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I think I mentioned last week that I'd continue
the textures theme, and I promise to do so soon. I thought that
this week we would just do something fun, as the 4th of July is
a time of celebration here in the States. Something about the
fireworks, parades, camping and time with friends and family
makes a soul want to kick back and enjoy, so that is the theme
this week. As I start this column I have no idea where it is
headed. Call it a Photoshop Road Trip.
To begin, here's my image set up:
Create a new image
9 inches wide
5 inches high
200 dpi
RGB
White Background
Select 2 opposing colors. For my example I'm
using red and green. Create a new layer, and select the
Reflected Gradient tool set to difference mode. Start filling
the new layer several times, beginning from different points
each pass. You may even throw a few radial gradients in for good
measure.
This is a small section of my image as it stands
after about 12 passes of the gradient. Just a note: using the
difference mode gradient is one of the single best ways to
create sharp, contrasting designs. I use this effect often, and
have always been pleased with the result.
Enter some large type with the type mask tool.
Once selected, go to Layer>New>Layer via Cut. This takes your
type selection and removes it from the gradient layer, allowing
use to apply filters and styles to the type shaped selection.
Duplicate the new layer... I'm going to show you a pretty cool
tip in a few minutes.
Before we get to that, let's work on the
duplicate, which should be at the top of the layer stack. Tweak
the brightness/contrast just a bit to bring out the color from
the background.
I'm now going to apply my bevel to the layer to
further bring it out from the background.
Let's add just a dash of a gradient stroke:
By now your type should look something like
this:
Don't you just love this stuff?
Ok, time to apply the cool factor. Remember the
trick I mentioned? Here it is. In order to create my borders
around embedded looking type, I used to reselect the type and
expand the selection. This worked ok, but the corners were
rounded off gradually as I increased the selection size. I don't
want to do that here, as I want the points of the font to remain
sharp. The font I'm using is called Nightwarrior, and can be
found on numerous free font websites. As we have a layer
unaffected by the bevel in the shape of our type. We can
transform it to increase the size, thereby maintaining the sharp
edges for our border.
Select the bottom most type layer. Go to
Edit>Transform>Scale, and increase the size to taste. I want to
make a distinctive metal border, so I'm expanding the layer so
the effects on the border can be clearly seen. Though the fonts
fill not directly match as they would using the expand selection
option, this is still a fun way to render things.
Command/Control>Click the expanded type layer to
generate your selection. Hit D, X, and select the radial
gradient, this time changing the mode to normal. Select a point
in the upper left of the selection and fill the selection to the
lower right.
We are going to try a variation of an effect we
covered a few months ago. Select a brown or red for the
foreground color. Duplicate the layer. Command/Control>Click to
make the selection again. Fill the layer with gray and apply the
Spatter Filter a couple times. Then select the gray and delete
it from the duplicate layer. Apply a pillow emboss set to 40%,
and apply the ring contour.
Reselect the bottom type layer and add noise.
Now just apply a bevel to taste. I've also
merged the top layer with an empty on and applied a pillow
emboss. After replacing the white background with black and
creating a cool globe in the background, here's my image:
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