Make Your Own License Plate

Vehicle license plates were standardized as the familiar 6x12-inch rectangles in 1956, but they date back to around 1903 in North America, first being used in Massachusetts. Before ’56, it was a bit of a free-for-all between the states, with materials such as rubber and leather used to make plates.

Most states emboss the lettering into the plates, so they’re slightly raised when viewed from the front, but there is a growing number of flat, digitally printed plates on the highway. If you purchase a vanity plate, you’ve got a limited number of characters to work with, depending on the state you live in, and there’s a list of banned words you need to avoid.

These last two restrictions don’t apply if you’re designing your own plate in Photoshop, but it’s best to stick quite close to the requirements. Once you’ve made your plate, you can include it in digital art projects, or use it for whatever online persona you’re currently rocking, but we don’t recommend using a 3D printer to create cover for your bank heist getaway car.

1 CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT As the standard plate is in a 2:1 aspect ratio, that’s the size we’re making our document. We’ve gone for 1000x500 pixels, with a transparent background. We’re going to leave a border around the outside, so our finished plate will be slightly smaller. The color of a license plate is off-white, so click on the foreground color below the toolbar, and enter R=233, G=233, B=233 to make something about the right color. Experiment to see the effect that changing the R, G, and B values has if the color doesn’t look right to you.

2 RASTERIZE YOUR RECTANGLE For the plate’s outline, we’re going to make a rounded rectangle. In Photoshop CC, fold out the Rectangle tool, and you’ll find a “Rounded Rectangle” option. In earlier versions, you may need to use a Custom Shape, and select “Rounded Rectangle” from the options bar. Set the corner radius to 40 pixels (this number varies depending on the size of your document, so see what looks right for you), and the aspect ratio to 2:1. Draw your rectangle, then use the Bucket tool to fill it with your foreground color—it asks whether you want to rasterize the shape, and you do.

3 MAKE IT LOOK 3D To give the plate background a 3D look, apply some beveling. Right-click the “Rounded Rectangle” layer, select “Blending Options” to bring up the “Layer Style” window, and add a drop shadow, with the light source coming in from the top-left. Check the “Bevel and Emboss” box, and add an “Inner Bevel” using the “Chisel Hard” technique, to give the corners some texture. Hit –IAN EVENDEN “OK” [ Image A]. For more texture, open the “Rounded Rectangle” layer in Filter Gallery, and select the “Texturizer” filter under “Texture.” “Sandstone” with a “Relief” setting of 2 gives a roughened look.

4 CREATE THE RIM License plates have a rim, which means more beveling. First, though, we need to select the area to be beveled. Right-click the “Rounded Rectangle” layer, and choose “Select Pixels,” then “Select > Modify > Contract,” and move it in by 20 pixels or so. Nudge the outline with the arrow keys so it’s central. Then open the “Paths” palette, and convert your selection to a path. Choose the “Brush” tool, diameter 20px, and make your foreground color black. Create a new layer and select it. Stroke the path with the brush (right-click the “Work Path” in the “Paths” palette), and you should get a black hoop around your plate, but on a separate layer. Open the “Layer Style” palette again, and change the layer’s blend mode to “Screen,” at around 25% opacity. Now apply a “Smooth Inner Bevel,” with a depth of 500%. You now have your rim [ Image B].

5 ADD THE LETTERING It’s time to add the lettering. You need the right font, and there’s a couple of different ones available for free online if you search, mostly with names like “License Plate.” Put some thought into your choice of lettering,

trying to stay within the character limit, which varies between states, but is often six or seven. Earlier this year, a North Dakota resident had their “X32TTU8” plates revoked when some killjoy read them backward, but we have no such worries with ours. The lettering is often blue, something like R44, G61, B127, and we used 300pt. Because our HQ is in San Francisco, we’re going to make this a California plate.

6 STATE YOUR STATE California uses a hand-drawn font for its state name, and it’s almost but not quite the same as Mistral, a font you can find online. The word “California” is slightly wider than four of the characters below it, which on our plate comes out at around 150pt [ Image C]. Once you’ve typed it, choose a suitable red (R189, G0, B0 for us), and rasterize the layer by right-clicking the layer, and selecting the option from the menu. Go to “Edit > Transform > Free Transform,” and squash the lettering slightly, so it’s not so tall. Reposition your lettering below it if necessary, but keep it all inside the rim of the plate.

7 FINISHING TOUCHES We’re not going to create screw holes in ours, but you can use the “Circular Marquee” tool, and punch four circular holes through the background layer. To add stickers, use the “Rectangular Marquee” on a new layer to create white and red areas—whatever matches the state you’re copying— and use “Layer Styles” to make drop shadows under them. Add the text using the “Type” tool, and appropriate serif and sans serif fonts. We’ve rasterized and merged the type layers into the red sticker’s background, then used “Free Transform” to skew it, as these things are impossible to get on straight [ Image D]. Once we’ve saved our plate, and exported it as a JPEG [ Image E], it’s time for our executive editor to start compositing it into pictures of his Camaro.