Create a Realistic Weedy Text Effect in Photoshop

Posted on December 14th, 2008 under Text Effects, it has 26 Comments and 31,920 Views so far.

In this tutorial, I will take you through the steps I used to create a weedy text effect in Photoshop. This is a very simple tutorial, yet the effect is surprising and realistic.

The techniques used in this tutorial include some layer blending sytle options, some filters, and a little bit of image adjustments. It’s suitable for both beginners and intermediate users. For advanced users, well, you can use it as an inspiration :)

Below is a preview of the final text effect:

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document, size doesn’t really matter, I chose 800×400px. Choose a font (I used this font from dafont.com). Type some texts on the background layer and this should automatically form a new layer.

Position the text to the centre of the document:

Step 2

The text looks a bit flat to me so I thought I could make it look a bit more like a rocky ground. Apply the following layer blending options to the text layer:

Inner Shadow

Outer Glow

Bevel and Emboss

Texture

Color Overlay

The effect so far looks like:

Step 3

We can add some more texture onto the text. I found this bamboo image on the net it fits perfectly with the text. So please download that image, load it into Photoshop and select a portion of the image, copy and paste into our document. (You may have resize it a bit to fit the text)

See below for detailed position:

Name this layer as “texture”, hit Ctrl+M to bring up the Curve tool, apply the following settings:

Then hit Ctrl+L to bring up the Level Adjustment Tool. Firstly select the Green Channel from the drop down menu and apply the following settings:

Then select the RGB channel and apply the following settings:

Then change the layer blending option of this layer to “Soft Light” by right-clicking this layer and choose “Blending options”.

Here is the effect so far:

Step 4

Duplicate the “texture” layer once, then go to Filter > Other > Maximum (See below for detailed path)

Apply the following Maximum setting to the duplicated layer:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 5

Duplicate the “texture” layer once more and put the duplicated layer on top of every other layer, go to filter > blur > gaussian blur and apply the following settings:

We can add some more dusty-noise on the text to make it more realistic. To do this, duplicated the “texture” layer once more, put the duplicated layer on top of all layers, then go to filter > noise > add noise and apply the following settings:

Here is the effect so far:

That’s it for this tuorial! The rest is left upon your own creativity!

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (I added some background texture and adjusted the colour saturation of the texture layer a bit)

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and as usual, if you have any question, just drop me a line below!

Cheers and have a great day!

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26 Comments

3DS Max Tutorials, 3d max, 3d studio max, 3d tutorials Says:
Hi James,
Thanks for this tutorial, i like it.
Tutorialvault Says:
Nice effect man. Added to http://www.tutorialvault.net
psaddict Says:
Added to http://www.psaddict.com
psn00b Says:
Could you how/tell how you added your final effects? Thanks!
James Says:
Hi psn00b!

it’s easy, I basically created a new layer just above the background layer, downloaded a brush from qbrushes.com and use the eraser tool to get rid of some bits and pieces.

I also used dodge and burn tool for extra contrast.

Hope this helps:)
Thomas Says:
It s a great simple tutorial, thanks
Soul Colider Says:
I’ve found your text effect tutorials to be very helpful. Appriciate the time and effort you’ve put in to help some of us who are mere beginners. Thanks
nbrowning Says:
hey i read what you said about your final effect of adding a new brush from qbrushes.com. Can you tell which brush it was or give a link? Thanks
Business Cards Says:
Pretty cool tutorial! I love the glow effect on the bamboo text. Another must try technique. Keep up the good work!
huwaw69 Says:
How did you made the background?
FrZn Says:
VERY niCe dude this is really useful, congrats
photoshopgirl Says:
so cool,love it!! =)
James Says:
@photoshopgirl: thank you :)