Tutorial:
Gold Text
Hi, this is the gold text tutorial. I will
assume that you have a moderate amount of knowledge in the way
of photoshop. I will use alpha channels, lighting effects and
multiple layers to create this text. Isn't that a nice
picture. There are some good gold tutorials out there, I just
like to do it this way. I used the font walrod. If
the download doesn't work.It is available at 1fonts. You can use any
font. It generally works better on more elaborate fonts. If it
is a script font that works good. You can try it with Times or
Goudy but it doesn't have the same quality.
Okay,
first create a new file that is 400x400 pixels. The bigger the better.
Easy huh?
Now
I like to change the background to a medium brown color. R=161 G=124 B=80.
Or the third brown swatch. This is to get a good feel for the gold coloring.
On
to the text. Type out the word you want to be gold(script fonts look best).
Make sure the color of the text is a nice bright yellow. You can do darker
yellows for a darker colored gold.
Load
the selection of the text layer(ctr + left click on the text layer). Then
save the selection as an alpha channel. You can use the save selection
button or go to selection menu/save selection. DO NOT DESELECT!!
The
next parts are the most important. These are what will make or break the
quality of the gold effect. Go to the channels tab and click on the Alpha
1 layer you just made.
We
will now use gaussian blur on the Alpha channel. You should have the marching
ants around the selection in the channel if you didn't deselect. This
is a little confusing but stay with me. First blur it 10-12. Then 7, then
4 then 2 then 1. We do this to get a nice smooth blur. If your gaussian
blur is too high at the beginning then the letter will look dark and flat.
You really don't want that. After that invert the selection and hit delete.
This is to clear of what people call the "Jaggies".
Once
that is done go back to your text layer. Render the text layer. This is
so we can do a lighting effect on it. Click on the picture to view how
I set up my light.
Now
that is done you should have something that looks similar to this.
For
the gold coloring we will use a soft brown. It is R=227 G=177 B=107. This
is the best color I have found to create the gold color we want. Creat
a new layer above the text layer. Now load the seletion for the text layer.
Fill the selected area of new layer with the brown color. Should look
like this.
Now
set the layer mode to color. We have an almost fineshed product. Somethings
missing though. Hmmm what could it be.
A
DROP SHADOW & INNER BEVEL!!! I assume you know how to use layer effects.
I just used the defaut drop shadow settings. The inner bevel I set the
depth to about 20 and the blur to 7. Do what you want. However you like
it.
Gold
examples click to enlarge.