Design Tools, Graphic Design, Tips & Tricks

Chalk Effect Photoshop Tutorial

MERCEDES September 1, 2020

It’s that time of year where we start thinking about back to school. Supplies, sales and all the great designs that will go with your genius Back to school marketing plans. I thought this would be perfect timing to give you a classic chalk effect Photoshop tutorial.

The chalk effect is perfect for back to school themes. This chalk effect is also great for restaurants, farmers’ markets, and that neighborhood coffee shop vibe too! Imagine how great that big hero image will look on your website. With custom chalk text as a background. Or front and center as the feature when someone lands on your website home page.

This is a classic style that has all the great feelings of childhood but also reminds us of that hand-made charm from our favorite corner bakery.

In this tutorial, we will focus on using Photoshop brushes, filters and layer styles to achieve this beautiful, hand-drawn effect.

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RESOURCES FOR THE Chalk Effect Photoshop TUTORIAL

The dark wall texture from transparenttextures.com

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Chalk Effect Photoshop VIDEO TUTORIAL

Image References

This is a snapshot of all filters and layer styles. This is somewhat of a checklist for building this effect.

Chalk effect photoshop tutorial - layer overview

The “Artwork” layer styles and filters

Filters directly applied to the Artwork layer

Ripple Filter Settings – This will make the design look hand drawn as it roughens up the edges of the design.

Gaussian Blur Settings – This will give a softer powdery look to the chalk.

The “Artwork” Layer applied styles

Inner Shadow settings – This will give you a slightly faded look around the edges as if the chalk has been smudged.

The Outer Glow settings – This will help simulate the outer part of chalk that breaks off into powder as you draw

The Drop Shadow settings – this is a white dusty background effect.

Clipped Filter Effects

These filters are created on three separate layers and clipped into the Artwork layer.

The first layer is the cloud effect (NOT PICTURED HERE) – The cloud filter will give you an uneven dusty effect. Go to Filter>>Render>>Clouds to create this effect then clip the layer into the Artwork layer by right clicking on the layer and selecting “Create clipping mask” from the menu.

The second layer is a noise layer. This is where the gritty broken chalk texture happens. The higher the noise, the heavier the chalk texture will be. When you have your settings the way you want them click okay and clip the noise layer to the Artwork layer by right-clicking on the layer and choosing “create clipping mask” from the menu.

The third effect to round off this chalk effect Photoshop tutorial is the Fibers filter. The fibers filter will give you vertical chalk lines you see on an old painted chalkboard. This will add tons of realism to your chalk effect. Clip the fibers layer to the Artwork layer by right-clicking on the layer and choosing “create clipping mask” from the menu.