This article is to create two styles of Text effect to have a cold and hot colored Text theme. Open a new document of width = 800 px and height = 350 px in both Photoshop and Illustrator and continue with the following.
( A_ ) Typing Text in Illustrator :
Use the Type tool and type the text = ' Boddunan '. The fill color for the text is black and no stroke is applied. The Font style used is = MYRIAD and the style at which it is placed is = Roman and the size of the text is 12 pt. Create another layer and copy the text and paste it in the new layer. Use the original text layer for reference and hide it. Select the duplicate text layer. Let us add effects to individual alphabets of the word = Boddunan. The Text color can be anything, sa y for example black as we are going to change the color later.
( B_ ) Change Style of alphabets :
Use the DIRECT SELECTION TOOL to select individual alphabets and to apply effects to them. First select letter 'B' using Direct selection tool, and go to EFFECT menu > DISTORT AND TRANSFORM > ZIG ZAG and under options, set the size to 1.06 mm, Ridges per segment to 9 with Absolute and Corner option selected. Next select the alphabet 'o' and use the same Zig Zag option and set the zig zag size to = 3.53 mm and Ridges per segment is set to = 5 with Absolute and Corner options selected. Now select the alphabet 'd' which is next to the letter 'o' and use the same Zig Zag option and set the zig zag size to = 1.06 mm and Ridges per segment is set to = Zero with Absolute and Corner options selected. Select the other 'd' letter placed near the first 'd' letter and set the size of ridge to = 2.47 mm and the ridges per segment value is set to zero under the Zig zag feature.
For the alphabet 'u' the value of zig zag size is = 3.17 and the Ridges per segment is 9. The zig zag size for the letter 'u' in Boddunan is = 1.06 mm and the Ridges per segment is increased to 12. The Absolute option along with Smooth style of points is selected. The letter 'a' has the zig zag size of 2.47 mm, with Absolute option selected. The Ridges per segment for the letter 'a' is 4 and the points for these are placed with Smooth style. For the final alphabet 'n', the zig zag size is 1.06 mm with ridges per segment set to = 12. The Absolute and Smooth options are selected.
( C_ ) Adding 3D effect to Text :
Now for Creating the 3D select the text using selection tool and go to EFFECT menu > 3D > EXTRUDE AND BEVEL and adjust the setting as > Rotation for X axis is -(minus)18 degree, Rotation for Y axis is -(minus)26 degree and Rotation for Z axis is 8(positive) degree. The Extrude depth is 50 pt with surface style used as Plastic shading. Leave the other adjustments as default. Once the Extrude adjustment is made, the result would look similar to the image included. Now select the entire text using simple Selection Tool, and make two copies by pressing the ALT key and clicking the shape and dragging it to make a copy. You can also use the Copy-paste option in Edit menu. Change the fill color for one duplicate as # 105b30 ( Green shade ) in color swatc in Tools window and the color for the other duplicate copy is = # d76f26 ( Orange color ).
Select the orange colored text and drag it into the Photoshop document. The text is placed as a smart boject whose features are stores. You can always double click the smart object icon in layers window and as a result, the text will be opened in an illustrator document where you can make changes for editing the text. When edited and saved, the change is also saved in the smart object image saved in Photoshop. Similarly, select the green colored text and drag it into the Photoshop document. Move both the duplicate copies of text individually, and not both together. If both were dragged together, both the text would be saved as a single entity as one smart object.
( D_ ) Creating the Boddunan - Cold effect :
STEP 1 : First to create background in Photoshop, select the ' Create New Layer ' icon at the bottom of Layers window or go to Layer menu > New > Layer, and give a name for the layer as = Cloud 1. Set the foreground color in the color swatch in Tools window as # 6da9e7 ( Light Blue shade ) and the Background is set as White. Selecting the Cloud 1 layer, use the shortcut, CTRL + Backspace to fill the layer with Background color white ( ALT + Backspace is used to fill with Foreground color ). Now go to FILTER menu > RENDER and selct the option > CLOUDS. The clouds effect is added which is in the mix of blue and white colors.
STEP 2 : Select the Cloud 1 layer and make two duplicate copies of the layer using the shortcut, CTRL + J. Name one duplicate as = Cloud 2, and the other duplicate layer as Cloud 3. Set the Blend mode of the Cloud 2 layer in Layers window as = Soft Light. The blend mode for the Cloud 3 layer is set as = Saturation. Now move the Green colored Text saved as a smart object over the cloude 3 layer.Hence, the text is placed over three cloud layers. Set the Blend mode of the Text layer to = COLOR BURN. This Blend mode is very important.
STEP 3 : For adding 3D thunder effects, we have to go to back to Illustrator document, to get the 3D result. In Illustrator, use the Pen tool to draw the Thunder shape. Drawing using Pen tool will not be complicated for this shape, as ell the lines have sharp corners and no curves are involved. Click on an area and click again near the first achor point to form a closed thunder shape. The fill color for the shape is # 105b30 ( Green shade ). Ther is no stroke color and therefore no stroke size. Refer the image included for reference. You can use the Direct Selection Tool to select particular anchor points of the shape and drag those points to alter the shape.
STEP 4 : To apply the 3D effect to the thunder shape, Go to EFFECT menu > 3D > EXTRUDE and BEVEL and adjust the settings as > Rotation for X axis is -(minus)18 degree, Rotation for Y axis is -(minus)26 degree and Rotation for Z axis is 8(positive) degree. The Extrude depth is 20 pt and the other adjustments are left as default. Select the thunder shape and drag the selected shapes into the Photoshop document where we were working.This shape is also placed as ' Smart objects ' in Photoshop.
Make three copies of the thunder shape, and name the layers as = T1, T2, and T3. Using the Transform tool you can rotate, resize and also schange their angles to get a mirror image using the sub option = Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical. Position one shape at the bottom, below the first 'd' letter. Position another shape over the text, above the letter 'u'. The Blend mode of both these thunder shapes in layers window is = COLOR BURN. The third shape is placed over both the 'd' letters. The blend mode of this shape is = VIVID LIGHT. The blend mode varies from the location at which the thunder shapes are placed.
STEP 5 : The final step is to create a new layer and name it = Fibers. Place this layer over all the ;ayers created so far from Step1. Use the shortcut, CTRL + Backspace to will the layer with Background color white. Set the foreground color as = # 6da9e7 ( Light Blue shade ) and background color is set as wgite. Selecting the Fibers layer, go to FILTER menu > RENDER > FIBERS and set the Varience amount to 16 and the strength to 4. Adjust the Blend mode of this layer to = DARKEN under the Layers window. Group all the layers that contribute to the formation of the cold theme by selecting the layers ( CTRL + select layers to select multiple layers at a time ) and then using the option, Layer menu > New > Group from layers.
Additional information for applying decorative borders :
- You can also apply borders to the images in Illustrator with default available border styles. The procedure is to select all the items and drag into the Illustrator document. All the selected items appear as one entity or image file. Do not make any changes to the Content. Use a Pen tool and draw around the backround to get the shape result as a rectangle. Select the rectangle creating with the pen tool and remove the fill color for the rectangle shape.
- Next, go to > Brush ( Along with fill color and stroke color, you will also have an option called Brush). Right click the Brush option and select Open Brush Library. Under this option, you will see many brush styles categorised as a group. For the purpose of an example, i used the category > Decorative_Scatter and chose the border called > 'Snow flake' for the first image and 'Bubbles' in the second image. Once the Border is applied, you can reduce the size of the paths to reduce the border size to fit within the image. Also, if you double click the brush style, under the Brush option, you can adjust the level of scatter of the shapes over and around the image.
( E_ ) Creating the Boddunan - Hot effect :
STEP 1 : To create a background in Photoshop, select the ' Create New Layer ' icon in the Layers window and name this layer as = Cloud 1. Set the foreground color in the color swatch in Tools window as # 6da9e7 ( Light Blue shade ) and the Background is set as White. Selecting the Cloud 1 layer, use the shortcut, CTRL + Backspace to fill the layer with Background color white ( ALT + Backspace is used to fill with Foreground color ). Now go to FILTER menu > RENDER and selct the option > CLOUDS.
STEP 2 : Once the clouds are added to cloud 1 layer, create two duplicate copies of this layer using CTRL + J as shortcut. Name the duplicate copies of layers as cloud 2 and cloud 3. Set the Blend mode of the Cloud 2 layer as = EXCLUSION and reduce the opacity in layers window to 97 % , the default being 100 %. Select the Cloud 3 layer and go to FILTER menu > RENDER and selct the option > DIFFERENCE CLOUDS. The layer turns into a dark shade. Set the Blend mode of the cloud 3 layer as = LINEAR LIGHT. You will notice a foggy red background.
STEP 3 : Use the Custom Shape Tool to draw the star shapes as an highlight to the background. Select the shape style called = 1- point star frame. Draw the star shape by clicking on an area and dragging the mouse. The more you drag, the larger would be the size of the shape. This 10 point star shape is in such a form that, the fill in the moddle portion is empty. Hence, the color set for this is applied as a thick stroke to the star shape. Double click the color icon of the star shape layer to cjange the color. Enter the color # ff024f ( Pink color ) in the color swatches. Position this shape, below the text, at the beginning on the left side.
STEP 4 : Make two duplicate copies of the pink colored star shape. Use copy and paste option. Position one shape over the text, on top of the letter 'o'. Place the other shape over the letter 'u' of the word - Boddunan. Set the Blend mode of the three pick colored star shapes as = OVERLAY in the layers window. Draw two more star shapes of style = 10 point star. The size of these new set of shapes is very large compared to the pink colores star shapes. The color for these two would be # 07930e ( Green shade ). Position one green colored star above the letter 'a' and the other one below the letter 'u'. Reduce the opacities of the green stars to 50 % in the Layers window. The blend mode for both of these green colored star shapes are = SOFT LIGHT.
STEP 5 : Place the Orange colored text over all the layers created so far, from the clouds to the star shapes. Set the blend mode of the text layer to = COLOR BURN. All the Blend options depend on the position in which the text and the shapes are placed. Refer to the images included to check the arrangement of layers.