In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used in creating this horror style text effect with Dirt and Splatter Texture in Photoshop. I’ve got the inspiration from the game “Prototype” title typography and decided to have a bit experiment with it myself.

Along the way, we will be using a lot of layer blending options, image adjustments, selection techniques, custom brushsets painting and filter effects. This is an intermediate level tutorial and beginners may find it a bit tricky to complete, but why not have a try :)

Here is  a preview of the final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

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Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Font

Dirty Spray Brushset

Stroke and Splatter

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200 * 800 px (in fact size doesn’t really matter here, choose one you feel comfortable with), use White as background colour.

In order to maxmise the effect, the choice of font is quite important here. For me I tend to use a Bold, Clean Font from at the start, simply because they are easy to manipulate and stylise. So go head and use the font we have just downloaded and type some text onto the canvas: (Hint: you can use Ctrl + T free transform tool to adjust the size of the text)

Step 2

On this text layer, apply the following layer blending options:

General Blending

Drop Shadow

Inner Shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Contour

Gradient Overlay

Stroke

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Load the selection of the text layer by holding down the Ctrl key and left click the thumbnail image of the text layer on the layer palette:

Hit Ctrl + Alt + R and bring up the Refine Edge Tool, apply the following settings:

and your selection will become like this:

Step 4

Maintaining the selection, create a new layer on top of the text layer and name it “Dirt Spray”, load the Dirt Spray brushset into Photoshop, and use the different brushes in this set, paint on the new layer.

You will see because we have the selection enable, the dirt appears within the selection:

and here is the effect I have after a bit painting with the dirt brush:

Step 5

Now we can add some background textures to make the effect a bit richer. Load the “Stroke and Splatter” brushset into Photoshop, create a new layer called “texture” just above the background layer, select the brushes from this set to paint over the new layer: (I chose the red colour)

Also you can use the splatter brushset for additional effect.

Now we can add some more decorations onto the text. I decided to add some curvy lines . To do this, create a new layer called “lines” and grab the Pen Tool, create the following working path on this “lines” layer:

And right0-click and choose the “Stroke Path” option, as shown below:

Then select the option “Brush” and tick the “Simulate Pressure” option (Make sure set the brush size to 16px, with 100% hardness). Use the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl + T) and free transform it as shown below:

Duplicate this “lines” layer a few times, on each duplicated layer, free tranform it to different sizes. Here is what I have after the duplication and free transformation:

Optional: You can further enhance this effect by duplicating some more layers of the “lines” layer, and drag them on top of the text layer. Here is what I have after moving them above the text layer:

Step 6

To create some uneven light effect, we can add a new layer on top of all previous layer, grab a soft round brush (I chose 150px) and select the White colour, do some single-clicks on the spot you would like to highlight:

Change the layer blending mode to “Overlay” and you will have the following effect:

I further added some more background textures by using the splatter brushsets and here is what I have after the paintings:

Step 7

For some final adjustments, I decided to flatten the image (make sure before you do so, save a copy of the non-flattened one first), and duplicate the background layer once and desaturate the duplicated layer, go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen and apply the following settings:

And add a new layer on top of the duplicated layer, grab a big soft brush and paint some colour onto it:

Change the layer blending mode to “Color” and you will have the following effect

Add the following two adjustment layers on top of all previous layers by going into “Layer > Adjustment Layer >…”:

Curves

Colour Balance

and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Along the way, we will be using Photoshop techniques such as the Extract filter, layer blending effects, masking, a variety of photo filtering tools and image adjustment tools. I would like to put emphasis towards the Extract Filter and show you what you can do with the tool when it comes to complex selection (e.g. hair selection).

This is an intermediate tutorial and can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try :)

Here is a preview of my final effect:

Alternative version:

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Wedding Skirt Stock

Grungy brushset

Step 1

Load the “Wedding skirt stock” image into Photoshop. Now what we need to achieve is to take the model out and seperate it from the rest of the image.

You may use any selection tools you like (Pen Tool, Lasso Tool, Magic Wand) to do this, however I feel the most convenient tool here is in fact the Extract Filter (located under Filter > Extract or shortcut Ctrl + Alt + X). The reason is because with Extract Filter, you can easily make a selection around the model’s hair – which would be difficulty if you use any other selection tools.

So Go to Filter > Extract and click on the marker on the top left corner: (I used a brush size of 40px)

Mark around the model as shown below:

Then click on the Paint bucket under the marker:

Fill the inside area as shown below:

Click on the “OK” button and you will see the background around the model disappears. Now create a new document sized 2400px * 3600px with 200 dpi resolution, use the Movel Tool (V) and drag the model onto the new document.

Now you may see under the model’s right arm there is a portion of the texture isn’t removed. We can easily fix this by using Magic Wand tool to make a selection:

Go to Edit > Clear and you will see it’s now removed:

Here is the overall effect so far – you may see the edge of the model appears to be torned. I was going to the correct this, but in the end decided to leave it as it is for the final effect. Be aware this was created from the Extract Filter and because the brush size I used. You can avoid this by changing the brush size to a smaller one in Extract Filter.

Name this layer as “Model” and prepare for some Photo Retouching fun!

Step 2

Duplicate this model layer Once. Apply the following blending mode to the duplicated layer:

Blending Mode: Multiply

Opacity: 100%

Go to Filter > Brush strokes > sumi -e and apply the following settings:

Then apply the following Layer Mask to this duplicated layer: (Tip: use the Gradient Tool to achieve this effect)

Duplicate this layer twice, keep the blending mode of those two layers as “Muliply”, but drop their opacity to 60%. You will have the following effect:

Step 3

Duplicate the original “Model” layer once again and drag this duplicated layers on top of all other layers.

On the first (bottom) duplicated layer, apply the following Gaussian Blur settings:

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Screen” and add a layer mask to it. On the mask, use the Eraser Tool to ereser some random areas on the shirt so to create some lighting depth:

After erasing, duplicate this layer once and change the blending mode to “Soft light”, here is th effect so far:

Step 4

Duplicate the original “Model” layer one more time and drag it on top of all other layers, apply the following High Pass filter (Filter > other > high pass) to it:

Change the layer blending mode to “Hard Light” and you will have the following effect:

Optional Step: to add some extra smoothness and lighting contrast to the image, you can duplicate the original “Model” layer one more time, apply the following Gaussian Blur settings:

Change the blending mode to “Screen” and add a layer mask to the layer, erase the following parts on the mask:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 5

On top of all previous layers, add the following two adjustment layers (Layer > new adjustment layer > …)

Levels

Black and White

Create a new layer called “colour” on top of those two adjustment layers, set its blending mode to “overlay” and opacity to 40% and use a dark brown brush to paint over the following area:

Add another Curves Adjustment layer on top of the “colour” layer, apply the following settings:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 6

Now let add some background textre to it. Create a new layer just above the background layer, use the Grungy brushset to over it (try out different brush flow and opacity settings), here is my effect so far:

To add a bit more texture effect, we can create a new layer fill with Black colour, go to Filter > Render > Fiber and apply the following settings:

Change the blending mode to “Soft light” and drop the opacity to 55%, you will have the following effect:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! You can of course add some of your own texture or filter effect and see what the end results are!

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (I slightly adjusted the colour contrast and add some motion blur effect) – Click to enlarge:

Alternative version:

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!