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Stamp Photoshop Tutorial

Tutorials / Photo Effects , September 18th, 2011

Learn how to create a Photoshop stamp effect from this easy to follow tutorial. In just a few simple steps you can obtain a realistic mail stamp and also a stamped effect that can be applied to any image. I will use some Photoshop basics but also more advanced techniques like creating outlines with Work Path or adding effects with Filters.

If you want to skip some steps you can use stamp brushes instead of creating one from the scratch. As for the font used you can replace it with a free Photoshop stamp font. For all our registered users we giveaway the PSD file. I really hope you will find this tutorial useful enough to share it with your friends. And as a plus I will release a stamp action to help you create mail stamps even faster, so stay tune.

First open in a new psd file the photo that you want to transform into stamp. I have choosen my own blog mascot but it looks just as beautiful with any other image. Call this layer Photo Layer.

Add a simple 1px #907e60 border to this photo. Open the layer style window and check Stroke, 1px, outside and the color, as I've said, is #907e60.

With the Rectangle Tool draw a white shape like in the image, call it Photo Frame Layer. Select the two layers and with the Move Tool selected press Align Vertical Center and Align Horizontal Centers so that you center the two layers. Merge the two layers and call the new layer, Stamp Layer.

Add some text that describes the stamp. I have choosed Georgia Font Family but you can always search for a stamp font on the internet. Select the Stamp Layer and all the Text Layers and merge the. You have to rasterize the text layers first otherwise the Merge will not work.

Now comes the step where we transform the photo into a stamp. Select the Eraser Tool, choose a Hard Round Brush, size 15px.

Toggle the Brush Panel, select Brush Tip Shape and set the Spacing to 167% just like in the image.

Be sure you have the Eraser Tool and the Stamp Layer selected. Press SHIFT and simply draw a line around the edges of the stamp. The SHIFT pressed will help you draw straight lines in Photoshop. You should know that you can't make this border with a single move. You have to make 4 different lines with the Eraser Tool.

Another method, much faster, is to use Work Paths. Press CTRL and click the tumbnail of the Stamp Layer. Now the Stamp is selected. With the Restangular Marquee Tool selected right click on the selection and choose Make Work Path.

Make sure you have the Eraser Tool selected. Go to the Path Tab and right click on the Work Path and choose Stroke Path. You will obtain a beautiful stamp effect.

So the stamp is now looking good. For more imapct open the Layer Style Window and add Drop Shadow (black, multiply, 35 %, angle 120, distance 3, spread 0 and size 2 px)

To make it look more realistic I will stamp it. For that make another blank layer and call it Stamped Effect. We will use Work Path to create a nice realistic stamp.

Select the Brush Tool and choose a 9px hard round brush, color black. Return to the Work path and choose Stroke Path like in the previous step, but this time, instead of Eraser Tool we will use the Brush Tool.

Resize the Work Path (CTRL+T) to 50% and reapeat the same procedure to obtain two black outlined circle.

Create a new layer, called Black Lines and draw several black horizontal lines with the Brush Tool. If you don't know how you can check out my tutorials for beginners.

With the Black Lines layer selected go to Filter, Distort and choose Waves with the following settings. You will obtain beautiful curved lines.

Resize the both layers and change their blending mode to Dissolve. Merge the two layers under one layer called Stamp Effect.

To remove the areas that exceed the stamp simply select the Photo Stamp Layer(press CTRL and click the Photo Stamp Layer thumbnail). Select the Stamp Effect Layer and press Add Layer Mask. Now you see that a part from the stamp effect is now hidden.

For the final touches you can use the Eraser Tool, spatter default brush and erase parts of the stamp effect and lower the opacity of the layer to 80%. If you don't want to create the stamped effect yourself you can use one of the many Photoshop Stamp Brushes available for free on the internet

To obtain a vintage stamp look I have used an old paper mask. You can choose a beautiful vintage old paper. You can now create your own customized envelope stamps, stamp icons and so on, using the power of Photoshop.

All our registered users can download the stamp PSD file for free.

DOWNLOAD!(1.07MB)

Here are some premium resources that you might want to try to create a great stamp effect customized and unique. Download the vector postal stamps in PSD fully layered formatand also the great rubber stamp generator.