Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 under Text Effects

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In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to design this chilling and icy text effect in Photoshop. Yesterday and today are both really hot in my city (suppose to be winter right now here!!), so I though I can make something to cool myself down :)

Along the way, we will be practicing a lot of layer blending technques, applying texture, selection technique, and an interesting method to create snowy/foggy effect. Have a try!

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

Alternative version: (click to enlarge)

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Ok let’s get started!

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

Ice Grunge Brushset

Font

Ice Package

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 600px, leave the background colour as white, and let’s firstly make a background to work on.

Grab the Ice Grunge Brushset we just downloaded, paint around the edges of the background layer as shown below: (tip: set the opacity and flow of the brush to around 50%, and try to use a variety of brushes in the set so we can have a mixture of patterns)

Optionally, you can apply the Star Brushset for extra effect.

1 paint1 500x304 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

We can now add some cooling effect to the background. To do so, I added two adjustment layers to it:

Colour Balance

1 col bal Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Brightness and Contrast

1 brightness Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

and here is the effect so far:

1 effect1 500x301 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 2

Use the font we just downloaded and type some texts onto the document:

2 type 500x297 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Apply the following layer blending option to this text layer:

Drop Shadow

2 drop shadow 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Inner Shadow

2 inner sha 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Outer Glow

2 outer glow 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Inner Glow

2 inner glow 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Bevel and Emboss

2 bevel 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Color Overlay

2 col over 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Gradient Overlay

2 gra overlay 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Pattern Overlay

2 pattern overlay 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Stroke

2 stroke 500x350 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

and you will have the following effect:

2 effect2 499x300 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 3

Load any one image from the Ice Package into Photoshop (I chose the ice6_0174 image), select a distinct portion of the image use the Rectangluar Marquee Tool, copy and paste the selection onto our document, rotate it slightly as shown below:

3 copy paste 500x298 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Rename this layer as “Icy Texture right” and change its blending mode to “Screen”, use the ice brushset we download to erase the edge of this layer so only the centre part of the image remains:

3 erase 500x294 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Duplicate this “Icy Texture right” layer once and drag the duplicated layer to the left, rename the layer as “”Icy Texture Left”, keep the blending mode as “Screen”, and you will have the following effect:

3 effect2 500x295 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 4

Now let’s create some shattered ice around the text.

Load a different image from the ice package into Photoshop (I chose ice6_0176.jpg file) and use the same method as described above, select a portion of the image, copy and paste it onto our document, and put it just beneath text layer:

4 copy paste 499x345 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Use the ice grunge brushset to erase the edge and leave just the bits in the centre. (Tip: repeatly left-click the centre of this image for the shattering effect)

4 erase 499x291 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Rename this layer as “Background Ice Texture Right”, Add the following adjustment layers to this layer (make sure to tick “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Black and White

4 bw1 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Colour Balance

4 col bal1 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

and you will have the following effect:

4 effect 21 500x292 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Duplicate the above three layers, and drag them to the left, you will have the following effect:

4 effect2 499x297 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

And we can add some extra effect under the text. To do this, grab the Ellipitical Marquee Tool with 20px feather, create a new layer just below the text layer, draw a selection as shown below:

4 draw 500x280 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Maintain the selection, again grab the ice brushset we downloaded, paint inside the selection. You will have the following effect:

4 base 500x289 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 5

Now we can fine-tune the image a bit. Firstly, we flatten the image (don’t forget to save a copy of the original before flatten it) and duplicate the background layer once, apply the following motion blur settings to the duplicate layer:

5 motion blur Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Now we come to the interesting part: change the blending mode of this duplicated layer to “Pin Light”, keep the opacity of this layer to 100%, and hit Ctrl + T and resize the duplicate layer as shown below:

5 resize 500x285 Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Erase the edges of the duplicated layer.

You can see by doing so, we created a nice snowy/foggy to our icy text.

Now we can finalise the image by adding the following adjustment layers:

Curves

5 curves Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Hue/Saturation

5 hue Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

Colour Balance

5 col bal Design a Chilling and Icy Text Effect in Photoshop

and here is the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Of course you can further enhance the image effect by mixing lighting effect, change hue/saturation settings, etc.

Here is an alternative version I have after I change a few things (Decided to give it a darker/groovy theme): (click to enlarge)

Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Till next time, have a great day!

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Taimur

u said drag to left
how to do that im new in this.
James

@Taimur: press the key “V” to select the move tool, select the duplicated layer, left-click and hold to drag it.

Hope this helps!
http://www.orphicpixel.com Mars

that was cool, i will try to follow this tutorial
Taimur

thanks :)
ricardofx

few steps and nice funal result XD…

congratulations again;

rfx
http://www.feuersturm.eu Roque

I really like this tut, here’s my result
http://www.feuersturm.eu/Daniel/ice.jpg

Keep up the good work!
http://www.itechart.com/Pages/Subsections/FlexDevelopment.aspx Flex developer

Wayy!! Very nice!! Thanks for lesson
paul

im new to this for some reason photoshop wont let me create a colour adjustment layer help plz
Rebecca

How do you get your text to look like that? From the the start the font look diffrent, more thicker and smudgier. But good tutorial though.
James

@Rebecca: the font itself doesn’t change, it remains the same throughout the tutorial. it looks thicker only because various effects applied to it :)
ixnacium

very very nice, but i’ve got a doubt, you said:
(make sure to tick “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)
where can i find that option?
ixnacium

ok, i found it, i was doing the adjust layer by clicking the button on layers window, and that option didnt appear
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VERY NICE EXPLANATION!!! THANK U SO MUCH…!! :D
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xChrisc

really liked this a lot. thanks.
http://aeltari.deviantart.com Aeltari

Hi! This is fun except when I am applying the layer blending option my color turns RED. Im using CS4, I dont see a way to change the color to the black on yours. Where is this red coming from?
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http://www.hptobias.de.tl Yakushi

Heyho
Please help!!
I am new at this and I need help at the first step
How i can import the things I’ve downloaded, or where i must put the files in??
Please help!
Thanks in advanced
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Great tutorial. Thanks.
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jordan

I can’t find the “ICE” font you used in this tutorial. Please tell me what web site I can download this font! Thanks! Jordan
jordan

James -

I downloaded “Ice Grunge Brushes” but I can’t “open” it. How do I place it into Photoshop CS4? Thanks for ALL your help! Love this tutorial, can’t wait to try it!! Jordan
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http://Website Luris

I dont know why but my final result doesnt look like that ..and I folowed all the steps damnn
James Qu

@Luris: the final result won’t look exactly the same. The important thing is the steps you went throught and the techniques used in the tutorial.
http://spaikserver.no-ip.org/ spaik21

Very, very, nice. but hard to do the same. Thx
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رائع جدا
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very easy step by step to follow tutorial, thank you very much
http://Website ImmortaL

Hi my friend ^^ really , this is amazing , perfect tutorial ^_^
hmmm , my friend , can you add me at your messenger ?
this is my e-mail ….

ImmortaL9447@hotmail.com

please my friend , i want to ask you about somethings ^^
and i don’t know if i can enter here again …
thanks ^_^
http://Website curtis

what do meanby “Duplicate the above three layers, and drag them to the left, you will have the following effect:” overall nice tut ill post what i have done once finished
http://Website curtis

my version ty great tuts! http://twitpic.com/22vkci
http://www.asiahong.com Name (required)

Good post. You did a good work,and offer more effective imformation for us! Thank you.
http://framedrops.net/ Maura Bocchieri

You are the man ! Nice article
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Nice Post thank share
http://Website Nixo

hello
nice tut but i have some questions
i’m stuck from step 4
i can’t get the same effect, i followed all steps but i don’t know how to do it, i need some help, i’ll write my e.mail here
nayir55@hotmail.com
please help =(
thanks
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Very usefully. Thanks for sharing
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it’s so beautifelly very good
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Hi there, this tuturial is very useful, but i’m stuck at step 5… what do you mean flatten the image, and what image?

Thanx again
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Thanx a lot. Good one
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Very usefully. Thanks for sharing
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Hi,
Very nice tut ..
but it`s really hard do get the same .. :)
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i like it very much!!!thanks
Spike_rulzz

dat ws awesum dude..thnx..;)
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cool icy effect. thanks!
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Good work, very informative!
Great write-up! Thanks!
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nicely done! keep it up :)