Create Simple 3D Old Style Text in Adobe Photoshop

From this tutorial you will learn how to create awesome Ancient Style Text Effect with Blending Options, Custom Shape, Layer Mask and Brush. I have used Florante at Laura Source Font which you can download for free from http://www.1001freefonts.com/.

The Lichen Texture applied on the Background is my own photo and unrestricted stock. You can use it for your own works too.

All Photoshop versions are applicable.

This is the final result you should get if you follow all my steps:

STEP 1

Create a new Adobe Photoshop document. Set its Width to 1300px and its Height to 700px. Call the document 3D Old Style Text. Choose 96 Pixels/Inch for Resolution (if you don't intend to print the final result) and select Transparent for Background Contents to get and editable first layer. Choose RGB for Color Mode.

Those of you who would like to print the Text, should set its Resolution to 300 Pixels/Inch and choose CMYK for Color Mode.

Now rename Layer 1 to Black, then press Ctrl+G to place it in a Group. Call the Group Background.

Create Background with Rust, Green, Gold Radial Gradient and Lichen Texture

STEP 2

Press D key to set Foreground/Background Color to Black/White then while Black layer is highlighted, select Paint Bucket Tool and drag once on your canvas to colorize it with black.

STEP 3

Create a New Layer on top of Background group and call it Rust, Green, Gold Gradient.

Select Gradient Tool, find Rust, Green, Gold Gradient from the Gradient Picker in the Options bar then choose the Radial Gradient icon and drag once with the instrument from the upper to the bottom side of the canvas.

STEP 4

Reduce the Opacity of Rust, Green, Gold Gradient layer to 45%.

STEP 5

Click on this Lichen Texture image to open it in a new window then right click and select Save Image As to save it in the respective folder on your computer.

STEP 6

Create a New Layer on top of Background group and call it Lichen Texture. Keep this new layer selected.

Open in Adobe Photoshop the Lichen Texture image which you already downloaded, press Ctrl+A (Select All) to load selection then press Ctrl+C to copy it. Go back to your 3D Old Style Text.psd file, and press Ctrl+V to paste the texture in the Lichen Texture layer. The texture is bigger than your canvas, so go to Edit, Free Transform and drag the nodes in order to resize the texture to cover your canvas. Press Enter to apply the Transformation.

STEP 7

Change the Blend Mode of Lichen Texture layer to Multiply.

Type the Text, Duplicate its Layer and Add Blending Options

STEP 8

Now we'll start to create our Old Style Text Effect.

Many thanks to http://www.1001freefonts.com/ for the super cool text effects which they provide for free. For the purpose of our tutorial I have chosen this awesome mediaval style Florante at Laura Font: http://www.1001freefonts.com/florante_at_laura.font.

Install the font then select Horizontal Type tool from the Tools bar (hot key T). From the Font Family drop down menu choose the newly installed Florante at Laura Font. Set the Font Style to Regular and Font Size to 150pt. Choose #79ba52 (green) for Text Color then type Letter in Capital Letters as you see on the screenshot below.

Highlight your Letter Text then click on Toggle the Character and Paragraph Panels icon in the Options bar and Set the Tracking for the Selected Characters to a value you like. I have chosen 100 to avoid overlapping after applying the Blending Options and nudging the duplicated Text layer. Press Ctrl+G to place the Text layer in a Group. Call the newly created Group Text.

STEP 9

With Letter Text layer selected, press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer twice. Move Letter copy 2 layer at the bottom of Text group and reduce Fill Opacity of Letter copy layer to 0%.

Now highlight Letter copy 2 layer, select Move tool then press seven times Right Arrow key and six times Down Arrow key to nudge the Text. Highlight the nudged Text and change the Text Color to darker green #317f12.

STEP 10

Create a New Layer placed between Letter and Letter copy 2 in Text group. Name it Polygonal Lasso after the instrument we are going to use right now. Grab Polygonal Lasso Tool, click on Add to Selection icon in the Options bar and start making selections to connect the darker nudged text with the original Letter Text. Fill the selections with the same #317f12 you used for the darker Text (Letter copy 2 layer).

STEP 11

Now right click on Letter copy 2 layer and select Rasterize Type.

  

STEP 12

Hold down Shift key and click on Letter copy 2 and Polygonal Lasso layers to highlight them. Right click on them and choose Merge Layers.

STEP 13

Rename the previously merged layer to Text Back. Double click on its layer's thumbnail to call Layer Style box and firstly check Drop Shadow. Change only three of its settings: reduce Distance to 0px, then increase Spread to 40% and Size to 35px.

Don't close the Layer Style dialog box. We have one more Blending Option to add in the next step.

STEP 14

Now check Inner Shadow in Layer Style box and only increase its Size to 28px. Don't change the other default settings. Press OK button to apply both layer styles and to close the dialog box.

This should be your result after applying layer styles on Text Back layer. I have switched off Letter and Letter copy layers for a better visibility.

STEP 15

Select Letter Text layer, right click on it and choose Blending Options. We are going to play a lot with layer styles in this and the coming steps. So firstly check Gradient Overlay and apply the following settings:

Blend Mode: Hard Light

Dither: unchecked

Opacity: 100%

Click to Edit the Gradient like this:

First Color Stop (Location 0%): #076339

Second Color Stop (Location 50%): #fcfa74

Third Color Stop (Location 100%): #033718

Reverse: unchecked

Style: Linear type of gradient

Align with Layer: checked

Angle: 90 degrees

Scale: 100%.

Keep Layer Style box opened. There are five more Blending Options waiting to be added. :)

  

STEP 16

The next Layer Style we have to apply on Letter Text layer is this Satin:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color of Effect: #7e0000

Opacity: 80%

Angle: 19 degrees

Distance: 11px

Size: 14px

Contour: Half Round

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Invert: checked.

STEP 17

Now apply the following Inner Glow Layer Style:

Blend Mode: Color Dodge

Opacity: 100%

Noise: 0%

Color of Glow: #c6ea93

Technique: Softer

Source: Edge

Choke: 0%

Size: 10px

Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Range: 50%.

Jitter: 0%.

  

STEP 18

The fourth Layer Style we have to add to Letter Text layer is Inner Shadow. Firstly change the Color of Shadow to #042607, reduce Opacity to 45%, change Size to 25px and choose Cone Contour from the Contour Picker.

  

STEP 19

Now let us apply Bevel and Emboss to create 3D effect. Change its Depth to 95%, Size to 10px, then choose #58ee5b for Color for Highlight and increase its Opacity to 100%. Reduce the Color of Shadow Opacity to 25%.

STEP 20

The last Layer Style to be applied on Letter Text layer is this Texture:

Pattern: Brush pen on Canvas (150 by 150 pixels, Grayscale mode)

Scale: 100%

Depth: +38%

Invert: not checked

Link with Layer: checked.

You can press OK button to close the Layer Style box now. We finished our work on Letter Text layer.

STEP 21

Now select Letter copy layer and apply Gradient Overlay Layer Style on it. Change the Blend Mode to Color and select Brass Gradient from the Gradient Picker.

STEP 22

Create a New Layer placed between Text Back and Letter layer. Call it Hard Round Brush.

Change the Foreground Color to #9bb14d then grab Brush tool and select Hard Round Brush from the Brush Preset Picker. Set the Brush Size to 3px.

Hold down Ctrl key and click on Text Back layer's thumbnail to Load Selection.

  

STEP 23

Start brushing with the previously selected Hard Round Brush around the edges of the original Text- Letter Text layer. I have switched off that layer for you to see what exactly I have done.

STEP 24

With Hard Round Brush layer highlighted, go to Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur and insert 2 Pixels for Radius. Now we got smoother looking soft lighter edges.

Draw Artistic 4 Custom Shape and Apply Layer Styles on it

STEP 25

Create a New Layer on top of Text group and name it Artistic 4 Custom Shape.

Change the Foreground Color to red: #fb051a, select Custom Shape Tool and set its Mode to Pixels in the Options bar. Then navigate to the Custom Shape Picker in the same bar and find Artistic 4 Custom Shape. Draw it so that to place parts of the shape on each of the letters.

STEP 26

Keep Artistic 4 Custom Shape layer selected, hold down Ctrl and click on Letter Text layer's thumbnail to Load Selection, then go to Layer, Layer Mask and choose Reveal Selection.

STEP 27

This is the result of masking the Artistic 4 Custom Shape layer:

STEP 28

Now reduce Fill Opacity of Artistic 4 Custom Shape layer to 0%. The red lines will disappear but you will be able to see them in the next step when we start to add Blending Options.

STEP 29

Double click on Artistic 4 Custom Shape layer's thumbnail and check firstly Gradient Overlay in Layer Style box. Change its Blend Mode to Soft Light, set the Angle to 90 degrees and choose Red, Green Gradient from the Gradient Picker.

Keep Layer Style box active. We'll add another Blending Option in the next step.

STEP 30

Now apply Bevel and Emboss Layer Style on Artistic 4 Custom Shape layer. Change only the Style to Pillow Emboss, set the Color for Highlight to #ecd50f and increase its Opacity to 100%.

STEP 31

We are ready with our 3D Old Style Text Effect. You should have these two groups of layers in your Layers panel:

1.    Background group with three layers in it: Black; Rust, Green, Gold Gradient and Lichen Texture and

2.    Text group which includes five layers: Text Back; Hard Round Brush; Letter; Letter copy and Artistic 4 Custom Shape.

STEP 32

This is the final result saved in .jpg format. Hope you like the outcome and find this tutorial useful and easy to follow.

Thank you very much for reading. God bless! :)