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Tutorials\ Text Effects

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Plastic Jelly Styles Collis on Sep 14th 2007 with 102 comments In this tutorial, well be using layer styles to make a plastic gel-type style that you can easily apply to text and shapes. You can download the PSD file from the link at the bottom of the tutorial to just copy+paste the styles. Step 1: BACKGROUND LAYER We start as always with a background gradient. Ive used a Radial Gradient with two shades of the exact same brown that this site uses. The exact color codes are: Foreground color #2f2520 Background color #1e1916

Step 2: Now in a nice delectable green, we write a word. Ive written Jelly and used the font "Gill Sans Ultra Bold." Bolder fonts are good for this sort of effect because there is more room to actually do stuff with the styles.

Step 3: So now we right-click on the layer and choose Blending Options to start adding styles. First we add a drop shadow to lift the letters off the background and then an inner shadow. Later on when we add highlights, this shadow will contrast nicely with them.

Step 4: To create the highlights, we use Bevel and Emboss. The default settings for bevel and emboss suck, so dont use those. Ive moved some things around and if you download the sample PSD, youll see what I mean. The highlights need to be shades of green to make it look like light is bouncing around inside the letters.

Step 5: Next we add a Gradient Overlay and a Stroke. The gradient gives a bit of light and dark to the letters and the stroke helps seal it off at the edges.

Step 6: Now the neat thing about this style is you can just change the coloring on each set of blending options and you have a new color for the style. Here Ive written a second word and applied the style there too but this time with red settings.

Step 7: To finish it off, create a new layer above and then hold down Ctrl and click on the layer to select it.

Step 8: Then go to Select > Modify > Contract and use a value of 4 pixels to shrink the selection.

Step 9: Now we need a gradient that goes from white to transparency which you can choose by switching to the gradient tool and using the little thumbnail thing up at the top left (shown in the image)

Step 10: Using that gradient, draw a gradient in the selection from white to transparency.

Step 11: Then make an elliptical selection using the selection tool and hit delete as shown. This will make the highlight you just drew suddenly stop and consequently look very plasticky.

Lost in Space Typography in Photoshop

Tags

photoshop tutorial Typography

Last week I was checking out some of the Typography Mania posts, and got really inspired to try something new. So I decided to create an abstract composition with light effects and apply that as a texture of a text, everything done only using Photoshop.
So in this tutorial I will show you how to create an easy and super quick text effect in Photoshop. We will play with Brushes, Blend Modes, basic filters like Blur and Liquify, and also text.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I used 2560x1440 pixels. Then with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the background with a radial gradient with 2 shades of purple (3d2626) Lighter and (060404) darker.

Step 2
With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) create an ellipse selection. Add a new layer and select the Gradient Tool (G). Use black and a very light grey for the colors. Fill the ellipse selection with the radial gradient. Use the image below for reference.

Step 3
Go to Edit>Define Brush to create a new brush.

Step 4
Go to Window>Brushes. Use the image below for the values of the Brush Tip Shape, Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Color Dynamics and Other Dynamics.

Step 5
Add a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) and the brush you have just created, paint some spheres on the design. This is a random effect so you won't get the same result as I did.

Step 6
Add another layer and group this layer. This new layer will be inside a folder in the Layer Palettes. Change the folder's Blend Mode to Color Dodge. Then, with the Brush Tool (B), select white for the color and a big soft brush to paint some areas to highlight them (1-4). Tip: Use the numbers 1-0 to change the opacity of the brush, with 1 being 10% and 0 being 100%.

Step 7
Add a new layer and with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), create a rectangular selection. Fill this selection with a white to black linear gradient using the Gradient Tool (G). After that change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge to create a nice light effect.

Step 8

Duplicate the light effect layer. Rotate and resize them to create different light effects. Tip: Use the Eraser Tool (E) to blend some of the light effects one they are over one another.

Step 9
Add a new layer and group this layer so it will be inside a folder. Change the Blend Mode of the folder to Color Dodge. With the Brush Tool (G), using white for the color, select the layer inside the folder and paint some flares (1-3)

Step 10
Add another layer on top of the others, then with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the layer with a gradient using red, yellow, green and blue for the colors. Change the Blend Mode of this layer to Overlay.

Step 11
Create a new layer and fill it with a checkerboard pattern. You can download it here. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, use 10 pixels for the Radius. After that change its Blend Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 12
Select the pattern layer and go to Filter>Liquify. Use the Twirl Clockwise Tool (C) and the Bloat Tool (B) to deform the pattern layer.

Step 13
Select all layers and click Command(mac)/Control PC + Alt + Shift + E to create a layer with all the layers merged in it. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius. Then change the Blend Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 50%. Once again click on Command(mac)/Control PC + Alt + Shift + E to create a layer with the final design.

Step 14
To create the text effect we will add a new layer for a new background. You can duplicate the same layer from the Step 1 and just change the colors, instead of a purple hue I used a brown. The light one is 3b2500 and the dark 130f08.

Step 15

Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and type "Lost in Space" like a did in the image below. Make the words "Lost" and "Space" much bigger than the "In". Then change the font to VAL. You can download it here (http://fontfabric.com/?p=585). Use white for the color.

Step 16
Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Drop Shadow. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode, black for the color, -90 for the angle, 0 for Distance and Spread and 30 for Size.

Step 17
Select now Inner Shadow. use Color Dodge for the Color with White, 100% for the Opacity, 2 pixels for the DIstance, 1 for Choke and 5 pixels for Size.

Step 18
Move the layer with the design merged to be on top of the other layers, more specifically on top of the text layer. Then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask.

Step 19
Go to Google Images and search for some eclipse photos, I found this amazing one at http://www.cardiff-astronomical-society.co.uk/ECLIPSE2006\DSCF0841.JPG. Copy it and paste it in your design. Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Increase the black input. Change the Blend Mode to Screen. Also go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 pixels for the Radius.

Step 20

Duplicate the eclipse layer and position it on top of the other ones that were in the design, the difference is that now it will look like the lights are coming out of the text.

Conclusion
Merge all the layers again and you can add a little noise (Filger>Noise>Add Noise). The effect is very simple and won't take you more than 20-30 minutes to achieve it. But it's a nice exercise for those willing to play with light effects, also clipping mask and text effects in Photoshop.

Step 12: And thats it! Ive repeated the same highlight steps on the word Style as well.