Craft a Vintage Postage Stamp in Photoshop

Author: Jan Cavan, Category: Photoshop, Tutorials

In this easy, step-by-step Photoshop tutorial, we will learn how to craft a Realistic Vintage Postage Stamp. This is a pretty simple tutorial making use of basic to intermediate Photoshop techniques and features such as masking, creating your own custom brush, configuring brush presets and color adjustments.

Final Product:

Materials Needed:

Grunge Brushes 8 Brush Set
Scratch Texture Brushes
Postage Photoshop Brushes

Truck Photo from SXC.hu (Optional)
Constantia typeface (Optional)

1. Launch Photoshop and create a new document with dimensions 489×312. Document size can change depending on how large or small you would like the final product to be.

2. Choose a background for the first layer. Here, I have used an old paper background to match the stamps.

3. On a new layer, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to draw a rectangular selection as shown on the image below.

4. Fill the selection with a white background using the Gradient Tool (G).

5. Now, let us create the sides of the stamp. We will be creating our own brush. Let us first set aside our document and create a new document with dimensions 151×149. Using the Pen Tool (P), draw a shape as shown on the photo below.

Note: Make sure you hold down the ALT/Option key on each Anchor Point to have more control on the shape we are trying to draw. For the areas wherein we need to draw a straight line, don’t forget to hold down the ALT/Option and Shift keys.

6. Right click outside the shape we just created at hit on Make Selection. One we have a selection, fill it with the color black using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).

7. Let us now convert the shape into a brush by hitting on Edit > Define Brush Preset. Name this new brush ‘stamp’ and hit OK.

8. Let us now create the jagged sides of our stamp by using the Eraser Tool (E). Select the brush we just created, open the Brush Presets panel by hitting on Window > Brushes or F5 and apply these settings.

9. Run our eraser over the top portion first to create the jagged edges on the top area of our stamp. Don’t forget to hold down the Shift Key to create a straight line. We should now have something like this.

10. To create the jagged edges on the left, right and bottom sides, don’t think we have to rotate the stamp or the canvas itself. On the Brush Presets panel, notice that crosshair on the right side. Move your cursor over the crosshair and notice that when you click and drag on that little arrow on the crosshair, you can actually move the angle of the brush.

The little window at the bottom of the Brush Presets panel also serves as a guide to show us how the brush looks like with the chosen angle.

11. Move our eraser over to the left, right and bottom sides of the stamp to create jagged edges around our stamp.

12. Let us apply a slight gradient to our stamp to give it a hint of vintage. Use the settings below. Use the color #f0e6d1 for the top and #f2eee4 for the bottom.

Also, using one of the grunge brushes we downloaded, add some slight hints of grunge over our stamp. We should now have something like this:

13. Open the truck photo we downloaded in Photoshop. Drag it to our document. Draw a selection over it and make sure it is smaller than the size of our stamp.

14. Hit the Mask icon.

We should now have something like this:

15. Using our Brush Tool (B), select from any of the scratch brushes we downloaded. Make sure that from the Layers panel, the mask is being selected and that the Foreground Color is set to #000000. Hit on the car image.

16. Let us adjust the color of our image to give it a more vintage look. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue and Saturation and apply these settings.

17. Let us edit the image a little more to finalize giving it a vintage look. Create a new layer over our image. Make a selection and make sure that only the image is selected. With the use of the Paint Bucket Tool (G), fill the selection with the color #9e6b30.

18. Change this layer’s Blend Mode to Soft Light and change its Opacity to 85%. Deselect the selection by hitting on CTRL/CMD + D.

19. Let us now add some text to our stamp. For this tutorial, I have used the typeface named Constantia but you may use any typeface you wish.

20. Now for the finishing touches to make sure our stamp would look old and used! Using any of the stamp brush sets we downloaded and with Foreground Color Set to #000000 and Brush Opacity set to around 43%, let us add some stamp marks to our stamp.

21. With the stamp layer active, CTRL/CMD + click the stamp (the white one) layer. Hit on the Mask icon as shown on Step 14.

Yes! We now have a real-looking vintage postage stamp! Hope you learned a thing or two from this tutorial!

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