The End Effect

I like to begin tutorials by showing where we're going. So without further ado, here is the
final grass-text image click to see the full 1920px x 1200px size.

Part 1—The Background

This tutorial is made up of three parts—the background, the text itself, and some final
extra effects. So first of all we're going to make a background. To do this we create a new
document in Photoshop. I made mine 1920 x 1200 because I want this image to sit on my
laptop background.

We start by drawing a Radial Gradient with the Gradient Tool (G) going from a light
yellow-green (#adbf41) to a mid-range green (#328a26). I wonder if I've ever written a
tutorial that doesn't start with a radial gradient. :-)
Step 2

Now for this image we want to create a really textured background, faintly resembling
paper. So the first thing we need is ... a paper texture!

Happily you can grab some really awesome grungy paper textures from Bittbox and they
are nice and large too, which is good because this is a huge canvas.

So I can't remember which texture I used first, but grab one, desaturate it (Ctrl+Shift+U)
and stretch it over the top to fit the canvas.
Step 3

Now we set the layer to Overlay and 70% Opacity to blend the texture with our nice
green background.
Step 4

Now to get a really distressed look, I then copied this layer, spun it around 180' and set it
to 20%. Then I brought in a few more layers of paper texture (using different textures,
mostly from Bittbox) and set them all to faint overlays, one on top of the other.

This was partly for the extra distress, but also because I realised that the textures looked a
bit grainy and not small and sharp. So by combining extra textures and then fading it all
back, I can get a nicer, sharper overall look.

Anyhow as you can see in the screenshot there are six layers here. Don't forget if you are
a Plus member you can download the PSD file for this tutorial and take a look in there
yourself!

Step 5

Now I duplicated the original background gradient, placed the duplicate layer above all
the textures and set it to 40% Opacity—this tones back the texture so it's not quite so
grungy!
Step 6

Now we create a new layer over the top and using a large, soft, black brush, add some
black to the edges. It's worth toning back the opacity to about 30% and Overlay. You can
then duplicate the layer and run a heavy Gaussian Blur over it (set to about 32px). That
way the edges really soften out.
Step 7

OK, we now have a nice background!

Part 2—Grass Text!

OK, we are now ready to make some grass text. To do that, we're going to need some
nice pretty grass to cut. After a lot of searching, I finally found this lovely photo on Flickr
of grass.

So download the image at full-size and copy it on to your canvas.

Step 9

Next we need some type. So select a font you want to cut out with. I chose Swiss 924BT,
which is fat and condensed type. I thought it looked nice and grand. And I've written the
text "EARTH". That's because I'm making five of these wallpapers—earth, water, fire,
air, spirit ... it's like that cartoon I used to watch as a kid, Captain Planet!

Anyways, so just set your text out in white and set it to Overlay and like 50% Opacity.
This layer won't actually show in the end, it's just a guide layer.
Step 10

OK, so here's the text on top of the grass we got earlier.

Now a bit of planning! To make text out of grass, it's not going to be enough just to
stencil out the grass. Rather we need it to look all rough, with bits of grass sticking out
the edges. To do that, we're going to use the letter shapes as a rough guide and then trace
roughly around them and periodically jut out to trace around blades of grass.

I'll warn you now, it's very tiresome!

Step 11

OK, so here we are tracing. You should use the Pen Tool (P) and frankly, if you're not
handy with it before you start, you will be by the end!

Notice how in the parts where my path juts out, it sort of follows individual blades of
grass. That way when you have the final cut-out they will look like pieces of grass
sticking out.
Step 12

When you've finished your path, it's best to save it in the Paths Palette. You can do this
by switching to that palette and then clicking the little down arrow and choosing Save
Path. That way if you need the path again later, you can grab it.

Anyhow, double-click the path to get the selection and go back to your grass layer.
Duplicate the grass layer so you still have more grass for the other letters, then invert
your selection (Ctrl+Shift+I) and cut away the excess grass. In the screenshot I've faded
back the duplicate grass layer so you can see the cut out "E" part.
Step 13

OK, so here we have our "E" on the final bakcground. As you can see, it looks only
slightly better than if we'd just used the letter to stencil out the grass without bothering to
trace. But that's OK, what it needs is a bit more depth. After all, if that letter was really
sitting there, we should see some shadow and sides to it.
Step 14

First of all though, we'll add some layer styling to give it a bit more of a three
dimensional look. The styles are shown below.
Layer Style

Here's the first set of layer styles...

Step 15

Now duplicate that layer, then clear the layer style off the duplicate, so we can add some
more styles. This time add the styles shown below...
Layer Style

Here's the second set of layer styles... (Note that it's 51% Opacity so it'll blend in with the
previous layer)
Step 16

So this was all just experimental, and it kinda looks OK, but obviously has a long way to
go. Now we'll add some shadow. For that we'll use a technique that I demonstrated in a
previous tutorial, Using Light and Shade to Bring Text to Life

The idea is to make a three dimensional look. So Ctrl-click the grass layer and then in a
new layer below, fill it with black. Then press the down arrow once and the right arrow
once and fill it again, then repeat over and over until you get an effect like that shown. I
think that was about 15 steps of filling.
Step 17

Now we run a Filter > Blur > Motion Blur on our shadow with a 45' angle and a distance
of about 30. Then set the text to a low opacity of about 50%. You should have something
that looks like the screenshot below.
Step 18

Now move the shadow layer down and to the right and magic happens! All of a sudden it
looks like the letter is casting a shadow. Pretty neat!

Step 19

Now I duplicated this layer three times. Each time I erased a bit of it away so that as the
shadow is closer to the text it gets darker. I set these layers to Multiply.
Step 20

So this text is looking pretty cool, but for that extra bit of depth we should add some bits
of grass in the background/shadow area. Rather than cutting out more grass, we can just
use this current letter transformed about so that it's not obvious that we're hacking it
together.

So as you can see below I created a few pieces of grass. They are just cut up bits of our
main letter.
Step 21

Now by moving those pieces into the shadow areas, we can make it look like there is
grass sticking out and it's a real 3D object made from grass!

Because these new grass bits are in shadow, you might want to use the Burn Tool (O) to
darken them appropriately.
Step 22

So yay, one letter down ... four to go! Good thing we didn't choose a long word like erm I
don't know ... laborious!
Step 23

Using the exact same technique ... here is the A;

Step 24

and the R and T ... you get the picture.

Step 25

And finally, the whole word! The only extra thing I did here was to move the letters apart
a little. Each letter is in its own Layer Group which makes moving it around much easier.
Part 3—The Finish!

Now nice as it's looking, our text is a little lonely and monotonous. So in this last section
we'll add a few more elements to the design. Note we don't want to overdo it, though,
because I want this to be a desktop background, so space it is important (for all my
icons!).

So first up, let's add some extra text. Here I've placed a nice quote about the earth and
unity taken from the Baha'i faith (that's my religion!). I love quotes, because it means we
get three parts to decorate—the quote, the quotation marks and the source.

The text is in a variation of Swiss which is thinner, but still condensed. Using multiple
fonts from the same family (heavy, light, etc) is a good, safe bet for keeping your type
looking coherent.

So here I've set the quote to Overlay and 50%, then duplicated the text and set it to
Screen and 50%. Then I've added quotation marks in the same Swiss font, but made them
extra large and a bright shade of green. Finally, the source of the quote is in teeny letters
and centered vertically. And, of course, the whole quote has been measured out so it's
exactly the length of the main "EARTH" text.

Transparent Glass Lettering in Photoshop

Sep 14th in Text Effects by Collis
In this tutorial, we're going to use some super layer effects and a bit of extra magic to
make a lettering style that looks transparent and stunning. Because there is so much use
of layer styles, you need to download the sample PSD from the link at the bottom of the
tutorial in order to follow along.

Author: Collis

Hello! I started Psdtuts+ because years ago reading Photoshop tutorials was how I got
into design. You can find me on Twitter or on my blog theNetsetter.

Step 1:

BACKGROUND LAYER

To begin this tutorial, we'll first give ourselves a nice background gradient. Now while
most gradients are two-color, in Photoshop you can actually make much more complex
gradients by clicking on the Gradient icon in the top left. You'll get a panel showing the
gradient and you can add more colors to it. In this case, I've used three colors to make a
gradual change from green to a set of blues.

Multi-color gradients can make for a stunning background. I've used a Radial Gradient
and centered it to the bottom right.

The colors I've used are:

Color 1 - #2e5b15
Color 2 - #103533
Color 3 - #090e13
Step 2:

Now we need a letter. I've used the letter Q because it's my favorite, particularly in this
serifed style. This is from the font Adobe Caslon Pro which I suspect came with my
Photoshop install--although who knows, I have way to many fonts to remember! Give
your letter a nice blue- green color. I've used #41a993.
Step 3:

Now after this, I basically went through all the different types of layer styles and just
experimented with them all. You can produce some really wicked combinations with a bit
of trying out. The main things I did here were:

• Decrease Fill Opacity to 20%. Fill Opacity makes the layer transparent
WITHOUT making the styles transparent. Note that this is DIFFERENT to
Opacity which just makes everything see-through.

• Another thing I did was to try changing angles around, using different blending
modes, and building the layers up slowly.

In any case, you can see all the exact settings by downloading the sample PSD file from
the link on the top right. You can then right click that layer and hit Copy Layer Styles if
you just want to paste it into your own file.
Step 4:

So here is the result of my layer styles. It's a pretty cool-looking style.

Note that I've made it look as if the light is coming from the bottom. This matches the
direction of my gradient and gives a convincing look. I've then also used a fainter set of
highlights coming from the other side. This vaguely matches how glass sometimes
reflects light about.
Step 5:

Now hold down Ctrl and click on the Q layer to select the shape and add a white to
transparent gradient coming from the bottom into a NEW layer.

You can do color to transparent gradients by clicking on the Gradient Tool in the top left
and holding it down to see the whole set of gradients (as we did earlier in this tutorial).
The second one along is color to transparency. It's SUCH a useful gradient. Great for this
sort of glass/plastic effects in particular.

Now fade this back by changing its blend mode to Overlay.

Step 6:

Now again hold Ctrl and select the Q layer. In a new layer, again add a radial white to
transparent gradient, this time coming from the top down as shown.

Fade this one out by setting its opacity to 40%.

Step 7:

Now on the same layer as in the last step, draw an ellipse with the Selection Tool and hit
Ctrl+Shift+I to select the inverse. Then hit delete to remove some of that gradient that we
just drew.

Basically this makes the white suddenly stop and gives us a glassy feel. Try cutting in
different ways to see the different sort of effects you can make.
Step 8:

Now glass shines, so lets add some highlights to make it look really shiny. You can do
this by choosing the Custom Shape Tool (U) and then in the top left click on Polygon and
then on the down arrow to get options as shown. Tick Star and make sure your indent is
set to 99% to make some nice little 5 pointed stars.

Now in a new layer with white as your foreground color, just add some highlighted stars
liberally about. It's best to place them on the most highlighted parts of the Q to make it
look like they are sparkles from those highlights.
Step 9:

And there you have the finished product: a glassy lettering style.

TRANSFORMERS EFFECT
POSTED IN : TEXT EFFECTS

In this tutorial you will learn how to make the Transformers movie text effect while learning to create 3D text and apply a series of layer styles.

In this Photoshop tutorial you will learn how to make the Transformers movie text effect while learning to create 3D text and apply a series of
layer styles.

STEP 1
Because this is a text effect will attempt to replicate the original Transformers text, it’s important to have the right font. I did a little looking
and found a font called SF Transbotics at dafont.com

(*note: I’ve included the font files in the exercise download at the bottom of the lesson). Go download and install the font before you
proceed.. unless of course you’d prefer to use a less cool font.. and in that case, lets get started. (*note: You may need to restart Photoshop
once you’ve installed the font on your system to get it to appear in the Photoshop fonts list.)

Open a new document (mine is 540×300 at 72ppi). Press the D key to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white
respectively then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the background layer with black.

Change the foreground to white by pressing X to switch the foreground and background colors, then select the Text tool from the Tools bar
by pressing the T key and type out your text in a nice large size. (*note: Center your text side to side and top to bottom.. I’ve only shifted my
text in the example to show the Character palette settings I used.

STEP 2
In the original Transformers logo the letters T and F extend below the rest of the word type. In order to do this we need to rasterize the test
by right-clicking (Mac: Conrol-Click) on the text layer in our layers palette and choosing Rasterize Type from the menu. This turns our layer
from editable type into a standard graphic.

STEP 3
With the text rendered as a graphic we can use the Rectangular Marquee tool (activated by pressing the M tool) to select the bottom of the T
and F letters and by using the Free Transform tool to lengthen the bottom of the letters.

(*note: to get both letters exactly the same I placed a guide below the text.)
STEP 4
With the letters extended you can clear your guide by selecting View>Clear Guides from the main menu.

STEP 5
Next we are going to create a 3D effect by adding a bevel and emboss to our text layer and then duplicating and nudging that layer
repeatedly.

First, lets add a layer style. Double click to the right of the layer name in the layers palette to bring up the Layer Style dialog (*note: you can
also right click (Mac: Control-Click) on the layer and choose Blending Options to bring up the Layer Style dialog.)

In the column at the left of the Layer Styles dialog click Bevel and Emboss and apply the following settings then click OK to apply the layer
style.
STEP 6
By adding the Bevel and Emboss layer style we have created the edge shading that will be visible in our next step.

STEP 7
To create the illusion of 3D text we will now duplicate our text layer multiple times, each time shifting the text up and right.

To duplicate the selected layer simply press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) or select Layer>Duplicate Layer from the main menu. This will create a
new layer above the selected layer.

To shift the text, make sure you have the move tool selected by pressing the V key, then using the arrows on your keyboard press the up key
and then the right key each one time. Repeat the duplicate and move process 3 more times until you have a total of 5 layer copies.
STEP 8
At this point I’d recommend merging the bottom 4 layers of our 5 layer 3D set by clicking on the second layer from the top, holding down the
Shift key and then selecting the bottom layer in the set, effectively selecting all 4 layers that comprise the 3D edge. Press Command-E (PC:
Ctrl-E) to merge the selected layers.

We don’t actually want Bevel and Emboss layer style on the top layer, so right click (Mac: Control-Click) on the layer style icon of the top
layer and choose Clear Layer Style. I also double-clicked on the layer names and changed the names to "TRANSFORMERS Top" and
"TRANSFORMERS 3D".

STEP 9
With the "TRANSFORMERS Top" layer selected we are going to add a series of 5 layer styles that will give the layer it’s aged stone look. I
am going to place each of the layer styles in series here so all you need to do is go down the list and apply them. Anything out of the
ordinary will be pointed out in the yellow boxes.

Right click to the right of the layer name and apply the following 5 styles. Click OK when all the styles have been added.
STEP 10
The document should how look like the one below.

STEP 11
Looking at the effect so far it becomes obvious that the 3D edges are too light. To solve this problem, click on the "TRANSFORMERS 3D"
layer to select it, then bring up the Levels dialog by pressing Control-L (PC: Ctrl-L). Drag the left hand slider in towards the middle until the
3D edges look right.
STEP 12
For the final image I just added a reflection by duplicating the text and 3d layers, merging them, flipping them vertically, dropping the opacity
to 30% and then adding a gradient layer mask.

Al Ward
ActionFx.com: Home of 50,000+ Photoshop and
Elements Presets

Tutorials on creating metal type abound online, as do variations on simple liquid effects.
Most are fairly short, offering a good foundation for the reader on how certain effects are
achieved but fail to take that extra step (or few steps) to make the piece really shine. Once
you have an idea of how different techniques fit together in a piece, it is fairly easy to
combine, say, the process to create metal and the process to create liquid to create
something that exists in both sides of the FX map.

Create a new image with the following

attributes:

 Width: 11 inches

 Height: 11 inches

 Resolution: 300 ppi, 8 or 16 bit

 Background Color: White

Since the desired effect is to appear liquefied, a font

that appears to have been made with a crayon or round
brush will work perfectly. Select the Type tool and
open the Character palette from the Options bar. The
font I’ve chosen is called ‘WallowHmkBold’… if you
do not have this installed on your system just use the
font of your choice. The attributes for the characters
are seen below:

Note that the color is gray in the #666666

range and NOT stark black.

Type a word across the face of the image.

4
Rasterize the type layer, then paint a few additional gray dots around the type.

Open the Channels palette and duplicate a

channel… the Blue channel will work fine. Go to Image>Adjustments>Invert.

Open the Filter menu and select Blur>Gaussian Blur.

First, blur the channel at a 25 pixel radius. Blur the channel again at a radius of 15 pixels.
7

Turn off the Blue copy channel, but

don’t delete it… you’ll need it in a moment or two.

8
 Go to

Filter>Render>Lighting Effects. Set it up as outlined in the image below… be sure to

select the Blue copy channel as the Texture Channel.

The result of all that is

a pretty basic bevel, and yes, you could do pretty much the same thing with a layer style.
Some habits die hard, however, and I like the end result better when channels come into
play. What can I say? I’ve been doing it this way since at least PS 6, and if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it!

10
 Duplicate the
text layer and go to Filter>Sketch>Chrome. Set up the reflections as seen in the dialog
box below:

11

Now you can play with Layer Styles a bit. Open the Layer Styles dialog box and select
Bevel/Emboss. Enter the following settings… note that the Shadow color is again gray in
the #666666 range and not black. Once done click OK.
12

Let’s shine this up a bit. Command/Control+Click the text layer to generate a selection,
then make a Curves adjustment layer and Levels adjustment layer with the settings seen
here:

13

Against a black background the shine really comes out.

14
 Turn off the background layer or layers (if you added the black
separately) and merge all the others together.

15

To give the
type an enhanced liquid quality, go to Filter>Liquify. Use the Bloat tool to expand or
otherwise warp areas of the text as seen here. Once you are happy with the distortions,
click OK.

16

You can now throw the text into any image you so choose. In the
following example, I’ve blurred a tech-style background, placed the type in that
document, then placed a duplicate of the blurred layer above the text. The Blend mode of
the top layer is changed to Soft Light to serve as reflections off the type, or making the
type appear

Step 20.
This is the final part of this Photoshop tutorial. Next, zoom to 200%, duplicate the segment of chain and place it over the right hand side of the "G". Use the
trasform tool to rotate it so that the end is pointing in the direction of the gap. Duplicate it again, place it below the 1st chain link and then rotate it more than
the first. Create another one and then use the eraser to make it look as though it's going below the text.

a) b) c)

Step 21.
Add the smaller part of the chaing to the right hand side of the 1st link and then create a chain on the "T". Again, use the eraser to make it look as though it's
going beneath the letter (image c)

a) b) c)

Step 22.
Create another piece below the "T". Since the chain will appear to be below the letter, turn off the drop shadow of the layer, from the layers panel (image d).

a) b) c) d)

Step 23.
Create some more going from the "T" to the "G" and another piece around the left of the "G". Then create a cross of chains, going from the letters to the top
of the document.
a) b) c) d)

Step 24.
Your image should now look like the one below, bringing us to the end of this Photoshop tutorial! :)

Create a Layered Glowing Text Effect

Jun 5th in Text Effects by Kyle Pero

In this tutorial, we will create this effect using very basic Photoshop tools and layering
effects. This tutorial is simple enough for a beginner to understand, but I should warn you
that in this tutorial there ends up being over 60 active text layers, which will require a
heavy use of your computer's memory. Let's jump into this tutorial and layer some
glowing text.

Author: Kyle Pero

Kyle Pero has worked in the creative fields for many years now. With a background in
photography and graphic design he naturally became a Photoshop whiz. Now he works in
advertising doing photographic retouching, but also does freelance design and illustration
work.

Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. Click the screenshot
below to view the full-size image. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via
our PSDTUTS Plus membership.
Step 1

Make a new document that is 2000px by 1200px. Then make a new Gradient
Adjustment Layer with a linear gradient that goes from a dark gray (#464646) at the
bottom to black (#000000) at the top. This will be our background base.
Step 2

Make another linear Gradient Adjustment Layer above the previous one, and make it a
rainbow of colors of your choice. There are some colorful presets that you can choose
from in the gradient palette, or create your own. Set the layer's Fill down to 25%. Then
set the layer's blending mode to Color.

Tip: When you set the blending mode to color it makes it so the layer only affects the
color of everything below it, while leaving the lightness/darkness alone.
Step 3

Finally make another Gradient Adjustment Layer above the previous two. This one
will be a radial gradient. Set this one up so that the only 2 colors in the gradient are black
and then make the transparency go from 100% at one end and 0% at the other end.

If you see that black is covering the center of the image, check the Reverse box. Then
make it so the black goes around the edges of the canvas. Set the layer opacity to 65%. I
moved the transparency handles around a little to get the exact effect that I wanted.
Step 4

Now lets begin with the text treatment. Hit (T) for the type tool, and make a (single
click) on the canvas. Then type your letter, in my case a P. Then grab the Move tool and
(Hit CMD+T) and transform the letter, adjust it until it's the size that you want it. Hit (T)
again for the type tool, and if it's not already, make the letter black by clicking the text
color box in the property bar. Set the letter layer's blending mode to Screen. The letter
will disappear.

Step 5

(Double click) to the right of the letter layer's name in the layer palette to bring up the
layer styles palette. Put an Outer Glow and a Stroke on the layer with the exact settings
that you see below. You will see a very faint image of the letter now.

Let's use this first letter as a starting point for all the text in the image. Once we layer
several different letters on top of each other, our effect will come to life.
Step 6

Duplicate the letter layer by dragging it down to the New Layer button at the bottom of
the layer palette. Select the type tool (T) and then change the font on the new layer. If the
new font doesn't line up how you want to hit (CMD+T) to free transform the new letter.
Make sure that you always line up the baseline of the letters. You can move the anchor
point to the base line when you are transforming to keep it lined up correctly.

Now do this step 20 times, each time using a different font. I chose to use all different
fonts that have serifs. You can use all fonts that are sans-serif if you like, but I wouldn't
mix the two.
Step 7

Select all the text layers that you have. Then hit (CMD+G) to group them. With the
group selected in the layer palette, hit (V) for the move tool. Then (while holding
ALT), click and drag on the letters on the canvas to duplicate them. Drag them to the
right where you want the next letter to be. Now there should be 2 groups of text in the
layer palette. Turn off all the letter layers in the new group (except the bottom one) by
clicking in the little 'eye' icon next to each one.

Now select the text tool (T), and highlight the single letter. Then change it to the next
letter that you want, in my case an S. Finally, turn the S layer off. Then turn on the next
one and do the same. Repeat this until all the letters in your new group are changed. Turn
all the layers back on.

Repeat this step for each new letter you need.

Step 8

Select the elliptical marquee tool and make a very thin ellipse at the base of your letters.
Then Feather the selection about 20px. Enter quickmask mode (Q). Then go to
Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Make the angle 0 and the length 700px and hit OK. This
gives us a nice fade out to the left and right sides. Then exit quickmask mode (Q).

Now make a curves adjustment layer above the gradients, but below the letter groups.
Then apply a curve that looks like the one below. This just gives our letters something to
sit on.
Step 9

Make a new document that is 300px by 300px. Double click on the background layer to
make it an active layer. (Double click) to the right of the layer name to open the layer
styles palette. Apply a color overlay to make the layer black. Then add an inner stroke
that is white to make a border. You can see my settings below.

Go to Layer>Flatten Image to flatten the image. Hit CMD+A to select all and then go
Edit>Define Pattern.
Step 10

Go back to your other document. Make a new blank layer just above your curves layer by
hitting the New Layer button at the bottom of the layer palette. Not go to Edit>Fill and
select Pattern for the Contents. Then select your black box that should be at the end of
the list, and hit OK.

Now Hit (CMD+T) to transform the layer so that it fits in the foreground space. Then
(right/control+click) anywhere in the transform box and select perspective. Drag the
bottom right handle way out so you get a nice perspective on the pattern layer. Set the
layer's blending mode to screen and the opacity to 15%.
Step 11

There is one last step to add a finishing touch. Select the type layers and duplicate them
by dragging them down to the New Layer button. With the new groups selected hit
(CMD+T) then (right/control+click) in the transform box and select Flip Vertical.
Move them down so they look like a reflection.

With all the reflection groups selected hit (CMD+G) to put them into another group. Set
that group's opacity to 25%. Add a mask to the group by clicking on the Add Layer
Mask button at the bottom of the layer palette. With the mask selected hit (G) for the
gradient tool and apply a linear gradient from black to white, so the reflection fades out
as it goes down to the edge of the image.

Conclusion

This tutorial covered some simple steps and effects to achieve stylish results. The final
image is below. If there are any questions, put them in the comments section. I will
answer them as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy this tut!
Step 1 – Setting Up Background

Create a document of size 750×550 pixels.

Set the foreground color to #004B64 and background to

#000000.

Using the Radial Gradient tool, drag a circular gradient

from the top downwards.
Step 2a – Create a 3D Text

Open up Adobe Illustrator.

Set the Fill to be #FFFFFF and type

in your first letter with a bold font. I
am using Helvetica 75 Bold.

Draw a black layer below the white

letter so it is visible.
Step 2b – Create a 3D Text

Select the letter and go to Effect >

3D > Extrude & Bevel.

Fill in the settings shown on the

left.

Check on Preview so you are able

to see the end results from the
settings. Adjust the values if
necessary.

Step 2c – Create a 3D Text

Fill in the remaining of settings as

shown on the left.

Click OK once you are done.

Step 2d – Create a 3D Text

Repeat Step 2a to 2c for the rest of

your letters.

Adjust the values in Step 2b to get

the letters facing in different
directions.

Select the first letter and press on

Ctrl+C to copy it.
Step 2e – Create a 3D Text

Go back to Photoshop and press

Ctrl+V to paste the first letter.

Paste As prompt will appear.

Choose Smart Object.

Do the copying and pasting for rest

of the letters.

Step 3a – Apply Surface Gradient

Select Magic Wand and enter the

settings shown on the left.

Click on top surface of the first

letter.

Step 3b – Apply Surface Gradient

Click on Refine Edge.

Fill in the settings as shown on the

left.
Step 3c – Apply Surface Gradient

Create a new layer above the first

letter and name it as Surface. Fill
the selection with #000000.

Select the new layer and choose

Blending Option.

Activate Gradient Overlay set the

colors to be #003146 and
#B8EBFE. Set the Blend Mode to
Normal, Opacity to 100%, Style to
Linear, Angle to 90 and Scale to
100%.
Step 3d – Apply Surface Gradient

Repeat Step 3a to 3c for the rest of

letters.

Try to use different colors of same

theme in the gradient overlay, such
as shades of green and cyan.

Step 4a – Adding Flowery Swirls

Load Suddenly Spring brushes.

Create another layer above Surface
layer and name it as Floral.

Set the foreground to #FFFFFF.

Select one of the Suddenly Spring
brushes and paint over the gradient.

Set the Blend Mode of Floral layer

to Overlay and opacity to 50%.
Select the Floral layer and Ctrl+left
click on the Surface layer to load its
selection. Click on Layer Mask
button.
Step 4b – Adding Flowery Swirls

Repeat Step 4a for rest of the

letters.

Create new layers in between each

letter to paint some black
(#000000) shadows with Soft Brush
tool. Mask these shadows the same
way done for the Floral layers.

Step 4c – Adding Flowery Swirls

Create a new layer below all the

letters.

Set the foreground color to

#BEF7A8 and paint some flowers
around the letters.

Right-click on the layer and choose

Blending Options. Activate Outer
Glow and set the color to #FFFFFF.
Leave the rest of settings as default.

Step 4d – Adding Flowery Swirls

Repeat Step 4c to plant more

flowers around the letters.
Step 4e – Adding Flowery Swirls

Create a new layer below

everything.

Set the foreground color to

#FFFFFF and paint a large flower.
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
and set the radius to 6px.

Set the Blend Mode of this layer to

Overlay.

Step 5a – Glowing Stars

Create a new layer above

everything and name it as Stars.

Use Soft Brush tool with size 1px

and color #FFFFFF, draw a big
cross as shown in the diagram.
Erase slightly on the 4 corners with
big Soft Eraser.

Select Soft Brush tool, set its

opacity 20% and size to 30px. Paint
a fade dot in the center of the cross.
Step 5b – Glowing Stars

Right-click on the Stars layer and

choose Blending Options.

Choose Outer Glower and set the

color to #FFFFFF. Leave the rest of
the settings as default.
Optional

You may repeat Step 5a and 5b for

as many stars as you like with
different sizes.

I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial

as much as I do. Thanks!

Click here to view the final image.