Here is a really simple and quick way of creating a vectorized rubber stamp effect using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (CS4). Don’t have the Adobe Creative suite? Check out these open source or free alternatives here.
Looking for free vector rubber stamp downloads?
Step 1
In Illustrator create your text. It’s better to use a strong/heavy, compact font and in this case I’ve used ‘Impact’.
Step 2
Using the Rounded Rectangle tool draw around your text leaving plenty of breathing space between the edge of the rectangle and the text.
Step 3
With the rectangle selected choose ‘Object > Path > Offset path’ from the menu bar. In the options box choose a desired width for the offset (not too thin).
Step 4
Now ‘divide’ the shapes using the option in the ‘Pathfinder’ palette (found from the ‘Windows > Pathfinder’ menu). Don’t forget to ungroup them too.
Step 5
Now drag your items apart so you can see what your doing. It’s a good time now to create outlines from your text. With the text selected choose ‘Tools > Create outlines’.
Step 6
Now open up Photoshop and create a new file. I usually choose a canvas size that is the same size as the Illustrator document size so in this case A4. Individually copy and past your objects from Illustrator to Photoshop. Paste them as a ‘Shape Layer’.
Step 7
With one of the shape layers selected, choose ‘Make Selection’ from the ‘Paths’ palette options. Now zoom in a bit so you can see what your doing.
Step 8
Create a new layer and pick a colour and brush. You’ll need to use a spatter type brush as you want a rough and textured finish. Now roughly fill in your selection. Perform the same steps for each shape layer but with the inner rectangle, just skim the corners and edges a little.
Step 9
You should now have 3 bitmap layers (as well as your shape layers) for the text, outline and inner rectangle. Copy and paste each of the bitmap layers back into your Illustrator file.
Step 10
With the bitmaps you just pasted selected, choose ‘Object > Rasterize’ from your menu. Keep the resolution high at 300dpi.
Step 11
Still with the bitmap selected choose ‘Object > Live Trace > Tracing options’. In the pop up box you have, play around with the options but make sure you have ‘Preview’ checked so that you see the effects. I kept the ‘Mode’ at ‘Black and White’ as I want a simple vector shape at the end.
Step 12
Now that you have create a trace you need to expand your object using ‘Object > Expand’ and be sure to expand object and fill. Once that’s done ungroup everything (you might need to ungroup a couple of times). Un-select everything and click on the white behind your traced object and delete it. Getting rid of the background means we have a nice clean, transparent vector.
Step 13
Finishing touches like rotating the vector a little will help but you can always do that in your final artwork wherever you intend to use the stamp. Spending a little more time in the Photoshop stages and using higher resolution brushes like these will give even better results but this is just a quick guide to get you started. You can import the vector file into whatever artwork you are working on and overlay where needed. Please do comment if you find that useful or you have suggestions for a quicker way too.
How to create a vector rubber stamp effect – quickly…
Here is a really simple and quick way of creating a vectorized rubber stamp effect using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (CS4)….
So that’s how you do that! This is a nifty little, extremely useful tutorial
Thanks for sharing!
Very quick and easy. Loved the process. Thanks for sharing
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Hi, thanks for sharing this! It was really helpful
thanks!
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This is great, I was looking for a good tutorial for a stamp that I’m making for a retro packaging design I’m working on. A couple of others yielded ugly results, but this one is nice. Thanks for the suggestion of using a thick, condensed font.. it definitely helps!
Muito, muito, muito Bom
Muchas gracias Mark! Muy útil.
Wow!! Maybe not the quickest rubber stamp tutorial I’ve seen on the interent, but definitely one of the best!! I can see my self using this technique A LOT !! Thanks!
I think this could be more descriptive within the steps. For those of us who are beginners with photoshop, copying and pasting back into illustrator doesn’t work like a charm like it appears in your tutorial. It only pastes back into illustrator in a solid square rather than a rounded rectangle. It would be more helpful if you would have been a little more descriptive on how about copying and pasting back inside illustrator.
Thanks
Thank you for this tutorial I found it very useful!!
I get stuck at point 8. I can’t repeat the Make Selection for the other layers. Even at point 7 I just see a filled rectangle, not text like your image at point 7. Any ideas on what I am missing?
Hi, thanks for this great tutorial! I toggled Ignore White in the Tracing Options. In this case you don’t need to delete the background in the next step
Cheers!
Wow. The best looking stampt I have seen so far but a little complicated for us noobies to follow. Any chance we could get the original files in Photoshop and Illustrator?
Thanks! This was really helpful. You can probably do it all in Photoshop CS6 now I’ll bet now that they have rounded vectors.