How to Create a Vintage Type Postcard
Tutorial Details
- Program: Illustrator CS5
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Estimated Completion Time: 2 hours
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
Follow this in-depth look at the process of designing type for a vintage style postcard in Adobe Illustrator CS5. Harken back to an era when postcards were all the rage with this friendly type style. The tutorial will delve into clipping masks, using bitmap images, working with layers and type effects.
Resources
- Image 1: Philadelphia from Pennsylvania Building
- Image 2: Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast
Step 1
Select the typeface you would like to begin with for your dominant text. Our word is “HOME”. I recommend a thick condensed sans-serif type and I used Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk.
Step 1b
Go to type > Create Outlines to turn the type into an object.
Step 1c
Go to Effect > Warp and choose Rise under the ‘styles’. Input the same numbers shown on the screen.
Step 1d
With your new type selected go to Object > Expand Appearance. This will apply the effect.
Step 1e
Create a copy of “HOME” and place it on another layer.
Step 2
Select the “HOME” on the bottom layer. Choose Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel. Input the coordinates shown.
Step 2b
Make the top “HOME” white.
Step 2c
Apply a color to the 3-dimensional type.
Step 3
Select a typeface for “Welcome”. I used a modified version of Wisdom Script.
Step 3b
Go to Type > Create Outlines to turn the type into an object.
Step 3c
Add a black stroke to the type.
Step 3d
Select Effect > Warp > Rise and input the shown coordinates.
Step 4
Use the same typeface for South Haven, MI.
Step 4b
After creating the outlines, as shown previously, select Effect > Warp > Arc and input the shown coordinates.
Step 4c
Apply a color to the type.
Step 5
Select a simple type for the copyright on the postcard. I used Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk again.
Step 6
Back to the “HOME” type, we will now be replacing the black type with an image.
Step 6b
Now we’ll need Image 1: Philadelphia from Pennsylvania Building. Place the image behind the “H”. Select the image and the “H”, and select Clipping Mask > Make.
Step 6c
Your “H” should now look like this.
Step 6d
Apply the same technique to the “O”.
Step 6e
Halfway there, the image should look like this.
Step 6f
After applying the same technique to the rest of the type, this is what you should have.
Step 7
Gather all of your elements and align them as shown.
Step 7b
Select the “HOME” object and add a 1pt stroke.
Step 7c
Select the “HOME 3-dimensional object? and add a .75stroke.
Step 8
Now we’ll need Image 2 (our background image): Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. Add in your background image as the bottom layer. Illustrator renders images quite poorly, so don’t worry if everything looks odd in this step. Once you save it out the image will be fixed.
Final Image
Now you have seen the process and techniques used to create this vintage postcard type. This can easily be used with varying images and type to reflect any kind of event.
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By Jesse Hora Dot Com
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ad 6b:
If you combine the Letters to a “combined shape” you have to clip the image only one time!
LG Georgie
Nice tutorial. My only suggestion would be to mask those letters with a compound path so you could cut out a few steps in the masking process.
This is a fun tutorial! You could create a whole series of postcards like this.
I don’t know if it is a document setup property or if you’ve left out a step, but when I extrude and bevel the type, i have to move the top copy of the text up and to the left to get the results you show in step 2b.
Okay, did you leave out a step? I couldn’t get any good results until I “expand appearance” on the 3D layer and then, with it selected chose “unite” in the pathfinder
The font used in this tutorial is not Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, it is Poplar.
Jesse, Do I really need CS5 or can I try that in CS4 ?
This pisses me off. As a noobie to Illustrator, I already got stuck on make the “Home” white. If you are going to take the time to teach us something new, you should at least take into consideration not everyone knows every step of the way.
This tutorial is an intermediate level, if you’re a beginner you may want to check out our Basix collection – http://vector.tutsplus.com/tag/basix/
I guess thats why the estimated completed time is 2 hours. You will spend that time figuring out what steps he left out just to get the same results.
I can’t make the clipping mask… it just does no let me. When I try to do it I get a warning that the top selected object (that’s the image) has to be a path, a compund shtape, a text or a group of these. Has this happened to any of you?
The top part of any clipping mask needs to be vector – like a shape – but it also needs to be closed off (so no open lines) If you’re using a shape, double check that it’s closed and filled properly :)
I feel like there are certain steps missing. I am just learning illustrator and can’t seem to get this exactly how it should be. Can anyone break this down step by every little step?
I feel like you needed to explain things a bit more thoroughly..
You should really tell people that they need to un-group the letters first. It’s impossible to actually finish the tutorial without this step.
Its a nice effect but it feels like this tutorial is just quick dot points instead of detailed instructions like a tutorial should be. :(