Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends

In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to create the image above using a combination of glows and blends in 7 steps. All the files for this tutorial are at the bottom of this post.
I was watching an advert on BBC 2 (in the UK) for the new series of Heroes and it had a great animation of the number 2. Check the BBC2 Heroes website for an idea of what i’m talking about. So I thought I’d try to create something similar.
Step 1
Create a new blank psd file with the background set to black. Create a new layer and fill it with a radial gradient of green/blue to black originating from the right of the image and then set the layer opacity to 30%

Step 2
Create 3 new radial fills going from red to transparent, green to transparent and blue to transparent, and place them within their own group

Step 3
Create a new layer, set the foreground and background colors to mid gray and black respectively, then go filter > render > clouds
Then still on this layer go filter > noise >add noise and add noise of 4% with a gaussian distribution and tick monochromatic

Finally set this new layer to overlay with an opacity of 70%
Step 4
Create the shape of the number 2 on a new layer.

You can use one of your pre-installed fonts, however if you don’t think you’ve got the right font, draw your own using the pen tool. For the shape below I used franklin gothic font set to 800 px in size. Then converted the text into a path, and modified the individual points using the direct selection tool to a shape I was happy with. Next, I turned the path into a live selection. Lastly I filled that selection with the color black in a new layer.
Add inner and outer glows using layer styles to the number 2 (double click on the layer in the layer panel).
Outer glow settings:

inner glow settings:

Step 5
Using a white brush tool with 0% hardness paint strokes around the edges of the 2 on several new layers. Try experimenting with the smudge tool as well to push the paint around a bit.

Now set each highlight layer to overlay and experiment with the opacity levels to achieve a look similar to that below. For a slight color alteration I added a pale orange color overlay in layer styles to each layer.

Step 6
Create some funky lines to the rop right of the 2 on a new layer. To create these lines I used a brush set called winter breeze which you can find in the previous post 10 Groovy Brushes for Photoshop

Then create a layer mask for the new layer to hide the new lines which are visible over the 2 itself. Finally, in layer styles set a color overlay to yellow and an inner glow of mid orange and experiment with the choke and size settings to produce something like below:

Step 7
Now the final step, create a new layer yet again, fill it with black and go filter > render > lens flare and accept the default settings. Move the lens flare to an appropriate position then set the blend mode to linear dodge.

And that’s it. Below are links to the .psd file and the winter breeze brush. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, write a comment below and i’ll reply.











February 18th, 2009 at 11:58 am
[...] Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
this is very nice & effective.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:26 am
[...] Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends (tags: photoshop tutorials) [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 7:37 am
nice tutorial bro
argons last blog post..BLUE EMBRIO
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Really liked your tutorial and I’ve created a nice new wallpaper! http://miranl.deviantart.com/art/M-114636183
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
Great Mira, I’m glad you liked it.
Your wallpaper looks groovy!
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I had to do this as an assignment for school but still it was pretty shnazzy. Photoshop is an amazing piece of human engineering ;3
March 7th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] In this tutorial learn how to create the image below using a combination of glows and blends.Check out here. [...]
March 12th, 2009 at 12:22 am
[...] PSD Rockstar » Tutorial: Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends. [...]
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 am
[...] Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
[...] 3] Striking Text Effect [Tutorial] [...]
April 14th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Hey dude thanks! This tutorial has an astounding result and it’s so simple to follow. Thanks a lot! And thanks for telling me that they show Heroes on BBC2. I can watch it now lol.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:02 am
i love this!!
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
thank u , nice tutorial ,
May 15th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Great tutorial! Very simple and excelent resultat! Big match
John Avenirs last blog post..Helvetica World Fonts by Max Miedinger
June 30th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Interesting effect. Great work!
July 12th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Striking Text Effect Using Glows and Blends…
In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to create the image above using a combination of glows and blends in 7 steps….
August 29th, 2009 at 10:59 am
[...] 14. Iluminacino en texto [...]
September 4th, 2009 at 4:43 am
great.. thanks..
September 10th, 2009 at 8:29 am
it was perfect
September 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Awesome
I used this tutorial and another one and got this outcome: (Von Dutch is my nickname)
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z29/commander-rico/vondutchcoolwallpapergoldtextnstrip.png
October 18th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
/Cry
I installed the Brush (just extracted it in presets/brush) but can’t find it.
Got Photoshop CS 1.
Help! :O
October 29th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
wow, gj. great effect
November 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I love when I learn a new technique to use on a custom blog header design. I don’t know why I didn’t try your overlay pen outline technique before, very cool.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:39 pm
[...] Striking Text Effect Using Glows & Bends [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Loved this one. Here are two designs I made using these techniques: 2010 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferociousmedia/4192330677/in/photostream/) & Legacy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferociousmedia/4193094696/)