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A quick perusal of websites dealing with
Photoshop will render dozens, even hundreds, of tutorials, tips,
explanations and so on of techniques to 'build' dynamic visuals.
Some purists may wonder what the big deal is, but the answer is
fairly simple... these graphics appeal to the eye and stimulate
the imagination.
One of the primary techniques used by interface
designers and text manipulators to achieve the 'WOW' effect is
to use Layers to generate the illusion of depth. To take a word
and fill it with a color or gradient is fairly easy... and looks
it. To create illusory 3D effects is also fairly simple, but
does not look it. For some reason we carry the notion into our
Photoshop work that, since it appears complex, it must be
complex.
Let's get right to it! In Photoshop, open a new
image. For this lesson I'm using my standard size of 7 in x 5 in
at 72 dpi, transparent. I never work on my background, so create
a new layer and select it.
Time to build the foundation! With the type mask
tool, enter some text with a thick font, at least 200 points in
size. We will be doing some contracting later, so the thicker
the font the better. Go ahead and fill the text with black, and
create a new layer leaving the selection active.
Something that adds to the illusion of depth,
believe it or not, is the gradient tool. Select a couple colors
that are fairly close in tone, one darker than the other (in the
background). Fill the new layer with the radial gradient,
drawing from the upper left to the lower right.
I'm on a stone kick today, so let' make some
marble! I started with a light tan in my foreground and a dark
brown/red in the back for my gradient. Run the Difference Clouds
(Filter>Render>Difference Clouds) about 8 times on the gradient
layer. Mine came out a tad dark, so I adjusted the
Hue/Saturation a bit and came up with the following:
Now we want to cut a chunk from the center.
Contract your selection by 8-10, cut and paste into a new layer.
Reselect, Contract by 5, select inverse (on the pasted Layer),
and cut or delete.
You should have something similar to this:
Let's play with the background for a bit. Go
back to your layer with the black text and, with the magic wand
tool, select outside the text, then select inverse. Your text
should be active again. Create a new layer just above that
layer. Use your gradient again and fill with your original
gradient colors. Add Noise... not too much, but just enough to
give it some graininess. While we are at it, let's outline our
creation. Swap the foreground and background colors, create a
new layer, and Stroke to 4 pixels or so on the outside. If you
like, go ahead and deselect and give the stroked layer an inner
bevel. You can now do the same with the 'marbled' layers... play
around with the depth of the bevel! This will effect the
sharpness of the chisel effect. After tweaking the bevels and
adding a faint drop shadow to the first marble layer, this is
what I came up with:
VARIATIONS:
You can continue playing with your layers, adding plastic wrap
for a glossy effect, using a dark brush to create a rust or dirt
spatter on the image, etc. Liven things up! If you are using a
dark background, apply an inner and outer glow. For a white
background, duplicate the gradient layers, twirl and blur. And
ALWAYS drop shadow... well, that is a personal rule, but for
pulling the text off the page a drop shadow, however bold or
subtle, always helps.
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