photoshop tips: August 2011

Final Results

Notes:
* the software used in this tutorial is Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended
* the size of the final result image is 1024 * 768
* you might want to check the Basix Page to see some useful topics on dealing with Photoshop basics, such as loading palettes and some shortcuts.

Step 1

Set the Foreground color to #990050, and the Background color to #6e0023, then, create a Radial Gradient from the center of the document to one of the corners.

Set the Foreground and Background colors back to Black and White. Create a new layer on top of the Background layer and call it “BG Texture”, then go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds.

Go to Filter -> Artistic -> Paint Daubs, and change the values as shown below:

This will create a nice texture.

Go to Filter -> Render -> Lighting Effects, and modify the values as shown below:

Finally, change the “BG Texture” layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply.

Now, create your text using the white color. The font is Xpressive, and the size is 250 px. We are going to change the Tracking value in the Character panel (Window -> Character) to 200 so that there is enough space between the letters.

Once you’ve created the brush, go to Edit -> Define Brush Preset, and type in a name for the brush.

Open the Brush panel (Window -> Brush), and under Shape Dynamics, change the Size Jitter to 40%. This will make the size of the brush different each time you click.

Back to the original document, create a new layer on top of all layers, and call it “Brush”. With the white color, start adding some tips around the letters

In order to rotate the brush, you need to change the Angle value under Brush Tip Shape, or simply move the small arrow in the Angle preview box.

Once you’re done with the tips, duplicate the text layer, and make the original one invisible (by clicking the eye icon next to it).

Select the “Brush” layer and the duplicated text layer, then go to Layer -> Merge Layers, or press Ctrl + E. Rename the merged layer to “text”, and change its Fill value to 0%.

Step 3
Double click the “text” layer to apply the following styles:
Drop Shadow: Change the Distance to 0 and the Size to 18.

Inner Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Linear Light, the Technique to Precise, the Source to Center, and the Size to 27.

Bevel and Emboss: Change the Depth to 123, the Size to 10, the Gloss Contour to Rolling Slope – Descending and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Overlay, and the Shadow Mode color to #6a6a6a.

Check this image to see how to load the contours if you don’t have them.

Contour: Change the Contour to Rolling Slope – Descending and check the Anti-aliased box.

The text should look like a glass tube after the styles are applied.

Step 4

Create a new layer right below the “text” layer and call it “tips”. Pick a soft round brush with a similar size to the tips you’ve created, in this case, it is 10px. Set the Foreground color to #ff0078, and start adding dots right where the circular tips are.

After you add the dots to all the tips, double click the “tips” layer to add the following layer styles:
Outer Glow: Just change the color to #ffbad5.

Inner Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Vivid Light, and change the color to #ffbad5.

This should add a nice glow to the tips.

Step 5
Create a new layer below the “tips” layer and call it “Light”. Increase the brush size to 30px, and add more dots where the tips are.

This will add more glow around the tips as if they are emitting some light.

You can play around with the size of the brush or the colors you choose as well.

Step 6
Once again, set the Brush size to 10px, and change the Spacing to 25%.

Under Shape Dynamics, change the Size Jitter to 40%, choose Fade from the Control drop down menu, and set its value to 70.

Right click on the original text layer and choose Create Work Path.

Create a new layer below the “light” layer and call it “Stroke”, then change its Blend Mode to Overlay.

Set the Foreground color to #ffe0f3, pick the Direct Selection Tool, right click on the path, and choose Stroke Path.

Choose Brush and check the Simulate Pressure box.

This will add a simple glow to some of the text edges and corners.

Step 7

Pick the Ellipse Tool and click the Paths icon in the Options bar at the top. Start drawing circles around the tips. Then, create a new layer on top of the “Stroke” layer and call it “Sparkles”.

Stroke the circles with this Sparkles Brush the same way you stroked the path in the previous step (Step 6). Then, change the “Sparkles” layer’s Blend Mode to Vivid Light.

Create a new layer below the “Stroke” layer and call it “Highlight”, then change its Blend Mode to Overlay. Pick a big soft round brush, and with the Foreground color still set to #ffe0f3, start adding some highlight spots around the text.

Create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Sparkles – 2″, then change its Blend Mode to Overlay as well. Pick a big sparkles brush from the Sparklies Photoshop Brushes pack.