Dear users,its been a wile since i last uploaded a new tutorial. I have thought a lot and a project i have worked on inspired me to produce a tutorial on how to create your own hand drawn text and add effects to them.This is an experience that will expand your creativity, typography skills and drawing. I mentioned drawing but this doesn’t have to upset you. I always hear this pessimistic approach of designers who believe that they cant draw really good and makes them feel uncomfortable when they have to hand draw something. Any way this is good time to start sketching and see that sketching is not that bad.In order to follow this tutorial you need to download image 2.1, but feel free to try with your won designs.
1. – Make couple of hand drawn sketches
Take a look at the samples i have created. You need to make a couple of sketches depending on the available time you have. In my case i have drawn 4 but its always a good practice to have like 10 samples. That way you can explore every possible option that you have and chose the one you like. Don’t be afraid to explore new options and always sketch fast.You need to spend around 5 to 10 minutes per sketch nothing more.Everything about that is a waste of time.
1.1 – Analyze what option are you going to chose and why?
Lets analyse the designs from the previous image.Option 1 and 2 look to flat with no life in them. They are stuck on 1 plane and boring. Now on the other hand design 3 and 4 have a more realistic flow and an indication of curves overlapping one on top of each other.That makes sample 3 and 4 more interesting.
The sample that i like is sample 4.We are going to create this tutorial based on this design.But before we start working in Photoshop lets explain some details that you need to pay attention to.First of all take a look at the flow of the arrows.In order to create interesting and appealing designs you need to imagine how this line looks in real 3d life.The flow of arrows shows how the line looks in 3d space. Another thing you need to pay attention is the height of the letters.Its good practice if the small letters are with almost the same height.
2. – Start the design process in Photoshop
Start Photoshop. Create a new document with 1920 pixels in width and 1080 pixels in height. Set the Foreground color to 5F5F5F. With the Foreground color set to 5F5F5F, press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create new layer and name it Background. Press ALT + DELETE to fill the Background layer with the color 5F5F5F. Pick the P key to activate the pen tool and draw a shape based to the hand drawn sketch option we have chosen. You can see the result in the sample below ( image 2.1 ).
2.2 – Adding Gradient to the hand drawn text
Create a new layer and name it Gradient. Press the A Key to activate the PATH SELECTION TOOL. Now select the outline and right click on it. From the window that will pop up chose MAKE SELECTION and this will turn the shape in to selection. Now press the G key to activate the GRADIENT TOOL. Set the colors for the gradient to be f7b881 for the left side and f51434 for the right as it is shown on the right side of the image 2.2. Now drag the gradient color from the bottom of the letter M to the top of the letter M. The final result can be seen in the middle of the image 2.2 .
2.3 – Add a background gradient
Create a new layer and name it Background Gradient. Make sure to place it right on top of the BACKGROUND layer and under the GRADIENT layer. Set the foreground color to BLACK color 000000, and with the BACKGROUND GRADIENT layer selected press ALT + DELETE to fill the layer with black color. Now ADD A LAYER MASK (its shown in the image below 2.3 – step 1) to the BACKGROUND Gradient layer. Press the G key to activate the gradient tool and set a black to white gradient. With that made make sure you have the LAYER MASK selected and draw a gradient from the top left corner to the bottom right corner (shown in the image below 2.3 – step 2 ). Now set the opacity of the BACKGROUND GRADIENT layer to 70 % and with that ends step 2.3.
This shows how the result will look like after you complete step 2.3
2.4 – Adding a light source to the scene
Create a new layer called LIGHT SOURCE 1 and place it on top of BACKGROUND GRADIENT layer. Set the foreground color to F2D7A9. Press the G key to activate the GRADIENT TOOL and set the gradient to be RADIAL GRADIENT ( see image 2.4 ) and the preset to be FOREGROUND COLOR to TRANSPARENT ( see image 2.4 ). Now drag a gradient line from the top left corner till the middle of letter M ( see image 2.4 ).The final thing you need to do is set the OPACITY of the LIGHT SOURCE 1 to 31% and you are done.
Now create a new layer and name it LIGHT SOURCE 2. Place it on top of the LIGHT SOURCE a layer and repeat the step 2.4. The only change is going to be in the length of the gradient line ( see image 2.4 ). The gradient line for LIGHT SOURCE 2 is going to be half of the gradient line we have created for the LIGHT SOURCE 1.
The only reason why we create 2 layers instead of 1 is because the result for the light source is more smooth and realistic.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.4.
2.5 – Adding background shadow to the scene
Create a new layer and name it SOFT SHADOW. Place it right on top of LIGHT SOURCE 2 layer. Now activate the ELLIPTICAL MARQUEE TOOL ( see image 2.5) and create an ellipse selection with 1280 pixels ( position starting at 340 pixels and ending at 1620 pixels ) in width and 20 pixels in ( position starting at 810 pixels and ending at 830 pixels)height. Make sure that the FOREGROUND COLOR is set to Black ( 000000 ) and with the SOFT SHADOW layer selected press ALT + DELETE to fill the SOFT SHADOW layer with Black color.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.5.
2.6 – Refining the ground shadow
First thing you do is make a duplicate of the SOFT SHADOW layer.In order to do that select the SOFT SHADOW layer and go to LAYER -> NEW -> LAYER VIA COPY. Now double click on the SOFT SHADOW COPY layer and rename it to HARD SHADOW. Turn off the visibility of the HARD SHADOW layer and select the SOFT SHADOW layer.
Go to FILTER – > BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR. Set the RADIUS to 25 pixels and click OK. Now create a LAYER MASK to the SOFT SHADOW layer ( if you forgot how to create a layer mask go to step 2.3 ). With the LAYER MASK selected press on the G key on your keyboard to activate the GRADIENT TOOL .Make sure you have the LINEAR GRADIENT SELECTED and the preset needs to be BLACK to WHITE. Drag the gradient from the start of the ellipse to the middle of the ellipse. The last thing you need to do is set the OPACITY of the SOFT SHADOW layer to 77%. With that you have finished with step 2.6 .
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.6.
2.7 – Adding the final parts of the ground shadow
Turn on the visibility of the HARD SHADOW layer. Add a Layer mask to it .Now with the LAYER MASK selected press on the G key on your keyboard to activate the gradient tool and with a LINEAR GRADIENT and BLACK to WHITE preset drag a gradient line from the middle of the ellipse to the left corner of the ellipse. Now the last thing you need to do is set the OPACITY to 33 %.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.7.
2.8 – Adding ground highlight to the scene
Create a new layer and name it GROUND HIGHLIGHT 1. Place the layer on top of LIGHT SOURCE 2 and right under SOFT SHADOW layer.Set the FOREGROUND COLOR to be F7DCA1. Now create a shape as it is shown in the image 2.8 ( see the image below) and fill it with the color we have chosen F7DCA1. You can paint it directly with a BRUSH or use the PEN TOOL to draw the shape.Its not important to be exact as in the image because we need a rough shape to blur it.
Now with the GROUND HIGHLIGHT 1 layer selected go to FILTER -> BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR. Set the RADIUS to 100 pixels and click OK. Now change the OPACITY of the GROUND HIGHLIGHT 1 layer to 70 % and you are done.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.8.
2.9 – Adding a spot light on the ground
Create a new layer and name it GROUND SPOT LIGHT.Place it on top of GROUND HIGHLIGHT 1 layer and under the SOFT SHADOW layer. Create an ellipse with the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make it 200 px in width and 30 px in height and place its position roughly as it is shown in the image 2.9 ( see image below left section). Now make sure that the foreground color is set to be F7DCA1. All you have to do is press ALT + Delete to fill the GROUND SPOT LIGHT layer with the selected color. After that go to FILTER -> BLUR -> MOTION BLUR and set the ANGLE to be 0 and RADIUS 250 pixels and click OK. Next thing you have to do is go to FILTER -> BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR, set the RADIUS to be 15 pixels and click OK.With that you have completed Step 2.9.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 2.9.
3. – Add shadow effect to the text
In this step we start working on the effects of the text.Select the GRADIENT layer – the actual text and go to LAYER -> LAYER STYLE -> INNER SHADOW ( see image 3 – part 1 ). Set the BLENDING MODE to MULTIPLY, OPACITY to 75 %, ANGLE 120 degrees, DISTANCE AND CHOKE to 0 px and SIZE to 24 px. Then click OK.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.
3.1 – Enhancing the Text Shadow
Create a new layer on top of the GRADIENT layer and name it ENHANCED SHADOW. Pick the B key on your keyboard to activate the BRUSH TOOL and with a SOFT BRUSH and foreground color set to BLACK (000000) start adding shadow to the areas show in the image 3.1 ( see image bellow ). The opacity of the brush needs to be around 20 %, that way you wont make mistakes.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.1 .
3.2 – Adding the text highlight
Create a new layer on top of ENHANCED SHADOW layer and name it TEXT HIGHLIGHT. Set the foreground color to be F5C698. Pick the P key on your keyboard to activate the PEN TOOL and draw a shape like in the image 3.2 ( see image bellow).
Now pick the A key on your keyboard to activate the PATH SELECTION TOOL in order to be able to select the shapes.Select the first shape ( the one that is on the left side of the M letter) , RIGHT CLICK on it and a window will pop up. Chose MAKE SELECTION and this will load the shape as a selection. Now go to the GRADIENT TOOL, set the GRADIENT to be RADIAL GRADIENT and the preset to be FOREGROUND TO TRANSPARENT. Draw a Gradient line like it is shown in the image 3.2 ( see image bellow ). Now repeat the process of making selections and filling the shapes with gradient for every shape separately.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.2 .
3.3 – Create a Glow on the text
Create a new layer and name it GLOW. Place it on top of the TEXT HIGHLIGHT layer. Set the foreground color to FBEFE2 and click OK. Make 7 ellipses with size 15 px x 15 x positioned as shown in the image 3.3 ( see image bellow ) and fill them with the foreground color FBEFE2. You need to create each ellipse individually and fill them with color individually. The 8-th ellipse will be 10 px x 10 px and also filled with foreground color and positioned as seen in the image 3.3 ( see image bellow). Make sure that all the dots are on 1 layer and that is the GLOW layer. If they are not merge all dots in 1 layer. Now go to FILTER -> BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR. Set the RADIUS to 6.4 px and click OK.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.3 .
3.4 – Adding the secondary lighting
Create a new layer and name it SECOND LIGHT. Place it on top of the GLOW layer. Press CTRL + Left mouse click on top of the LAYER THUMBNAIL , ( see image 3.4 the image bellow). This will load the whole text shape as a selection. With that done set the FOREGROUND COLOR to CAE2ED and fill the shape with color ( see how the text will lok after you have filled the SECOND LIGHT layer with the color CAE2ED ). After you fill the shape with color you will notice that the selection around the text is still active.That is a good thing because we still need the selection to complete our task. All you have to do now is to press the letter M ( Rectangular Marquee Tool ). Now press 2 times on the LEFT ARROW key on your keyboard and 2 times on the TOP ARROW key on your keyboard. This will offset the selection to the top left. With that done and the SECOND LIGHT layer selected press the DELETE key on your keyboard and this will erase the color that we don’t need.
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.4 .
3.5 – Refining the Secondary Light
Make a duplicate of the SECOND LIGHT layer and name it SPOT SECOND LIGHT. Now select the SECOND LIGHT layer. Go to FILTER -> BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR ,set the radius to be 3.2 pixels and click OK. Now select the SPOT SECOND LIGHT layer and press the E key on your keyboard to activate the ERASER TOOL. Chose a SOFT BRUSH, SIZE – 50 pixels and OPACITY 30 % ( see the image bellow ). Start erasing some of the areas shown in the image 3.5 (the image bellow ).
This is the result that you get after you complete step 3.5 and we complete this tutorial. All you can do now is test this on your own hand drawn texts.
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