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Create a Diablo III Inspired Grungy Text Effect

By 3 Mins Read

This tutorial shows the path I took to create this Diablo III Inspired Grunge Text Effect.

I was looking for some design inspirations on the net and I bumped into the Diablo III website. I  was intrigued by the design of the title text and I thought: what happen if I add something extra to it? What will the end result like if I apply a cracked texture on top of the text? The story begins…

Just a sneak-peak of the final text effect:

Step 1

Firstly we need a nice font and a texture for overlay effect. You can use any font you like, I chose this font from dafont.com. After choosing your font, donwload a copy of this texture below (click to download)

Step 2

Create a new document of any size, I chose 800*600px because it provides more room later on if I want to add something extra on. Fill the background layer with black.

Use the type tool to type some text onto it using the white colour. Name this layer as “text”, right-click on the layer and go to Blending Options, use the follow settings:

Drop shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Hightlight Mode colour for Bevel and Emboss option

Gradient Overlay

Step 3

Open the texture image file you downloaded, use the selection tool to select a portion of the image and drag your selection on top of the “text” layer. Name it “texture”, right-click it and choose “create clipping mask”.

Use the curve tool to adjust the colour mixture of this layer a bit. See below for detailed curve tool setting:

Step 4

Change the layer blending option of this layer to “screen”, apply inner glow and some dark brown satin in the blending options. See below for details:

Step 5

On the “texture” layer, use a big circle brush with a low opacity and flow (30% each) and dark yellow colour to add some colour contrast on it. Below is the text effect so far:

Step 6

Duplicate the “texture” layer once, apply the “Glass” filter onto it. See below for detailed settings:

Then set the layer blending option to “Color Burn”.

Step 7

Optional: you can some extra effects on top of the duplicated texture layer. I added a dupilcated layer with a “Medium” filter on and set the layer blending option to “Color Dodge”. See below image for details:

Medium filter

Layer blending option

Ok, that’s it for this tutorial! You may want to add some more creativity onto this text effect, go ahead with it!

Below is my finished work, I added some brush effects and motion blur:

I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Any questions or feedback, just drop me a comment!

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James is a seasoned Photoshop expert with over 25 years of experience, mastering the software since its 5.0 version. As the driving force behind PSD Vault, he authors the majority of its in-depth tutorials and insightful articles.

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90 Comments

  1. ghawyy on

    wow great effect and nice too

    thats eclusive styles for me

    thank you so much

    i really love it and i will use that one for alot of works

    i will back for more thanks

  5. jay on

    i have photoshop 6.0
    1st problem… i can’t seem to find the curve tool.
    2nd i seem to not have the transparancy shapes layer on the last blending options.. lmk if u could help me out on this.

  6. James on

    Hi Jay! Thanks for your question~
    I don’t have much experience with the older versions but I guess the curve tool will be under image > adjustments > curve.
    And i think with the transparancy shapes layer, you might not have to use it, try use a brush tool with overlay mode (if there is one) to brush over the text, see what result it comes up.
    Hope this helps!

  7. John the Pirate - arrrrr! on

    Good post, I like your writing style! I’ve added http://psdvault.com/ to my feed reader, and will be reading your posts from now on. Just a quick question – did you design your header image yourself, or have it done professionally? If you had it done by a professional, who was it?

  9. Briefe Schreiben on

    Hi! Your Post “Create a Diablo III Inspired Grungy Text Effect” is very interesting for me. Unfortunately my written English is not so good so I write in German: Dir, meinem liebsten, geh

  15. James on

    To John the Pirate:
    Hi mate I missed your comment cos my system sent it into the spam queue by accident…
    Yeah, I design the header image myself, with lots of brushes and filters :)

  16. www.goldpreise.biz on

    Hello, thanks for the good “Create a Diablo III Inspired Grungy Text Effect” post. Would it be possible, that i can write a story about this post in our local newspaper? I would be really happy if i can do this and i will give you a link from a german blog too. Please answer. Greetings Goldpreise

  18. mike on

    Is it possible to add a psd? I did the tutorial but for some reason it didn’t come out in such a similar fashion. It would be greatly appreciated. Maybe it would give me a better idea on where I messed up?

  19. James on

    hi mike, i won’t be able to upload the psd file due to bandwidth and hosting space limitation. but if i could email you the psd if that’s ok.

  20. Jose on

    which photo shop did u use? n wat curve u use n where u found it? cuz mines diff from urs help plz

  21. James on

    HI Jose, i use photoshop cs3, the curve tool should be under image > adjustment > curves
    The end result will be different for different versions of Photoshop.

  22. Tenkai on

    Hey man do you still have this PSD? Could you send it to me by email? I’d be greatful. Thx man, and btw, great work! keep it up

  23. Josh on

    First of all nice tutorial i found it mostly easy to follow. However, my file doesnt quite achieve the effect yours does. It looks just like the normal text that has been coloured in with a firey/rocky texture, it doesnt have any of the ‘flame’ bits coming off the top or the bottom. Id be happy to send the file to you if you leave me your e-mail if you want to take a look at it.

    Thanks again, i can still used the product that i am left with so i am happy either way. =)

  24. [WOH]Prancer on

    I tried this but it turned out as crap, most likely due to me just starting out on photoshop. I barely had any of the crackles visible when I was done and could not get the orange fiery blur at the end. Any suggestions or anybody will to help me out? I wanted to due this to my name( [WOH]Prancer ). Thanks for any help or suggestions.

  27. PUNISHER_LP on

    can you send me the photoshop file pls ?
    I’m confused at step 3 because i have ps7 and i think ps7 does not support “clipping mask”

  28. Andrew on

    Hi,

    could you also send your psd file to me? I can’t get the shine effect on my letters.
    I would appreciate that very much!

    Kind regards,

    Andrew

  31. Mike on

    James, I’ve been trying this effect and am just not getting the same outcome. Any chance you could e-mail me the .PSD as well when you get a chance? I’d appreciate it.

  32. Nick on

    Very nice, however my outcome doesn’t look as great any chance of a PSD email? I’d appreciate it

  35. paw on

    could you send me the psd file please?
    cant get that same blur effect at the end like you ><

  36. Nicholas on

    I dont understand which curves are that.

    If you have bandwidth , so why dont you upload on rapidshare ?
    it will be a lot easier

  37. Blashyrkh on

    Nice tut, but a bit confusing on step 4. Screen blending option doesn’t give the shown result, I used multiply instead.

    Those who can’t find the Curve tool, press Ctrl+M on your keyboard people.

  38. admin on

    @Nicholas: PSD files aren’t something I’m preparing to give away for free at the moment :)

  39. Frank on

    Hey…really great tutorial…but i’m stuck at the end….how did you get the motion blur and the brush effects

  40. revO on

    cant you upload a photoshop file of this effect? for me its really hard to translate this filters etc.
    i really loved to try this :D

  41. James on

    @rev0: In the future I may consider upload some of the PSD files for free for future tutorial/or just as a giveaway. However at this stage, I do not wish to giveaway PSD files as it would be unfair to those who have already paid for them. Do apologise for this.

  43. Vlad on

    Hi, you make awesome things, and a nice tutorial, but i have some comments sothat you can improve it in future:

    -Please show more often the result of the used tool.
    -Make the tutorial til its final end, cause this ends up with just fire coloured text without the flames and that smudged letters effect, what is very very dissapointing. I havent the result you have, cause i havent those brushes and knowledge..

  49. Ruslan on

    I want to ask you James. After finishing these steps abave we received same text with fire or only darck yellow text and shadow?

  52. John on

    hellow,

    I have some problems in step 3

    where and how(in what program) i need to open the texture image file>?
    What i need to select what tool?
    how i drag on the text layer?

  55. Bas on

    wow dude, awesome tutorial, I’m just a beginner so, many thanks! even for me it was simple to follow your lessons
    keep up the good work! and let me know when you got new good looking stuff!:)

  58. James Qu on

    @Magnus: with step 5, the circle brushes are those round ones comes with Photoshop by default. Make sure you set the opacity low, around 30%.
    Hope this helps

  62. AEQ on

    which brush effects can be used here to get smth like u got? i have experimented with motion blur and other blurs, but not satisfied. If u could share urs or something. thanks beforehand

  64. marco on

    dude, can i ask something.. i dont know to upload the text! can you tell what to on loading text in photoshop! ty..nice tuts..

  74. JeLLo on

    How can i get that font Metal macabre? i already download the font. i dont know where to put it.. can you help me..

  79. slacchip on

    you have to install the font, and here is that you can do:    open control panel, and open there the fonts folder. After that simply pull the desired font in that folder, and it will install that. After that, open photoshop, and you can work with that. You have to reopen Photoshop if it was already started, just after the installation, you can use the font.

  80. Alex on

    man   yo are suck a idiot      the post are so stupid pls explain your self wend yo make a new  topic :|