such as http://www.dafont.com

Fonts:

Nymphette.ttf (www.dafont.com/nymphette.font): Lauren Thompson, Lobster 1.4.otf (www.dafont.

com/lobster.font): Paolo Impallari

Tex tures:

Chalkboard.jpg (www.flickr.com/photos/alicegop/13318243535):

Alice Keeler, CrumpledPaper.jpg (http://tinyurl.com/kfo85v3): John Ott

CREATE CLASSIC TYPE