Create Old Style Text with Layer Styles and Tree Bark Textures

While following all twenty six steps of this tutorial you are going to create awesome Old Style Text Effect with layer styles and two tree bark textures, which are my own photos and unrestricted stock.

I recommend you to click on the respective screenshot to open it in high res for a better visibility.

This is the final result:

  

STEP 1

Open your Adobe Photoshop program and go to the Menu bar to select File, New to create a new .psd file. Name this new document Old Style Text. Insert 1000px for Width and set the Height to 600px. Insert also 96 Pixels/Inch for Resolution, then choose RGB for Color Mode and Transparent for Background Contents. Those of you who would like to print the text, have to set the Resolution to 300 Pixels/Inch and select CMYK Color for Color Mode. After you press OK button, you'll see transparent Layer 1 in your Layers panel.

Double click on Layer 1 name and write Tree Bark Texture 1 in the white rectangle to rename the layer.

  

Create Colorful Background with Awesome Relief using Texture, Inner Shadow and Gradient

  

STEP 2

Now you have to download the first Tree Bark Texture. Click on it and when you get it in high res in a new window, right click on it and choose Save As to keep it in the folder where you have put your Old Style Text .psd file.

  

STEP 3

Open in Adobe Photoshop the Tree Bark Texture you already downloaded, press Ctrl+A to Load Selection on it then press Ctrl+C to Copy it. Go back to Old Style Text .psd file and press Ctrl+V to paste the Texture in your first layer. As the texture is bigger than your canvas, go to Edit, Free Transform and drag the nodes to resize the texture to cover your canvas. Press Enter to tell your Photoshop to accept the Transformation.

  

STEP 4

Double click on Tree Bark Texture 1 layer's thumbnail to open Layer Style dialog box (Layer, Layer Style, Blending Options). Select Gradient Overlay Layer Style and apply the following settings:

Blend Mode: Overlay

Dither: unchecked

Opacity: 45%

Select Red-Orange, Blue-Green Gradient

from the Gradient Picker

Reverse: unchecked

Style: Reflected type of gradient

Align with Layer: checked

Angle: 90 degrees

Scale: 100%.

  

STEP 5

The second Layer Style you have to add to Tree Bark Texture 1 layer is Inner Shadow, so check it in Layer Style box and change only two of its settings: reduce Distance to 0px and increase Size to 250px.

  

Create Text Effect with Default Photoshop Font and Blending Options

STEP 6

Now we'll start creating our Old StyleText Effect. Take Horizontal Type tool or press T. Select Mesquite Std default Font from the Font Family drop down menu and insert 400pt for Font Size. Choose black color (#000000) for Text Color then type Text in Capital Letters.

When you are ready with typing the Text, select it then click on Toggle the Character and Paragraph Panels icon in the Options bar and Set the Tracking for the Selected Characters to 200.

Place your Text layer on top of Layers pane and while it is selected, press Ctrl+G to put it in a group. Rename the new group to Text Effect.

  

STEP 7

While your Text layer is still highlighted, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it then move Text copy layer below the original one.

  

STEP 8

Right click firstly on Text copy layer and select Blending Options. Check Bevel and Emboss in Layer Style dialog box and insert the following settings:

Style: Pillow Emboss

Technique: Smooth

Depth: 1000%

Direction: Down

Size: 27px

Soften: 0px

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: checked

Altitude: 30 degrees

Gloss Contour: Cove-Shallow

Anti-aliased: not checked

Highlight Mode: Multiply

Color for Highlight: #fecf42

Opacity: 100%

Shadow Mode: Normal

Color of Shadow: #987338

Opacity: 100%.

  

STEP 9

Tick Contour Layer Style which is below Bevel and Emboss in the dialog box then select Sawtooth 1 Contour from the Contour Picker and increase the Range to 100%.

Now you can press OK button to apply the Blending Options and to close Layer Style dialog box. We finished our work on the duplicated Text layer. 

STEP 10

Select your original Text layer, right click on it and choose Blending Options. The first Layer Style we have to apply is Drop Shadow. Change its Distance to 2px, Spread to 45% and Size to 20px.

Keep Layer Style box opened as we have to add six Blending Options in the next steps.

  

STEP 11

The second Layer Style we have to add to our Text layer is Outer Glow. Change its Blend Mode to Normal and increase Opacity to 100%, then click on the Gradient rectangle to edit it and select Yellow, Violet Gradient from the Picker. Set the Technique to Precise and change the Size to 3px. 

STEP 12

Now we should apply Gradient Overlay Layer Style. Select Copper Gradient from the Gradient Picker and set its Angle to 90 degrees.

  

STEP 13

It is time to increase the yellow shades of the Text. Tick Color Overlay Layer Style, change its Blend Mode to Overlay and Set Color of Overlay to #ffd427. 

STEP 14

The fifth Layer Style we have to add to the Text layer is Inner Glow. Change its Blend Mode to Normal, heighten the value of Opacity to 100%, Set the Color of Glow to #1b4bff, then increase the Size to 60px.

  

STEP 15

Now we should apply Inner Shadow Layer Style to darken the borders of our Text. Change Distance to 2px, Choke to 20% and Size to 18px.

  

STEP 16

The last Layer Style we are going to add to the Text layer will create 3D Effect. So check Bevel and Emboss then change its Depth to 130% and Size to 9px, Set the Color for Highlight to #f4ff4a and reduce Color of Shadow Opacity to only 20%.

Now you can press OK button to apply the Blending Options and to close Layer Style dialog box.

  

Add Second Tree Bark Texture and Blend it with the Text

  

STEP 17

Download this Tree Bark Texture 2 as you did with the previous Texture in Step 2.

 STEP 18

Create a New Layer on top of Text Effect group, name it Tree Bark Texture 2 and Paste there the Texture you downloaded in the previous step (See Step 3).

Apply Edit, Free Transform to resize the Texture so that it covers the Text. Press Enter when you are ready with the Transformation of the image.

  

STEP 19

While Tree Bark Texture 2 layer is selected, hold down Ctrl and click on Text layer's thumbnail to Load Selection on the Text. You should get this result on your canvas:

  

STEP 20

Now go to Select, Inverse to invert the Selection you loaded in the previous step.

  

STEP 21

This is how your inverted Selection will look:

  

STEP 22

Press Delete key to get rid of the selected parts of the Texture, then press Ctrl+D to remove the Selection.

  

STEP 23

Change Blend Mode of Tree bark Texture 2 layer to Overlay.

  

STEP 24

Double click on Tree Bark Texture 2 layer's thumbnail to call Layer Style box and check Bevel and Emboss. Increase its Depth to 1000% and Size to 13px, then change Color for Highlight to #ff790d and lower Color of Shadow Opacity to 30%.

  

STEP 25

Our colorful Old Style Text Effect is ready and you should have the following group and layers in your Layers panel:

1.    One separate Tree Bark Texture 1 layer which is your Background and

2.    Text Effect group which includes two Text layers- Text copy and Text layer as well as Tree Bark Texture 2 layer on top of the group.

  

STEP 26

This is the final result.

Hope you find this short tutorial awesome and easy to follow. Thank you for reading it. God bless! :)

Cool Floral Patterns for Your Graphic Design Works

All Floral Patterns you see below are my own photos and unrestricted stock. I hope you like them and find them useful. If you decide to download some of them, simply click on the respective photo, then right click and select Save Image As to place it in your folder.
All photos shown below are taken in Ireland. :)

Floral Pattern 1

Floral Pattern 2

Floral Pattern 3

Floral Pattern 4

Floral Pattern 5

Floral Pattern 6

Floral Pattern 7

Floral Pattern 8

Floral Pattern 9

How to Edit Low Quality Image in Photoshop

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to turn an ordinary misty morning photo into a dark spooky image with the help of textures, layer masks and adjustment layers. Our task will be to edit low quality image in Photoshop and to create from it something really unique. In the process of work we'll be using also Radial Blur Filter.

You can create this effect with any Photoshop version and no bother about the stock images. All photos used are from my archive. They are unrestricted stock so you can use them for your own works too.

This is what you are going to create:

STEP 1

Firstly you have to download this Misty Morning photo- for the porpose click on it to  open it in high resolution, then right click and select Save As to put it in your folder.

As you can see the photo is of no good quality- the sky is almost missing so our task is to hide this imperfection and to create something unique.

STEP 2

Open the Misty Morning image in Adobe Photoshop. It will become your Background layer. Double click on it to turn it into and editable layer (to be able to put it in a group). Photoshop will rename the layer automatically to Layer 0 so you have to restore the previous Background name. With the layer selected press Ctrl+G to place it in a group. Rename Group 1 that you'll get to Image.

Apply Radial Blur Filter and Layer Mask

STEP 3

Duplicate your Background layer- press Ctrl+J (Layer, Duplicate Layer) while it is selected then with Background copy layer highlighted navigate to the Menu bar and choose Filter, Blur, Radial Blur.

STEP 4

In Radial Blur dialog box set the Amount to 60, choose Zoom for Blur Method, select Best for Quality and slightly move downwards the Blur Centre.

STEP 5

This is my result after applying the Radial Blur Filter with the settings given above. If you want to achieve another effect, you can use your own settings.

STEP 6

Change the Blend Mode of Background copy layer to Multiply and reduce its Opacity to 60%.

STEP 7

Now with Background copy layer selected, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it. Restore Blend Mode of Background copy 2 layer to Normal and Opacity to 100%.

While Background copy 2 layer is highlighted, click on Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of Layers panel (Layer, Layer Mask, Reveal All).

STEP 8

After you have applied the Layer Mask, your Foreground/Background Color in the Tools bar should automatically be changed to Black/White.

While the Layer Mask thumbnail is selected, grab Brush Tool and choose Soft Round Brush. Set its Size to 700px.

STEP 9

Start brushing on your canvas. Remove most portions of Background copy 2 layer image, don't touch only the upper parts of the trees to leave the Filter effect visible. You should get the following result:

Add Birch Texture to Blend with the Main Photo

STEP 10

Now you have to download this Birch Texture (use Step 1 as a reference).

STEP 11

Create a New Layer on top of Layers panel and call it Birch Texture. Place it in a group named Front Effects.

Open the Birch Texture in Adobe Photoshop, press Ctrl+A to select the whole image, then press Ctrl+C to copy it. Go back to your Misty Morning .psd file, check if Birch Texture layer is highlighted and press Ctrl+V to Paste the Texture there. If the Texture is bigger than your canvas, apply Edit, Free Transform to make its size equal to the size of the Misty Morning photo. Press Enter to apply the Transformation when you are ready.

STEP 12

Change the Blend Mode of Birch Texture layer to Multiply and reduce its Opacity to 45-46%.

STEP 13

Apply Layer Mask on Birch Texture layer (see Step 7-9) then use Soft Round Brush of 700px Size and 40% Opacity to make thinner the portions of the Texture which cover the trees. You should get a similar result:

Apply Lichen Texture with Multiply Blend Mode

STEP 14

It is time to download the following Lichen Texture:

STEP 15

Create a New Layer on top of Front Effects group and name it Lichen Texture. Select and Copy, then Paste the Lichen Texture in this layer. Apply Edit, Free Transform to make the Texture fit the size of your canvas, then change the Blend Mode of its layer to Multiply.

STEP 16

Apply Layer Mask on Lichen Texture layer then use Soft Round Brush of 700px Size to remove most of the Texture. Leave only the borders intact. Play with Opacity of the Brush- use 100% to clean the middle parts of the Texture and use 40% to clean the portions closer to the border. This is the result you should get:

Add Color Balance Adjustment Layer to Create Old Photo Effect

  

STEP 17

While Lichen Texture layer is highlighted, navigate to the Menu bar and select Layer, New Adjustment Layer, Color Balance.

STEP 18

When the Properties dialog box pops up on your screen, change only the settings of Midtones and Shadows like this:

Midtones:

Cyan-Red: -18

Magenta-Green: -22

Yellow-Blue: -52

Shadows:

Cyan-Red: -11

Magenta-Green: -10

Yellow-Blue: -18.

STEP 19

Below is shown the result of applying Color Balance Adjustment layer.

If you have followed all my steps, your Layers pane should consist of these groups and layers:

1.    Image group with these three layers in it: Background, Background copy and Background copy 2 and

2.    Front Effects group also with three layers in it: Birch Texture, Lichen Texture and Color Balance Adjustment Layer.

STEP 20

This is my final image saved in .jpg format. If you want to sharpen this .jpg file, you can apply Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask of Filter, Other, High Pass.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned new techniques from it. Thanks a lot for reading. God bless! :)