The tutorial where I learned this technique comes from Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks For Designers Volume 2 by Corey Baker. It is located in Chapter 2 and is called “Iron Man Text Effect.” I deviated from the tutorial in several areas in order to achieve the effect and statement I envisioned. One such deviation is the use of the word “WOMAN.” It occurred to me that no matter how delicate and girlish a woman may appear within her is a steel core that assists her in bearing children, raising them, maintaining a healthy home environment, cooking, cleaning, baking that last minute 3 dozen cupcakes for the class party that she was volunteered for but not told about, and keeping her spouse happy and content, all while excelling in her chosen career or profession. I wanted to reflect that in both the colors and style of this piece.
The tutorial (paraphrased):
1. Create a new Photoshop document: 1300 X 500 at 125 px. Set the background color to black.
2. Type the word of your choice using a thick, bold font and fill it with a color. I chose Script MT Bold Regular at 140 px. I filled it with a bright mauve.
C: 4 M: 76 Y: 0 K: 0 Hex #: e863a8 R: 232 G: 99 B: 168
3. Rather than use the marble texture as directed in the tutorial, I chose to use a green-based metal texture I had previously created. I selected the type layer and clicked Add a Layer Style then chose Pattern Overlay and clicked on the pattern I’d made from the metal texture. I set the blend mode to Color Dodge and set the scale at 53%. By using click/drag in the image window, I moved the texture around until every letter had an obvious metallic pattern visible.
4. I next selected the style Bevel & Emboss. I set the Style to Outer Bevel and the Technique to Chisel Hard. I made the Size 6 px and changed Gloss Contour to Ring-Double preset, then set the Highlight Mode to Linear Dodge (Add) at 75%.
5. The next Style applied was Stroke. I set the Size to 4 px and the Position to Outside. I then chose a bright hot pink color for the Fill.
C: 1 M: 98 Y: 3 K: 0 Hex #: ea188a R: 234 G: 24 B: 138
6. Inner Glow was the next Style Effect used. The Blend Mode was set to Multiply. For the color I chose a deep plum.
C: 62 M: 87 Y: 31 K: 14 Hex#: 6e3c6c R: 110 G: 60 B: 108
The Size was adjusted to 5 px and the Gradient was set to foreground color to transparent.
7. The last Style applied was the Gradient Overlay with the Blend Mode set to Multiply and the Gradient set to gray to transparent. I moved this layer style to the bottom third of the letters to give the effect of a bright light shining down on the word.
8. At this point, the tutorial calls for the use of the Elliptical Marquee tool to create an oval filled with white, then selected inversely to place a pale haze over the upper portion of the letters. For reasons I still do not comprehend, my CC version of Photoshop would not perform this action. So after some careful thought, I chose the paint brush, set the color to white, the Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 23%. I then chose the spray gun option and selected a 700 px soft brush (Hardness: 0%). I created a somewhat similar effect by swiping over the top third of the letters in an arcing motion. It gave a similar effect as described in steps 10 and 11 in the tutorial, but was much softer and without the stark demarcation line.
9. My next step was to load the text as an active selection. I then clicked Add Layer Mask. With the mask selected, I went under Filter > Other and chose Minimum setting the pixels to 3. For that layer, I adjusted the Opacity to 46% and the Fill to 49% to more of a light gleaming off the edges of the letters type effect.
10. My last step was to change the background color to a muted plum.
C: 31 M: 69 Y: 0 K: 0 Hex#: b968bc R: 185 G: 104 B: 188
I believe the letter style and colors chosen have a definite feminine flair. Yet, there is strength reflected in the metallic look of the letter forms. I believe I succeeded in portraying my concept.
