Latest Posts from PSD Vault
- July 12th, 2009
Design a Horror Style Text Effect with Dirt and Splatter Texture in Photoshop
Filed under Text Effects
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:
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!
User Comments:
this was amzing text style
v v v v v v v v v nice Effect
i am a great fan of your site its to good
i want to submit a tutorial how can i do that i need your reply
Very cool James. U r good in this!
nice,,
thx ^^
@Johnson: thanks buddy!
nice text effect, thanks for the tut..
wow dude this is awsome
Nice effect, I did this effect and very to be was beautiful, thank you
Hey mate, i was wondering if you could get in touch, i really need some help with some stuff about this cool style :)
I was wondering if i could have an image made up for me, exactly like this one, but with the text saying “Emerge” because im only running version 7.0 and i can’t get the same kind of effects to it. =/
Your site is very good. There are useful information and most importantly, for sharing great. Thank you ….
What version of PS are you running, James? I’m not sure if it makes much a difference with the issue I’m having or not. I’m using CS3 Extended, and I’ve followed the blending options for the text at the very beginning of the tut exactly, and I keep ending up with a darker, terrible looking text. I hope you can help out. If you want, I’ll use the same settings again and show you what I end up with.
Ye ehm, i’ve got some problems with this one.. I cant get the “Splatter” effect or any other BEHIND the text, it´s growing above it.
also the Lines with the Pen tool is very very hard for me to do. Maybe you could give me a hint on theese ocne, since i´m not that advanced into photoshop.
-/Best Regards, SpeTch.!
Very well written.
i cant do the step 3..what ps are u using with ds effect..?
the ctrl+alt+r is not working here in cs2..i dont know y..!
im not dat to familiar hir in ps ..!
ElectronicPastry
Try a White to Light Grey gradient in the blending options.
Yeah, I’m having exacltly the same problem as ElectronicPastry =/. What to do? All your other projects where fine, so why this one? Many thanks for the incoming and awaited answer :)
(Love your Tut’s, they’re amazing!)
Yea the CTRL+ALT+R doesn’t work in CS2, any other way to do this part, I’m new to Photoshop.
cant you give me the PSD of it
what the hell
very god tutorial! this was my result!
http://bildr.no/view/481411
can i use it for a game? loading screen or something
Hi, I’ve liked thi tutorial, but how can I do those lines? After drawing a line with a Pen tool, choosing stroke path option with ticked “simulate pressure”, the line is just getting thicker, width is the same at the beginning middle and at the and of the line, not like here. What should I do? Yo
thank.
Good post
Wow! Thank you so much for this tutorial, it’s complete unlike most tutorials you find online and very thorough, so again, thanks!
Your tutorial was good, but is made for people with knowledge of photo shop (lack of explanation in some parts of the tutorial), certainly not for first timers
Your gradient style on the font is wrong. The one you have showing is a black gradient but then you show it being white. You made the same mistake in another tutorial as well
Why doesnt the Qbrushes work? its 404′ing :l
I need them
absolutely stunning!
Thanks mate. Good one
Very much THX !! love this effect !!!
Hi there, as many have stated issues with the blending options. There is definitely an error, because the resultin image is terrible. Please check the tutorial, becuase it does NOT work. It is a nice effect, but it’s worth of nothing if we cannot replicate it. Please fix the tutorial, or alternatively send me the .psd file, that I can examine it and update it for you.
Thank you.