Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to design and create the look of a vintage, matchbook cover.
This tutorial is in 2 parts.
In Part 1, we'll create our background and text design
and in Part 2, we'll add retro graphic elements to complete it.
I provided a free Photoshop template, so you can follow along.
Its link is located in my video's description or project files.
The layers include a Smart Object of the matchbook cover,
a paper texture overlay and a patterned background.
If you want to change the pattern, double-click it to open the "Pattern Fill" window and experiment
with the pattern presets until you find one you like.
I'm using the "Nature Patterns" preset and the "Blue Daisies" pattern, which, at this
size, looks like a retro, Formica countertop.
Next, we'll add text to our cover, but first, make the matchbook layer active.
Our text will be placed above it.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool and pick a retro font.
I'm using, "Master of Break Regular".
If you'd like to use it, I provided its link, as well.
I'll use a size of 170 points,
but feel free to adjust it based on the amount of characters in your text.
Click the color box to open the Color Picker.
Pick a color you like for your main text.
I'm using a bright red, but because this particular color is so vibrant, I'll reduce its saturation
to 90%, since colors on vintage matchbook covers lose their color vibrancy over time.
Click on your document and type out your text.
To adjust the space between 2 characters, click between those characters and press and
hold Alt or Option as you press the right or left arrow key on your keyboard.
To adjust the space between the lines of text, highlight your bottom line and click this
icon to open the Character panel.
If you don't see this icon, go to Window and Character.
Drag the "Baseline Shift" icon to the left or right until your lines of text are spaced to your liking.
To slide one the your lines over, click the left of the first character, and as before,
press and hold Alt or Option as you press the left or right arrow key.
Continue to finesse it until you're happy with its spacing.
To reposition your entire text, open your Move Tool and move it.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift
as you drag it in or out.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Make a copy of your text by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Make the original text layer active and click the "fx" icon.
Click "Drop Shadow".
Click the color box and pick 20% gray.
Make sure Global Light is checked and for the Angle, type in 138 degrees.
The Distance is 39 pixels and click OK.
Click the icon at the upper, right corner of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object".
This will allow us to add effects to our text including its drop shadow.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the large "T" next to the copy to make a selection of its shape.
Go to Select, Modify and Expand.
Expand the selection by 10 pixels and click OK or press Enter or Return.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the active layer.
Shift-click the text copy to make it active, as well,
and convert the 2 text layers onto 1 Smart Object.
To add another, smaller line of text,
open your Type Tool and either use the same font or pick another.
I'll make its size 60 points, but again, feel free to adjust its size.
If you want to pick a different color for your new line of text,
click the color box and pick another color.
If you pick black, your text will look better if its brightness is increased 10 to 20%.
Click on your cover and type out your text.
To reposition it, as before, open your Move Tool and move it.
Shift-click your main text to make it active, as well,
and again, convert all the text into 1 Smart Object.
To angle your text, open your Transform Tool, go to a corner and when you see a curved,
double-arrow, rotate it to an angle you like.
To reposition it, just move it.
Then, press Enter or Return.
If you're done with adding text, we can close the Character panel.
Next, we'll add effects to make it look as if it was actually printed onto the cover.
Go to Filter, Pixelate and "Color Halftone".
Keep the default Screen Angles and make the Maximum Radius: 10 pixels.
Next, we'll add a slight blur to the text because the type of inexpensive paper that
vintage matchbook covers were manufactured with,
would've resulted in a slightly blurry image. Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 2 pixels.
Lastly, we'll make the edges slightly irregular because the surface feel of the paper, also
known as "tooth of the paper" would've been fairly rough
giving our image subtle feathery, irregular edges.
Go back to Filter, Distort and Ripple.
Make the Amount 35 to 40% and the Size: Large.
In Part 2, we'll finish our vintage, matchbook cover with retro graphic elements.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!