Modifying the various brush settings in Photoshop can help achieve different effects and textures. This tutorial will show you how to play around with brush settings, as well as layer styles, to create a messy, flour-inspired text effect. Let’s get started!
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
- Patrick Hand font
- wood texture3177
- Flour Text Effect Brushes Set
- Thirty Grunge Brushes by free-brushes
- Saint Grunge Pack 1 by SaintClairAginCourt
1. Creating the Background
Step 1
Create a new 1250 x 800px document, and set the Resolution to 200.
Place the wood texture3177 image on top of the Background layer, and resize it as needed. Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and use the values below.
Step 2
Add a Levels adjustment layer and change the Gamma value to 0.83.
Step 3
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and change the Saturation to -24 and the Lightness to -3.
2. Creating the Main Text Layers
Step 1
Create the text using the font Patrick Hand. The Size is 135 pt and the Tracking value is set to 75.
Step 2
Command-click the text layer’s thumbnail to create a selection. Then Expand the selection by 5 px and Feather it 4 px.
Step 3
Set the Foreground color to #f2ece6 and the Background color to #e4dfdf. Make sure to keep those colors set the same, as they’ll be used all through the tutorial.
The layers will be named according to their order from top to bottom. So make sure to also follow the naming of the layers as mentioned in the tutorial.
Create a new layer, name it 4, and fill the selection with the Foreground color.
3. Stroking the Selection Path
Step 1
Convert the selection you have into a work path by clicking the Make work path from selection icon at the bottom of the Paths panel.
Step 2
Create a new layer and name it 6. Pick the Brush Tool, choose the brush tip 1 from the Flour Text Effect Brushes Set, and stroke the path with that brush tip. Then pick the Eraser Tool, choose brush tip 2, and stroke the path again to erase some parts.
4. Stroking the Text Work Path
Step 1
Right-click the text layer and choose Create Work Path. Create a new layer, call it 7, pick the Brush Tool, and then stroke the path with the brush tip 3.
Step 2
Create a new layer, name it 5, stroke the path three times with the brush tip 4, and then pick the Eraser Tool and stroke the path once with the brush tip 5.
Step 3
Create a new layer, name it 3, and use the Brush Tool to stroke the path with the brush tip 6. Then use the Eraser Tool to stroke the path with the same brush tip as well.
5. Stroking the Center Work Path
Step 1
Command-click the original text layer to create a selection, and then Contract it by 10 px.
Step 2
Convert the selection into a work path, create a new layer and name it 1. Then pick the Brush Tool, choose the brush tip 2, change its Size to 10 px, and stroke the path with it. This will not seem to be making any difference, but it will once it’s styled later on.
Step 3
Create another new layer, name it 2, and then use the Brush Tool to stroke it with the brush tip 7.
Step 4
Create one more layer, and name it 8. Command-click layer 4‘s thumbnail to create a selection and convert it into a work path.
Use the Brush Tool to stroke the path with the brush tip 8. Then, pick the Eraser Tool, reduce its Opacity value to 65%, and stroke the path with the same brush tip (8).
Increase the Opacity value back to 100%, and stroke the path two or three more times with the brush tip 5 and once with the brush tip 9.
Once you’re done, get rid of the work path, and make sure that the layers are in the right order based on their numbers.
6. Styling Layer 1 and Layer 2
Step 1
Double click layer 1 to apply a Bevel and Emboss effect using the following settings:
- Uncheck the Use Global Light box
- Angle: 73
- Altitude: 37
- Check the Anti-aliased box
- Shadow Mode – Color:
#786c58
This will style the first layer.
Step 2
Change layer 1‘s Blend Mode to Color Burn and its Opacity to 60%. Copy and paste this layer style to layer 2.
7. Styling Layer 3
Copy and paste layer 1‘s style to layer 3, and then double click layer 3 to change the Bevel and Emboss‘s Angle to 49 and the Altitude to 42.
This will style layer 3.
8. Styling Layer 4
Double click layer 4 to apply the following layer style:
Step 1
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
- Size: 25
- Uncheck the Use Global Light box
- Angle: 49
- Altitude: 42
- Check the Anti-aliased box
- Shadow Mode – Color:
#9a8f7c
Step 2
Add a Texture with these settings:
- Pattern: Clouds
- Depth: 25%
Step 3
Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:
- Color:
#544e4c - Opacity: 15%
- Distance: 10
- Size: 15
This will style layer 4.
9. Styling Layers 5 and 7, and Applying Filters to Layer 6
Step 1
Copy and paster layer 3‘s style to layer 5, and then double click layer 5 to adjust some values and add more effects.
For the Bevel and Emboss change the Size to 20.
Step 2
Add a Texture with these settings:
- Pattern: Clouds
- Depth: 10%
Step 3
This will style layer 5. Convert layer 6 to a Smart Object and change its Opacity to 80%.
Step 4
Go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur, and change the Radius to 3 and the Threshold to 50.
Step 5
Copy and paste layer 5‘s style to layer 7.
10. Working with Layer 8
Step 1
Convert layer 8 to a Smart Object, and then change its Opacity to 50%.
Next, we’re going to feather out the flour edges surrounding the text. So create an elliptical selection around the text, excluding the edges you want to feather out, and apply any Feather amount you like to the selection. Then create a layer mask to make the edges fade out.
Step 2
Go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur, and change the Radius to 3 and the Threshold to 15.
Step 3
Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen, and use the values you like to make the details of this layer more crisp and clear.
Since the layer is a smart object, you can change the values any time you like.
11. Adding the Shadow
Step 1
Create a new layer below layer 8, name it Shadow, and change its Fill value to 0.
Step 2
Double click the Shadow layer to apply a Color Overlay using the following values:
Add a Color Overlay with these settings:
- Color:
#a6a497 - Blend Mode: Linear Burn
- Opacity: 30%
Step 3
Pick the Brush Tool and use a soft round brush tip to darken the area behind the text.
12. Adding the Residue
Step 1
Create a new layer on top of the Shadow layer and name it Residue. Pick the Brush Tool, and choose any of the brush tips from the Thirty Grunge Brushes set. Click, without dragging, to add a couple around the text.
Step 2
What you’ll need to do next is follow the same steps to create the rest of the layers and style them, just like you did for the text. You can skip the Contract selection part if you like.
Group all the residue layers in a group and name it Residue.
Step 3
Add a layer mask to the Residue group. Then pick any of the Saint Grunge Pack 1 brush tips, and click without dragging to erase some parts of the center and/or the edges of the residue.
You can use different brush tips, different sizes, and different Opacity values to get the result you like.
13. Adjusting the Final Result
Step 1
Add a Gradient adjustment layer, and use the colors #f2ece6 to the left and #8e857d to the right to create a transparent to fill color gradient. Change the Style to Radial, and the Scale to 450%.
Step 2
Place the adjustment layer on top of all layers and change its Blend Mode to Linear Burn.
Step 3
Select all the layers you have except for the Gradient adjustment layer. Duplicate and merge them, rename the merged layer to High Pass, and convert it into a Smart Object.
Go to Filter > Other > High Pass, and change the Radius to 10.
Step 4
Change the High Pass layer’s Blend Mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to 35%.
Step 5
Finally, change the Residue‘s layer 4‘s Opacity value to 80%.
Congratulations! You’re Done
In this tutorial, we modified a wood texture background, and created some simple text.
Then, we started working with selections, work paths, brushes, and filters to create the different flour layers.
After that, we styled those layers, created the residue layers, and used feathering and masks to better blend the different elements together.
Finally, we used an adjustment layer and a simple filter to enhance the final result.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.
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