Adobe Photoshop Tutorial for Electric Writing

This text effect resembles electricity dancing across the surface of your text.

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful image editing tool you can use to create specialized text effects for your logo, artwork, or graphic design project. Electrify your text by creating a pattern resembling a glowing blue electrical field dancing across your text using standard textures, filters, and blending effects. Once you have tried this technique, experiment with different colors, settings, and fonts.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop

Instructions

1. Create a new image by selecting File > New. Set width to 800 pixels, height to 600, and color mode to RGB.

2. Click the black color swatch on the swatches palette. Select the Paint Bucket tool and click on the image to fill the background with black.

3. Set the swatch to 80 percent black on the Swatches palette. Select the Text tool. On the text options bar at the top of the screen, set the font to a fat font (such as Eras Bold or Impact) and the font size to 72 pt.

4. Click in the center of the image and type your text. Click "Ctrl+Enter" to apply the text.

5. Select "Blending Options" from the Layers palette menu. Check the "Bevel and Emboss" style and click "OK."

6. "Ctrl+click" your text icon in the Layers palette to select it. Open Select > Modify > Expand. Set the "Expand by" to 2 and click "OK" to make the selection larger than your text.

7. Click the "Save selection as channel" on the Channels palette to create the Alpha 1 channel. Deselect the text by pressing "Ctrl+D."

8. Click the "Create new channel" button on the Channels palette to create the Alpha 2 channel. Hit the "D" key to reset your foreground and background colors to white and black.

9. Open Filter > Texture > Stained Glass. Set "Cell Size" to 10, "Border Thickness" to 3, and "Light Intensity" to 0. Click "OK." The Alpha 2 channel is filled with a network of white lines.

10. "Ctrl+click" on Alpha 2 in the Channels palette. "Ctrl+Alt+click" on Alpha 1. The selection is set to the white lines within the text area.

11. Click the "Create new layer" button on the Layers palette to create Layer 1.

12. Select the Paint Bucket and click on the image to fill your selected lines. Set the Layers palette "Fill" to 0. Deselect the selection.

13. Open the "Blending Options." Select "Outer Glow." Set "Opacity" to 60 percent, "Spread" to 10 percent, and "Size" to 10 pixels. Click the color swatch, set the R, G, and B values to 0, 114, and 188 respectively, and click "OK."

14. Select "Inner Glow." Set "Opacity" to 100 percent, "Choke" to 100 percent, "Size" to 0 pixels, and "Contour" to "Half Round." Check the "Anti-aliased" box. Click the color swatch and set the R, G, and B values to 109, 207, and 246 and click "OK." Click "OK" to exit "Blending Options."

15. Open the Filter > Distort > Ripple menu option. Set "Amount" at 100 percent, "Size" to "Large," and click "OK."

16. Open the Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur menu option. Set "Radius" to 0.5 and click "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• On Apple computers, use "command" instead of "control", and "option" instead of "alt".

• Try the ZigZag distortion filter instead of the Ripple filter for more angular "electricity."

References

• Adobe Photoshop Support: Using Adobe Photoshop CS4

Resources

• Adobe Photoshop Support: Default keyboard shortcuts
• psdtuts+: Text Effects
• Design World: Photoshop Text Effects