Brassy metal text effect in Photoshop CS4

When it comes to creating decorative effects, Photoshop is a wonderful tool to use. Graphics and decorative text are a snap; there's no limit to how you can customize things. In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to create a brassy metal finish for text in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

First, open Photoshop and create a new document by clicking File then New. You can make your canvas any size, but I've chosen to make mine 500 px by 500 px for visibility purposes. I've also chosen to make my canvas background color my current selected background color. In order to change the background color to a custom color, click on the second color swatch and use the color picker to change it.

Next, click on the text tool on the Tools panel on the left hand side of the workspace. Use the drop down to select a text - I've chosen to use the serif font Century. Then choose your font size, weight, color, and alignment. For now, I've chosen to make my font 70 pt in white.



Navigate to the bottom of the Layers panel on the right hand side of the screen, then click on the fx icon. A list of options will come up; choose Blending Options. Once the dialogue box pops up, click on Gradient Overlay. The gradient will automatically be black and white, so to change the colors, double click the gradient preview bar in the dialogue box. Then, when the second gradient dialogue box pops up, double click the tab stops on the bottom of the gradient and use the color picker to choose a dark brown. Do the same thing for the stop at the far right, but this time, choose a light yellow.



Create two new intermediate stops by clicking beneath the gradient bar. Choose a light yellow and a dark brown for them, making sure the colors alternate.



Click on Bevel and Emboss. Here, I've changed the depth to 150%, the size to 3 px, the angle to 90 degrees, and the altitude to 0. I've also changed the color of the highlight to a light yellow, the highlight mode to screen, and the shadow to normal. You can play with the settings until you're satisfied with the way it looks; the best way to customize and learn customization is to play with the settings instead of follow set values.



This final step is optional and up to your personal preference and the font you've chosen, but I've decided to add a stroke. If you want to do this, click on Stroke and change the size to 1 px so it won't be too overwhelming - we want a subtle effect. For the fill type, choose gradient, then click on the gradient preview bar to choose a dark brown and a light yellow color just like before. You should try to make the colors lighter or darker than the ones in the text fill, just to emphasize the outline.



Unless you want to add a drop shadow or play with any of the other layer effects, you're done! Creating decorative text for banners and graphics is easy and it doesn't take much time. The more you play with Photoshop, the more you'll learn and the easier it'll become.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com