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Text Effect

Create Awesome Abstract Text Effect with Brush Dynamics and Filters in Photoshop

By 6 Mins Read

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this really great-looking, abstract style text effect by using custom brushset (which we will be making one of our own) with dynamics, plus adding artistic effect with Photoshop filters. Have a try!

This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky :)

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

custom-brush-cloud-text-effect-flatten-final

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Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document sized  1400px * 650px, fill the background layer with the following gradients:

1 grad

Step 2

Create a new layer on top of the background called “light top”, grab a big soft round brush with a white color, do a single click on the top centre region of the canvas:

2 top

Create another create called “light bottom” and use a similar brush as mentioned above, do a single click on the centre of the canvas, resize and perspective it with free transform tool (Ctrl + T) to produce more depth for it:

2 persp

Here is the effect so far:

2 effect

Step 3

Type some texts on top of all previous layers we created. You can use any font you like but I preferred a big, bold font (download it here):

3 type

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

Drop Shadow

3 drop sha

Bevel and Emboss

3 bevel

Gradient Overlay

3 grad

Stroke

3 stroke

Here is the effect so far:

3 effect

Optional: to add a bit more depth to the text, make a duplicate this text layer, drop the opacity of the duplicated layer to around 20% and move it to the left of the original text layer a bit:

3 effect 2

Step 4

Now let’s start make a simple brushset. Create a new document with a size of 200px * 200px, leave the background layer as white, and grab the polygon tool and draw a shape as shown below (use the distort option from the free-transform tool to adjust the shape):

The Polygon Tool:

4 poly

Polygon Tool Settings:

4 poly set

Draw the shape:

4 draw

Tip: use the trim tool to get rid of the extra height and width of the canvas.

Important: after drawing the shape, make sure you rastersize this shape layer. and make the background layer tranparent.

4 turn off

Once you finish the aboves, go to Edit > DefineBrush Preset:

4 define

In the box popped up, type a name for this brushset and hit “OK”, you will see the newly created brush appearing in the brush list:

4 brushset

Step 5

Select this newly created brush, apply the following brush dynamics to it:

Shape dynamics

5 shape dyn

Scattering

5 sca

And tick the “Airbrushing” and “Smoothing” options.

Create a new layer underneath the orginal text layer, draw some random patterns as shown below with this dynamic brush, as shown below: (try adjusting the brush size)

5 paint

Step 6

Now let’s spice up the effect a bit by adding some cloud over the text. So create a new layer called  “cloud”, render some cloud inside it with the cloud filter (set foreground color to a dark grey, and black background colour).

Before you render the cloud, you have to make a selection with the Lasso Tool around the text (with around 20px feather settting), then render the cloud inside the seletion.

You will have the following effect:

6 cloud

Change the blending mode of this cloud layer to “Screen”, you will have the following effect:

6 screen cloud

You can also duplicate, resize this cloud layer and move those duplicated layer around for more effects, as show below:

Resize

6 resize cloud

Duplicate

6 duplicate cloud

Step 7

To produce even more depth for the text, here is a quick way to do it: create a new layer just above the original text layer, set the blending mode of this layer to “Vivid Light”, grab a soft brush to paint some color onto it:

7 paint

Add a black and white adjustment layer on top of all layers, adjust the settings accordingly, until you see there is a shadow appearing on the bottom of the text:

7 bw

Here is the effect you’re aiming to achieve: (you can see now because we have a shadow under the text, the overall effect looks deeper and more attractive)

7 effect

Add another color layer on top of the black and white adjustment layer, set the blending mode to “color” and paint some color on it, you will have the following effect:

7 effect 2

Step 8

Now we’re on the best part of this tut – apply the filter effects! Firstly we flatten the image, then duplicate the background layer once and apply the following Reduce Noise filter to the duplicated layer:

8 reduce noise

and you will see the text look much clearer and the overall image looks sharper:

8 after redu

Duplicate this sharpened layer once, and apply the following motion blur settings to it:

8 mo blur setting

You will have the following effect:

8 mo blur

Change the blending mode of this motion blur layer to “Hard Light” and erase the portion shown blow with a big soft brush (we don’t want the whole text to be blurred)

8 erase

Step 9

Go back to the sharpened text layer and make another duplication of it, drag it to the top and apply the reticulation filter to it (Filter > Sketch > Reticulation):

reticulation

You will see the following effect:

8 ret

Change the blending mode to “color dodge” and erase the edge of the layer off, you will have the following effect:

8 ret change blending mode

Optional: go to site5 such as qbrushes.net and find some grungy brushsets, and create a new layer with the blending mode set to “overlay”, paint on it with your choice of grungy brush.

Here is my effect so far:

9 effect

Step 10

We’re almost done! To add some final touches, we can create a new layer on top of all other layers, render some cloud inside it and set the blending mode to “soft light”, you will have the following effect:

10 cloud soft light

I also added a colour balance adjustment layer on top of all layer to finish the effect off:

10 col mid

10 col mid

10 col high

and here is my final effect for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

custom-brush-cloud-text-effect-flatten-final

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! Just one last word: always try out different layer blending modes and see what effect that bring you! Sometimes you will be surprised to see some real cool effects :)

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful and inspirational!

Until next time, have a nice day!

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James is a seasoned Photoshop expert with over 25 years of experience based in Australia. As the driving force behind PSD Vault, he authors the majority of its in-depth tutorials and insightful articles.

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97 Comments

  2. taryarL on

    awesome!!!!
    love this one too
    i like the way u adjust layer blending options
    so cool :)
    i will sent this pic to my friend and he will surely ask me
    ‘GOD ! how heck u done this’ ?
    hee hee
    thank admin !
    u ROCK :)

  3. Johnny on

    I quite like this, it reminds me of the early days when I started designing, these are the kinds of effects I loved to try out.

  4. ISMBUTT on

    LOVE YOUR WORK .IT IS GREAT LIKE ALWAYS..THANKS AGAIN BUT CAN YOU JUST TELL ME HOW TO DO AFTER 8TH STEP..I MEAN HOW TO GET IN reticulation filter to it (Filter > Sketch > Reticulation):
    BUT IN FILTER MY OPTION IS NOT HIGHLIGHT I MEAN I CANT USE THAT WHY IS THIS ?HOW CAN I DO THIS PLZ TELL ME ….I M GONA SAVE MY TEXT …THANKS AGIAN …

  5. James Qu on

    @ISMBUTT: did you select the duplicated layer first BEFORE you go to the filter gallery? If not do so first.

    Hope this helps :)

  7. me on

    If i do that cloud thing, my whole screen is on cloud.

    Any solution please?

    Already thanks for the great tutorial!

  8. Blogger Den on

    You have a beautiful blog design here, I’ve never heard of the site before but you really do have some amazing posts! I’ll have to come back in the future to check out more of your content, and I look forward to it

  11. Fredde on

    really good effect and i really wanna make it, but i got a problem, when i did the cloud layer and render clouds, it cover the whole thing not just the text? :P

  12. danica keighran on

    hey loving this tutorial thnks ^_^ !
    but haha (this probably is vry silly, and its probably somewhere obvious on the screen or in the menu)
    but where is the brush preset settings found (step 5)?
    would love the help.
    thank you!

  13. Mariette on

    I got that same problem as Fredde, the cloud filter cover the whole thing not only the text

    ,sorry for bad englishi’m from holland

  14. doesnt work on

    Followed this step for step. And mine does not come out a thing like that. the basics are there but it ends up looking stupid and nowhere near presentable

  15. James Qu on

    @Fredde @Mariette: really sorry but I forgot to mention before you render the cloud, you have to make a selection with the Lasso Tool around the text (with around 20px feather settting), then render the cloud inside the seletion.

    Hope this helps!

  16. James Qu on

    @danica keighra, the settings are under Edit > Define Brush Preset

    Make sure you make the background layer transparent first before you define the brush preset

    Hope this helps!

  19. Dylan on

    I get all the way to the part where you reticulated, and i can’t click on sketch, it’s grayed out.
    What am i doing wrong?

  20. phoenix on

    Amm this probably sounds really stupid but i can’t draw the brush shape when i use the polygon tool with the same setting you have it makes a star…… and i can’t transform it into the shape you have.. i’m not very familiar with ps anyway is have ps cs4

  22. V on

    You know. it would have been a lot easier if you labeled specifically how to GET to the black and white adjustment layer, for those who are getting reacquainted with Photoshop.

  24. gagamo on

    Good, I like your dising, it’s awesome belive me bro your doing a great jod with photoshop, I’m going to do the same thing your did I hope it will be okay.. thank you

  28. Dwarf on

    from step 6 i was totaly fuck up. can you maby try to make a video where you do it all. Help I wanna make i nice but you say a lot of shit i never knew was i photoshop. plzz help me maby whit a better tutorial

  31. Zambu on

    your tutorials are good, but you did not explain everything, some things were flying me, because, well I’m a rookie, but should explain a little more detail

  32. Joey on

    This is one of the greatest photoshop tutorials I’ve seen to date!
    I’m okay with photoshop but this is stuff that I’m looking to learn and improve on.
    Thank you so much for putting this up!

  34. smith on

    you guys are amazing artist..I just use one of the trick and got appreciated by client.thank you very much for sharing your knowledge.smith

  36. PSDnewbie on

    Thank you for your amazing tutorial. It really help me. Keep it up and may God bless you.

    PSDnewbie

  37. newbie on

    *dont mind my eng*
    “resize and perspective it with free transform tool (Ctrl + T) to produce more depth for it:” i dont get what you mean by Persective it. Prefer you to explain more in depth.
    thanks.

  38. Luis Serres on

    hey i was makin’ it on cs4 but i dont now ow to make the 5 step some1 can help me plz oh and excellent tutorial ;)

  39. traffic ticket dismissal on

    Good post indeed. Every informative and easy to learn few things as it explained diagrammatically. Nice tutorial with easy steps. Good post and good hard work. thanks for sharing.

  40. Hann on

    This tutorial is wicked! The final design looks awesome especially the color combo and the effects put together. I’ve been trying to design a logo somewhat like this for myself (more or less, in essence)… and it was a TOTAL disaster! I didn’t manage to get it looking right. It was a little bit off somehow. Kinda distorted. Finally, I decided to use the professional services of an online logo design site instead (http://www.logodesignstation.com) and got the logo I wanted at an affordable price and fast too, within 24 hours. I did provide this link for reference and inspiration to my designer as I liked how yours look. I’m not going to design a logo without any professional help anytime soon though it’s fun. And enjoyable. Thanks for posting this!

  42. DuTcHsOldiErZ on

    this is very nice but i can’t makte it :(
    can anyone please make it for me?
    text: DuTcHsOldiErZ

  44. jaymichael on

    kinda little hard for beginners.. hope 2 see step by step on a video type… so that i can catch up all the tutorials…

  45. question on

    i am getting stuck on step 7 my colors when i paint aren’t coming to look like lights or aren’t vibrant like yours

  49. MDH on

    nice tut, it’s really awesome, but i’m stuck at step 8 i really don’t know what’s meant by flatten the image :S is it another way of saying merge som layers together, because i don’t know neither which one of the layers i should do the effects on after step 8

  50. Steph on

    I cant get my colors to show up on the second black and white adjustment layer. What did I do wrong? :(

  53. Tom Dean on

    Guide 1/10 you need to be more clear and understandable or the newbies won’t be able to do it. Final Image 9/10 it is a pretty cool picture.

  54. Antaka on

    Hi there James your tut is really awesome but I got stuck at the point when u use ”Filter > Sketch > Reticulation” . The Sketch option is disabled , I can’t choose it :( . Plz if you know something send reply to my email or inbox me on my Facebook , thank you so much!

  57. Breezy on

    I really need help on step 7. I did everything it said but my color isn’t showing up when I paint. PLEASE HELP! I really would like to finish this picture.

  58. James Qu on

    @Breezy: make sure you create a new layer first, then paint on the new layer. You will need to set the blending mode of this new layer to Vivid Light, too.
    Hope this helps

  59. Breezy on

    It’s not helping. I did the steps exactly….when I try to paint it just paints white, even with the blend mode set to “vivid light”

  60. Dine on

    Dude u applied gradient ovalay on d text but why is it not shown in pic? REPLY OR I WON’T B ABLE TO MAKE THIS LOL
    this is rrly nice effect

  62. Nathan on

    To help people out. Flatten the image go to >layer >flatten image.
    Also to get to the black and white adjustment layer, click on the adjustment layer section in your layer pallet.
    Most of this stuff is simple to find out and a google search should help with problems, I doubt they want people to be asking the same question over and over. Think. Use Google. Or Learn Photoshop first ;)
    n.

  64. OzziDubstep on

    Thanks for the tut, but i have a problem with the reticulation. It is formed in the gradient (bottom to top) and not in the radial like you have it. Is there something i’m doing wrong?

  66. Kruz on

    Im struggeling with the same thing as Dine with the gradient not showing in your pic. Have really tried to figure this one out without luck.

    And then there is step 7. When appyling som colors like you did, and then putting the black n white adjustment on it with the same settings you use, and it looks reall ugly. Yes i have made the layer vivid so to speak.

    Otherwise i love your tutorial. it´s awesome.

  76. Samuel on

    It’s a nice effect but tutorial sucks. You skip bunch of things assuming we know how to do those. Some people may be new to this.. You could adjust it for newbies.

  80. Shahbaz Ahmed Bhatti on

    very very very and nice tutorials
    can u please also make video tutorials so we can easily udnerstand

  83. sebas on

    Hay pasos que no entiendo muy bien soy principiante en photoshop ojala puedan hacer un video tutorial de este efecto que esta buenisimo

  84. SONICTHEAK on

    Okay step 7?????????? fuckin seriously?!!!!?!?!? EASY WAY MY ASS WE ARE NOT PROS IN THA~!@#!$%234

  85. Zrbahar on

    Ok so I am a newbie on photoshop… can anyone tell me the details of how to do step 2???

  90. Spike on

    please go over step 7 again, it was way too rushed, this is the main step and since i’m struggling to make this look good, my final product is isn’t looking good either. I would massively appreciate it if you went over this step in a bit more detail?

  91. Sun on

    What’s so difficult about Step 7?
    Just take a brush and paint a few lines below the text with different colors..

  92. Eduardo on

    I have a problem with step , which is the bevel and emboss > highlight mode, I can’t turn it into screen

  95. asad Irfan on

    Awesome. It was just a bit different . The reflection because of grunge brush otherwise it was awesome and almost perfect like yours.

  96. Franky aka Cutty Framm on

    step 2 the light bottom gives me some trouble i dont know how to lay down the Canvas…. -.-”
    Create another create called “light bottom” and use a similar brush as mentioned above, do a single click on the centre of the canvas, resize and perspective it with free transform tool (Ctrl + T) to produce more depth for it:

  97. chris snyder on

    same here. i’m trying to create this in cs6 for a project in my class and it’s giving me a lot of trouble.