Pinnboard Tutorial by Kuschelirmel

8/6/2019 Pinnboard Tutorial by Kuschelirmel

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PinnboardTutorial

1. Intro

Okay Okay I admit it: no one asked me to do that, I just did it for the fun of it, hoping someonewould benefit from it.This is intended for beginners as well as for advanced users. At least I think so ;)First, I thought about putting out one tut at a time, but then I thought it was boring to do that.Excuse the size of this but I thought the more pics the better ;)

Anyway, I hope everyone can learn a bit he hasn't known before so enjoy and don't forget tocredit and note me if you try any of this stuff !

2. Basics

Here you can look up where the tools are:


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3. A Seamless Cork Texture

Search for a cork-texture on the net and open it in PS. First, we need to ensure that it tilesseamlessly. Therefore we go to Filter>Other>Offset and use the settings in picture #3 it dependson the width and height of your texture how big the offset should be. Half the width/height is good,so you see what you are doing next ;) (My Texture was about 100px width and height so I choose50 for both)

Now, if your texture doesn't tile you will be able to see it and you can fix that by going over it with theClone Stamp Tool. Just pick a spot next to where it shows a seam and alt-click it, then (normal-) clickon the spot you want to fix and just repeat that as long as it takes to "unseam" it. If necessary, applythe offset filter again, this time with different settings so you can work better towards the (former)edges.

My texture fortunately didn't show those nasty signs, so I went right to the next step: I didn't like thecolor much, so I adjusted it.

First I used an Adjustment Layer (beneath the Layers Pallette look above for reference) "Curves"with the settings in pic #4 just play around with it a bit to get the feel, it's pretty hard to explain

what it doesBy the way: I use the Adjustment Layers rather than Image>Adjustments>Curves because this way Ican change the settings at all times just by double-clicking the layer ;)

Next I wanted to desaturate it a bit, so I used another Adjustment Layer "Hue/Saturation" with thesetting in pic #6.

Now for the last step: Go to Edit>Define Pattern and give it a nice name how about "cork"? ;)If it doesnt work because the "Define Pattern" option isn't available, make it available by clicking onthe background layer in your Layer's Pallette that should do the trick.

The texture will now show up in Photoshop's Texture-Pallete. But before we use it we create a new

document. Mine will be 800x600 pixels big, with a resolution of 72, RGB-color and a transparentbackground but you can have a pinnboard any size you want, of course.


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Once it is open, choose the Fill Tool and have a look at the options on the top. It should look like this:

Then fill your new document with that pattern now you'll see if you did the "unseaming" correctly.If you don't like the color of your background or whatever, just do the same we did above with theoriginal texture to the kork-layer.

4. A Wooden Frame

So, now that we have the texture right, we need a nice wooden frame to go with it ;)Just search the net for a wood-texture you like and turn it into a pattern which you know now howto do. I choose a pretty dark cherry-wood-texture.

Next you create a layer above the cork-layer and with that one selected go to Select>All and then toEdit>Stroke. There you put in the following settings: color:black, width:12px, inside. The color doesn'treally matter and the width determins how thick your frame will be But I recommend sticking withthe 12 for now so that the style we'll apply will look "right".


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Name that layer "frame" and double-click it to bring up the layer style options.Make the adjustments according to the pics #1 to #3 and leave everything else "as is".

A 3 px shadow is enough cause the frame isn't that high and the light would naturally come morefrom where we are than the side.

We "chisel soft" to give it that carved look ;)


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Finally we put our texture on top.

I only included the next pics so you can see how my pinnboard looks so far (#4) and how your LayersPalette should now look (#5), if you've done exactly what I have.

5. Pin It Down

So, now we have the board itself but it looks rather blank and boring, don't you think? But befor wecan pin our notes and photos and whatever down, we'll need some pins, won't we?So there we go.

First, we need a new layer name it "pin". Then we wip out our Elliptical Marquee Tool and look atthe settings above, where we find the drop-down menue titled "Style" and choose "Fixed Size"

(default is set to "Normal") and a width and height of 16 px each.

Just click once anywhere on the pinnboard and fill the layer with whatever color (it doesn't matter, asyou'll see in a second) but see that the fill tool is set back to "Foreground Color" and not "Pattern" ;)


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Deselect and double-click on the pin-layer to bring up that layer's style options.Same as above: Just copy the settings from the screenshots and leave the rest as is.

We set the Fill Opacity to 0% so that the color of the layer won't affect our style. That's why the colordidn't matter ;)


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A 2 px shadow is enough because a pin like this one is not really that high that it would have a biggerone.

Yes, that's a black inner glow. Black as in #000000 ;)

Be careful to follow this one carefully notice that the shadow-opacity is set to 0% and the GlobalLight is turned off.


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Not much to do here

Okay, when you're done your pin is actually already finished and should look as follows. Later you canduplicate it and put it on top of everything else to pin it down ;)

6. P olaroid Memories

Time to make some stuff to pin down. Let's start with some pictures polaroid pictures in our case ;)

We'll start with the polaroid and add the actual picture later, so that you can just dublicate thepolaroid as often as you like and use it with different pics why reinvent the wheel every time you

want to go for a ride? ;)

So, first, I create a new Layer Set to get organized and name it polaroid. Next, I create a new layercalled "pic". (Yes, I know what I said two seconds ago, just keep reading, okay? ;)) Then we use theRectangular Marquee Tool to make a selection exactly 150x150 pixels. If you can't remember how todo that, just look at the pin above. Fill that selection with black.This is how big the actual picture will be something you ought to know up front, right?

Now we need another layer BENEATH this one call it "base". Now drag four guides from the sides(the rulers if you don't see any rulers, activate them by going to View>Rulers) to the positionsshown in the pic #1 and read the instructions next to it. Those guides span a rectangle of 170x200px.


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The base of our polaroid is supposed to have slightly rounded corners that's why we don't use theRectangular Marquee Tool, but the Rounded Rectangle Tool (look above if you have problems findingit). In the options above, we use the settings shown in pic #2 and then with white as the foregroundcolor, we draw a rectange into our guides that way we know the size ;)

Pic #3 shows how it should now look like.

Next step is to center that black pic-layer on the white base


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Therefore we draw out another guide which we place 10px beneath the top horizontal guide thatgives us the distance to the top. Then we grab the black pic with the Move Tool and move it right tothat guide (see pic#4 for reference). Make sure that you have "snap to guides" activated! (View>Snapand View>Snap to>Guides both need to be marked) How much to the left or right of the white baseyou are doesn't matter, we'll fix that in a second.

Now leave the pic-layer activated and ctrl-click on the base layer. This will load the rounded rectangleas a selection ;)

With the Move Tool selected have a look at the options above and click the icon specified in pic #5 that centers the black pic on the white base (so that the space on the left is the same as the space onthe right)

Now we can delete the guides again go to View>Clear Guides. That way we won't be distracted bythem.

Now, we need to make the base look a bit more interesting. For that purpose, we duplicate the base-layer (just drag it down to the Create New Layer Icon) and ctrl-click on it to load the selection (if youhave deselected that is).


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Then we go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise with the following settings: amount:10, gaussian andmonochromatic checked. We apply that Filter to the upper of the two layers of course. (#6)

Then we go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur with a direction of 45 degrees and the amount set to 20. (#7)Then we deselect and merge the two layers back together (to do that either hit ctrl+e or go toLayer>Merge Down both with the upper layer selected). The merged layer should be called "base"

yet again.

Double Click the Layer and again follow my lead: The Result should look like pic #8.

We add the bevel and the shadow to give the polaroid a bit more depth.


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Now all you nee to do is find a picture you want to use and scale it down to 150x150px drop it intothe layer set just above the black layer and center it the way we centered the black layer on the whiteone earlier.I'm sure you'll find out on your own how to get it centered so that top and bottom fit as well ;) Justtake a look at the Move Tool Options.

If youre the picture you choose isn't a square, you have two options:1. Cut it to size2. Scale the longer side to be 150px and let the black of the pics-layer show above and beneath.

If you want to personalize your picture, you could add a title or something for it in a nice handwriting-font

7. Notes

Now, normally you put your notes on the board (or on the fridge, I know, but let's just pretendyouput them on the board ;)) and I don't know about the paper you use for making notes, but mine

frequently end up on torn scraps. So let's make some!

First we need a pattern, to make it look more interesting and convincing. Therefore we open a newdocument 10x10px big, RGB-color and transparent background (All and then to Edit>Stroke with 1px black and center (also important!).Then define your pattern. You know how to do that now, don't you?

When you're done with that, create a new layer and fill all of it with white. Name it notes.Then double-click it to bring up the layer style options. Choose "Pattern Overlay" and from the menuechoose the pattern you just created. Leave the Blend Mode to Normal, but lower the opacity to about7% - now you still see the pattern but can easily write something legible on it ;)

Next step is to define the size and shape of the scrap. We do that with a layer mask, that way we candistort the edge of our note (have it look torn) without affecting the layer itself. A layer masks worksas follows:

You click on the layer mask icon beneath the Layers Pallette and see a white thumbnail next toyour layer-thumbnail. Now you can paint parts of the mask (to secure you are working on the

mask and not on the layer, there hast to be the symbol in front of it) black, which lets thebackground shine through. Any shade of gray in between will translate into transparency. (Try touse a black-to-white gradient just for fun but later ;))

So, what we do here is to make sure the layer mask is selected. Then we grab the Lasso Tool and"draw" the outline of the scrap-to-be onto the layer mask (#1).


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Then go to Select>Inverse and fill the selection with black (#2). Deselect.

Pic #3 shows your Layers Palette as it should look now if you've followed my lead so far.


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Now we neet to give it that torn look.

For that we make sure that the layer mask is selected in the Layers Palette.(I've made myself an action from the next steps so I can use it more easily. To do that, locate your

Actions Pallette (underneath the History Pallette) and hit the "create ne action"-button at the bottom.Then just follow steps 1 to 7 and hit the "stop playing/recording" button.)

1. Then go to Filter>Gaussian Blur and set the amount to 2px2. Next we do Filter>Sketch>Torn Edges with image balance:25, smootheness:1, contrast:15 (#4)3. Then on to Filter>Stylize>Wind with method: wind, direction: right (#5)

4. Now go to Image>Rotate Canvas>90 CW5. Now repeat the steps 3 and 4 three more times then the canvas will be in the same position

as in step 1 and the wind will have come from all four sides. Tip: if you want to repeat the lastFilter you did with the same settings, just hit ctrl+F. (#6)

6. Next we'll go to Image>Adjustments>Levels (ctrl+L) and use the following settings in the"Input Levels" Boxes: 71; 0,52; 212 That makes our torn edges more crisp. (#7)

7. Now it almost looks too crisp so we go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and enter an amount of0,6 (#8)

To make it more convincing, you can apply the layer mask (right click on it and choose "Apply LayerMask" from the drop-down menue) and give the layer a little drop-shadow by double clicking it andsetting the drop-shadow options like pic #9:


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That's it. Now you can play with different patterns or textures for your notes. You can write something

on it again, a nice handwriting font is suggested ;) or just doodle around.

8. Putting It All Together:

Now that you know how to make a pinnboard with wooden frame, as well as pins, polaroids and notesto go along with it you put them all together.

This is my result:

Stock:Eden-Stock, i-stock, Paranoic Stock, Dreamstock (all from deviantART)

Fonts:AnkeHand and BulletsMix by AnkeArt http://www.anke-art.de
http://www.anke-art.de/http://www.anke-art.de/


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9. Outro

Okay, I hope you've learnd something useful from all this. Just drop me a note or comment on it.And please, show me what you've done with it.Also, credit me if you use any of this in your work it took hours to make it (how many exactly I don'tknow all I can say is that I've been at it on and off for three days!)

Also if you see this document anywhere else than in my deviantART account or on my own websiteplease contact me so I can kick whoever stole from in in his sorry ass

My deviantART account is: http://kuschelirmel.deviantart.comMy homepage: http://www.kuschelirmel.de

And my E-Mail:[email protected] you have any questions, comments, critique just contact me ;)

Have Fun,Jasmin
http://kuschelirmel.deviantart.com/http://www.kuschelirmel.de/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.kuschelirmel.de/http://kuschelirmel.deviantart.com/

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Pinnboard Tutorial by Kuschelirmel